Can You Allow Me a Moment of Pretentiousness?

When the writing stalls, I cheer myself up by finding the nearest bookstore. I find the fiction section and look for the spot in which whatever book(s) I write will be.

Right in the J's, next to James Joyce.

It's dumb, but it helps, even if I don't write prose.

Symbols

For some reason, one of my favorite stories is that of the Sword of Damocles. Don't remember where I first encountered it, but it's had a meaning that resonated.

The story is, Damocles lavishes a great deal of attention to his king and tells the king how lucky he is to have all he has. The king grows tired of Damocles' constant jabbering at how great the king's life is. So the king tells Damocles that they will switch places for a night. So Damocles sits at a feast and is treated like he was the king. He loves it, the attention, the power and whatnot. It's only at the end of the night that he notices that above his chair, hanging from the thinnest of strands, is a sword. Damocles is mortified to learn that sword was there all night and at any point could have fallen on him, certainly killing him.

It had been placed there by the king, to show Damocles that while it might seem great to be the king, there's a price for everything and that power and position in society are no guarantees of happiness. Easy come easy go.

Nowadays the term Sword of Damocles has become shorthand for impending peril, but I prefer to think of it as don't judge another person's life by your standards. You might find they don't have it as easy as you think.

Midas Touch has become shorthand for being extremely successful. This ignores the intent in the story where having a touch that turns anything into gold turns out to be more curse than blessing. Another case of, be careful what you wish for. Nothing comes without a price, after all.

The way that language usage and point of view changes over the years is fascinating. I mean, with just the right strategy and lots of time on your hands, you can turn a "good" word or phrase into a bad one and vice versa.


But remember...be careful what you wish for.

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On the New Experience

One sad fact is, once you've experienced a work of fiction (a book, a movie, etc.) you can never experience it again the same way you did the first time.

Especially hard is when you return to fiction with a twist ending. It doesn't age well. That's not fair, The Usual Suspects is still a good movie, but the participation in the mystery is gone the second time. The Sixth Sense holds up in the same way. There's some works that can still be rewarding even afterwards, but for the most part, "You can't go home again."

I wish that you could somehow. Just last Oct. 25th, the last issue of one of my favorite comics appeared on the racks after a SIX MONTH delay. That issue was Seven Soldiers of Victory #1.

Wait, #1, last issue?

I'll explain...Seven Soldiers of Victory was a "megaseries" (30 issues) beginning with Seven Soldiers of Victory #0, followed by seven 4 issue miniseries based around one of the seven soldiers, and culminating in Seven Soldiers of Victory #1.

So seven characters each with their own mini that could be read independently and two bookends to tie it all together. Written entirely by Grant Morrison and drawn by several artists.

They came out every other week. What I enjoyed best was the mystery building over the course of the series and the slow trickle of revelations every issue.

Now that the whole thing is over I've re-read the whole thing and it still holds up well. It's a great read.

But it'll never live up to the first time when it was all fresh and new.

What I wouldn't give to be able to make myself forget the project everytime I read it.

I've read plenty of books over and over again. I'm on my seventh with Catch-22, my second with Slaughterhouse 5, fifth with East of Eden. That doesn't even compare to how many times I've rewatched movies. The story is what attracts us the first time, the execution is what makes us come back.

I know what happens in East of Eden, but I could never remember the details that make it come alive and will make it live even on my future sixth and seventh time.

I guess what I love most in life are stories, the ones lived and the ones read.

So next to my Catch-22 and my Casablanca does my Seven Soldiers of Victory go.

Evidently, I Refuse to Be Serious

More Comic Life fun for all.



Ahh...serious is so overrated anyway.

I Can't Draw, So Don't Bother...

Didn't have any pictures to put in it, but here's a little experiment with Comic Life on my Mac at work.



Curses...now I want a Mac.

Heed the Hydrant!!!!

Found on a corner near work.

The advantage of the crappy camera in my phone is that if you're paying attention, you find all sorts of goodies.

Hypno Bedhead's Dictionary Entry of the Day

Star: noun
A performer of limited range and talent who nonetheless excels at being appealing to the masses by virtue of genetics.

This is Only a Test

Keep moving, nothing to see here. Just trying out my PDA to see if I can post directly from it when I'm at an internet cafe.

I effing hate writing at home. It's so cave-like, what with it being underground and all...and home to the mole people. Not much for conversation, but they keep the place tidy.

This and Any Other

Sometimes the world opens up and you see yourself for what you truly are...not guilty of half of what you kick yourself about.

And it feels good, you know, to free yourself from the prison guards and inmates your mind conjures up, like your own personal Sing Sing. Like Captain Jack says, "There's what a man can do and what a man can't do." Just a matter of being realistic about both.

So my dear readership, both of you, it's time to rededicate myself to my poor neglected screenplay. I'm going to open up the box and see if I poked airholes big enough for it to breathe.

Here goes nothing...

Hypno Bedhead's Dictionary Entry of the Day

Hanger-On: noun
Someone who enjoys the fruits of others' labors while contributing none themselves.