Saturday, March 3, 2007

Rilke's "Der Panther"


Der Panther

By Rainer Maria Rilke

Sein Blick ist vom Vorübergehen der Stäbe
so müd geworden, daß er nichts mehr hält.
Ihm ist, als ob es tausend Stäbe gäbe
und hinter tausend Stäben keine Welt.

Der weiche Gang geschmeidig starker Schritte,
der sich im allerkleinsten Kreise dreht,
ist wie ein Tanz von Kraft um eine Mitte,
in der betäubt ein großer Wille steht.

Nur manchmal schiebt der Vorhang der Pupille
sich lautlos auf -. Dann geht ein Bild hinein,
geht durch der Glieder angespannter Stille -
und hört im Herzen auf zu sein.

The Panther

By Rainer Maria Rilke
Translated By Robert Bly

From seeing the bars, his seeing is so exhausted
that it no longer holds anything anymore.
To him the world is bars, a hundred thousand
bars, and behind the bars, nothing.

The lithe swinging of that rhythmical easy stride
which circles down to the tiniest hub
is like a dance of energy around a point
in which a great will stands stunned and numb.

Only at times the curtains of the pupil rise
without a sound . . . then a shape enters,
slips though the tightened silence of the shoulders,
reaches the heart, and dies.



To me, it seems anybody who felt trapped at some point in their life will see the amazing power in this poem. I have seen several translations of this poem, but I still like Bly's the best. Also it is featured prominently in the 1990 Williams/DeNiro movie, Awakenings.

Enjoy!

TomC

When Will This Prohibition Stop?!?!

http://www.reason.com/news/show/33881.html

http://www.jointogether.org/news/headlines/inthenews/2006/group-wants-r-rating-for.html

http://www.webmd.com/parenting/news/20061009/r-rating-urged-for-smoking-in-movies

This is getting absurd. When does personal responsibility come into play here, or a parents responsibility for their children.

WebMD Claims:

"Can you really tell whether smoking portrayed in movies makes kids start smoking? Yes, says James Sargent, MD, director of the Cancer Prevention Research Program at Dartmouth Medical School in Lebanon, N.H.

Since 1996, Sargent and colleagues have analyzed movies for smoking content. They've also been finding out which movies kids have seen, and whether they smoke.

After accounting for factors linked to smoking behavior and moviegoing frequency, they find that kids who see the most onscreen smoking are more than 2.5 times more likely to start smoking than kids who see the least onscreen smoking."

Junk Science at best, you found a possible correlation, not a cause.

I wager that the vast majority of children in these studies started smoking because of one of two things 1) their parents smoke, or 2) their friends smoke. And rather that rat those people out to the "grown ups" asking the questions, they lie and say the easy cop out answer. The ill of society everybody accepts as an excuse, mass media. "Oh Its not that my Mommy and Daddy suck at parenting me, its the movie that made me smoke", or "Its not that ALL the popular kids at school smoke, its what Its the cowboy in the magazine". C'mon people lets be realistic here. Its bad enough you got the government telling consenting adults what they are allowed to do where now, when will this stop?

Parents - Own the fuck up.

Kids - Get over yourself.

Doctors - find something better to do than harp on an easy target. If we put half the effort into the anti smking campaign as we did fighting Cancer or AIDs or something theyd be fuckin' cured.


Sheesh. Free Country My Ass.

TomC

A. Turrent 2000 Corona



5 1/2" X 44, Natural

Okay I am always up to try new cigars, I mean there have been some great discoveries I have made by trying smokes I knew very little of. So, when the chance to try the A. Turrent 2000 arrived, I jumped at the chance. Lets see how it turned out!

I don't fell up to the big formal reviews I do sometimes, and maybe the cigar doesnt really warrant it. This little box pressed corona looked okay, clipped well and was okay with draw and burn were good. Now taste. . . . Well I was a little leery when, before even starting their advertising for the brand Corona Cigar said this:

"Mexican tobacco got a bad name during the cigar boom. And it was unfair, because it was untrained people trying to get a share of the boom market that gave it a bad name – it wasn’t the tobaccos fault it was misused. Cigars from all over were being overproduced, but for some reason Mexican cigars received the brunt of the blame. Thank goodness for families like the Turrents who know how to make a great cigar. They are responsible for proving outdated stereotypes wrong and returning the good name to Mexican tobacco. "

sounds like a RED FLAG to me, if I ever heard one. Alas the red flag proved warranted. This was not a very good cigar. It did not have a ton of flavor, and what flavor it did have was not good. It tasted vegetal and a little sour. Alas for the first time in a long time I have to say, DO NOT BUY THIS CIGAR.

So sad

TomC

StogieChat.com Blind Tasting #1, REVEALED!!



To Recap: The fine BOTL's at the best cigar discussion forum in the known universe, Stogie Chat(!!), are doing a premium cigar blind tasting, and because they love me so, I was able to participate. More details regarding the blind tasting are HERE, for those interested. It seems to me I thought I would share with the world the fabulous experience I had with this cigar, blindly, and then update you to what this fine cigar is when the answer is revealed.

Well the answer was revealed: (drum roll) It was a. . .


Cabaiguán Imperiales
7" X 47, Natural


A fine Cigar from the makers of the Tatuaje line, and a cigar I wouldn't mind having again!

Thanks Again Guys!

TomC