Monthly Archives: August 2017

“It was twenty years ago today . . .”: Celebrity and Immortality

Posted on August 30, 2017 by Scott Abbott

  Paris, 30 August 1997   “Louis Quatorze est mort en . . . en . . . en . . .”   “Oui! Oui! Oui! Oui!, says the old man’s friend quickly, hoping to forestall a lecture.”   It is … Continue reading →

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Clouds

Posted on August 10, 2017 by Scott Abbott

My friend and colleague Jenna Nigro alerted me to the fact (reported in The New York Times Magazine, July 23, 2017) that Elvis Presley, while driving some associates through Arizona, saw the face of Joseph Stalin in a cloud. That … Continue reading →

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Dental Saga: Part Two

Posted on August 10, 2017 by Scott Abbott

On April 4, I went to the dentist for a root canal after intense pain all weekend. After 30 minutes of drilling and grinding the dentist stopped and sat me up and said he was having trouble finding one canal. I … Continue reading →

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Alex Caldiero: Astrophysicist at Large

Posted on August 8, 2017 by Scott Abbott

This morning I began reading a manuscript Alex gave me last week. He has been reproducing his notebooks, most recently the three-volume set from 2005: “It rains even on who’s wet.” I posted photos of several earlier reproductions here. This, however, … Continue reading →

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Žarko Radaković: Art Critic and Photographer

Posted on August 7, 2017 by Scott Abbott

I wrote earlier about notebooks, specifically about the notebooks of Peter Handke, Žarko Radaković, and Alex Caldiero — three writers whose work I admire and for whose friendship I am grateful. 107 images cut from Handke’s notebooks — cut out … Continue reading →

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Gravity is not just a good idea, it’s the law

Posted on August 6, 2017 by Scott Abbott

This last week I read Maximilian Werner’s Gravity Hill (University of Utah Press, 2013). I’m glad I did. Although there are plenty of stories in the book about a young man growing up in Salt Lake City with other young people … Continue reading →

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