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The title is a tribute to the late Florence King, who
reportedly died last Wednesday, January 6, 2016.

It is the title of one of her novels.

Related material from the date of King's death —

An excerpt from King's obituary —

Cut to the Chase.

"Everything's coming up Snow White."

— Anne Billson, May 14, 2013

For Charlize:

"Snow, Glass, Apples," by Neil Gaiman

* See Saturday's post At the Still Point

In memory of Leonard Shlain, author
of The Alphabet Versus the Goddess

Alphabet logo from the website
of a religious publishing company—

A logo for Charlize Theron, who played
a goddess figure in "Hancock"—

Click images for further details.

     Click image above
     for some background.

"Hitchcock made movies with many actresses
who had the aloof, Nordic beauty he admired."

— Alessandra Stanley in today's NY Times

Aloof, Nordic…

Freeze Frame

Related material:

Fermata

"The first human to walk on the moon, Neil Armstrong,
is 'doing great' after undergoing cardiac bypass surgery,
his wife reported…..

… Armstrong… went to the hospital on Monday
for a stress test. He flunked, and on Tuesday,
surgeons bypassed four blockages in his
coronary arteries. His wife reports that his spirits
are high, and the doctors expect no problems
with his recovery…." — Alan Boyle, NBCNews.com

Over the life of Man
We watch and wait,
The Four who manage
His fallen estate:

We who are four were
Once but one,
Before his act of
Rebellion;

We were himself when
His will was free,
His error became our
Chance to be.

Powers of air and fire,
Water and earth,
Into our hands is given
Man from his birth….

— Auden, not Goethe

See also Tuesday morning's post.

Tuesday was Charlize Theron's birthday.
See June 9, 2012.

Keanu vs. the Devil, continued

Al Pacino and Keanu Reeves in Devil's Advocate

For Keanu —

(Click for some background.)

For Keanu's mentor —

                                  …    There is a Cave
Within the Mount of God, fast by his Throne,
Where light and darkness in perpetual round
Lodge and dislodge by turns, which makes through Heav'n
Grateful vicissitude, like Day and Night….

— Paradise Lost , by John Milton

"A devoted father, Smith passes on his philosophy of life to his children through chess, among other things.

'My father taught me how to play chess at seven and introduced beautiful concepts that I try to pass on to my kids. The elements and concepts of life are so perfectly illustrated on a chess board. The ability to accurately assess your position is the key to chess, which I also think is the key to life.'

He pauses, searching for an example. 'Everything you do in your life is a move. You wake up in the morning, you strap on a gun, and you walk out on the street– that's a move. You've made a move and the universe is going to respond with its move.

'Whatever move you're going to make in your life to be successful, you have to accurately access the next couple of moves– like what's going to happen if you do this? Because once you've made your move, you can't take it back. The universe is going to respond.'

Smith has just finished reading The Alchemist, by the Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho: 'It says the entire world is contained in one grain of sand, and you can learn everything you need to learn about the entire universe from that one grain of sand. That is the kind of concept I'm teaching my kids.'"