Monthly Archives: May 2007
Imagination Dead Imagine
Peter Carey, in New York Magazine, from “A New York Writer’s Catch-22″. And here is what seems most insane—young and not-so-young writers take out student loans to get M.F.A.’s in creative writing. This does not add up. I once taught … Continue reading
Alice Sebold walks over Hollywood in big, King-Kong-sized shoes
In the LA Times today, via mediabistro‘s newsfeed email: THIS is a tale of two scripts, one that sold for a ton of money, one that remains twisting in the wind. Both are beautifully written, but in Hollywood, while scripts … Continue reading
Lucky Jim
From Lucky Jim, the novel by Kingsley Amis that has come up at least twice a month since I’ve moved to Amherst: They do not go to university to acquire culture , but to get a job, and when they … Continue reading
“I’m so tired of America”
“I’m definitely a fan of juxtaposition,” he explains. “Using the most beautiful line to say the most horrific thing — I think one of the main things in songwriting is definitely friction between the words and the melody. It’s got … Continue reading
Filed under apocalypse, music, political art, writing
The Rails of Korea
Tonight I’m searching for images of the Korean War. I don’t really know why, I’m just sort of following a feeling. Last week my friend Shauna sent me this link to an article about North Korea and South Korea allowing … Continue reading
Filed under Korea, Korean life, political art
Akira: graphic novel vs. film
I’m reading Akira now after only knowing it as a film, at the encouragement of a thesis student of mine who told me how it differs significantly as a graphic novel. Apparently the film was made before the series of … Continue reading
Filed under film, graphic novels, Korean American
We aren’t study machines
“People are social animals,” said Jason Lee, director of the Metropolitan Mental Health Center in Seoul. “Some apparently want a companion even when committing suicide.” In 2005, in the first rally of its kind, hundreds of high school students demonstrated … Continue reading
Filed under Korean life
You could be funnier and so could I
. . .western culture since the middle ages has overvalued the tragic and undervalued the comic. We think of tragedy as major, and comedy as minor. Brilliant comedies never win the best film Oscar. The Booker prize leans toward the … Continue reading
Free Food For Millionaires
I like Casey a lot, but this book wouldn’t have been worth doing for five years if it was just Casey’s story. Casey’s a crazy Korean girl. And there are a lot of crazy Korean girls who smoke too much, … Continue reading
in the bookbag this week
Atonement, by Ian McEwan The Curtain, by Milan Kundera Akira, Vol. 2, Katsuhiro Otomo The Feb. 5 and April 2 issues of the New Yorker Star, current Us Weekly, current X-Factor, issue 19 The Ultimates 2, issue 13
Filed under books
