And so...

..."JournalSpace is no more." Luckily I'd already signed the lease on this studio apartment; this bachelor crash pad. Onward and upward.

This morning in the current mystery novel I came across an aphorism from my distant past, one that I used to quote fairly often: "When in doubt, do nothing."

This is slight misquotation from War and Peace, in which it is repeated as a French proverb by the Russian general Kutuzov, the unprepossessing schlump who fought Napoleon to a standstill:

"Well, what do you want us to do?" he repeated and his eye shone with a deep, shrewd look. "I'll tell you what to do," he continued, as Prince Andrew still did not reply: "I will tell you what to do, and what I do. Dans le doute, mon cher," he paused, "abstiens-toi"*- he articulated the French proverb deliberately.

* "When in doubt, my dear fellow, do nothing."

(That's Book 10, Chapter 16 in the sturdy old Maude translation; III/Two/XVI in the new Pevear/Volokhonsky version, in which it is rendered, more literally, as "When in doubt, abstain.")

This struck me partly because, just the night before, which is to say last night, I finally got around to watching Sideways, free on Hulu, which with great skill and pinpoint timing makes the case for a diametrically opposite approach to the turning points of life, for the advisability of doing something rather than nothing.

I'll spare you my deep thoughts on this fortuitous convergence. We'll get back to discussing Telegu action movies shortly.