Category: Uncategorized

I did the English text for this recording of Bruckner’s 2nd, 3rd and 7th symphonies. Part of it is on the website; the rest you would have to buy the recording to see. And last year I did the English text for Austrian artist Cornelia Mittendorfer’s green line project. Her photos of divided Cyprus are truly… Continue reading Recent projects

With regard to Goethe’s play Götz von Berlichingen, “Lessing, who had just held up his own newly published Emilia Galotti as a model of how a stage-play should be constructed, was bitter; he exclaimed angrily that Goethe had filled sausage skins with sand and sold them as rope.”

“Buy such an infamous instrument of murder – that I wouldn’t do at any price! If I were in authority the makers would have been put in the pillory and the machines themselves I would have had publicly burned by the hangman – What! Let the children play with such a horrible thing – put… Continue reading No, little August, Grandma will not buy you Mortal Kombat

“It suffices to say that among all the old and long since fleshless heads my eye caught sight of two new ones hoisted high on poles – the heads of the Prince and of Braquemart. From the iron pike-heads with their curving hooks they looked down upon the glow of the fires which were flaking… Continue reading Noble beings

Shout-out to the very nice people at Port Plastics in San Jose, CA. They took time out of their busy day to help me figure out an accurate translation for a specialized Plexiglass item. Thanks!

A friend took this photo at Karlstein Castle in the Czech Republic. It seems they don’t serve my kind in there.

I do have a cold. I powered through it during Christmas preparations but spent the Feast of Stephen in bed. And that’s where I’d be today, as well, if there weren’t things to do. Most people have a cold in one of my favorite poems: Weltende, by Jakob van Hoddis. Good old Raymond Furness of St. Andrews… Continue reading Most people have a cold.

Bats are wonderful creatures. However, it seems that more often than not they use their vocalizations for squabbling and bickering, according to these Bat translators. Makes me wonder how much of our human language was born in conflict and discontent, and perhaps sheds new light on why all the great spiritual traditions are always telling… Continue reading Translating Bat-ese

Wait — what? This is supposed to say “Keep Calm and Speak German” (because what the world really needs is more variations on “Keep Calm and Carry On”). But (1) the words are in the wrong order and (2) if you put them in the right order they say “Keep Quiet and Speak German.” I… Continue reading “Halten Ruhe und Sprechen Deutsch”

Bruckner showed both his Second and Third symphonies to Wagner [his idol, whom he had long worshiped from afar – LF], asking him to pick one he preferred. To Bruckner’s delight, Wagner chose the Third, and Bruckner dedicated the symphony to the master he highly respected. According to an anecdote, Bruckner and Wagner drank so… Continue reading Bruckner, the morning after