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Moebius’s character designs for a movie of Dune that was never made. Sardaukar, Fenring, etc.

Two days till our Reading Group Discussion of Frank Herbert’s Dune at Tin-Aw.

This is the BG Litany Against Fear.

I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.

How would the Litany sound in Tagalog? I ran it through Google Translate and got this rudimentary translation.

Hindi ako dapat takot.
Ang takot ang isip-killer.
Ang takot ay ang maliit na kamatayan na nagdudulot ng kabuuang pagpapawalang-sala.
Haharapin ko ang aking takot.
Papahintulutan ko ito na dumaan sa akin at sa pamamagitan ko.
At kapag nawala na ito ay bubuksan ko ang panloob na mata upang makita ang landas nito.
Kung saan ang takot ay nawala ay walang anuman …… Tanging ako ay mananatili.

Not terrible, though it is a relief to find something humans still do better than machines. (See Butlerian Jihad. See mentat.)

I cleaned up the machine translation and got this.

Hindi ako dapat matakot.
Takot ang mamamatay-isipan.
Takot ang maliit na kamatayan na nagdudulot ng lubos na kawalan.
Haharapin ko ang aking takot.
Hahayaan ko itong dumaloy at dumaan sa akin.
At kapag ito’y nakalipas, ibabaling ko ang matang panloob sa landas nito.
Kung saan ito nagpunta ay walang ano man.
Ako lamang ang mananatili.

What do you think? Any poets amongst us? Post your translations.

Everyone’s going to watch Crazy Rich Asians during the long weekend. Hooray Asian representation in Hollywood! Also: It is a truth universally acknowledged that we want to see movies about rich people. Because they own everything and we all work for them, and because everyone wants to be them, i.e. rich.

People want to know what they’re wearing, what they’re eating, what it looks like inside their houses, and so on, so they can photograph themselves wearing, eating, and sitting on similar things in their social media accounts.

Movies about poverty and social injustice will get into prestigious film festivals, but very few people will watch them at home. However, many people will pay to watch movies about ridiculous wealth and excess, because why would you want to be reminded of your financial problems (Romantic-comic problems: Bring them on). Money is attractive. Why do you think the Marvel Cinematic Universe was anchored on a billionaire superhero character?

Now I have seen a ton of movies about rich people. Here are some excellent ones, with oversimplified descriptions.

1. Oro, Plata, Mata by Peque Gallaga. Two hacendero families in Negros survive World War II then find themselves in a world entirely changed.

Gallaga had planned to make a sequel to Oro, Plata, Mata. We want to see it. For Chrissakes let him do it. Netflix?

2. The Leopard (Il Gattopardo) by Luchino Visconti. In a newly-unified Italy, a prince deals with the fact that his class is on the wane and the newly moneyed bourgeoisie is on the rise.

3. The Rules of the Game (La Regle du Jeu) by Jean Renoir. Just a weekend party in the country with everyone’s spouse and lover present.

4. The Lady Eve by Preston Sturges. A con-woman goes after a gullible heir who doesn’t know what hit him.

5. Metropolitan by Whit Stillman. During Xmas vacation, a group of “urban haute bourgeoisie” adopt a less privileged young man who claims to hate the rich.

6. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie by Luis Buñuel. Wealthy people get dressed to go out to dinner but always get interrupted, and that’s as far as I will try to summarize a Buñuel plot.

7. The Age of Innocence by Martin Scorsese. The rich of old New York close ranks to protect their own.

As highly regarded as this movie is, I still think it’s underrated.

8. Sabrina by Billy Wilder. A fairy tale set on a Long Island estate, in which two brothers compete for the love of Audrey Hepburn as the chauffeur’s daughter.

9. The Philadelphia Story by George Cuckor. A society wedding is imperilled by the arrival of the ex-husband and the media.

10. Suspicion by Alfred Hitchcock. A sheltered heiress falls for a good-looking wastrel who might be trying to kill her.

More: The Great Gatsby by Baz Luhrman (tacky new money), Blue Jasmine by Woody Allen (scammed money), Dangerous Liaisons by Stephen Frears (decadent aristocratic money), The Makioka Sisters by Kon Ichikawa (money in decline), and of course Citizen Kane by Orson Welles (money, media, power).

And early Sharon Cuneta movies and Danny Zialcita all-star movies.

Samuel Beckett by Edmund Valtman

I knew only the plays, and in school we had studied Waiting for Godot forwards and backwards, but I had not read the poems until now.

Beckett with Murphy and Watt

“The American Tolkien” pays tribute to the books that shaped his own writing. (And the “RR”)

“A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say” – Italo Calvino

Dear Saffy,

Edrie

Dear Edrie,

Mazel tov! May you and your feline companions be very happy. We have received thank you emails from readers who were wise enough to do what I told them to do, but this is the first time my brilliant advice has led to a match. Perhaps I should start a matchmaking service, there seems to be a great need for that.

To celebrate, I shall be The Oracle for the next 24 hours (until Friday 10 August at 2130) and answer readers’ questions about their relationships. Post them in Comments.

Saffy

We cannot access the Saffy Oracle post from 2012 with all the readers’ questions, but here is the request from Edrie.