Lucasfilm - taking advantage of the electoral season with its merchandising! Somehow, I don't think that helped us very much... though I am highly interested. Especially in the R2-D2/C-3PO ticket: These ARE the droids you're looking for!
Star Wars election
I'd like to see University administration crack down on a partisan bumper sticker and/or button of that nature.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Monday, September 15, 2008
DFW
I'm just... can't-even-pony-up-the-energy-or-focus-to-work bummed. I haven't even really begun to sort through what it means that David Foster Wallace has died, apparently by his own hand. The word "sad" just doesn't begin to cover it. It's grotesque, it's such a waste, such broad possibility collapsed into a tiny speck and then crushed or winked out, gone. Empty. It makes me wonder if there's any weird correlation that two of my favorite authors have been suicides. There have been reports surfacing, that his father has indicated that DFW had a long-term history with depression and a relatively short-term difficulty with treating and managing this depression. This seems particularly sad to me since it reveals a little more clearly the struggle against the depression, and what we now know to be the loss of the battle. Though, I suppose some see suicide as a way to regain control, and in that sense, that type of death is a sort of victory (or, as Foster Wallace more or less put it in a short story, as a sort of birthday present). Put in less confrontational terms, suicide is at least thought to be an end to the pain caused by existence. I don't know. It bothers me. It... weighs on me.
What does this immediately mean to me? After blowing through the majority of his body of work in one sequence of book after book, I have had DFW on my mind in a back-burner kind of way, consistently checking every now and then to see if he's written something new, either traipsing through the bookstores, or searching on-line for news of a new release. So...it will be a process of erasing that feedback loop from my brain. No more timer going off in the back of my mind - "time to check on DFW." I had even been thinking about his work over the weekend (I didn't find out about his death until Monday morning), considering using one of his books as a foundation for an assignment for an electronic publications course I'm taking. I had sort of ruled it out though, given the complexity of his work and my desire to make my life as simple as possible regarding these assignments. Now... it just feels macabre and opportunistic to use his work, even though he was one of my favorite authors.
So horribly sad and disturbing. According to NPR's somewhat chilling article, "When someone very gifted kills themselves, it's like the best student dropping out of high school. There's the tragedy, but it's set in a particular and personal fear: What are they seeing that we don't?"
A decent tribute and re-print of a telling interview circa the release of Infinte Jest is to be found here, on the Chicago Tribune site.
A rather lovely memoir from a former student of Foster Wallace's.
What does this immediately mean to me? After blowing through the majority of his body of work in one sequence of book after book, I have had DFW on my mind in a back-burner kind of way, consistently checking every now and then to see if he's written something new, either traipsing through the bookstores, or searching on-line for news of a new release. So...it will be a process of erasing that feedback loop from my brain. No more timer going off in the back of my mind - "time to check on DFW." I had even been thinking about his work over the weekend (I didn't find out about his death until Monday morning), considering using one of his books as a foundation for an assignment for an electronic publications course I'm taking. I had sort of ruled it out though, given the complexity of his work and my desire to make my life as simple as possible regarding these assignments. Now... it just feels macabre and opportunistic to use his work, even though he was one of my favorite authors.
So horribly sad and disturbing. According to NPR's somewhat chilling article, "When someone very gifted kills themselves, it's like the best student dropping out of high school. There's the tragedy, but it's set in a particular and personal fear: What are they seeing that we don't?"
A decent tribute and re-print of a telling interview circa the release of Infinte Jest is to be found here, on the Chicago Tribune site.
A rather lovely memoir from a former student of Foster Wallace's.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
OH NOES!
I didn't even know this website existed until today (icanhasforce.com). Thanks to Ranjit B for making his profile pic refer to this site!
Monday, July 14, 2008
"God, this is cold"
Dateline: July 13, undisclosed Lake Michigan beach front in Chicago
The shivering t-shirt-clad kid floating a few feet away from me in Lake Michigan was right. Granted, at the time he was being splashed and friendly attempts at capsizing him were being made, but his proclamation was just as true for myself, who moved slowly in waist-high 68° (if clear) water. At the time it struck me that he might have just submitted his entry for the Understatement of the Year award, but perhaps it would be better stated that he was serving as a spokesman for that (isolated moment in) time, voicing at calm decibels the thought that kept shrieking through everyone's head as they stepped into the water or, the poor souls, ventured deeper still. I wasn't brave enough to completely duck under the water - maybe I'll save that for later in the summer.
One thing that Lake Michigan certainly has going for it is its clarity. For many reasons that I won't go into here, I'm not generally a fan of what I call "live water," that is, water that is not chlorinated to the point of eye-stinging sterility and predictability, water that contains living...stuff, for lack of a better word. Why bother with water at all, then? Simply, I love to swim, and I do like the idea of ocean beaches and of frolicking in their waves. I just also have to swallow an irrational fear along with it as a sidecar. In any case, lakes also fall under the category of "live water." As with oceans, I am much happier and find it much easier to deal with this fear if I can see the floor of whatever body of water I happen to be in at the time. One still encounters random flotsam, to be sure - threads of algae or other unidentified flora passing by and bearing far too close a resemblance to mucus. Quick and jerky reflexes take over when unscheduled points of contact occur between this mucus-y biological effluvia and any given appendage of mine. Fortunately, no one was hurt as I interacted directly with triggers of paranoia and overall creep-outitutde. Perhaps I can successfully reintroduce myself to the native environment again later.
The shivering t-shirt-clad kid floating a few feet away from me in Lake Michigan was right. Granted, at the time he was being splashed and friendly attempts at capsizing him were being made, but his proclamation was just as true for myself, who moved slowly in waist-high 68° (if clear) water. At the time it struck me that he might have just submitted his entry for the Understatement of the Year award, but perhaps it would be better stated that he was serving as a spokesman for that (isolated moment in) time, voicing at calm decibels the thought that kept shrieking through everyone's head as they stepped into the water or, the poor souls, ventured deeper still. I wasn't brave enough to completely duck under the water - maybe I'll save that for later in the summer.
One thing that Lake Michigan certainly has going for it is its clarity. For many reasons that I won't go into here, I'm not generally a fan of what I call "live water," that is, water that is not chlorinated to the point of eye-stinging sterility and predictability, water that contains living...stuff, for lack of a better word. Why bother with water at all, then? Simply, I love to swim, and I do like the idea of ocean beaches and of frolicking in their waves. I just also have to swallow an irrational fear along with it as a sidecar. In any case, lakes also fall under the category of "live water." As with oceans, I am much happier and find it much easier to deal with this fear if I can see the floor of whatever body of water I happen to be in at the time. One still encounters random flotsam, to be sure - threads of algae or other unidentified flora passing by and bearing far too close a resemblance to mucus. Quick and jerky reflexes take over when unscheduled points of contact occur between this mucus-y biological effluvia and any given appendage of mine. Fortunately, no one was hurt as I interacted directly with triggers of paranoia and overall creep-outitutde. Perhaps I can successfully reintroduce myself to the native environment again later.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Wall-E
***slight spoiler alert***
Wall-E was definitely a touching movie, and I could go on about that, but I won't spoil any major plot points here. It's my new favorite Pixar film, and you should just go see it. When you do, be on the lookout for several references to other sci-fi movies. The easiest one to figure out is the 2001 reference, but apparently there is a reference to Alien as well (Sigourney Weaver voices a ship's computer). Another thought that struck me was how cute Wall-E was, moving around with a chipper and exploratory attitude, occasionally bleeping to himself - it all was vaguely reminiscent of R2-D2 from Star Wars. And now that I've seen who voiced Wall-E, the R2-D2 connection is even stronger and concrete. Ben Burtt, sound editor and (digitally modified/enhanced) voice of R2-D2 of all the Star Wars films, also voiced Wall-E. Interestingly, this particular sci-fi connection/reference has not been mentioned in the reviews I've read.
Also, stick around for the closing credits. Pixar used the history and development of human art (from cave paintings to Van Gogh-ish post-impressionism) as highly stylized environments in which the restoration story continues after the close of the movie proper. Beautiful.
Wall-E was definitely a touching movie, and I could go on about that, but I won't spoil any major plot points here. It's my new favorite Pixar film, and you should just go see it. When you do, be on the lookout for several references to other sci-fi movies. The easiest one to figure out is the 2001 reference, but apparently there is a reference to Alien as well (Sigourney Weaver voices a ship's computer). Another thought that struck me was how cute Wall-E was, moving around with a chipper and exploratory attitude, occasionally bleeping to himself - it all was vaguely reminiscent of R2-D2 from Star Wars. And now that I've seen who voiced Wall-E, the R2-D2 connection is even stronger and concrete. Ben Burtt, sound editor and (digitally modified/enhanced) voice of R2-D2 of all the Star Wars films, also voiced Wall-E. Interestingly, this particular sci-fi connection/reference has not been mentioned in the reviews I've read.
Also, stick around for the closing credits. Pixar used the history and development of human art (from cave paintings to Van Gogh-ish post-impressionism) as highly stylized environments in which the restoration story continues after the close of the movie proper. Beautiful.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Summer Reading
If you're looking for some recommendations on a new author to try this summer, here are two links to help you in your search.
1.
The site: http://www.gnooks.com/trip.php
How it works: You type in the name of three authors whose work you enjoy. This site will crunch some kind of algorithm and spit out an author recommendation.
Results: For fun (i.e., not for serious), I typed in Samuel Beckett, Arthur Golden, and Anthony Bourdain. Mind you, I only enjoy the work of one of those authors. Anyway, the algorithm spit out "Barbara Ehrenreich" of Nickel and Dimed fame. I have no idea if that's a legit or meaningful recommendation, but given that I dislike two of those three authors, perhaps I should steer clear of that book.
2.
The site: http://www.literature-map.com/
How it works: You plug in the name of one of your favorite authors. This site shows you a mapping of supposedly similar authors whose work you might enjoy. Your plugged-in author name appears at the center of the map and other authors fill the surrounding space. I think there is an implied relationship between the relative spatial closeness of any given authors whose names appear on the map.
Results: I've not tried it out myself (as in, I've yet to take the site up on a recommendation and read a recommended author to evaluate for similarity to the original author I provided). I can tell you that one of my sample authors did turn up several names of other authors whose work I've also read and enjoyed. I just don't know how directly similar I would call them, necessarily.
1.
The site: http://www.gnooks.com/trip.php
How it works: You type in the name of three authors whose work you enjoy. This site will crunch some kind of algorithm and spit out an author recommendation.
Results: For fun (i.e., not for serious), I typed in Samuel Beckett, Arthur Golden, and Anthony Bourdain. Mind you, I only enjoy the work of one of those authors. Anyway, the algorithm spit out "Barbara Ehrenreich" of Nickel and Dimed fame. I have no idea if that's a legit or meaningful recommendation, but given that I dislike two of those three authors, perhaps I should steer clear of that book.
2.
The site: http://www.literature-map.com/
How it works: You plug in the name of one of your favorite authors. This site shows you a mapping of supposedly similar authors whose work you might enjoy. Your plugged-in author name appears at the center of the map and other authors fill the surrounding space. I think there is an implied relationship between the relative spatial closeness of any given authors whose names appear on the map.
Results: I've not tried it out myself (as in, I've yet to take the site up on a recommendation and read a recommended author to evaluate for similarity to the original author I provided). I can tell you that one of my sample authors did turn up several names of other authors whose work I've also read and enjoyed. I just don't know how directly similar I would call them, necessarily.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
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