Genre definition

Given that advertising is Speech + Bullshit, why is political advertising legal?

Marcus Fabius Quintilianus does a reverse one and a half somersaults with three and a half twists, pike, in his grave

Mr. LATIMER: The president had taken a class at Yale about how to write a speech, and I forgot who the professor was, but there was a very strict way that we were supposed to do all the speeches - and I was told this a number of times when I came to the White House. And the Yale school of speechwriting was: you give an introduction, Point A, Point B, Point C, a prayeration(ph), and a conclusion.

GROSS: A prayeration is what? What's a prayeration?

Mr. LATIMER: I was just going to say I'm from Michigan, so you know, I never heard the word prayeration before. I didn't know. I think it's a summary of what the points were or something.

Shadows:

Matt Latimer: A speechwriter for George W. Bush. From Michigan.

Gross: Fresh Air personage. Full transcript of interview.

Quintilian: a Roman rhetorician, author of Institutio Oratoria, who knew from peroration.

Gay science

The Happy Tutor wishes to bring open dialog into the philanthropic community, but he has a tough crowd in his classroom:

Those who control that table, the financial planners, lawyers, and accountants . . . who control the planning table describe the conversation of purpose as "touchy feely," "soft," and essentially effeminate, he says.

Perhaps the Liberal Arts are in need of a macho injection.

Pesellino might be just the ticket:



Back-up squad includes Samson:

Miracle of Qana

Apparently because it was commissioned for a Benedictine Monastery that observed the rule of silence, Veronese's Wedding at Cana, while offering the liveliest depiction of a social event rich in closely observed detail, choked with small intimate exchanges and interactions among more than 130 figures, does not in fact offer a single open mouth, the slightest visible intimation of actual speaking.

That's something of a miracle in itself, sort of not like Twitter.

Future to the back

NPR:

So if Howard Dean with his millions of small donors was Orville Wright, and Obama with his wired grass-roots army was Neil Armstrong, what will be next?

That's easy: Fredericka the Australopithecine Televisionator:

Sara Taylor, the former political director of the Bush White House, has one idea.

"We're at a place in the country where almost everybody has a cell phone, but not many people have a smartphone, meaning a video-enabled phone. But that will change over the next three to four or five years," Taylor says.

She envisions a campaign in which "they'll be able to serve you advertising via a text message that links right to video with your candidate speaking in a beautiful video" about certain issues.

Mara Liasson gave this a pass, saying "it's just technology." Let's review what we've learned: the entire Net is merely a grunt at the service of ideological power.

now we're talking

Emilyshlomoeme’s Weblog

Jesus staggering relating to water cannon, and maybe praying good graces the surfboat in any case. The breech reads”Orcus Adulate Down under”.

The vertebral column has a much the same magnetic.

Euphonical blowgun. Perfect laborious- decimal- in order to prehend respect this imagistic poetry, except that there is a supporting instrumentalist petty follower in session atop his crozier. $Paris#

I hesitate to speculate. It's like hearing all of twitter at once. Through a garden hose. Out at Holmberg IX.

staked

I hereby declare this to be the first online use of a phrase which, not appearing via Google until now, is therefore now for a limited time only, a hapax legomenon:

"coincident negation"

(Crowd of Readers) "Super nice!" ... "Dude!" ... "Radiant!"

In relinquishing all rights and royalties that might inure to said utterance, but reserving the privilege of bearing the title of "Progenitor of 'Coincident Negation'" -- having, yea, in fact marked the occasion with a blog that testifies to the inaugural truth of this parturition -- which by its existence, it now occurs to us to admit, uncreates the very hapax legomenal status which was the incipient authorial impetus for bothering to hallow its singular use in this testimonial and toastmasterly vein to begin with -- I cede it hereby, hereafter, hereunto the hereafterworld, with this envoy:

"Go little phrase, make your way in the world - no matter who seeks to lay claim to your lovely form, you shall know that herein lies your instauration (langue), your instantiation in the speech (parole) of living men, unto which thereby will forever hang your justification. ~ Ta!" ~