This is not my country, chum. Please, please Take Your Country Back.
With many thanks to the Rabbit.
With many thanks to the Rabbit.
Mariam's Memoirs are way few right now but hopefully there will be more, soon. Mariam is a wonderful person, a terrific writer, a heck of an environmental engineer student (her thesis director was also my father's), and a fantastic and frequent visitor to the Writing Center. Oh, and she's going to med school.
Out Ridin' Fences
We watched In America the night before last. I already returned the DVD and didn't think to check the director's commentary, but here's the thing: the girl singing "Desperado"--surely that's a nod to the Langley Schools Music Project, no? Jim Sheridan is, I'm sure, enough of a good man (not to mention a hell of a talented director--b/c how can you spend half the movie bawling your eyes out, and even have that hoariest of cliches, the saintly African-American martyred so that someone from a fairer clime may live (see also: The Green Mile, The Talisman, several other Stephen King works whose names escape me--not to mention others from other writers/directors whose names also escape me) and still produce a movie that is emotionally honest, and fun, and just plain good?) to not have done an outright ripoff.
But still. The singing-of-"Desperado"-by-a-small-child scene is in not way distinguishable from the beautiful, ravishing reading of same song in the CD.
Which may explain why said song was removed from the In America soundtrack. So as to give Langley a leg up.
We watched In America the night before last. I already returned the DVD and didn't think to check the director's commentary, but here's the thing: the girl singing "Desperado"--surely that's a nod to the Langley Schools Music Project, no? Jim Sheridan is, I'm sure, enough of a good man (not to mention a hell of a talented director--b/c how can you spend half the movie bawling your eyes out, and even have that hoariest of cliches, the saintly African-American martyred so that someone from a fairer clime may live (see also: The Green Mile, The Talisman, several other Stephen King works whose names escape me--not to mention others from other writers/directors whose names also escape me) and still produce a movie that is emotionally honest, and fun, and just plain good?) to not have done an outright ripoff.
But still. The singing-of-"Desperado"-by-a-small-child scene is in not way distinguishable from the beautiful, ravishing reading of same song in the CD.
Which may explain why said song was removed from the In America soundtrack. So as to give Langley a leg up.
Reading in Cutting Edge about Breton's tendency to jump into and out of theaters at random, to which Hawkins assigns a really neat reading, about the importance of disruption & the danger of passive viewings, though passive viewers, Hawkins does note, were probably really peeved off at someone barging in at odd moments--
--but anyway, it reminded me of a friend, someone I don't see often, who works w/ printers & other heavy hardware and mostly stays out of reach of people & has, as a consequence, grown progressively more intolerant of human annoyances & foibles, to the point where he says he canno--absolutely cannot--go to the movies b/c people are talking w/ each other, or on cell phones, or at the movie screen or being otherwise disruptive & annoying. To which I answered that that was my favorite part of the experience.
w/r/t which, i watched Sam Raimi's Spiderman in the theaters, and the movie was bland & boring & mostly uninteresting. The only saving grace if the experience was a five-year-old girl in the row ahead of us, whose running commentary on the film ("why is he [w. defoe] talking to the mask?" "so when is he [t. maguire] becoming spiderman?") provided the saving grace.
*
So yes! I'm teaching two sections of creative writing in the fall, as well as one composition course, and I am of course excited as all get-out. Still waiting for news from another job that pays in buckets and has benefits, but which amazingly does not interfere w/ the other teaching schedule. We'll see what happens.
--but anyway, it reminded me of a friend, someone I don't see often, who works w/ printers & other heavy hardware and mostly stays out of reach of people & has, as a consequence, grown progressively more intolerant of human annoyances & foibles, to the point where he says he canno--absolutely cannot--go to the movies b/c people are talking w/ each other, or on cell phones, or at the movie screen or being otherwise disruptive & annoying. To which I answered that that was my favorite part of the experience.
w/r/t which, i watched Sam Raimi's Spiderman in the theaters, and the movie was bland & boring & mostly uninteresting. The only saving grace if the experience was a five-year-old girl in the row ahead of us, whose running commentary on the film ("why is he [w. defoe] talking to the mask?" "so when is he [t. maguire] becoming spiderman?") provided the saving grace.
So yes! I'm teaching two sections of creative writing in the fall, as well as one composition course, and I am of course excited as all get-out. Still waiting for news from another job that pays in buckets and has benefits, but which amazingly does not interfere w/ the other teaching schedule. We'll see what happens.
The end of the semester
Reading a fellow instructor's livejournal and listening to the Met broadcasting Wagner.
So there is this much for not quite knowing what you're doing next semester: You can spend the better part of morning watching La Dolce Vita, working out, coming back home and typing away at one's journal.
Here's the frustration/fun part: It looks as though I'll be teaching, for sure--that much, at least, is taken care of.
* * *
The Trollope article has, if nothing else, increased Trollope's sales by one.
Reading a fellow instructor's livejournal and listening to the Met broadcasting Wagner.
So there is this much for not quite knowing what you're doing next semester: You can spend the better part of morning watching La Dolce Vita, working out, coming back home and typing away at one's journal.
Here's the frustration/fun part: It looks as though I'll be teaching, for sure--that much, at least, is taken care of.
The Trollope article has, if nothing else, increased Trollope's sales by one.
Morning!
So there are massive updates to the Nabokov site, plus an essay on Hobbledehoydom for The Morning News from yours truly, referring to the trials & tribulations of a pre-Becky existence.
So there are massive updates to the Nabokov site, plus an essay on Hobbledehoydom for The Morning News from yours truly, referring to the trials & tribulations of a pre-Becky existence.
The defense went well! All's well in the world of Colombians getting Master of Arts degrees in creative writing at the University of Central Florida.
Hello!
Hello!
Vanishing by Degrees!
In case you can make it:
In case you can make it:
Announcing the Final Examination of Mr. Juan Martinez for the degree of Master of Arts in English, Creative Writing
Date: March 24, 2004
Time: 1:00 pm
Room: CNH 306E
Dissertation Title: Minutes from Pragma
Minutes from Pragma is a collection of twelve pieces—a memoir, five short stories, and six short-shorts—exploring ways in which estranged characters may find refuge from chaos and entropy.
These stories attempt to deal with bleakness and despair through playfulness and humor. In "Enterprise Carolina: A Capsule Review," time has stopped, but somehow everyday life goes on as usual. In "Errands," children work in razorblade factories. In "Roadblock," the narrator lives with a relative who repeatedly sets his possessions on fire.
The collection concentrates on hardship and alienation, but suggests ways in which characters may confront and endure hard times. Characters' attempts to connect with others sometimes fail, but the characters themselves persevere—they read, hold hands, even treat one other kindly. In these ways, they fashion temporary shelters from the frustrations and horrors of the world.
Outline of Studies:
Major: Creative Writing
Educational Career:
B.A. 2000, English, University of Central Florida
Committee in Charge:
Ms. Susan Hubbard, English Department
Dr. Ivonne Lamazares, English Department
Ms. Jeanne Leiby, English Department
Approved for distribution by Professor Susan Hubbard, Committee Chair, on March 5, 2004.
The public is welcome to attend.
VN is Ungoogable.
That is all.
Oh, also, hello! Long time no hear. All is well here: I'm typing away at my thesis like a mad thesis monkey. I have used up all my words, and now must resort to other monkeys' words.
Also: goodbye! I am off to run on the treadmill like some kind of small, furry, highly athletic animal.
That is all.
Oh, also, hello! Long time no hear. All is well here: I'm typing away at my thesis like a mad thesis monkey. I have used up all my words, and now must resort to other monkeys' words.
Also: goodbye! I am off to run on the treadmill like some kind of small, furry, highly athletic animal.
State of the Union
Greetings from Corpus Christi, Texas, where I am visiting the folks. There is a Whataburger every five miles. The sky here is big and blue, and we've run across small snakes in our subdivision, as well as a host of sandlings and various seabirds in Padre Island.
Things have been good. Have they been good for you? I hope so.
So: I am one semester away from getting my MA. I taught my first ENC1101 class. It went well. And after various peripatetic dating adventures -- all far too common to merit the telling -- I find myself w/ a wonderful, absolutely ravishing girlfriend. She's a theatre major. And smart. She is way taller than me. Also way more cute. I could go on and on about her but at some point or another you would say, enough already.
But yes: things have been about as good as they can be. There is always that bit from Boethius about life being as inconstant as the wheel, and to remember that all is in flux, and that, pace Marcus Aurelius, one never bathes in the same river twice.
But life is good for now. Knock on wood. Cheers.
Greetings from Corpus Christi, Texas, where I am visiting the folks. There is a Whataburger every five miles. The sky here is big and blue, and we've run across small snakes in our subdivision, as well as a host of sandlings and various seabirds in Padre Island.
Things have been good. Have they been good for you? I hope so.
So: I am one semester away from getting my MA. I taught my first ENC1101 class. It went well. And after various peripatetic dating adventures -- all far too common to merit the telling -- I find myself w/ a wonderful, absolutely ravishing girlfriend. She's a theatre major. And smart. She is way taller than me. Also way more cute. I could go on and on about her but at some point or another you would say, enough already.
But yes: things have been about as good as they can be. There is always that bit from Boethius about life being as inconstant as the wheel, and to remember that all is in flux, and that, pace Marcus Aurelius, one never bathes in the same river twice.
But life is good for now. Knock on wood. Cheers.
"An Important Message from Mephistopheles, Servant of the Prince of the Devils, From his Condo in Boca Raton"
A short piece by me in today's McSweeney's (inspired, in large part, by the sudden realization that there were far more adaptations of Dr. Faust than seemed absolutely necessary, although the one that triggered the insight, Randy Newman's, does not appear -- nor does the other Dolen work, Damn Yankees, make an appeareance. B/c I sometimes forget things).
A short piece by me in today's McSweeney's (inspired, in large part, by the sudden realization that there were far more adaptations of Dr. Faust than seemed absolutely necessary, although the one that triggered the insight, Randy Newman's, does not appear -- nor does the other Dolen work, Damn Yankees, make an appeareance. B/c I sometimes forget things).
There is at least one NaboPop entry, one Nabokovilian entry that need to be added to the site, but when that'll be is anybody's guess.
For now, I'm looking forward to seeing the Decemberists come to town, discovering Orlando's Stardust video store, and doing as much work as possible on the thesis.
I think I'm using Kill Bill as the template: Lots of dessert and only a smidgen of anything else.
Also:
For now, I'm looking forward to seeing the Decemberists come to town, discovering Orlando's Stardust video store, and doing as much work as possible on the thesis.
I think I'm using Kill Bill as the template: Lots of dessert and only a smidgen of anything else.
Also:
A Cup of Tea She would Admit to No One
Massive updates to the Nabokov site. Nothing new on this front: a bit of work, a bit of fun, nothing terribly extraordinary -- working on the thesis, which progresses well, which is to say it's progressing. I may, upon completing the degree in Spring 2004, move to Chicago. Since I get a year to work after each degree, and since this option goes away the moment one goes back to school, I'm going to postpone the MFA for a bit.
I've been writing up a storm. And submitting. I'd put a hold on submitting a few months back, but no more.
Massive updates to the Nabokov site. Nothing new on this front: a bit of work, a bit of fun, nothing terribly extraordinary -- working on the thesis, which progresses well, which is to say it's progressing. I may, upon completing the degree in Spring 2004, move to Chicago. Since I get a year to work after each degree, and since this option goes away the moment one goes back to school, I'm going to postpone the MFA for a bit.
I've been writing up a storm. And submitting. I'd put a hold on submitting a few months back, but no more.
I'm teaching English Composition I this semester at UCF. While I feel it isn't appropriate to make any comments on the class in this kind of public forum -- they'd all be positive anyway, but never mind -- I don't mind letting interested parties in on the class website.
Herein is an outstanding review of Freddy v. Jason, which suggests that while the movie will likely be awful (the critic disagrees, but his praise is too centered on elements to be drawn out of the movie, not the movie itself), it may be worth watching. Ronny Yu did a fantastic job w/ Bride with the Red Veil and made what should have been a terrible movie (Bride of Chucky) a rather watchable one. Who knows? Maybe it'll work. The problem with movies this summer is that if Pirates of the Caribbean worked, and it did, it kind of makes every bad idea seem like it may actually fly.
From my Shack to Yours
I counted calories during my first year of getting in shape, nigh four years ago. It wasn't a big part of the big change, but it was significant -- mostly it was doing an hour of cardio every day (moderate walking on a treadmill), but I made sure that I stuck to less than 1,800 cals per day. Lots of those terrible Healthy Choice dinners.
Anyway, it's late at night, and I'm perusing (and kind of admiring) Ted Kaczynski's lost library list, and there it is, Count Your Calories.
So there's also a lot of Conrad and some Hardy, and there is more history than would suit my taste, and there's also that unfortunate violent streak, and a propensity for unreadable manifestos, but I do believe that readers, insane or not, politically akin or not, do share a kind of inescapable link -- we may not agree with our fellow readers, or even like them, but the bond is there. There's no escaping it.
Good night.
I counted calories during my first year of getting in shape, nigh four years ago. It wasn't a big part of the big change, but it was significant -- mostly it was doing an hour of cardio every day (moderate walking on a treadmill), but I made sure that I stuck to less than 1,800 cals per day. Lots of those terrible Healthy Choice dinners.
Anyway, it's late at night, and I'm perusing (and kind of admiring) Ted Kaczynski's lost library list, and there it is, Count Your Calories.
So there's also a lot of Conrad and some Hardy, and there is more history than would suit my taste, and there's also that unfortunate violent streak, and a propensity for unreadable manifestos, but I do believe that readers, insane or not, politically akin or not, do share a kind of inescapable link -- we may not agree with our fellow readers, or even like them, but the bond is there. There's no escaping it.
Good night.
The Telltale Teeth: Psychodontia to Sociodontia
These days I learn more slowly than expected and, since it's summer, do have a harder time waking. But I do learn. And I do wake.
Sunday: Woke up from vivid, disturbing dreams for the second night in a row. Went back to bed for bit, fussed, woke up, wrote a bit towards a story that seems to be going nowhere, made coffee, watched the CBS Sunday newsshow, designed for sixty-year-olds and hence totally suited for the prematurely senile: it ended with five minutes of hummingbirds feeding on cacti accompanied by ambient noise. Thought briefly of that Pixies song about the cactus and the dress, then tried to remember what album it came from... Surfer Rosa? Every Pixies song ever comes from Surfer Rosa.
What have I learned? I forget. I need more coffee. Oh, yes: 28 is a hell of an age, the best age so far, who the hell knows why, and people are on the whole wonderful, and good to have around.
Apropos of nothing: I've been really enjoying this thread in the Nabokov forum.
These days I learn more slowly than expected and, since it's summer, do have a harder time waking. But I do learn. And I do wake.
Sunday: Woke up from vivid, disturbing dreams for the second night in a row. Went back to bed for bit, fussed, woke up, wrote a bit towards a story that seems to be going nowhere, made coffee, watched the CBS Sunday newsshow, designed for sixty-year-olds and hence totally suited for the prematurely senile: it ended with five minutes of hummingbirds feeding on cacti accompanied by ambient noise. Thought briefly of that Pixies song about the cactus and the dress, then tried to remember what album it came from... Surfer Rosa? Every Pixies song ever comes from Surfer Rosa.
What have I learned? I forget. I need more coffee. Oh, yes: 28 is a hell of an age, the best age so far, who the hell knows why, and people are on the whole wonderful, and good to have around.
Apropos of nothing: I've been really enjoying this thread in the Nabokov forum.
Deathsentences of the Polished and Structurally Weak
I've long been a Negativland fan, but this project seems by far the most interesting thing they've done. The idea itself is not new -- FM has done it, as has RJ. I am not, at any rate, fond of cars, so anything that proves their fundamental eeriness is fine by me. Get it. You will be hightly disturbed and like it.
*
In other news, a friend is flying off soon & in saying goodbye the word "closure" was tossed around, which used to give me hives & now does not. I've been wary of certain words, because they seem to tie things up too neatly -- "self-actualization" was big on that list, too: these words seem to take what is the messy, unformed stuff of life and turn it into all-too-tidy narratives. But closure applied. And "self-actualization" is okay too. I'm beginning to think that there are lessons to be learned, chapters to be closed, steady lines from point A to point B -- maybe the world is not all unformed, uninformed & inchoate. Anyway, she'll be off soon -- a devastatingly cute, sharp, flinty-hearted, funny girl: Orlando's loss.
I've long been a Negativland fan, but this project seems by far the most interesting thing they've done. The idea itself is not new -- FM has done it, as has RJ. I am not, at any rate, fond of cars, so anything that proves their fundamental eeriness is fine by me. Get it. You will be hightly disturbed and like it.
In other news, a friend is flying off soon & in saying goodbye the word "closure" was tossed around, which used to give me hives & now does not. I've been wary of certain words, because they seem to tie things up too neatly -- "self-actualization" was big on that list, too: these words seem to take what is the messy, unformed stuff of life and turn it into all-too-tidy narratives. But closure applied. And "self-actualization" is okay too. I'm beginning to think that there are lessons to be learned, chapters to be closed, steady lines from point A to point B -- maybe the world is not all unformed, uninformed & inchoate. Anyway, she'll be off soon -- a devastatingly cute, sharp, flinty-hearted, funny girl: Orlando's loss.