HOUSES
R
Just
H
only when they are not.
Your job: what does the H look like? On your own blog under the title "HOUSE" I want you to post a picture or link to a picture. Then write a paragraph where you explain why you chose that particular image (since this is about a house that expands and contracts in a way that defies rationale thought, you might want to be a bit creative here). I then want you to find a paragraph in the book (or a couple of lines) that you quote that gave you the inspiration for your image.
http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~jconte/Images/Duchamp_Nude.jpg
The reason I chose this image was for the sole fact that it is Marcel Duchamp's "Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2" instills an aspect of a home, like stairs, but in an erratic pose & context. We also have a person walking up or down the stairs, but you cant tell what the damned thing is or was. The jumbling of the artwork begs the question of where does it begin & where does it end, like a house that is constantly changing. How do you know the start of it or the end of it?
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Video
Images.
you do not read this book.
You w a t c h it.
On your own blog under the heading "VIDEO" post or link a video that is a visual of The House of Leaves. You can be literal and post a blog of Mark Danielewski reading from his book or you could be figurative and find a clip that relates to the book in some way.
After you post it or link to it, then I want you to write a paragraph where you explain why you chose your video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gyug0q9eyqw&NR=1
I chose the video for the sole fact that it was a trailer & it gave slight clues on maybe how to read the novel itself. The way it scrolls from scene to scene explains how confusing the book actually can be if you dont read it exactly. It is eccentric to no avail, but that is what the allure is. You want to know what it is about & it keeps you guessing on what it is.
you do not read this book.
You w a t c h it.
On your own blog under the heading "VIDEO" post or link a video that is a visual of The House of Leaves. You can be literal and post a blog of Mark Danielewski reading from his book or you could be figurative and find a clip that relates to the book in some way.
After you post it or link to it, then I want you to write a paragraph where you explain why you chose your video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gyug0q9eyqw&NR=1
I chose the video for the sole fact that it was a trailer & it gave slight clues on maybe how to read the novel itself. The way it scrolls from scene to scene explains how confusing the book actually can be if you dont read it exactly. It is eccentric to no avail, but that is what the allure is. You want to know what it is about & it keeps you guessing on what it is.
Character Sketch
who are these people that people the halls of this book?
If you last name starts with A-D you take Karen
If your last name starts with E-I you take Navy
If your last name starts with J-P you take Reston
If your last name starts with Q-U you take Holloway
If your last name starts V-Z you take Tom.
Find three passages from this book and give a character analysis of the person.
POST TO YOUR OWN BLOG POST UNDER THE HEADING "CHARACTER SKETCH"
"Karen does not look at the map again. she just smiles & takes a sip of Wax's beer. They continue talking, more about Wax's girl troubles, another round of 'dont worry, keep living, you're young' & then out of nowhere Wax leans over & kisses Karen on the lips. It lasts less than a second & clearly shocks her, but when he leans over & kisses her again she does not resist. In fact the kiss turns into something more than a kiss, Karen's hunger almost exceeding Wax's."
"The radio remains an incomprehensible buzz of static, but from somewhere in the house, rising up like some strange black oil, there comes a faint knocking. Chad & Daisy actually detect it first, but by the time they reach their parent's bedroom, Karen is already up with the light on, listening intently to this new disturbance."
"Karen says nothing when she hears Navidson make this comment, though she does get up abruptly to go out to the backyard & smoke a cigarette."
Reading these little tidbits about Karen, I can tell she is a cool, calm, collected person who doesnt mind fighting for what she may or may not believe in. She knows how to bite her tongue & when to speak at the right moments. She could have confronted Navidson but decided to relax & have a little nicotene break. When she heard knocking, however, she was the first one up to confront the issue. All together, though, she is just passionate. The way she kissed & knew how to defend the others along with herself, it shows she has a lot of heart.
If you last name starts with A-D you take Karen
If your last name starts with E-I you take Navy
If your last name starts with J-P you take Reston
If your last name starts with Q-U you take Holloway
If your last name starts V-Z you take Tom.
Find three passages from this book and give a character analysis of the person.
POST TO YOUR OWN BLOG POST UNDER THE HEADING "CHARACTER SKETCH"
"Karen does not look at the map again. she just smiles & takes a sip of Wax's beer. They continue talking, more about Wax's girl troubles, another round of 'dont worry, keep living, you're young' & then out of nowhere Wax leans over & kisses Karen on the lips. It lasts less than a second & clearly shocks her, but when he leans over & kisses her again she does not resist. In fact the kiss turns into something more than a kiss, Karen's hunger almost exceeding Wax's."
"The radio remains an incomprehensible buzz of static, but from somewhere in the house, rising up like some strange black oil, there comes a faint knocking. Chad & Daisy actually detect it first, but by the time they reach their parent's bedroom, Karen is already up with the light on, listening intently to this new disturbance."
"Karen says nothing when she hears Navidson make this comment, though she does get up abruptly to go out to the backyard & smoke a cigarette."
Reading these little tidbits about Karen, I can tell she is a cool, calm, collected person who doesnt mind fighting for what she may or may not believe in. She knows how to bite her tongue & when to speak at the right moments. She could have confronted Navidson but decided to relax & have a little nicotene break. When she heard knocking, however, she was the first one up to confront the issue. All together, though, she is just passionate. The way she kissed & knew how to defend the others along with herself, it shows she has a lot of heart.
When a House is not a House
THE HOUSE
is not a house.
It is much more.
It is a metaphor.
FOR WHAT?
In three paragraphs, I want you to decide what the house could stand for. Think this through. Please post this response on your own blog.
[check out my comment to this post for possible ideas]
I read about the house & how it constantly changes & personally considered it to be a metaphor for oneself. We as a people start out as a foundation just like a house. We have the same blueprints as anyone else; XX[female] & XY[male]. This is similar to a house having the same base content; concrete, windows, etc. As time goes on, the basis behind each thing, whether it be human or house, changes.
We see how when a boy or girl grows up, they dont stay the same way they were as an infant. They mature, they develop, & get different interests than from when they were younger. A house, much like humans, are always changing. You can have construction done to the interier or the exterier. Maybe pull up the rugs & put in hardwood floor. Hell. You could even put tile. But it can & always change. Even if you keep it the same, the things get older & more brittle... Just like us.
This book reminds me of the quote from Heraclitus that you can never step into the same river twice. Not only does the river which is forever flowing changes since it's new water rushing past, but you as an individual are different as well. First you went in dry & now the second time you're a slight bit moister & maybe even colder. The same is said with this house & us. You get into it & think you know it. Then at the drop of a dime it changes & then that all too familiar thing is but a distant memory & stands before you a whole new creation.
is not a house.
It is much more.
It is a metaphor.
FOR WHAT?
In three paragraphs, I want you to decide what the house could stand for. Think this through. Please post this response on your own blog.
[check out my comment to this post for possible ideas]
I read about the house & how it constantly changes & personally considered it to be a metaphor for oneself. We as a people start out as a foundation just like a house. We have the same blueprints as anyone else; XX[female] & XY[male]. This is similar to a house having the same base content; concrete, windows, etc. As time goes on, the basis behind each thing, whether it be human or house, changes.
We see how when a boy or girl grows up, they dont stay the same way they were as an infant. They mature, they develop, & get different interests than from when they were younger. A house, much like humans, are always changing. You can have construction done to the interier or the exterier. Maybe pull up the rugs & put in hardwood floor. Hell. You could even put tile. But it can & always change. Even if you keep it the same, the things get older & more brittle... Just like us.
This book reminds me of the quote from Heraclitus that you can never step into the same river twice. Not only does the river which is forever flowing changes since it's new water rushing past, but you as an individual are different as well. First you went in dry & now the second time you're a slight bit moister & maybe even colder. The same is said with this house & us. You get into it & think you know it. Then at the drop of a dime it changes & then that all too familiar thing is but a distant memory & stands before you a whole new creation.
Skip It
Johnny Truant writes, "The way I figure it, if there's something you find irksome--go ahead and skip it."
What is Mr. Truant implying about the book: If you only read the parts that you want and skip the parts that you don't care about, how will you get the whole story? Is he asking us to be lazy? Or does he know us better than we do and realize this is just what we were going to do anyway?
On your own blog under the title SKIP IT, write down the parts that you skipped when reading--and be honest. Did you read the first page and then just stop? did you read through the "main story" (whichever you think that is) and then just skip the rest? Did you switch back and forth.
write three-four paragraphs where you write down your experience reading this book. But do not write "I" or any first person. Have distance. Write about your self in the third person. Example: "After the second chapter, John Lennon could not read anymore of Johnny Truant's footnotes. They were so obviously sexist and boring and completely ridiculous. Mr. Lennon wanted to know about the hallways............"
Several sections were skipped. To really define which parts one cannot do at this moment because it was due to not knowing how or when to read it. Just note most of it was kind of absorbed while the rest is still under observation.
Reading this book made Rob a confuzzled panda of sorts. Scrolling through it, trying harder & harder to understand it, but was left too devastated to handle. Reading this conglomerate of confusion made this tattooed individual think of several old television shows & movies. More specifically was the Treehouse of Horror episode of the Simpsons when the family moves into the house & it begins to bleed, change rooms, & inevitably self destruct. Another movie was Thirteen Ghosts. The house begins to morph & twist into different shapes until it, too, self destructs.
When Truant mentions about skipping things that are irksome. Reading it made this junior believe that it wasn't a negative thing to 'skip over' it to forget. It was to skip over right now to reread it again later. It is not like said skipped item is not as important as the rest, but actually something to delve further into by means of reading between the lines or looking closer at to better understand. To skip means you either forget completely about it or go onto an easier section & then return.
House of Leaves was a lot like the first time reading a manga. Typically one reads a graphic novel from left to right. With japanese comics, you have to read it from right to left, not knowing if a panel collides, where to follow from. This was exactly the same feeling. You'd read it then magically a giant blue box is on the page & it's like, "Hrm... So where do we begin?" That same feeling still is felt while reading House of Leaves. Mangas, however, are a much simpler read. Maybe next novel should be one of those. ;-)
What is Mr. Truant implying about the book: If you only read the parts that you want and skip the parts that you don't care about, how will you get the whole story? Is he asking us to be lazy? Or does he know us better than we do and realize this is just what we were going to do anyway?
On your own blog under the title SKIP IT, write down the parts that you skipped when reading--and be honest. Did you read the first page and then just stop? did you read through the "main story" (whichever you think that is) and then just skip the rest? Did you switch back and forth.
write three-four paragraphs where you write down your experience reading this book. But do not write "I" or any first person. Have distance. Write about your self in the third person. Example: "After the second chapter, John Lennon could not read anymore of Johnny Truant's footnotes. They were so obviously sexist and boring and completely ridiculous. Mr. Lennon wanted to know about the hallways............"
Several sections were skipped. To really define which parts one cannot do at this moment because it was due to not knowing how or when to read it. Just note most of it was kind of absorbed while the rest is still under observation.
Reading this book made Rob a confuzzled panda of sorts. Scrolling through it, trying harder & harder to understand it, but was left too devastated to handle. Reading this conglomerate of confusion made this tattooed individual think of several old television shows & movies. More specifically was the Treehouse of Horror episode of the Simpsons when the family moves into the house & it begins to bleed, change rooms, & inevitably self destruct. Another movie was Thirteen Ghosts. The house begins to morph & twist into different shapes until it, too, self destructs.
When Truant mentions about skipping things that are irksome. Reading it made this junior believe that it wasn't a negative thing to 'skip over' it to forget. It was to skip over right now to reread it again later. It is not like said skipped item is not as important as the rest, but actually something to delve further into by means of reading between the lines or looking closer at to better understand. To skip means you either forget completely about it or go onto an easier section & then return.
House of Leaves was a lot like the first time reading a manga. Typically one reads a graphic novel from left to right. With japanese comics, you have to read it from right to left, not knowing if a panel collides, where to follow from. This was exactly the same feeling. You'd read it then magically a giant blue box is on the page & it's like, "Hrm... So where do we begin?" That same feeling still is felt while reading House of Leaves. Mangas, however, are a much simpler read. Maybe next novel should be one of those. ;-)
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Confrontation with a fellow tagger
Reading [& seeing] about graffiti for this week made me wanna visit my cousin, PJ. He & I as I said in my previous post used to do a lot together. He'd BMX & skateboard while I bladed. He would take me to China town & hang out with his friends & do nerdy crap together like play Magic. We even tagged together.
Seeing as he is about 30 now & Im 20, our relationship has changed a bit. We bullshit about a lot of stuff... Now it's more or less about tattoos [he does them & I get them, etc] & how both of our aspirations for our art have grown. He went with permanent scarring of one's skin along with making clothing designs while I took the route of graphic novels. We both sat back, had a beer, lit up a cigarette, & just talked about it.
After talking for several hours, we got bored & hit up a few spots, thinking of the good ol' times. We just walked past a few murals & tags & just thought, "Damn... How the times have changed." The style of things, the ways they were done, & so forth. I personally loved how it all evolved. He wasnt exactly too fond of it, but he was always one for stability & lack of change. I saw the old school styles along with the new & it motivated me to take up my mask & cans & just do work.
Seeing as he is about 30 now & Im 20, our relationship has changed a bit. We bullshit about a lot of stuff... Now it's more or less about tattoos [he does them & I get them, etc] & how both of our aspirations for our art have grown. He went with permanent scarring of one's skin along with making clothing designs while I took the route of graphic novels. We both sat back, had a beer, lit up a cigarette, & just talked about it.
After talking for several hours, we got bored & hit up a few spots, thinking of the good ol' times. We just walked past a few murals & tags & just thought, "Damn... How the times have changed." The style of things, the ways they were done, & so forth. I personally loved how it all evolved. He wasnt exactly too fond of it, but he was always one for stability & lack of change. I saw the old school styles along with the new & it motivated me to take up my mask & cans & just do work.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
My first heart will always be for writing. I may not be the best, but lord knows it's the only thing that gets me out of my moods. Second is music. Whenever Im down & out, listening or playing something always gets me going. My last & final love is that of art. Outside of tattoos & such, I've always been a kid for graffiti. My older cousin & I would tag up a lot when we were younger. Gravesend & Bensonhurst were our beloved bombing spots because it was local for one. Secondly, the area already was dipped in the culture around us.
Getting around B-hurst [where the guns burst] & Gravesend was probably what made me love graffiti & appreciate it for what it truly is. Seeing murals or even people's tags bubbled all over the N line or intricately placed high up on the D made it that much more interesting. Not only did they want their name known, but they went out of their way to specifically let you know that they're unique enough to go to the highest heights to do so. My tags werent really original.. PJ, however. His was the truest definition of art, despite the fact bystanders thought he was defacing property.
I look around the Brooklyn area & even the City towards the walls & subways just in amazement. People complain & paint over but I see it as people living vicariously through their pieces. I knew one kid, Marcus Motion, a while ago who has done several pieces around Brooklyn [specifically in the Bensonhurst region]. He has [had?] several things up on 18th avenue that wasnt just graffiti but a message to everyone in a witty delivery. It reminded me of Banksey almost. It isn't just any other tag like most of his works [http://a637.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/7/l_a38ad647e7599459df37c19c52ea83f4.jpg]. They have meaning... They have heart. They have his heart. They pulse & pump through the walls & streets while he isnt around. Not only does it have his heart, but his voice. [http://a695.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/47/l_d4c07cbe3aed6c276a9b75667bf9f19e.jpg]. How Miss 17 throws up a "17" or blatantly writing "Miss17", he has his own symbol, too. It is typically a smiley face with two M's for eyes [http://a313.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/5/l_f7defca3095383a0669cba44b5340550.jpg]. Whether he were to do that everywhere or just his statements, they still breathe with him. They still live with him. It's one reason I have been so into graffiti art for so long. It's the underestimated art in this modern world that gets frowned upon all the time.
I think one of his newer pieces says it all, really...
http://a849.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/56/l_ad3f71f0189e0cebefb73dddc236a200.jpg
Getting around B-hurst [where the guns burst] & Gravesend was probably what made me love graffiti & appreciate it for what it truly is. Seeing murals or even people's tags bubbled all over the N line or intricately placed high up on the D made it that much more interesting. Not only did they want their name known, but they went out of their way to specifically let you know that they're unique enough to go to the highest heights to do so. My tags werent really original.. PJ, however. His was the truest definition of art, despite the fact bystanders thought he was defacing property.
I look around the Brooklyn area & even the City towards the walls & subways just in amazement. People complain & paint over but I see it as people living vicariously through their pieces. I knew one kid, Marcus Motion, a while ago who has done several pieces around Brooklyn [specifically in the Bensonhurst region]. He has [had?] several things up on 18th avenue that wasnt just graffiti but a message to everyone in a witty delivery. It reminded me of Banksey almost. It isn't just any other tag like most of his works [http://a637.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/7/l_a38ad647e7599459df37c19c52ea83f4.jpg]. They have meaning... They have heart. They have his heart. They pulse & pump through the walls & streets while he isnt around. Not only does it have his heart, but his voice. [http://a695.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/47/l_d4c07cbe3aed6c276a9b75667bf9f19e.jpg]. How Miss 17 throws up a "17" or blatantly writing "Miss17", he has his own symbol, too. It is typically a smiley face with two M's for eyes [http://a313.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/5/l_f7defca3095383a0669cba44b5340550.jpg]. Whether he were to do that everywhere or just his statements, they still breathe with him. They still live with him. It's one reason I have been so into graffiti art for so long. It's the underestimated art in this modern world that gets frowned upon all the time.
I think one of his newer pieces says it all, really...
http://a849.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/56/l_ad3f71f0189e0cebefb73dddc236a200.jpg
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Ah. The aftermath of an election. People yelling Obama in pride. Others cursing his name. I find it how people get so hyped over something as trivial as Mace Windu winning or Darth Sideous. Rather ironic how politics engulfs our lives yet something like murder goes unseen by many. I guess promotion really gets people underway. If people wore shirts of a massacred body that said "Progress" or "NObama," shit would get acknowledged.
Reading Pillowman & just seeing everyday life really has gotten to me. It's so odd how some things go unnoticed yet others get called out... If you notice, not much attention was given with the death of the two little kids & the pending death of the Little Jesus girl revamped except by the families who brought it up. It didnt seem to get much light outside of that because of where they were from. It just makes no sense how even in present day America, crap like that goes down, too. People get kidnapped & killed & the second it may be a hate crime or some kind or brutality to the extreme, it gets its time in the limelight. Everything else is behind the closed curtains.
Reading Pillowman & just seeing everyday life really has gotten to me. It's so odd how some things go unnoticed yet others get called out... If you notice, not much attention was given with the death of the two little kids & the pending death of the Little Jesus girl revamped except by the families who brought it up. It didnt seem to get much light outside of that because of where they were from. It just makes no sense how even in present day America, crap like that goes down, too. People get kidnapped & killed & the second it may be a hate crime or some kind or brutality to the extreme, it gets its time in the limelight. Everything else is behind the closed curtains.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
*needs a title*
Eh. Today is election day. Everyone is hyping it up. I log onto my Facebook & I see "I have voted for *insert name here*" as if people care. Like, it's called "Election day" for a reason. We know you voted! Jeez... I would have liked to have seen something interesting put up there. Maybe "I did something productive with my life!" or "I just slaughtered an entire family with a toothpick, a pair of shoelaces, & some mouth wash" Something worth seeing.
But, yeah. It gave me some time to read since this was a slow day. I was reading The Devil's Rose [again] by Brom, who is my favorite artist, and thought about how it might actually play hand in hand with the Pillowman. In The Devil's Rose, we see how several hell beasts leave the bowels of their dark abyss & slaughter five individuals to take over their bodies. The protagonist of this story, Cole McGee, comes in & bit by bit takes them down. As he goes back to Hell to return his captured fugitives, we find out that the only reason he is fighting is to redeem his own personal demons. Hearing about Cole made me think of Katurian. He wrote because of all of the things he heard in his past as a youth similar to why Cole fights monsters & brings them back to their fiery prison. Katurian writes because he loves to, but it could have been so much better if not influenced by the pain & misery behind it. Cole does it because he feels like he has to pay back everything he has done in his life, but also if his life was different, it could have been so much better for him.
Oddly enough, though, how Brom wrote his book, more or less letting his artwork tell more of the tale than his words, I could have seen Pillowman being the same thing. No matter how graphic it may have been, I think images would have been much crazier to display it's point opposed. I could picture the Pillowman being a somewhat innocent creature but still look demented due to what his job entailed or visually seeing the girl in The Little Jesus.
But, yeah. It gave me some time to read since this was a slow day. I was reading The Devil's Rose [again] by Brom, who is my favorite artist, and thought about how it might actually play hand in hand with the Pillowman. In The Devil's Rose, we see how several hell beasts leave the bowels of their dark abyss & slaughter five individuals to take over their bodies. The protagonist of this story, Cole McGee, comes in & bit by bit takes them down. As he goes back to Hell to return his captured fugitives, we find out that the only reason he is fighting is to redeem his own personal demons. Hearing about Cole made me think of Katurian. He wrote because of all of the things he heard in his past as a youth similar to why Cole fights monsters & brings them back to their fiery prison. Katurian writes because he loves to, but it could have been so much better if not influenced by the pain & misery behind it. Cole does it because he feels like he has to pay back everything he has done in his life, but also if his life was different, it could have been so much better for him.
Oddly enough, though, how Brom wrote his book, more or less letting his artwork tell more of the tale than his words, I could have seen Pillowman being the same thing. No matter how graphic it may have been, I think images would have been much crazier to display it's point opposed. I could picture the Pillowman being a somewhat innocent creature but still look demented due to what his job entailed or visually seeing the girl in The Little Jesus.
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