Commentary on Current Events

Thoughts, Ideas, and Comments of Bob Cardwell, from Indianapolis, IN. ________________________www.bobcardwell.com

Friday, October 26, 2007

Sophie's World




This is the book I am currently reading.



Plot summary
Sophie Amundsen (Sofie Amundsen in the Norwegian version) is a fourteen year old girl living in Norway in 1990. She lives with her cat Sherekan and her mother. Her father is a captain of an oil tanker, and is away for most of the year. He does not appear in the book.

Sophie's life is rattled as the book begins, when she receives two anonymous messages in her mailbox (Who are you? Where does the world come from?), as well as a post card addressed to 'Hilde Møller Knag, c/o Sophie Amundsen'. Shortly afterwards she receives a packet of papers, part of a correspondence course in philosophy.

With these mysterious communications, Sophie becomes the student of a fifty-year-old philosopher, Alberto Knox. He starts out as totally anonymous, but as the story unfolds he reveals more and more about himself. The papers and the packet both turn out to be from him, although the post card is not; it is addressed from someone called Albert Knag, who is in a United Nations peacekeeping unit stationed in Lebanon.

Alberto teaches her about the history of philosophy. She gets a substantive and understandable review from the Pre-Socratic Greeks through Jean-Paul Sartre. Along with the philosophy lessons, Sophie and Alberto try and outwit the mysterious Albert Knag, who appears to have God-like powers, which Alberto finds quite troubling.

Sophie learns about medieval philosophy while being lectured by Alberto, dressed as a monk, in an ancient church, and she learns about Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir in a French café. Various philosophical questions and methods of reasoning are put before Sophie, as she attempts to work them out on her own. Many of Knox's philosophic packets to her are preluded by more short questions, such as "Why is Lego the most ingenious toy in the world?".

Alberto takes Sophie from Hellenism to the rise of Christianity and its interaction with Greek thought and on into the Middle Ages. Over the course of the book, he covers the Renaissance, Baroque, Enlightenment and Romantic periods, and the philosophies that stemmed from them.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Joey Bishop Dies



Last of the Rat Pack

From left, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop star in the 1960 Warner Brothers' movie, "Ocean's Eleven." Bishop was the group's last surviving member: Lawford died in 1984, Davis Jr. in 1990, Martin in 1995, and Sinatra in 1998. Bishop died Oct. 18 at age 89. (Photo: GETTY IMAGES)

The Rat Pack

The Rat Pack is a nickname given to a group of performers, led by legendary singer Frank Sinatra. The other members of the group included Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., writer Joey Bishop, and actor Peter Lawford. On-screen fireball Shirley MacLaine also is considered the only female member of the group. Sinatra first started the group in the 1950s. The Rat Pack was an unofficial group at first. The performers often went to each others’ shows in support and then played along.

In the late 1950s, Sinatra called all of the members of the Rat Pack to Las Vegas. The group began performing together, and crowds loved them. They packed out every house where they played, and they helped make Vegas into a showbiz town. After singing for a while, the Rat Pack, so named by legendary actress Lauren Bacall, decided to branch out. They were the stars of the original Ocean’s Eleven, filmed in 1960, and recently remade. While the Rat Pack had a tremendous on-stage and on-screen impact, some credit them with helping with the struggle for desegregation as well. The members would not perform in places where they felt African American member Sammy Davis would not be treated well, and their refusal to do so forced some of the more popular Vegas clubs to abandon their still-accepted segregation policies.

The Pack was a popular performing groups for many years, and Sinatra, Dean, and Davis had their own successful individual careers as well. MacLaine, the female member, and Bacall were stalwarts of popular culture as well. They pushed the limits of music and are known as some of the greatest performers of their generation. Today, the Pack is still referenced throughout music, even in the hip hop world, and their run of fun and fame was memorialized in a movie in 1998.

Monday, October 22, 2007

Memorial for Jeanie

Go here to see the Memorial I am working on for Jeanie.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

New Church in My Neighborhood



This church remodeled the old Cub Food Store into this large church.

Friday, October 19, 2007

Jeff Cardwell in the Indy Star

Deborah Kerr





Deborah Kerr

British actress Deborah Kerr, star of 'From Here To Eternity' and 'The King And I', seen in this 1954 file photo, has died at the age of 86 her agent reported in London, Thursday Oct. 18 2007.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Joy Dugger, Former Co-worker and Friend Dies

Ishmael---the Novel




This is a book I am currently reading. After you get past the goofy fantasy and sci- fi set up it offers some profound truths and insights. I will be thinking about this book for a long time.

Read more about it here.