Reading, and other things.

I’ve never been a fast reader. I know quite a few who read a lot faster than I do. This semester, though, I basically don’t have much of a choice. So I’ve been going at a reasonable speed, trying to stay ahead of things, and it’s holding up so far. The task is made a little more difficult by the fact that I don’t actually have a very good textual memory, in that I find it very hard to place details in the books that I read. Quiz me about it a bit after and I’d already have forgotten–twice.

Still, I hope I cope.

I’m currently on Coetzee’s Disgrace. I’m just about to finish it actually. Then I’ll go about doing the presentation thing that we’re supposed to do in the tutorials. I will probably talk about animals.

Meanwhile, I think I will take a bit of a break from reading my texts and do some other book next, just for personal reading pleasure. I’ll figure out what that is soon.

On the topic of enjoying myself, I shall take myself to the pictures in the weekend, I hope, and catch a movie or something. Or maybe I should go loan some movie. I was thinking either an Ingmar Bergman or a David Lynch picture. I haven’t done a David Lynch film for a long time. I want to watch his most recent film, Inland Empire, so I might consider going to look for that.

On a side note, I might go to the PC Show/IT Show/PC Fair/IT Fair/Whateveryoucallit this weekend. I’m not looking for very much though it’s nice to drop by once in a while. I could do with a hard drive just to fill up the slot I have to spare. I could pick up a monitor because mine seems to be having a bit of a problem, though I don’t think that’s too great of a worry right now and that’s a few hundred dollars I don’t quite want to spend right now. Then there’s the issue of my speakers but I don’t think you can get very good deals on speakers at these events anyway, so it doesn’t really matter. In the end, it’s more of an excuse to actually go out and buy something, really.

Right, time to polish off Disgrace.

Genius

Weekend over, and I just popped by to say that I’ve been thinking about Heart of Darkness, partly for class, partly for my essay, and also partly for myself. It’s a brilliant work, and Conrad certainly doesn’t seem nearly as straightforward as I used to think he was on the basis of Heart of Darkness. Of course, I had no reason to suspect so in the first place, so I guess I was just really being stupid. I read Heart of Darkness (and a couple of other Conrad shorts) when I was a lot younger, and I reckon I just didn’t have the perceptiveness to observe what I’ve observed recently. I’m now somewhat inclined to believe my other lecturer when he tells me that if I can read Heart of Darkness properly, Texts for Nothing is… well, nothing.

I also watched Godard’s Le Mépris over the weekend. While it isn’t a compulsory text, I am doing Contempt this semester, and my love of the few Godard pictures I’ve watched (the result of my own laziness and also the fact that he’s made so many pictures) meant that there was no way I was going to leave it out of my to-do list. It’s a beautiful picture, as Godard’s films tend to be, and I have to say that I really enjoyed it. The Delerue soundtrack certainly helped too.

The last piece of genius I should tell you about today is Macedonio Fernández’s wonderful The Museum of Eterna’s Novel (The First Good Novel). It was funny and clever and moving all at once, and is the sort of thing that makes you think, If only I managed a novel/antinovel even half of this magnitude someday. Wonderful stuff.

I’m moving onto Franca Rame and Dario Fo’s monologues next. It’s one of my texts and to tell the truth I have no idea what to expect. Of course, it’s perfectly possible that this is a work of genius too, in which case my earlier statement will have to be retracted, but having not read it I’m in something of a quandary here.

And on a final and really unrelated note for today, I think I should be ordering my earphones soon. I have a feeling they’ll come in handy in the near future. I’ve delayed enough.

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Weekend Work

You know that the semester has crept up on you when your weekends are packed with things to do. Last weekend was somewhat the same, maybe slightly better, but yeah, I’ve more or less only just noticed. There’s that familiar sensation in my gut again as I begin to worry about this thing and that. It’s good to be back.

One mostly comforting thing is that I’m beginning to get a better feel for what I thought to be my most difficult subject. I still think it’s my most difficult subject, but it’s not bamboozling me so much anymore. I also realise I ought to step up the pace on a couple of my other subjects lest I get left behind, but it’s just that there are so many things going on at one time that it doesn’t always seem possible.

Oh yes, I have to do my first lab report this week. It’s been a long while since I’ve put together one. I hope that doesn’t impair me in any horrific way. I foresee having to spend an inordinate amount of time on it.

Next week I’m having the first of my project meetings. Somehow it just comes across as being quite exciting. Unnecessarily so, I’m sure, but I can’t help myself. It’s the sort of thing that makes you cry out quietly inside that something’s actually happening.

Made some friends this week. Lovely thing. Lovely people. I hope I find friendships to last this semester, though the way things happen, I’m not particularly optimistic about it. Two of those new acquaintances asked me yesterday: “Are you Singaporean? Because you look Korean.” My word, that’s the first time anyone’s ever said that. It was funny mostly because the two of them were thinking the same thing. And if you don’t know what I look like, I promise that I don’t.

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Attractiveness

Weekend was spent trying to get a hold of things. If they weren’t picking up the pace earlier, they’re certainly switching gears right about now.

Ah yes, and now, an assortment of random things:

I woke up yesterday with the most curious mix of joy and sadness. There was a curious disappointment that I had to deal with but also a number of things that made me quite glad. The disappointment is associated in part with a new friendship; the joy is composed of an eclectic mix of sources.

One of them has to do with a somewhat attractive idea that occurred to me in the morning. It’s a philosophical idea that I’m sure has been discussed to death since the time of the ancient Greeks, but I’ll latch onto it for now and see where it takes me. I might be able to glean something from it. Attractive ideas are always exciting. That is, ideas that make you go, Now that’s something to think about. Whether or not I mess it up eventually is a question for later. For now, the purity of it and the fact that it might well lead me to unchartered territory make it all very exciting and of course very attractive.

Spent my morning yesterday setting up a new printer, which was straightforward of course except for a little quirk that stumped me for about half an hour. It’s always the little things that get you, isn’t it?

I had a calculator that died. I think the battery died. It’s the first calculator that’s ever died on me. Fancy that. Though I bet loads of people get through their entire lives without calculators dying on them.

I wrote a new short story. Did I say that already? I wrote it last week. I don’t know what to do with it. I was thinking of a certain competition but I just missed the deadline by a number of weeks. Oh well. I’ll keep it in reserve maybe. I’ve never quite written a short story like that, but it feels right in that it feels like I know what I’m doing. So far, people seem to like it, which is as much as a raconteur can ask for, I suppose. Though I did receive complaints about my generally minimalist punctuation.

I might have to watch some heart surgery soon. That just sounds brilliant in itself. Looking forward to it.

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Second Week Anxiety

Oh hello there. The second week is coming and going like no one’s business. Things are certainly picking up and I can only do my best to try to stay ahead of them. I’ve had a few surprises, a couple of disappointments, and mostly had some pretty pleasant days. Not bad for a school term, especially considering how the second week’s not even over yet.

I have to admit to being more than a little anxious about a few things, looking ahead, but that always happens, doesn’t it? School manages to do that to you with its distinct blend of repetition, overloading, and quaint unpredictability. You’d think that one would have grown used to it by now, but that really can’t be further from the truth. Of course, the uncertainty is ramped up a little this semester with the final-year project and my other subjects.

My timetable’s mostly fine, though I think that by the time the final-year project kicks up a gear or two, it really wouldn’t matter all that much. I hope I manage to hang onto some of my friends. Figuratively, of course.

I’ve been listening to a lot of Jeff Beck of late, as well as some Freddie King. Two brilliant, brilliant men. Sometimes it’s nice to remind yourself of why this or that musician has such and such a standing among all of your favourites.

Meanwhile I’ve taken a break from reading my literature texts and have started on Kobo Abe’s The Ruined Map. I like it so far, though that’s not very far at all. It’s like an existentialist’s Chandler novel, which sounds like a perfectly good proposition to me. Everyone seems to say that it is all rather “disquieting” and I think that would be right up my alley as well, so I’m fairly optimistic about it. I’ve never read any of Abe’s work before this, so I hope that this turns out to be a good introduction.

Meanwhile, I hope you’ve been enjoying the Youth Olympic Games. I caught the weightlifting the other day and a bout of taekwondo. I also watched a tiny bit of football tonight. I find that I ask very silly questions about sport (as an institution) whenever I watch these things. Like, what exactly are we celebrating/discerning from a competition? Is it natural physical talent? is it a form of artistry? or is it that vague term “the human spirit”? Well, I’m sure it’s actually a combination of things like these, but if we don’t actually know specifically, or if we don’t agree from sport to sport, how do we draw up our rules to represent what we want out of our sports?

Oh, it’s late. I begin to ramble when it’s late. I’ll be back.

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A Charitable Birthday

Oh hey, my birthday is coming, and maybe you’re intending to help me to celebrate it (how nice of you) but don’t want to do something as conventional as a present (though I am always happy to receive them), and if so, read on. Thing is, it’s been a while since I’ve received anything especially meaningful for my birthday. I’m not actually in dire need of anything, and all of this spending money on me could probably be put to better use. So I was just thinking, if you’re up for it, then making a donation on my behalf would be a lovely gesture.

Here a few possibilities, then, with the lovely thing being that it still ends up looking quite like a birthday thing since most of these will come with some sort of acknowledgement or keepsake that you can pretend is my birthday present:

No, it’s not a charity, but one of the things you could contribute to is the David Lynch documentary project called the Lynch three Project. The lithograph is very nice and it would be lovely to be able to hang it somewhere in my room. [via Lynch three Project] I don’t know if it ships here, but I sure hope so.

Alternately, you can also support the efforts of the World Wide Fund for Nature, more popular known as the WWF. They have this lovely thing where you can have a plushie and a photograph as a keepsake if you make a donation. [via WWF] I’m mostly partial to the Amur Leopard.

“Puppies Behind Bars trains inmates to raise puppies to become service dogs for the disabled and explosive detection canines for law enforcement.” If purchased from the site, 100% of the proceeds from the sale of the Puppies Behind Bars photograph book will go towards helping the puppies. [via Puppies Behind Bars]

You could also make a gift donation to the World Land Trust, of which Sir David Attenborough is a patron. [via The World Land Trust]

Finally, while it isn’t a donation per se, a portion of the proceeds from these art prints at The Working Proof will go to corresponding charities. [via The Working Proof]

And if none of this appeals to you and all else fails, when you can’t find a present, don’t know what I like to eat, and are pulling your hair out over Gloomsday, always remember that you can fetch me a balloon. Really, I’m not that hard to please.

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Just popping by.

I realised I missed Wednesday. It was not entirely intentional, but the best I could probably do is not to make a mess of this entry.

School’s started, yes, and it has mostly been a fairly unremarkable week. On the nicer side of things, I’ve made a new friend, a complete surprise when you realise that all of my classes thus far were supposed to be with familiar people. On the less nice side of things, I find myself conflicted about some stuff, and I also realise it’s going to be a rather hectic semester. To that end, I’ve tried to get a head start on things by tackling some of my texts sooner than I was planning. I’m still not quite sure it’s going to work.

Other than that it has been quite pleasant seeing all the familiar faces. Some of them have come back from exchange programmes and the like, so… it’s been quite a while. It’s interesting, to say the least, to see how people have changed, but also interesting is to realise how I’ve changed.

Tomorrow’s kind of a big day. It’ll be my first day of literature classes, and in fact I’ll have, by my own measure, a whole day of them. I’ve got five hours with an hour’s break in between, and thereafter I’ll be having the last of another lecture series. It’s a busy day, and a big day because I don’t really know what to think going into these brand new literature classes. It is all slightly exciting, well, very exciting, and yet also all rather intimidating. It’s not just the subject, but the people. New people, plenty of new people. Hopefully we will be making many more new friends, but who’s to say?

Meanwhile, I’ve been having a few ideas. I am a little upset at not actually being able to complete my first editing of Singapura, which I should say is still looking for a new title, though the ideas keep that part of me satisfied for now. I’m sure most of the ideas will be quarantined, never to see the light of day again, but we always remain hopeful that one or two of them will have the staying power to outlive the bad ones. It should be said, however, that some of these bad ones are impossibly hardy and make a habit of surfacing like ghosts in idle minds.

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Acquisitons, recent and foreseeable.

New Book Order

• Elizabeth Costello, J. M. Coetzee. My favourite Coetzee book; one day I just felt the need to get it onto my shelves, so there it is.
• Tinkers, Paul Harding. Recent Pulitzer Prize winner; I have no idea what it is about.
• Collected Poems, Philip Larkin. Hello, Mr. Larkin! Always good to see you.
• The Ruined Map, Kōbō Abe. Probably less well-known around these parts; here is a tasty article about him. [via The Millions]

Textbooks I Need

So according to the reading list of my two subjects, here are the texts that I need:

• Crick Crack Monkey, Merle Hodge.
• The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro. As you will know I have never read this before; people always talk about it, and I’m quietly hopeful that it’ll be as good as Never Let Me Go, if not better; I was somehow quite disappointed with Nocturnes.
• In the Castle of My Skin, George Lamming.
• Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie.
• Disgrace, J. M. Coetzee. I have this; my first reading of this was a library copy so this is brand new; it was on my waiting list; it is one of the few books that I won’t have to buy.
• Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad. I have this too, and it is in fact one of the oldest books on my shelves; it is somewhat out of shape and very yellow, but that only adds to its charm; one of the books of my youth and therefore a personal favourite, but I’m not too sure about how it will fare with all of these years that have passed.
• Texts for nothing, Samuel Beckett. I suppose this means Stories and Texts for Nothing, though it could also mean that without the three stories.
• Contempt, Alberto Moravia.
• Marat/Sade, Peter Weiss. Ah yes, otherwise known as The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade.
• A Woman Alone, etc., Rame and Fo. Hmm, I guess I’ll have to ask about the et cetera bit.
• A Heart So White, Javier Marías. I was actually planning to get started on Marías because I’ve read more than a few recommendations for Your Face Tomorrow; I had not quite anticipated that school would give me a helping hand of some sort.
• Crabwalk, Gűnter Grass.
• Selected poems by Zbigniew Herbert. I’ve only read one of his poems, so this is pretty much a great opportunity.

Meanwhile, Movies

Oh yes, we’re doing a few movies too:

• Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola. This is the only film I’ve watched on this list.
• Ararat, Atom Egoyan.
• Ulysses’ Gaze, Theo Angelopoulos.

Time, Mr. Freeman?

That’s actually more to cover than I thought, so I don’t know where my normal day-to-day reading will fit in, but I hope I manage to make time. Here are some of the immediate highlights from my waiting list:

• The Museum of Eterna’s Novel (The First Good Novel), Macedonio Fernández. I’ve been waiting a long time to read this.
• To The Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf.
• Rimbaud Complete, Arthur Rimbaud. Hello, Mr. Rimbaud! Always good to see you, too.
• The Implacable Order of Things, José Luís Peixoto.

And of course, a bunch of other things.

“Ordinarily, I wouldn’t contemplate them… but these are extraordinary times.”

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Rojak.

Review of Arcade Fire’s new album, The Suburbs. [via Obscure Sound] I just got my hands on it.

flickr has a new look, with bigger pictures. Look at mine. [via flickr] I like it so far.

A look into the J.G. Ballard archives. [via A Piece of Monologue]

‘I am not going to give one inch to the “you need to support yourself” argument. I had a student at the School of Visual Arts once. He came to class one week and didn’t have any work because his camera was stolen. I understood that. But the next week he came back and still didn’t have any work because he said he didn’t have enough money to buy a camera. I said, “I’m going to throw you out of the class.” I made him come up to the front of the class and I asked him to stick out his arm. He did. I grabbed his hand and said, “What is that?” He had a Tag Heuer watch. I said, “Sell that watch and buy a camera.” He said, “I can’t sell that watch, my grandmother gave it to me.” So I said, “Sell your grandmother into slavery and buy a camera.” I threw him out of the class. ‘

Talking to photographer Thomas Roma. [via The Days of Yore]

StarCraft II is the fastest selling strategy game of all time. [via Kotaku]

On Education, by Bertrand Russell. [via Wikisource]

Hi, David Bowie. Hi, George! [via Youtube]

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Reading Lists

My friend is planning a reading list for the coming semester. I believe he would like to read more widely and to be exposed to literature of a certain depth. In a way, he’s not been quite a literary sort of bloke. He’s not even been reading a lot. So when he asked me to choose between certain books that he had in mind, I thought it would be an opportunity to suggest things, to maybe take him out of his comfort zone and challenge him a bit. I hoped that by cooking up a list of suggestions, he had a chance of finding something artistically exciting, something completely brand new to him, or–who knows–something somewhat life-changing.

The task is kind of trickier than I would have supposed. I mean, if you had to suggest a nice set of reading materials for a friend of yours, what would you put on it? It certainly can’t be a Greatest Hits album of any sort because you’ve everyone’s different and you’ve got to tailor it to your friend. And you want to assemble a list that’s wide enough to represent a variety of writing in a case like this. So I sought to put together writing not just in an array of styles, but also an assortment of forms. My final suggested list consisted of short fiction, poetry, a play, two novels, and a number of essays.

I tried to draw from a reasonably broad base of writers and also to avoid recommending anything I thought he might find difficult to get into. I also avoided anything too long except for one long novel (Saramago’s Blindness) because he claims to be a slow reader and the amount of investment or discipline required for a longer work is not something he’s quite acquainted with, particularly with our schedule for this upcoming semester. Finally, I picked things that I thought might appeal to him (aesthetically, philosophically, or in terms of plot).

So eventually I emerged with a list that contained things of importance (the world can never read enough Borges), the poetry of my youth (Eliot), and a host of influences that I hold dear. In retrospect, I could possibly have cast a wider net, pooled together a more comprehensive and diverse representation of writing (the poets are mainly American and the rest of them are m

And so I had a tidy little list that he might conceivably make use of. I don’t know, but in the meantime, I have to admit to being quite proud of it.

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