Sunday Comics

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Shaolin Cowboy and Totoro by Geof Darrow.

I got to see Hayao Miyazaki’s 1988 film Totoro in the theater today. I’ve seen it dozens of times by now—some times paying less attention than others, hey, I’ve got young children—but it was like seeing it anew. The theater was full, the audience laughed, clapped at the end, and stayed through the credit. Totoro is, in my estimation, a perfect film. It’s also one of only a handful of films I can think of that doesn’t have anything approaching a villain. Anyway, I loved seeing it today on a very big screen in the dark surrounded by other people.

The main defect of this book is you, reader

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From Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis’s 1881 novel The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas.

The Fountain of Youth (Detail) — Lucas Cranach the Elder

Detail from Der Jungbrunnen (The Fountain of Youth), 1546 by Lucas Cranach the Elder (c. 1472–1553)

The Nightingale Victorious over Musical Instruments — Robin Ironside

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The Nightingale Victorious over Musical Instruments, 1949 by Robin Ironside (1912-1965)