Walker Percy

Over the summer I read The Moviegoer by Walker Percy in brief installments on trail. Whenever I had heard about Percy from friends it was always in relation to his rejection of Protestantism in favor of Catholicism, similar to T.S. Eliot. While this decision is still interesting to me since the trend is certainly in the other direction, I didn't catch a whole lot of that choice in his novel. It was actually more enjoyable to read as a collection of well-worded statements than as a cohesive plot. Here's one of my favs:

My first idea was the building itself. It looks like a miniature bank with its Corinthian pilasters, portico and iron scrolls over the windows. The firm's name, Cutrer, Klostermann & Lejier is lettered in Gothic and below in smaller letters, the names of the Boston mutual funds we represent. It looks far more conservative that the modern banks in Gentilly. It announces to the world: modern methods are no doubt excellent but here is good old fashioned stability, but stability with imagination. A little bit of old New England with a Creole flavor. The Parthenon facade cost twelve thousand dollars but commissions have doubled. The young man you see inside is clearly the soul of integrity; he asks no more than to be allowed to plan you future. This is true. This is all I ask.

And another:

Everyone on This I Believe believes in the uniqueness and the dignity of the individual. I have noticed, however, that the believers are far from unique themselves, and are in fact alike as peas in a pod.

Someone Take This to Your Next UI Class

Because it's toooooooo good.

Green Day

I came across this blurb quoting Billie Joe commenting on Briney Spears's VMA appearance:

Green Day star Billie Joe Armstrong has blasted MTV bosses for letting "manufactured child" Britney Spears open the Video Music Awards.

The punk star admits watching the troubled singer stumble through a semi-live performance of new hit Gimme More at the September ceremony was like witnessing "a public execution".

He tells Rolling Stone magazine, "People want blood. They want to see other people thrown to the lions.

"How could the people at MTV, the people around her, not know this girl was f**ked up? People came in expecting a train wreck, and they got more than they bargained for.

"She is a manufactured child. She has come up through this Disney perspective, thinking that all life is about is to be the most ridiculous star you could be.

"But it's also about what we look at as entertainment - watching somebody go through that."

Read Since the Summer

The Natural

Reading this was an unusual experience, having been so familiar with the film. I have no idea how many times I've seen it, but I have memories of watching it when we lived in Germany where we were until I was 12. Much darker and with a more devious main character, Malamud's book definitely has some of the typical Weltschmerz you find in Jewish writers, but in this case I felt real sympathy for Roy Hobbs. I almost think that it's because I have the movie story so ingrained in my mind that as I read Malamud, I was imagining all this happening to the upstanding, down-on-his-luck Roy Hobbs that Barry Levinson gave us.

The Giver

Another one of those “should've read in high school but our lit program was awful” cases. It also falls into the “the future is bland and controlled by “the Man”” category, which kind of gave me a disappointed feeling when I realized where it was going. I think because books like 1984 and Brave New World are so huge, writing about the future in similar terms feels like a knockoff. I'm ready for a future-book with the theme “the world is so bright and colorful and emotion-ridden and free that I don't know what to do with myself.”

I Am Charlotte Simmons

I was WAY into this story while reading it. I can't remember the last time I was so consumed with knowing what would happen next in a book. Sam was right on in describing it as pornographic without images at times. Wolfe doesn't spare his reader any of the dirty details associated with big university college life in a world of people obsessed with their social standing and personal pleasure. My only gripe storywise was the occasional feeling that Wolfe was laying the frat boy/college jock stereotype on a bit too thick. Almost every character had interesting developments and revelations that shook their understanding of self however, which helped take the edge off of the typecasting.

Grendel

John Gardner is probably my favorite author right now. This was fun to read through quickly, and I'm excited to start October Light next. I hear about Grendel being used in high schools fairly often and usually find it next to books like The Giver in bookstores, and I think it makes for a great book to discuss with teens. I especially like the style of writing a story from the perspective of another character in a known book, and think it would work well as a writing exercise.

“Cooling the Lava” from John McPhee's The Control of Nature

I remember enjoying McPhee's Irons in the Fire which I read about four years ago, but something has been lost in the years between these two. “Cooling the Lava” is another example of my theory that writing about extraordinary events makes it irresistibly tempting to write poorly. In 1973 the volcanic mountain Eldfell erupted on the island of Heimaey off the coast of Iceland. The town was home to about 5,000 people, most of whom were fishermen or families of. The lava from the eruption was creeping towards the harbor and launching “bombs”, baseball to car-sized chunks of basalt, up to three miles from the crater into and around the town. By rigging firehoses and other pump machinery, the citizens were able to literally stop the lava's advance by pumping millions of gallons of seawater onto the flow, diverting it into the ocean.

McPhee's account couldn't be more blandly written. It gives me some hope as a writer to know that something like this can be published by an author that people rave over.

The Joys of Film

So I got my first roll of professional B&W film developed and I'm pretty happy with the results. There are also some more film shots that I scanned in from Greg and Annie's wedding.

I have mixed feelings about the graininess of the Eagle Cap pictures. This is a fairly high speed film, 1600, and increased grain is part of the bargain, but I feel like I could've gotten along just fine with 800 or 400 even with all the light available. Still, there's something right on about the texture of the landscape shots; I don't want to equate it to something like pre-faded jeans, but I suppose it's kind of like that. Can you dig it?

Happy Halloween

Finally...

Almost 2 months after the fact, I've finally gotten around to putting up some pictures from Greg and Annie Albrecht's wedding in Juneau. There are also a few scanned shots from Sitka that I took with my lovely N80. Film still rocks the hizzie.

Sailing the Green Bay

Parental Guidance

I thought I'd seen it all in the little box at the beginning of previews that explain the movie's rating. Until now, "Intense Slime" ranked as my favorite, but while watching the trailer for In the Shadow of the Moon, this caught my eye:

"MILD LANGUAGE, BRIEF VIOLENT IMAGES, AND INCIDENTAL SMOKING"

Eagle Cap, Oregon

Truly one of the most impressive areas I've backpacked/climbed in. Pictures here.

I also shot a few rolls of film on the new Nikon, including a roll of Fuji Neopan 1600 black and white which I've heard great things about. That business won't be back until Wednesdayish, at which point I'll be in Texas for yet another wedding. Hopefully we'll see this film scanned and posted early next month. Enjoy!

We're Back

Well after a long absence of any real substance on ye olde blog, I'm happy to announce that my new Dell has arrived and is humming along nicely. First order of business is to edit and gather my photos from Greg and Annie Albrecht's wedding, which I hope to get done tonight and post some highlights later next week.

If the 4Runner comes back with a clean bill of health I'm taking her down to the Eagle Cap Wilderness in Oregon for a few days. I picked up some filters for the 35mm and am way excited about shooting this new black and white film I ordered. A call down to the the forest service revealed that a foot of snow just fell in the area I'm thinking of trekking around in, so there's a chance of an epic.

Many thoughts and stories have been brewing in the past 4 months, so I hope to get back to a more regular posting schedule starting next week. Peace.

ps - The new Beirut is tickling my ears as I type this. Who can get enough of gypsy moaning, trilling trumpets and mournful accordions? Not me boy.

Corporate Hilarity

Woot.com, one of those crazy "deal-a-day" websites, just issued this rather hilarious letter to their disgruntled customers:

An Emergency Open Letter

To all Woot customers:

I have received more than three emails from Zune buyers who are upset about Woot dropping the price of the Zune by $20 one month after it went on sale the first time. After reading every one of these emails, or at least scanning their subject lines, I have some observations and conclusions.

First, I need to make a better effort to hide my email address.

Second, I am sure that we are making the correct decision to lower the price of the 30GB Zune from $149.99 to $129.99. This confidence is based on more than the holy doctrine of corporate infallibility. The Zune is a breakthrough product, and we have the chance to “ride the lightning” and “shoot the curl” this holiday season, not to mention “kill the messenger” and “rock the vote”, further enabling us to “pay the rent” and “keep the lights on”. It benefits both Woot and every Zune user (but especially Woot) to drag as many new victims as possible into the Zune “dungeon”. We strongly believe that misery loves company this holiday season.

Third, being in technology for 1+ years, give or take a year, I can attest to the fact that the technology road is bumpy. There is always some idiot changing lanes without signaling, and the potholes never seem to get fixed. If you always wait for the next price cut or to buy the new improved model, you’ll never buy any technology product. I mean, why should you? Truth is, you don’t really need any of this junk. We’re afraid you’ll catch on to that fact and overpaid frauds like me will have to go back into fields like telemarketing and burrito construction. Fortunately, most of you continue to languish in a consumerist stupor, wallets spread wide for us to plunder as we please. The bad news for us is that if you buy products from companies that support them well, you will receive years of useful and satisfying service. But we’re hoping you’ll buy from Woot instead.

Third-and-a-half, even though we are making the right decision to lower the price of the Zune, and even though the technology road is, like, this total Deathrace 2000-type scene, we need to do a better job taking care of our early Zune customers, at least until we find a private security firm we can afford. For some reason, our early customers trusted us. We must live up to that trust with our actions in moments like these, lest you turn off the money spigot that maintains our decadent lifestyles. These peacock-egg omelets and mink-lined Jacuzzis don’t pay for themselves, you know.

Therefore, we have decided to offer every Woot customer who purchased a Zune from us on August 22, 2007 (or in the last Woot-Off) a $10 Woot credit towards any Woot order of $40 or more, before shipping. If that’s you, just enter the coupon code BUMPYROAD while making your purchase, and boo-yah: you’re mayor of Discount City. This discount applies to any Woot site, including Woot.com, Shirt.Woot, Wine.Woot, Sellout.Woot, and Beets.Woot. It doesn't expire, so feel free to check back everyday 'til you find something that will temporarily fill the void in your soul. You may use the coupon as many times as you bought Zunes. So, if you bought one Zune from us back in August, you can use BUMPYROAD once; if you bought two, you can use it twice; and so forth and so on and what-have-you. But you can only use the discount once on any one order. We make this decision with every confidence that most of you will never want any of the crap we sell anyway.

We want to convincingly pretend to do the right thing for our valued Zune customers. We’d apologize for disappointing some of you, but we long ago lost the capacity for sincere remorse. We will continue to do our best to trick you into having high expectations of Woot.

Larry Stalin
Woot CYA Officer

Formal Wear Help

Does anyone know of any place nearby where I can get fitted for a tux?

Too Good

This will make your day. Listener discretion is advised for this oldie but goodie that I stumbled upon as well.

Aware Again of the Cinema

Documentary on Cuteness
You don't really need to watch this past the mentioning of the narrator and her comment on mother polar bears. Hilarious.

Two Bad A's

We Own the Night - Mark Wahlberg seems to shine brightest when playing an authority figure of some kind (firefighter in "I Heart Huckabees," hard cop in "The Departed," and Ass Whuppin' Head Honcho in "Four Brothers"), and he's back here as a cop in a "good brother/bad brother" flick with Joaquin Phoenix. Marky Mark also seems to in seamlessly with a 1970's backdrop.

American Gangster - Denzel and Russell Crowe will hopefully team up to pound Cuba Gooding Jr. for two and a half hours. I cringe a little at Crowe's Brooklyn accent, but maybe he'll just shoot lots of stuff.

And this just looks rad and I've heard nothing but amazing things about the almost 20 Beatles songs redone by the unknown cast who were apparently signed on by holding musical auditions.

Books Acquired Over the Summer

These hail from used book stores in Alaska, Idaho, and Colorado, as well as a few gifts.

The Death of Ivan Ilyich - Leo Tolstoy
Found in the Moscow Goodwill for $.69

Grendel - John Gardner
The Beowulf tale from the antagonist's perspective, I picked this guy up for $1.00 in Juneau.

It's Greek to Me! - Michael Macrone
Almost too embarrassing to mention, this book is like culture-porn; Explaining the Greek and Roman roots of everyday phrases and cliches, it provides instant nerd gratification with little work or sacrifice, and leaves you less capable of studying something real and in it's entirety.

The Music of What Happens - John Straley
Given to me by Margie Beedle, whose home we stayed at in Juneau. It's a mystery/suspense deal that takes place in Sitka.

Love This! - Andy Braner
Given to me by the author.

The Natural - Bernard Malamud
The Natural the movie is probably my favorite flick of all time, based almost entirely on sentimental reasons. The other 2% is the sappy (but rad) soundtrack by Randy Newman. I only recently discovered that a book by Jewish-American Bernard Malamud was the inspiration, and I couldn't resist the $.69 Goodwill special.

A Fine and Pleasant Misery - Patrick McManus
Kind of an impulse buy at the Moscow-Pullman airport for $3.00. Humorous musings on the idea of comfort in the outdoors, not too bad so far.

The Control of Nature - John McPhee
McPhee first caught my eye in a creative non-fiction class at the UI when I read some of his essays on modern day horse rustlers in the apparently still wild Southwest US. He's the kind of dude who dives in headfirst with his research on topics and this collection looked hott. Tales of places on Earth where Man is caught in a perpetual war against the elements.

I Am Charlotte Simmons - Tom Wolfe
Being a hard back bumped this Goodwill purchase up to something like $1.49, but I've heard so many good things about this little number that I couldn't say no. I've actually never read anything by Mr. Wolfe so I'm excited to give it a whirl.

Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills - multiple authors
The climber's Bible. Everything from navigation to building snow caves to bomber anchors to snow cycles in the alpine. And illustrations.

The Stranger - Albert Camus
Found it at camp.

Rocky Mountain Boom Town: History of Durango, Colorado - Duane Smith
I became very fascinated with the histories of most everywhere I traveled this summer, and thought the mining/outlaw history of one of my favorite places would be a good beginning. I almost dropped about $40 on a book about the Russian Orthodox movement in Sitka, Alaska, but Lady Sense stayed my wallet.