Topical Guide 407
Mark Dorset
Places and Settings, Real and Fictional: “Boston,” “Poland”
I asked myself, “Where would a guy like that live?” Somewhere, I decided, where living is a struggle, where the weather keeps misery always in the air, somewhere like Boston.
Reservations Recommended, Preface
Our stage setting is very appropriate, because even though it’s an easy trick to lay your scene in eternity, and, for instance, to have someone shoot off a revolver in the year one-thousand-and-such, here you must accept doors that open out on plains covered with snow falling from a clear sky, chimneys adorned with clocks splitting open to serve as doors, and palm-trees growing at the foot of bedsteads for little elephants sitting on shelves to munch on. As to our orchestra that isn’t here, we’ll miss only its brilliance and tone. The themes for Ubu will be performed offstage by various pianos and drums. As to the action which is about to begin, it takes place in Poland—that is to say, nowhere.
Alfred Jarry, Ubu Roi, Preface
Names: Pseudonyms
Anagrams
Maybe he would choose a false name that was an anagram of his own. I tried a few, but didn’t find any of those in the telephone directory either, so I gave it up.
Reservations Recommended, Preface
I entered “Matthew Barber” into the Internet Anagram Server, and it returned 2050 anagrams, not all of which were words. The first in the list was “Bathmat Brewer.”
Death
Memento Mori
Perhaps I should have stayed longer, even if it felt like persisting in a folly, but, one otherwise lovely autumn day, the first wind of winter blew in. Funneled by the buildings, it pummeled me, and it seemed to moan, “Memento mori.” The next day all Boston was wearing galoshes and the spring in their step was gone. They trudged along, heads bent, repentant. I got out of town.
Reservations Recommended, Preface
I am one of those people for whom the first biting wind of winter is nature’s own memento mori, howling at me, “Your days are numbered. Your time is running out. The clock is ticking. Do you hear me? Are you listening? I’m telling you, it’s later than you think.”
If the winter wind doesn’t work as a memento mori for you, the Camden Watch Company makes a memento mori watch that may.
The Memento Mori Special Edition is more than just a watch, it is a real piece of art. At the centre of the dial on a clean black background, surrounded by black indices with white accents, lies the beautiful engraved reminder of the unavoidability of death.
This meticulously engraved motif is repeated on the back and on the side of the all-black 41mm stainless steel case. Available on either a tan or black leather strap, the Memento Mori is a unique timepiece that will not only stay unnoticed, but will be the constant reminder to live life to the full.
Because to remember you must die is to remember you must live.
See also: Name, What’s in a TG 38, TG 43; TG 96; Death TG 48
[to be continued on Friday, January 13, 2023]
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