Once more into the zodiac

An article I read today about how the zodiac is changing reminded me of a post I wrote more than a year ago about how we need new signs.

Under the new system I go from "Cancer" to "Gemini," a change of which I approve.

Under my system, I am a "Duct Tape." A change which I now make official.

Review: World Without End

First review of 2011 is for the novel, "World Without End" by Ken Follet. It is, essentially, a sequel to his earlier historical fiction novel, "Pillars of the Earth." I say, essentially, because events in "World" take place more than 100 years after "Pillars." We meet descendants of the characters from the earlier novel, it takes place in the same town/cathedral, and some knowledge of the first book certainly helps flesh out the enjoyment of the second. That being said, it isn't really necessary to read the first to understand everything that happens in the second; most references to earlier characters/events are fully explained.

I first read "Pillars" shortly after it came out in the early 90's. It was one of the last novels I read, I remember, while living in Massachusetts, before moving to Ohio. It was also one of the first historical fiction novels I'd ever read and really enjoyed. Since then, I've read quite a bit in the genre, and, to some degree, I owe that enjoyment to "Pillars."

Neither books is particularly deep. And that's OK. They are, instead, very entertaining and (to some degree) educational. Follet had done quite a bit of research into medieval life, and it's very interesting to observe his characters motivations and reactions during a time that is much, much different than our own. That being said, some of the characters seem to benefit from a bit more "modern feeling" than perhaps they ought. We, as 21st century readers, have certain sensibilities, and the main, sympathetic characters tend to share more of these with us than do the villains.

Which doesn't distract from the pleasure. No spoilers here, but, as in "Pillar," Follet sets up a series of lifelong actions for the main characters, some of which won't come to fruition for decades. The interwoven plot lines and character developments are, as always in his work, logical, interesting and, often, tragic.

If you enjoyed "Pillars," you will certainly enjoy "World." I re-read "Pillars" before reading this new novel, anticipating that it would be more of a standard sequel. I'm glad I did... but not because it helped with the second book. It was simply a fun re-read.

If I have any complain about "World Without End," it's the title; "Pillars of the Earth" meant something within that story. If there is a deeper meaning in the title of this second book, it escapes me.

Fun grade: A-.
Serious grade: B.
Overall: B+

Note: since this is my first review, I'll explain my grading system. First of all, I like letter grades. We grew up with them, and it simply makes sense to me.

Everything I review will get two grades: a fun grade, and a serious grade. My brother, John, and I used to refer to these, for movies, as the "flick" and "film" grades. You can go see a movie that is a great, entertaining flick ("Zombieland"), but that isn't really in any way an important or interesting film; there's no "meta" there. In contrast, you can see a movie that is very stimulating from an artistic perspective ("The Seventh Seal"), but that is about as much fun to see as orthopedic surgery.

Thus, two grades for everything. That way, if you're looking for a "serious" read, you can ignore the "fun" grade, and vice versa. Hopefully that's more useful to you.

Writing about writing and a review of reviewing

I haven't blogged in awhile.

That's probably the most grippingly boring thing you can write on a blog. It's the textual equivalent of saying, "I had this really weird, long dream last night," at the beginning of a dinner conversation. The listener must despair.

But writing about writing isn't a bad thing. And since this blog is 72% self-directed practice space, I'm not too worried about cheesing off my legion of fan.

I write at work all the time. It's not particularly hard for me. Sometimes it's harder, depending on the assignment. Sometimes it's easier. But,  since it's almost always an assignment from an external source, and since it's a good part of why they pay me, it's never really a case of being able to say, "No."

I've been saying, "No," though, to my personal writing for most of last year. I've pushed out a couple poems and did a bit of work on one of my five perennially-restarted-but-never-completed novels. I can't quite get my head around where I want any of them to go... and so they don't go anywhere.

But I feel like I should be writing more. So I thought about what I could write. And I read a recent blog post from someone I respect who cataloged all the books she read in 2010. And I thought, "That's a good idea. I read a bit. And I could write a short review of everything I read so that I won't forget."

Less about being "reviews to help other people decide what to read," and more "reviews to help me remember what I read."

Towards that end, I'm going to start writing book, movie and video game reviews here on TinkerX. If they're helpful to you, super. If not, it's mostly just to keep the engine warm in case I ever decide to figure out where any of those damned novels are going.

New poem: If I Die

If I Die




If I die of boredom,
let me lay in plain, brown dirt.
No stone, no box, no flowers.
Just earth and me,
worms and water,
roots and rocks.
Naked, prostrate, hands at sides.
Ten feet deep, please.

If I die of thirst,
bury me inside a tree,
sealed in scratchy bark.
Upside down, toes pointed up
toward Mosquito Moon.
Eyes sealed with moss.
A willow, maybe. I'm too far
removed from royalty for oak.

If I never die,
plant me in a chair. My old,
soft La-Z-Boy. Or the leather couch
we first made out on. The one
that palms your ass
like a catcher's mitt.
Facing East.
Towards the rising sun
network.

Dry

[wrote this poem three years ago. just re-found it. so...]

Dry

When the ocean gasped and fled
we were left with many dead
fish.

That Wednesday (Thursday in Japan)
when the sea just up and ran
the fishermen in fallen hulls
had one or two good raking days
of harvest. Bloated gulls
were everywhere and gorged
on mundane bass and trout
and monstrous, deep trench horrors,
eye-stalks poking out
of yellow, running beaks.

What had been beach
is now just sandy path between
two dirt worlds.
No spray, no salt, no scene
but earthy, constant fixity.

And you won't sing for me.

My entry in the BoingBoing "Back to School" art competition

BoingBoing is having a "Back to School" art competition. You're supposed to take something that traditionally lives in the digital world (ie, on a computer or video game or what not) and render it using traditional, analog media. I thought about what I associate with computers... and the "progress bar" came to mind. Otherwise known as the "loading bar." Thus, the pics below. Click on 'em to see 'em bigger.

Prufrock out loud

OK. Two people I know (and respect very deeply) have now told me that they dislike T.S. Eliot, and, in particular, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufock."

That is unacceptable.

In one case, it is because of a crappy high-school teacher. So there are negative associations. In another, it's because of being exposed to a recording of Eliot reading the piece himself; and, I agree, he isn't a good reader, even of his own work. He's rather monotonic and it all comes out sounding kinda the same.

Back at Cornell, I spent some considerable time preparing for a live reading of Prufrock. It's been what... 23 years or so... but I thought, in the cause of helping two people get, maybe, a bit closer to enjoying the work, it might be helpful to have an alternate reading available.

So... you know who you are. If this helps, fantastic. If it doesn't... well, it was fun to revisit the reading.

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock