The · Life · and · Mind · of · an · Eccentric · Writer

There will be no Studio 60 review because it is now on a mid-season hiatus! Gasp. Well, maybe a brief word. I have to say I'm really ambivalent about this show. In the shadow of The West Wing it is a disappointment, but if it didn't have such looming shoes to fill, I think it might actually be the best thing on television right now (or the best thing not on television right now. sigh. regardless of quality, the people need their Bradley Whitford!). It has all the sophisticated humor that The West Wing did, but none of the Gravitas or elegance. And that's simply because it's about a television studio and not the White House. Or at least I would like to think so. The cast is great, some of the ideas that get thrown around are often spritzingly fresh and original, but the writing itself just isn't up to Sorkin's usual standards. But literary genius isn't a 24/7 gig anyway, I suppose.

Do you ever read something and then realize you haven't really read it? Does that happen with other things we do? And I don't mean just cultural consumption or media absorption (absorbtion?) As in...watching tv and having no idea what you've just seen for the past half hour because you were just vegetating, or....listening to music just to drown out something else rather than paying attention to lyrics and melodies. Sure, there are conversations we have with less than exciting people all the time. (At times, actually, I tend to remember those only to promptly chastise those brain cells who just won't let go!) Like Peanuts adults. Waaahhhwah-wah-wah-wahhhh. What if that which we deem important flies by like that paragraph of Sir Philip Sidney I just thought I read? What if that which we wish to remember in fact sounds like a Peanuts adult?! Now that's a threat. That's something to fear. Senility, consider me thine enemy!

So one of my goals for the summer, possibly THE goal, is to write something I can try to get published. And last night in a vision - no, I actually mean just in a plain old drool filled dream - an idea actually came to me. My worry all this time has been that I'd know how to copy something else very well or imitate or invoke, but what's left to be done, honestly? Well here it is - The Urban Fairytale. Fantasy is so huge right now, but it's always so old, steeped in medieval lore. Sure, Lord of the Rings had allegorical or thematic connections to the time Tolkien wrote in, but what if certain fantastical elements were to be infused with modern life? Elves with Ipods, sprites with cell phones (okay, with the alliteration that sounds lame). It would be a similar effect to...Monsters Inc. Where the unreal is the everyday. Now, I know what you're thinkin': What about Harry Potter? Harry Potter, while taking place in the modern day and integrating magic as mundane into its universe, is still stuck in traditional old England. Hogwarts looks like Oxford, which is hundreds and hundreds of years old. Harry has to wear a prep school uniform rather than riding a skateboard.

The dream version of this was not as well thought out, I have to admit. In it I was directing a musical back at my old high school and decided to write my own musical based on this idea. There was a purple dawn with white christmas lights on the stage, which, now that I think about it, my brain must have stolen from Moulin Rouge (you know, with the windmill). All I remember is that Simon Cowell (shivers) was there alongside my drama teacher, Mrs. Lombardo, and said, "Keep the dragon song. DO NOT call it Circus Masterpiece." Wow. That is strange.

Hmm. *gears turn*

As we approach the end of season two, someone has to sheepishly raise a hand and ask – has Lost jumped the shark? Jumping the shark usually implies some sort of moment, some sort of incident that makes viewers cringe. The phrase originates from Fonzie literally jumping over a shark while water skiing on Happy Days, and other famous jumps include when Ross and Rachel got together on Friends, when Punky Brewster hit puberty, or when Aaron Sorkin left on The West Wing. But with Lost the rules of shark jumping do not necessarily apply. Perhaps a more adequate marine life metaphor would be to think of the show as a neglected snorkeler who unwittingly collects one baby jellyfish after the other along his leisurely swim. Each individual jelly may only sting a little, but by the end the pain becomes unbearable. (Yes, I know you’re thinking of Finding Nemo now…sorry for the distraction.)

Here’s a brief list of potential jellyfish:

1.) The pacing of episodes (or lack thereof). I’m sure this season will fair better during a DVD viewing simply because showing an episode or two every other week seriously harms this particular show’s momentum.
2.) Jack and Locke aren’t Jack and Locke anymore. Via a devastating character assassination, the show has restored the former weak Locke, visually marked by the status of his legs. Wheelchair Locke was a loser. Island Walking Locke has knives and rules. Leg Impaled Hatch Bound Locke is a loser again. I was so disappointed to see him falling so easily into Henry Gale’s traps. Where has your new found sense of confidence gone, Locke? As for Jack, I liked him a whole lot more back when he was a modest hero. Now he actually wants to be in control and wants to have a gorilla chest pounding contest with Sawyer for Kate and the guns? Not nearly as interesting.
3.) Charlie and Eko find God (or, more accurately, each other). The unlikely pair building a church and ignoring all other happenings on the Island is just one of many storylines that has caused the end of this season to feel disconnected. Sun and Jin are off thinking about their unborn baby, Hurley’s battling imaginary friends, Bernard and Rose resolve a conflict about wanting to leave vs. wanting to stay – very few episodes circle back to the greater community of survivors anymore.
4.) Dropping hot plots. Only now, after many weeks, do we hear about Walt or Michael again. Oh, and…what about the Hatch? And the Dharma Project? (A.k.a. everything that drove the plot and maintained suspense at the beginning of the season?) Where are my polar bears! And no one talks about the black smoke anymore??

And I only say this, Lost, because I love you. Here’s hoping this week’s episode will be like the good ole days.

Okay so apparently my entire work ethic has gone completely out of the window or Middlemarch is JUST THAT TEDIOUS. My best guess would be that some combination of the two is at play here. So where have you been? Where have I been? In grad school apparently. Shall I give you a run-down? An ironic chronicling of the very thing I am trying to avoid at this moment? Perhaps another time. It would be unwise to do a year in review deal without having the last few moments in place (i.e. 3 final papers). Stay tuned for that, though. Really.

Instead I shall give you an update on my alternate universe: television. Lost has gotten to be pretty lukewarm, or rather I've been lulled into thinking that due to massive gaps of time between episodes. Crazier and crazier it gets and less and less gets explained. Let's just hope it all comes to fruition in the end. I've finally gotten into House M.D.. Although I still stand by the fact that the show itself isn't that great - Hugh Laurie (formerly of British sketch comedy fame, no less!) and the deliciously bitter character he plays are just amazing. Oh, and....Denny Crane. That's all I have to say - Denny Crane.

The reason I'm listening to Queen at the moment (aside from its obvious awesome pawesomeness) is that American Idol contestants are slated to perform their songs this week. Waves of skepticism and intrigue wash over me as I imagine Simon Cowell using the word "karaoke" while sneering as much as humanly possible. Are performances featured on this embarssing yet addictive spectacle considered improvisations? revisions? originals? parodies? remakes? tributes? Or just karaoke. But doesn't karaoke imply a certain amount of awareness as to the poor quality of the performance? From what I've heard about the "average Joe," the layman, the man on the street's use of karaoke recreationally has been centered around inebriation, laughter, and good ole self-conscious fun. No one goes into a karaoke bar to "do their best" or to "become a star." I mean, sure, no one wants to sound awful on purpose, but...for some reason the bar's bar has been set low with a certain amount of pride.

Oh, and I can talk about teaching. But I can't talk about my students. (They've sniffed me out on Facebook.com, which I think throws the whole student-teacher thing into a jello pudding cup of trouble/intrigue.) Well, I can talk about them with endearment. That's acceptable and/or appropriate, yes? I feel as though I try to establish this "stick it to the man" relationship with my students in order to get them to cooperate and participate in class more. You know what? That's not really it at all. I just don't feel comfortable enough to be "THE teacher" who tells them what to do and, more importantly, will tell on them if they don't do what they're supposed to. Instead I call them "lame" and "functionally retarded" when they don't have assignments or don't come to class (because that's so much better). I also have discovered that teaching a class is a lot like hosting a late night talk show. (Not that I would ever put myself in the same category as the likes of brilliant Conan O'Brien or Craig Ferguson, mind you. Hey wait a sec - why are they both from fringe British cultures? *shakes head out of digression*) More on that in a bit - it's time to get back to Middlemarch. (Oh will everyone just get married and inherit money already!)

Man, this is so shameful. Forever and a day hath passed since Livejournal and I have crossed paths. But, instead of writing about not writing (as I often do), I'll just jump right ahead into the usual out of context slice of quirkiness.

Wallace and Gromit are awesome. Well, mostly just Gromit. And rabbits. Awww look how they wave atcha! Not to mention howl at the moon.

The power of Stickers. Seriously.

Now that I'm a grad student, I'm drinking coffee. Now that I'm a grad student, I'm getting headaches. Maybe I'll stop drinking the coffee? Egads.

I'm just crackers about cheese!

To be continued....

As Claudine noticed that our communal calendar provided by the University has days marked "Register for Semester I," we realized that said markings no longer apply to us, for our semesters at Brown will end come the end of May. She quickly grabbed the White Out from my desk and went to work. And so, for the last time, I shall give a narration of the last first few weeks at the place I've come to *sniffle* hold so dear
*sniffle* sniffle*. In all seriousness and no sarcasticness, it will be kind of weird to leave, but with a thesis in the making, Double Blind scripts not yet rewritten, and grad school applications pending, I suppose I've got a lot more things to occupy my mind at the moment. So, Nostalgia, I cast thee off for the time being. Be gone! (oooooooooo.)

As for classes, here's the line up as of right now.
I have to take IT20, which is the second half of Italian, and EL196, which is my thesis course. Beyond that, there are four classes currently in the running.

1. MC120/EL190 Narrative Theory - a course that I will most likely take because it's right up my alley, but if I show up and it's handled terribly I will discard it like a half-eaten ham sandwich. The offerings at the bookstore were promising (lots of Roland Barthes, and books with linguistics mentioned) except for the last, which was an obscure Toni Morrison novel. [Insert my usual diatribe about how Toni Morrison is highly overrated due to Oprah's Book Club... here]
2. EL171 What Was Postmodern Literature? The selection at the bookstore was really exciting for this one (Don DeLillo's White Noise, for one), plus the professor got his degrees in the U.K. How could I resist?
3. CO71 Odysseus Through the Ages - This is mostly for the Greek Mythology class that scared me away when I checked out the ENTIRE SHELF of reading it had at the bookstore. An intensive survey course in a department I've never taken classes in? I don't think so. But this seems like a decent alternative - yes, we read the Odyssey, but everything else is a more contemporary adaptation of it, which sounds like an interesting academic project.
4. IT140 Metamorpheses and the Persistence of the Novel - I really wanted to take an Italian literature course (taught in English, sadly) about photography and the novel, BUT, of course, with my luck, they canceled it. Sigh. Hope this one doesn't disappoint, but I'm guessing it will.

Thesis workshop today went well in that it was really interesting and comforting to see what and how everyone was going about their projects. Mine was repeatedly referred to as a "Quest," which made me feel good. There's still a lot of work ahead of me but it's good to know I'm not wasting my time with this.