Anne Frank

Netflix has an interesting documentary about Anne Frank and the Holocaust. If you ever find yourself in Amsterdam, take the time to visit the annex where they hid.

Anne Frank’s Diary is one of the few books I’ve actually read twice.  It’s one of those remarkable books where you can hear the voice of the writer behind the words.

Anne Frank

Romans and the Plague

Have been reading about the reign of Marcus Aurelius in the 2nd century AD.  During his reign, the plague came to Rome from the East, brought back by Roman soldiers.  It was devastating to the city.  But it didn’t just go away after a year.  The ominous note that I read was that it lingered for many years, and now and then came back with a vengeance.

I wonder if that’s going to be our fate as well?  It’s a bit of an assumption that this virus doesn’t have staying power.

The Coronavirus Good News

 

Bates on Downton Abbey

His character was interesting to me. He was very tough minded and realistic, but had a dangerous streak in him that was very capable of revenge. Yet there was also the romantic in that he was so in love with her and, again realistically, saw the goodness in her — perhaps in contrast to his own twisted personality. In other words, a character out of a 19th century Russian novel — seriously flawed but capable of higher things.

That he had legal problems was consistent with these character traits. You could see him actually killing someone, and doing it in a grimly dispassionate way, though with controlled anger — because the victim deserved it.

Another aspect of his personality that I found fascinating was how concealing he was, as if he knew down deep he was this vengeful and menacing person, but he never wanted the world to realize this — for good reason.  So what he ever revealed about himself was always very measured and calculated, never impulsive.

That he walked with a limp and so an impairment was a perfect metaphor for his overall character — a subtle character portrait worthy of Dostoevsky.

Downton Abbey