Official Random Thoughts Thread - Part 3

[dobrojim]

MS,

my friend Jane and I _may_ (looks likely) be playing at a special
Dylan tribute night at the Epicure in Fairfax. I think the date is
sometime around the Solstice. I think June 23rd. I may also play
(back up) one or 2 other people.

[verbal8]

Just read an astounding sentence.

"Zach Galifianakis to star in 'A Confederacy of Dunces.'" If you haven't read the book, read it. It's the funniest book in the history of literature. Full stop. And Zach was born to play the lead. The tale of the history of the book makes it even more interesting. From Wiki...


"The difficult path to publication

As outlined in the introduction to a later revised edition, the book would never have been published if Toole's mother had not found a smeared carbon copy of the manuscript left in the house following Toole's 1969 suicide at age 31. Thelma Toole was persistent and tried several different publishers to no avail.

I thought this book was the worst book I have ever read. I read it for a book club. Maybe there was subtle humor that I missed, but I mainly found the main character extremely unlikable and irritating.

[dobrojim]

I also read it on recommendation from someone. Finished it but was not
blown away by it. I guess the absurdities described just didn't strike me
as that funny. To each their own.

[montestewart]

Three different people, all of whom have what I consider refined literary tastes and good senses of humor, insisted at different times in my life that I must read A Confederacy of Dunces. So eventually I did, and I didn't like it near as much as they did, but I could see how someone could be greatly impacted by it and enjoy it. I didn't like The Catcher in the Rye much either. Different strokes and such.

[tontoz]

If you just waffle about your position all the time like I do, you can have it both ways. Resolute flip flopping.

You aren't running around saying "I told you so" all the time. Hedging your bets is fine as long as you don't pretend like you were right all along.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I don't understand why "Catcher in the Rye" is on the curriculum as part of the required reading at a local HS, monte. I don't care for it, either. The book uses GD about a million times IIRC.

I'm not the biggest reader, but classic works like "Animal Farm", "The Grapes of Wrath", "A Tale of Two Cities", "The Red Badge of Courage", "All Quiet on the Western Front", "Fahrenheit 451" and works by Shakespeare, Poe, etc are stuff I want my kids to be exposed to.

Personally, I'm not much of a reader any more beyond sports, all sorts of topics related to the bible, and biographies of remarkable people. The bible stuff makes me read more history.

Still, I don't consider myself a reader per se.

[montestewart]

I never read The Catcher in the Rye in school. I imagine if I read it as a teenager or young adult, it might have seemed more meaningful, especially if I'd read it in the 50s, when that coarse "realistic" language might have seemed more novel. The language no doubt contributed to its popularity, while the multiple devices and allusions further satisfied many critics as well. If only as an historically important work of American fiction, I can see why it's taught, but there are many others works to choose from. That it is (like Animal Farm, 1984, etc.) relatively short may explain some of its popularity in teaching.

CCJ, if you like Poe and haven't read it, check out The Narrative of the Arthur Gordon Pym. Its blank delivery of horror echoes much of the best Gothic horror of the time, but its horror is far more amped up, anticipating H.P. Lovecraft and other later writers, and he's (to me) a far better writer than all those others. On top of that, it even somewhat anticipates the grim seagoing fatality of Moby Dick, in a far more compact novel.

I'm sure this probably belongs in the book thread, wherever it is.

PS: As is often the case with older fiction, you will encounter primitive racial views in The Narrative of the Arthur Gordon Pym. Be warned.

[payitforward]

I lost my job a few weeks ago. Rather than join a new company (which would involve a move) I decided to launch my own consulting engineering firm. I've spent the last few weeks setting up a home office, getting my LLC designation, creating a website, and putting together my mailing list for clients. I'm making my first marketing calls this week. It's exciting but a little scary.

Just read through this interesting thread.

Nate, it's been 2 months since you started your independent practice. Sounds to me like you have an offering that the market needs. Can't start better than that.

I've been an entrepreneur for something more than a quarter century. Unlike basketball, in other words, this is an activity I actually know something about!

it can be exciting, and it can be lonely. I'd love to hear about the 3 best things so far. And the 3 biggest problems so far as well. If you have a website, why not give us all the link -- you never know who we might run into that needs you!

[pancakes3]

The 2 books that school forced upon me that I'll never forgive, much less forget: A Separate Peace, Heart of Darkness.

[payitforward]

^
Hope you are saying that Heart of Darkness was a great book, "is" I mean.

Catcher in the Rye is pretty terrific as well IMO (and not just mine either!).

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I never read The Catcher in the Rye in school. I imagine if I read it as a teenager or young adult, it might have seemed more meaningful, especially if I'd read it in the 50s, when that coarse "realistic" language might have seemed more novel. The language no doubt contributed to its popularity, while the multiple devices and allusions further satisfied many critics as well. If only as an historically important work of American fiction, I can see why it's taught, but there are many others works to choose from. That it is (like Animal Farm, 1984, etc.) relatively short may explain some of its popularity in teaching.

CCJ, if you like Poe and haven't read it, check out The Narrative of the Arthur Gordon Pym. Its blank delivery of horror echoes much of the best Gothic horror of the time, but its horror is far more amped up, anticipating H.P. Lovecraft and other later writers, and he's (to me) a far better writer than all those others. On top of that, it even somewhat anticipates the grim seagoing fatality of Moby Dick, in a far more compact novel.

I'm sure this probably belongs in the book thread, wherever it is.

PS: As is often the case with older fiction, you will encounter primitive racial views in The Narrative of the Arthur Gordon Pym. Be warned.

No worries, monte. In stories like "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" & "Tom Sawyer", "Uncle Tom's Cabin", and "Mice and Men", etc. there are views/names given to black characters that have to be taken in context with the times. None of that bothers me, but some of it makes me get more serious than I want to be when I consider the reality of the struggle over the years. Man's inhumanity to man can really be surprising at times. OTOH to go from slavery to the civil rights movement to today is nothing short of amazing IMO. I think an abolitionist like Harriet Beecher Stowe would be pleased with what she sees now, as opposed to America pre-Civil War.

I will check out Pym, monte. Whenever I come across a Poe story I find myself wondering if the man's mind took him there or what drug was he on. Some of what he wrote is downright freaky scary IMO. Walling that dude up in "Cask of Amontillado" wasn't nice at all.

[nate33]

I lost my job a few weeks ago. Rather than join a new company (which would involve a move) I decided to launch my own consulting engineering firm. I've spent the last few weeks setting up a home office, getting my LLC designation, creating a website, and putting together my mailing list for clients. I'm making my first marketing calls this week. It's exciting but a little scary.

Just read through this interesting thread.

Nate, it's been 2 months since you started your independent practice. Sounds to me like you have an offering that the market needs. Can't start better than that.

I've been an entrepreneur for something more than a quarter century. Unlike basketball, in other words, this is an activity I actually know something about!

it can be exciting, and it can be lonely. I'd love to hear about the 3 best things so far. And the 3 biggest problems so far as well. If you have a website, why not give us all the link -- you never know who we might run into that needs you!

The website is here: http://www.leefireprotection.com/

So far, the biggest problem has been dealing with the no compete contract from my old company. I can't use all of my old clients so I'm really starting from scratch.

The best thing so far has been Linkedin. I've used that to find hundreds of potential clients and it has served as a good icebreaker to establish some communication.

[barelyawake]

Perhaps four years ago, I would feel the need to stress that the book I mentioned won the Pulitzer prize for literature and is claimed as the inspiration for every major comedian since: Cross, Louis CK, Stanhope, Chris Rock, etc etc... These days I'll simply say, "Dude, read it again. The point is that the main character is offensive. Overly offensive. Yet, he believes he is noble. That's the joke."

[penbeast0]

The 2 books that school forced upon me that I'll never forgive, much less forget: A Separate Peace, Heart of Darkness.

To each their own, in HS reading I loved Heart of Darkness but hated Billy Budd (though I enjoyed Moby Dick) -- only thing that made it bearable was our under the desks commentary notes about all the over the top homoerotic references in it. Remember disliking Catcher in the Rye and Confederacy of Dunces both.

Scariest middle school reading assignment I heard about recently, a parent was telling me she was assigned Jerry Kozcinski's The Painted Bird in 8th grade. That's pretty incredibly inappropriate stuff for young teenagers -- possibly the least appropriate book for middle school I ever read and was at all impressed by in my entire life.

[willbcocks]

Heart of Darkness should be taught alongside Apocalypse now. I think the underlying themes are excellent, and the exercise teaches kids how to apply such themes to other settings, including their own. Also, the original is extremely racist, but that makes it even more useful in an educational setting.

[montestewart]

Perhaps four years ago, I would feel the need to stress that the book I mentioned won the Pulitzer prize for literature and is claimed as the inspiration for every major comedian since: Cross, Louis CK, Stanhope, Chris Rock, etc etc... These days I'll simply say, "Dude, read it again. The point is that the main character is offensive. Overly offensive. Yet, he believes he is noble. That's the joke."

The fact that A Confederacy of Dunces won the Pulitzer Prize and garnered praise from many quarters was known to me when I read it. What bearing would that have on whether I or anyone else liked it? The academy says it's great, and you, little man, should agree and like it? Pearl Buck won the Nobel Prize for literature for writing The Good Earth. Who likes that now?

As for it being "the inspiration for every major comedian since: Cross, Louis CK, Stanhope, Chris Rock, etc etc..." I have nothing to counter that with, other than it takes 400 pages (or however long it is) to tell a single joke: "that the main character is offensive. Overly offensive. Yet, he believes he is noble." I think those mentioned comics are a little more efficient in their deliveries. I'd have to see them all sitting in a room, nodding in agreement that A Confederacy of Dunces was such a singular inspiration, to believe that tall claim, although since they're all from about the same generation, I can maybe believe that they all read it in college while high.

[barelyawake]

Don't have to like it. Merely have to respect it. And honestly, I respect pretty much every piece of art out there, even when I don't like it. And I really wasn't responding to you, mon. I was responding to the "worst book I have ever read" comment.

I wouldn't have listed the artists if I hadn't personally heard them mention the book as inspiration for their work. And the fact that it takes 400 pages to tell the same joke is why it gets funnier -- see every comedian retelling the Aristocrats joke for decades.

[MDStar]

Has anyone seen that Kyrie Irving "Uncle Drew" video? It's made by Pepsi and I got to admit that it's pretty bad ass. Really enjoyed it.

Can't get to Youtube at work, so can't post the link. Sorry.

[Ruzious]

Has anyone seen that Kyrie Irving "Uncle Drew" video? It's made by Pepsi and I got to admit that it's pretty bad ass. Really enjoyed it.

Can't get to Youtube at work, so can't post the link. Sorry.

Good stuff. Here's a non-Youtube link. http://www.longislandpress.com/2012/05/ ... psi-video/

I haven't read Confederacy, but I can swear by Douglas Adams' classic Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I read it eons ago, but just... wow. It was definitely ahead of its time and yet timeless. Read it, and you will find out the importance of 42. Ah, I just gave away everything. Oops. You'll still enjoy it if you choose to read it - though you'll probably hate my guts.

[MDStar]

Deleted. Wrong thread.