In which I blather on about the nature of the Other in urban fantasy, cultural appropriation, and modern Western alienation
Category: philosophical musings
Lost thoughts
I did get a chance this weekend to get caught up on “Lost.”
Still Lost
So I’m thinking it’s not a coincidence that there are characters on Lost named John Locke and Jeremy Bentham.
Shameless self-pimping
I’ve been “getting my geek on” over at the past few weeks, letting my viewage of BtVS season one inspire some essays in the good ol’ ATPo style:
Vampires and the Clarity of Evil
Of Vampires and Souls
A(n Un)Natural History of Demons
Take a peek, and indulge your inner geek!
Existentialist cats
Ganked from mamculuna for the non-ATPoers on my flist to enjoy:
Reading progress notes
Latest book: “The Time Traveler’s Wife” by Audrey Niffenegger
[gratuitous girly moment]
*sob* *sniff* *it’s so romantic!!1!*
[/gratuitous girly moment]
I actually got this book done faster than books half its size I’ve been reading because it was so engaging. Despite the title, this book is equally about both the time traveler and his wife and their relationship which starts, from her perspective, when she was six, and from his, when he was 28. I’m not sure what I expected when I ordered this on interlibrary loan; it was just a title on my list of book recs. I think I had images of a stiff, slightly eccentric scientific HG Wells-type and his patient, loyal Amy Catherine. But Henry and Clare are normal, contemporary people (Henry is in fact my age, punk rock tastes included), and Henry’s time-traveling isn’t by choice, it’s due to a genetic condition. He involuntarily jumps to other places and times significant to his life and the life of his close family and friends whenever he is under a lot of stress and has lots of touching moments and dangerous encounters in his travels (made worse by the fact that only his body shifts in time, not his clothes or any personal items).
Despite the time-traveling element, then, the book is not really a science fiction story so much as an exploration of the relationship and lives of two contemporary people.
Quote of the day
Seen on the side of a truck this morning:
“Look, there’s no metaphysics on earth like chocolates.”
– Fernando Pessoa, Portuguese poet (1888-1935)
Just saving the world…I think
Finally got done season 2 of “Lost” last night and can start watching my season 3 tapes and get caught up with everyone else.
Damn, this show is written by Whacked Existentialists smoking of the crack, no? I love it. Just when you think it can’t get more Absurd and Meaningless*, they throw a little reality at you just to keep you running the hamster wheel.
This is just gonna be how it is with me and TV, I think. I can’t be bothered trolling through all the new shows waiting to see what’s worth watching and what isn’t going to be cancelled. I’ll just let all of *you* do that, make recs, then catch the good ones on DVD a year later. ‘Cause of course I have to watch a show from the beginning and in proper order. Seeing a story unfold the way it was intended is Important.
I get caught up eventually, assuming I remember to set my VCR.
*Totally Existentialist technical terms, not criticisms.
ETA: watched the opening scene of season 3, ep 1. Forgot to add above that this show also threads in a healthy dose of Surrealism as well. Fun, fun!
Philosophical shivers
I finally got caught up on Lost last night, and I’ve decided this is a totally Existentialist show. I mean, the character studies are 21st century versions of protagonists out of the novels of Sartre and Camus and the over-arching plot is something out of the plays of Beckett, and that thing with spoilers for 2 season lost eps
Harry Plato and the Half-Blood Philosopher
This about sums up my life, and well, life in San Francisco.
I’m walking home past the Laurel Heights strip mall with a copy of Harry Potter and the HPB sans dust jacket tucked under my arm. It’s thick and has the hard black cover with the title in gold on the spine. Ahead of me, I can see a guy standing by a little make-shift podium with a big poster on it demanding the resignation of Dick Cheney (“and the jerk or the dweeb or the shrub (I forget the words) can go second”). He has a clip board and a smile so you know he’s looking for signatures.
Although I have some agreement with the sentiment, I doubt this is the way to go about it and so I walk briskly past, not looking at clip-board guy. But he’s trying to get my attention of course, so he says to me, “Hey! Is that Plato? Are you reading Plato?!”
Now mind you, I don’t know this guy from Adam and vice-versa. I scurry on my way.
Well, you know, it could have been Plato I had tucked in my arm.
Nah, that book sits on my shelf for show now, next to the equally impressive-looking Aristotle and Heidegger hard-bound volumes. I read Harry Potter on the bus.
Author Nancy E. Shaffer 