Monday, August 13, 2007

Return of the weekly bon mot

"Personne ne peut se connaƮtre. On peut seulement se raconter."

Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986)

15 comments:

Froog said...

I hope I got that right. I just came upon this quotation in a Philip Roth novel I was reading, but I didn't have it to hand to doublecheck when I was posting this.

A useful thought to keep in mind: this might be the motto for all bloggers, for all writers.

Anonymous said...

translation please

The British Cowboy said...

Off the top of my head...

"One can never know oneself. One can only talk about oneself."

Raconter I think means to tell, but I assume it is meaning a more self-revealing type of concept here.

Froog said...

Particularly with the reflexive pronoun, I think "tell one's own story" is the idea here. It is, after all, the verb that gives us raconteur - "an entertaining weaver of tales".

Cowboy, where have you been? Mired in documents again? We've missed you.

The British Cowboy said...

Where have I been. Pretty much in a room the size of a prison cell, pouring over documents, drying them off, then reading them.

Oh and writing motions. I did throw a kick ass party, the invitation to which you never even opened. Hence my eternal ongoing hatred for you.

Anonymous said...

a prison cell, eh? i prefer to think of my abode as a broom closet. which is more claustrophobic, do you suppose?

"Hence my eternal ongoing hatred for you." --- I have got to meet you one day.

re: quote - thinking about it.

Froog said...

Be careful what you wish for Tulsa! The Cowboy has long been threatening to at least visit, if not try to wangle a work posting here for a while. He tends to bring out my more 'uncivilized' side!!

Cowboy, I was grateful to receive the invite, and sorry not to be able to join you. I thought I had gone over to e-Vite or whatever to check out the details, but maybe the link was being glitchy. I'm sure you'll forgive me one day...

The British Cowboy said...

Tulsa

You can't see a reason why I might no refer to my office as a closet?

"What did you do today?"

"I spent the day in the closet."

Doesn't sound too good.

The British Cowboy said...

And froog, it was a Simpsons evite! I managed to find three relevant Duffman quotes for the yes, no and maybe tags.

I was so frigging impressed with myself it was scary.

Froog said...

Oh, yes, I think I did miss that. Sorry. What were the quotes?

Anonymous said...

LOL... actually, i think "i spent my day in the closet" brings up alll sorts of fun possibilities.

and I have no fear of TBC's visit bringing out your dark side, froog... i can always leave if the company got to be too much, right? or are you saying all of Beijing's hang outs aren't big enough for the two of us?

and i want to see these duffman quotes... any chance of a guest post about the evite? or at least taking over one of Froog's comments? Or... err, i guess you could visit the holiday villa...

p.s. I have a free weekend, at last!!! (sort of) hmm, now what did I have on my list of things to do... did I ever come to a resolution on that existential crisis thing?? maybe I need to focus more.

The British Cowboy said...

I had a free weekend, until the partner decided that I should not have followed his instructions, but instead done the exact opposite. So I have to spend it rewriting and reresearching a motion.

The British Cowboy said...

Not sure if the link will work but here it is...

http://www.evite.com/pages/invite/viewInvite.jsp?event=RSBAEVCRRESFKEJTMZZU&showPreview=true&newCreate=true&returnURL=%2Fapp%2Finvitations%2Fcreate%2Fevent.do%3FisCopyPastEvent%3Dtrue

The three Duffman quotes were as follows, in case it did not work...

Yes: Duffman says a lot of things... Ooooh Yeah!

Maybe: New feelings brewing inside of Duffman. What Would Jesus Do?

No: Duffman can't breathe. Oh No!

The first was from the episode where the Duff team go to Moe's; the Duff girls are appalled, and one says to Duffman, "You said if I slept with you I would not have to touch the drunks."

The second is from the classic Springfield/Alberquerque Isotopes episode, where Homer discovers a nefarious plan to move the minor league team out to the South West. After a hunger strike ("I'm wasting away! I'm down to a B-cup!") and a dream that prevents him giving up in which Caesar Chavez visits him ("Why do you look like Caesar Romero?" "Well you don't know what Caesar Chavez looks like, do you Homer?") Homer breaks open the secret to the crowd, the owner comes on to stop him, and Duffman turns on his employers and saves the day. The episode also includes a classic Homer song. "Dancing away my hunger pangs. Moving my feet so my stomach won't hurt. I'm kind of like Jesus. But not in a sacreligious way."

The No comes from the Pygmoelian episode, where Moe prevents Duffman from speaking by placing a sticker over his mouth.

The party was indeed ribtastic. I can honestly say it is the first party I have ever thrown that came close to working perfectly, and also had the busies called to it.

Froog said...

Oh, that must have been a laugh..... the rozzers reeling back in disarray.... "It's full of lawyers. We need BACK-UP!!!"

Neighbours complaining about the nude line-dancing??

The British Cowboy said...

Well, they arrived at 11.30. It was a predominately outdoor event. There were 15 or so attorneys stood around drinking draft beer listening to Johnny Cash.

He looked at me sheepishly, and said "We've had a complaint that you are too loud." (Cop looks around and shrugs) "I guess I had better tell you to turn the music down."

TBC replies "Why don't I turn the music off, officer?"

Cop smiles. "Have a good evening sir. Try not to annoy the neighbors."

Exeunt the filth. Drinking continues till 2.30.