I read your copy of "My Losing Season" when we were backstage for As You Like It - it prompted me to also read "The Great Santini" and "Prince of Tides", both of which I would highly recommend.

While Da Vinci Code is good, don't bother with the prequel, Angels and Demons - formulaic and not nearly as stimulating as Da Vinci Code.

I've also had Yann Martel's "Life of Pi" and Mitch Alborn's "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" recommended to me by my aunt - have you heard anything about these?

Jess

I agree with the nomination comment, esp. in re: The Two Towers. The climax for that movie's supposed central plot came at the beginning of RotK. How do you tell a story and leave out the climax?

Brian -

Yeah, I knew you weren't a fan of those films. The last time you and I discussed the works was back when the first had been released; back when I was still a fan of the project. I don't think Fellowship had any serious flaws, but since then the films are typical hollywood formula blockbusters. Without the benefit of a concise formulaic plot.

...

I have a gift card to Barnes and Noodle - I'd like to read a piece of stellar fiction, or a good new play. Any suggestions?

Jess

Merry X-mas all- I was in San Antonio for the past week. Went to the Alamo Bowl and watched the Huskers destroy the MSU Spartans. Couldn't find the basement at the Alamo, though...

LotR a well told story? Come on, you're all joking right? Oh, I guess you're referring to tolkein's trilogy, not Peter Jackson's. That guy couldn't decide what the hell story he was trying to tell! I have no problem with Jackson's creative additions to Tolkein's plot(s) - it's his movie, he can do what he wants - but he could at least commit to finishing off the story he's picked with some type of climactic authority.

To wit: Will someone please tell me what the climax of RotK (or LotR) is? The way the movie plays out, the way Jackson "highlights" the presumed climax, we are left with almost forty-five minutes of self-aggrandizing denoument. More pretty middle-earth pictures and no conflict - sorry, I 'm not interested. Great mythic scope to the trilogy, fantastic character work from the elves to the hobbits to Gollum, entertaining action sequences in RotK, but if you can't tell the story well, you don't get my praise.

Jess

Come on -- Con Air is a classic trash-action film with great performances from Nicolas Cage, John Cusack, and John Malkovich. They totally commit to their roles, turning an admittedly silly plot into a lot of fun with an emotional payoff...and an interesting ending! I like it for the same reason I like "Shawshank Redemption" -- total belief from the cast. OK, It's not "Citizen Kane," but then...who cares?!

Scott

Well, you all beat me to the punch. Merry Christmas! I got a DVD player, and Chuck got the expanded version of "Two Towers," so have been watching all the additional stuff. The segment on Gollum was really good. By the way, I saw "Return of the King" yesterday and it is wonderful. What a triumph that trilogy is. An inspiration.
I also got the DVD of "Con Air," which is also a sublime piece of filmmaking... OK, maybe not. But I like it anyway.
Now I must find the DVD version of the first season of "Rockie and Bullwinkle."
What is happening to me????????

Scott

I agree with Kate, although I'm not certain that "formal" is really what we're looking for. I think what has been lost is clarity in writing. The ability to communicate difficult ideas in prose that is clear, elegant, and (dare I say) inspirational. Graduate students today are taught that obscurity equals profundity. They read French theorists like Foucault and (God help them) Derrida, or Julia Kristeva (who is almost impenetrable) and they think that is the way to write. Even Stephen Greenblatt, for all his 1980s hotness, is not the clearest writer I have ever read. Partially, this is because the "playfulness" being discussed is based on rather arcane wordplay that sacrifices insight for the sake of a pun. Me? I'll take Lionel Trilling, Jacques Barzun, and Ralph Waldo Emerson any day of the week. My bible is Strunk and White's Elements of Style, and William Zinsser's On Writing Well. I admire Stephen King's emphasis on clarity in On Writing. I am starting to believe that we academics are all the victims of some amazing plot in which all of the smartest people of a society are encouraged to write in a style so impenetrable that we become totally irrelevant to our society, leaving the field open for the mentally halt and lame like Bush and his Manichaean cronies. We need to ressurect the idea of the public intellectual again. Edward Said was an important one, and alas now he is dead. Can any of you think of a single Important Thinker in our society that is writing with confidence and clarity for the People? Our best social critics are drawn to satire -- Al Franken, Bill Maher, even Dennis Miller before he became a right-wing nutjob. Where are the thinkers who can use language as a way to communicate profound and important ideas to the masses? Now there is something to aspire to. If the "radical center" could take as its goal the rejuvenation of powerful writing and speech (they could begin by studying the writing of Abraham Lincoln), something might actually change in this country. Hell, if the theatre could take that as its goal, there might be a renaissance, there might be a reason to go to see a play instead of a monosyllabic film. I think LOTR is an indication of a hunger among people for language and myth. Who will feed them?

Scott

Hee Hee!

It IS ridiculous, isn't it?

Not much time to post, so I'll confine myself to a quick comment: as far as I'm concerned, Lachlan is no longer a part of DDS. She attended maybe twice, then bailed, and has never posted to the blog. To me, this seems like someone who really isn't interested. Am I being too harsh? Ryan gets another chance, IMO, because he had a class when we met last semester.
Kate, I appreciate your willingness to deal with Julia. Let's think about it.

Scott

Jess or Jennifer -- I have misplaced the directions to your place for the moving party tomorrow morning at 9:00. Please email them again: swalters@unca.edu. Does anybody here have Jess' phone number?
Thanks!

Scott

Do we need to find a different meeting spot for spring semester? It sounds like we may be a tad large for continued UB rendezvouseses... Can we get a room on campus and do the sack lunch thing? Think Rob will sign off on the department springing to have our meals catered by sodexho? The holidays are making me loony...

Jess

Now that grades are in, I can finally find time to post something here.
I truly admired your discussion of Sartre, Camus, and Emerson. From a philosophical perspective, I am still a seeker. I like the meaning-making aspects of the existentialists' approach to life, but I must confess that it leaves me a bit empty. I need a sense of spiritual aspect of life, a sense of being a part of an unfolding of something in this world, of there being the development of...what?...a move toward perfection? I have a strong sense that there is some sort of uber-spirit, but I continue to try to understand what shape I think it takes. I don't have much patience with institutional religion, not because I object to the ideas (Christ's philosophy, for instance, is very attractive), but because I have a hard time with the political and social baggage that those ideas have been forced to bear. It's like democracy -- the originating ideas are very attractive, but the interpretations and applications of those ideas within the realm of day-to-day politics twists those ideas into something that makes me squirm. Going to church is sort of like going to a political convention of a party I don't agree with -- except with better music.
As far as holiday reading, I recommend "The Da Vinci Code" too. Great fun. I odn't know what else I'll read over the holidays. I think my brain is full.
Despite the bumps in the road, I think it has been a good DDS semester. I spoke to Mary Hes about joining DDS, and she was thrilled. So we'll include her in our scheduling for next semester. Kate, we have talked about asking Julia Cunningham to join us as well, but are concerned that you dislike her. My impression is that she is bright and articulate, and could use some influence by DDS. What is your take? I have also been thinking about a freshman named Malcolm Knighten, who seems sharp as a whip, has an acid sense of humor, and little patience with jumping through hoops. Sounds like a natural DDS-er.

Scott

"Lying Liars" is fantastic - I alternately giggled and jaw-dropped my way thru the whole thing...

I just finished "The DaVinci Code" by Dan Brown, so next I'll read his "Angels and Demons". If you haven't read DaVinci, I strongly recommend it. Great intrigue about the history of the spiritual feminine in the catholic church plus fantastic art history as well - plus a mystery, talk about not-so-guilty pleasures!

I'd like to check out Gregory Maguire's Jacob Marley tale. I have "Wicked" and "Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister". Wicked is now on Broadway - I wonder what it's like.

Fanon's "Wretched of the Earth" on your suggestion...also, Ingraham's "Shut Up and Sing" sound interesting.

Have you read Robert Kaplow's new novel, "Me and Orson Welles"? His interview on NPR sounded interesting- it centers around his production of Julius Caesar. Here's the link to the NPR feature page about the book:
http://www.npr.org/display_pages/features/feature_1532428.html

I'm also working on getting my grad school application for Columbia finished - they have the earliest deadline, Jan 2nd. They want 20 minutes of VHS tape of my directing work. That sucks! I wonder if they're looking for production values or what? Taped theatre always looks so crappy to me. I have My Thing of Love on DVD. I wonder if they'll take that?

Jess

Brian -

I will be in San Antonio for the Alamo Bowl from the 24th to the 31st. Other than that, Jennifer and I would love to have you come up and visit. Johannes (my roommate) is heading out of town till the 14th of Jan and says you are morethan welcome to stay in his room if you decide to come up. I'm pretty sure Scott will be around as well, but I can't speak for anyone else. Congrats on your first semester! Are you looking forward to doing some pleasure reading over the break? What do you have on your list so far?

Jess

Does that make Camus' Caligula a heroic figure for our day and age? I always though the opposite-- that in an infinite and indifferent universe, to choose to wholly indulge the self is ultimately tragic...

Camus and Sartre seem to me to be intrinsically linked to philosophies originally stated by Epicurus (and echoed later in Rome by Lucretius) -- that the only constant we can count on is death, and thus our inevitable demise should not be feared, but rather embraced. In our own lives, seperated from all other aspects of humanity by the essential absurdism of the natural world, we are ultimately the only ones responsible for (and needfully moralistic about) our choices.

By what standard do we gauge these choices?

"Each person has the ability to think, grow, and change. Mankind is always in the position to redefine itself for the better. I have always correlated this idea to people taking responsibility for how their actions connect to others around them...the freedom and tremendous responsibility that we have and often ignore...which Sarte would call acting in "bad faith." "

I think individuals are always in that position of potential change -- I'm not so sure about mankind as a whole. I see the individual as a sovreign entity, while mankind is a natural unit governed by that absurd natural world. "Nasty, brutish and short" - one way to define the individual's life in relation to this world.

Is that overly pessimistic?

Jess

Brian,
Why is Sartre your favorite writer?

Scott

Someone should defenestrate George Bush.

(God bless the country where I can publish such a statement and not go to jail!)

Jess

Okay, sell-out is probably not the right term. I guess I'm trying to label my own disgust with our capitalist society.

Now, truth be told, this opinion of mine oscillates daily as well. Sometimes, often even, I'm glad to partake of the benefits of our country's economic system. It is in recollection of those good feeling that make me feel ooky when I discuss (speak out against) the financial state of the arts in this country.

Maybe political and economic theory is something I should spend some time reading about during the break. I'm not well-versed in either, yet I have strong opinions concerning each. Any suggestions on good books to check out?

Jess

Jess -- You say you sometimes feel like a sell-out. Let me ask you: have you done anything so far that has really gone against everything you believe in? I doubt it. Then you aren't a sell-out.

Scott

Sorry it's taken me so long to post again. Finals are kicking my heiny...

I get bent out of shape myself because quite often I feel like a sell-out. I guess I am in a certain sense, but until I'm willing to go live on a deserted island...

I get SO pissed off at this country sometimes. Like today: NPR reports that the US Treasury has mandated that no country not involved in the war/destruction of Iraq will get a chance to bid on the rebuilding contracts. How THE FUCK is it our place to solicit those bids anyway? Am I missing something? Shouldn't Iraq be the one taking the bids? Don't you think Iraqi's would rather have a country like France or Germany, who stood up and took a stand against the US-led invasion, don't you think Iraq would rather have their help with rebuilding?

Or is the US gov't the one footing the bill for this rebuilding? I guess that's the 85 billion...

So, I get punched out by a bully on the playground --

he's required to pay my hospital bills --

but he has the right to tell me that I can only go see a doctor that he chooses? who happens to be his dad?

Did I get that analogy right?

Jess

Turns out Guilford has a series known as the "Bryan" lectures or series or what have you - one of their filthy rich alumnus has been bringing in some top flight people to talk -- Ken Burns, John Barton, Poitier, Edward Albee, etc... Sometimes the lectureres attend classes during the day. Albee did a master class with some acting students earlier his fall. I think Sherman Alexi will be there this spring....not sure who else.

Jess

Not sure how Guilford worked that piece of magic. Willie Repoley (a grad of Guilford) told me about this engagement last night and asked if I wanted to go. Wish I could, but finals are only a week away and I need to make some $s as well...

Jess