Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
I loved the movie, and I've been meaning to read the book because of it.
Me too. I just got the DVD from a mysterious benefactor so I've been listening to bits of the commentary before bed.
re the scene that vexes P-C:
Isn't it even more brutal the way it is in the movie, though? I mean, he goes in, but he doesn't do anything to the point; he just talks about work and leaves. From your description, it seems like the details were changed to fit the medium. If you just saw him standing out there in the movie, you don't know why he doesn't go in -- if it's because he's being sensitive or insensitive. Having him go in, speak to her casually, and then leave removes that ambiguity.
I saw that movie twice in a theater with a high school friend who was out of his mind. After the second time he said, "Hey, I noticed that there's kind of a romantic story going on there." He was watching it for the WW2 stuff. Seriously.
came up with a kind of unreliable narrator with issues.
No. Fucking. Way. No. Fucking. Way. This is exactly what I'm doing, and I also made up a Doris Lessing reference last night (because she was one of the early advocates for Idries Shah when the man brought Sufism to Swinging London). I don't know whether to laugh or cry at this.
No. Fucking. Way. No. Fucking. Way.
Heh!
This is exactly what I'm doing, and I also made up a Doris Lessing reference last night (because she was one of the early advocates for Idries Shah when the man brought Sufism to Swinging London).
Well, I don't really need the Doris as she's completely tangential to my story. JZ says Iris Murdoch would be a better choice anyway. Just stay away from John Hawkes, dude! Also while I'm at it, I'm putting in my bid for Krazy Kat, Baudrillard and L'Atalante. After that it's all fair game.
I don't know whether to laugh or cry at this.
I'm laughing! Don't worry - I'm sure they'll be extremely different books when we're finished. The source albums alone will dictate that, much less our individual writing styles.
I'm sure they will, but that's just amazing. Anyway, I think Lessing is fair game for both of us.
I'm putting in my bid for Krazy Kat, Baudrillard and L'Atalante.
You got it! Most of the references I've made are musical ones, especially wrong-headed and completely impossible ones.
Man! Ha! That threw me for a little loop!
re the scene that vexes P-C:
Hm. You have a point, Strega.
After the second time he said, "Hey, I noticed that there's kind of a romantic story going on there." He was watching it for the WW2 stuff. Seriously.
Ha! He should read the book. Like I said, every time I read it, I found a new layer.
The best, though, is that one afternoon, my AD advisor and I struck up a conversation about the different meanings of the title of The Remains of the Day. We were just talking after school; I don't remember why the topic came up. I'd never really thought about it, but we came up with some interesting ways to interpret the title.
Guess what one of the essay prompts at Regionals was?
That's a good story. I have a similar one. My speech Senior year - which rocked - was about the Frankenstein complex, as named by Asimov. The first body section was on the Prometheus story, and it's significance as a Frankenstein-type precursor.
The novel that year was Frankenstein. Guess what the essay topic at Nationals was?
I had a working introduction, first body paragraph, AND conclusion already written before going in, and barely needed to adapt it. Good thing, too, because the essay grading that year was a complete fiasco - the best writer on our team got a 500 for some reason, and one girl won five(!!!) objective medals but got a 400 on Essay, and ended up not making the top 3 overall because of it. Whereas I ended up medalling in Essay that year, by pure luck - I'm really not that good a writer.
Reading is good, though. I'm gonna read Kavalier and Clay soon, I think. When I"m done reading a bunch of reference books that will help me run an improv theater club at school.
The novel that year was Frankenstein. Guess what the essay topic at Nationals was?
HA! Awesome.
Guess what one of the essay prompts at Regionals was?
That's a good story. I have a similar one.
Heh. I was on vacation in Jamaica my senior year (when there was still an Eastern Airlines) and ended up stuck for like 36 hours at the airport due to some major fuck-ups by several airlines.
Ended up getting home just in time to go straight to the State Ac Dec, where the essay question was...airline deregulation.
That's a good story. I have a similar one.
Me too! Except it was a sentence by Nietzsche that I spent about an hour unpacking while on the phone with a friend. Because, well, we had nothing better to do. A few weeks later, it was the extra credit question on an exam.
It was especially nice because that was the class I kept sleeping through. It should be illegal to have a philosophy class that starts at 9 AM.
Unless it's on Gödel's incompleteness theorem. That's exciting.
