Just finished reading…

How We Are Hungry, short stories by Dave Eggers

About two weeks ago I finally finished reading Dave Eggers’ collection of short stories How We Are Hungry. I say finally because I started them quite sometime ago but had to take a break about half way through. Nearly all the stories are heavy and dark; for a few of the stories it is difficult to find the point in them at all… which is probably the point.  But I recently picked the book back up and was glad I did. 

It is interesting also to note that all of these stories are unified under the title “How We Are Hungry.”  Perhaps the last two paragraphs submit a possible clarification to this title, a clarification that has been hinted at throughout many of the stories, if not all.  Spoiler Alert… Here are the last two paragraphs:

     “The one big surprise is that as it turns out, God is the sun. It makes sense, if you think about it. Why we didn’t see it sooner I cannot say. Every day the sun was right there burning, our and other planets hovering around it, always apologizing, and we didn’t think it was God. Why would there be a God and also a sun? Of course God is the sun.

     Everyone in the life before was cranky, I think, because they just wanted to know.”  (217-218)

This quote, of course, makes much more sense in light of the story in which it exists, which I won’t spoil anymore of for you here.

Note:  If this book were a movie it would be rated “R.” It contains heavy and sometimes upsetting material. For a more clean experience of Eggers’ writing read The Wild Things, which is the next book on my “to read” list.

Just finished reading…

The Art of Biblical Narrative, by Robert Alter

Finished this one for class last month.  I wanted to write a full review but think I’ll just move on.  Let me just say that I really enjoyed it.  Here’s an excerpt:

“The monotheistic revolution of biblical Israel was a continuing and disquieting one. It left little margin for neat and confident views about God, the created world, history, and man as a political animal or moral agent, for it repeatedly has to make sense of the intersection of incompatibilities–the relative and the absolute, human imperfection and divine perfection, the brawling chaos of historical experience and God’s promise to fulfill a design in history.” (154)

Art and Fear

Graduation happened to me over a year ago. I can’t believe it came and went so quickly.  The tassel that dangled on one side of my head quickly passed to the other; and in that blur a new chapter began.

I could go into much detail about all the changes that took place after that:  marriage, important life decisions, work, etc…  But there was one subtle change that I did not anticipate; one that covertly transformed my life into something very different from what I had grown accustomed to.  In a sentence: I stopped making art.

For those of you readers (whoever you may be) who do not know me, I was an art major in college.  Graphic Design to be exact.  I did not have any previous art education before college so that first year of college was like exploring a whole new world. And in that world I discovered much of who I am and who I would like to be.

I had found something that I could lose myself in for hours. When I finished a piece, whether it was good or not so good (ok, bad) I had that feeling of “Yes, this is what I am supposed to do”. It was a good feeling.

But when the busyness of “grown-up life” hit me, I stopped.  This fact was alarming, and I have found myself somewhat paralyzed by this change of lifestyle.  I spend any free time I have thinking and dreaming about art, envisioning the many things I would like to do. But I rarely execute those ideas.

Then I started reading a book called Art and Fear (recommended by my friend and fellow artist Josh Granberg). It touched on some very important things that I really needed to hear.

Listen to this quote.  “Quitting is fundamentally different from stopping. The latter happens all the time. Quitting happens once. Quitting means not starting again — and art is all about starting again.”

Isn’t that great news? It gave me just enough courage to start again. And to keep starting again every time I have to stop.

So, I have begun again. A bit slower than my rigorous college pace, but I am moving.

I have not yet finished the book Art and Fear. But when I do, I plan on writing a book review.  So, more later. ;o)

Where the Wild Things Are

Of any movie coming out this year I may be most excited about Where the Wild Things Are.  Based on the children’s book by Maurice Sendak and due to be released Oct 16, this film is written by Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers.  Jonze also directed the movie.

Why so excited?

1)  The children’s book: an old favorite.

2)  Dave Eggers:  Author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and one of my all time favorite books What is the What?.

3)  Spike Jonze:  Director of Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, and some of the best commercials and music videos of all time, for example, the video for Weapon of Choice by Fatboy Slim and featuring Christopher Walken.

4)  The preview (featuring Arcade Fire): It’s a must-watch.  So look below and check it out for yourself. 

Then go see it on October 16th!  We can’t wait!!

((If no video appears below then your network is filtering out the DailyMotion website.  If that is the case, or you just have a slower browser, you can also see a lower quality (but still good) version on YouTube by clicking this link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NOkQ4dYVaM))