Manolo the Profiled
Manolo says, the Manolo he has been profiled by the Professor Norm! Here is the sample.
Can you name a major moral, political or intellectual issue on which you’ve ever changed your mind? >Previously, the Manolo, as the man of tradition, he was opposed to the wearing of the white shoes after the Labor Day. But now, he has decided that this tradition it is outmoded and not suited to the present. In the stead, the best rule it is, if the shoe looks good, the shoe it must be worn.
What philosophical thesis do you think it most important to disseminate? >
Everyone has the right to be super fantastic!
What philosophical thesis do you think it most important to combat? >
That beauty is the subjective, artificial construct. Indeed, it is not. Beauty and the appreciation of beauty they are part of the very essence of the human soul, and are indeed eternal verities.
Go read the whole profile.
February 24th, 2006 at 10:48 am
Ah, Manolo, you are indeed super-fantastic, and this little interview confirmed what I already knew, that I aspire to be like you!
February 24th, 2006 at 10:57 am
Dear Manolo,
I am delighted to find that you love Dwight Yoakam, whose music is truly super fantastic. Do you like Billy Joe Shaver as well?
February 24th, 2006 at 11:15 am
It is funny you should mention the Billy Joe Shaver, because the Manolo he was just the second ago listening to the song “Live Forever”! This song, it is, like much of the Billy Joe Shaver’s oeuvre, brilliant, touching, heartfelt, and completely singable.
By the way, the Manolo he now has the XM satellite radio, and frequently he finds it tuned to the alt country channel 12 (which sounds to the Manolo exactly like the KPIG, only less idiosyncratic).
Someday the Manolo he will have to discuss why he so much likes the music of the rural American peasantry. In the short, at its rare and honest best the country music it is very much like the cante jondo.
February 24th, 2006 at 11:38 am
Dear Manolo, I am delighted to find that your musical tastes extend to the wonderful subgenres of country, a style of music often dismissed as “unintellectual” or “hokey”. This is simply more proof that you judge based on true beauty, not on the vagaries of culture. Thank you.
February 24th, 2006 at 11:41 am
The Norm is also a big fan of C&W, and drones on about it in his blog. Also cricket.
February 24th, 2006 at 12:30 pm
The Norm he is indeed a lover of the country music, as the readers of the Manolo can confirm for themselves by referring to the long-running Momma ‘n’ Daddy series.
February 24th, 2006 at 1:53 pm
Dearest Manolo,
I adore your blog. But please, beware the Infinite Jest! True, it is a brilliant treatise on America’s addictions. But I have never, never been so frustrated with a book. 24 page footnotes with non-related narratives! To say nothing of the chronology of the blasted tome. Ay!
In the words of the Foster Wallace himself–reading IJ is “a supposedly fun thing I’ll never do again.”
But The Sound and the Fury is super fantastic!
February 24th, 2006 at 2:24 pm
The Manolo’s taste in proverbs and intellectual heroes is also super fantastic, I believe.
If the Manolo is the Panglossian sort of optimist, he might enjoy looking at the recent edition of Candide with the illustrations provided by the Chris Ware on the font and back cover. Sadly there are no illustrations within the book itself, but the drawings are quite cute and in the spirit of the story.
February 24th, 2006 at 3:24 pm
The Cake of Johnny is quite impressed with the depth of Manolo’s philosophies. The Cake of Johnny also feels that the appreciation of the beauty (although not believing that it truly exists in anything made by the hand of man) is the reason that we were formed by the Almighty — indeed the sole trait which separates our species from others.
February 24th, 2006 at 4:09 pm
*sigh* Manolo - you’re permanently on my list “All time best dinner party guests”
February 24th, 2006 at 5:15 pm
Ah, Manolo! How perfect you are! If I weren’t already taken…
If only in the hinterlands it were easy to hear lots of good country music like Dwight Yoakum. It’s a fairly rare treat to hear him on the radio where I live. I’d kill to have a radio station like KPIG nearby. Sadly, around here it’s mostly twang-pop.
February 24th, 2006 at 5:26 pm
Oh Manolo! I have no doubt that you could indeed charm the birds from the trees. You make the Internet—dare I say, the world— a better place.
February 24th, 2006 at 11:13 pm
Dear Manolo - “Decline and Fall” is another excellent and hilarioulsy funny early Evelyn Waugh novel (1934). The American 1st editon has charming illustations too. It’s one of my favorite books!
February 25th, 2006 at 2:29 am
Thanks for defending beauty. I dislike all that “beauty is subject yip yap” that has reduced beauty to yet another thing to be disgarded for the uniform unisex soviet beauty haters. Remember, in Pol Pot’s world being “beautiful” was a crime to be punished in the killing fields.
February 26th, 2006 at 3:17 pm
The Norm and many other of the British bloggers that the Furlagirl favours, were at a party in London today and it was agreed that only the Manolo was needed to make the event complete. The Wife of the Norm (WotN) is a great admirer.
February 26th, 2006 at 3:53 pm
Am I the only one who had to look up what flaneur means? And now I have used it in a sentence.
Your choice of proverb was interesting, and enlightens those of us who strive to understand the true Manolo. I shall try not to snap, but…those soft answers come hard to me. I’m also so impressed by your reading material and list of philosophers. Country music? Not so much. And whenever I start feeling just a little too superficial…I’ll remember what you said about beauty. Art’s the same thing.