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Monday, October 31, 2011
Saturday, October 22, 2011
LitReactor
This is a great resource for those interested in writing. It's a spinoff from http://www.chuckpalahniuk.net/.
http://litreactor.com/
http://litreactor.com/
Friday, October 21, 2011
DAMNED by Chuck Palahniuk
My copy of Chuck Palahniuk's new book, DAMNED. I arrived complete with inscription, three Atomic Fireballs, hot pepper seeds, and promo postcards from the Lake of Tepid Bile and Hot Saliva Falls.
Postcards From The Future: Chuck Palahniuk
"Postcards From The Future" is a documentary about Chuck Palahniuk. I've known about it for years, and I've owned it for two. But I'd never watched it. I think it's because I simply wasn't ready to. After watching it tonight, I've had my batteries recharged; much like I did after the event I attended in June '08 (search blog for the recap).
The clip below has finally driven home the reason I've had such a hard time with my writing. The overt approach really has no meaning after Columbine and 9/11. I need to fabricate subtlety.
The next clip resembles a personal philosophy, but it says it SO much better. I've been struggling with how best to deal with my feelings regarding our financial system, tea partiers, occupiers, etc. I had decided to make it a non-issue. Take the power away from the issue by living outside of it. We have to exist within it, but we don't have to acknowledge or patronize it. Construct a different idea. Live it.
The clip below has finally driven home the reason I've had such a hard time with my writing. The overt approach really has no meaning after Columbine and 9/11. I need to fabricate subtlety.
The next clip resembles a personal philosophy, but it says it SO much better. I've been struggling with how best to deal with my feelings regarding our financial system, tea partiers, occupiers, etc. I had decided to make it a non-issue. Take the power away from the issue by living outside of it. We have to exist within it, but we don't have to acknowledge or patronize it. Construct a different idea. Live it.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
"Statuesque" - Short Film Written and Directed by Neil Gaiman
Reminds me of a sweet, wholesome version of "Troll Bridge."
"We Can Get Them For You Wholesale" Neil Gaiman Comic Adaptation
One of my favorite short stories. I had no idea it was interpreted as a comic. 17 years ago! Shame on me...
http://www.kenmeyerjr.com/comics/story_wholesale1.htm
http://www.kenmeyerjr.com/comics/story_wholesale1.htm
Monday, October 10, 2011
Sunday, October 09, 2011
Buffalo Bill's by E.E. Cumming
Link to the poem followed by analysis:
http://boppin.com/cummings.html
...The subject of this portrait is not, as commentators have assumed, Buffalo Bill. Neither is the poem merely a modern expression of the convention of sic transit gloria mundi, of which the appropriate tone would be sadness. The speaker praises the dead celebrity but also disparages him. The reason for the disparagement cannot be, as one reader has suggested, disapproval of Cody's "blend of hero and charlatan" or reduction of "heroic deeds to circus stunts." The speaker clearly admires the showmanship. Instead, he disparages Buffalo Bill merely to exceed him in worth or stature. The poem is a self-portrait of an admiring but also disdainful speaker, unaware of a logical flaw in his reasoning and the profound irony of his situation.
The speaker admires Buffalo Bill's skill in shooting and his good looks. He also admires the horse Buffalo Bill rode, which had symbolic affinity with its rider since it was male (a "stallion") and "silver," like silver-haired Bill Cody in old age. The speaker's admiration is preceded, however, by irony and followed by sarcasm. The word "defunct" instead of "dead" implies callous or humorous indifference to or even approval of Buffalo Bill's death, and the question "how do you like your blueeyed boy" sarcastically belittles Buffalo Bill and conveys the speaker's sense of superiority over him. Furthermore, the possession by "Mister Death" of a blue-eyed boy has pederastic connotations. The celebrity Buffalo Bill was skillful, superior, and, in the last years of his life, the most famous man in the world. But now he is dead and, the speaker assumes, it is better to be alive than dead. So death, which cancelled Buffalo Bill's skill and erased his good looks, gives the speaker an advantage over him....
...Logically, the self-elevation of the speaker is nonsense, since the dead (nonexistent) differ categorically from the living.... The gloating self-evaluation of the speaker has no reasonable foundation. It is also and more obviously ridiculous because he fails to take into account his own mortality. The poem contains the theme of the passing of worldly glory, but its principal meaning is that pride is blind and goeth before a fall....
From Thomas Dilworth, "Cummings' 'Buffalo Bill's.'" Explicator 53 (1995): 174, 175.
http://boppin.com/cummings.html
...The subject of this portrait is not, as commentators have assumed, Buffalo Bill. Neither is the poem merely a modern expression of the convention of sic transit gloria mundi, of which the appropriate tone would be sadness. The speaker praises the dead celebrity but also disparages him. The reason for the disparagement cannot be, as one reader has suggested, disapproval of Cody's "blend of hero and charlatan" or reduction of "heroic deeds to circus stunts." The speaker clearly admires the showmanship. Instead, he disparages Buffalo Bill merely to exceed him in worth or stature. The poem is a self-portrait of an admiring but also disdainful speaker, unaware of a logical flaw in his reasoning and the profound irony of his situation.
The speaker admires Buffalo Bill's skill in shooting and his good looks. He also admires the horse Buffalo Bill rode, which had symbolic affinity with its rider since it was male (a "stallion") and "silver," like silver-haired Bill Cody in old age. The speaker's admiration is preceded, however, by irony and followed by sarcasm. The word "defunct" instead of "dead" implies callous or humorous indifference to or even approval of Buffalo Bill's death, and the question "how do you like your blueeyed boy" sarcastically belittles Buffalo Bill and conveys the speaker's sense of superiority over him. Furthermore, the possession by "Mister Death" of a blue-eyed boy has pederastic connotations. The celebrity Buffalo Bill was skillful, superior, and, in the last years of his life, the most famous man in the world. But now he is dead and, the speaker assumes, it is better to be alive than dead. So death, which cancelled Buffalo Bill's skill and erased his good looks, gives the speaker an advantage over him....
...Logically, the self-elevation of the speaker is nonsense, since the dead (nonexistent) differ categorically from the living.... The gloating self-evaluation of the speaker has no reasonable foundation. It is also and more obviously ridiculous because he fails to take into account his own mortality. The poem contains the theme of the passing of worldly glory, but its principal meaning is that pride is blind and goeth before a fall....
From Thomas Dilworth, "Cummings' 'Buffalo Bill's.'" Explicator 53 (1995): 174, 175.
Friday, October 07, 2011
Harrison Bergeron and 12:01 PM
My folks always had to be different. Instead of Atari, we had an Odyssey. No Swatches; we had Coca-Cola watches. Finally, we had Showtime instead of HBO. The latter actually wasn't that bad. I think the original programming on Showtime was superior in 80s and early 90s. Below are a couple examples. Unfortunately, these movies cannot be found on DVD:
Harrison Bergeron is one of my favorite short stories, and shamefully, the only Vonnegut I've ever read.
12:01 PM was a production featured as a "Showtime 30 Minute Movie," a series of short films. It's dark and tragic, nothing like "Groundhog Day" or that trash film starring Jonathan Silverman. I believe this is full feature.
Harrison Bergeron is one of my favorite short stories, and shamefully, the only Vonnegut I've ever read.
12:01 PM was a production featured as a "Showtime 30 Minute Movie," a series of short films. It's dark and tragic, nothing like "Groundhog Day" or that trash film starring Jonathan Silverman. I believe this is full feature.
Wednesday, October 05, 2011
Greg Palast: Investigative Journalist
You have to include Greg Palast if you truly want a well rounded perspective on current events. His reports are the content of my nightmares. As I read, I always hope he's as wrong as his polar opposite, Limbaugh, but..
http://www.gregpalast.com/
http://www.gregpalast.com/
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