From the 13th volume of Cerebus, some thoughts based on the notes and discussion at the end (an essay on F Scott Fitzgerald, and his impact on the storyline;
"does anyone else care about any of this? Probably not. 'Love at first sight' and all that rubbish. Ah, well. My story. My notes. Suffer dear reader, suffer..."
Well, considering that it is at the end of some 400 pages - in this volume alone, it is a safe bet that those who might suffer have already skipped ahead to the next book - if they even read it up to this point in the saga. But for the rest of us plowing through the part comic, part literary fan-art and part rant, the essay is a good thing. It adds a bit of almost required background, especially if F. isn't on your "most read" list.
So why do I read it? It is certainly a long way from the Conan'esqe character with his appetite for whiskey and the sword of the first issues. And it is also a bit removed from the fiery rhetoric of the mid-point. It is a bit more refined, thoughtful and reflected even. With the last day in sight, additional insight is welcome. Cerebus is truly a work like no other. Part comic, part rant, part literary musing and certainly part autobiography.
I can't help but wonder how it would have turned out if Sims had had other channels to vent his ideas alongside the comic - a blog and a podcast...?
"I see I am starting wrong. Let me begin again."
So simple a phrase - yet so full of meaning and messages. I'm not getting the reaction I desired, I'm too scared to finish what I set out to do, I'm no longer certain there is a goal in sight. Or; my mind has truth be told run off without my consent, and I really have now idea where this is going, so I'll try to somehow tie up the loose ends second time around.
Wednesday, March 15
Tuesday, March 14
Is this also me?
Found a rather interesting site called Personal DNA - which offers a pretty decent personality test (I've been through quite a few working as a management consultant) for free. It had an interesting twist on the usual "agree - disagree" scale, using for example a matrix with a movable "pin" so you could set your preference in two dimensions seamlessly. Not that I belive they use exact floats for calculation, guessing they round it to a ten point scale, but it was fun and easy to do.
And now on to the juicy stuff; my description was Free-Wheeling Inventor (with more description of the detailed results online)
But what I really liked was the visual - just like the boxes used in marketing research for comparing various stages of knowledge or intent to buy - available as a big square (below) or a smaller horizontal and vertical bar (might put it in the menu later as a test)
Very high on openness and masculinity, high confidence and authority. Most interesting thing with the profile was the suggestions for how to be slightly different - or 'expand your horizons' as some might call it.
The overall score and description fits pretty well with the ENTJ profile, as I posted a year ago; "They dislike to see mistakes repeated, and have no patience with inefficiency. They may become quite harsh when their patience is tried in these respects, because they are not naturally tuned in to people's feelings, and more than likely don't believe that they should tailor their judgments in consideration for people's feelings."
So I guess I am still me - one way or the other
...and the sun is slowly fading into the clouds at the end of what could have been a nice spring day, if the snow weren't two feet deep...
And now on to the juicy stuff; my description was Free-Wheeling Inventor (with more description of the detailed results online)
But what I really liked was the visual - just like the boxes used in marketing research for comparing various stages of knowledge or intent to buy - available as a big square (below) or a smaller horizontal and vertical bar (might put it in the menu later as a test)
Very high on openness and masculinity, high confidence and authority. Most interesting thing with the profile was the suggestions for how to be slightly different - or 'expand your horizons' as some might call it.
The overall score and description fits pretty well with the ENTJ profile, as I posted a year ago; "They dislike to see mistakes repeated, and have no patience with inefficiency. They may become quite harsh when their patience is tried in these respects, because they are not naturally tuned in to people's feelings, and more than likely don't believe that they should tailor their judgments in consideration for people's feelings."
So I guess I am still me - one way or the other
...and the sun is slowly fading into the clouds at the end of what could have been a nice spring day, if the snow weren't two feet deep...
Monday, March 6
A dynamic and fast-moving market?
Well, when it comes to the mass / volume market for computer games (pc), then it seems to be all abouot longevity here in Norway.
Consider last weeks top selling games. Number one was a pretty new entry from Star Wars. Then they line up with WoW at #2 (50 weeks and counting), Battlefield II at #3 (36 weeks) and The Sims 2 (51 weeks). Also in the top 10? One expansion for each of the last two.
So, does that mean that the mass market moves slowly, or simply that some of these games continue to capture new users each and every week, expanding their reach and building off the network effect (since both WoW and BF are mainly online, and Sims has a community aspect with the Exchange)?
Do all hardcore gamers rush out to get their pre-ordered games on release, leaving a short blip or burst on the sales chart the first weekend only to be followed by a veritable flatline?
Consider last weeks top selling games. Number one was a pretty new entry from Star Wars. Then they line up with WoW at #2 (50 weeks and counting), Battlefield II at #3 (36 weeks) and The Sims 2 (51 weeks). Also in the top 10? One expansion for each of the last two.
So, does that mean that the mass market moves slowly, or simply that some of these games continue to capture new users each and every week, expanding their reach and building off the network effect (since both WoW and BF are mainly online, and Sims has a community aspect with the Exchange)?
Do all hardcore gamers rush out to get their pre-ordered games on release, leaving a short blip or burst on the sales chart the first weekend only to be followed by a veritable flatline?
can't buy me love - but happiness?
from yahoo finance;
As the study notes, the incidence of happiness has held steady even as per capita income has more than doubled - which suggests money can't buy happiness. But a breakdown by income indicates otherwise. Twenty-four percent of people with household income under $30,000 are very happy, vs. 49 percent of those making $100,000-plus. The report resolves the paradox by saying that "what matters on the happiness front is not how much money you have, but whether you have more (or less) at any given time than everyone else."
cause and effect? are you more likely to make more money if you are inclined to be happy/positive - or is it simply good old envy; you are less happy if you know that you can't do what others can?
or are you more likely to have good friends and a supportive community (be it professional or more leisure oriented like rvb) if you aren't always busy keeping food on the table and the heat turned on?
...and the sun is giving a weak appearance behind the misty clouds...
As the study notes, the incidence of happiness has held steady even as per capita income has more than doubled - which suggests money can't buy happiness. But a breakdown by income indicates otherwise. Twenty-four percent of people with household income under $30,000 are very happy, vs. 49 percent of those making $100,000-plus. The report resolves the paradox by saying that "what matters on the happiness front is not how much money you have, but whether you have more (or less) at any given time than everyone else."
cause and effect? are you more likely to make more money if you are inclined to be happy/positive - or is it simply good old envy; you are less happy if you know that you can't do what others can?
or are you more likely to have good friends and a supportive community (be it professional or more leisure oriented like rvb) if you aren't always busy keeping food on the table and the heat turned on?
...and the sun is giving a weak appearance behind the misty clouds...
Sunday, March 5
Truth in fiction
There were two "incidents" last year, of truth meeting fiction, or literature, head on. The first occurred in Norway, when Solveig Ø?strem attacked her (former) friend the author Hanne Ø?rstavik [Nor wikip] for using her as a model for some of the less flattering persons in her stories. The title of the 'article'? "Damned cup of tea" [in Norwegian]
The other kicked off in Sweden, after Per Gunnar Evander released his "I min ungdom speglade jag mig ofta" (in my youth i ofte looked at myself in the mirror). A few months later his daughter attacked the book for its representation of 'truth' regarding , among other things, the relation to her sister who passed away after a car accident in 95.
How should authors deal with writing about their own lives and the people they know? Is there a hard line or a soft line in the sand, shifting in the wind and waves as we move into an even more open world (with blogs, myspace pages and other community profiles making more and more information available on the leaders of tomorrow)?
And then there was a case in the US - as coverd on On The Media; "James Frey's booze-and-drug-fueled memoir A Million Little Pieces was not, strictly speaking, based on truth"
So is it wrong to tell your story as highly fictional - keeping it the way you felt it might have gone or should have been - rather than sticking with the basic 'facts of life'? Or does it only become a problem when a lot of people start to read it, and use it as a guideline or shocking story?
And will a story ever be "true" when it is written by one person? Can we know why other people do or say the things they say? Can we even assume that they actually say what we think they say if we don't see the whole picture - such as body language, or the rest of thconversationon leading up to the statement?
Can we even be sure what we ourselves are actually thinking at any given time - and what is just after the facinterpretationon or rationalization in order to make sense of the events around us?
...and the sun melted a bit of the massive snow outside today...
The other kicked off in Sweden, after Per Gunnar Evander released his "I min ungdom speglade jag mig ofta" (in my youth i ofte looked at myself in the mirror). A few months later his daughter attacked the book for its representation of 'truth' regarding , among other things, the relation to her sister who passed away after a car accident in 95.
How should authors deal with writing about their own lives and the people they know? Is there a hard line or a soft line in the sand, shifting in the wind and waves as we move into an even more open world (with blogs, myspace pages and other community profiles making more and more information available on the leaders of tomorrow)?
And then there was a case in the US - as coverd on On The Media; "James Frey's booze-and-drug-fueled memoir A Million Little Pieces was not, strictly speaking, based on truth"
So is it wrong to tell your story as highly fictional - keeping it the way you felt it might have gone or should have been - rather than sticking with the basic 'facts of life'? Or does it only become a problem when a lot of people start to read it, and use it as a guideline or shocking story?
And will a story ever be "true" when it is written by one person? Can we know why other people do or say the things they say? Can we even assume that they actually say what we think they say if we don't see the whole picture - such as body language, or the rest of thconversationon leading up to the statement?
Can we even be sure what we ourselves are actually thinking at any given time - and what is just after the facinterpretationon or rationalization in order to make sense of the events around us?
...and the sun melted a bit of the massive snow outside today...
Friday, March 3
And in the third year he said to them...
that it was an honor of sort to actually still be doing this blog (even if it has been a bit quiet lately - more on that later), three years on from the first tentative baby steps, back when blogs where still a niche channel and podcasting not even a concept. Now in 2006 there is little doubt that the so called "user generated content" is finally taking a big step up, with interaction and conversations taking a much needed place in the spotlight.
We are after all social animals - so the fact that myspace and similar communities keep growing, and that people want to comment on and discuss the simple issues like the weather, should come as no surprise.
So why the draught of postings - is there a simple reason or just a set of good excuses?
First and foremost is the fact that I haven't been good enough at taking the time to do what I intended with the blog in the first place; put a different spin on a subject, get some tangential and loosely related thoughts and questions up - in order to make the readers and myself think a little more about an event or a concept.
But it has also evolved to serve as a sort of digital locker - where I keep links I find to fun or interesting sites and products, as well as articles (mainly in Wired) that are 'recommended reading'.
On to the ambition going forward to the double-point (that would be 06-06-06 obviously, nothing like a bit of numerology to fill the days, especially considering how many changes and adjustments our calendar has overgone through the centuries - which should probably be the subject of an upcoming post: the randomness of facts);
Make the blog more like a column or newsletter - try to get on major post in every week (most likely Friday or over the weekend), and add in one or two "link posts" during the week with everything from funny quizzes to new launches.
I'll also try to pick up some of the first post - and revisit the themes, to see if my ideas and inspirations takes us somewhere different than they did back then.
So, until the next time (hopefully over the weekend): have a marvy day and enjoy 3-3-6
We are after all social animals - so the fact that myspace and similar communities keep growing, and that people want to comment on and discuss the simple issues like the weather, should come as no surprise.
Looking back and walking forward
So why the draught of postings - is there a simple reason or just a set of good excuses?
First and foremost is the fact that I haven't been good enough at taking the time to do what I intended with the blog in the first place; put a different spin on a subject, get some tangential and loosely related thoughts and questions up - in order to make the readers and myself think a little more about an event or a concept.
But it has also evolved to serve as a sort of digital locker - where I keep links I find to fun or interesting sites and products, as well as articles (mainly in Wired) that are 'recommended reading'.
On to the ambition going forward to the double-point (that would be 06-06-06 obviously, nothing like a bit of numerology to fill the days, especially considering how many changes and adjustments our calendar has overgone through the centuries - which should probably be the subject of an upcoming post: the randomness of facts);
Make the blog more like a column or newsletter - try to get on major post in every week (most likely Friday or over the weekend), and add in one or two "link posts" during the week with everything from funny quizzes to new launches.
I'll also try to pick up some of the first post - and revisit the themes, to see if my ideas and inspirations takes us somewhere different than they did back then.
So, until the next time (hopefully over the weekend): have a marvy day and enjoy 3-3-6
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