The Scrivener

T.S. Eliot - “East Coker” V.

So here I am, in the middle way, having had twenty years—
Twenty years largely wasted, the years of l'entre deux guerres
Trying to learn to use words, and every attempt 
Is a wholly new start, and a different kind of failure
Because one has only learnt to get the better of words
For the thing one no longer has to say, or the way in which
One is no longer disposed to say it. And so each venture
Is a new beginning, a raid on the inarticulate
With shabby equipment always deteriorating
In the general mess of imprecision of feeling,
Undisciplined squads of emotion. And what there is to conquer
By strength and submission, has already been discovered
Once or twice, or several times, by men whom one cannot hope
To emulate—but there is no competition—
There is only the fight to recover what has been lost
And found and lost again and again: and now, under conditions
That seem unpropitious. But perhaps neither gain nor loss.
For us, there is only the trying. The rest is not our business.

Neil Gaiman - Mistakes

Hmmm, this seems important … 

(Source: journal.neilgaiman.com)

Video

The trailer for Dead Man Down launched on Apple Trailers recently. And, as with all movies that spark my interest, I’ve watched this trailer a million times (well maybe 4). There are elements that are indicative of the Alfred Hitchcock movie Rear Window, but Noomi Rapace is the furthest thing from Grace Kelly, and Colin Farrell is no Jimmy Stewart. Also noteworthy, with all the talk of gun violence in the media it’s almost nauseating to watch something that is about ‘revenge’ and ‘killing,’ but I guess you can’t halt something that was in production pre-massacre. I wonder if we’ll ever change movies back to what they once were, or if our societal taste for a “good” crime movie will live on. 

Video

To be present with God you will gradually become very transparent and vulnerable, you will gradually let go of roles, titles, masks, identities. They are all in the way. God’s perfect loving of you makes it possible to shed your “character armor” (a la Ernest Becker), just as with a true friend. I suspect this is the archetypal fascination of lovers’ undressing one another and undressing themselves for the other. That’s very powerful stuff, and not just titillation.—Richard Rohr, Hope Against Darkness

Art allows me to understand my spiritual musings at a much deeper level. When I came across the Rohr passage, quoted above, I automatically thought of a video I recently enjoyed by Sigur Ros. The music video shows a dance performance. We assign meaning to art based on our interpretations. Here is my reading of this performance: Two people are wandering through what looks like an industrial wasteland. When they first lock eyes, they do so upside down, which is indicative of a shared worldview. After their initial flirting (which seem to include a lot of leg swings and wild stretches) the female dancer disappears and the male dancer appears saddened. Even though she is gone for a short time, I believe the male’s fearful responses is indicative of the male ego and it’s attempt to control outcomes. His fears are unfounded. The couple finally meets up and they share a dance together. As time elapses the two draw closer and closer together, until finally there is a stripping down. (Toward the end of the clip there is nudity. If you have not spent time in an art community, or if you consider nudity untasteful, stop the video around 7:00)

(Source: vimeo.com)

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meesoohl:

Steven Daluz

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Dave McKean’s artwork has been an unexpected surprise in-between the pages of Wizard & Glass. Although I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite genre of art it adds a nice touch to book four. Another surprise, McKean also does the cover art for The Sandman graphic novels by Neil Gaiman. King, Gaiman, and McKean must all eat at the same restaurant or something.   

I’ve become somewhat of a tower-junkie(Stephen King’s Dark Tower Series) over the past 6 months. As cliché as it might sound, I have fellowshipped in the struggles/horrors that Roland Deschain and his band of follower (ka-tet) have preserved through. When it’s all said and done, I will have read some 3000 pages, reflected heavily on the character of Roland, and will know what King has hide at the end of his magnum opus.

The gunslinger is iconic and legend, your best friend, praise the Man Jesus, and your worst enemy … ya kennit?”

Book series come and go, some more obscure than others, but I feel like I was really holding out for this one, and I’m glad I did. Rest assured, I’ve not adopted a funny mid-world accent (do ya kennit?), forgone all my casual dress for a cowboy hat and boots—I still hate country music—nor have I purchased sidearm’s to tote around with me as I walk down the street. No this would be the condition of a geek or up there with drawing a scar across your forehead with a sharpie marker and buying tickets for the Harry Potter amusement park in Florida. I like to think I’m finding something far richer than all the aforementioned things.    

After each reading session I feel like I’ve reinforced the plain knowledge that some people (even make believed ones) have it far worse than me, and no matter what horrors I must face on the other side of college (the real world) I’ll be alright. The past 6 months have been pretty shitty compared to how wonderful the 6 months were before that, but Roland has got me through it and made me better for it. What I mean is this, spending time reading about someone else’s journey and the inner strength they find to preserver through the muck sets an example. Even simpler, those that don’t read, that don’t spend time reflecting, are often the ones with hefty bills from their shrink.

Here’s to 6 more months and 1,500 more pages with Roland Deschain!      

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So it’s been a while …

Ridley Scott’s Prometheus offers a bleak answer to the origin of man, and yet it’s Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) who shines brightest. The past three decades of pop culture have offered many examples of strong female characters; Shaw will definitely be filed among them. It’s her ability to preserver through the ugliest situations (my memory recalls: shale-wind storm, death, alien/squid c-section, and more death). I do wonder if Rapace choose the name Elizabeth in honor of Lisbeth Salander, the tough as nails punk detective who she played in the Swedish adaptation of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. She had to have!

(Source: outnow.ch)

Quote

From a drop of water,” said the writer, “a logician could infer the possibility of an Atlantic or a Niagara without having seen or heard of one or the other. So all life is a great chain, the nature of which is known whenever we are shown a single link of it. Like all other arts, the Science of Deduction and Analysis is one which can only be acquired by long and patient study nor is life long enough to allow any mortal to attain the highest possible perfection in it. Before turning to those moral and mental aspects of the matter which present the greatest difficulties, let the enquirer begin by mastering more elementary problems. Let him, on meeting a fellow-mortal, learn at a glance to distinguish the history of the man, and the trade or profession to which he belongs. Puerile as such an exercise may seem, it sharpens the faculties of observation, and teaches one where to look and what to look for. By a man’s finger nails, by his coat-sleeve, by his boot, by his trouser knees, by the callosities of his forefinger and thumb, by his expression, by his shirt cuffs — by each of these things a man’s calling is plainly revealed. That all united should fail to enlighten the competent enquirer in any case is almost inconceivable.

From “The Book of Life”, an article by Holmes quoted in “A Study in Scarlet”

(Source: quotations.amk.ca)

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The LEGO haunted house I tried building as a kid pales in comparision.

Decaying Victorian Home — Created and Built by Mike Doyle

“To my eyes, patterns of decay find a more pleasing path than an untouched object. A roof collapsed by the weight of snow, side shingles ripped by the force of winds, substructures rotting, insects and weather gnawing the exposed surfaces. I can picture those windy days where a shingle flies off. Or the sudden creaking, cracking and burst of tinder giving way under snow’s heavy hand.”

(Source: freshome.com)

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The end of the whole mess … 

“We Were Humans” by AquaSixio