Daily Archives: April 5, 2016

90% done with War and Peace

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He’s learned that enjoying the differences in people while remaining true to his own beliefs makes for a happier life. One could debate and argue over whatnot, but to what end? So what if someone has a different political or religious view than you? Why not listen to what they say and then go about your day? Of course this implies what you believe is morally true (and most people already believe this).

90% done with War and Peace

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“And by old habit he asked himself the question: “Well, and what then? What am I going to do?” And he immediately gave himself the answer: “Well, I shall live. Ah, how splendid!”

Don’t worry, be happy. I mean, it sounds so cliche, but it’s true: don’t worry, be happy. Of course one should be moral and grateful for even suffering, but to actually do it means you have to do everything else first, like Pierre

90% done with War and Peace

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“and Kutuzov died”.

He was right that there was no more Russia could do to improve her situation, any extra action for Europe’s sake could only diminish Russia.

I’ll say once more that I wish Kutuzov had been a real character in the novel and not someone we only see from afar, but we see him the way we should: as someone who did the right thing, should not be worshiped, and then quietly died.

89% done with War and Peace

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When Kutuzov tells Chichagov that he has returned his fine China, Chichagov thinks this is a clever insult on the part of Kutuzov (“You mean to imply that I have nothing to eat out of?) – but Kutuzov really just did mean that he had the man’s China and was returning it. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

He’s awarded the Order of St. George of the First Class, not by the emperor, but by a staff member.

89% done with War and Peace

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“And all he said—that it was necessary to await provisions, or that the men had no boots—was so simple, while what they proposed was so complicated and clever, that it was evident that he was old and stupid and that they, though not in power, were commanders of genius.” Often we think that anyone who acts simply is dumb, but anyone who has lived long enough knows what works and won’t- they’ve seen it before

89% done with War and Peace

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“The stars, as if knowing that no one was looking at them, began to disport themselves in the dark sky: now flaring up, now vanishing, now trembling, they were busy whispering something gladsome and mysterious to one another.”

Is this a bit of pathetic fallacy where the heavens approve of the French and Russians getting along and not killing each other? Or is this a portent for wars to come?

The Burglar: Read on April 05, 2016

I have no idea what the author was going for here. Was this all a plan for a TV episode? Were we supposed to ponder the racial stereotyping that goes on in media? Was this an examination of shallow, suburban lives? A sci-fi yarn about time travel?

I had hoped we were at least going to get a good twist at the end, but instead we get a whole bunch of exposition about what Emmett couldn’t possibly know (we’re even told he can’t know any of it), and then he just sees the boy go away with the satchel.

So?

This wasn’t even fun, it literally serves no purpose. And it feels more as if the whole story is an idea for a story that was never fleshed out. Maybe the writer is trying to parallel the artistic struggle of the writer character – the episodic structure of the story mirrors how TV shows today are a series of multiple story-lines edited together fast enough to make you forget there’s no substance to any of them – but there isn’t enough in the story to convince me that there is anything really all that deep going on here. There’s no character “real” enough to feel like we can identify with any real struggle, be it race, or time travel issues.

Maybe I missed something, but just because the New Yorker publishes something doesn’t mean it’s going to be good.

I did like the line, “The warm commotion of a party.”, but that’s all this story felt like: “The warm commotion of a party”, heard from far away.

90% done with The Burglar

He (the writer) has a chance to be comfortable financially if he just makes the black man a cliche?

We get a lot of exposition at the end. Was this the TV show? Was Emmett seeing himself as a young man and this is a loop?

I’m not sure what I was supposed to take away from this, the characters were thin, there didn’t seem to be much insight and if there is some weird twist I sure missed it.

80% done with The Burglar

She must be a TV character because she’s even aware of how cliche everything she thinks is. The co-executive producer even says “I feel like I’ve already seen that a million times.”

“I guess I understand why, for purposes of edginess, we want Emmett Diggs to be killing white women.” Is this an indictment of the media?

50% done with The Burglar

I suddenly had the idea that this TV character is also the burglar? Is the wife the one who gets murdered on the show? That would explain why everything feels shallow.

So early 2000’s from the DVD’s. They still have all their comics, too.

So the burglar is black.

“She always likes it when her mother pays attention to the Disney Channel universe.” So a mom, too.

25% done with The Burglar

So she’s the wife of the writer and they live in the fake house about to be broken into because the dog isn’t as big as its bark: Rottweiler mix (not pure, mutt)

Do TV shows work where people are worried if it will get an order for 9 more episodes? I thought things were different now.

“The warm commotion of a party.” Nice. I like that.

10% done with The Burglar

The first of these mini scenes I like is the burger? seeing what a dump the backyard is though the front of the house (neighbors / world facing) is immaculate.

The other characters seem full of themselves. The lady is to happy about her money, the writer naive about how writing for TV works.

“She doesn’t want to get another ticket.” Another.