Friday, March 1, 2019
Watching the Celtics as Gordon Hayward struggles to regain his past form and effectiveness goes beyond accepting pain and oozes into masochism.

Every time he gets the ball you wish so much for him to hit the basket.
He disappoints.
Regularly, if not unerringly.
The stats at the end of the game are disappointing.
It hurts.

Winning or losing a particular game is not as important to the Celtics dim prospects for a run at the championship as getting Hayward back to his old All-Star form and going from there.

Why am I drawn to turn the games on?
God forbid I use the word ‘watch’ the game.
That is ultimate masochism.
At most I can keep it on as background noise and pray for a swish.

Tuesday night the Celtics were playing Toronto close into the second quarter.
Toronto a robust contender.
Hayward came in off the bench.
In the next series of plays he got off three shots.
If he gets all three, the Celtics take the lead.
Two of three, the Celtics are tied.
One of three the Celtics stay close.
In the event, none of three.
Zero.
In that same event Toronto establishes a firm grip and then goes on to embarrass the Celtics, again.

Masochism. 

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Tagging Today
Friday, March 1, 2019

My 323rd consecutive posting, committed to 5,000.

Time is 12.01am.
On Friday, Boston’s temperature will reach a high of 34* with a feels-like temperature of 32* and a mix of clouds and sun.

Dinner is Tuna Salad.

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Tick Tock : Tracking Time, Marking Calendars, and Deep Weather thoughts

323 posts to date.
Today we’re at the 6.46% mark of my commitment,
the commitment being a different way of marking the passage of time.

Today our winter-spring shoulder calendar features cold weather.
Cold, but acceptable. And for the three days following, the temps will be in the upper 30s.
Acceptable.
But the three days following that?
Brrrr! As in cold, in the 20s.

Remember that once we accept that that many unpleasant days are lining up to annoy us and that we will still have an occasional need to dress for wintry weather, we can enjoy the march to milder weather.
Slow but inexorable.
It’s coming.

Response: Oh, sure!

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Question of the Day
Can you compare the Nazi propaganda film, A Triumph of the Will with the American propaganda series, Why We Fight?

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Love your notes.
Contact me at existentialautotrip@hotmail.com

This from Sally C.

Dear Dom,

With regards to your current elephant-joke theme, here's a poem my mother used to read to us, that invariably rendered my brothers and me totally useless in helpless giggles.

Eletelephony, by Laura Elizabeth Richards

Once there was an elephant, Who tried to use the telephant— No! No! I mean an elephone Who tried to use the telephone— (Dear me! I am not certain quite That even now I’ve got it right.) Howe’er it was, he got his trunk Entangled in the telephunk; The more he tried to get it free, The louder buzzed the telephee— (I fear I’d better drop the song Of elephop and telephong!)

I think "Eletelephony" was published in the Childcraft books, published at least as early as 1939 in 15 volumes like an encyclopedia.  Are you familiar with them?  Volume 1 had material for toddlers, and each volume advanced in age-appropriate material, the last ones full of projects and crafts for older children.  The folk tales from other countries were among my favorites. 

Sure wish I could find that little book ... 

Web Meister Responds: I found a copy, used, for $692.00. Meanwhile, find this particular copy on Amazon, Just type in Eletelephony on the Amazon site.

Sally:

We also had a little book of children's rhymes, illustrated with pictures reminiscent of the Campbell Soup kids - probably from the 1920s. We never knew the name of the book or its author, for when my mother found it at a yard sale, the cover was long gone. But I remember many poems from it, including one about an elephant, although not as hysterical.

Away down south by the Southern Sea
An elephant sits in the cinnamon tree.
He can't get up and he can't get down
He's a thousand miles from the nearest town
And that is the reason, you must agree,
The elephant sits in the cinnamon tree.

That little book was full of great stuff - about Ginger, a scalawag pup (who got in the cellar way and ate the sausage up), about a boy who loved sugar - loads of others.  It's probably been out of print almost from the time it was published.

Oh, but my childhood was full of rich things, far better than being rich.

Sally

Web Meister Responds: You were rich in your own ways.
Meanwhile, look familiar?

__________________________Elephant jokes to tell at a bar:
What’s an elephant’s favorite film?

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Answer to the Question of the Day
Can you compare the Nazi propaganda film, A Triumph of the Will with the American propaganda series, Why We Fight?

Triumph of the Will (German: Triumph des Willens) is a 1935 Nazi propaganda film directed, produced, edited, and co-written by Leni Riefenstahl.
It chronicles the 1934 Nazi Party Congress in Nuremberg, which was attended by more than 700,000 Nazi supporters.

The film contains excerpts from speeches given by Nazi leaders at the Congress, including Adolf Hitler, Rudolf Hess and Julius Streicher, interspersed with footage of massed Sturmabteilung (SA) and Schutzstaffel (SS) troops and public reaction.

Hitler commissioned the film and served as an unofficial executive producer; his name appears in the opening titles.
The film's overriding theme is the return of Germany as a great power, with Hitler as the leader who will bring glory to the nation.
Because the film was made after the 1934 Night of the Long Knives (on 30 June), many prominent Sturmabteilung (SA) members are absent—they were murdered in that Party purge, organized and orchestrated by Hitler to replace the SA with the Schutzstaffel (SS) as his main paramilitary force.

Triumph of the Will was released in 1935 and became a major example of film used as propaganda.
Riefenstahl's techniques—such as moving cameras, aerial photography, the use of long focus lenses to create a distorted perspective, and the revolutionary approach to the use of music and cinematography—have earned Triumph of the Will recognition as one of the greatest propaganda films in history.
Riefenstahl helped to stage the scenes, directing and rehearsing some of them at least fifty times.

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Frank Capra's seven-film series Why We Fight is said to have been directly inspired by, and the United States' response to, Triumph of the Will.

Why We Fight is a series of seven documentary films commissioned by the United States government during World War II to justify to U.S. soldiers their country's involvement in the war.
Later on, they were also shown to the U.S. public to persuade them to support U.S. involvement in the war.

Most of the films were directed by Frank Capra, who was daunted, yet impressed and challenged, by Leni Riefenstahl's propaganda film Triumph of the Will, and worked in direct response to it.

The series faced a tough challenge: convincing a recently non-interventionist nation of the need to become involved in the war and ally with the Soviets, among other things.
In many of the films, Capra and other directors spliced in Axis powers propaganda footage going back twenty years, and re-contextualized it so it promoted the cause of the Allies.

Why We Fight was edited primarily by William Hornbeck, although some parts were re-enacted "under War Department supervision" if there was no relevant footage available.
The animated portions of the films were produced by the Disney studios – with the animated maps following a convention of depicting Axis-occupied territory in black.

Here’s a list of the films:

Prelude to War (1942; 51min 35s) (Academy award as Documentary Feature) – this examines the difference between democratic and fascist states, and covers the Japanese conquest of Manchuria and the Italian conquest of Ethiopia.
Capra describes it as "presenting a general picture of two worlds; the slave and the free, and the rise of totalitarian militarism from Japan's conquest of Manchuria to Mussolini's conquest of Ethiopia".

The Nazis Strike (1943, 40min 20s) – covers Nazi geopolitics and the conquest of Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland.
Capra's description:
"Hitler rises. Imposes
Nazi dictatorship on Germany.
Goose-steps into Rhineland and Austria.
Threatens war unless given Czechoslovakia. Appeasers oblige.
Hitler invades Poland.
Curtain rises on the tragedy of the century—World War II."

Divide and Conquer (1943, 56min)[6] – about the campaign in Benelux and the Fall of France. Capra's description:
"Hitler occupies Denmark and Norway, outflanks Maginot Line, drives British Army into North Sea, forces surrender of France."

The Battle of Britain (1943, 51min 30s) – depicts Britain's victory against the Luftwaffe.
Capra's synopsis:
"Showing the gallant and victorious defense of Britain by Royal Air Force, at a time when shattered, but unbeaten, British were only people fighting Nazis."

The Battle of Russia (1943, 76min 7s) Part I and Part II – shows a history of Russian defense and Russia's battle against Germany.
Capra's synopsis: "History of Russia; people, size, resources, wars.
Death struggle against Nazi armies at gates of Moscow and Leningrad.
At Stalingrad, Nazis are put through meat grinder."

The Battle of China (1944, 62min 16s) – shows Japanese aggression such as the Nanjing Massacre and Chinese efforts such as the construction of the Burma Road and the Battle of Changsha.
Capra's synopsis:
"Japan's warlords commit total effort to conquest of China.
Once conquered, Japan would use China's manpower for the conquest of all Asia."

War Comes to America (1945, 64min 20s) – shows how the pattern of Axis aggression turned the American people against isolationism.
Capra's synopsis:
Dealt with who, what, where, why, and how we came to be the USA—the oldest major democratic republic still living under its original constitution.
But the heart of the film dealt with the depth and variety of emotions with which Americans reacted to the traumatic events in Europe and Asia.
How our convictions slowly changed from total non-involvement to total commitment as we realized that loss of freedom anywhere increased the danger to our own freedom.

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Good Morning on this Friday, the First of March.

We talked about masochism and tuna salad; time passages and weather.
We posted a great comment from Sally C. and another elephant joke.
And then we talked about propaganda films, Nazi Germany and the United States.

And now? Now gotta go.

Che vuoi? Le pocketbook?

See you soon.

Your Love