The Group 3 novels are very similar in theme and form, focusing, as it were, on conventional themes of prejudice, alienation, and loss. Arguably their fixation on such primal themes is what makes them literature, or rather, Literature. Well, I’ve read them all and liked two out of three; that isn’t too bad a record [...]
Archive for January, 2007
Of Hicks, Black Women and Irishboys
Posted in Books on January 29, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Comedic
Posted in Books, Random on January 22, 2007 | 5 Comments »
The Youtube nymph has granted us a boon in the form of Frank Caliendo, who is laugh-out-loud sort of hilarious, especially when imitating George W Bush doing his Bushisms.
***
Finished The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. It is very much a book about moderation and the need for it, of the importance of reasoning [...]
Trendifying
Posted in Commentary, Everyday, Fiction, Random on January 16, 2007 | 5 Comments »
It seems that the ACSian is trendifying. I find it rather edifying, if terrifying. Observe, if you will, the propensity of newly-purchased Macbooks. As well, there is the iPhone, which is simultaneously yearned for by the collective voices of half the school populace. Another trend is the unifying. This is apparent globally. The iPhone is [...]
Political Apologism
Posted in Commentary, Introspection, Politics on January 15, 2007 | 2 Comments »
For those who still deign to read the Straits Times (read: insufficiently jaded or insufferably naive), today’s Review section featured a rather fetchingly long exerpt from the de facto memoirs of Prof. Tom Plate, “internationally syndicated columnist”, whose Pacific Perspectives column is highly popular in the region for its acerbic and humorous takes on [...]
Concerning Asimov
Posted in Books on January 13, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
One of Asimov’s distinctive writerly traits was his propensity to introduce very starkly-defined characters into his stories. It is simultaneously hailed both as brilliant and flawed. What many critics seem to neglect is that Asimov was an incredibly versatile writer and I have little doubt that he did, in fact, have the power to paint [...]
On Dreaming
Posted in Everyday, Introspection on January 10, 2007 | 9 Comments »
Dreams are diverting activities. Most of the time, when one awakes from a dream, lack of effort to remember the dream causes it to slip away. It happened to me this morning; all I remember is that it was a rather interesting dream and when I woke up it clung to me with trailing strands [...]
Exegesis
Posted in Introspection on January 9, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
The intent of the blog is manifold; it is at once an exegesis of intent and a propagation of a mode of thought, and also a representation, however simplified, of the voice behind the text that speaks out to the mind. For blogs are the fecund ground of Dreams and a means for one’s voice [...]
Visions
Posted in Blogging, Books, Life on January 4, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Happy and belated New Year.
I have attempted the arcane business of blogging, but have never seemed to be able to publish anything of sufficient merit and impact these past few weeks. For this I am profoundly unapologetic, in full awareness that at times a blog, as fields of crops, requires an extensive period of lying [...]
Malaise
Posted in Books, Commentary, Everyday on January 17, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
The word does not apply to me; rather, I seem to encounter various manifestations of this scourge in the places I go. The malaise, for example, of stress and angst, the malaise of drudgery and boredom, the malaise of apathy and the malaise of vice.
Stress and angst you are doubtless no stranger to. Neither [...]
Read Full Post »