tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7229875339727095184.post1029164028620517316..comments2024-03-18T15:17:26.003-05:00Comments on l'astronave: The End of the TourFrescahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15323129046492056942noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7229875339727095184.post-86249688570861008872015-09-06T11:56:30.400-05:002015-09-06T11:56:30.400-05:00ARTSPARKER:
Ha, yes, all that back-and-forth about...ARTSPARKER:<br />Ha, yes, all that back-and-forth about how accurate the movie was---that's stuff for true believers, not for me.<br /> <br />The movie stands on its own, as all movies must, and I don't care about how correct it is or isn't.<br /><br />Your comment makes me realize I didn't really think about David Lipsky's character and his struggles, though they're very interesting.<br />I've been interested to watch Jesse Eisenberg ever since <i>The Social Network</i>--I thought he really portrayed the pain of feeling a mix of admiration and resentment/envy--as you say, surely recognizable to a lot of us! To me, anyway. <br />Like when DL winces as he reads <i>Infinite Jest</i>, recognizing that, damn, all the praise it's getting isn't just hype and he can't just dismiss it.<br />Ouch. I get it.<br /><br />I had also like Jason Segel in <i>Jeff Who Lives at Home</i>, which charmed me.<br /><br />Frescahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15323129046492056942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7229875339727095184.post-16859764409796331072015-09-05T14:21:01.894-05:002015-09-05T14:21:01.894-05:00I went to see the film mostly for the actors (who ...I went to see the film mostly for the actors (who have diametrically opposed styles) and was not disappointed. I have read reviews and objections to it not being TOTALLY ACCURATE as to who DFW was, to it being insufficiently delivering of the goods and who he really was, and so on, which strike as comments somewhat naive and beside the point. The most remarkable thing about the script was David Lipsky's apparent honesty about his own sense of standing in the shadow of a more talented writer. From my point of view, it was a reasonably interesting examination of some issues for creatives, and also the state of envy and how to cope with it (which is more universal) which gave the two actors an excuse to go at it. <br /><br />And I have to admit, I've read no David Foster Wallace, so I didn't have a dog in the race. ArtSparkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04875996639432864367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7229875339727095184.post-57218699186543944302015-09-03T16:13:53.096-05:002015-09-03T16:13:53.096-05:00Frex = Fresca
OK, Clowncar, this chat has convinc...<br />Frex = Fresca<br /><br />OK, Clowncar, this chat has convinced me the time has come to at least pick up <i>Infinite Jest</i>.<br /><br />On American Loneliness, I always appreciated what Mother Teresa said (mutatis mutandis re "God"):<br /><br />“The greatest disease in the West today is not TB or leprosy; it is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for. We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair, and hopelessness is love. There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread but there are many more dying for a little love. The poverty in the West is a different kind of poverty -- it is not only a poverty of loneliness but also of spirituality. There's a hunger for love, as there is a hunger for God.”<br /><br />― Mother Teresa, _A Simple Path: Mother Teresa_<br /><br />Hm. I wonder what one could point to as a Cool Marker for women...<br />Must think on this.<br />Frexhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13191192404386975664noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7229875339727095184.post-57635915494225170592015-09-03T16:07:09.720-05:002015-09-03T16:07:09.720-05:00"DFW in the movie suggests it's a kind of..."DFW in the movie suggests it's a kind of loneliness. "<br /><br />I still haven't seen it.<br /><br />But we live in a lonely American landscape, and I think one of the book's MANY central ideas is that flavor of loneliness specific to modern America. My guess as to why it's a guy book is that guys have fewer ways of expressing that loneliness, and fewer avenues available to dispel it.<br /><br />That is, it's a guy book to those who have read it. For those who haven't, it's just a totem saying, "I'm cool." And guys are more prone to that kind of thing.<br /><br />I know I am. clowncarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16776771673503655770noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7229875339727095184.post-20595959522507321362015-09-01T08:11:43.768-05:002015-09-01T08:11:43.768-05:00CLOWNCAR: Well, I am truly out of touch:
I did no...CLOWNCAR: Well, I am truly out of touch: <br />I did not know DFW had become such a Guy Thing. Don't women like it too? A *woman* I know wrote her thesis on it for her MA in Theology.<br /><br />I suppose to some people, it's a style Marker--the sort of book you have on your bookshelf but don't read. But the article isn't very smart about it: <br />she doesn't address my question, WHAT IS IT about IJ that appeals to men especially?<br /><br />DFW in the movie suggests it's a kind of loneliness. <br />If so, that might call for compassion and curiosity, not sneers.<br /><br />The movie won't suffer for being seen on a small screen. (Remember life before Netflix? It sucked.) I was disappointed in how uninteresting it was visually, how the director didn't exploit the nature of film. There's one shot of the interviewer's shoe that is nice, and some windows, otherwise it's your basic talking heads. <br /><br />Here's a weird thing: I was thinking IJ was a later book. I looked it up and it came out in 1996... That's almost twenty years ago!<br />Frescahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15323129046492056942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7229875339727095184.post-47122861179858442015-08-31T12:43:04.653-05:002015-08-31T12:43:04.653-05:00“That guy,” she said. “I just feel like he’s first...“That guy,” she said. “I just feel like he’s first in line to see the David Foster Wallace movie.”<br /><br />This article - http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2015/08/13/men_who_love_david_foster_wallace_what_s_wrong_with_bros_obsessing_over.html - is very dismissive of IJ's audience, and I found it borderline offensive (though she does note in passing she's talking about guys who haven't actually read it).<br /><br />I'll see it eventually. It won't come to town, so I have to wait for Netflix.clowncarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16776771673503655770noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7229875339727095184.post-60047373883083308152015-08-31T11:49:58.646-05:002015-08-31T11:49:58.646-05:00CLOWNCAR! Hi! Nice to see you, old blog compatriot...CLOWNCAR! Hi! Nice to see you, old blog compatriot!<br /><br />I thought of you and how <i>Infinite Jest</i> kept you company during a bad stretch. Really bad. I haven't read it. <br /><br />I first read DFW before he published IJ, and I'd never associated him with the bros until his take on who his readers are turned up in the movie. When the interviewer asks him, his answer (young men) made sense to me;<br /> but in fact, , I'd thought he was going to say what Sherman Alexei says: <br /> nice, well-educated, white women (me!).<br /><br />Anyway, that's all an aside. I did like the movie (even if the director made it a bit too much of a hagiography) and would be interested in your take, if you see it.<br /><br /><br />Frescahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15323129046492056942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7229875339727095184.post-3405488357921216762015-08-31T10:51:55.717-05:002015-08-31T10:51:55.717-05:00I haven't seen the movie, but I am one of thos...I haven't seen the movie, but I am one of those "he's" who spent a school semester reading Infinite Jest, while waiting for my eldest daughter to get out of school, and I'd leave to pick her up earlier and earlier, so I could read it more. It's a messy, flawed, self-indulgent book, but there is such compassion there when it works, and he has the ability to drill deep down inside people's heads and get at what is really going on. He was on the way to find a new way to write a novel, and it's leaves me sad and lonely too, Fresca, to know he never made it there. clowncarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16776771673503655770noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7229875339727095184.post-85072101659751070032015-08-30T18:53:43.145-05:002015-08-30T18:53:43.145-05:00I had NOT caught the Gunderson connection. Even be...I had NOT caught the Gunderson connection. Even better!<br />"Why kill yourself? Here ya are, and it's a beautiful day..."Frescahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15323129046492056942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7229875339727095184.post-31339866444535783602015-08-28T13:26:17.666-05:002015-08-28T13:26:17.666-05:00Did you notice that Joan Cuscack’s character’s ful...Did you notice that Joan Cuscack’s character’s full name is Patty Gunderson? A little <i>Fargo</i> homage.<br /><br />The bro-ness of so much of the DFW audience made me flee all things DFW for a while. When I hear someone saying that he (it’s always a he) spent the summer drinking whiskey and reading <i>Infinite Jest</i> , I want to run the other way. Michael Leddyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05547732736861224886noreply@blogger.com