A friend got me into Pu-erh tea and I like to blog what I'm learning about. You might like to come visit www.pu-erhteas.com.  I would appreciate you comments and thoughts on the site.

"The Skopets by his successful innoculation, his death to nature and life for the sake of his soul, is forever separated from the voluptuous sin of nature, has conquered in himself the animal instincts once and forever, has switched to serving God, sacrificing himself to God, the Holy, True God."

"Generation after generation have died off...Man's mind dominates down below, people have become Gods, the rulers of darkness. Everything the insatiable animal will desires it has obtained; it has used everything, achieved everything. What does it need now?...O, woe to people, woe to humankind in general!...All their wisdom, all their work, all their deceptions in the end are useless."

"The human lava flows from place to place and has no solid place either on earth or under the earth...And all that in the name of acquired and invented so-called ideas, in the name of earthly rights...Evil triumphs!"

- Nikifor Latyshev, 1915

( The Opposition )

I managed to read this today despite being back at work  after the  Christmas break !!  I felt Oscar Wilde departed from his previous stories in many ways as he had previously focused on nature to convey his morality themes ie The Nightingale And The Rose,  The Happy Prince , Selfish Giant. This time he uses the cruelty of humanity to illustrate his point. The dwarf is identified with nature, as he came from the woods, so he is regarded as part of nature. However it is the Infanta, a human character in the book who is used to portray the cruelty of man. although the dwarf  is human he is closely identified with nature.  Wilde does make some reference to nature, such as the white rose, but primarly it is a story between two human characters. One is  a child of nature and the other the child of mankind. We see several issues at play in this story. Ignorance vs Innocence, lost childhood, selfishness vs purity of heart. And we if we consider the story carefully we can even intereprete the dwarf's death as being mankind's destruction of nature. 

I will of course be reading the short stories again, but for now this is my first impression of this particular story. One thing i must say though . I really wish i had studied Oscar Wilde for A Level English Lit !!!! But then again i think it does take experience in life to really understand the complexities of Wilde's short stories. But they are a thumplingly good read nevertheless.  I am so glad to have found him !!! :) I cant wait to read his other works as well.

"The building is one of the best of examples of Moorish Revival architecture in the United States, a style that was particularly popular for synagogues and movie theaters. The Temple's design is loosely based on the Taj Mahal, with the addition of Mudejar style polychrome stone coursing. An ornately tiled main dome that spans 30 feet in diameter crowns the structure and is flanked by two smaller domes of like design. A pair of reclined camels grace the entrance, while the interior is decorated with ceramic tile of intricate floral designs and plaster lattice work." [1]

It's beautiful! And I can enjoy it a lot more knowing it wasn't built by murderous despots. I love Wikipedia.

Thrawted by the horrid weather outside (had huge hailstorms here today !! Gulp!!) and unable to get to the bookstores, i was determined to look at some more Oscar Wilde books to enjoy and have just bought the following books via Amazon



and





Cant wait to get my paws on these. As a newcomer to Oscar Wilde, what other recommended reading is suggested? I wont be able to buy anything more until Feb because i am hopefully to be adopting kittens this week and need to save for that !! LOL !!  MIEOW !!! But would love recommendations all the same !!!

I have been blown away by the writings of Oscar Wilde. he is such a good writer. I have been discovering him this Christmas. I have just finished reading The Young King, another excellent story which can be interpreted in many ways. One thing that has struck me so far about his stories is the spirtual and religious themes running through his stories, as well as tales of morality. Which leads me to my question. Was Oscar Wilde a deeply spiritual person himself? Did he have strong relgiious views? I will of course be looking to buy a book about his life. But i am wondering about the spirituality that is very much evident in his Short Stories. You can find it in Happy Prince, Nightingale and Rose, Selfish Giant and to some extent in the Devoted Friend, but that story is more focused on friendship than spirtuality.

Thoughts anyone ???

If I hear one more person explaining how there's actually another whole year left in the decade, my head is going to explode!

I love Oriental pastiche. I don't care what anyone has to say about it!

( Me Jap'neze Boy, I Love You )

Today is the twenty-first anniversary of the death of James "Stompie" Seipei. Rest in peace.

"Set in the fictional town of Bay City, Another World in its early years opened with announcer Bill Wolff (1964-1987) intoning its epigram, 'We do not live in this world alone, but in a thousand other worlds,' which Irna Phillips said represented the difference between 'the world of events we live in, and the world of feelings and dreams that we strive for.'" [1]

That's exactly how I feel, Irna!