So... I, too, blawg now.

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Misanthrope Prime
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Re: So... I, too, blawg now.

Post by Misanthrope Prime »

Truth be told, I'm not a big myspace guy anymore, any way. Facebook is much more subdued and better for social networking, in my opinion, and Livejournal is, for me, basically a publicity stunt.
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donosaur
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Re: So... I, too, blawg now.

Post by donosaur »

So who twitters?
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Misanthrope Prime
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Re: So... I, too, blawg now.

Post by Misanthrope Prime »

I think you guys, if you read my blog, know how I feel about twats.
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donosaur
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Re: So... I, too, blawg now.

Post by donosaur »

twut?
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andersonh1
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Re: So... I, too, blawg now.

Post by andersonh1 »

Misanthrope Prime wrote:Truth be told, I'm not a big myspace guy anymore, any way. Facebook is much more subdued and better for social networking, in my opinion, and Livejournal is, for me, basically a publicity stunt.
Yeah, I'm pretty fond of Facebook. I've caught up with a lot of friends I haven't seen since college or high school through that site.
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Dominic
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Re: So... I, too, blawg now.

Post by Dominic »

Facebook us too cloistered for my tastes. I started my MS page in an attempt to hawk tutoring services to idiot college kids with more money than brains. From there, it evolved into the blog I keep now.

The next thing I want to do is start a web-comic, but I need a reliable artist.

Dom
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Re: So... I, too, blawg now.

Post by Misanthrope Prime »

Just updated with a new post about the way Spec-Fic is viewed by highschool 'literature' courses.
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Re: So... I, too, blawg now.

Post by Dominic »

Great work Max. I assume you want thoughts posted in the blog itself, so.....

Dom
-heading over to the blog. http://maxximenez.livejournal.com/
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Re: So... I, too, blawg now.

Post by Dominic »

Rather than start an LJ account, I will instead be posting the reply here.

Question, if you eat, sleep in, and shit science fiction, does that mean you eat and sleep in feces? Or, do you defecate material that is not sci-fi?


Joking aside, great blog.

You observations about teachers are consistent with what I have seen.

Many Science and Math teachers know they are teaching an uncreative subject, but can recognize and appreciate creativity when they see it. (Writing an interesting science paper is worth far more points than one might expect, just because the teachers are often starved for *interesting* sentences.) Even if teachers in the "hard sciences" do not actively appreciate articulate and creative students, they are rarely *against* students being articulate and creative.

In contrast, teachers in the "soft sciences" seem to prefer bland language and content. I have had to rewrite papers purely for the fact that I used complex/intersting sentences. (I would say more or less the same thing, but in a more boring way, and get a better grade.)

At first glance, it may seem that this is a way to compensate for the fact that the content in these disciplines is harder to quantify, and bland language helps keep it clearer. But, as you noted, English is often primarily about reading too much into things. (When you consider that, the fact English classes are usually limited makes sense, as the discipline assumes a near infinite number of ways to read something, and wants to limit the numbers of texts to be read in near infinite ways.)

In some cases, this over-reading takes the form of belaboring obvious points or assigning more priority to a story element. (I like "Lord of the Flies", but I still lose interest when people start going on and on and on and on about the importance of Piggy's glasses or the symbolism of glowing algae.)

In other cases, this over-reading involves either mis-reading, or simply assuming too much. One common mis-reading is to assume a character is gay. (This is usually accompanied by a political/idealogical agenda.) The arguement for a character being gay usually hinges on deliberate misreadings of an official/canonical piece, and flaws in the arguement are usually papered over with arguements about "all interpretations being valid as long as they have basis in a text", (even if that basis is rooted in a dis-honest reading), or cries of intellectual/cultural imperialism.

By the same token, if a character *is* gay, there is no basis to say they are not. For example, if you read "Alpha Flight", you have neither moral nor intellectual grounds to say that Northstar is straight. You may not like that Northstar is gay, but you cannot argue the point. Author intent should be the standard of proof. But, many, (especially in English), see personal (mis)-readings are having equal or greater validity.

(Of course, not every mis-reading is based on dis-honestly. Mistakes are made, both by writers and readers.)


As much as they may say they do not not believe in knowable truths, I suspect many in the humanities find comfort in the certainty that they are reading the "right" books.

I have met a few people who snobberize based on the date of publication. (These people are the literary analogy to toy-hacks, in the sense that the older something is, the better.) But, there are plenty of people are snobs by genre.

I know many Cambridge types who think the only books worth reading are the ones where nothing, including the important details, is defined. (In this kind of book, author intent is meaningless because it is intended to be so.) Other only want books of social or political relevance.

The same applies to comic books. I have met citizens of the world who think comics are wonderful as long as they are politically subversive. Bad writing and art, or even shoddy printing, are nothing when weighed against the subversive message. Books that are not political are "children's books". (Mind you, how a book like Garth Ennis' "Punisher" is political escapes me. So, I guess it must be kiddie-fodder.) Of course, if these people put such a high value on politics, I have to wonder how they can get behind trivializing such important questions in fiction, especially illustrated fiction.


Sci-Fi, (or even more so, Fantasy), loses points from many angles. It is not "realistic" in the sense of depicting current or past conditions for humanity. The events the move the plot, even in the most idea based story, are fundamentally unrealistic. (For all the posturing about how literature is supposed to captuer higher truths about human nature, sci-fi and fantasy will usually not get points for this, even when they do it well.) The stories tend to be direct enough that one can reasonably sort out what the author intends to say with little room for "creative" readings.

The fact that the authors are alive, and trying to make money on their work, is also considered reason to treat modern books, of any genre (that is not politics), as inferior. (Never mind that the writers/illustrators/composers/other of yesteryear had financial motives.)

Dom
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Misanthrope Prime
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Re: So... I, too, blawg now.

Post by Misanthrope Prime »

Frankly, I always hated how the Quebecois superhero was the token gay guy. But that's a political motive, aint it?
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