I have finished reading “One Hundred Years of Solitude,” the magnum opus of Nobel Prize winning Columbian Author Gabriel García Márquez. The novel follows the history of Macondo, a fictional town, through seven generations of one family. It incorporates many elements of magical realism, a style which Márquez is quite famous for, that allows ghosts to appear and magic carpets to fly in an otherwise “normal” world. It is written ― as Márquez himself discusses in an interview at the back of the book ― in a style that sounds like family members sitting around the dinner table reminiscing about old tales. The makes it a fairly fun and interesting read, though I found that at times it did seem to drag on a bit and I wasn’t sure where the story was leading. But all in all, a very worthwhile read, as well as an interesting way to expose oneself to Columbian culture.
I have been watching two HBO series on DVD the past few days, both of which are highly entertaining and extremely addictive. (I may have to check myself into a clinic once the DVDs run out). The first is The Wire, which was recommended to me by my friend Chandler (who is returning the favor since I got him hooked on LOST). The show is set in Baltimore, and follows the dark world of narcotics from many different points of view, similar to the movie Traffic. It is very interesting to see a plethora of characters, each with very interesting and unique stories, that range from high ranking police chiefs and judges all the way down to drug addicted bums and street thugs. I started watching the show yesterday, and have already watched six episodes (and most likely will watch a few more before the day is up).
Secondly, I have been re-watching the mini-series Rome. I watched both seasons when they first came out a few years ago and highly enjoyed it. The second time around, I have got my roommate, Steph, into it as well. The first season takes place from Caesar’s conquest of Gaul to his assassination. There is a whole range of characters, and each of them is interconnected in unusual and fantastic ways which keeps the viewer on their toes the whole time. Also, seeing as it is HBO, there are numerous scenes of heavy violence or erotic sex, many of which do not seem to have much relevance besides pure entertainment. Nevertheless, the show is a fantastic representation of Rome as it was during the birth of the empire, and remains fairly accurate on a historical end (though, as with any historical show, a lot of people complain about some of the inaccuracies: but my love of Roman history runs very deep, and I find it quite enjoyable).
Finally, I have been working on a few short stories, and I am hoping to put one up here within the next few days, since it has been a while since I put a story on my blog. I also hope to submit a story or two to magazines in hopes of publication.
- Liam
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Summer Poetry Discussion, The NBA and two Sonnets
I have never really considered myself to be much of a poet (though I did like the poem I published a few posts ago: L’expulsion du Norman des Farm Lands de Georgia). [As an added side note, I have noticed I’ve begun to use parenthesis and what not in my recent blog posts… this is something I am trying to get rid of in my creative writing, because classmates noticed I did it excessively in one of my workshop stories during Fall ’07 {in fact, I even had a double aside, as I am doing right now}]. However, I would like to become more of a poet, and have thought about taking the Intro to Poetry Writing class at Georgia State in the Spring (my final semester) if I can. I recently realized, while laying poolside, that I do not know much about poetry or the history of poetry. Since then, I have tried to find a book about the history of poetry, but have been unsuccessful. I was never a fan of poetry in my younger days because I never really understood it. Even now, I much prefer prose to poetry. I feel that much of modern poetry seems to be jibberish: people feel that they can write whatever they want in stanza form, and they call it “poetry.” Maybe that is why I have strayed away from writing poems for the most part. Now, I am not bashing poetry as an art form by any means; many writers I love are poets, including T.S. Eliot (my favorite poet), Charles Bukowski, Shakespeare ― even Joyce and Proust, my two favorite writers, both released some poems; I am also a big fan of epic narrative poems (my favorite being Dante’s Divine Comedy). What I am saying is that I wish I understood more about its history and development: thus, I have yet another project for this summer.
I was going to lead into some poems of my own, but I will postpone that to write about an article I just read on Yahoo News (one of my main sources of news, along with Wikipedia, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert ― the regular news is just two depressing, and I guess I don’t care enough; also, I rely on word-of-mouth to find out about “important stuff) about the NBA. Apparently, an ex-referee came forward and claimed that many games, including the finals, are rigged by referees. Examples include making bogus fouls to change the games outcome, or not fouling star players to keep them in the game and fans in their seats. Now, I am not much of a sports person at all: in fact, the only event I truly enjoy watching is NCAA’s March Madness, and the Olympics when they come around; I don’t even watch hockey anymore, like all loyal Canadians should (but please don’t report me, as I would like to keep my citizenship… haha). However, such a thing as rigging sports games so that they always go to seven game series in the finals or anything like that just seems like total bullshit. It’s already bad enough that many players are drafted right out of high school (and I’ve even read some are getting drafted earlier than this!) and only managed to pass their classes because of their academic abilities ― and yes, things like that have always bugged me, seeing that I have very little athletic talent and much prefer the arts; in fact, that was one of the reasons I despised Roy Barnes as the Governor of Georgia and was very happy he wasn’t re-elected (though I will say that my interest in politics is about equal with sports). It is examples like these that make me so uninterested in sports, along with the various players’ strikes that seem to come up every couple years. Apparently a seven figure salary just isn’t good enough for doing something most people (myself not included) dream of doing.
But, enough ranting about uninteresting subjects: back to poetry! Last summer I took an overview class on British Literature, which of course led to the discussion of poems, and more specifically sonnets; two of the most prominent sonneteers we studied were Shakespeare and Petrarch. Because of this, I was inspired to write a few sonnets of my own, which I thought were quite good at the time. I re-read them tonight, and chose the one that I thought was the best, and also most relevant, and then decided to revise it in order to see how my writing has changed over a year. Now, I will publish the two sonnets, and show the comparison. Enjoy, and let me know what you think.
The Summer Sonnet
June 30, 2007
In these days of summer, I’m mourning
The cooler temperatures of days old.
Because when I wake up in the morning,
My body cries out for a room that’s cold.
Not to say I dislike summer days;
On the contrary: I enjoy them quite.
My mind flashes to times of leaves and hays,
When outside weather didn’t cause a fight.
The cool weather opens my mind quite wide,
And nature it right at my fingertip.
But now I must do all my work inside
To avoid the sweat that makes it slip.
These summer months are fun and free indeed,
But cooler times are when I feel I need.
Summer Sonnet ‘08
June 10, 2008
Within these days of humid heat I mourn
The cooler temps of days not long ago.
‘Cause when I wake up in my bed at morn,
I wish the sticky air would just let go.
I would not say I dislike summer days;
To contrast, they bring me much happiness.
But yet I dream of times of leaves and hay
When the weather was not in such a mess.
The thought of cool weather cheers up my mind
And makes the hot weather seem bearable;
But yet I know that these thoughts will soon find
The place where good thoughts become terrible.
And so I will return to summer heat
With sweat pouring the way down to my feet.
I was going to lead into some poems of my own, but I will postpone that to write about an article I just read on Yahoo News (one of my main sources of news, along with Wikipedia, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert ― the regular news is just two depressing, and I guess I don’t care enough; also, I rely on word-of-mouth to find out about “important stuff) about the NBA. Apparently, an ex-referee came forward and claimed that many games, including the finals, are rigged by referees. Examples include making bogus fouls to change the games outcome, or not fouling star players to keep them in the game and fans in their seats. Now, I am not much of a sports person at all: in fact, the only event I truly enjoy watching is NCAA’s March Madness, and the Olympics when they come around; I don’t even watch hockey anymore, like all loyal Canadians should (but please don’t report me, as I would like to keep my citizenship… haha). However, such a thing as rigging sports games so that they always go to seven game series in the finals or anything like that just seems like total bullshit. It’s already bad enough that many players are drafted right out of high school (and I’ve even read some are getting drafted earlier than this!) and only managed to pass their classes because of their academic abilities ― and yes, things like that have always bugged me, seeing that I have very little athletic talent and much prefer the arts; in fact, that was one of the reasons I despised Roy Barnes as the Governor of Georgia and was very happy he wasn’t re-elected (though I will say that my interest in politics is about equal with sports). It is examples like these that make me so uninterested in sports, along with the various players’ strikes that seem to come up every couple years. Apparently a seven figure salary just isn’t good enough for doing something most people (myself not included) dream of doing.
But, enough ranting about uninteresting subjects: back to poetry! Last summer I took an overview class on British Literature, which of course led to the discussion of poems, and more specifically sonnets; two of the most prominent sonneteers we studied were Shakespeare and Petrarch. Because of this, I was inspired to write a few sonnets of my own, which I thought were quite good at the time. I re-read them tonight, and chose the one that I thought was the best, and also most relevant, and then decided to revise it in order to see how my writing has changed over a year. Now, I will publish the two sonnets, and show the comparison. Enjoy, and let me know what you think.
The Summer Sonnet
June 30, 2007
In these days of summer, I’m mourning
The cooler temperatures of days old.
Because when I wake up in the morning,
My body cries out for a room that’s cold.
Not to say I dislike summer days;
On the contrary: I enjoy them quite.
My mind flashes to times of leaves and hays,
When outside weather didn’t cause a fight.
The cool weather opens my mind quite wide,
And nature it right at my fingertip.
But now I must do all my work inside
To avoid the sweat that makes it slip.
These summer months are fun and free indeed,
But cooler times are when I feel I need.
Summer Sonnet ‘08
June 10, 2008
Within these days of humid heat I mourn
The cooler temps of days not long ago.
‘Cause when I wake up in my bed at morn,
I wish the sticky air would just let go.
I would not say I dislike summer days;
To contrast, they bring me much happiness.
But yet I dream of times of leaves and hay
When the weather was not in such a mess.
The thought of cool weather cheers up my mind
And makes the hot weather seem bearable;
But yet I know that these thoughts will soon find
The place where good thoughts become terrible.
And so I will return to summer heat
With sweat pouring the way down to my feet.
Summer Heat with James Gatz, Marcel Proust, Punk Rock and More.
As seen from my title, I recently finished “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I won’t even attempt to do a book review, since I’m sure most everyone has already read it in high school. I remember when I read it in high school (or at least pretended to) I was not a fan of the book. Because of that, I found it annoying that it ranked #2 on Modern Library’s Top 100 Books of the Twentieth Century, ranking inbetween two books by my personal favorite, Mr. James Joyce (the list can be viewed here http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100bestnovels.html). However, upon reading it the past few days, I really enjoyed it, and was glad I gave it another shot. I think it also helped that I just finished a Maymester class on American Literature 1914-1945. However, that being said… I still don’t know if I’d say it is #2. I don’t think I would rank it in my top ten books I’ve read. But, if you haven’t read it, then you should… after you read “Ulysses” by James Joyce, that is.
I also recently finished the second volume of Marcel Proust’s novel: “In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower” (also translated as “Within a Budding Grove”). In this volume, Proust deals with the theme of young love over the course of 500+ pages, in both Paris and the vacation resort of Balbec. It introduces many characters that (according to the introduction) will become very important during latter parts of the novel; each time he introduces a major character, he does it in a very clever and sometimes unusual way. Another theme which is common in many modernist works and also really stood out for me is the idea of a build up to something great that doesn’t get resolved and turns out to be a let down. Proust introduces this theme early on when the narrator gets a chance to go to the opera to see his favorite opera star. The narrator is extremely excited (much like modern rock fans would be excited to see their favorite band for the first time) and cannot wait to see her sing; but when he finally gets to see her, he is thoroughly disappointed by her performance and does not see what all the fuss is about. This theme continues to reoccur throughout this volume, and I have a feeling it will show up in later volumes as well.
Speaking of music, I went to see Los Angeles punk band X along with the Detroit Cobras a couple weeks ago at the Variety Playhouse in Little Five Points. My friend Alix, a long time friend who I have only recently started hanging out with again, told me about the show, and we went together. I was really excited to see the Detroit Cobras as an opening act, because I have been a fan of theirs for years. They are a Garage Rock Revival band from (as the name implies) Detroit. I found out that they do not write any of their own material; instead, they take old songs from the 60’s and turn them into rock n’ roll/ punk versions. They were fantastic. Then came X. While they have been around since the mid 70’s and have obviously lived a hard life, they put on a very powerful show that blew me away. They played song after song that got the audience to go crazy and sing and dance along. Also, I was somewhat surprised at the fact that myself (being 21) and Alix (being 20) were on the younger end of the audience; in fact, at one point someone even said to us “you look a little young to be X fans.” Sure, it makes sense that people who liked them in the 70’s would still show up now, but I was moreso surprised that there were not a lot of newer, younger fans. If the new generations cannot listen to good old school punk rock, I feel that society is doomed (hahaha).
The above section of this post brings what I feel a change in my blog writing; and by change, I mean an expansion. While I had intended this blog to focus on literature and writing, I realized that I should not limit myself. If I expand it to music, movies, food, and whatever else, maybe I can get more posts out, and also build up a bigger fan base. This change was largely inspired by my Dad, Paul Connolly, who recently decided to start his own blog (which can be seen here: http://paulsnetwork.blogspot.com). So hopefully this change makes this blog more interesting and readable.
Finally (for now) I am excited to say that I will be spending a week and a half in Paris at the end of July and early August. I don’t have much to say about it now, but I will definitely make sure to blog that extensively once the time comes. Also, as far as summer trips go, I will be in Iowa for the University of Iowa’s Writing Workshop the weekend of June 20th. I am very excited about this as well, and will write on that when the time comes.
That is it for now. Until next time.
I also recently finished the second volume of Marcel Proust’s novel: “In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower” (also translated as “Within a Budding Grove”). In this volume, Proust deals with the theme of young love over the course of 500+ pages, in both Paris and the vacation resort of Balbec. It introduces many characters that (according to the introduction) will become very important during latter parts of the novel; each time he introduces a major character, he does it in a very clever and sometimes unusual way. Another theme which is common in many modernist works and also really stood out for me is the idea of a build up to something great that doesn’t get resolved and turns out to be a let down. Proust introduces this theme early on when the narrator gets a chance to go to the opera to see his favorite opera star. The narrator is extremely excited (much like modern rock fans would be excited to see their favorite band for the first time) and cannot wait to see her sing; but when he finally gets to see her, he is thoroughly disappointed by her performance and does not see what all the fuss is about. This theme continues to reoccur throughout this volume, and I have a feeling it will show up in later volumes as well.
Speaking of music, I went to see Los Angeles punk band X along with the Detroit Cobras a couple weeks ago at the Variety Playhouse in Little Five Points. My friend Alix, a long time friend who I have only recently started hanging out with again, told me about the show, and we went together. I was really excited to see the Detroit Cobras as an opening act, because I have been a fan of theirs for years. They are a Garage Rock Revival band from (as the name implies) Detroit. I found out that they do not write any of their own material; instead, they take old songs from the 60’s and turn them into rock n’ roll/ punk versions. They were fantastic. Then came X. While they have been around since the mid 70’s and have obviously lived a hard life, they put on a very powerful show that blew me away. They played song after song that got the audience to go crazy and sing and dance along. Also, I was somewhat surprised at the fact that myself (being 21) and Alix (being 20) were on the younger end of the audience; in fact, at one point someone even said to us “you look a little young to be X fans.” Sure, it makes sense that people who liked them in the 70’s would still show up now, but I was moreso surprised that there were not a lot of newer, younger fans. If the new generations cannot listen to good old school punk rock, I feel that society is doomed (hahaha).
The above section of this post brings what I feel a change in my blog writing; and by change, I mean an expansion. While I had intended this blog to focus on literature and writing, I realized that I should not limit myself. If I expand it to music, movies, food, and whatever else, maybe I can get more posts out, and also build up a bigger fan base. This change was largely inspired by my Dad, Paul Connolly, who recently decided to start his own blog (which can be seen here: http://paulsnetwork.blogspot.com). So hopefully this change makes this blog more interesting and readable.
Finally (for now) I am excited to say that I will be spending a week and a half in Paris at the end of July and early August. I don’t have much to say about it now, but I will definitely make sure to blog that extensively once the time comes. Also, as far as summer trips go, I will be in Iowa for the University of Iowa’s Writing Workshop the weekend of June 20th. I am very excited about this as well, and will write on that when the time comes.
That is it for now. Until next time.
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