Month: February 2008

I actually watched most of the Oscars last night. I’m not sure why. Maybe it was to watch those montages of films I HAVE seen. Maybe it is because I’d like to pretend to be an undiscovered actor. Maybe it was because I was too lazy to get up off the couch during that stretch of time and do something a bit more productive.

One of our fellow members has posted in his own domain about the possible lack of relevance in the Oscars this year. This, combined with a tad of residual guilt for spending a certain December evening dissecting the work of others and proclaiming it “not art” led me to yet another sporting discussion for is in the LS.

My challenge:In a more positive, supportive take on things, let’s acknowledge those things which have moved, changed, or otherwise positively effected us in the last year. Post your nominees, and the categories to which they should belong. Don’t feel constrained to those in use by the Academy, or even to the media of film for that matter.

Furthermore, I propose that in a Copernican approach to things, nominations should be based on what WE have encountered in the last year, not what has been produced or published in that time period. Maybe you just got around to reading Genesis this year, or perhaps the Rosetta stone. If so, and that’s what moved you, give it a category and nominate it.

Once one of us has nominated in a category, others are encouraged to add additional nominations in that category. Perhaps once things settle out, we can expose ourselves to the items listed, so as to cast an informed deciding vote. We could, alternatively, think about doing so and never get around to it. Either would be fine. Let the games begin. Nominate your favorites from 2006 for a Georg. Or perhaps they should be Lecti’s. Actually, make that “Lickys”. Yes, “Licky” will do quite nicely. Perhaps someone can design a statue for us to send to the winners…

Ok, so posting what someone else said is anything but creative. However, I heard this quote on a podcast this afternoon and had to track it down. It seems the perfect thing for this audience.”Write every day, line by line, page by page, hour by hour. Keep Story at hand. Use what you learn from it as a guide, until command of its principles becomes as natural as the talent you were born with. Do this despite fear. For above all else, beyond imagination and skill, what the world asks of you is courage, courage to risk rejection, ridicule and failure. As you follow the quest for stories told with meaning and beauty, study thoughtfully but write boldly. Then, like the hero of the fable, your dance will dazzle the world.” Robert McKee, script writer/doctor, teacher

So, what is your favorite obsolete skill?

My Fellow Lichtenbergians, I have been struck by possibly the greatest title ever for a literary magnum opus fictional or autobiographical since War & Peace. I wish I were joking. Because if I were joking, I wouldn’t feel the weight of responsibility the title places squarely on my shoulders as a wretched Lichtenbergian who has created his share of promising titles in the past. You could spend hours elaborating upon the implications of this title. You think I’m warming up for a punch line. A building up just to undercut? No. The eternal, cyclical rhythms of the human condition, the very essence of birth, procreation and death, the nature of all our labor, love, dreams, and effort, everything is right there in one neat phrase. Here it is:

Heavings & Leavings

Told you. Such a title only comes around once in a hundred years. As Lichtenbergians we are already drowning in the impossibilities waiting for us in such a title. All the bargaining, the self-betrayal, the insomnia, the self-medicating. Where to begin? Ah, begin, we shouldn’t. Begin, we couldn’t. Therefore, it would be therapeutic for all of us to offer just an opening sentence, nothing more. If that task is too impossible–and I am thanking the Deity that I’m off the hook, having done my bit by coughing up the title (I only transcribed, mind you; I’m a vessel, a medium, a messenger, etc.)–perhaps you can come up with a title or two of your own. It won’t even begin to come close to Heavings & Leavings, naturally, and just knowing that might make the task possible. Or we could ignore both tasks and use this clean, new post for further chat.