Remember back in the 50s when they'd record like Elvis singing YOU AIN'T NOTHIN BUT A HOUND DOG and then they'd turn the record over and reverse it and it was all NYERP NYERP NYERP NYERP NYERP and people were all like, "That is actually the voice of Satan coming from that song."
Remember back in the 50s when they'd record like Elvis singing YOU AIN'T NOTHIN BUT A HOUND DOG and then they'd turn the record over and reverse it and it was all NYERP NYERP NYERP NYERP NYERP and people were all like, "That is actually the voice of Satan coming from that song."
I haven't had cheesy bread in a while, actually. I should acquire some in the near future if I can.
Korra breaks the tradition of having a male role lead an action series.
OK, I'm as excited about this series as the next Avatar fan, but it is Two-thousand and fucking twelve, how is it that Korra is a female lead in an action series even a thing.
Imi: indeed. I kept letting myself get distracted while I was reading before, but the last hundred pages were way too riveting to allow that.
It's kind of funny; most of the time it would be so stupid to set up things like that and then leave them totally unresolved, but, well. "The waking have one world in common, whereas each sleeper turns away to a private world of his own."
Well...thinking about it further, I guess all the elements of the "main" plot really do resolve, but it doesn't matter. Which is the point.
I've been turning the plot around in my head--it's interesting how easy it is to construct a reading that nullifies both sides of the story, but I want to reject that even more strongly than I usually do, because it suggests that the pivotal action, or perhaps event, in the end isn't a thing at all--that it doesn't make a difference which side of the koin you're on. Which I can't exactly accept.
Even so, I think I'll have to read it again sometime with my key assumption reversed and see what happens.
Oh man, I know! My first thought is that it would've been physically impossible--which would ordinarily strike me as too reductive, but given the presence of neurology and neurological mechanisms in the book can't be totally dismissed. Maybe even trying to go "against the grain" would've caused a massive electrical surge in his brain that would have killed him (represented in the town as drowning in the undertow, which seems like a pretty likely outcome).
Either way, the really interesting thing is that it was presented as a choice in the Town and an unfortunate circumstance in the "hard-boiled Wonderland". Given the narrator's fatalism it's probably just that he didn't even consciously see it as a choice, giving up before it reached that threshold I suppose. Aside from that, I think the closest equivalent moment was the professor suggesting he die before the time, and the utter absence of that option after the first time it's mentioned is really enticing to me. The book doesn't even go so far as to ask the question "What difference does it make?", the most likely answer to which would be "if there's a real afterlife, you'll get to go there".
Which I find very inviting. Indeed, at the moment that's the only way I can really make sense of what's going on with the Librarian: the possibility that the End of the World is actually the afterlife, or rather an afterlife specifically for all the people who died of the shuffling treatment. Which isn't a very cogent theory (I mean, for one thing, now that I remember it was specified that they were all men), but I kinda like it because there's this part of me that really wants to make the decision not to go with his shadow into the solipsistic choice that it seems on the surface.
But maybe that's just the same part of me that was hoping the shadow would save the day and the dude would live happily ever after, even though I knew it was never gonna happen.
Anyway, yeah. Great book, it's given me a lot to think on (I'm not sure the tangents I'm going on about are the most productive ones, granted), so thanks for mentioning it earlier.
Comments
i get so angry sometimes i just punch plankton --Klinotaxis
i get so angry sometimes i just punch plankton --Klinotaxis
I think I'm cracking up
I don't know why I keep getting distracted from reading to forum.
Sucks man
i get so angry sometimes i just punch plankton --Klinotaxis
☭
B̤̺͍̰͕̺̠̕u҉̖͙̝̮͕̲ͅm̟̼̦̠̹̙p͡s̹͖ ̻T́h̗̫͈̙̩r̮e̴̩̺̖̠̭̜ͅa̛̪̟͍̣͎͖̺d͉̦͠s͕̞͚̲͍ ̲̬̹̤Y̻̤̱o̭͠u̥͉̥̜͡ ̴̥̪D̳̲̳̤o̴͙̘͓̤̟̗͇n̰̗̞̼̳͙͖͢'҉͖t̳͓̣͍̗̰ ͉W̝̳͓̼͜a̗͉̳͖̘̮n͕ͅt͚̟͚ ̸̺T̜̖̖̺͎̱ͅo̭̪̰̼̥̜ ̼͍̟̝R̝̹̮̭ͅͅe̡̗͇a͍̘̤͉͘d̼̜ 
⚢
or something
i get so angry sometimes i just punch plankton --Klinotaxis
☭
B̤̺͍̰͕̺̠̕u҉̖͙̝̮͕̲ͅm̟̼̦̠̹̙p͡s̹͖ ̻T́h̗̫͈̙̩r̮e̴̩̺̖̠̭̜ͅa̛̪̟͍̣͎͖̺d͉̦͠s͕̞͚̲͍ ̲̬̹̤Y̻̤̱o̭͠u̥͉̥̜͡ ̴̥̪D̳̲̳̤o̴͙̘͓̤̟̗͇n̰̗̞̼̳͙͖͢'҉͖t̳͓̣͍̗̰ ͉W̝̳͓̼͜a̗͉̳͖̘̮n͕ͅt͚̟͚ ̸̺T̜̖̖̺͎̱ͅo̭̪̰̼̥̜ ̼͍̟̝R̝̹̮̭ͅͅe̡̗͇a͍̘̤͉͘d̼̜ 
⚢
Oh I get it now
That ending...damn. It was perfect. I really need to read more Murakami.
Yeah, I need to read more of Murakami too. Which one, I wonder?
It's kind of funny; most of the time it would be so stupid to set up things like that and then leave them totally unresolved, but, well. "The waking have one world in common, whereas each sleeper turns away to a private world of his own."
I've been turning the plot around in my head--it's interesting how easy it is to construct a reading that nullifies both sides of the story, but I want to reject that even more strongly than I usually do, because it suggests that the pivotal action, or perhaps event, in the end isn't a thing at all--that it doesn't make a difference which side of the koin you're on. Which I can't exactly accept.
Even so, I think I'll have to read it again sometime with my key assumption reversed and see what happens.
i get so angry sometimes i just punch plankton --Klinotaxis
i get so angry sometimes i just punch plankton --Klinotaxis
i get so angry sometimes i just punch plankton --Klinotaxis