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Jura, April 1947. It was his third day back on the island but the first he had managed to get out of bed. He knew what he had to do: transfer to paper the ceaseless, grinding monologue that had been working through his mind since . . . when? His days at the BBC? The betrayal in Barcelona? The discovery of the proles in Wigan? Those glorious summers of his youth? Prep school and H.G. Wells? He couldn't remember; perhaps the obsession had always been with him.

- From The Last Man in Europe by Dennis Glover

Quick Looks

The trailers for:

• "Candy Jar"
• "The Ipcress File"
• "Mary"
• "Goldfinger"
• "Doctor Sleep"
• "10 Minutes Gone"

Fame's Limitations

Althouse has a John Cleese example of the limits of fame.

Here's an account of how Bill Murray handled fame after "Ghostbusters."

My favorite observation on fame is from the astute Mr.  Murray: 

"I always want to say to people who want to be rich and famous: 'try being rich first.' See if that doesn't cover most of it. There's not much downside to being rich, other than paying taxes and having your relatives ask you for money. But when you become famous, you end up with a 24 hour job."

A Harvard Option

If you want to get a degree from Harvard, this is not a bad option to explore.

First Paragraph

I have been told many stories about Russian, and I have told a few myself. When I was eleven or twelve, in the late 1970s, my mother told me that the USSR was a totalitarian state - she compared the regime to the Nazi one, an extraordinary act of thought and speech for a Soviet citizen. My parents told me that the Soviet regime would last forever, which was why we had to leave the country.

- From The Future is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia by Masha Gessen

For Some Very Interesting Stuff

Get thee to The Sovereign Professional.


[Photo by Nathan Bingle at Unsplash]

Find Something Beautiful Today

[Photo by Brigitte Tohm at Unsplash]

True

Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy.

- Norman Schwarzkopf

Quick Looks

The trailers for:

• "Catherine the Great"
• "The Sower"
• "The Birdcatcher"
• "The Politician"
• "Honeyland"
• "Teacher"

"Join my Nato or watch critical thinking die"

The lesson of the Cold War is clear. From now on an attack on one of us must be considered an attack on all of us. I therefore invite all who believe in the fundamental human freedoms to sign a new Non-conformist Academic Treaty.

Read all of Niall Ferguson's proposal.



[Photo by delfi de la Rua at Unsplash]