‘Blogs? Sorry, but all those blogs and vblogs or whatever’s out there – they just make being unique harder. The more truths you spill out, the more generic you become.’
. . .
How cruel that mankind was forced to conform to the global electronic experience.
— Bev, Generation A pg. 222
Category Archives: Uncategorized
A great day for Alaina and therefore the World
It is my pleasure to announce that I have finally finished with my dissertation! Having toiled 8 long months over this piece, it is a truly lovely feeling to hand it in.
Bound and ready for submission!
‘Imagine a bitter, middle aged woman on her second bottle of red wine, spewing hatred towards the people she thinks are responsible for her failures, and thus the resulting ball of twisted regret inside her that laces every word she says with spite.’
| — | Vienna Karakas, Pink News Article retaliating against Julie Burchill |
Vienna Karakas has my utmost respect for drawing attention to the inflammatory language adopted by Julia Burchill in her recent article published and withdrawn by The Observer newspaper. While addressing the need for trans rights and protection in the media, Karakas pens this novel-worthy line.
Book Wish List
Every time I go about making a reading list, I end up losing it or prioritize other than what is written down to begin with. However, with the approach of a new year comes increased resolve in the form of a month-by-month novel agenda. How could it fail? The first 5 months (to begin once university ends):
June –
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (Tom Stoppard): Having read Hamlet multiple times for secondary school and university in addition to falling in love with Stoppard’s Arcadia, I swell with anticipation of seeing a contemporary form flushed with the content of Shakespeare. Would also be interesting to follow the inversion of their roles as minor characters to that of major.
July –
The Omen (David Seltzer): I was recommended this novel a few months ago during a discussion of Paradise Lost and was told it was an extremely scary book to read with the Bible side by side- how the quotations are compared and shown to be fulfilled.
August –
The Enchanted Places (Christopher Milne): To put it simply, autobiographies add so much more depth to a work- its intentions, the author and in this case, subject’s attitudes, the reason for particular characterizations, etc that I find Christopher’s tale hard to dismiss. Really looking forward to this one.
September –
Queen of the Damned (Anne Rice): My guilty indulgence. Perfect break from studying and essay-writing.
October –
The Pickwick Papers (Charles Dickens): Dickens is someone I’ve only found myself reading when I’ve been forced to by assignment; admittedly both Great Expectations and Oliver Twist were engaging. Just need the provocation and will to read more.
A book that ought to be rightfully stripped of its iconic status
REVIEW: North and South
Elizabeth Gaskell
While originally written in the serialized publication of Dickens ‘Household Words’, Gaskell’s North and South(1854-55) shows an utter lack of understanding and skill in conforming to the restraints imposed upon this format. She is defective in her ability to condense plot, creating a passive lull when action is craved. Although Gaskell does conjure up an array of endearing characters (from the stern Mrs. Thorton to the meek Bessy Higgins), these characters are often refused adequate ‘page time’ to develop in the novel as the heroine’s selfishly stolen introspection is prioritized. Gaskell is also at fault in her choice to delay the romantic resolution that should have naturally come to a climax a hundred pages prior. There is, once superfluous words are hacked away, no meat in the ‘tumultuous tale’ of North and South to provide a substantial meal for readers or indeed to satisfy the slightest pangs of hunger.
‘I always keep my conscience as tight shut up as a jack-in-the-box, for when it jumps into existence it surprises me by its size. So I coax it down again… “Wonderful,” say I, “to think that you have been concealed for so long, and in so small a compass, that I really did not know of your existence. Pray, sir, instead of growing larger and larger every instant, and bewildering me with your misty outlines, would you once more compress yourself into your former dimensions?” And when I’ve got him down, don’t I clap the seal on the vase…’
— Mr. Adam Bell, North and South pg. 399
Why Patrick Bateman Needs A New Medium
After writing a Patrick-Bateman-inspired resume yesterday, I began thinking that it didn’t quite fit. Sure, I aimed to include little tidbits of his personality, but the function and form of this document were in direct opposition. ‘Why’, you ask? Because the serial killer aspect of Pat Bateman belongs in his secret life. While disturbingly psychotic thoughts occasionally bubble over into his professional life, he never intends for the characteristics of his two selves to be linked. . . or for that matter, traced.
The result of this insight – a new format – is attached in the link below.
Curriculum Vitae – Patrick Bateman
CURRICULUM VITAE [Who the fuck even calls it this, for christ’s sake]
PATRICK BATEMAN
55 West 81st Street, Upper West Side, New York, New York, 10024
ABOUT ME
Wearing a six -button double-breasted eggshell-white linen suit and patterned silk tie, both by Armani, a cotton shirt by Luciano Barbera and leather lace-ups by Allen-Edmonds
Seeking opportunities in the management of high-responsibility accounts
Punctual, Efficient, Strong Leadership and Communication Skills, Creative, Able to Turn any Situation into an Advantage
Platinum AmEx holder
EMPLOYMENT
Pierce & Pierce [P&P]
Specialist- Mergers and Acquisitions 1986- Present
EDUCATION
Harvard Business School 1986
Harvard University 1984
Phillips Exeter Academy 1980
INTERESTS
Clubbing, Eating out, slicing off the arms of a ‘cute’ blond hardbody, listening to my Walkman [Talking Heads and Genesis, in particular], working out at Xclusive [to which I own annual membership at $5,000], seeing the look on a pathetic bum’s face as I wave a $50 in front of him then saw him to pieces, sifting through Ralph Lauren catalogues, tanning salons
‘He was startled by the appearance of a woman running, almost flying, along the carriage-drive by which he had come, and waving a handkerchief in her uplifted hand . . .
“Is it me the flying female wants?” he exclaimed at last.’
— Mr. Robert Audley, Lady Audley’s Secret pg. 197
COUNTDOWN 4.
4. Hansel and Gretel
In an adaptation of the classic fairy tale, Yim Pil-Sung branches from the main story to imagine what would have happened had the killing of parental authority figures become habitual. The film is framed through the eyes of Eun-su, a young salesman who we learn is evading the responsibility of supporting his pregnant girlfriend to visit his ailing mother. An ironic but fitting choice of character for a man about to run into a house full of orphans. It is during one such phone argument with Hae-young that he loses control of the wheel and awakens injured and dazed on the outskirts of a dense forest. Luckily, or perhaps not so luckily, he is retrieved by a young girl who insists he follow her home to recover for the night. They pass through a sinister labyrinth of trees and finally arrive at a gate whose inscription reads: A House For Happy Children. He steps inside and is warmly welcomed by the ‘parents’, who resemble something from a 1950′s home-making leaflet.
However, the idealistic portrayal of domesticity is shattered by the strained interactions of both the mother and father and by their caution in what they will say in the presence of their children. Are they afraid of them? Who is controlling who?
This is the scene Eun-Su intrudes upon and it is only through an extended stay at the refuge for the lost that he realises this ghastly fairy tale has left its pages.
