Project
In accordance with Article 1, Section 4, of the Charter, I have taken on a project for the Society.
I think probably most of you are familiar with CORRAL, the local rehabilative riding organization for special needs children. You may also be aware that Brown and Marie Powell run CORRAL basically on their own, and further give back to the community even more with their annual Christmas pageant.
I’ve attended for two years now, and one cannot help but notice that the sound quality of the recording they use for the pageant is substandard. Marc and I thought last year that it would be an easy project for us to take on, and today I volunteered my services to rebuild their narration and music so that it sounds professional.
It may be a one-person job, but if I need help, who would like to assist?
We also need to find them some better speakers, but we can do that next.
Summer Reading
Would anyone here like to join me for a Lichtenbergian / Lacuna summer reading program? I propose a Roberto Calasso summer. I purchased Ka quite a few years ago and never quite got around to reading it, so I hope to remedy that now. What brought this on is someone at my work place putting a bunch of free books in the break room. One of the them was The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony. I immediately remembered Ka and thought … ahhhh. It is time.
But this is the type of material that BEGS discussion. I propose we read Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony, followed by Ka, and then The Ruin of Kasch and, finally, K. (Notice the alliteration in the titles … not sure if that’s intentional.) This would be my first reading outside of my “Native American” obsession in years.
I don’t know if there would be any interest in this here, but there it is.
For those who don’t know anything about Calasso or these works, I trust you know what a “search engine” is. Nose around a bit and see if this interests you. It’s something I’ve been meaning to get around to for a while now. Can’t wait to dive in.
Toodles.
Road Trip
A few of us have discussed on occasion the possibility of road tripping to Valdosta the last weekend in June. The comments to this post shall serve as the home for discussions of same, including of course Dale’s verification that the idea and date still work. Who’s in? Shall we host a seminar while present? If so, what topic?
L.09.3: Marc
Â
Pretty much says it all...
Protected: Not Paranoia, Idea Conservation
Symmetrical Hand Arrangements
Assignment L08.7: Reply–>Reply–>Reply–>
The other day I received the following e-mail:
Hi – is this the Marc Honea who went Abelard elementary school and then spent teen years in Coweta county near Peachtree City?
If no – sorry! Â If yes – Hi Brigham Fairview here – would love to catch up!
BghmF
This kind of mail was a first for me.  All the facts were true (I’ve changed some names to respect privacy), but I was suspicious.  Yes, it would be a kick to catch up with Fairview–someone I haven’t seen since high school–but might not this be a strategy used by internet scammers either to gain personal info or send viruses?  It seemed to me it would be easy enough to assemble a bit of identifying info (why not by stealing info from people who use searches to track down old acquaintances, even?).  Or what if Fairview was exploiting old acquaintances to boost his Amway sales (something I have been on the receiving end of in the past)?  Or perhaps he or some scammer wanted to lure me into a questionable investment.  My disposition (and my naiveté, probably–a healthy dose of doubt prevents it from being diagnosed as paranoia, thank you very much) made it difficult to take the message at face value (plus, the word to was left out).  I sent the following reply:
 I am he.
But how do you know for sure?
And how do I know you are “the” Brigham Fairview?
Wouldn’t it be interesting if we both turn out to be Internet Scammers, neither of us truly who we claim to be, both of us now locked in a game of cat and mouse deception, each of us daring the other to take it a step further?
Fairview, if I remember, had a sense of humor. Â In his reply to this he managed to present enough evidence, including websites, to make me feel safe and silly. Â Blame it on my mother: Â People will walk all over you if you let them. Â And my father: Â People are no damn good.
But I like the premise I articulated in my message.  The Assignment, then:  what I imagine is a “story” that is just a series of e-mail messages with no commentary or explanation.  The reader would not know going in that this was a series of exchanges between two people pretending to be who they are not, neither knowing at the outset that the other is an impostor trying to exploit the other.  Dirty Rotten Scoundrels would be a useful film reference, but I think the “e-mail form” offers some unique possibilities at a more…microscopic level.  Good hunting.
Quick project
Not really an assignment, but it will be a challenge and fun nonetheless.
Jobie is teaching a class on postmodernism and wants me to come in and present this video clip to them.
It is of course utter crap, but he wants me to provide pomo commentary as if we thought it was important for the kids to know about. So whattaya say, guys, can we analyze this film?
Assignment L.08.5: Critical Receptions
For some reason the Caleb Larsen web site brought this one to mind. Here’s the assignment: imagine you have done some piece of creative work (which, of course, you haven’t…have you) and write a review or piece of criticism of that work from the point of view of some reviewer or commentator, fictional or actual (you choose–let your lawyer guide you), writing for some fictional or actual publication. The critic’s response can be favorable or not. It must be a made-up work (Dale can’t imagine a critical response to the Symphony, for instance, since that actually exists–or is actually coming into existence, or so he says). I think such reviews and responses should begin to litter our blog flow from time to time over the next few months. And in our comments to the posts, let’s treat the work as real and respond accordingly by perhaps agreeing or disagreeing with what has been written, adding our own details to “the work in question” as we see fit. Dress it up however you wish. Scholarly or popular critical modes. Photos? Quotes? Citations? Comparisons to both real and other equally fictitious works? “Some piece of creative work” is meant to be broad and all-encompassing. You can just as easily see yourself as some Larsen-like creature as you can imagine yourself to be America’s next important writer.