Monday, January 30, 2006
Your Story
We meet in the wood between twilight and dreams, shrouded in fog, the past echoing all around us. The ground smoking, smelling of coffee and clay. I hold you close and feel you shiver, try to smother you with my warmth but you melt away like the mist. I spot a trail in the undergrowth and follow it, pushing my way through the branches and fog. Trees press all around me. Challenging me. Testing me. I will not be denied. The path ends in a wall of wood. I hear your voice calling in the distance and push into the featureless forest, fighting for the formless noises echoing all around me. The trees thin out into a clearing with a book resting on a marble altar in the middle. I walk up to the book; it's blank. Your voice all around me, pleading, whispering, ordering: “Write.” “What am I supposed to write about?” I ask. The woods don't reply. I sit cross-legged on the altar, hunched over the book, pen poised above the surface, and I think, maybe – just maybe – if I write the story well and true enough, you'll come back to me, and we'll be back in that wood where dreams can come true, the wood where you and I live happily ever after. I think of that, and I begin to write.
Sunday, January 29, 2006
Hooray!
Silly shit for me!
| You Are The Moon |
 You represent the unconscious side of life, what happens in dreams. You are capable of great genius - but also of great madness. Emotions tend to be primal for you, both your fears and your fantasies. Your intuition is always right, listening to it is the difficult part. Your fortune: You are about to embark on a very important journey - and a very difficult one. Some of your deepest dreams will be realized, as well as some of your deepest nightmares. Follow your creativity and visions; stay away from your weaknesses. You are taking a voyage to the center of yourself, and you may be pleasantly surprised by what you discover. |
| Your Love Life Secrets Are |
 Looking back on your life, you will have a few true loves. You're a little scarred from your past relationships, but who isn't? It's important to you that your lover is very attractive. You like to have someone to show off. In fights, you love to debate and defend yourself. You logic prevails - or at least you'd like to think so. Break-ups can be painful for you, but you never show it. You hold your head high. |
Last of These for a While
I promise.
"The violence of existing for only you"...what an incredible lyric.
What ravages of spirit
Conjured this temptuous rage
Created you a monster
Broken by the rules of love
And fate has led you through it
You do what you have to do
And fate has led you through it
You do what you have to do ...
And I have the sense to recognize that
I don’t know how to let you go
Every moment marked
With apparitions of your soul
I’m ever swiftly moving
Trying to escape this desire
The yearning to be near you
I do what I have to do
The yearning to be near you
I do what I have to do
But I have the sense to recognize
That I don’t know how
To let you go
I don’t know how
To let you go
A glowing ember
Burning hot
Burning slow
Deep within I’m shaken by the violence
Of existing for only you
I know I can’t be with you
I do what I have to do
I know I can’t be with you
I do what I have to do
And I have sense to recognize but
I don’t know how to let you go
I don’t know how to let you go
I don’t know how to let you go
- Do What You Have to Do, Sarah McLachlan
"The violence of existing for only you"...what an incredible lyric.
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Now the Universe Tells Me
Today's (Sunday's) horoscope:
This could be a good day to practice compassion from a distance. Sometimes it's easy for you to get wrapped up in situations where you get all emotional. You often get dragged down into some toxic feelings. Try not to let your energy get drained today. There could be some powerful feelings being expressed around you, and you could be tempted to choose sides. But you will only be battered if you join in the battle!
This could be a good day to practice compassion from a distance. Sometimes it's easy for you to get wrapped up in situations where you get all emotional. You often get dragged down into some toxic feelings. Try not to let your energy get drained today. There could be some powerful feelings being expressed around you, and you could be tempted to choose sides. But you will only be battered if you join in the battle!
Coming Down
Morning smiles
Like the face of a newborn child
Innocent unknowing
Winter’s end
Promises of a long lost friend
Speaks to me of comfort
But I fear
I have nothing to give
I have so much to lose
Here in this lonely place
Tangled up in our embrace
There’s nothing I’d like
Better than to fall
But I fear I have nothing to give
Wind in time
Rapes the flower trembling on the vine
Nothing yields to shelter it
From above
They say temptation will destroy our love
The never ending hunger
But I fear
I have nothing to give
I have so much to lose
Here in this lonely place
Tangled up in our embrace
There’s nothing I’d like
Better than to fall
But I fear
I have nothing to give
I have so much to lose
I have nothing to give
We have so much to lose...
- Fear, Sarah McLachlan
Anger and frustration give way to introspection and regret. Jesus, that sounds like a crappy fortune cookie. My lucky numbers are 4, 689 and 39574936593762927658593736.5.
Friday, January 27, 2006
Boom
Turn the page, the bomb is ticking. All ticks but no tocks, where are the tocks, those pretty little tocks? Clubbed to death like seals, gutted and skinned on the ice and left as a warning for the others. If you hold the wine up to the light and stare at it, you can see universes within. Or your reflection in the glass. They're the same thing, really. Red, deep red all around, caressing and soothing you. Is the glass empty or is it full of nothing? Nothing, nothing and nothing again, rapacious nothing. To-whit to-whoo jug jug jug. You follow the sounds to their source and find a mirror that absorbs the light around it, takes and takes; a black stain. The stain is you, or is it the other way around, and isn't this luverly? You sit at the table and have some tea, amber heat in a cup that threatens to melt you. In the mirror you have no reflection; the cup is lifting itself, the liquid pouring into mid-air and hovering there, sloshing in time with your movements. And you stay there because it's comfortable. Boom.
Little Mac Lives!
Link
Man, I would pay good money to see some other poor heavyweight jumping in the air to try to punch that guy in the face.
Oh, and if you don't know who Little Mac is...I hate you.
Feeling Fine
Oddly aggressive today. Maybe it was the accounting homework I did earlier, beats me. Blasting industrial/rap-py beats (NIN/Prodigy/Grey Album/Rage Against the Machine) and this emerged:
Don't turn your back on me, I am not your slave. I am not your savior, I can not be what you want me to be. How dare you. I. Am. Not. Push through, emerge. Attack, defend. GET AWAY, this is not yours. Hold on and I will cut you, will break you, will bleed you as you have done to me. No more. No more. Empty. Clean. Safe. Loose screws rattling around in my head, looking for grooves to fit into. The mirror reflects the light coming from the teacup, shining down into the depths of the well of time. Movement beneath the water, your face floating by. Thrown rocks break the image, break you into ever-spreading rings, growing larger and larger until you blot out the sky and my thoughts. I am huddled in a corner, am weeping, am laughing, my fists crammed up against my eyes to shut out the feelings I thought I had, feelings I created and can not escape. It will not end. I can not end. The end is the beginning, and the beginning is the end, forever and ever, amen, et spiritus sanctus and all the other things I never believed, everything before I met you. And now the lock is broken, the tides are unleashed and I am swept away, watching myself go under again and again, and I hate, I hate, I hate you for putting me here, hate myself for letting myself be put here. This will not be the end, I will not let it be, Mother Mary can rot and stay away. Break this, break the cycle, make it anew. I am what I am, what I will be, what I have been. The Holy Trinity of me. I am all these, and yet I am nothing. Or am I everything? Are they the same? Yes. Yes. It is done.
Gah
One of the bad things about living with a bajillion people is that it's so damn hard to snag a shower in the morning. Hence:
| Who Should Paint You: Andy Warhol |
 You've got an interested edge that would be reflected in any portrait You don't need any fancy paint techniques to stand out from the crowd! |
Tidbits
So today is apparently Mozart's 250th birthday. Cool. I have none to listen to, which I could remedy but I've spent enough money recently as it is. Tomorrow is also the anniversary of The Challenger, and if you don't know what that is I demand you either Google it or leave right the fuck now because you make me feel old, like the day I found out that it's taught as part of history classes. I mean, something that happened in my lifetime is considered history. Fuck.
Interesting post over here. Clearly, you know the second you meet someone if you're attracted to them or not, because physical attraction is a very quick judgement to make. Further romantic inclinations, again, are the kind of thing I think you know. You know if you're interested in someone. You might not be listening, you might not want to be (listening or interested), but if you're really honest with yourself you'll know. Sometimes things might be so scattered and frazzled that it might be hard to find those sincere thoughts; I find (and excuse the extreme hippyness that's about to emerge) mediation really helps me through those times. I don't really get revelations or epiphanies while I meditate, but it does still the mind and make things a bit clearer in general. Be patient and be honest with yourself; remember that life is a journey, that the journey itself is the goal.
What you choose to do about your feelings is your decision, of course. But typically, ignoring them tends to lead to sadness and hurt for everyone, I think.
I added Aaron McGruder on myspace, and got these two recent bulletins; they kind of amused/interested me so I thought I'd reprint them here (hope he doesn't mind):
And McGruder's reply:
Brilliant.
Interesting post over here. Clearly, you know the second you meet someone if you're attracted to them or not, because physical attraction is a very quick judgement to make. Further romantic inclinations, again, are the kind of thing I think you know. You know if you're interested in someone. You might not be listening, you might not want to be (listening or interested), but if you're really honest with yourself you'll know. Sometimes things might be so scattered and frazzled that it might be hard to find those sincere thoughts; I find (and excuse the extreme hippyness that's about to emerge) mediation really helps me through those times. I don't really get revelations or epiphanies while I meditate, but it does still the mind and make things a bit clearer in general. Be patient and be honest with yourself; remember that life is a journey, that the journey itself is the goal.
What you choose to do about your feelings is your decision, of course. But typically, ignoring them tends to lead to sadness and hurt for everyone, I think.
I added Aaron McGruder on myspace, and got these two recent bulletins; they kind of amused/interested me so I thought I'd reprint them here (hope he doesn't mind):
REV. AL SHARPTON CALLS FOR CARTOON NETWORK & AARON MCGRUDER TO APOLOGIZE FOR DESECRATING THE NAME OF DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. BY AIRING A TASTELESS " BOONDOCKS EPISODE" ON KING DAY
New York, NY (Tuesday, January 24, 2006) ---Reverend Al Sharpton is calling upon Cartoon Network and Aaron McGruder to apologize for desecrating the name of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. On Monday, January 16th, Cartoon Network marked Martin Luther King Day by premiering a "Boondocks" episode by Aaron McGruder entitled, "The Return of the King," which featured the civil rights pioneer emerging from a coma and having to deal with post 9/11 America. Reverend Al Sharpton, who is one of the country's foremost leaders for civil rights, is calling upon Cartoon Network to apologize and to discontinue airing this episode. According to Sharpton: "Cartoon Network must apologize and also commit to pulling episodes that desecrate Black historic figures. We are totally offended by the continuous use of the "N" word in McGruder's show. While I can appreciate Mr. McGruder and his achievements, this particular episode is over the line. If we don't receive an apology, we will picket the corporate headquarters."
And McGruder's reply:
AARON MCGRUDER JOINS REV. AL SHARPTONS PROTEST AGAINST THE BOONDOCKS
Los Angeles, CA (Thursday, January 26, 2006) Aaron McGruder, creator and executive producer of the wildly popular animated series The Boondocks has decided that he will join Rev. Al Sharptons protests against the show for its use of the N word, and what Rev. Sharpton described as its desecration of Black historic figures.
"I hope Rev. Sharpton will accept my sincere and heartfelt apology for any jokes targeting Rev. Sharpton in this show, even though I dont recall there being any," said McGruder. "I intend to join Rev. Sharpton at any anti-Boondocks protest action that he may be planning. I will bring a picket sign with concise but strongly worded anti-me language. I've gone way too far and I feel I need to be stopped. What the heck, I could use a vacation!"
McGruder acknowledged that the fight may be difficult seeing as how the series was just renewed for a second season, but he plans to struggle alongside Rev. Sharpton against himself all the way until the summer release of The Boondocks Season One on DVD.
Brilliant.
Late Night
Since I read The Wasteland, I've had this phrase T.S. Eliot used drumming through my head on and off. Anne Sexton also used it as the basis for one of her poems; come to think of it, Eliot might have borrowed it from somewhere else too, but Wasteland is the earliest source of it that I've seen. Last night (this morning) around 3-ish I had it racing through ad infinitum and decided to actually do something about it, not that it's anywhere near what Sexton did with it. It's nice to see that my correlation between late night writing and lucidity (lack thereof) remains intact.
Walking down a darkened corridor, (hurry) doors on every side of me. (hurry hurry hurry) The light at the end of the hall beckons. Pulls me towards its coldness. (please) Wind rushing. Vanilla in the air. It's time. (it's time) "Time for what?" I say. My words echo up and down the hall. No reply. (hurry up please). The wind changes direction, pushing me. Pulling me towards the end. (it'stimeit'stimeit'stime) Doors open and shut as the wind carries me along, gaining speed as we go. More voices issue from the quivering doors, a chorus for my comedy. "Hurry up please, it's time," they say. "It's not time," I say, "It's too late. I've already fallen." The light winks out. Silence and stillness. Hurry up please, it's time.
On an unrelated sidenote, I also really like the name T.S.
Walking down a darkened corridor, (hurry) doors on every side of me. (hurry hurry hurry) The light at the end of the hall beckons. Pulls me towards its coldness. (please) Wind rushing. Vanilla in the air. It's time. (it's time) "Time for what?" I say. My words echo up and down the hall. No reply. (hurry up please). The wind changes direction, pushing me. Pulling me towards the end. (it'stimeit'stimeit'stime) Doors open and shut as the wind carries me along, gaining speed as we go. More voices issue from the quivering doors, a chorus for my comedy. "Hurry up please, it's time," they say. "It's not time," I say, "It's too late. I've already fallen." The light winks out. Silence and stillness. Hurry up please, it's time.
On an unrelated sidenote, I also really like the name T.S.
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Just Finished
1. The Complete Poems, Anne Sexton
2. On the Road, Jack Kerouac
3. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby
4. Kafka on the Shore, Haruki Murakami
5. Sideways, Rex Pickett
6. The Shipping News, Annie Proulx
7. The Sonnets, William Shakespeare
8. Le Morte D'Arthur, Sir Thomas Malory
Brilliant and beautiful. Oddly compelling, because it doesn't (or didn't) feel all that great as I was reading, and yet the pages just kept flying by. I think it's because Quoyle's transformation is so gradual and subtle that you don't really notice it; it was about 250 pages in when I realized he was a totally different person, someone that you really liked and wanted to be happy. Beautiful ending, too:
Unfortunately that's probably the last bit of new pleasure reading I'll be able to do for a while, since I'm going to buckle down, quit being a spoiled little bitch and actually do my school work this semester; probably a good thing since it'll also give me the opportunity to finish Morte and the Sonnets. Definitely want to pick up more of Proulx's work, though there's the new Stephen King book, Cell, if I wanted something fluffier, or Anasasi Boys. I also decided (after my contemporary foreign lit class earlier today) that this is the year I'm going to make it all the way through Ulysses, and read some Virgina Woolf. And if I manage that, possibly Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (more Joyce).
Christ...I'm a nerd. But at least I'm a well-read one. Hurrah for intellectual snobbery!
2. On the Road, Jack Kerouac
3. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby
4. Kafka on the Shore, Haruki Murakami
5. Sideways, Rex Pickett
6. The Shipping News, Annie Proulx
7. The Sonnets, William Shakespeare
8. Le Morte D'Arthur, Sir Thomas Malory
Brilliant and beautiful. Oddly compelling, because it doesn't (or didn't) feel all that great as I was reading, and yet the pages just kept flying by. I think it's because Quoyle's transformation is so gradual and subtle that you don't really notice it; it was about 250 pages in when I realized he was a totally different person, someone that you really liked and wanted to be happy. Beautiful ending, too:
For if Jack Buggit could escape from the pickle jar, if a bird with a broken neck could fly away, what else might be possible? Water may be older than light, diamonds crack in hot goat's blood, mountaintops give off cold fire, forests appear in mid-ocean, it may happen that a crab is caught with the shadow of a hand on its back, that the wind be imprisoned in a bit of knotted string. And it may be that love sometimes occurs without pain or misery.
Unfortunately that's probably the last bit of new pleasure reading I'll be able to do for a while, since I'm going to buckle down, quit being a spoiled little bitch and actually do my school work this semester; probably a good thing since it'll also give me the opportunity to finish Morte and the Sonnets. Definitely want to pick up more of Proulx's work, though there's the new Stephen King book, Cell, if I wanted something fluffier, or Anasasi Boys. I also decided (after my contemporary foreign lit class earlier today) that this is the year I'm going to make it all the way through Ulysses, and read some Virgina Woolf. And if I manage that, possibly Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (more Joyce).
Christ...I'm a nerd. But at least I'm a well-read one. Hurrah for intellectual snobbery!
More News From Ships
A pretty little passage from Shipping News, which I'm about 30 pages from finishing:
Enjoying it quite a bit, though in a somewhat odd way. Want to finish before I dump any ideas about it. For anyone who watches/watched Project Runway, how about Zulema getting the boot this past week? Talk about karma kickin' you in the ass, since her whole statement of, "If I win this week I'm going to switch models again," tells me that she deliberately chose Nick's model in an effort to throw him and possibly the others so she could have a psychological advantage, since if she just wanted the best model she could have chosen them when she won and have been done with it. Sucks for the model (formerly Nick's) though, who got screwed for the purposes of that competition through no fault of her own.
...Quoyle was in an elaborate routine. In the mornings he dropped Sunshine at Beety's, brought Bunny to school, gave Wavey a ride. At four he reversed. Man Doubles as Chauffeur. Tea in Wavey's crazy kitchen if he was done for the day. If he had to work late, sometimes they stayed with her. She cut Quoyle's hair. He stacked her wood on Saturday morning. Sensible to eat dinner at the same table now and then. Closer and closer. Like two ducks swimming at first on opposite sides of the water but who end in the middle, together. It was taking a long time.
Enjoying it quite a bit, though in a somewhat odd way. Want to finish before I dump any ideas about it. For anyone who watches/watched Project Runway, how about Zulema getting the boot this past week? Talk about karma kickin' you in the ass, since her whole statement of, "If I win this week I'm going to switch models again," tells me that she deliberately chose Nick's model in an effort to throw him and possibly the others so she could have a psychological advantage, since if she just wanted the best model she could have chosen them when she won and have been done with it. Sucks for the model (formerly Nick's) though, who got screwed for the purposes of that competition through no fault of her own.
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
New Layout
Huzzah. Did this thing a while back and it said green, but this time when I did it it said this:
Unfortunately there weren't any good purple templates, and it's been years since I did even basic html, so I'm stuck with this for now. Here's some more fluff, while I'm at it:
| Your Blog Should Be Purple |
 You're an expressive, offbeat blogger who tends to write about anything and everything. You tend to set blogging trends, and you're the most likely to write your own meme or survey. You are a bit distant though. Your blog is all about you - not what anyone else has to say. |
Unfortunately there weren't any good purple templates, and it's been years since I did even basic html, so I'm stuck with this for now. Here's some more fluff, while I'm at it:
| Your Blogging Type is Artistic and Passionate |
 You see your blog as the ultimate personal expression - and work hard to make it great. One moment you may be working on a new dramatic design for your blog... And the next, you're passionately writing about your pet causes. Your blog is very important - and you're careful about who you share it with. |
What's Your Blogging Personality?
Also, on the subject of purple...I could use a cool purple shirt, as I don't have any in my wardrobe at the present. Hm, also an orange, now that I think about it. Maybe I'll hit American Apparel and get craft-y with some of these images.
Wouldn't It Be Nice
It's cold outside and my breath mists in the air in front of me as I walk down the street, past Christmas trees left out on the curbs like orphaned children, waiting to be taken to loving homes. I stop on the corner and squint into the oncoming traffic, silver boxes streaming past. The lifeblood of the city flowing through its arteries to the beat of the changing traffic lights. The minutes of my life, racing past and fading into the distance. I walk on and the storefronts I pass are all in flux, shifting and morphing every time I look away. Ahead is the park, where you're waiting for me. “Wouldn't it be nice?” you ask, as you take my hand. I smile. We walk through the dappled light towards a darkened tunnel. “Hold your breath and make a wish,” you say, and I do as we walk through, our footsteps echoing and mingling with those of all the others who passed this way. “Did it come true?” you ask me on the other side. “I'll let you know,” I say, and I kiss you.
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Oh, Wow
Just started a little news crawl, when I hit all my sites to see what's going on (CNN, NY Times, BBC, CBC, Drudge) and what's the first story on CNN that catches my eye? This. I think they just proved my point.
I hate being right all the time.
Actually, that's not true; I love being right all the time. I hate when I'm right and the world fucking sucks.
I hate being right all the time.
Actually, that's not true; I love being right all the time. I hate when I'm right and the world fucking sucks.
Aqua Teen/Boondocks Themes
So yeah...my latest music downloads are:
Pet Sounds, Beach Boys
The Boondocks Theme
Aqua Teen Hunger Force Theme
The last two are like 30 seconds each, and rap-py...very cool, though I guess they might just seem blah if you didn't watch the shows. Took a bit of searching to find the ATHF theme, which is by Schoolly D; finally tracked it down over here. The Boondocks theme is done by this dude named Asheru, who also does other songs for the show. He's got a Myspace thing goin, which is where I snagged the theme song from. Niggas is another interesting song of his; I guess he actually wrote that and McGruder used parts of it to help write the big speech at the end of the MLK episode. I have to say, Boondocks is my new favorite show - the only fictional show I watch on a regular basis (if you count having watched in this week and last week as watching it on a regular basis, which for me it pretty much is) This past week's episode was again, brilliant; about soul food and its place in African-American culture, and how it causes so many health problems because it comes from slave cooking, and slaves were only given the leftover, worthless parts of meat to eat, and maybe today people should question the validity and wisdom of following traditions blindly.
But what really put the capper on the episode was the ending; see, a businessman wants to start a soul food restaurant with one of the characters, and he does. He mentions at the time that he owns all the businesses in the area, except for a local park which the state is unwilling to sell at a decent price. The restaurant becomes the "it" place because the food is so good. It's actually so good that people become addicted to it, start ignoring their jobs and families to stay and eat, and the neighborhood becomes run down because you have all these soul food addicts hanging out around the area begging for change, passed out on benches after eating the Luther (that's the name of the sandwich, named for Luther Vandross). Subsequently property values in the area drop, and at the end the restaurant is closed, ostensibly because of a lawsuit brought by someone who gained excessive weight eating there, and then recovered by having a stomach bypass and two liposuction procedures (which is an interesting and amusing point as well, the continual drive in American/human culture to address the symptoms and not the underlying problem - but that's another post). However, the last shot of the episode shows the businessman in front of the park, which is now being developed by his company; he was using soul food and African-American culture to drive down property values so that he could get the park and build whatever he wanted to build there. Just a fascinating observation about industry and how cultures and movements are co-opted by existing interests.
On a side note, Huey Freeman will hopefully soon be my myspace friend. That makes 8, holy crap! If only he was real. And one of them isn't actually anyone I know (Asheru; I do count the Whitest Kids as a friend because I know like 3 of the 5). I only 6 friends in the whole world, how sad am I?
Yes, that is sarcastic.
Pet Sounds, Beach Boys
The Boondocks Theme
Aqua Teen Hunger Force Theme
The last two are like 30 seconds each, and rap-py...very cool, though I guess they might just seem blah if you didn't watch the shows. Took a bit of searching to find the ATHF theme, which is by Schoolly D; finally tracked it down over here. The Boondocks theme is done by this dude named Asheru, who also does other songs for the show. He's got a Myspace thing goin, which is where I snagged the theme song from. Niggas is another interesting song of his; I guess he actually wrote that and McGruder used parts of it to help write the big speech at the end of the MLK episode. I have to say, Boondocks is my new favorite show - the only fictional show I watch on a regular basis (if you count having watched in this week and last week as watching it on a regular basis, which for me it pretty much is) This past week's episode was again, brilliant; about soul food and its place in African-American culture, and how it causes so many health problems because it comes from slave cooking, and slaves were only given the leftover, worthless parts of meat to eat, and maybe today people should question the validity and wisdom of following traditions blindly.
But what really put the capper on the episode was the ending; see, a businessman wants to start a soul food restaurant with one of the characters, and he does. He mentions at the time that he owns all the businesses in the area, except for a local park which the state is unwilling to sell at a decent price. The restaurant becomes the "it" place because the food is so good. It's actually so good that people become addicted to it, start ignoring their jobs and families to stay and eat, and the neighborhood becomes run down because you have all these soul food addicts hanging out around the area begging for change, passed out on benches after eating the Luther (that's the name of the sandwich, named for Luther Vandross). Subsequently property values in the area drop, and at the end the restaurant is closed, ostensibly because of a lawsuit brought by someone who gained excessive weight eating there, and then recovered by having a stomach bypass and two liposuction procedures (which is an interesting and amusing point as well, the continual drive in American/human culture to address the symptoms and not the underlying problem - but that's another post). However, the last shot of the episode shows the businessman in front of the park, which is now being developed by his company; he was using soul food and African-American culture to drive down property values so that he could get the park and build whatever he wanted to build there. Just a fascinating observation about industry and how cultures and movements are co-opted by existing interests.
On a side note, Huey Freeman will hopefully soon be my myspace friend. That makes 8, holy crap! If only he was real. And one of them isn't actually anyone I know (Asheru; I do count the Whitest Kids as a friend because I know like 3 of the 5). I only 6 friends in the whole world, how sad am I?
Yes, that is sarcastic.
Monday, January 23, 2006
Shipping News
Bout 100 pages into it. Very enjoyable. It's interesting to go from Sideways, where the author/narrator is incredibly verbose to Shipping News, in which (and I don't know for sure if this is true of Proulx's work in general, though I get the impression that it is) the prose is bleak, stark and powerful; it flexes off the page at you. To quote a director I had once (though this was in reference to Theresa Rebeck), she writes like a man. That isn't meant in a derogatory or complimentary fashion; more as a descriptive term, as men and women do tend to have different styles.
Perhaps it is somewhat sexist to choose gender as a method of categorizing writers, so maybe I should qualify what I mean by "writes like a man": to me, Proulx's style feels very similar to Hemingway's. Compact and forceful as opposed to flowing and byzantine like Lovecraft (not that I've read any of his work; there's something I should add to my list of shit I have to read before I die). And yes, Lovecraft was a man (right?) so maybe the whole man/woman thing is stupid and I should just say she writes like Hemingway and me likey. Done, and done.
Perhaps it is somewhat sexist to choose gender as a method of categorizing writers, so maybe I should qualify what I mean by "writes like a man": to me, Proulx's style feels very similar to Hemingway's. Compact and forceful as opposed to flowing and byzantine like Lovecraft (not that I've read any of his work; there's something I should add to my list of shit I have to read before I die). And yes, Lovecraft was a man (right?) so maybe the whole man/woman thing is stupid and I should just say she writes like Hemingway and me likey. Done, and done.
Don't I Know It
Today's horoscope:
Today you might be in the mood for play and fantasy. You could be thinking about romance, losing yourself in some enticing daydreams. Right now, there could be someone whose image you can't forget. This could be a person from your past, or it could be a new acquaintance. Something about them is very attractive. You'll have to figure out what to do about these feelings, because there is tremendous magnetism there.
Today you might be in the mood for play and fantasy. You could be thinking about romance, losing yourself in some enticing daydreams. Right now, there could be someone whose image you can't forget. This could be a person from your past, or it could be a new acquaintance. Something about them is very attractive. You'll have to figure out what to do about these feelings, because there is tremendous magnetism there.
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