I’m NOT even joking. I was sitting there in the Prof’s Office yesterday afternoon. A little drab outside. A little drab inside too. Still, it’s a privilege I pay for. Then we read an excerpt [from the new novel of course] and I’m NOT even JOKING but the first thing the Prof said was, ‘I would say this piece is quite Pinteresque.’
I’m NOT even joking.
Links, Lynx, Linkz
Rob Mengham describes it as
A vanishing point beyond the conventional horizon of poetry
Or, as I can understand it, a segregation of narrative meaning from the poetic line.
This makes Fragmentary poetry – or New Modernist poetry – something of a more readerly poetry.
Every word or phrase or line or sentence must be understood to the best of the reader’s ability before he can move on.
As a result, the poetic line only has meaning in itself.
Which creates a chaotic poetry that is obsessed with obtaining meaning irrationally.
The LightBox section of TIME Magazine is always worth a look, I think.
Here’s this weeks Closeup.
The photographs capture more than a newsreel. There isn’t such a distance creating by the lens. What I mean is, a still photograph has a much stronger and personal effect.
When you see the fear in the face of the Rebel Fighter in Libya or the serenity and jaded beauty of the memorial in Norway or the serious face of the murder suspect standing a foot away from the police officer you can’t help but feel that these are real lives being affected by real situations.
A few videos to kick things off.
I can believe this especially if my weekly bill of macaroni and cheese is anything to go by.
If you have a spare $370,000 knocking around for a new car, but don’t want to compromise on practicability then maybe this is for you. On the other hand I haven’t heard anything about it being released in the UK; sounds like something just for the Yanks.
For those interested in the glamour show that is American politics. Quoted from Michael Kinsley’s article in Bloomberg Businessweek (July 25-31) on Michele Bachmann’s debt reduction policy:
I bet she’s a good mother, politics aside. But I can’t help wondering: What does Michele Bachmann teach all those kids about the importance of living up to your obligations?
Say, for example, that one of them owed some people, oh, about $14.3 trillion. Would Bachmann tell her children that a debt is a moral obligation that an honourable person will go to great lengths to pay if at all possible? Or would she tell them, Well, it all depends. Whether you pay back money that’s been loaned to you is a practical question. And if you calculate that you’d be better off reneging, then by all means do so. It’s perfectly O.K.
…At the Home Affairs Select Committee.
COMMITTEE MEMBER: Can you tell the committee why you resigned? Bare in mind we have read your report and you say there is no impropriety as to what has happened – that you feel you did absolutely nothing wrong.
POLICE COMMISSIONER: Precisely. I wanted to quit while I was ahead.
CM: You couldn’t possibly do your job if you didn’t know what was happening in the MET.
PC: Yes. You’re right.
CM: So you did know about the phone hacking inquiry.
PC: That’s not what I said.
CM: Was there not a situation that was inappropriate for any Police Officer to receive such substantial hospitality [from the Murdoch's]?
PC: Would you have turned it down?
CM: You had seventeen dinners with them.
PC: What can I say? I was hungry and they can get me into Heston Blumenthal’s new restaurant for free.
CM: Do you have any other information?
PC: If you asking me to hook you up with them, I’m sure I can try and make something work.
Not for long. See here
Just a mere increase of £3,200. That’s a snip!
Will the majority of Universities really charge £9,000? I mean, really? Tough cheese the regulator won’t let that happen. Sensationalising again?
NO COMMENT.
Are You Sitting Comfortably? – Then I’ll Begin.
These words from Salman Rushdie in his novel Shame seem apt in light of the Arab Spring:
A fairy story? Seems to hit the right note when you consider that even with an organised Rebel uprising and NATO air support it took months to oust Colonel Gaddafi.
And Syria? Consider Rushdie’s words: ‘to be preserved by greater powers than their own.’ Makes you wonder if Syrians would be looking at a very different future right now if the UN or NATO or America or Europe or Russia or Israel had chosen to step in as some did in Libya.
Meanwhile, the Saudi regime finds it easier to head off unrest by announcing social and economic reforms totalling $100 bn. Indeed, this might sound a little peevish too, but, I guess, it’s easy if you have the money
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