1. My vacation can't get here fast enough. Seriously. Neither can mai kitten. Whom I've seriously considered naming "Lol". I am a sick, sick man.
2. I had a fairly decent Saturday actually. I slept in. And although my WoW raid got canceled I spent the afternoon watching old episodes of Farscape and playing Tiger Woods on the Wii. Then I went in to work. I spent an hour at work taking care of a couple things, it was no big deal. Then afterwards I went out to dinner. By myself. I went to my favorite restaurant, The Irish Lion. I got all the food I love. Blarny Puffballs (deep fried balls of mashed potatoes, garlic and cheese) and mutton pie with coddle. I could eat coddle every meal every day and never grow tired of it. I drank two glasses of mead. The Irish Lion has the best mead. It's got just the right sweetness, not too dry, not too sweet. In between courses/drinks I jotted down notes for the opening chapter of my Pebbleman novel. Not any actual writing per se, but at least an idea. All in all, quite the pleasant way to pass a meal.
3. I'm so alone. So very alone.
4. I want to get some writing done over my vacation. Sounds very relaxing. Just need to remember to download what I have from the googledoc as where I'm going won't have internet access. I'd like to get the zombie story finished. I could get it completed, whereas the Pebbleman novel would only get the most minor of starts. Shoot for low hanging fruit, that's what I say.
5. I've now managed to scare off four women in a row. Four women now that I've had email conversations with and they just stop responding (well, five if you count the one woman that was seeing someone but wanted to make new friends, but I don't count that one). And it pisses me off. You know, if I grow uninterested in someone, at least I have the goddamn decency to tell them, not just run away. But yeah, my love life is a disaster. I just got an email last night from a woman, but I'm pretty certain she's psychotic. I need to stop. Before I get injured.
6. So very....very alone.
7. Wardenclyffe Tower. Wardenclyffe Tower. I need to do something with that. Yeah.
8. I've been depressed for about a couple weeks. Coincidently, I've been off my medication for about a week during that time (back on it now, was problems with zee doctor). Talked with my doctor about possibly upping the prescription. I'm telling you, Brave New World is severely underrated. Better living through chemistry!
9. I've been doing research. Sometime in early October I think I will be taking a trip to Nevada. To have sex with a prostitute. A high class one. I'm a scientist, when I see a problem I find the simplest and most direct method to fix it.
10. Spaced DVD comes out today. I need to remember to pick that up. I think I'll do that in Chicago, when I make my yearly mecca to the Frye's near my moms place. I have love for The Frye's, I wish it was closer to me. Just as I wish my damn friends lived closer to me. You people need to move. Near me.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Is there a doctor in the house?
Actually, now there's two. My friend James, my dear closest friend in the entire world, has successfully defended his dissertation and joins the ranks of us "doctors". Congratulations buddy, I'm so proud of you. I knew you could do it. I'll call you soon, after you've caught up on your sleep.
So, I was in a metafictional mood tonight. I first watched Stranger Than Fiction, then I watched Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. I had never quite "gotten" the latter film before. But this time I went and read some comments at the imdb and I think I finally have a handle on what the film is about (goes to show all of you what an idiot I am, I had to turn to the cretins that comment on imdb for help).
The film is, or at least partly about, fate and the futility of the limitations of human intelligence. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are the subjects of fate. They are at the whims of a larger story, of which they only get small glimpses at. The fate of that story is that they are going to die. The question the film posits is: if Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were able to figure out the entire story, see the big picture, would they be able to change their fate? What the film shows is that they simply cannot fathom the full story. From playing games at questioning that never produce and answer, from having the script of their lives shown to the them by the tragedians, from having the pages of their fate LITERALLY float by them and they unable to read or comprehend what is written there, they simply cannot understand the big picture. By extrapolation, humans are limited in that we cannot comprehend the larger aspects of the universe, and in particular death. The film is very obsessed with death, I think because that is the be all end all of human existence. Literally. Perhaps if we understood the universe, we could understand death (death being fate), but we can't so we don't. We can only stumble along, getting small glimpses at the overall design and accidentally create beautiful things (ala the steam engine, the airplane, the theory of gravity as shown in the film) just to casually discard them.
The thing I can't quite figure out is the purpose of the tragedians. What purpose do they serve? Do the serve the same purpose in the original Hamlet, as a mirror to reality, a mechanism to show us that which is around us that we ignore? In part perhaps, but one gets the feeling that they are more. They are sort of omniscient, hinting at knowing the things we don't know, for example the whole "love, blood and rhetoric" speech, or always having people die in the plays they perform. There is also the famous line by the player: "the audience knows what to expect, and that is all they are prepared to believe". That speaks something close to the limits of human knowledge. But I don't think I see the entire purpose of the tragedians. Any thoughts from the peanut gallery?
Oh, and if you haven't seen the movie, go see the movie. Also, looking up the movie on imdb I found this. I don't....I don't know what to think.
So, I was in a metafictional mood tonight. I first watched Stranger Than Fiction, then I watched Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. I had never quite "gotten" the latter film before. But this time I went and read some comments at the imdb and I think I finally have a handle on what the film is about (goes to show all of you what an idiot I am, I had to turn to the cretins that comment on imdb for help).
The film is, or at least partly about, fate and the futility of the limitations of human intelligence. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are the subjects of fate. They are at the whims of a larger story, of which they only get small glimpses at. The fate of that story is that they are going to die. The question the film posits is: if Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were able to figure out the entire story, see the big picture, would they be able to change their fate? What the film shows is that they simply cannot fathom the full story. From playing games at questioning that never produce and answer, from having the script of their lives shown to the them by the tragedians, from having the pages of their fate LITERALLY float by them and they unable to read or comprehend what is written there, they simply cannot understand the big picture. By extrapolation, humans are limited in that we cannot comprehend the larger aspects of the universe, and in particular death. The film is very obsessed with death, I think because that is the be all end all of human existence. Literally. Perhaps if we understood the universe, we could understand death (death being fate), but we can't so we don't. We can only stumble along, getting small glimpses at the overall design and accidentally create beautiful things (ala the steam engine, the airplane, the theory of gravity as shown in the film) just to casually discard them.
The thing I can't quite figure out is the purpose of the tragedians. What purpose do they serve? Do the serve the same purpose in the original Hamlet, as a mirror to reality, a mechanism to show us that which is around us that we ignore? In part perhaps, but one gets the feeling that they are more. They are sort of omniscient, hinting at knowing the things we don't know, for example the whole "love, blood and rhetoric" speech, or always having people die in the plays they perform. There is also the famous line by the player: "the audience knows what to expect, and that is all they are prepared to believe". That speaks something close to the limits of human knowledge. But I don't think I see the entire purpose of the tragedians. Any thoughts from the peanut gallery?
Oh, and if you haven't seen the movie, go see the movie. Also, looking up the movie on imdb I found this. I don't....I don't know what to think.
Monday, July 7, 2008
I am the King of Rejection-land
No this is not about my love life. I mean, it could be, nothing's changed there, but it isn't. No, this is about a different and completely new form of rejection for me.
I finally heard back from the Weird Tales people (only took 6 weeks when they said it would be 2-4, but waddayagonnado). They rejected my story. Short, curt note saying it wasn't what they were looking for but to keep them in mind for future submissions. They also said not to submit anything new for 2 weeks as they are backlogged, so that explains that. Of course I'm disappointed, but I'm not surprised. Par for the course, eh? Chances of getting my very first submitted story published? Yeah right. Well, it was nice to dream.
I think I'll make that sort of a life goal. To get one of my stories published before I die. That'd be nice. I wonder if Weird Tales would like my zombie story.....
I finally heard back from the Weird Tales people (only took 6 weeks when they said it would be 2-4, but waddayagonnado). They rejected my story. Short, curt note saying it wasn't what they were looking for but to keep them in mind for future submissions. They also said not to submit anything new for 2 weeks as they are backlogged, so that explains that. Of course I'm disappointed, but I'm not surprised. Par for the course, eh? Chances of getting my very first submitted story published? Yeah right. Well, it was nice to dream.
I think I'll make that sort of a life goal. To get one of my stories published before I die. That'd be nice. I wonder if Weird Tales would like my zombie story.....
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