Archive for February, 2009
Monday Blues
System Maintenance
It’s been a rough week, but it’s gradually clearing my system. Things are kind of falling back into place, though in the wake of events they all seem to be a little distorted, as if the world has changed just that tiny little bit.
Things are slowly getting back on track. Been working on papers and some writing. Been studying. Been watching TV. Been imagining things. Been dreaming. Been drinking ginseng tea. There are a few things that haven’t been going so great. Haven’t been sleeping, for instance. Haven’t been talking to many people. (Just about three in fact.)
Though at the same time, I’ve also been enjoying writing in a way I never quite have before. Although to say that it has to do with this is a little untrue, but to say that it has nothing to do with this is also rather naive. Maybe it does and maybe it doesn’t. Doesn’t really matter.
But really, apart from the lack of sleep and the decision to avoid talking to most people, I don’t think there’s too drastic a symptom.
And Now A List Of Random Things
Last week before the reading week. Goodness, we’re already halfway through the semester.
I’m going through Waiting For Godot next.
No, still not querying, but slightly more optimistic on Bukit Merah.
Two Links
AmpLive is the producer of hip-hop group Zion-I, and he did remixes of songs from Radiohead’s In Rainbows (dubbed RainyDayz Remixes) some time back, but received a cease and desist. Ever since then, the project has received the approval of Radiohead, and you can find download it for free if you’re interested. [via Josh Spear, actual link] I’m not much of a hip-hop person, but I did quite like a few of the remixes, especially the version of 15 Step.
Doctor Who Valentine’s cards. [via io9, actual link via Enjoying Life's Journey]
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Don’t Drink And Drive
When people get hurt they drink alcohol; when I get hurt I drink ginseng tea. =S
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Valentine’s Day Bonus
Today I have a little bit of writing for you. You can see it in the sidebar, or you can just take the link below. It’s a short piece I wrote in a hurry yesterday, so it’s probably not anything great and in fact might be full of errors, but I thought it would be nice for a Valentine’s bonus.
If you like it, do spread it around. If you don’t like it, then, well, don’t.
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P.S. Happy Valentine’s to all of you who… have reason to be happy. And as for those who don’t, like me, just go out and get your hearts broken.
2666
At the risk of sounding like I’m jumping on the bandwagon, I’m just going to very quickly say that 2666 is brilliant. At this point in time, I’m sure you have heard all you’ve needed to hear about it, so anything I say is probably not going to mean very much. I wasn’t ever very good at effective hyperbole anyway.
But I’ll say this: 2666 reads like the sprawling novel and towering achievement that you expect it to be. At times, it is wry and funny; at times, it is gruesome and grisly; at times, it is dramatic and crushing; and at times, there is only darkness. It is an enormous poem in disguise, and it cruises along under Bolaño’s assured mastery; and that’s what I think surprised me, that it all went down so easily. It is after all a massive tome, and that it went down like good wine in two weeks was a minor testament to its power.
Sometimes a science fiction book, sometimes a news report, sometimes an exercise in vaudeville, it is a thing of remarkable deftness and ambition. From page to page, Bolaño weaves magic with momentum and lyricism, always defiant and unflinching, and in doing so, crafts a true masterpiece for our time.
And to end off, a quote:
“It was raining in the quadrangle, and the quadrangular sky looked like the grimace of a robot or a god made in our own likeness. The oblique drops of rain slid down the blades of grass in the part, but it would have made no difference if they had slid up. Then the oblique (drops) turned round (drops), swallowed up by the earth underpinning the grass, and the grass and the earth seemed to talk, no, not talk, argue, their incomprehensible words like crystallized spiderwebs or the briefest crystallized vomitings, a barely audible rustling, as if instead of drinking tea that afternoon, Norton had drunk a steaming cup of peyote.
“But the truth is that she had only had tea to drink and she felt overwhelmed, as if a voice were repeating a terrible prayer in her ear, the words of which blurred as she walked away from the college, and the rain wetted her gray skirt and bony knees and pretty ankles and little else, because before Liz Norton went running through the park, she hadn’t forgotten to pick up her umbrella.”
That’s extremely early in the book, and I still remember it vividly now.
I know the sort of feeling where you think you shouldn’t join in the chorus, that you should avoid the mob mentality, that you should stay away from everyone’s current favourite writer. But sometimes, the bandwagon is worth jumping on.
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The Hazards Of Love
And Stolen Sweethearts
Well, so I suppose heart broken and plans gone awry, that’ll be the end of Valentine’s this year for me. The first real downer in a year so far without downers. In the fallout of that mess, which was less a mess than a bloodless stab in the chest, but I suppose it’ll all work out in the end, as all things do.
I’m writing this the night before, of course, so I should say that I won’t be getting any sleep tonight. It might not get easier tomorrow.
In the meantime, as is my usual habit, I expect to be stuffing myself full of work in the forthcoming days. It’ll also be a season of mood swings, a process of normalisation until I get back on track. It’s just like this.
So, on the itinerary, I’ve got Beckett lined up after the Raymond Carver I’m reading now. Some projects to do. Some writing to do. You know. All of this sort of stuff. You know. Whatever it takes to take your mind off of it.
In the end, heartbreaks aren’t bad things. They’re just uncomfortable. But you know, where would we all be without heartbreaks?
In their most recent news entry, the Decemberists describe their upcoming album in this way:
“The Hazards of Love and deals heavily with the potential pitfalls of romance”
I think that’s all rather appropriate now.
15 Step
Radiohead, or at least two members of Radiohead, performed 15 Step at the Grammys.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IMiiJRwhS0]
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Finished
On a side note, I finished 2666 yesterday. Do I read fast? I don’t know, but it took about two weeks.
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Metaphors
Nothing Says It Quite Like…
This weekend, I made some of the most terrible metaphors imaginable. For instance, I compared oily hair to wanton mee. I also described qipaos as bedsheets. But really, imagine this:
Person: Is this qipao pretty?
You: No.
Person: It’s just you.
Compare that to this:
Person: Is this qipao pretty?
You: It looks like bedsheets.
Person: Noooooooo~~~~~!!!
See, it’s just an entirely different effect. The hair example:
You: Hey, your hair is very oily. Better check it out. It’s not good for hair.
Person: Okay.
Versus:
You: Hey, your hair is very oily. Better check it out. It’s not good for hair.
Person: Okay.
You: It’s like wanton mee.
Person: Noooooooo~~~~~!!!
Sometimes, a mean metaphor is just the thing you need to kick someone into action. I’m still figuring out the proper metaphors to use for my friend who wants to quit smoking but doesn’t want to quit smoking, if you know what I mean.
Also This Weekend
I was at work on a biomaterials paper, and it’s still proving to be a little of a tough customer. Also, there have been a variety of half-inclinations and I really wanted to do something about either The River or Bukit Merah, but didn’t quite get to it. Some plans for Valentine’s. (Not working.) Some TV. Some football. And mostly nothing else.
Not enough school work done. Not enough personal work done. Not enough enjoyment. I suppose you can only pick one and stick with it or else your weekend goes to hell.
Almost Done
Almost finishing 2666. Probably in the next couple of days. So far, it’s been quite brilliant, and it certainly shows no signs of letting up now that I’m in the last part. Sometimes wry and clever, sometimes shocking and gruesome, sometimes a sermon in the darkness, and always quite magnificent.
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