Old Long Since
Grandma Gilding is the only person Gilding has ever known who actually knew all the lyrics to that well hummed-throw in a few words here–humm humm–word–ooh ooh lyric!!–humm humm New Years song Auld Lang Syne.
Grandma Gilding had a favorite past time of teaching Gilding all those naughty songs that made young mothers blush when their child sang them in public. But Mommy Gilding could never get past laughing long enough to yell at her precocious, hell bent on defiance, daughter.
Auld Lang Syne was strangely never a song Gilding could seem to pick up. An oddity of oddities since Gilding tends to retain the most bizarre of information. But as the years have gone since Grandma Gilding’s was of the health and mind to sing, Gilding has come to miss hearing that badly sung, slurred-not-by-alcohol-but-eggnog (ok, so there was Captain MOrgan’s in the eggnog, but only enough to substitute for Yellow #5) melodrama called Grandma Gilding’s Auld Lang Syne.
A much younger Gilding had never gotten past her eye-rolling, finger-tapping-till-she’s-done-singing-to-kiss-her-goodnight-and-hightail it-to-the-bedroom-for-sleep, to ask Gilding just what the hell all that purposeful growling out in baritone so as not to yowl meant.
So Gilding decided to look it up. And in a condensed version:
Auld Lang Syne is an old Scottish song that was first published by the poet Robert Burns in the 1796 edition of the book, Scots Musical Museum. Burns transcribed it after he heard it sung by an old man from the Ayrshire area of Scotland.
“Auld Lang Syne literally translates as “old long since” and means “times gone by.” The song asks whether old friends and times will be forgotten and promises to remember people of the past with fondness.
The lesser known verses continue this theme, lamenting how friends who once used to run about the hills and pulled up the daisies and paddled in the stream from morning to dusk have become divided by time and distance. Yet there is always time for old friends to get together—if not in person then in memory—and a good-will drink.”
Sadistic Humor Runs Pure in This Blood
Ever wonder where Gilding gets it? Her mocking, sarcastic, if a little sadistic, sublimely addictive personality. All she can say is runs in the blood. Oh yes, family relations, deny all you want–deny, deny, deny. But the proof is in the pudding. Reference email below that Gilding received from her Great Aunt.
And along with left picture came this quote:
“ I don’t believe an accident of birth makes people sisters or brothers. It makes them siblings, gives them mutuality of parentage.
Sisterhood and brotherhood is a condition people have to work at. “
Is this a picture of
Bad Parenting?
Or one of
Sibling Rivalry…
Quote from Maya Angelou
Nabokov’s Pandora
Lolicon is a slang portmanteau of the phrase “Lolita complex”. In Japan, the term is used to describe an attraction to girls below the age of consent, or an individual attracted to such a person. Outside Japan, the term most often refers to a genre of manga and anime where childlike female characters are depicted in a sexualized manner or engaged in sexually explicit acts. The equivalent term for the sexualization of or attraction to young boys is shotacon.
As the genre created by and for men evolved, according to Kinsella, it moved from these cute, tough heroines towards depictions of girls as sexual victims: naked, helpless, fearful, sometimes bound or chained and was expanded into computer games and animated videos.
Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki stated in an interview with Animage in 1988 that while he prefers to make his protagonists girls, “It’s difficult. They immediately become the subjects of rorikon gokko (play toy for Lolita Complex guys). In a sense, if we want to depict someone who is affirmative to us, we have no choice but to make them as lovely as possible. But now, there are too many people who shamelessly depict (such heroines) as if they just want (such girls) as pets, and things are escalating more and more.”
Link: Lolicon–Wikipedia
Of Two Strange and Beautiful Children, Faunlet and Nymphet
Though popularised by Vladimir Nabokov in the novel Lolita, the term nymphet is actually much older in French, and is notably used by French poet Pierre de Ronsard.
Nabokov did more for pedophilia than the simple coinage of the term nymphet as a whimsical blame for those tender girls of 9 to 14 whom tortured Humbert Humbert so. He coined a whole bevy of terms.
The term faunlet is used to describe the young male counterpart of a nymphet.
“…I met the unblinking dark eyes of two strange and beautiful children, faunlet and nymphet, whom their identical flat dark hair and bloodless cheeks proclaimed siblings if not twins.“
Nabokov also borrowed the term nympholept, a rare, archaic term meaning a person seized by emotional frenzy, as if enchanted by nymphs. The word is found with this meaning in the poetry of Lord Byron:
“The nympholepsy of some fond despair.“
Nabokov used the word to describe one who could “discern” nymphets from other girls. In Humbert’s own words:
“A normal man given a group photograph of school girls or Girl Scouts and asked to point out the comeliest one will not necessarily choose the nymphet among them. You have to be an artist and a madman, a creature of infinite melancholy, with a bubble of hot poison in your loins and a super-voluptuous flame permanently aglow in your subtle spine (oh, how you have to cringe and hide!), in order to discern at once, by ineffable signs – the slightly feline outline of a cheekbone, the slenderness of a downy limb, and other indices which despair and shame and tears of tenderness forbid me to tabulate – the deadly little demon among the wholesome children.“
Link: Nymphet–Wikipedia
Purple, you Bastard! Strikes Singapore
In Chinatown, young Singaporeans have gutted classic Chinese shop houses and turned them into a warren of new and New-Agey cafes.
In Reference made to Purple, you bastard!
Link: Weekend in Singapore | Travel #10, 11 of 14–NYTimes.com
Gilding’s Heaven
How did God know.
The Pioneer Valley of western Massachusetts is arguably the most author-saturated, book-cherishing, literature-celebrating place in the nation. Odyssey Bookshop in South Hadley, Mass., began author readings 20 years ago.
Link: A Bookstore Tour in Massachusetts | Escapes–NYTimes.com
Related Article: In the Valley of the Literate
A Very Lethal Handshake
Hannibal and Demostenes both wore poison rings. Although uncommon, these rings were not rare. Not only could they be used on “friends,” but on oneself if the circumstances warranted. Cesare Borgia was noted for his lion ring. The lion’s claws contained a poison that could give a very lethal handshake.
Link: A Jewelry History
Lacquer, My Lover
Gilding simply must have each and every one of these from lacquer loving artist Robert Kuo.
Known for his cloisonné and lacquer work, Kuo has just opened a 4,000-square-foot furniture and decorative accessories store in SoHo.
Link: Robert Kuo
Life After Death for the Rail Artist
“Self Portrait” by Marvin Franklin
Franklin, who worked for 22 years underground on the subway tracks of New York City, would make sketches of life on the trains on his way home. Franklin had been studying at the Art Students League in Manhattan for more than a decade.
…a highly gifted artist, generous student, and natural teacher who was respected by both his instructors and colleagues at the League.
Irwin Greenberg
Instructor, Art Students League
Franklin died in April at the age of 55 after he was struck by a train in Brooklyn while working on the tracks. He left behind a wife, three children, and an oeuvre of works.
An exhibit of Franklin’s works is on display at the New York Transit Museum, two blocks down the street from where he died.
Link:
Currents | Art by Marvin Franklin–NYTimes.com
Related Article: Rich Legacy of an Artist of the Rails
More: Track Scars–the village VOICE
A Bronx Tale
Well you asked for it, antigenre, so here it is. Gilding scrounged up a little information on the previous owner, William Evers, and some of the history of the Deanses Bronx Mansion.
In Forgotten NY’s post Stoned, Immaculate, the mansion is described as a “genuine suburban mansion”; located at 1857 Anthony Avenue at the corner of East 176th. Its original owners (circa 1896), Edwin Shuttleworth, a stone dealer, and his wife, Elizabeth, approached the Neville & Bagge architectural firm with the idea of creating a house using one of the varieties of stone that Edwin sold (stone houses were uncommon in the Bronx). The architects then embellished the plan by bringing in stone carvers who created ornate male and female form, marine elements, and picturesque busts. Forgotten NY’s supposition that the two detailed carvings pictured in their post may be that of Mr. and Mrs. Shuttleworth is in fact not true. This tidbit was debunct by Joyce Cohen a.k.a. HuntGrunt, whom reports that the 91-year-old William Evers says “those are not representational of Edwin and Elizabeth Shuttleworth.” Woulda’ been “spooky” but is as they say, ‘no such luck’.
The detail of the mansion is quite stunning and Forgotten NY’s has some really good pictures that may be viewed.
Its not only the ornate exterior of carved sculptures, stately turrets, and stained glass windows and doors that the mansion has to boast about. The interior seems to also be a sight to behold as the Corcoran Group’s Harlem Office (who represented Evers in its sale) report such interior highlights as tin ceilings, a serpentine staircase, more figurines and lamps from the 1890′s, pocket doors, hand carved fireplaces, and built-in cabinets.
It’s not mentioned if Mr. Evers bought the house from the Shuttleworth’s or if it was inherited. Gilding can tell you that their son, Herbert Shuttleworth, died 31 Jan. 1904, but his obituary does not mention his age or who he was survived by.
However, an interesting tidbit is that the house, while owned by Evers, served as the headquaters for the Masonic Society the Crusaders Order of the World.
Also, those pixie figurine lamp fixtures that top off the posts of the staircase were added by Evers’ in-laws, Gaetano and Elvira Russo. They were brought over from the Harlem Masonic Club by Gaetano, a chiropractor. HuntGrunt has a few close-up pictures of the figurines ib her blog post.
Evers currently lives near his nephew, Chip Niccolosi, who cares for him in his ailing health in Long Beach.
The mansion is designated as a city landmark.
Link:
HuntGrunt
Forgotten NY
Corcoran Group–Real Estate Weekly
Meet the Deanses
Sherrie and Marcel Deans, with their son, Jackson, stumbled upon a 16-room mansion in the Bronx last year.
It was under contract, but when the deal fell through they bought it, for $675,000.
The mansion has remained largely untouched for decades, and has all of its original details, such as the chandelier on the first floor, and detailed carvings like those found around a fireplace.
They were amazed by artifacts like an old liquor bottle of Cointreau, books in the second floor study that were left by William Evers, the previous owner, as well as original blueprints of the house.
The mansion was once a chiropractor’s office, which might explain the sink in a closet.
The family expects to move into the house in the spring.
Link: Currents | A Bronx Tale–NYTimes.com
Related Article: Lots of Home Work–NYTimes.com
