just checking in

i haven't written in a little while because i have been busy writing a story.

i've had this idea in my head for about a year and when i was swimming a few days ago, it just coalesced into a feasible plot line and story. the next day, a friend of mine in LA sent me a link to the national novel writing month site. i gave the link to a few other people as well. the idea is to write 50,000 words during the month of november. the idea is to just write. you can edit and re-write in december, but for november, just write.

at some point, i'll try and post the story. there is an excerpt of it on the NaNoWriMo site, but it's not very easy to navigate. if you're brave enough to try, my name on the site is bnelson7. good luck.

other than that, things have been fairly quiet. i've begun this strange fascination with marcel proust and i'm going to attempt to read "remembrance of things past" because i hear that it is amazing. after that, i'd like to pick up genet's "our lady of the flowers" or sartre's "road to freedom"series. for some reason, i have this craving for french literature. i'm yearning to read thomas mann or even thomas hardy.

i've been reading this book series called the "dresden files". it's the literary equivalent of a mcdonalds hamburger. the premise is that it is about a wizard who works as a private detective in modern-day chicago. the character is incredibly noble, sarcastic, chivalrous, and quotes or references sci-fi or fantasy movies all the time. there are maybe 10 or so books in the series and justin and i have devoured them each in turn.

i have always felt bad for my escapist tendencies when it comes to reading. i try to pepper my literary dancecard with stalwart classics. i'm not sure what my motivation is. i mean, i want to say that it is because literature is something that helps you to grow as a person and as a human being. ideally, a good work of literature will help to lay bare some empirical fact about life and who we are as human beings.

i'm not sure if i buy it.

the definintion of post modern culture, as i understand it, is the creation of something new by using a pastiche of old concepts and ideas to create something new. i would submit that the simpsons are the ultimate in postmodern entertainment; the reason is that the show's humour is written in layers. the smarter you are, the funnier that show is. for example, if there's a shot of homer getting stuffed in a barrel and thrown down niagara falls, then there are several layers of funny. first off, there's the initial schadenfreude of watching someone yelling as they scream going over the cliff face, but then there might be a hobbit reference as he inches towards the edge. if you get the hobbit reference, the joke is twice as funny. does that make sense.

the best example of this is "moulin rouge", the baz luhrman film. it is a musical, but the songs in this musical are actually pop songs that are part of the popular consciousness of western culture. i guess the best way to describe it is as a cinematic mix tape.

i have a confession.

i cannot read moby dick. i have tried several times. i even got the book on tape. i cannot seem to get into that book no matter what i do. maybe there is some guilt about that. i consider myself a reasonably intelligent guy, but to be confounded by moby dick is embarrassing.

if i'm to be truly honest with myself, i think that i would like to be more intelligent and to have a greater range of references to draw upon, but maybe i just want to be able to get more jokes.

dunno.

anyway, the name of the story i'm writing is called "starfish prime". cool name,. huh.

it's actually the code name of a was a high-altitude nuclear test conducted on 9 july 1962 over Honolulu, hawaii. of course that has absolutely nothing to do with the story that i'm writing. well, philosophically, there is a parallel, but i thought the name was uber-cool.

it's kind of like reservoir dogs. it's not about a reservoir, and it's not about dogs, but it is about criminals and a bank heist. after you see the film, you kind of just get the title. it's a strange thing, but it works. it's supposed to be something like that.