The article linked to here was from 2001 on my first website Turtleneck.net where my buddy Josh and I began our first foray into literary journal. It was a great time and the article I wrote on Saramago and Myth holds up pretty well actually. I was a bit cheeky in my literary theory then. …
Category Archive: Literature
Oct
02
Blind to Protest Film Adaption of Jose Saramago’s Blindness
Blind plan to protest the Oct 3rd US Release of Blindness The chairman of the commission for the blind Marc Maurer is planning on staging a protest for the film adaptation of the 1998 Novel Blindness by Portuguese Nobel Laureate Jose Saramago. To be blunt this seems silly. And I wonder if the chairman has …
May
16
Finished the Patrick O’Brian Aubrey Maturin Series
For those that don’t know Patrick O’Brian’s works, and who may not have read my other posts on Aubrey/Maturin, I will quickly summarize. Patrick O’Brian over the course of several decades wrote 21 books based on Lord Cochrane an active frigate captain in the Napoleonic wars. The novels depict the life and adventures of two …
Feb
28
10 year wedding anniversary
Ten years ago today, Laura and I were married. It was the warmest day on record for February in Michigan. I like to think the sun defeated winter for us, and whether by happy accident or twist of fate that sunshine in winter (I try not to think of it as global warming) has been …
Feb
06
Caesar: Life of a Colossus
Oddly enough the opening introduction of this massive volume on the seemingly inexhaustible topic of Gaius Julius Caesar was one of the best parts. This doesn’t detract from the excellent work of Adrian Goldsworthy. Historical parallels are supposed to be deplorable, and you can’t just lay one set of circumstances over another and say look …
Oct
10
Spook Country Review, second watered tea
Out of all of William Gibson’s Novels, “Spook Country”:http://www.amazon.com/Spook-Country-William-Gibson/dp/0399154302/ref=pd_sim_b_shvl_title_1/102-4362146-7999342 is the least evocative. A lot of Gibson’s now all too common critics read and loved Neuromancer for its impenetrable descriptions of the ephemeral and then unknowable internet, (or cyberspace), the vague chic of apathetic criminal characters, and the all too potent tincture of drugs, sex, …
Oct
03
Dirty Pleasures
For many years, despite my more haute couture tendencies, I have secretly harbored a dirty and sinful pleasure in reading trashy fantasy novels. It began when I was about eleven, and like smoking for some; I have never been able to give it up. I buy these books clandestinely, telling no one. Then I consume …
May
30
The Romantic Journey-WMCKA Symposium 2007
I picked Jon Turk up at the Kalamazoo airport on Friday after work. I’d heard that he wasn’t as chatty and vivacious as some of the younger pups we’d had to symposium over the last few years. Simon and Justine definitely are very fun and very very social, which is great. Jon Turk though is …
May
29
Aubrey/Maturin
Trip dynamics are a difficult relationship to manage. When selecting a paddling partner you’re sort of looking for that sibling/spouse/wing man vibe from the person you may have to share a tent with. I’ve been relatively lucky on my trips to have really good vibes from my tent mates. We comprise separate elements of the …
Apr
11
Where do good lit nerds go when they die?
The *”Typewriter Museum”:http://www.typewritermuseum.org/* of course. The museum is rife with imagery for the aspiring historical nut looking to find everything from typewriter postcards, unusual models, and even typewriter erotica. Yes you heard me. Scantily clad, provocative women wrapping their stocking draped legs across the keyboard of a 1920 Remington portable may not do it for …
