Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Malibu morning picture of the day - Tuesday, August 5, 2014 (and Lu Meng)

Dear family, friends, and gentle readers,

Hope you are having a wonderful Tuesday morning. Here's your picture for the day.














That's about as serene and "pacific' as you can get no?

Here the also-ran, turned to the right just a little.

A brief  lesson today about a man named Lu Meng 吕蒙 (178-220 CE). He was a general in the Three Kingdoms period who was known for being an excellent warrior but not much else (we would probably call him "General Jar-Head today"). 

Lu Meng DW5On the suggestion of a superior officer he took up studying the literature on military history and strategy, and by association history and literature in general, and greatly improved his outcomes. He should be a poster child on the value of an education. 

There are a couple of stories where he is having a conversation with a scholar who underestimates him, and General Lu surprises him with learned and astute observations well spoken and received. 


I find this quality quite endearing. He has been mined for additional life in digital combat gaming because he made it into the historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms--I think he would approve, but I hope the game writers give him some literate lines in-between the slashing of opponents. You will find a lot of contemporary fanciful images for him if you but Google him.

Just an excuse to post a pic of the
most famous (and weird)
Asian American
in our time...
There are two Chinese idioms that refer back to him: 1) "Meng under Wu" (an ignorant person, "under Wu" meaning as he was previously--kinda like "John Lennon before Yoko") 吴下阿蒙 wu xia a meng; and 2) "Rub your eyes and look again" (look out, he's not who you think he is) 刮目相看 guā mù xiāng kàn.

I bring him up because I will have just a fleeting reference to him toward the end of my progressive novel that some of you may be reading. If you have him in the back of your mind, it'll make one scene a bit more understandable when the reference occurs.

Love,
Pops

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