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“Come on, shake off the covers of this sloth,”
the master said, “for sitting softly cushioned,
or tucked in bed, is no way to win fame;

and without it man must waste his life away,
leaving such traces of what he was on earth
as smoke in wind and foam upon the water.

Stand up! Dominate this weariness of yours
with the strength of soul that winds in every battle
if it does not sink beneath the body’s weight.

Much steeper stairs than these we’ll have to climb” (XXIV, 46-55, pg. 198)

— Dante Alighieri, Dante’s Inferno, trans. Mark Musa (Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1971).

“Omai convien che tu così ti spoltre,”
disse ‘l maestro; “ché, seggendo in piuma,
in fama non si vien, né sotto coltre;
sanza la qual chi sua vita consuma,
cotal vestigo in terra di sé lascia,
qual fummo in aere e in acqua la schiuma.
E però leva sù; vinci l’ambascia
con l’animo che vince ogne battaglia,
se col suo grave corpo non s’accasia.
Più lunga scala convien che si saglia; …” (XXIV, 46-55)

“Now it behooves you thus to case off sloth,” said my master, for sitting on down or under coverlet, no one comes to fame, without which whoso consumes his life leaves such vestige of himself on earth as smoke in air or foam in water. Rise, therefore; conquer your panting with the soul that wins every battle, if with its heavy body it sinks not down. A longer ladder must be climbed…” (249-250)

— Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy, Inferno, 1: Italian Text and Translation, trans. Charles S. Singleton (Princeton: Princeton UP, 1970).

Often “we hear about the ‘impotence’ and ‘dryness’ of the critic” (3). Yet, “The only way to forestall the work of criticism is through censorship, which has the same relation to criticism that lynching has to justice” (4).
— from Northrop Frye’s Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays (Princeton: Princeton UP, 1957).

We don’t want the loonies (loonatic critics) taking over. Gagging order: A couple more for breakfast, a little more for tea. Just to take the edge off.

repeat parrot fashion:

“now must thou cast off all sloth…. for sitting on down or under blankets none comes to fame, and without it he that consumes his life leaves no trace of himself on earth, as smoke in air or foam on the water. rise, therefore, conquer thy distress with the soul, which conquers in every battle if it doesnot sink with its bodys weight. there is a longer stair which must be climbed.”

Dante, Commedia, Inferno XXIV, 46-55.

An excerpt:

in the distance there is a cloud but as im in an ok mood i can keep it away
……..friends of the earth have asked me whether i would meet Tony Blair at downing street to discuss what our government is not doing about climate change..i dont know if this will ever happen for certain…. it is rattling around in the back of my mind and concerns me a lot.
i have no intention of being used by spider spin doctors to make it look like we make progress when it is just words.
id love to know what you think but i cant ask.
youd say oh ther e he goes again interfering and meddling in politics why doesnt he get on with the music and shut up.
perhaps because i feel like a hypocrit if dont do anything, and equally feel like a hypocrit if i try getting involved.
nobody wants to know. none of u s do, me included id love to forget about it like your average Times reader. wed all like it to go away. turn to to the rising sea and say come back later im busy right now.
Blair has been uttering nonsense lately about kyoto and such, real la la stuff… looks like th eamerican right have finally eaten his mind… blah blah why on earth would i meet this man? o r perhaps that is exactly why i should. but i dont have powers of persuasion, i just have temper and an acid tongue.

trust me i find this as dull as you do… politics is poison..
what do yout think i should do?

I posted this on the atease msg board this evening:

a challenge: in 150 words or less, how would you describe the song “2+2=5”? I’m writing an essay on the song for a book. if your description wins, what do you get? nothing, really, other than a citation in the essay (your name immortalized in an academic article that a handful of people will access once every fourteen to sixteen years using the modern language association’s international bibliographic database—that’s about 7 seconds of your fifteen minutes of fame).

BUT seriously. I’m no musician: how would you describe the song? how it moves from the opening chit-chat (from “we’re on” to “that’s a nice way to start jonny”) to the drum machine (i’m guessing that’s what that is) then to a Smiths-like guitar? then to another section? And then? Et cetera. The song isn’t my favorite, but the more I listen to it the more it baffles me sonically, aurally. Soundwise.

And did I mention I hear f-fifteens overhead once a week or so?

This is a double dare, a double dog dare. I dare you. I can’t get these headphones loud enouff.

Readers of this site (both of you, plus the random visitor) can post a description in comments. Thank you.

You can keep what you want
I want none of this
They’re just bad memories
I don’t want

Am I sunshine
You can pack it all up
And be gone
And be gone

If it matters to you
You can sell it all out
If the price feels right
I won’t judge

If you get off your knees
You’ll be out on a breeze
Take a lesson from me
Don’t get stuck on a dream

Lyrics via atease.

The book’s introduction has been translated into Spanish by Javier Morales. Thanks to http://www.revolvingdoors.cl/ for arranging the translation.

The video for “Go to Sleep” is now online here. An article about the video’s making is available at the Massive Software web site.

I have placed a copy of the video for “There, there” and “Pyramid Song” online here.