johnny9fingers | (no subject)

(no subject)

Y'know what, it's still the land of the free and the home of the brave.

But the poet lady was alas a trifle poor: especially when sandwiched between Barry and the Groovy Reverend.
Good quote from the Rev too. Big Bill Broonzy. Well I never.

Barry only gets eight-point-mumble for the speech however: too many slightly off notes, but built it to quite a crescendo with echoes of MLK and FDR and Churchill. Or it could be that Winston, Martin, and Barry, all lean quite heavily upon the cadences of the King James' Bible.

But also it must be said, we are judging Barry by high standards: he does appear to be the best orator of his generation.

Bravo America.
[Tips hat.]

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The elder scion and I were aghast at the poem. Perhaps Billy Collins wasn't available for the gig.

There again, the most poetic thing I've read in a while is this -- from a tea set the wife recently brought back from her China trip:

"Pamper imagination on the easefeeling of bamboo skill."

I mean, c'mon, I've been at this for decades and never once managed to get off a line that good.

Edited 2009-01-20 18:55 (UTC)

"Pamper imagination on the easefeeling of bamboo skill."

No-one has ever written a line that good: it must have been computer generated. That old AI in the machine....

who has done this to me, cried Polyphemus,
and answer came back "No-man,
I am No-man...."

It wasn't AI. It was the gift of hypertranslation by some packaging functionary in Guagzhou. Some would call it mistranslation, of course. But not everyone understood Webern, either.

Not so sure....too damn fine for accidental, surely. If Lewis Carroll had written a Mandarin Artist somewhere in Wonderland this could have been a line to rival much of 'The Walrus and the Carpenter', or even 'Jabbawocky'.

And I am dumb to tell, etc and etc. But I do wonder about that Old AI in the net.

Hmm. This may warrant further investigation. I will head over to Wal-Mart and peruse other imported sweatshop output to determine if there are not some greater forces at work here.

You know, though, Wallace Stevens worked at an insurance company his whole life. So perhaps a similarly inclined soul has taken a position with a manufacturer of low-cost consumer goods.

Oh, and eldest scion got his first BMI check today. A magic moment. Please forgive me for clogging up your personal LJ with paternal nachas.

No problem....always good to hear good news.

I agree about the poet. She was a fairly clunky speaker--and it's her poem, too! And the poem itself felt more like prose than verse.

Edited 2009-01-20 19:05 (UTC)

Seems the general consensus. Surely Maya Angelou would have been a better choice? Even if of a different (and much older) generation, and Clinton's fave; the choice of poet & poem should still be made on merit within the cadences of the American voice. My opinion, anyway.
'Pon reflection I'd rate Barry's speech in the eight-point-nines. Pretty damn good actually.

I agree, the poetry was a disappointment. I won't be shy -- It was BAD poetry. What a shame.

Bad poetry, but a good day.
Sláinte as my Gaelic ancestors would say....and Barry's too come to think of it.

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