Cantara’s (Social) Notebook

Tim Cooney in New York in the 50s. Just posted on YouTube today is an hour-long talk with Timothy J. Cooney (1929-1999), author of the book Telling Right from Wrong: What is Moral, What is Immoral, and What is Neither One Nor the Other . The blurb says: An important contribution to the field of moral philosophy, this book provides an objective and precise answer to the question, “What is morality?” Moral philosophers, the author claims, have gotten bogged down in meta-ethical questions and now find themselves in a hopelessly relativistic position. Cooney develops a unique moral theory and isolates and explores the core of morality, separating actual moral issues from apparent ones. It’s a slim book, only 158 pages, published in 1985 by the small press Prometheus Books after Random House rescinded their contract when Cooney admittedly forged a letter from the chairman of the philosophy department at Harvard that attested to its brilliance. And that not insignificant anecdote po...

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 wante...

I'm outlining a novel inspired by the life of this man. Jacques Lusseyran (19 September 1924 — 27 July 27 1971) was born in Paris. A school accident caused him to become totally blind at the age of eight. However, he soon learned to adapt to being blind and maintained many close friendships. As a young teenager, alarmed at the rise of Adolf Hitler and Nazism in Germany, he decided to learn the German language in order to listen to German radio broadcasts and understand his country's perilous situation better. In the spring of 1941, during the Nazi Occupation of France, Lusseyran formed a Resistance group called the Volunteers of Liberty with fifty-two other boys; the group later merged with another Resistance group called Défense de la France. In July 1943 Lusseyran was arrested by the Gestapo, betrayed by a weak-willed member of his group. He was sent to Buchenwald with two thousand other French citizens where, because he was blind, he was exempted from forced labor. Luss...

A negro man came along the shore toward them, collecting the grunion quickly, like twigs, into two pails. They came in twos and threes and platoons and companies, relentless and exalted and scornful, around the great bare feet of the intruders, as they had come before Sir Francis Drake had nailed his plaque to the boulder on the shore. “I wish for another pail,” the negro man said, resting a moment. “You’ve come a long way out,” said Stahr. “I used to go to Malibu, but they don’t like it, those moving picture people.” A wave came in and forced them back, receded swiftly, leaving the sand alive again. “Is it worth the trip?” Stahr asked. “I don’t figure it that way. I really come out to read some Emerson. Have you ever read him?” “I have,” said Kathleen. “Some.” “I’ve got him inside my shirt. I got some Rosicrucian literature with me, too, but I’m fed up with them.” The wind had changed a little, the waves were stronger further down, and they walked along the foaming e...

Ladies and gentlemen , before we bring this rodeo to a close, a few things need to be said. There has been a lot of speculation in the press about what I legally can and can’t say about NBC. This isn’t a joke, and to set the record straight, tonight I am allowed to say anything I want. And what I want to say is this: between my time at Saturday Night Live , The Late Night Show , and my brief run here on The Tonight Show , I’ve worked with NBC for over twenty years. Yes, we have our differences right now and yes, we’re going to go our separate ways. But this company has been my home for most of my adult life. I am enormously proud of the work we’ve done together, and I want to thank NBC for making it all possible. I really do. A lot of people have been asking me about my state of mind. I’ll be honest with you: Walking away from The Tonight Show is the hardest thing I have ever had to do. Making this choice has been enormously difficult. This is the best job in the world, I absolutely...

People of Earth: In the last few days I’ve been getting a lot of sympathy calls, and I want to start by making it clear that no one should waste a second feeling sorry for me. For 17 years, I’ve been getting paid to do what I love most and, in a world with real problems, I’ve been absurdly lucky. That said, I’ve been suddenly put in a very public predicament and my bosses are demanding an immediate decision. Six years ago, I signed a contract with NBC to take over The Tonight Show in June of 2009. Like a lot of us, I grew up watching Johnny Carson every night and the chance to one day sit in that chair has meant everything to me. I worked long and hard to get that opportunity, passed up far more lucrative offers, and since 2004 I have spent literally hundreds of hours thinking of ways to extend the franchise long into the future. It was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, I would have the benefit of some time and, just as important, some degree of ratings support from t...

Luise Rainer...who made her screen debut as a teenager and appeared in three other German-language films in the early ‘30s, terminated her European career when the Austrian Adolf Hitler consolidated his power in Germany. With his vicious anti-Semitism, his imposition of a police state in Germany, and his desire for an anschluss between Austria and Der Vaterland , Hitler was a threat to European Jewry. Rainer had been spotted by a talent scout, who offered her a seven-year contract with the American studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The 25-year-old Rainer took the deal and emigrated to the United States. ...During the making of Escapade, Rainer met and fell in love with the left-wing playwright Clifford Odets, then at the height of his fame. They were married in 1937. It was not a happy union... Rainer would allay any backbiting from Hollywood's bovines over her first Oscar with her performance as O-Lan in MGM producer Irving Thalberg’s spectacular adaptation of Pearl S. Buck’s The G...