Content Tagged “literature”
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The Futility of Arguing with a Female in a Dark-Brown Mood
Married life had taught Toran the futility of arguing with a female in a dark-brown mood. He shrugged, and left her.
— Isaac Asimov, Foundation and Empire
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→ Fanfiction Has Destroyed Writing (And Everything Else), The Second Story
I think I have discovered where all this horrible writing in TV shows and movies in last last decade or so has been coming from… 🤢
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Metellus Numidicus on Marriage
Metellus Numidicus, the censor, acknowledged to the Roman people in a public oration that had kind Nature allowed us to exist without the help of women, we should be delivered from a very troublesome companion; and he could recommend matrimony, only as the sacrifice of private pleasure to public duty.
— Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume I, p. 167, footnote 1
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The Last Refuge of the Incompetent
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.
— Isaac Asimov, Foundation
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Get Lit
After America This Week ended in February, due to some sort of undisclosed falling out between Matt Taibbi and Walter Kirn, Racket News launched a new show with Matt Taibbi and Michael Tracey that pretty much ended in a disaster after five episodes. In a follow up move, Matt has dispensed with both Tracey and the news angle of the show and is instead concentrating on the literary classics portion that made his show with Walter such a success. On the new show, Get Lit with Matt and Brad, Brad Pearce is the second co-host to try and replace the pretty much irreplacable Walter Kirn.
The first episode is out, discussing Aristophanes’ 391 BC play Assemblywomen. It was decent entertainment and I learned some things, though I must say, like most who enjoyed ATW, I miss Walter. This seems to be the main theme in the comments to the video, at YouTube and Racket News at least. I am not sure that the concept alone will keep the show afloat. This is certainly better than the Michael Tracey disaster, but what made the literary discussions on ATW work was specifically the interplay between Matt and Walter and the audience seems to be well aware of this. Needless to say, Walter Kirn isn’t a fan of the new arrangements.
Man, I would love to know what happened between the two of them. It must have been brewing for a while, they both don’t seem like people who fly into drama mode at the drop of a hat. I bet there was some stuff going on behind the scenes for a while before something made the pot boil over. And the fact that they both maintain pretty much silence about the causes is either very professional or points at something more sinister.
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JMS on Being an Artist
In my most recent book, “Becoming A Writer, Staying A Writer”, I discussed some of the issues I have with people who aren’t in the arts (as writers, actors, artists, directors, the occasional bank robber), telling those who are, “If you want to succeed, you have to go outside your comfort zone.”
The thing about artists — which includes all the categories noted upstream, as well as any others I might have missed — is that they spend most of their lives trying to get to a place in life where they can simply enjoy the process of creating their art. But at the start they rarely get that far because they’re forever being distracted, diverted, and discouraged, sometimes even by family and friends. It’s rarely intentional; most of the time it comes out of an honest desire to help, but they don’t quite know what to say, so they keep firing off that one piece of accepted cliché and hoping for the best.
Nascent artists are often insecure about their work, and guilty about the time it takes from everything and everyone else in their lives, and it doesn’t help when others around them dismiss that impulse as trivial or self-indulgent. “You need to focus on something realistic.” “You should have a Plan B in case this doesn’t work out.” “You’re not special. No one wants to hear what you have to say.” “Who do you think you are, Hemingway/Picaso/Spielberg/any other artist of your choice?”
“We know you really want to become this great artist, but what if it doesn’t work out? You’re putting all your energy into this hobby” — they always call it a hobby because they can’t wrap their brains around it as a profession — “and you need to have other options. You have to start thinking outside the box you’ve made for yourself.” “You can always do the art/writing/directing thing later, right now you need to focus on making a living and getting a job.”
Which brings us back around to “Sometimes you have to go outside your comfort zone.”
Here’s the counter argument: Sometimes you have to go toward your comfort zone … even if that means going outside everyone else’s comfort zone. Your art gives your life meaning. It gives you joy and purpose and a sense of fulfilment. That’s your comfort zone. And if doing so makes others unhappy, suspicious, wary, or doubtful, then they need to get out of their rut, their perspective, their comfort zone to either support you in a desperately difficult journey, or failing that, to at least get out of the way.
Over the long haul, artists learn to challenge themselves every day, going beyond what they think they can achieve and avoiding the risk of falling into complacency. But in the beginning, when everything is still fragile and uncertain and “How do I know if I can really do this?” be gentle on yourself.
Go into your comfort zone. Amazing things are waiting for you there.
→ J. Michael Straczynski (writer and showrunner of Babylon 5)
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A Visual Refresh for the Grim Deep Website
After quite a while without any updates, I have taken some time to refresh the look of the website for my novel project GRIM DEEP. With this, I have removed the chapters of the book that were available to read on the site, as I am deep in the process of my first review and edit of the initial draft of the book. Which is going quite slowly, I have to admit. As usual, life is getting in the way.
I have revamped the lore compendium available on the site, however, in case you want to learn more about the world of the novel while you wait for me to put some of the rewritten chapters back online for you to read. Now included on the people page of this resource are the character portraits I painted of two of the main characters a while back.
It is my hope that the new look of the website will help to immerse readers in the world of the novel once I am ready to publish it.
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Coffee Wisdom
It is inhumane, in my opinion, to force people who have a genuine medical need for coffee to wait in line behind people who apparently view it as some kind of recreational activity.
This piece by Dave Barry from the 9 November 1997 edition of The Washington Post is one of the best texts on coffee I've ever read. This is exactly how I feel about it.