Table-talk of Parkus Grammaticus for January 28

I. Heath Ledger: "I was obsessed with an artist by the name of Nick Drake." —Pitchfork

II. Vocabulary from the NYT Suharto obit:

songkok, the flat traditional Indonesian cap.

dukuns, spiritual advisers and soothsayers who were believed to be in touch with natural forces

III. I don't know why this obit is so fascinating...

He was so poor that he once had to change schools because he could not afford the shorts and shoes that were the required uniform. His education ended with junior high school. He found a job in the bank in his village, but resigned after he tore his only set of work clothes in a bicycle accident.

IV. A nice line:

Many Indonesians benefited from his programs, but none more so than members of his family, who became billionaires many times over.

V.

[H]is wife, Siti Hartinah Suharto, known as Madame Tien, handled the family’s business affairs. She became the object of quiet criticism, with her detractors calling her “Madame Tien Percent,” a reference to what were said to be commissions she received on business deals.

VI. Lost positives:

TO the small group of photography experts aware of its existence, it was known simply as “the Mexican suitcase.” And in the pantheon of lost modern cultural treasures, it was surrounded by the same mythical aura as Hemingway’s early manuscripts, which vanished from a train station in 1922. —Randy Kennedy, "The Capa Cache," NYT

Dizzyhead project: Other famous (or interesting) lost manuscripts?

In (I believe?) the introduction to Lake Wobegon Days, Garrison Keillor writes about early stories, lost on a train...

There's a lost Flaubert translation (on which F. worked closely) mentioned in Adam Thirlwell's The Delighted States...