a pretty how town

geoffreyb33n3 @ 2009-08-27T02:53:00

2009-08-27T07:58:04Z

Currently reading The Count of Monte Cristo. While it may be one of my favorite stories, the writing in it generally isn't that compelling. Then again, Dumas was notorious for fluffing up his sentences to make more money (paid by the word) and hiring apprentice writers to do the boring stuff for him.

There was one piece that I read recently, a piece which immediately elevated itself to the upper stratospheres of my wordly affections.

"A Message from the Emperor" by Franz Kafka (it's pretty short, read it!)

"The Emperor, so a parable runs, has sent a message to you, the humble subject, the insignificant shadow cowering in the remotest distance before the imperial sun..."

The Emperor from his deathbed has sent a message to you alone. He has commanded the messenger to kneel down by the bed, and has whispered the message to him; so much store did he lay on it that he ordered the messenger to whisper it back into his ear again. Then by a nod of the head he has confirmed that it is right. Yes, before the assembled spectators of his death--all the obstructing walls have been broken down, and on the spacious and loftily mounting open staircases stand in a ring the great princes of the Empire--before all these he has delivered his message. The messenger immediately sets out on his journey; a powerful, an indefatigable man; now pushing with his right arm, now with his left, he cleaves a way for himself through the throng; if he encounters resistance he points to his breast, where the symbol of the sun glitters; the way is made easier for him than it would be for any other man. But the multitudes are so vast; their numbers have no end. If he could reach the open fields how fast he would fly, and soon doubtless you would hear the welcoming hammering of his fists on your door. But instead how vainly does he wear out his strength; still he is only making his way through the chambers of the innermost palace; never will he get to the end of them; and if he succeeded in that nothing would be gained; he must next fight his way down the stair; and if he succeeded in that nothing would be gained; the courts would still have to be crossed; and after the courts the second outer palace; and once more stairs and courts; and once more another palace; and so on for thousands of years; and if at last he should burst through the outermost gate--but never, never can that happen--the imperial capital would lie before him, the center of the world, crammed to bursting with its own sediment. Nobody could fight his way through here even with a message from a dead man. But you sit at your window when evening falls and dream it to yourself.

I read this and all sorts of ideas how to draw/animate this little piece came flying into my head. I am very excited about it.

geoffreyb33n3 @ 2009-06-25T21:48:00

2009-06-26T02:49:10Z

this may be the most uplifting thing i've ever seen

beene-sho

2009-06-17T22:57:07Z

haiku day in creative writing class

old gum lying
stuck on the concrete
black, sticky freckles

delicious green space
cool grass interrupts asphalt.
Fuck! No loitering.

smoke break--
the sky is flat and gray
sound of traffic drowning birds

mottled stone steps
cracked, chipped, and worn
yellow rust stains

old yellow crosswalk
slowly peeling away
older white paint beneath

Why not one more

2009-06-11T05:43:56Z

an ee cummings poem. i love this man's love poetry, it's so simple and genuine

in spite of everything
which breathes and moves, since Doom
(with white longest hands
neatening each crease)
will smooth entirely our minds

--before leaving my room
i turn, and (stooping
through the morning)kiss
this pillow, dear
where our heads lived and were.

More pretty words

2009-06-11T05:40:24Z

"Song" by Christina Rossetti

When I am dead, my dearest,
Sing no sad songs for me;
Plant thou no roses at my head,
Nor shady cypress tree:
Be the green grass above me
With showers and dewdrops wet;
And if thou wilt, remember,
And if thou wilt, forget.

I shall not see the shadows,
I shall not feel the rain;
I shall not hear the nightingale
Sing on, as if in pain:
And dreaming through the twilight
That doth not rise nor set,
Haply I may remember,
And haply may forget.

geoffreyb33n3 @ 2009-05-31T01:17:00

2009-05-31T06:18:00Z

Lonesome Valley - Fairfield Four

geoffreyb33n3 @ 2009-05-25T17:20:00

2009-05-25T22:35:44Z

I just finished Moby Dick. Overall, I thought it to be a pretty enjoyable book. There are quite a few really boring parts, though...he goes on and on for pages about the scientific measurements of whales and other non-story related things. He is also wordy, but his wordiness is part of what makes the book so epic. No detail is mentioned without it impressing a sense of grandeur upon you.

I wish it had been more like Ahab's maniacal rantings near the end of the book. The end really got to be pretty fascinating..I dog-eared a lot more pages than usual

Cut for tl;dr

In this chapter he remarks on how the try-works operates on a whaling ship, and ends it with some pretty abstract thoughts:

"Look not too long in the face of the fire, O man! Never dream with thy hand on the helm! Turn not thy back to the compass; accept the first hint of the hitching tiller; believe not the artificial fire, when its redness makes all things look ghastly. To-morrow, in the natural sun, the skies will be bright; those who glared like devils in the forking flames, the morn will show in far other, at least gentler, relief; the glorious, golden, glad sun, the only true lamp--all others but liars!

This chapter started Ahab's rantings...things get pretty awesome.

Ahab forges his own harpoon that he believes is destined to be the one that slays Moby Dick. He makes it of his sharpest personal razors, he tempers it in the blood of his savage harpooneers, and it gets struck by lightning in a storm that symbolizes god trying to warn/smite Ahab. Pretty legendary-sounding weapon, eh?

Random Ahab ramblings (I don't really want to type it all...)

*The masts are on fire, I think probably St. Elmo's Fire. There is a horribly Typhoon raging all around them.*

([Sudden repeated flashes of lightning; the nine flames leap lengthwise to thrice their previous height; Ahab, with the rest, closes his eyes, his right hand pressed hard upon them.]

"I own thy speechless, placesless power; said I not so?[...]Thou canst blind, but I can then grope. Thou canst consume; but I can then be ashes. . .Light though thou be, thou leapest out of darkness; but I am darkness leaping out of light, leaping out of thee![...] (and then he basically tells god that there is something more eternal than he, he often curses god and praying throughout..)

"It was a clear steel-blue day. The firmaments of air and sea were hardly separable in that all-pervading azure; only, the pensive air was transparently pure and soft, with a woman's look, and the robust and man-like sea heaved with long, strong, lingering swells, as Samson's chest in his sleep.

Hither and thither, on high, glided the snow-white wings of small, unspeckled bids; these were the gentle thoughts of the feminine air; but to and fro in the deeps, far down in the bottomless blue, rushed mightly leviathans, sword-fish, and sharks; and these were the strong, troubled, murderous thinkings of the masculine sea."

geoffreyb33n3 @ 2009-05-14T00:26:00

2009-05-14T05:31:13Z

tonight was pretty cool at class. our teacher (who is the best professor ever) had us do this activity where we had to take a quote from Emerson or Thoreau (we did transcendentalism today), and then...this is where it gets complicated... imagine an image in our head that represents that quote, and then write down a description of that image. Then we had to write a haiku related to the quote, but we couldn't use any of the words IN the quote.

hm... still with me?

The teacher put the quotes up on the projector and numbered them 1-9. When we finished writing our picture description and our haiku, we all had to read our haikus and let the rest of the class guess which quote it belonged with. NOONE got mine until the reveal, and then everyone seemed pretty impressed. at any rate I liked it, and I don't like much stuff i create.

cut for faggotry

My emerson quote:

"Whoso would be a man would be a nonconformist."

My picture description:

A man stands proudly atop a shining pillar, his arms raised in exultation as he soars over the shuffling gray mass of nobodies beneath him.

My haiku:

The stone splits a stream
Water slips soundlessly by
Submissive and clear

I enjoyed it a lot.

geoffreyb33n3 @ 2009-05-04T23:10:00

2009-05-05T04:11:15Z

Freshman year, I took a basic Reading Poetry class. My teacher was a modern poet fanatic and a huge douche, and he ruined my perception of poetry. Now, in my junior year, I have taken enough literature classes that I can begin rediscovering poetry on my own terms and appreciating it as such. ee cummings has always been my favorite poet, and here is one of his absolutely gorgeous pieces of work:

anyone lived in a pretty how town
(with up so floating many bells down)
spring summer autumn winter
he sang his didn't he danced his did

Women and men(both little and small)
cared for anyone not at all
they sowed their isn't they reaped their same
sun moon stars rain

children guessed(but only a few
and down they forgot as up they grew
autumn winter spring summer)
that noone loved him more by more

when by now and tree by leaf
she laughed his joy she cried his grief
bird by snow and stir by still
anyone's any was all to her

someones married their everyones
laughed their cryings and did their dance
(sleep wake hope and then)they
said their nevers they slept their dream

stars rain sun moon
(and only the snow can begin to explain
how children are apt to forget to remember
with up so floating many bells down)

one day anyone died i guess
(and noone stooped to kiss his face)
busy folk buried them side by side
little by little and was by was

all by all and deep by deep
and more by more they dream their sleep
noone and anyone earth by april
wish by spirit and if by yes.

Women and men(both dong and ding)
summer autumn winter spring
reaped their sowing and went their came
sun moon stars rain

read it to yourself out loud, its god damned amazing

yay

2009-05-03T07:14:35Z

more moby dick quotage!!

"It does seem to me, that herein we see the rare virtue of a strong individual vitality, and the rare virtue of thick walls, and the rare virtue of interior spaciousness. Oh, man! admire and model thyself after the whale! Do thou, too, remain warm among ice. Do thou, too, live in this world without being of it. Be cool at the equator; keep thy blood fluid at the Pole. Like the great dome of St. Peter's, and like the great whale, retain, O man! in all seasons a temperature of thine own."

i'm loving this book. if you couldn't tell.

book nerding

2009-04-28T17:05:51Z

Still working my way through Moby Dick. This book has some fantastic passages;

Cut for your sanity.

"There are certain queer times and occasions in this strange mixed affair we call life when a man takes this whole universe for a vast practical joke, though the whit thereof he but dimly discerns, and more than suspects that the joke is at nobody's expense but his own.

However, nothing dispirits, and nothing seems worth while disputing. He bolds down all events, all creeds, and beliefs, and persuasions, all hard things visible and invisible, never mind how knobby...And as for small difficulties and worryings, prospects of sudden disaster, peril of life and limb; all these, and death itself, seem to him only sly, good-natures hits, and jolly punches in the side bestowed by the unseen and unaccountable old joker.

That odd sort sort of wayward mood I am speaking of, comes over a man only in some time of extreme tribulation; it comes in the very midst of his earnestness, so that what just before might have seemed to him a thing most momentous, now seems but a part of the general joke."

WORD.

Also:

"Why is it that all [other seamen] cherish such a scornful feeling towards Whale-ships; this is a question it would be hard to answer. Because, in the case of pirates, say, I should like to know whether that profession of theirs has any particular glory about it. It sometmies ends in uncommon elevation, indeed; but only at the gallows. And besides, when a man is elevated in that odd fashion, he has no proper foundation for his superior altitude."

tee hee hee

Also, Nemo is a bad-fuckin'-ass.

"'Who would have thought it, Flask!' cried Stubb; 'if I had but one leg you would not catch me in a boat, unless maybe to stop the plug-hole with my timber toe. Oh! he's a wonderful old man!'

'I don't think it so strange, after all, on that account,' said Flask. 'If his leg were off at the hip, now, it would be a different thing. That would disable him; but he has one knee, and good part of the other left, you know.'

'I don't know that, my little man; I never yet saw him kneel.'"

I wanted to cheer on the bus.

Writer's Block: Musical Affliction

2009-04-27T07:27:25Z

Have you had an earworm lately? Exorcise it by inflicting it on your friendslist. Post the lyrics or - even better - a video.

View 500 Answers

About 90% of my conscious thought is overtaken by earworms. It's becoming a pretty big problem.

more litracher

2009-04-02T05:43:44Z

tonight we read an essay called "Of Studies" by Francis Bacon. I'll cut it 'cause its tl;dr quality, but its really not that long, and has some great quotes. i predict the only person who may give a shit is gunlord.

anyways:

</lj>
Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief use for delight, is in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment, and disposition of business. For expert men can execute, and perhaps judge of particulars, one by one; but the general counsels, and the plots and marshalling of affairs, come best, from those that are learned. To spend too much time in studies is sloth; to use them too much for ornament, is affectation; to make judgment wholly by their rules, is the humor of a scholar. They perfect nature, and are perfected by experience: for natural abilities are like natural plants, that need proyning, by study; and studies themselves, do give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience. Crafty men contemn studies, simple men admire them, and wise men use them; for they teach not their own use; but that is a wisdom without them, and above them, won by observation. Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention. Some books also may be read by deputy, and extracts made of them by others; but that would be only in the less important arguments, and the meaner sort of books, else distilled books are like common distilled waters, flashy things. Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man. And therefore, if a man write little, he had need have a great memory; if he confer little, he had need have a present wit: and if he read little, he had need have much cunning, to seem to know, that he doth not. Histories make men wise; poets witty; the mathematics subtile; natural philosophy deep; moral grave; logic and rhetoric able to contend. Abeunt studia in mores. Nay, there is no stond or impediment in the wit, but may be wrought out by fit studies; like as diseases of the body, may have appropriate exercises. Bowling is good for the stone and reins; shooting for the lungs and breast; gentle walking for the stomach; riding for the head; and the like. So if a man's wit be wandering, let him study the mathematics; for in demonstrations, if his wit be called away never so little, he must begin again. If his wit be not apt to distinguish or find differences, let him study the Schoolmen; for they are cymini sectores. If he be not apt to beat over matters, and to call up one thing to prove and illustrate another, let him study the lawyers' cases. So every defect of the mind, may have a special receipt.

geoffreyb33n3 @ 2009-03-19T22:43:00

2009-03-20T03:45:45Z

Farewell the tranquil mind! farewell content!
Farewell the plumed troop and the big wars
That make ambition virtue! O, farewell!
Farewell the neighing steed and the shrill trump,
The spirit-stirring drum, the ear-piercing fife,
The royal banner, and all quality,
Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war!
And, O you mortal engines, whose rude throats
The immortal Jove’s dread clamours counterfeit,
Farewell! Othello’s occupation ’s gone!

i love Othello. This is the most significant speech from that play. It sticks out in my mind, even now. If someone tells me something, and it sticks in my mind...it grows into something awful. "Farewell the tranquil mind!" How can you erase a thought?

geoffreyb33n3 @ 2009-03-03T01:56:00

2009-03-03T07:59:28Z

if i could make a religion, riding the bus would be like going to church. what profound revelations are made by the bus riders as they travel, their thoughts quickly entering and exiting from view, just like the scenery passing by...

geoffreyb33n3 @ 2009-01-17T02:59:00

2009-01-17T09:00:44Z

"There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

it's sort of ridiculous how quotable / quoted "Self-Reliance" is

geoffreyb33n3 @ 2009-01-15T20:59:00

2009-01-16T03:12:03Z

i am feeling very literate today.

If you feel like reading something today, read this.

(from "An Afternoon with Hemingway" by Edward Stafford)

"When you write," he [Hemingway] said,
"Your object is to convey every sensation, sight, feeling, emotion, to the reader. So you have to work over what you write. If you use a pencil, you get three different views of it to see if you are getting it across the way you want to. First, when you read it over, then when it is typed, and again in proof. And it keeps it fluid loner so that you can improve it easier."

[Interviewer:] "How do you ever learn to convey every sensation, sight, and feeling to the reader? Just keep working at it for forty-odd years the way you have? Are there any tricks?"

[H]: "No. The hardest trade in the world to do is the writing of straight, honest prose about human beings. But there are ways you can train yourself."

"How?"

"When you walk into a room and you get a certain feeling or emotion, remember back until you see exactly what it was that gave you the emotion. Remember what the noises and smells were and what was said. Then write it down, making it clear so the reader will see it too and have the same feeling you had. And watch people, observe, try to put yourself in somebody else's head. If two men argue, don't just think who is right and who is wrong. Think what both their sides are. As a man, you know who is right and who is wrong; you have to judge. As a writer, you should not judge, you should understand."

What great writing advice. I've been carrying a little memo pad in my back pocket for moments when I feel inspired to write something down, so I think I'm going to use it to start describing particular emotions that stick out at me. Hopefully this will improve my writing.

I've just about finished all of my gen ed classes here at DePaul, and I've started taking the stuff I decided I was devoted to at the beginning of college; that is, literature classes and education classes. Furthermore, I'm motivated enough to actually do the class readings (for about the first time since I came here to school) and it is awesome. I am really enjoying this quarter so far, even with the nasty, winter weather. I'm in this education class, Teaching Writing, and the teacher is so amazing. She is everything a good teacher should be, and further more, she is good at conveying just that to us, her students. I have already learned so much, and I also feel very compelled to try hard. It's a great feeling. I hope I have the endurance, and the willpower (unlikely) to continue this through the quarter. I guess we shall see.

i kind of like this meme

2008-12-31T10:25:34Z

Ten things I want to say to 10 different people right now:
1. I still hold out some hope that you'll see me as "the one" somewhere down the line, much as I still see you.
2. You know what your problems are, so go fucking do something about them. No, no excuses.
3. Do I owe you money? Have I pissed you off? You're awesome to live with.
4. You are NOT pretty.
5. Make out?
6. Something about your affection for others makes you seem fake. What are your motives?
7. You are beautiful and awesome! Love yourself like others love you!
8. You are the most real person I know. Thank you for loving me all these years.
9. I miss you!
10. You've always been just a few houses away as long as I can remember. I've treated you very badly these last few years, and yet you still hang around. I'm so sorry, and I promise, I will do my best to make it up to you.

9 Things about me:
1 - My lame mall job has done absolutely wondrous things for my self-image.
2 - I love to stack things at restaurants while waiting for food.
3 - I hate my hair, no matter how it's cut.
4 - I love every girl, ever! It's starting to become a problem.
5 - I spend as much time on my computer as others spend on full-time jobs.
6 - I listen to music ceaselessly and memorize lyrics so I don't have to deal with the thoughts going around in my head.
7 - I can't talk for shit, and end up garbling all my words as I struggle to come up with the next thing to say.
8 - I have two huge surgical scars on my stomach!
9 - A very guilt-ridden upbringing has left me with a deep hatred towards religion.

8 Ways to win my heart:
1 - Smile at me.
2 - Have a pretty face.
3 - Be excited about new music.
4 - Be good enough at conversation for the both of us.
5 - Drink, smoke pot (or be cool with it)
6 - Be enthusiastic about the outdoors (camping, hunting, hiking, biking.)
7 - Sing, play a musical instrument.
8 - SHOW INTEREST IN ME (almost a guaranteed ticket into my proverbial "pants", regardless of theg irl)

Seven things that are crossing my mind:
1 - I WAS NEVER YOUNGGGG
2 - the beat to the song above
3 - Sleep?
4 - Man, I wish I could turn this song off.
5 - How horrible will tomorrow end up?
6 - Cute single girls? I am VERY sick of hitting on maddddd taken chicks.
7 - I WAS NEVER YOUNGGGG

My Five turn ons:
1 - Musical talent
2 - Interest in me
3 - a fetching smile
4 - sex-eyes
5 - the size of boobs in relation to the stomach curves just below them

My four turn offs:
1 - Arrogance
2 - Shallowness
3 - Smugness
4 - Lack of interest to learn

Three careers I considered:
1 - Teacher
2 - Psychologist
3 - Coffee Shop Owner

Two wishes before I die:
1 - Fall in true, true love.
2 - To get into a fight that I (almost) kill the guy in

One confession :
i have a crush on you

yeah, you

geoffreyb33n3 @ 2008-12-17T03:42:00

2008-12-17T09:42:55Z

i wish i could convey, for 5 minutes, my emotions as well as tom waits

2008-12-10T09:13:47Z

thank you nurbz for introducing me

geoffreyb33n3 @ 2008-11-21T09:40:00

2008-11-21T15:44:28Z

"So you think Romance would stop in the front parlor and discuss medicated flannels and mineral waters with the ladies? Not for more than five minutes. She would be off upstairs with you, prying, peeping, peering into the closets of the bedrooms, into the nursery, into the sitting-room; yes, and into that little iron box screwed to the lower shelf of the closet in the library; and into those compartments and pigeonholes if the secrétaire in the study. She would find a heartache (maybe) between the pillows of the mistress's bed, and a memory carefully secreted in the master's deedbox. She would come upon a great hope amid the books and papers of the study table of the young man's room, and --perhaps--who knows--an affair, or, great heavens, an intrigue, in the scented ribbons and gloves and hairpins of the young lady's bureau. And she would pick here a little and there a little, making up a bag of hopes and fears, and a package of joys and sorrows--great ones, mind you--and then come down to the front door, and stepping out into the street, hand you the bags and package, and say to you--'That is Life!'"

~Frank Norris, "A Plea for Romantic Fiction"

geoffreyb33n3 @ 2008-11-14T13:28:00

2008-11-14T19:29:38Z

this made my day, and at least the next few days after this one.

geoffreyb33n3 @ 2008-11-02T20:15:00

2008-11-03T02:24:42Z

I am really loving this Shakespeare class. This play, Troilus and Cressida, is very dense and not incredibly interesting, but I just found like snarky little exchange. Check it out:

ACHILLES: ...What's Agamemnon?

THERSITES: Thy commander, Achilles. --Then tell me, Patroclus, what's Achilles?

PATROCLUS: Thy lord, Thersites. Then tell me, I pray thee, what's Thersites?

THERSITES: Thy knower, Patroclus. Then tell me, Patroclus, what art thou?

PATROCLUS: Thou mayst tell, that knowest.

ACHILLES: O tell, tell.

THERSITES: I'll decline the whole question. (i'll recap) Agamemnon commands Achilles, Achilles is my lord, I am Patroclus' knower, and Patroclus is a fool.
PATROCLUS: You rascal.

THERSITES: Peace, fool, I have not done.

ACHILLES: [to Patroclus] He is a privileged man. --Proceed, Thersites. (privileged as in fools are allowed to speak freely)

THERSITES: Agamemnon is a fool, Achilles is a fool, Thersites is a fool, and as aforesaid Patroclus is a fool.

ACHILLES: Derive this. Come. (explain yourself)

THERSITES: Agamemnon is a fool to offer to command Achilles; Achilles is a fool to be commanded of Agamemnon; Thersites is a fool to serve such a fool; and Patroclus is a fool positive.

PATROCLUS: Why am I a fool?

THERSITES: Make that demand to the Creator. (lol) It suffices me thou art...

if you can read it, it's fun. the clowns/fools in Shakespeare have the greatest wordplay and some really witty burns.

geoffreyb33n3 @ 2008-10-15T13:07:00

2008-10-15T18:11:20Z

last night, we watched this in my education class, and man. what a powerful speech.

check it out, remind yourself that educators are one of the most essential elements of society, and while you may take them (us) for granted, we are the ones teaching your kids how to function in the "real world", how to express their own individual talents, and how to open their minds to the limitless store of knowledge available to us today. Education plays as significant a role, if not more, than parents in childraising today, especially with all the latchkey kids and single parent households.

anyway, check it out.

EDIT

this version is much more powerful

geoffreyb33n3 @ 2008-09-15T20:50:00

2008-09-16T01:52:10Z

Shakespeare loved momma jokes too:

(between Aaron, a moor, and Chiron and Demetrius, two sons of the Empress, who has just had a black baby by Aaron)

DEMETRIUS: Villian, what hast thou done?
AARON: That which thou canst not undo.
CHIRON: Thou hast undone our mother.
AARON: Villian, I have done thy mother.

~ from Titus Andronicus