Caravaggio's "Seven Works of Mercy" — NSFT

Spot the "female-presenting nipple" of Roman Charity:

"female-presenting nipples"

A very interesting opinion piece in the Post  last week: "RIP Tumblr porn. You made me who I am." Of course I knew about Tumblr (and not for the politics of "Riverdale" — ahem!) but had little idea that this site had become such a queer matrix. Now, alas, all is revealed, including an all-purpose ign*nce on the part of CEO Jeff D'Onofrio's underlings who presumably didn't waste a second pondering whether the "female-presenting nipples" of this post's title would be Cis or Trans and are entirely ignorant of the wisdom they might receive from the lactating Madonna —

RIP indeed!

"The Immoralist" on Broadway (?!)

Ken Jost was kind enough to share the following tidbit.  Did you know that a play based on the book we discussed tonight—Andre Gide's The Immoralist—ran for three months on Broadway in 1954?  It starred Louis Jourdan as Michel, Geraldine Page as Marcelline and James Dean (!) as Bachir.

And an appreciation of the novel here by Wallace Fowlie.

Unreliable Narrators

More on Matthew Shepard at National Cathedral

On Thursday night I went to the National Cathedral to hear Yo-Yo Ma playing the Bach cello suites. I purposely arrived very early, and used up some time wandering around the crypt chapels. In the St. Joseph Chapel, just about under the middle of the Cathedral, I saw a notice on the wall, printed on a card made of some kind of white poster board (?), probably temporary:

      Matthew Wayne Shepard
              1976—1998
  is interred in the columbarium
           behind this chapel.
          Requiescat in pace.

In the corresponding position on the wall on the other side of the chapel was a bronze plaque saying that Helen Keller and "her lifelong companion Anne Sullivan Macy" were interred in the columbarium. Maybe there will eventually be such a plaque for Shepard. Anne Sullivan Macy, of course, was the "Miracle Worker" played by Anne Bancroft in the play and movie of that title..

"The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin"

Ken Jost was kind enough to report that Netflix is now offering a 2017 documentary about Tales of the City author Armistead Maupin: "The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin."  Ken and his partner James recommend it.

Here is a review from the New York Times; the Washington Post didn't review the film, but did run a profile of Maupin last fall which announced that he is serving as executive producer for a Netflix series of new films based on the six novels. No indication yet when those will be available, but hopefully soon!

The Japanese have a word for it: Tsundoku

I recently heard a contestant on “Jeopardy” tell Alex Trebek that she practices "Tsundoku."  It is not, as Alex surmised, a martial art, but a condition that I suspect applies to many Bookmen members!  Particularly yours truly.