Better Than Friday - 56 (Patreon)

G'morning ya'll, hope you're well. 

Thanks for the support. 

1. Book I Need to Read - The Scapegoat by René Girard 

René Girard was a French philosopher who also taught literature, and was responsible for the idea of 'Mimetic desire'.

Widely regarded as one of the most profound critics of our time, René Girard has pursued a powerful line of inquiry across the fields of the humanities and the social sciences. His theories, which the French press has termed "l'hypothèse girardienne," have sparked interdisciplinary, even international, controversy. In The Scapegoat, Girard applies his approach to "texts of persecution," documents that recount phenomena of collective violence from the standpoint of the persecutor―documents such as the medieval poet Guillaume de Machaut's Judgement of the King of Navarre, which blames the Jews for the Black Death and describes their mass murder.

Girard compares persecution texts with myths, most notably with the myth of Oedipus, and finds strikingly similar themes and structures. Could myths regularly conceal texts of persecution? Girard's answers lies in a study of the Christian Passion, which represents the same central event, the same collective violence, found in all mythology, but which is read from the point of view of the innocent victim. The Passion text provides the model interpretation that has enabled Western culture to demystify its own violence―a demystification Girard now extends to mythology.

Underlying Girard's daring textual hypothesis is a powerful theory of history and culture. Christ's rejection of all guilt breaks the mythic cycle of violence and the sacred. The scapegoat becomes the Lamb of God; "the foolish genesis of blood-stained idols and the false gods of superstition, politics, and ideologies" are revealed.

- Amazon

2. Music for Fall  

Heard this on the radio the other day. Beautiful. 

All the leaves are starting to get crispy. Still hot though. 

Sets the mood for the changing season. 

3. This Ain't Lucky Lager! 

Brad Pitt playing an Okie serial killer carpooling with David Duchovny and Juliette Lewis...How the hell did I miss Kalifornia until my 30's?

4. Jules Dassin interview about the Blacklisting days

I love the story about Gene Kelly at Cannes which starts at 5:40.

I never saw 'Singing in the Rain', but that guy could dance. 

5. Interview with Rene Girard 

Skeleton Cat spotted on a walk. 

He was very friendly.