I'm a lover of good writing and Orwell's was, at times, the absolute best. He forced the reader to look at, in the words of William Burroughs, what is on the end of their fork. His "Essays" are 1,500 pp of wonderful stuff, lots of minor work interspersed with a scalpel-precision evisceration of Tolstoy, the essential "Politics and the English Language," the school favorite anti-imperialist tract "Shooting an Elephant," an encomium to Henry Miller titled "Inside the Whale," and an honest attempt (in "Rudyard Kipling") to help the reader appreciate the great amount of good writing Kipling produced, without being repelled by the blatant imperialist ethos.
You may have to be an Orwellista like myself to appreciate it, but Paul Theroux's "Burma Sahib," a novelized version of Orwell's experiences as a colonial policeman in the nation now known as Myanmar, is really a treat as well. Right before it or right after it you can read Orwell's novel "Burmese Days," which addresses the same topics and events.
"1984" was the first Orwell I ever read, when I was perhaps 13, and though I missed all the parallels with Stalin and the Soviet empire, I still felt an attachment to Winston. "Animal Farm" is gorgeous book, a satire at Jonathon Swift level but also a heart-rending story of an attempt to throw off the oppressors and make a better world, all on an English farm. The ending is poignant and beautiful because Orwell makes you care about these animals while also dressing them up as Trotsky, Stalin, Lenin, etc.
In "Such, Such were the Joys," Orwell uses his powerful ability to talk about issues other people find distasteful to pitilessly describe his experiences at an aspirational-level prep board school to which he was sent "home" from India (where father was a civil servant) to attend. The essay was not published until after his death but contains no revelations that would embarrass any powerful figures, except that it exposes the classism the entire English educational system was built on.
For some reason, every bored bastard in the English-speaking world with a few million to lose decided a few years ago to start distilling alcohol, letting whatever bizarre combination of exotic crap they could lay their hands on soak in it for a while, and then selling it as gin. Now they're all going broke, haha!
Gin is flavored mainly with juniper berries. Not sundried tomatoes, or lemon myrtle, or a rare herb found only on the Mull of Kintyre. Juniper berries with selected supplementary herbs that subtly complement the main flavor. That is all.
And "finishing" gin in ex-wine casks, as if it's whisky, is an abomination for which capital punishment is appropriate.
If I'd have known it was World Gin Day..... I *STILL* would have spent my time at the Food & Wine Expo focusing on the varieties of gin available.
Plymouth Sloe Gin
Black Button Distilling Lilac Gin (From Rochester NY, infused with that city's signature flower)
Engine Gin (comes in a metal can that's intended to look like a fuel additive)
Three Cuts Founder's Release Gin (all the way from Tasmania!)
Silent Pool Gin (lovely bottle!)
Ritual Zero Proof Gin Alternative (all the botanicals, but none of the alcohol)
There was one other gin whose name I've forgotten where the Brand Ambassador and I decided that it would make a perfect gin & tonic if instead of a lime, you garnished it with a sprig of basil.
Orwell saw that there was no defeating totalitarianism. As there was always a new way to re-package and market it. You don't like the guys with the funny uniforms with a copy of Mein Kampf and their swastika? Then dress them up in suits, with a Bible and Cross, and make sure every second word coming out of their mouth is 'Jesus'. Make the differences others have with you out to be failings and unpatriotic. Champion buffoons and liars as you can tell who is on your side if they object to being led by such unfit representatives. Always, and always, find the other and project every sin you commit in private on to them.
Orwell was British Intelligence. 1984 wasn't science-fiction, it was insight into his superior's thinking and a public warning before things like NDAs existed.
Turned out to be less a warning, more a schematic.
I sorta prefer John Hurt as Winston Smith because he's got that timeless beaten down look nailed. In a fight between him and Harry Dean Stanton, who would win? Both/neither, but that's not the point.
Nice! I worked with an architect who knew I liked Tanqueray gin. He told me that if I ever ran out and just needed a little hint of it to just smell a roll of 3M Scotch Tape (the green one). He's right! On his last day at the firm, I gave him a bottle of Tanqueray and a roll of Scotch Tape.
I'm a lover of good writing and Orwell's was, at times, the absolute best. He forced the reader to look at, in the words of William Burroughs, what is on the end of their fork. His "Essays" are 1,500 pp of wonderful stuff, lots of minor work interspersed with a scalpel-precision evisceration of Tolstoy, the essential "Politics and the English Language," the school favorite anti-imperialist tract "Shooting an Elephant," an encomium to Henry Miller titled "Inside the Whale," and an honest attempt (in "Rudyard Kipling") to help the reader appreciate the great amount of good writing Kipling produced, without being repelled by the blatant imperialist ethos.
You may have to be an Orwellista like myself to appreciate it, but Paul Theroux's "Burma Sahib," a novelized version of Orwell's experiences as a colonial policeman in the nation now known as Myanmar, is really a treat as well. Right before it or right after it you can read Orwell's novel "Burmese Days," which addresses the same topics and events.
"1984" was the first Orwell I ever read, when I was perhaps 13, and though I missed all the parallels with Stalin and the Soviet empire, I still felt an attachment to Winston. "Animal Farm" is gorgeous book, a satire at Jonathon Swift level but also a heart-rending story of an attempt to throw off the oppressors and make a better world, all on an English farm. The ending is poignant and beautiful because Orwell makes you care about these animals while also dressing them up as Trotsky, Stalin, Lenin, etc.
In "Such, Such were the Joys," Orwell uses his powerful ability to talk about issues other people find distasteful to pitilessly describe his experiences at an aspirational-level prep board school to which he was sent "home" from India (where father was a civil servant) to attend. The essay was not published until after his death but contains no revelations that would embarrass any powerful figures, except that it exposes the classism the entire English educational system was built on.
So many pleasures. Treat yourself!
https://www.amazon.com/Essays-George-Orwell-audiobook/dp/B07VF7LWL1/ref=sr_1_1?crid=ZI4N0BRY4P7X&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.IsxE7dUyglshpKvk70d15yq1rgkeFrKicfwlGPqwvqXAI8GVISZte5tlrQ2sfTqvTk74vfnE5HMpPzsiw9IPIbEyUl97T-RWQjHIx_t1y1BceGm7a4BAiUVFFZACIgfjnYBf3Z1gKou6eVNCoJRVlImF4f-rPXIkvcEoolJ9jaRR2RbUK9cEkpjEeqevqSxU8z0oeor2JTIkYK6kPtSGkxDgKhAjkuYVCHiYzRMuAlo.2T_oX5Je5CDa2z307XI0Hcye-8GjjeojYd0IVgwRcgA&dib_tag=se&keywords=essays+george+orwell&qid=1718709673&sprefix=essays+george+orwell%2Caps%2C158&sr=8-1
For some reason, every bored bastard in the English-speaking world with a few million to lose decided a few years ago to start distilling alcohol, letting whatever bizarre combination of exotic crap they could lay their hands on soak in it for a while, and then selling it as gin. Now they're all going broke, haha!
Gin is flavored mainly with juniper berries. Not sundried tomatoes, or lemon myrtle, or a rare herb found only on the Mull of Kintyre. Juniper berries with selected supplementary herbs that subtly complement the main flavor. That is all.
And "finishing" gin in ex-wine casks, as if it's whisky, is an abomination for which capital punishment is appropriate.
Oingo Boingo
Turns out
Not so great
https://anchor.fm/s/6389ee9c/podcast/play/83586868/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2024-2-5%2F369770852-44100-2-d997feb98c05e.m4a
Damn it, I was quite the Boingo fan in the 80's.
F'ing Elfman, you suck.
Why am I just learning about this?
It really sucks
At least you're protecting yourself from malaria by drinking your gin and tonics.
If I'd have known it was World Gin Day..... I *STILL* would have spent my time at the Food & Wine Expo focusing on the varieties of gin available.
Plymouth Sloe Gin
Black Button Distilling Lilac Gin (From Rochester NY, infused with that city's signature flower)
Engine Gin (comes in a metal can that's intended to look like a fuel additive)
Three Cuts Founder's Release Gin (all the way from Tasmania!)
Silent Pool Gin (lovely bottle!)
Ritual Zero Proof Gin Alternative (all the botanicals, but none of the alcohol)
There was one other gin whose name I've forgotten where the Brand Ambassador and I decided that it would make a perfect gin & tonic if instead of a lime, you garnished it with a sprig of basil.
Orwell saw that there was no defeating totalitarianism. As there was always a new way to re-package and market it. You don't like the guys with the funny uniforms with a copy of Mein Kampf and their swastika? Then dress them up in suits, with a Bible and Cross, and make sure every second word coming out of their mouth is 'Jesus'. Make the differences others have with you out to be failings and unpatriotic. Champion buffoons and liars as you can tell who is on your side if they object to being led by such unfit representatives. Always, and always, find the other and project every sin you commit in private on to them.
Orwell was British Intelligence. 1984 wasn't science-fiction, it was insight into his superior's thinking and a public warning before things like NDAs existed.
Turned out to be less a warning, more a schematic.
My first (and last) interaction with gin involved some rather violent regurgitations that, to this day, remind me of throwing up in a pine forest.
Considering all possible venues for throwing up, pine forest doesn't sound too bad.
seriously?
that IS a good reason to drink
now come up with good WGD nonsense
extra points for extra Ws
Would God Drink?
Why, God Dammit!
hoo gives dam
Winston Goes Down
I sorta prefer John Hurt as Winston Smith because he's got that timeless beaten down look nailed. In a fight between him and Harry Dean Stanton, who would win? Both/neither, but that's not the point.
One needn't win to enjoy Victory gin. Tu quoque woke? Victory smoke.
Humph. Trumpty84 is pending. Things could get real real fast real soon.
I heard that 1984 thing. Laurie Anderson was tangled up in it somehow. Hey, wait, that was 40 years ago!
4 sides, like a box
It's a big family gathering up in wine country.
There's 4 kids under 6 all running around shrieking, as kids do.
I decided to eat breakfast out on the deck. Where there are no kids.
at least it's not 4 adults *acting like* they're 6 all running around shrieking
Hope your breakfast was peaceful ♥
It was. And then I took the doggo to the local dog park and had a very zen time watching him run about like a mad thing.
And because this is northern CA, the locals at the park were all worrying about very liberal topics.
And now I'm three beers in and appropriately softened on my general attitude to my fellow humans.
Drat, I already bought bourbon.
I am quite coincidentally, drinking a gin and tonic right now. Tanqueray Rangpur lime gin an Q light tonic.
Nice! I worked with an architect who knew I liked Tanqueray gin. He told me that if I ever ran out and just needed a little hint of it to just smell a roll of 3M Scotch Tape (the green one). He's right! On his last day at the firm, I gave him a bottle of Tanqueray and a roll of Scotch Tape.
That’s… interesting!