Simanaitis Says

On cars, old, new and future; science & technology; vintage airplanes, computer flight simulation of them; Sherlockiana; our English language; travel; and other stuff

Monthly Archives: July, 2022

A META REVIEW—THE WOMEN PART 1

THE FOLLOWING IS A META REVIEW: a multilevel review of a movie, a book reviewing the movie, and a particular review in the book. Talk about a varied focus. On … Continue reading

July 11, 2022 · Leave a comment

KITSUNE TALES

THE JAPANESE LANGUAGE IS RICH in puns. Indeed, entire narratives are written with nested multiple meanings. And today’s title, Kitsune Tales, fits this idea: Kitsune, 狐, is the Japanese word … Continue reading

July 10, 2022 · Leave a comment

HOLLYWOOD STUNT FLYING IN THE TWENTIES

BY THE 1920S, FILMMAKERS recognized Southern California as an excellent place for filming outdoors year around. Movie goers had fallen in love with aviation flicks. And the First World War … Continue reading

July 9, 2022 · 2 Comments

DRAGONS BE HERE AND THERE PART 2

YESTERDAY, LRB REVIEWER Tom Shippey shared Dragon lore gleaned from Daniel Ogden’s The Dragon in the West: From Ancient Myth to Modern Legend. Here in Part 2, tidbits are about … Continue reading

July 8, 2022 · Leave a comment

DRAGONS BE HERE AND THERE PART 1

TOM SHIPPEY SUMMARIZES it well in “Don’t Lie on Your Gold,” the London Review of Books, June 9, 2022: “Who wouldn’t want a friend that could hoard treasure, breathe fire, … Continue reading

July 7, 2022 · 1 Comment

TŌKAIDŌ ADVENTURES PART 2

YESTERDAY, WE BEGAN FOLLOWING Philippe Delord’s retracing the route of Hiroshige’s The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō, as displayed in Hiroshige’s Japan—On the Trail of the Great Woodblock Print Master. Today … Continue reading

July 6, 2022 · 4 Comments

TŌKAIDŌ ADVENTURES PART 1

THIS BEGAN AS a book review of Philippe Delord’s Hiroshige’s Japan—On the Trail of the Great Woodblock Print Master, and it still is. Also, though, this lovely art book recalled several … Continue reading

July 5, 2022 · Leave a comment

POLITICAL REPARTEE

CURRENT POLITICS ARE LAMENTABLY lacking in so many aspects, among them any sense of repartee, wit, or humor. Here are earlier examples as gleaned from Dr. Mardy Grothe’s Viva La … Continue reading

July 4, 2022 · 1 Comment

ROAD AND TRACK’S INAUGURAL ROAD TEST

IT WAS IN MARCH 1951 that Road and Track inaugurated “a series of road tests of foreign and American automobiles from the American driver’s viewpoint.”  Indeed, there had been earlier … Continue reading

July 3, 2022 · 10 Comments

WHICH CAME FIRST, THE CHICKEN OR THE RICE? OR WAS IT A TIE? PART 2

RECENT RESEARCH SUGGESTS THAT a wild jungle fowl evolved into today’s chicken, and much later than was previously thought. Today in Part 2, we continue sharing tidbits from AAAS Science … Continue reading

July 2, 2022 · Leave a comment