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Belated Happy Birthday To C.S. Lewis


Yesterday was C.S. Lewis’ birthday.

Like many English speaking folks (especially those, like myself, raised within Lewis’ own Anglican communion), Lewis was a big part of my reading childhood. I devoured all those Narnia books which, in the bad old days before the internet, took a while to finally collect.

My own favorite (though I gather it is not held in high esteem by critics and Lewis scholars) was The Horse and His Boy.

Later, I delved into his more adult stuff: The Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce, and Out of the Silent Planet (I never read the rest of the series, rather feeling it to be similar to, but ultimately second best to Madeleine L’Engle’s series beginning with A Wrinkle in Time).

Later, when going through a difficult time, I read a book he wrote after his wife’s death, A Grief Observed.

I should also note his scholarly book, The Allegory of Love. Though I have to admit that I have not read it, it is reckoned be a very important work in developing our understanding of medieval literature and the medieval mind and it is a reminder that C.S. Lewis was not just a children’s writer nor just a Christian polemicist, but an Oxford don and a scholar of no little repute.

His books combine to form a Christian theodicy, an explication of how evil and suffering can exist in a world created by a perfect and loving god.

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My Xbox 360 Died


This is a sad time because, yes, I do waste hours playing video games.

Not only did it die, but it’s out of warranty.

Not only that, but the first attempt at securing a replacement was a failure because the store only had the super deluxe packages, not the bare minimum package.

Also, I just received FIFA 2012 (that being a soccer game) and haven’t been able to play it yet.

And I’m very afraid of losing my saved games from Mass Effect 1 & 2.

Let me briefly justify myself. Mass Effect is a classic space opera as a video game. Straight from the golden age. The great E.E. ‘Doc’ Smith (of the Lensman series) would have been proud to have written this story.

It’s also a trilogy and my choices from the first game affects circumstances in the second game and choices from them both will affect the third game (which will be released next year). I’ve been a geeky completist, going through all the little side quests, playing the main character as both a man and a woman (the latter did, at least initially, make me feel a little uncomfortably, I’ll confess – what can I say? American men are not known for being enormously confident in their sexuality), choosing different characters to pursue romantically (which felt very awkward when playing as a woman), and playing as a ‘paragon’ (good guy) or a ‘renegade’ (kind of mean spirited, get the job done at all costs guy). This way, when Mass Effect 3 comes out, I can play it through a couple of times and see how those choices play out. Whatever. Make fun of me all you want. But you can see how I wouldn’t want to have go through all that again, right?

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Los Angeles Loves Poetry More Than San Francisco


Yeah. I said it.

‘Cause LA puts poetry on its damn metro cards. Take that SF!

By the way, the LA subway system is underrated. I used to take it quite a bit.

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Book Nook Porn


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Handwritten Newspapers


Yes, they still exist.

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I Want To Be Adopted


Joking aside, this ‘adopt a poet’ idea is pretty darn good.

Putting poetry in the position of being a break from the usual workday would, I think, make people more appreciative of poetry, give people positive feelings even towards poetry the might ordinarily view as not being their cup of tea.

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Happy Thanksgiving


Happy freakin’ Thanksgiving. Now read some poetry. Maybe Emerson. He’s American-y. Or maybe Whitman, but he was probably gay and that’s controversial and maybe anti-American-y the Republicans tell me.

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Anne McCaffrey Died


McCaffrey wrote the Drgon Riders of Pern series of novels – ubiquitous when I prowled the science fiction/fantasy sections of bookstores in the eighties and nineties.

I only read one of her books, but oddly enough, the one I remember most is one I didn’t read. It had a compelling cover – The White Dragon. I never read it, but that cover stuck with me.

 

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Another Book Chain Going Down?


Let’s hope not, but these are some unsettling numbers from the Alabama based Books-A-Million.

I actually saw and shopped at my first Books-A-Million while living in Alabama. Though it devolved from a basic, big box bookstore like a Barnes and Noble into something that sold calendars and overstocked books, they’re not all like that. There’s one on Dupont Circle here in DC. I even bought my first Anne Carson book there. But’s also right by the great indie bookstore, Kramer’s Books. Hard to compete with that. Especially when Kramer’s serves alcohol and has a bar. My friend Dzifa and I used to drink there all the time after work some ten years ago. Good times.

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OccuPoetry: Poets Supporting Economic Justice


Another group of poets coming out in support of the Occupy Movement and its emphasis on addressing the growing economy inequality in our country – OccuPoetry.

One of the founders is a professor at UC Davis – the university where police pepper sprayed students engaged in non-violent resistance.