Episode 1215: You Can Never Have Enough China...

Heard China Miéville read/speak for the third day in a row, this time at another This Is Horror event. He was joined by Joseph D'Lacey and Mark Morris. I loved China's story, 'The Ninth Technique' (which I don't think has been published yet), but then again, I feel that way about everything he's written anyway. Morris's story about objects returning to haunt the protagonist was also interesting, kind of put me in mind of Audrey Niffenegger's Her Fearful Symmetry crossed with Adam L. G. Nevill's Apartment 16. Wasn't as keen on D'Lacey's story, which I thought was entertaining and played very well for laughs, but at the same time a bit lightweight. I didn't buy any books, although I'd thought about it beforehand, but it's just as well, since I've spent so much on books lately anyway. Speaking of which, that first Tucker Max book I ordered finally arrived, so I'm going to read I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell first, before continuing with Assholes Finish First, which I'd started on the flight back to the UK. Am now getting my weekly dose of The Secret Circle and The Vampire Diaries, and yeah, I think the former is finally starting to match up to its lead-in in terms of awesomeness.

Episode 1214: Salvagepunk Redux

Someone who knows someone I know has posted this summary of what went on yesterday during all the salvagepunk stuff. Can't believe I forgot to mention that Evan Calder Williams threw a golden rat that was supposed to splat into a pile of goo and reform, but instead got stuck to the ceiling of the Conference Room. I've also bought his book that I mentioned yesterday, which I will hopefully get around to reading within a month, so that if I don't enjoy it, I can still send it back for a refund. (I know, I'm terrible, but it's not my fault that the UK has this wonderful system of returning things you've bought.) Anyway, during today's LitBiz event, China Miéville mentioned this link about the state of the publishing industry, which I'd shared on Facebook yesterday so I now feel sort of cool by proxy. (Yeah, it's a bit sad, I'll admit that.) Am now trying to read Dialectic Of Enlightenment for a seminar tomorrow morning, but it's not very enjoyable. I mean, I don't actually like reading theory that much. I just really like the way Thomas Docherty talks about it, hence the reason for auditing his module again this term.

Episode 1213: Salvagepunk

Whole day of salvagepunk, symposium in the afternoon, reading in the evening. Not sure what to make of it all yet (if I ever will), although I really enjoyed the readings in the evening from Evan Calder Williams, China Miéville and Joyelle McSweeney. I'm really tempted to check out Evan's book, Combined And Uneven Apocalypse: Luciferian Marxism, even though the mention of Marxism is usually immediate cause for me to stop paying attention. I suppose I could always order first and then return it, if I didn't find it interesting. Randomly, my face is currently appearing on the university homepage, in connection with the announcement that Winter Graduation Ceremonies are happening. I'm in the corner of the picture, but you can still totally tell it's me. Gaby's in the shot too, but it's Dan who's right smack in the centre of the frame. Anyway, after watching the second episode of Canadian show The L.A. Complex, I don't understand why The CW bought this show. It just looks like The Beautiful Life but about actors instead of models, i.e. it's probably going to bomb in the ratings department. I would've said the surprise ending of this episode would generate lots of controversy (and desperately needed publicity) for The CW when it airs, but in the Internet age, viewers who would be interested in the show are probably illegally downloading episodes as they air in Canada anyway, which is also why this show is almost certain to crash in the ratings, obviously. (Unless Americans really are so indifferent to the world that they aren't even aware it's airing across the border right now.)

Episode 1212: 10-Show Tuesday!

So J. J. Abrams's new show Alcatraz has premiered. Think of it as Fringe-meets-Haven-meetsLost, with a dash of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Prison Break. In other words, it's such a crazy mishmash that I'm not entirely sure even having Sam Neill as one of the stars can save it. I do like that most of the show's leads so far have been decisively unpretty, which is quite radical for American fare, although that's probably going to hurt the show eventually. Also saw the pilot for Smash, ahead of the actual series premiere in February. I loved it! The Glee comparisons are inevitable, but I think this Steven Spielberg drama is a very different creature from the hijinks of the McKinley crew. For one thing, the stakes already feel a lot higher, this being Broadway and all. Never been a huge fan of anyone coming out of the American Idol machine (except maybe Kris Allen), but I found myself really warming to Katharine McPhee's character in the pilot. (Also, am I the only one who thinks she kind of looks like Jill Flint on Royal Pains?) Now that the US version of Being Human has started airing its second season, I'll be following up to 10 shows on Tuesdays for the next couple of months. It's insane, but hey, at least it's my free day of the week!

Episode 1211: Nose, Grind, Yes?

Dissertation supervisor has come (virtually) knocking, so I have like a week to come up with something to discuss with him. Need to have a detailed outline by Week 7, which is definitely achievable, once I start regularly reading all the stuff I've accumulated and can figure out how I want to divide the chapters. I'm realising that my ideas up to this point regarding the dissertation have been (dis)comfortingly vague, in that they don't really focus the topic enough in a particular direction. Or to put it more charitably to myself, the way I've been thinking about the Merlion and Singaporean poetry so far isn't going to fit very well within the scope of 16000 words, which is exactly what it needs to do. What I have to do is set aside some time to see how all my thoughts about the Merlion relate to each other, in poetry, as a liminal figure, and as a commodified cultural symbol. Probably should read the anthology I'm looking at all over again too. At this rate, I need to read and review faster, if I'm going to juggle everything. It's either that or cut back on my non-academic writing altogether, which I'm reluctant to do because it's totally overkill, considering I really do have to be more organised about my work in general. That means starting to rewrite the children's story for my EN978 portfolio very soon, probably even this weekend.

Episode 1210: 100%!

Essay is done, printed and submitted. Finished it 21 hours before the deadline, which has to be a new personal record. Now here's hoping that it's even half as good as I think it is! Can't really take a break though, as I'm behind on readings and reviews. Went back to the Library after handing in the essay and revised the flash fiction I wrote in last week's EN911 seminar. I don't think I'm going to do anything more with it though. It's rather different from how I normally write, so in that sense, it's pretty exciting to write it, but at the same time, I question how long I can sustain it before I lapse into being boring again. (I know, I have great self-esteem as far as my writing is concerned.) I also really want to go on Amazon UK and The Book Depository right now and buy a lot of books, but given that I'm so behind in terms of reading the ones I've got, I'm going to restrain myself. For at least a month anyway. On a side note, pretty sure I haven't made the cut for one of the pamphlet competitions I entered at the end of last year. Ah well. Guess it's time to go and do some reading, wait around until the new episode of Sherlock is online...

Episode 1209: New Girl(/Low?)

In an effort to procrastinate in this final stretch of the essay, I finally caved and watched the first three episodes of New Girl. I found myself liking it more than I thought I would, but I still found myself unable to laugh with the show, as opposed to at it. It's definitely Zooey Deschanel's fault. Or at least that of the writers writing for her character on the show. I've decided that if they dialled her back a few notches, she would be okay and the whole show would be a perfectly okay comedy. Sort of like the twee opposite to the crudity of 2 Broke Girls, which I really enjoy even though it trades in racist stereotypes a lot. Frustratingly, the guys playing her roommates are entertaining to watch in and of themselves. Except for Lamorne Morris, who replaced the much funnier Damon Wayans Jr. from the pilot when the latter's Happy Endings got picked up for a second season, which is so good right now, by the way. Now Morris just seems like the stereotypical 'token black guy'. Max Greenfield's Schmidt, on the other hand, is clearly becoming New Girl's Barney Stinson. (You know, because that character isn't terribly groundbreaking anymore, not after seven seasons.) As TV critics have repeatedly pointed out, never has a douchebag been played so sympathetically.

Episode 1208: >75%

Writing this essay has made me realise just how reliant I am on conjunctions (but aren't we all?) to express clarifications and subtle shadings of meaning, and just how quickly you start repeating conjunctions in the space of a few thousand words. Anyway, it seems that The Secret Circle might finally be starting to redeem itself and climb towards the TV greatness that is its sister show, The Vampire Diaries. That Bones spinoff series The Finder has also finally had its proper premiere, after the backdoor pilot in Season 6 of Bones. I think it's okay, with Geoff Stults playing the sort of oddball, slightly alienating lead character that Fox keeps producing (and usually, cancelling). It feels like a USA Network production though, especially because of the setting. (That network's shows are pretty much all cut from the same cloth, and it's just a question of how long before the ideas start scraping the bottom of the barrel, successful as most of the series have been.) Wasn't that impressed by the new episode of The Firm, premiering in its actual timeslot. The flashback storytelling isn't working too well, as all it's doing is postponing a proper explanation of what the heck is happening in the present time to Mitch McDeere, however intriguing that seems from the glimpses we get at the beginning and end of the episode. You know what? I think this is Terra Nova syndrome all over again. They really should have just remade the film, instead of dragging it out as a TV series. NBC, you will make us watch this, but continue to deny us Community? What gives? I know it's John Grisham and all, but really, isn't Grisham a bit passé anyway? I say this as someone who loved Grisham novels when I was a kid.

Episode 1207: >50%

So the essay's more than half-finished now, and in fact, it's kind of heading into the home stretch, even though there's just under 2500 words to go. I've hit a slight snag because I'm trying to work out how much philosophy I can work into this current section I'm writing about how the ability to listen is what makes us receptive as readers to a piece of writing like Eunoia. Trouble is, I'm not very familiar with the philosophical thought in this area, so at the risk of taking things slightly out of context, I'm just quoting bits from Emmanuel Levinas and Jean-Luc Nancy that seem to me to fit with the general point I'm trying to make. Once I get through this, I'm pretty much done because the rest of the essay is all about making the argument that everything I've written so far about Bök demonstrates that Eunoia is more than just a language game and is instead a very serious attempt at making his avant-garde poetics relevant to what we would label a 'mainstream audience', which will directly answer the most damning criticism I've encountered (in the limited amount available) concerning Bök's poetics. The only misgiving I really have about the essay at this point is that there might not have been enough close reading of the poem, but then again, how much is enough when you've got 6000 words to fill?

Episode 1206: The Write Stuff

Got the essay up to 2600+ words before deciding to take a nap, and now that I've woken up, I've decided that I'm probably going to go right back to bed. I figure just one night more, and I'll be free of the jet lag. Probably should have carried on with the essay after dinner, instead of watching the remainder of Priest that I started on yesterday. Have realised that Legion and Priest are basically the same movie. Same lead actor (Paul Bettany), same director (Scott Stewart), same religious/supernatural themes. (Interestingly, the next film Stewart is set to direct also happens to deal with those themes, being the film adaptation of Cassandra Clare's City Of Bones from The Mortal Instruments series.) I could force myself to stay up and push on to the next paragraph, but I'd probably just rewrite it all tomorrow morning anyway, even if the basic content of it doesn't change much. Just about 850 words each day until the deadline now. Seems perfectly manageable, right? After which, I'm going to have to plunge right into catching up on reviews. Had half a dozen at last count, and that was before The Conium Review accepted me as a guest writer, so I've got to start contributing reviews for that too.