Do you know the
phrase “jumped the shark?”
Many of us do. But someone apparently
doesn’t, because he used it to mean something entirely opposite its accepted
meaning. It means, roughly, that someone
or something overdid it to the point of absurdity. Although the phrase is only known to have
been in use since the late ’90s, its origin is with an infamous episode of the TV show “Happy Days,” in
which the character Fonzie literally jumped a shark while
waterskiing. It’s a great metaphor: the visual image of someone doing something
that is superficially astounding but nonetheless is simply . . . idiotic. Although “Happy Days” and its ratings were
already in decline when that episode aired, that was the moment people
have come to mark as the beginning of the end for the show. Anyway, to cut to the chase: In a radio interview on the BBC on May 30th,
2017 an Australian Senator used “jumped the shark” in a totally different (I would
say wrong) way. Not
only did he use it to describe something in a complimentary way, but he
used it to describe his own actions.
He used the phrase to explain how he had at last accomplished a
difficult goal, and to emphasize that he had made a difficult choice
and crossed over from one group to another. He used it twice in the interview, and in
both cases jumping the shark was not meant to mark a
ludicrous exhibition and the beginning of a popularity death spiral, but
was put forth as a proud achievement. “It’s only a few months since I jumped the shark and went from being a journalist to a politician and I’m
thrilled by the result now.” So says Australian Senator Derryn
Hinch in this BBC interview. Later, he
reemphasizes his sharky jumpiness: “This is why I jumped the shark. This is why I got into
politics. I spent decades attacking politicians. I never dreamed in my life I’d be one.” (The audio had been available here. The segment with Hinch begins around
48:09, with the shark jumping at 48:35 and 51:58. My apologies if this is no longer
available–the BBC seems to hide broadcast audio after about a month.) Hinch clearly uses the phrase in a way that
doesn’t gibe with accepted contemporary usage. Christopher Daly https://thebettereditor.wordpress.com/2017/06/30/has-jumped-the-shark-jumped-the-shark/
Author Franz Kafka was born on July 3, 1883, in Prague,
capital of what is now the Czech Republic. After studying law at the University of
Prague, he worked in insurance and wrote in the evenings. In 1923, he moved to Berlin to focus on
writing, but died of tuberculosis shortly after. His friend Max Brod published most of his work
posthumously, such as Amerika and The Castle. In 1931, Brod published the short story
"The Great Wall of China," which Kafka had originally crafted 14
years before. Incredibly, at the
time of his death Kafka's name was known only to small group of readers. His books garnered favor during World War II,
especially, and greatly influenced German literature. As the 1960s took shape and Eastern Europe
was under the fist of bureaucratic Communist governments, Kafka's writing
resonated particularly strongly with readers. So alive and vibrant were the tales that Kafka
spun about man and faceless organizations that a new term was introduced into
the English lexicon: "Kafkaesque." The measure of Kafka's appeal and value as a
writer was quantified in 1988, when his handwritten manuscript of The Trial was sold at auction for $1.98
million, at that point the highest price ever paid for a modern manuscript. The buyer, a West German book dealer, gushed
after his purchase was finalized. "This
is perhaps the most important work in 20th-century German literature," he
said, "and Germany had to have it."
https://www.biography.com/people/franz-kafka-9359401
KAFKAESQUE WRITING
The Twilight Zone is an American science-fiction, fantasy, psychological-supernatural horror anthology television series created
by Rod Serling, which ran for five seasons
on CBS from 1959 to 1964. The series consists of unrelated dramas
depicting characters dealing with paranormal, futuristic, Kafkaesque, or otherwise disturbing or unusual
events; characters who find themselves dealing with these strange, sometimes
inexplicable happenings are said to have crossed over into "The Twilight
Zone". Each story typically
features a moral and a surprise ending. The series is notable for featuring both
established stars and younger actors who would become more famous later
on. Serling served as executive producer and head writer; he wrote or co-wrote 92 of the
show's 156 episodes. He was also the show's host and narrator, delivering monologues at the
beginning and end of each episode. Serling's
opening and closing narrations usually summarize the episode's events
encapsulating how and why the main character(s) had entered the Twilight
Zone. In 1997, the episodes "To Serve
Man" and "It's a
Good Life" were respectively ranked at 11 and 31 on TV
Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time; Serling himself
stated that his favorite episodes of the series were "The
Invaders" and "Time Enough at Last".
In 2016, it was ranked No. 8 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 greatest
shows of all time. In 2002, The
Twilight Zone was ranked No. 26 on TV
Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time. In 2013, the Writers Guild of
America ranked it as the third best-written TV series
ever and TV Guide ranked it as the fifth greatest show of
all time.
KAFKAESQUE WRITING
Philippe Claudel (born 2 February 1962) is a French writer and
film director. Claudel was born in Dombasle-sur-Meurthe,
Meurthe-et-Moselle. In addition to his
writing, Claudel is a Professor of Literature at the University of Nancy. He directed the 2008 film I've Loved You So
Long (Il y a longtemps que je t'aime). Much
admired, it won the 2009 BAFTA for the best film
not in English. His best-known work to date is the novel Les Âmes grises (Grey
Souls), which won the Prix Renaudot in France, was shortlisted for the
American Gumshoe
Award, and won Sweden's Martin Beck Award. He won the
2003 Prix
Goncourt de la Nouvelle for Les
petites mécaniques, and the 2010 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize,
for Brodeck’s Report, his hallucinatory story--almost a dark fairy-tale
in which Kafka meets the Grimms--of an uneasy homecoming after wrenching tragedy.
Congress.gov
is the official website for U.S. federal legislative information. The site provides access to accurate, timely,
and complete legislative information for Members of Congress, legislative
agencies, and the public. It is
presented by the Library of Congress (LOC) using data from the Office of the
Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Office of the Secretary of the
Senate, the Government Publishing Office, Congressional Budget Office, and the
LOC's Congressional Research Service.
Congress.gov is usually updated the morning after a session
adjourns. Consult Coverage
Dates for Legislative Information for the specific update
schedules and start date for each collection.
Congress.gov supersedes the THOMAS system which was retired on July 5,
2016. Congress.gov was released in beta
in September 2012. The THOMAS URL was
redirected to Congress.gov in 2013. The
beta label was removed in 2014. The
scope of data collections and system functionality have continued to expand
since THOMAS was launched in January 1995, when the 104th Congress
convened. THOMAS was produced after
Congressional leadership directed the Library of Congress to make federal
legislative information freely available to the public. Congressional documents from the first 100
years of the U.S. Congress (1774-1875) can be accessed through A Century of Lawmaking. https://www.congress.gov/about
A TANK AWAY FROM TOLEDO We traveled
about four hours west to Lafayette, Indiana where we met friends and family for
dinner at Bistro 501 located in a lovely, lively downtown. http://www.bistro501.com/ The next morning we went south to visit the General Lew Wallace Study & Museum http://www.ben-hur.com/
in Crawfordsville's Elston Grove Historic District. Wallace
served in the Union Army during the American Civil War, participating in the Battle of Fort Donelson, Battle
of Shiloh, and Battle of Monocacy as well as managing
operations for the Union Army in Indiana in July 1863 when Confederate
general John Hunt Morgan invaded the state
during Morgan's Raid. After the war, he served on the military
commission that tried John
Wilkes Booth's assistants in the assassination of Abraham
Lincoln, as well as presiding over the court that resulted in the execution
of Henry
Wirz for the Union deaths at Andersonville prison. In the postwar years, he began seriously
writing, publishing his first novel in 1873. In 1880 he published Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, a
novel set during the time of Jesus
Christ in the Roman Empire; it sold poorly at first, but soon became
the bestselling novel of the nineteenth century. It has never gone out of print, and has been
adapted for four films. In addition, Wallace worked as a lawyer, governor
to New Mexico Territory, and ambassador to Turkey. His creative pursuits included a total of
seven books: novels and biographies;
art, inventing, and music. Wallace was
said to have built the study because he wanted "a pleasure-house for my
soul," that would be "a detached room away from the world and its
worries." In 1941 the city of
Crawfordsville was given the property by a local civic organization, which
purchased the property to donate it to the city. Wallace's former house was mostly razed, with
only its dining room, living room, and floored central hall remaining as part
of a modern ranch-style house; it is not part of the National
Register designation. The Carriage House
Interpretive Center is now the launching point for visitor experiences. A
quote by Lew Wallace in 1890 (I am given up entirely to literature) is on the
wall leading to the room with an orientation video. After seeing
the video and touring the study, we went
about two blocks to Lane Place. Lane
Place was the home of Sen. Henry S. Lane (1811-1881)
and Joanna Lane (1826-1914). Helen
Elston Smith, the Lanes' niece, inherited the house after Joanna's death. She willed the house and its contents to the
Montgomery County Historical Society on February 26, 1931. 85%-90% of all of the furnishings are either
original to the house or belonged to the Elston Family. The house has been a museum since
1931 even though Helen continued to live in the home until the mid-1930s. See a map showing the location of
Crawfordsville at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_S._Lane_House
http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com Issue 1743
July 26, 2017 On this date in 1788,
New York ratified the United States
Constitution and became the 11th state of the United States. On this date in 1882, Richard Wagner's opera Parsifal premiered at Bayreuth.
On this date in 1887, the Unua Libro was published, founding the
Esperanto movement. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_26
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