Slaughterhouse-Five

I guess I forgot to do this post, so here it is. I choose to write about one of themes, and the one I picked is time.

The perspective on time is, I think, one of my favorite parts about the book. First of all, this is because Billy's nonlinear journey through the past, present, (if there is a "present" in the story) and future is a really good plot device. Someone in class pointed out that this novel is somewhat constructed like Tralfamadorian book, where the scenes are arranged in no particular way, and that's absolutely true. Because Billy is "unstuck", he can supposedly see how everything will turn out and thus he has no use for worry and fear. It's a beautiful idea, really.

I'm a bit of a sci-fi geek so I always love it when I read or see things that bring something new to the table, which is my second reason for admiring the time travel elements. The best sci-fi uses fiction to address something important to all of us, and Vonnegut's unique view on time helps us examine why we put importance on some things and not others, just as HG Wells' work examined ideas about religion, evolution, etc.

And just as a personal note, I'm reading a comic book with a scene where people visit a kind of "alien zoo" (like the one in the book) and one of the aliens is a tralfamadorian. The funny thing is that a character remarks how disgusting it smells, which of course comes from how they communicate by farting. I thought that was amusing.

Harrison Ford Gearing Up For New "Jones" Film

LOS ANGELES- Movie fans were stunned on Thursday to hear that, in addition to the upcoming "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls," megastar Harrison Ford is also preparing for an immediate sequel, to shoot after the fourth entry in the series.

Details on the sure-to-be blockbuster are scant, but insiders have revealed the title will be "Indiana Hones and the Retirement Home of the Gods."

"Apparently the plot centers around [Jones] searching for Mt. Flaccidus, the mythical place where heroes go when they tire of fighting or their family gets sick of them," an anonymous insider says. "But first he must grapple with Nazi retirees in order to find the Golden Wheelchair, the only method of reaching the mountain's summit."

This announcement comes after criticism that Ford is getting too old for action films.

Fox executive William Myers counters by claiming "Harrison is doing an excellent job of keeping fit and he's as vibrant as he ever was."

When reached for comment, Ford simply crapped his pants and mumbled incoherently about a dog he had in his youth.

Sedaris Blog

I read "The Girl Next Door." I don't know what he's "trying to do" with this story but I definately enjoyed it. It's funny because it's relevant - we all have examples of dealing with white trash. It really reminded me of a house I had when I had a paper route in middle school: a poor family lived there and everytime I collected payment I had to deal with the same shit he had to with his neighbors. I think Sedaris is good at illustrating that feeling you can have when you have pity and anger at the same time.

Anyway, this story has all the hallmarks of the author: simple language, dry wit, strange characters, etc. One element that stood out to me was how he uses the mother as a kind of plot device. Her dialogue appears even when she's not present and the judgmental things she says in response to what happens is really interesting. She's like the angel (or devil) on his shoulder.

In response to the question about how Sedaris compares to the other two writers. I don't really see the similarity to Nathaniel West that other people bring up, but he does have somethings in common with Twain. The both have a kind of conversational tone but Sedaris never reaches Twain's bitter cynicism.

Day of the Locust

I think have to start writing more of these, so... yeah.

As always I look for things in our class that relates to our world. In my edition of the book the introduction written by Alfred Kazin it says "Hollywood in the 1980s is not the glamour capital and dream factory that once excited millions of Americans as the most magical and improbable plae on earth." Well I don't know about that it seems to me that if this book is at all accurate Hollywood hasn't changed much. The movies are different, sure, but scandals and all that crap hasn't changer.

In the book they do things like visit whorehouses and today we have celebrities hitting people with their cars and danglng babies over ledges. It even seems to have gotten worse, but that might be because the media has more access to those kind of secrets. Either way the distate West had for the whole California lifestyle is still around - just listen to "Aenema" by Tool or watch anyTV show set out there on the east cost.

The Simpsons

This assignment is difficult to do because it's impossible for me to pick a favorite. There are so many good ones: "Treehouse of Horror V", "Homer the Great", "The Springfield Files", "El Viaje de Nuestro Jomer", etc.

I pretty much picked at random and I decided on The Twisted World of Marge Simpson. The plot is that Marge starts a pretzel business to feel like she's accomplished something, but she fails. So, Homer asks mobster Fat Tony to help her out and naturally there are bad consequences.

There so many great moments in this episode. There's a montage where the mob illegally promotes Marge's business: they force girl scouts out of town at gunpoint and when Prinicipal Skinner orders pretzels from her, he has a broken wrist and laser pointer aimed at his head. There's also this quote, where Marge talks to the pretzel franchise owner:

Marge: What's my territory?
Frank Ormand: Your territory? Well, let me put it this way: wherever a young mother is ignorant as to what to feed her baby, you'll be there. Wherever nacho penetration is less than total, you'll be there! Wherever a Bavarian is not quite full, you'll be there!
Marge: Don't forget fat people! They can't stop eating!
Homer: (passing by) Hey! Pretzels!

There's not a whole lot of irony or satire to speak of. I would say that Fat Tony's gang satirizes what we usually see in mafia movies. Whereas Michael Corleone is always assassinating his enemies in The Godfather, Fat Tony smashes pizzas and he's tricked by Homer of all people when asking for money. He also posts ads for his services in the church newsletter. According to Wikipedia there are parodies of the movies Goodfellas and Glengarry Glen Ross.

Anyway, this episode is a perfect example of classic Simpsons writing before they jumped the shark. Check it out.

Gwendolen's Diary Entry

Dear Diary,

I have learned so much recently, and in a single day no less! Ernest, the man with whom I have agreed to be married, was playing a trick on me. First, it has developed that he is in fact my cousin, but this is not the most important fact. He had lied to me by claiming the name of Ernest, but in a strange way that lie has turned out to be the truth.

I'm so happy about that, though I don't know why. The name Ernest is so exciting that I'm quite sure it is what makes me love him. But is this not odd? I don't know. Perhaps the truth is that I've met so many "Johns" and "Jacks", and I've been looking for someone new. But to be honest, he hardly seems all that different from the other gentlemen I've known... I'm wondering if I'm making a terrible mistake...

New Heart Device Allows Cheney To Experience Love

This is the latest headline article from the satirical site The Onion. I thought it was hilarious, so I figured I would post it.

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/new_heart_device_allows_cheney_to