apollo's towel, remember conner, citizen vince
Okay, a few links.
I cannot believe Jamie Bamber agreed to do an entire photo shoot in a towel. I'm kind of embarrassed for him.
dingogrrl notes that next month marks the anniversary of Conner Kent's death (in the comics). We should all prepare a little creative bit of grave-marking for him. Wouldn't it be nice to have a challenge in memory of Conner/Kon-El? I know people are still writing him out there in LJ land. It'd be awesome if we got some of that fic together in one place to mark the month or something.
People, I'm really quite disappointed that there was no discussion over that GQ article comparing Friday Night Lights and Heroes. Come on! I not only scanned the entire text, I was as provocative as I possibly could be in my entry. I can't be the only one who finds the subject interesting. Then again...maybe I am. We've been discussing two books about the so-called American experience in one of my classes this semester, and I'm completely fascinated by the contrast between them.
Book One: Homeland by Sam Lipsyte. It's a novel about an ill-adjusted malcontented loser who has never recovered from high school. If this book were an essay, its thesis would be this statement from the denouement at the end of the novel (I'll leave some context): "We live our lives wanting to love, to be loved. We are not loved. We sense the darkness just beyond. It's a scary fucking darkness. Where is the light? There is no light. We lash out in the darkness."
Book Two: Citizen Vince by Jess Walter. It's a novel about an ex-convict in Witness Protection who lives on the fringes of society, dates a prostitute, and runs a credit card scam. If this book were an essay, its thesis would be some variation of this declarative statement (repeated throughout the narrative): "Look, don't ever feel stupid for wanting something better!"
And I love that tension between having the courage to believe it's possible to change and settling for what looks like reality. Because maybe belief itself changes reality, yeah? And what you decide is reality is all you're gonna get, you're *not* gonna get something better if you decide it's "stupid" to want it.
But the rest of the class is totally dead on the subject. So.
See, people don't defend the so-called status quo nearly enough anymore. The books that get all the attention are supposed to stand out as something shocking or revolutionary. Walter's book definitely embraces traditional values, while Lipsyte is all about pointing out what's wrong with society. In this day and age, I tend to think Lipsyte took the easy road. Walter uses something totally cliched like the right to vote--why is it important? Does it even make a difference?--and insists, at the end, that it *does*. Another quote: "Maybe you build a thing up in your mind and believe that it connects to your own life and has some meaning. But what if you're just fooling yourself? What if it doesn't mean anything in the end? Or is it enough to believe that a thing has meaning?" Actually, the more I talk about this book, the more I like it. I'd highly recommend it, especially to Americans (it takes place during the 1980 Reagan-Carter election).
And apparently I should add this to my book review tag, huh? *g*
I cannot believe Jamie Bamber agreed to do an entire photo shoot in a towel. I'm kind of embarrassed for him.
dingogrrl notes that next month marks the anniversary of Conner Kent's death (in the comics). We should all prepare a little creative bit of grave-marking for him. Wouldn't it be nice to have a challenge in memory of Conner/Kon-El? I know people are still writing him out there in LJ land. It'd be awesome if we got some of that fic together in one place to mark the month or something.
People, I'm really quite disappointed that there was no discussion over that GQ article comparing Friday Night Lights and Heroes. Come on! I not only scanned the entire text, I was as provocative as I possibly could be in my entry. I can't be the only one who finds the subject interesting. Then again...maybe I am. We've been discussing two books about the so-called American experience in one of my classes this semester, and I'm completely fascinated by the contrast between them.
Book One: Homeland by Sam Lipsyte. It's a novel about an ill-adjusted malcontented loser who has never recovered from high school. If this book were an essay, its thesis would be this statement from the denouement at the end of the novel (I'll leave some context): "We live our lives wanting to love, to be loved. We are not loved. We sense the darkness just beyond. It's a scary fucking darkness. Where is the light? There is no light. We lash out in the darkness."
Book Two: Citizen Vince by Jess Walter. It's a novel about an ex-convict in Witness Protection who lives on the fringes of society, dates a prostitute, and runs a credit card scam. If this book were an essay, its thesis would be some variation of this declarative statement (repeated throughout the narrative): "Look, don't ever feel stupid for wanting something better!"
And I love that tension between having the courage to believe it's possible to change and settling for what looks like reality. Because maybe belief itself changes reality, yeah? And what you decide is reality is all you're gonna get, you're *not* gonna get something better if you decide it's "stupid" to want it.
But the rest of the class is totally dead on the subject. So.
See, people don't defend the so-called status quo nearly enough anymore. The books that get all the attention are supposed to stand out as something shocking or revolutionary. Walter's book definitely embraces traditional values, while Lipsyte is all about pointing out what's wrong with society. In this day and age, I tend to think Lipsyte took the easy road. Walter uses something totally cliched like the right to vote--why is it important? Does it even make a difference?--and insists, at the end, that it *does*. Another quote: "Maybe you build a thing up in your mind and believe that it connects to your own life and has some meaning. But what if you're just fooling yourself? What if it doesn't mean anything in the end? Or is it enough to believe that a thing has meaning?" Actually, the more I talk about this book, the more I like it. I'd highly recommend it, especially to Americans (it takes place during the 1980 Reagan-Carter election).
And apparently I should add this to my book review tag, huh? *g*