November 2009
1 post
Socratic Rationalism and Political Philosophy: An Interpretation of Plato’s ‘Phaedo.’
September 2009
13 posts
Tonights agenda: Rewatch Garden State, and start the Subterraneans by Jack Kerouac.
“[Writing] feels difficult to me a lot. Which doesn’t mean I don’t love it and I’m not pulled to it on a daily, nightly, insomniac basis. Your point about it being very hard work is a good one. It’s tremendously hard work. Yes, I love arranging the words and having them fall on the ear the right way and you know you’re not quite there and you’re redoing it and redoing it and there’s a wonderful...
In the form of decent, readable, non-clumsy, non-fancy, laymen prose, I’d like to successfully weave unforgettable moments wherein my characters overcome obstacles, and learn things about themselves in the process. That is all.
George Orwell
Why I Write
From a very early age, perhaps the age of five or six, I knew that when I grew up I should be a writer. Between the ages of about seventeen and twenty-four I tried to abandon this idea, but I did so with the consciousness that I was outraging my true nature and that sooner or later I should have to settle down and write books.
I was the middle child of three, but...
Letters To A Young Poet
Stephen Mitchell Translation
Letter One Paris February 17, 1903
Dear Sir,
Your letter arrived just a few days ago. I want to thank you for the great confidence you have placed in me. That is all I can do. I cannot discuss your verses; for any attempt at criticism would be foreign to me. Nothing touches a work of art so little as words of criticism : they always result in more or less...
Interesting article
Literature in the marketplace
Is fiction inherently capitalist? And has American foreign policy really raised moral standards in world affairs?
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/article4990340.ece
I struggle with posthumous pov.
I started writing something new a couple days ago. I like it. I need a break from the older stuff. It’s kind of different.
http://www.steampunk.com/sfch/writing/ckilian/#6
Mondays: 500 words
Tuesdays: 1000 words
Wednesdays: 500 words
Thursdays: 1000 words
Fridays: 500 words
Saturdays: w/e
Sundays: w/e
Movies I haven’t seen, and need to:
The Usual Suspects American Beauty Requiem for a Dream Lost In Translation Boyz N the Hood Lost in Translation City of God Almost Famous Amelie Big Fish Capote Pan’s Labyrinth There Will Be Blood No Country for Old Men
Oh, and anything directed, written and starred in by Miranda July. She’s interesting.
Notes on Almost famous
I didn’t cry during this movie, and I didn’t laugh either. I’m learning that whether or not one laughs or cries is not indicative of whether the film is thought-provoking, or heart-warming, or humourous. A movie can be all of these things, and still not be a really feely movie.
We’re introduced to William, his mom, and his sister immediately. The conflict in the family is...
“Write what you know.” I don’t seem to follow this axiom very well. I keep trying to write comedies when I should be writing dramas.
List of the last 5 movies I couldn’t wait to see in the cinema/rent/watch online/get script:
-My Sister’s Keeper
-Rachel Getting Married
-Nothing is Private (Towelhead)
-Remember Me
-Almost Famous
These are the kinds of films I...