driving rain
04.09.03 @ 3:19 p.m.
I hate that I can never remember the things I plan to write here. I was going to gush about my Philosophy of the Arts class, I think. We're starting this term with Narrative, which is to say fiction. Honesty in Moral fiction etc. etc.
Oh! Man, I remember now! We played the old Iowa Writer's Workshop game, Smoke. The idea is that someone in the room thinks of a person 'everyone' would know and says something like "I am a living American." The rest of us ask questions like "What weather are you?" "What pizza topping are you?" and then we get to guess. The first time we tried this it was over very quickly.
"What kind of weather are you?"
"Smog, no, haze."
"What kind of food are you?"
"Uh, spoiled food."
"Bush!" a girl in front shouts out. She was right.
The second try was more interesting.
Time of day: 3:15
Type of car: Escalade
Type of music: Pop
Pizza topping: Cheese
Animal: Golden Retriever
Class (like class in school): Fashion (I would disagree, I think Choreography is more accurate)
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My guess was Britney Spears, which other people also guessed. We were "really close" according to the guy answering the questions. It was Justin Timberlake. It was hilarious, what a great game.
Professor Johnson's life's work is the dissection of common metaphors, like the way argument is almost always discussed in terms of battle, love relationships as a journey, etc. etc. I think it's fascinating. E* doesn't really like Johnson, and was incredulous when I was just a few moments ago telling her about the concept of moral fiction and how an author's imagination is a social laboratory, the artist's equivalent of the scientific method. "Johnson said that, or you're saying that?" she demanded. It was a bit me, a bit Johnson, and a bit of the Gardner reading we did earlier this week, actually. Basically, since you can't force a social situation, an author has to create it in his head and try to figure out how characters would react in a realistic manner.
Wow, I'm getting all intellectual... I suppose that's balanced by the fact that I sat in Astronomy for 50 minutes this morning and started writing a story instead of taking notes. Review review, it's all review, what do I care? So I don't pay any attention and instead start dramatizing events around the Monterey Pop Festival, which is actually kind of silly of me because I don't know all *that* much about Monterey Pop... Well, I did read Michelle Phillips' autobiography once, that had some stuff about the planning of Monterey Pop. And a good quote from Cass Elliot about the Monkees and the movie Head... to paraphrase, Cass's reaction to the news that Head was being planned was "So what? In the end, they'll have the money and we'll have the legend." Of course, the irony of that is the film was a tremendous bomb everywhere it opened... except France, where the Monkees were essentially unknown and avant guarde (I probably misspelled that, didn't I?) film was embraced. Heh. Anyway, they both have the legend, so it's all good, except for the tragic misconceptions about Cass's death. She did not choke on a ham sandwich or any other sort of sandwich. She died of heart failure.
Anyway. Liz's talk of early Beatles and me just listening to some McCartney albums makes me think I'm about to swing into another Beatles phase.
Oh, and these are hilarious, in my opinion. Especially "Peer Pressure" and "Unbridled Enthusiasm."
Previously
fuck it @ 08.01.05
fanciful imaginary sea voyages to come @ 07.20.05
*dies* @ 07.19.05
more ootp @ 07.17.05
harry potter: driving our children into devil worship @ 07.17.05
