Welcome to Monday’s News on the March – The week that was in my digital world.
Audio interview at Faith Reason:
I have read many of Bart Ehrman’s books and watched many of his debates online. Bart Ehrman is an American New Testament scholar focusing on textual criticism of the New Testament, the historical Jesus, the origins and development of early Christianity. I also studied the Bible at University, so naturally I find these discussions fascinating. I think this audio interview offers a good introduction to anyone unfamiliar with Ehrman. He’s in form here and less condescending than you might find him in other presentations.
Bart Ehrman, author of the highly popular Truth and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code and Lost Christianities, here takes readers on another engaging tour of the early Christian church, illuminating the lives of three of Jesus’ most intriguing followers: Simon Peter, Paul of Tarsus, and Mary Magdalene. ..….… (Listen to entire interview).
Poem by Chris Wallace-Crabbe at the Poetry library:
I lived in Melbourne for many years. It feels more like home to me than Sydney where I was born. Below is the second poem presented on this blog from Chris Wallace-Crabbe about the place I hold such fond memories.
Not on the ocean, on a muted bay
Where the broad rays drift slowly over mud
And flathead loll on sand, a city bloats
Between the plains of water and of loam.
If surf beats, it is faint and far away;
If slogans blow around, we stay at home
And, like the bay, our blood flows easily,
Not warm, not cold (in all things moderate).…Read entire poem
Video at AndyOnLetterman:
I remember watching Jim Carrey’s Golden Globe winning portrayal of Andy Kaufman in Man on the Moon, but I had hardly seen any footage of Kaufman in real person. So this was a pleasant surprise.
Andy appearing on Letterman’s show for the second time. This is the day after his first appearance on the same morning show….(Watch entire video)
- Ashley Mathews (Riley Reid) on The Portal, Ep. #021 – The Mogul & Brains Behind America’s Sweetheart
Video podcast at Eric Weinstein:
In this episode, Eric sits down with the business woman who created the enduring character of the unlikely top pornstar Riley Reid….Ashley, in the role of the Riley Reid character, has defied all pornographic convention by embracing body positivity, forgoing plastic surgery and opting for natural body hair at times. Additionally she has made a social statement by doing a popular artistic scene which makes a political and business case for greater transsexual acceptance.…(Watch entire podcast)
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
Observation Blogger 
Andy Kaufman was a different animal from all others. He is one of my favorite…well whatever he was… comedian/actor/wrestler/practical joker…I’ve read a few books about him…who ever would read The Great Gatsby aloud (some say completely) as a comedy routine is a different breed.
I suppose you could call him a comedian’s comedian. Extremely cutting edge and risky comedy. I don’t blame him for wanting to read The Great Gatsby aloud. I would have happily spent a day listening to him read it. Haha.
LOL… he loved to get people angry which is great to me. He pulled so many jokes on people that many believe to this day he faked his own death.
Yeh, I read somewhere that people think he may still be alive. Even as he seemingly coughed and spluttered during that Letterman interview I couldn’t help but think of his passing and how people weren’t crazy to think that he could have faked it.
I saw the Letterman show the night it was on with the wrestler Jerry Lawler. Andy could always be counted on for an interesting time.
Jeez, I must have seen that Letterman appearance when I was a kid, but I don’t remember. Wasn’t that the most uncomfortable thing ever? What WAS the coughing about, though? Because I looked him up and saw that he died from a rare lung cancer in ’84. If that was ’80….it was too early for him to be sick, I think. So it was a very strange kind of prescient joking around he was doing there….which sadly came true.
Also loved the Melbourne poem. It’s mixed with sweet memories and sadness due to loss and change, it seems to me. I love the last line: “Though much has died here, little has been born.”
What made you love it so much? Any one thing in particular, or many things?
I never got the coughing thing by Kaufman and it’s perverse how it came back in a way he never could have imagined. I think the Milos Foreman movie looks at that in more detail.
I really despise coughing now. I mean if someone coughs without tapping their mouth, which often happens (and spitting!) in sub or undeveloped countries (because more people are uneducated I guess) that really irks me. Starting from today I’m wearing a face mask when I go outside and interact. Bogota is currently on heightened alert (orange) due to the Corona Virus although there are just 3 reported cases here. I expect that number to balloon in upcoming days. Also Bogota is kind of like a cesspool for viral illnesses as the air is just so stagnant. Bogota sits in like a big valley surrounded by mountain ranges.
The Melbourne Poem is beautifully worded and I admire his interpretation. Other than the images of the bay which he evokes there isn’t anything I find ‘very’ relatable since I lived there (ongoing) after I turned 30. I love Melbourne for other aesthetic and cultural reasons. Thanks for taking the time out to read it.
Ah, I see. It must be an interesting culture. The European aspect MUST have mixed with the aboriginals to some degree in some kind of amalgamation, I would think.
And good luck with coronavirus–not coming in contact with it, of course. Yeah, it’s weird to imagine myself opening my mouth wide and coughing or sneezing without covering my mouth and/or turning my head. I can’t even picture that! If my mother were alive, she’d slap me, lol!!
I guess they’re all busy trying to figure out why babies and children seem to do fine with it, but once a person’s over 18, evidently, all bets are off, and, of course, it’s almost lethal in the elderly. They just can’t find the nexus. They’re baffled!
One hypothesis presented by an expert I heard recently was perhaps children don’t show symptoms of the virus is due to their underdeveloped immunity systems. This virus seems to attack bodies with already developed systems (although weak). I would need to listen to the podcast again to get a better grasp of the scientific reasoning.
But yes they seem perplexed by it.
I just hope it’s miraculously contained or our hospital systems could all end up like Italy’s we’re supposedly they are running out of ICU’s and ventilators and turning people away. And yesterday we had the biggest stock market crash since Wall Street 87. And of course Trump’s handling of this has been absolutely Shite. He couldn’t even say the correct words in his address about ‘Cargo’ NOT being included in flight suspensions and he initially denied the severity of it all contravening medical opinion.
Underdeveloped immune systems that don’t go bonkers leaping into action and overdoing it sounds feasible. God, it’s scary. Two guys from our main office in Minneapolis came out yesterday to do stuff to our computers, and every time they finished messing around at my station I had to get the bleach wipes out and wipe everything they had touched down just in case they picked something up on the plane over here, you know? Or in the airport. Anywhere!
As for Trump, I think he’d disagree with you. After all, he’s a stable genius (whatever the f*** that means) so he knows everything in the world and is the wisest person in this universe and the next. (vomit)
I can see why you took those precautions with the guys from Minneapolis. It looks like the authorities / Governments now understand what is required…. Lot’s of test kits and testing to identify and contain cases before they spread! I’m glad the market has rebounded today too. Today seems to look a little brighter and the crises more manageable. Cross fingers.
I’m taking another break from blogging it seems, but I hope we can keep in touch to see how each other is fairing once in a while. Cheers Stacey.
Okay, Matt.
Get some rest, get revitalized, and see you on the flip side! 🙂
Thanks Stacey. Have a great weekend. Speak soon.