The Daily Dose/March 11, 2024
By Gaylon Kent – America’s Funniest Guy™
Leading Off
Notes from around the human experience.
CAPSULE BOOK REVIEW: The Clowns of God, by Morris West: This is the third book of West’s that we read, following The Shoes of the Fisherman and Emminence, both books about popes, cardinals, and other Catholics. This column was on hiatus during that time, but had we reviewed them, they would have received high marks. Both were thoughtful novels written by a professional storyteller with a point to make. It’s why you read.
Fly In The Ointment: This one, though, good gravy. Plot the first two books and this one on a graph and you’ve got a perpendicular line. This wasn’t a story so much as a collection of vacuous characters in situations that usually didn’t ring true, issuing dialogue that was stilted, formulaic, and banal.
ROTFLMAO: Also, the exclamation point is used to the point of irritation, foreshadowing teenagers texting and Facebook posts about pizza by a generation!
Dry, Technical Matter: This was too bad because the plot, as far as there was one, was rather intriguing. In the first paragraph, the pope is forced to abdicate because the consistory thinks he is bonkers for wanting to reveal a vision he said God gave him about the impending end of the world via nuclear annihilation. The rest of the book is spent trying to get the message out to the world.
He Is Risen: About halfway through, the Son of Man returns to Earth as a physical therapist and reveals himself at the end, a brilliant plot twist that was also witlessly handled.
Oh, What The Hell: Towards the end of this tedious, annoying story, you start to think nuclear annihilation is a reasonable option and wish that someone would get the missiles flying just to rid us of these tedious, annoying people.
Here Is The Official Daily Dose Rating Scale: A – The very best; B – Very good; C – Good; D – OK; F – A steaming pile.
Final Ranking: C: We almost gave it a D, but West still provided enough of his usual wisdom to level The Clowns of God up a notch.
The Bottom Line: About a third of the way through we started to wondering why this book wasn’t as good as the others. We concluded that the first two books were about popes and cardinals and here West was in his element: a Catholic writing about his church. Here, though, after the first few pages, there is only an ex-pope and a bunch of Europeans, and West was Australian, and he never really nails them.
Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually.
The Diary of a Nobody – Sparrow gets a rather tactical lesson in how to use the new machine at the gym. Today’s Diary.
You want to be careful not to get caught scoping the gal out because she’s lying flat and making motions that would cause some guys to leave dollar bills…
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On This Date
Extra, extra, read all about it.
In 1946 – Rudolf Höss, longtime commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp, is captured by British troops in northern Germany. Höss had evaded capture for over a year and was later turned over to Polish authorities, where he stood trial, was convicted of war crimes and was hanged the following April. By his own estimation, Höss supervised the direct killing of 2.5 million people by gassing or burning, while another half-million died of disease or starvation.
In 1892 – The first public basketball game is played in Springfield, Massachusetts, with students of the local YMCA defeating the faculty 5-1. The game was rather physical, with the Springfield Republican referring to the game as a “Basket Football Game”, with future football Hall of Famer Amos Alonzo Stagg getting called for numerous fouls. Dr. James Naismith published the first basketball rules in January, and basketball became a permanent Olympic sport in 1936.
In 1967 – The Monkees are at #1 on the Billboard album chart – then known as the Hot LPs chart – for the fifth of 18 consecutive weeks with More of the Monkees. It was the second of twelve chart albums for the group, their second of five Top 10s, and their second of four #1s, all consecutive. The album was their second of four #1s for 1967, a calendar year record that still stands. The album also went to #1 in Great Britain and produced two chart singles, including the #1 I’m A Believer.
Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
It is neither wealth nor splendor, but tranquility and occupation, which give happiness.
Thomas Jefferson
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Knowledge is power.
The NBA player not in the Hall of Fame who has committed the most personal fouls is Caldwell Jones, who committed 4,436 – a total good for fifth all-time – between 1973-90.
Today’s Stumper
Match wits with Gaylon. It’s not that hard.
When did basketball make its first appearance at the Olympics? – Answer next time!
