I think we have done ourselves a disservice by losing the mystery of literature. At least I don’t see news reports about books that have had an enormous impact.
I see the odd headline of a reviewer championing a new title. However, it never registers with me that there is some new movement in literature that has begun. Or that there is a book that will essentially command all of literature.
In addition, the ease of presenting a book (and regardless of commercial success, becoming a professional writer regardless of success) makes it possible for a lot of writers to do so.
There was a time, almost like an epoch, when talented, gifted writers penned insightful and wise works. It just… ended. There must be many reasons why.
Film adaptations may have helped kill the most brilliant era in literary history. Film adaptations of novels are often so well-done that audiences may be enticed to watch them rather than follow through and read the original novel.
The appetite for lower-brow interests, as well, is much stronger than that for intellectual interests, and that has a damaging effect on the book market overall. I think of Stephen King. I have read many of King’s novels and stories, and I know he’s a talented writer, and many people champion him as being among the finest, although even something that has many high points to it, like The Shining kind of is almost on par with a writer of the past like Edgar Allan Poe, or maybe Misery that has sort of, I’m not a critic, postmodernist themes to it, or The Dark Tower (the seven books of his fantasy opus) that are so meta they actually include the character of Stephen King, I understand, in books by Stephen King, but I am not sure he is any match in light of the most notable writers of the past.
I knew a lit grad who I said to that King killed literature. My friend said he wasn’t any different than Charles Dickens. Several years ago, my friend worked in clothing retail as a lit major.
Maybe I would have enjoyed seeing the times when we had Earth-Shattering Writers. It isn’t that hard to imagine, though–you can watch a movie about it.
Today is my niece Clara’s tenth birthday. Happy birthday, Clara.
I have been perusing the April 2020 WordPress Discover articles. This week they are again driven by Ben Huberman.
Today’s Discover Challenge: book
Clara is in the third grade. At the point when I was in the third grade, I think my preferred intrigue was beasts, and obviously, she is a young lady. However, I think my favourite book, when I was a third-grader, was the classic, The House with a Clock in its Walls, by John Bellairs. It’s a 2018 film.
My nephew Mack, Clara’s brother, is in uni, and when I think back of books I read in college, that weren’t on the syllabus, I remember reading The Mosquito Coast, by Paul Theroux. I think I wanted something familiar to read. There is a film, the 1986 film featuring Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren. Harrison Ford had starred in the Star Wars films which saw son pitted against father. I think he was following that set of motion pictures with another film that was about the idea of Father’s relationship with the child, and furthermore about the connection among machines and nature, likewise a topic in that first Star Wars three.
If my mother were to ask me, I would recommend Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff … and it’s all small stuff: Simple Ways to Keep the Little Things from Taking Over Your Life, by Richard Carlson. It’s an antidote to stress.
For my dad, who has likewise been my supervisor for quite a while now, I would prescribe a progressively unordinary book, the novel Humans by Donald E. Westlake. It’s a novel truly about a fight among God, and the Devil, for the whole planet.
If Kris was still with us, as she loaned me her Holy Bible, which I wish I’d demanded to return, I figure I may have gained favour with her if I’d brought her A Million Little Pieces, the splashy novel by James Frey, that transformed into contention, with Oprah Winfrey.
Ben Huberman again has the reins of the April 2020 WordPress Discover challenges. Today’s theme is light.
I think of feeling light when I look at the effect upon myself by something as kind as a few words on the Internet, from a person I respect, as is the case with the blogger behind the Beauty Beyond Bones blog. Her blog is one I enjoy reading, perhaps paying her a compliment at times when it is more appropriate, to someone who is a talented writer and who gives back time. She is a proud Catholic blogger, as well, and, as today is Easter Sunday, I know this will be a challenging day, given the circumstances of the holiday this year.
Her blog is about her experience in life celebrating Jesus, and she sometimes recounts current events and her response to those, or sometimes how life continually gives back to her and what she, with her perspective and intent, makes of it. There are qualities in her that I admire, and some of the design elements of her blog appeal to me when I look at what she thinks to assemble. Her blog is here:
I want to also include a found photo of the hospital located in Fort Erie, not too far from where I live, in Canada. You can see the light about the place. It is an alternative interpretation of the word light and a symbol of triumph, all the more so south of the Canada-U. S. border, where, the news is saying, the crisis is mad.
found photo of Fort Erie hospital
I hope that the blogger who writes Beauty Beyond Bones gets through unscathed, as I hope every American who I think is the bee’s knees likewise manages to pull through the current troubles without being afflicted.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day. I’m a Canadian every other day of the year.
When I was a boy, my godmother bought me a coffee table book celebrating Ireland. It followed that in grade school, I thought to turn a work assignment about other countries into homework on the subject of Ireland. I flipped through the book to do the research (that I could do at that age) for the teacher.
St. Patrick
The photos in the book illustrating Irish women helped shape my attitudes to the fairer gender, as well. I briefly visited the UK in the fall of 1999, but I didn’t go to Ireland.
There is a friend I know whose parents are Irish. This friend is not fond of the English, despite what I know from grade school about the role the English played shaping Canada.
At the same time, this person has a different understanding of how the Irish fared in history than I have got. That said, when my mother asked me the other day whether I am prouder of Dublin or Belfast, I found myself answering Belfast. Until then I didn’t know I felt that way.
I was born in 1977, two days before St. Patrick’s Day. My mom and dad named me Patrick, after my father’s late brother Patrick. This uncle died when he was a young man, in a motorcycle accident (he was riding). My name remembers this Uncle Patrick of mine, and of my brother and sister.
My mom and my father’s mother had a bond. When my mother was young, the two women would speak to each other privately having a coffee or Coca-Cola together or the like.
Another time In grade school I was instructed to ask questions about the family line. I brought to my paternal grandmother the question of the origin of our name.
I never knew my paternal grandfather. He’d died before I was born. I suppose I assumed we are an Irish family.
My grandmother let me know that the surname she took when she married is Welsh, of all matters. At that age, I was not aware that Wales is a principality of Britain, or otherwise knew anything about it.
Many years later my brother took a strong interest in the Irish. He went backpacking there with one or two of his friends.
He later researched our family line, and he learned of many of our living relatives in Ireland. I am sure it is an Irish family, whether the surname is Welsh.
I work for my father as a cemetery groundskeeper. When we were at the cemetery yesterday, handling a funeral, for which we were responsible, to my surprise, as we wrapped up our clean-up, we saw a hailstorm!
Louth United Church and Maple Lawn Cemetery
The spring solstice ahead: it doesn’t feel like it. Last week my father reminded me of the old expression, “In like a lamb, out like a lion.” That’s what my father was predicting for the month of March here.
About Ireland, I know it is hard when times are tough, and I am empathetic of others experiencing suffering. If you are Irish or love the Irish, God bless you. It’s your chance this day, as it is every year, to be Irish.
I hope you’re having a great day. Naturally, you are welcome to “like” this post, to follow my blog and/or to comment. Thank you for having an interest.
The cemetery where I work with my father is on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/LouthUnitedMy duties for the work I do are nominally tied to the posts I publish in this blog.
Charmingly, The Little Mermaid is an enduring animated Disney feature, but also a WordPress blogger who the last few months hosted “tea parties.” Each month for the entire duration of the month a theme goes into play on her site which gets bloggers interacting with each other having had written along the same lines. This month’s theme, October’s, is happiness.
I’ve joined the last couple of months, and this is my third go-round as a participant in the tea parties. I decided today would be the day I would finish up my post for the challenge.
This may seem counterintuitive, but many lifestyles that were stigmatized in previous decades have experienced the joy of stigma lifting.
However, I experience depression, I guess–but I have lots of happy hours, too, so I don’t completely know what to think about that.
Although attitudes change, I know my father loathes the thought that I would speak of such a thing as depression. In fact, that I publish something like this might bother him. That being said, I am trying to be honest with some enthusiasm about a delicate subject of conversation.
It bothers many people. Troubles of that kind can strike virtually anyone. I would suspect it conceals innate unhappiness and is often a response to external troubles.
I don’t perceive there is a terrible stigma around depression. However, it is not the best idea to make small talk about the problem. Complaining rarely works much of a beneficial result.
Channeling your energy into a positive outlet can be the experience that reverses the more difficult symptoms of a common malaise, depression. Everyone knows that happiness is much preferable.
As I explained, The Little Mermaid is an established blogger who this month thought the theme of happiness would fit her tea party series. Her posts invite networking for the love of blogging. Happiness, I think, for me, is satisfaction.
I believe people ought to be happy. That’s what I reflect upon when I’m thinking of such a matter.
Photographer: Javier Molina
Happiness is a mellow joy, I would extrapolate. The decisions opted in the course of one’s day help the individual experience what’s happy for that individual. Youtuber Jenna Marbles has thought about it. My Dogs Try On Halloween Costumes
A guilty pleasure.
I might think of happiness being connected to straight-up artistic endeavors. There are numerous hobbies that spark happiness, like loyalty to a pastime, such as to baseball, to hockey, or to the NFL.
Friends and family are other enriching aspects of happiness. Sometimes, though, you have to sit on the sidelines, waiting for another opportunity to step up to bat.
In this hemisphere, we’ve seen the summer come and go again and now, where I live that is, the temperatures will get colder and colder. We have Halloween to look forward to, which for a lot of people is literally a “scream”. I suppose that’s a pun.
Wednesday this week I asked how winter time is for a volunteer where I work. He told me in turn how little pleasure he gets from the severity of the winter season. I said a little to try to cheer him up, but his feelings about the season were steadfastly downbeat.
It helps, I would venture to say, that if you can narrow down your interests to just a few to focus on, I believe, you may get a better outcome. That way, you are more invested emotionally in what you pursue. Therefore the rewards spent in delving into your passions are rewards that you have generated in your life and reflect sincerity.
You don’t necessarily want to just trade your time for money, which is a basic approach to your work that might not be completely serving you best. I realize you probably have the responsibilities of being part of a family that necessitates and requires you to work at making some kind of living. It is just that if you can do something radical and retain everything you need, and I know that’s not easy, but if you can, I believe it is more fulfilling than if you don’t.
You shouldn’t look back at what you have accomplished and feel there is nothing more you should do. You need to keep growing every year of your life, I believe.
I write this blog because written content continues to have value in 2018. So does video content and audio, as you probably know, probably more so. I wish I had more opportunities to expand what I can do where content is concerned that is assembled myself and published.
Blogging’s one of my favorite hobbies. My efforts are almost entirely done for free and yet I don’t wish to cease them.
I wish I had clearer intentions about what I am doing. Maybe I can explore how to get to a more promising level of achievement without sacrificing the parts of the tasks that I enjoy the most.
One last thing: I was speaking to a young man and admired his research ability for searching the Internet. He told me he was sure it seemed special to me but he clarified in that conversation this month that everyone similar to him, his age, is equal to him in terms of the ability he has to research. I suppose that is true, but I hadn’t been aware of that.
I think one of my draws is that I can do research, but perhaps I need to stop and think that my niece in Grade 3 may now be similarly competent at doing research to my own ability. It’s incredible.
While the preceding example is an exaggeration, I remember that when I wanted a sales job years and years ago, I was asked to take a pen-and-paper test to demonstrate my competence as a computer user. Given my weak results writing the test paper, the office showed me the door. I didn’t get the job because I couldn’t prove that day, all that time ago, that I was adept with a computer.
I may not have been much good then, but I hope that by now, much later in life, I am better outfitted to better qualify for any kind of work that needs me to prove I am tech-savvy.
By the way, this month, October, is Inktober. I don’t have tattoos, but an interesting interpretation is to apply the month’s emphasis on “ink” to how it applies to old-school tabletop roleplaying. An ink-drawn map is often part of a tabletop RPG.
D&D game in a window display
The game I am most interested in is Pathfinder, so occasionally this month I am returning to Pathfinder game materials to read rules of the game with the idea in mind that the game is usually played with ink-drawn maps. I’ve never played the game properly, but even reading some of the rules sometimes helps put me in a state of mind I enjoy.
Thank you for visiting my post. Of course, you’re welcome to “like,” comment, and/or “follow.”
In December my brother and his wife and kids gave me an unusual gift, a puzzle celebrating The Beatles’ music on The White Album.
The Beatles
The puzzle is unusual mainly for the fact that the cover of The White Album is entirely the color white, which makes the puzzle an exercise in assembling puzzle pieces all the color white. It is as if the wrong end of a game of chess game came down on you.
I have ten reasons I’m suggesting that success like what The Beatles enjoyed is actually a weak link in terms of what it means for individual success and how it is misleading. Four are presented here.
Photographer:
Suzy Hazelwood MONOPOLY FOR MILLENNIALS MAKES NPCs CRY The YouTube channel Geeks + Gamers fascinates me. When Jeremy announced that he had fallen prey to a phishing spoof six weeks ago, I wanted to describe the problem in this post. Jeremy was distracted at the moment and made a rookie error, surrendering control of Geeks + Gamers for seventeen minutes until he could get it back in order. A second oversight occurred, when Jeremy neglected to secure his Google AdSense funding for the channel after the spoof. When he realized that an entire month’s worth of monies designated for Geeks + Gamers was stolen, he finally revealed what happened: My YouTube Channel Was Hacked, Money Lost – Learn From My Mistakes I’d been paying attention to Geeks + Gamers because I feel it protests and dissects conventional scholar on media. The Geeks + Gamers team typically tackle major film projects like the DC universe on film, or more often the Disney Star Wars trilogy, as though the success, usually financial, of studio film output speaks to the conclusion that if a film is not fun, that if it doesn’t “work” in terms of being appealing to an audience, the film is not so much a radical success as it is a weak link.
It didn’t matter to Jeremy that The Last Jedi is another splendid blockbuster in terms of the money it made for Disney; it was to him a complete letdown and something that was a disservice to the favorite films that remind him of his childhood, the Star Wars films. Disney Has Concerns About Star Wars After The Last Jedi It is interesting that while ostensibly the financial success of a film doesn’t mean the film is magical for Jeremy, when it comes to his YouTube channels, Geeks + Gamers and others, it is certainly a problem when a month’s loot is stolen, by cyber-crime means. I wish Jeremy and the other members of Geeks + Gamers hadn’t had to go through that.Halloween with Geeks + Gamers was interesting for the fact that Jeremy argued that very bold criticism of what he does with Geeks + Gamers had been declared, criticism that included the idea that “code words” were being communicated to Geeks + Gamers subscribers that subscribers should launch literal hate and violence at targets which Geeks + Gamers usually defame, a video you can watch here: NPC Star Wars Writer Continues To Lie and Spread False Information Jeremy responded firmly that Geeks + Gamers is in no way is supportive of violent attitudes in any situation, and further that Geeks + Gamers made no attempt to “boycott” the recent Star Wars film Solo, a position I’d heard Jeremy take before in a discussion how Solo ws lacklustre in terms of box office returns.
All this keeps me quite rapt about what this YouTube channel is saying about the Star Wars films–Geeks+ Gamers plays a role in backlash concerning the Rian Johnson Star Wars film The Last Jedi.
For Geeks + Gamers to become a successful YouTube channel, it meant starting from basics and building a subscriber basis and becoming a success, with people watching the videos and comment and so on. If Geeks + Gamers were reviewing music, instead of films, and it was fifty years ago, perhaps they would have spoken about The White Album. Instead, they are speaking out, frequently, about The Last Jedi, in a way which makes it completely clear that they regard Episode VIII of Star Wars as rubbish.When I watched The Last Jedi when it arrived on Netflix, I enjoyed it and even felt moved. The mods of Geeks + Gamers had no such experience. Instead, they despise the film and regale in making that clear rather than taking a positive spin on something that’s an extension to something they loved in childhood.I would guess that Geeks + Gamers take such a broad interest in film criticism that they feel they can succeed with a successful YouTube channel. The idea of success they have is different from the idea of success that’s reflected in something like the fiftieth-anniversary of The White Album, or in the success of the blockbuster The Last Jedi.
The mods of Geeks + Gamers don’t seem to see The Last Jedi as a success at all because they despise it so much. Their YouTube channel extrapolates messages like that Star Wars has been mostly reduced to rubbish, or that the DC comics universe could similarly face a death grip in the cinema. I believe I had misunderstood Geeks + Gamers with my belief that Geeks + Gamers doesn’t desire or see any value in success at the level of the “blockbuster”; instead they expound on problems in entertainment which is compromised by identity politics in the entertainment that they criticize. Now that I understand some more about Jeremy’s point of view, it has me feeling a touch more informed about how identity politics show up in entertainment.
To them, The Last Jedi is a weak link. They wouldn’t aim for that kind of success in their own lives, for example. It is notable, having learned of their misfortune with a phishing spoof, that their success has been compromised by their own position as a good-sized YouTube channel.
Photographer: Rawpixel.com In addition, an example of underhandedly reacting to what’s been said on Geeks + Gamers is the shout-out they gave Mike Zeroh after film director Rian Johnson mean-spiritedly called out Zeroh who is devoted specifically to exploring what’s going on in Star Wars. The Mike Zeroh channel is Zeroh’s speculation about “behind the scenes” in Star Wars. In the initial days of shooting Episode IX of Star Wars, Johnson, reflecting on Twitter about what he was accomplishing with his Star Wars film, referred to YouTube’s Mike Zeroh as being a zero, although Johnson later apologized.
It is the same kind of weak link that exists when Geeks + Gamers tackles Star Wars because for all the enthusiasm Mike Zeroh puts into anticipating Star Wars, Mike Zeroh has personally explained that he feels The Last Jedi is a poor effort. Mike Zeroh Vs Rian Johnson… Thank you Rian Again!!!
I was amused by The White Album puzzle game I got from my brother and his family. I am also grateful for the opportunity to share these opportunities. I am glad if you have read this. You’re welcome to “like,” to “follow,” and/or to comment.
I’ve decided to return to my explanation of the Marvel Comics game Marvel Avengers Alliance, through the “lens” of the renowned treatise on military strategy, The Art of War.
Photographer: Suzy Hazelwood
1. The Laying of Plans, Calculations and Estimations
In Marvel Avengers Alliance, you have to “earn” gold, and this is achieved by spending money (such as $5 on ten “gold”). Gold can be exchanged for command points. A combination of silver, which is available for free in the game, and command points together, train your superheroes at the ready–so that they go up a level.
2. Waging War – The Challenge
The game Avengers Alliance consists of a number of challenges between its “bosses,” who are wicked opponents to the Avengers, and yourself and your heroes. Come each time you defeat a “mini-boss” or a “boss” you have won a game mission, and the next mission awaits. That’s the gist of the game, which is good fun.
3. Attack by Stratagem or Planning Offensives
In the game, you have a ready store of gear, supplies and more so that with “research”, carried out inside the game, your superheroes at the ready can advance to more dangerous fights than they have previously taken on. You can also recruit heroes and send them into battle (when they are not “busy” getting you silver) at the outset of each fight, so that you have enough superheroes at the ready.
4. Tactical Dispositions or Positioning
Tactical determinations aren’t a major concern in Marvel Avengers Alliance, but there are opponents against whom you must battle, that protect their own by getting in the way of your attacks.
5. Energy & Direction
There is an energy component to Marvel Avengers Alliance which restricts you by the number of fights you can lose, at which point you need to wait until your energy comes back. Or, if you have energy in reserve to use, which is an extra in the game, you can bring your energy back instantly.
6. Weak Points and Strong / Illusion versus Reality
The game is entirely about illusion, and the superheroes at the ready are the Avengers, who you know from comics, and film. The Avengers have many illusory powers which they wield. Likewise, the villains are monstrous!
7. Maneuvering and Dealing with Direct Conflict
Typically, the fights of the game are three against three, or occasionally fewer. The maneuvering in battle consists of directing your team’s attacks so that the enemies are reduced to zero and fade away.
8. Variation in Tactics aka The Innumerable Changes
Your team has their equipment and superpowers so you can choose your tactics while in the heat of battle. That’s a major part of the game, and if that kind of diversion interests you, Avengers is good fun.
9. The Army on the March / Moving the Force
To collect silver, which goes with training and research, you can send heroes to various parts of the world as it is understood in the game, where your heroes spend time “policing,” which plays into the game to help with your advancement.
10. Terrain or Situational Positioning
The game doesn’t include a terrain component, which is good because the app would be all the more challenging. Each fight resembles good or evil at the centre of the fight.
11. The Nine Situations / Terrains
Author Elish Bul-Godley discusses Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu in: Why Wall Street Loves “The Art of War” – A 13 Point Plan To Mastering Business Strategy, and if you have a thirst for combat, perhaps Sun Tzu’s strategy will appeal to your better judgement. Bul-Godley quotes Sun Tzu saying: “Strike at its head, and you will be attacked by its tail; strike at its tail, and you will be attacked by its head; strike at its middle, and you will be attacked by head and tail both.” Indeed, often your fights will be against a trio of evildoers, and you have to decide how best to attack your enemies.
12. The Attack by Fire
Fire-dealing weaponry is part of the game, and an arsenal is available both to you (who is the “Agent” in the game), and to the superheroes who have fire attacks at their disposal.
13. The Use of Spies / Intelligence
Fortunately, Intelligence, by which you gain information, factors into the game as much as the story does, keeping the fights coming, as a mission is always ready for your heroes.
14. There is no #14
Sun Tzu must have won the war at 13, for The Art of War stops there.
Sky opening on the horizon
If you have an interest in a game like Marvel Avengers Alliance, feel free to blog about it and I shall enjoy reading you!
Sometimes you can’t help but wonder what the bloggers of today go through when they reach a certain point in their lives. At some point, life as an adult becomes more about taking care of others than actually raising your children (or at least learning to be OK with finally being an adult yourself). This can make family holidays fraught, and expanding on your own brood extraordinarily difficult.
Losing ten years in the wink of an eye would be a dramatic life change. If I were ten years older than I am now, I would be forty-seven years old. If my life hadn’t changed in all that time, I wonder if I would be able to steer my life.
If all of a sudden I were forty-seven, what would I do? Maybe I’d sign up for online dating, filling out my profile with such designations as:
Age: 47
Seeking: a woman
My occupation: cemetery volunteer and social media addict. Facebook would be as much interesting as it is in my thirties!
Interests: Watching the EastEnders serial
Enjoying the wisdom of getting old
Hopes for the future: Keeping aware of changes and developments in the world
And so on.
I’d be aware of the shorter length of time left in my life. I’d want to pay more attention to what’s printed in the Saturday paper, instead of hurrying through it. My astrology chart designation would seem all the more pressing, I think.
Try this and try that–I would try to be more aware that there is only so much time in the day and it goes in the wink of an eye.
Other than looking for love, I’d be all the more set on my vocation. There would be fewer opportunities, I believe, so getting additional education would be all the more remote a possibility.
Upgrading a skill set would be all the more unfathomable as well. But I think I’d be satisfied with what I’ve managed to do so far. I’d be all the more persistent.
Maybe something like that would go on my dating profile!
I don’t think I’d be any keener than I am on the ongoing changes in technology; I’d be all the more typical growing old, putting my faith in the past instead of the future. I know I would write on my profile that I want to stay informed about what’s new. Still, I think as a guy I’d be saying that in order to demonstrate a certain character of the rube in my personality, seasoned by the years but not necessarily completely astute.
I think I would want to devote some time to reading good literature. I am sure there are many fascinating books, and in my late forties, I would want to delve into more than I have.
I wouldn’t be optimistic that I would learn much more than I have, because time spent in a book can go in the wink of an eye. That being said, there’s an illumination that goes with looking at the pages of essential books and fun books, and strange books.
Coach and trainer Carthage Buckley reminded me this year on the Internet that Wayne Dyer wrote in Dyer’s book Your Erroneous Zones that guilt and worry are useless emotions. Carthage writes this in a Coaching Positive Performance post discussing goals. Carthage argues in the post there is no goal worth too much sacrifice.
Even if I’d missed the last ten years of my life, at the age of only forty-seven, I would still find happiness in what remained to be lived.
Of course, at this time, I’m still only 37. If the next ten years disappear somehow, I will try not to be too disappointed. At later stages of life, there are still many joys to experience.
You might know more about those joys than I do! Ten years is a long time, but in human life, it can go all too quickly: in the wink of an eye.
Photographer:
The Myth of the Independent Blogger and How I Learned to Love It 