Am I blogging...or am I pitching my existence?
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| High Concept Am I blogging...or am I pitching my existence? |
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Monday, March 27, 2006 The Pitch: It's like Infinite Jest meets The Liar's Club! I'm on a mailing list about David Foster Wallace and I never post on it. (Lately, I haven't even been reading it.) And that proably would have been the best place to post this interesting little article about Mary Karr finding religion. Wallace, it is rumored, had some sort of romance with Ms. Karr (to the point of having her named tattooed on him, if stories are to be believed) so it's interesting hearing her take on A.A. and spirituality in contrast to what he's presented in Infinite Jest.But if I'd posted it on the mailing list, it would've likely been received with resounding silence and, given the choice between the resounding silence there and the resounding silence here, I much prefer the one here. It's more peaceful, somehow. Oh, and I also like her ending quote: So that's the kind of Catholic I am. You know? I like everybody. I'm vain and pretentious and arrogant and terrified and full of longing for the numinous and for that joy. And yet I sometimes think I do everything I can to shove it away. I find that really touching and lovely, you know? And probably would have even without the word "numinous." posted by Jeff | 5:19 PM | Saturday, March 18, 2006 The Pitch: It's like a Walk meets a Strike! Wow. Didn't intend to let that previous post stand as my most current for so long.A little bizzy in the shizzy lately--overtime, newsletter, job #1, job #2, and MGS3. Yesterday morning, I beat MGS3 (for I think the third time) and then went to work where I picked up my copy of MGS: Subsistence and accompanying Metal Gear Saga (shown here for your viewing convenience) which I trepidatiously pre-ordered two months ago from EBgames. Yes, now I can replay the game I just replayed, but with additional features and bonuses. I don't think my poor wife can allow this fact to fit in her head, even knowing me as she does. "Wait, when does Subsistence take place in relation to the game you just finished?" She asked me this morning. "Uhhhh..." was the best I could master. Fortunately, it is a game that rewards replays. The most recent time I replayed it, I went sniper-crazy, picking off one boss early (and so skipping the later fight with him entirely) and then picking off as many enemies as I could, as opposed to my usual tactics of trying to sneak through everything and swearing like a sailor when I inevitably fail. It really was like playing a different game, parts of which I enjoyed tremendously. I imagine there's gotta be a good essay out on the Intarweb somewhere about the post-modern concepts of rereading a work and replaying a video game but I haven't found it yet. It'd be interesting to compare the replaying of video games with the rereading of literature. Although MSG3 doesn't have much thematic heft to it, there are some themes that may be worth exploring or thinking about in a literary sense. But more interesting to me is the idea that the creative team gives you additional items, secrets or tweaks to the gameplay when you replay the game to modify the experience. How this compares, favorably or not, to literary rereadings would be worth kicking around the curb. But that's nothing I'm going to be getting to any time soon because I'm gonna be playing Subsistence. posted by Jeff | 4:30 PM | Tuesday, March 07, 2006 The Pitch: It's like The Handmaid's Tale meets A Modest Proposal. So. You probably know this but South Dakota outlawed abortion today. I guess I knew something like this would be coming sooner or later, but still.You may not know this but a blogger posted a detailed description of how to safely perform an abortion. I think doing so was incredibly brave, and it was fascinating to see how people reacted--why is just knowledge, simple knowledge, enough to instill fear? I ask because reading it scared me, too. It also scared me to post in the comments field, and to post under my own name. But I did. Because South Dakota outlawed abortion today. posted by Jeff | 3:32 PM | Saturday, March 04, 2006 The Pitch: It's like Dreamscape meets Storytelling! Pop quiz:Last night, I dreamt I was watching a Paul Walker movie. In the movie, Paul Walker was a corrupt cop on the run in the streets of some dark city. At one point, he ends up trapped in a dead-end alley and, suddenly, three cool asian hitwomen show up. At this point, I thought, "Cool, there's going to be an awesome Kung-Fu sequence." But then, the women turn out to be his three wives, and they start bitching about how Paul never spends any time with them, forcing them to hang out with each other. I was disappointed because I thought the best thing about this movie was supposed to be Paul Walker having explicit sex with his wife after a kung-fu sequence. With horror, I realize that there are two Paul Walker movies currently in theaters, and I have chosen the wrong movie. From the following list, choose the option that most correctly makes this dream a nightmare: (a) That I went to see a Paul Walker movie; (b) That in my dream there were two Paul Walker movies, and I went to the wrong one. (c) That, in real life, there actually are two Paul Walker movies in current release. (d) that my subconscious actually knew there were two Paul Walker movies in current release, and worked this knowledge into the context of my dream; (e) Whatever my subconscious conflicts about marriage are, as expressed in the scene from the Paul Walker movie of my dream; (f) All of the above; (g) None of the above. This blog entry is the real nightmare, not the dream. Pick up your pencils and begin. posted by Jeff | 6:01 PM | |
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