While doing the washing up after dinner last night I got to reflecting on Ed Gyllenhaal’s latest posting over at New Church History, which led to a train of thought that ended with the odious TV show Jimmy Kimmel Live! I should explain: Around last Christmas a young woman who claimed to be one of Kimmel’s producers contacted me to ask if I had in my possession, of all things, an original (!) copy of Swedenborgian entomologist Leonard Gyllenhaal’s 200-year-old masterwork Insecta Suecica that the show could borrow for an upcoming appearance by Jake. I could only wonder how my interest in the history of Swedenborgianism had gotten around, but I was pretty damn sure that Kimmel was planning to bring up Jake’s great-great-great-great grandfather in order to crack a few “bug man” jokes—the same way he tried, not coincidentally, to crack a few cheap jokes about the Gyllenhaal noble line when Maggie was on. Of course I don’t possess a copy of such a precious volume, and I really wanted to tell the producer to go to hell, but I didn’t think it within my rights. So I advised the woman to email Ed in Bryn Athyn with her request, certain that Ed, who’s definitely within his rights, would tell her go to to hell. (Although I think he’d do it in a nice way—nicer than the woman deserved—as Swedenborgians are nice people.)
Anyway, as I came back from the kitchen after doing the dishes I was startled to encounter in the middle of the living floor a huge black water beetle—how it got up here from the river way below our terrace God only knows. But beetles were a specialty of Leonard Gyllenhaal, so I took it as a reminder of his legacy and a good sign.
By the way, I’ve got the feed to new entries at New Church History in this posting, so if this subject interests you check back again if you're in the vicinity.
