Tsunami Treasure
Poor village woman diving for oysters off of Indonesia discovers ancient treasure chest filled with gold coins washed up by 2004 tsunamiThe title says it all, really:
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Montague Summers
Reading, at the moment, “The Werewolf in Lore and Legend” by Montague Summers.
And, I must say, it’s absolutely brilliant.
In the spring I read his “The History of Demonology and Witchcraft”, as well outstanding, and the incentive to read anything by him I can come across.
He is, first and foremost, erudite and well informed upon his subject matter, quoting hundreds of references. He presumes upon the reader a similar level of education, quoting his sources in the original Greek, Latin, Italian, German, Russian, etc. footnotes provided not to translate the quotes but merely clear up some obtuse point that might confuse one. When he condescends to argue a point in English there is no paragraph in which you can’t find occasion to open a dictionary. He writes as a Catholic clergyman, and as such occasionally references the pleasures to be found in more classical Man-Boy relationships (his first book was a book of verse dedicated to the subject). When describing the trials of witches he uses phrases like “subject to the most exquisite torture…”, which, in the strictest sense of the word, is true, but perhaps a little less zeal might be appropriate? Nonetheless he is highly entertaining, and to add to it all he professes to believe what he writes - that the Devil is a real being, who wreaks his supernatural agency amongst the living through witches, werewolves, and vampires. A curious point of view, especially given the time that he writes at and his formidable knowledge of the subject.
And a very curious individual, arguably his reasoned (reasonable?) assurances on the existence of evil and devilry might be better founded upon the organization that he represents and the causes he champions than by the demons and witches he so mercilessly flays, but that’s part of his charm…a must have guest, along with Aleister Crowley, to any dinner party of historical figures.
For a short (but entertaining) biography and list of published works read the wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montague_Summers
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Hitler the Messiah
It starts as he fills me in on the background of one of our new regulars, a 97 year old that shuffles in for lunch, late, always late, 10 minutes before close, that 10 minutes and another 5 he spends finding a seat in the restaurant. He's bonded with the Nephew, the reason being that apparently in the second world war he was a Nazi, met Hitler, has photos, shown them to the nephew, brought him books, told stories.
And from this the nephew fills me in on his point of view:
"I mean, think about it, The Egyptians, the Russians, The Germans, I can understand that everyone doesn't like you, but if nobody likes you maybe the problem is with you...Look at the banks....the US...it's caused by the Jews....Hitler, he saw it coming...he was an angel sent by God to save us....he was the Messiah, and we, we killed the son of god, and then we killed Hitler...he invented recycling, shoes over here, shirts over there...."
His conversations, invariably inappropriate and always at a volume several times what a sane person would use, but he's using the time-honored Italian technique of raising his voice to persuade me, we would easily lose half of our customers if they could read his mind, but he's on a tear now, justifying his admiration for this old and tottering relic...it doesn't matter, it's his day to stay late and he can while away the long afternoon hours looking through black and white war photos....
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The Nephew on dating
And there's the return to the circus, for a short time only I tell myself (and them), and the insanity resumes...
The Nephew, he's been on a tear, since breaking up with his girlfriend the nights have gone into the morning, blurring with his shifts, waking up in strange beds with stranger women, showing us candid photos he's snapped of their asses, tattoo: "Your Name Here", written on the top, he's nothing if not classy. And as if in a mind to break from the non-stop party he fills in his time at work updating his online personal profile. He's hammed it up quite well, he likes museums and good food, theater, pets, he's a regular cultural aficionado, enjoys romantic walks and describes himself as a social drinker and trying to quit smoking (to be fair, there's no "alcoholic" option), he's showing it to me on his phone, airbrushed glossy photos of him lying unshaven in downy white sheets, him out with the talking waiter from work, only, only he seems to be getting a lot of texts from men...
And now, in front of me he's discovering that for relationships he's been searching the "man for man" portion of the site, damn, now it all makes sense, these men that keep texting him... he's curiously oblique about the number of dates he's had but now it's time for him to ignore me as he repairs his profile...
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