The theft of the Mona Lisa

The theft of the Mona Lisa

My great idea is that one must forgive the pope. To begin with, he needs it more than anyone else. Secondly, that’s the only way to set oneself above him.

Camus, The Fall

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Morton Lauridsen – “O Magnum Mysterium”
Lux Aeterna

Choral music gets better the louder you play it. My neighbors probably think I’m a very religious man. Performed by the Los Angeles Master Chorale.

Scarcely knowing where he was, or what he was about, I am sorry to say, that while standing, as well as he could, beside Miss Wildfire, to dance for the fifth time with her—a plump, fair-faced, good-natured girl of about nineteen or twenty—he suddenly threw his arms round her, and imprinted half-a-dozen kisses on her forehead, lips, cheek, and neck, before she could recover from the confusion into which this monstrous outrage had thrown her. Her faint shriek reached her father’s ears while he was, in a distant part of the room, persecuting poor Miss Quirk with his drunken and profligate impertinences.

Samuel Warren, Ten Thousand A-Year

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For Stars – “Calm Down, Baby”
It Falls Apart

This album is pretty melodramatic, but when it’s not being overwrought it can be pretty charming. “Calm Down, Baby” is great for the most part, though you’ll probably understand my objections right off the bat — “Frieeends again. I’m just your… friend again.” The lyrics are about a 7th-grade reading (and emotional) level, but if you’re feeling indulgent, it can be compelling music.