n.u.c.l.e.a.r. s.k.y.

I just got home a week ago after spending ten amazing days in Copenhagen. Being there was so inspiring that I had to force myself to keep experiencing it instead of just sitting down every morning and writing all of my vacation days away. There were more than a few moments during my holiday that I’m sure I’ll look back on as being simultaneously the most surreal and most amusing moments of my life (such as wandering through a park at dawn after not sleeping, weaving flowers into my hair, and promptly falling asleep on the grass in front of a castle).

Unfortunately, upon my return home, reality and its twin sister depression set in. There was a time when I loved Los Angeles (albeit in the way a successful, intelligent older sibling loves their forty-two year old brother who still lives at home in mom’s basement) but now everything here feels old and stale (which is somewhat ironic, considering eternal youth seems to be the mantra and creed of Hollywood). I feel more motivated than ever to sprint towards publication, but when I sit down to write, the words just won’t come. Each sentence I construct is a lesson in patience and a catalyst for self-doubt. And there’s always the big, scary question lurking under all of the little annoyances: am I good enough? Will people actually read the words I’m writing, or will they be just as bored by my two-dimensional characters and lackluster plot as I am? Am I just wasting my time? As the title suggests, I feel like I’m the blind leading the stupid when it comes to finishing these books, and lucky me, I’m playing both parts of the show.

I only have mundane, personal-life things to complain about this week (which have been keeping my mind off of more important global issues).

♠ Going to the dentist
♠ Project management
♠ My college’s financial aid office
♠ Headaches
♠ Packing

♠ MPD Psycho. I’ve been revisiting my love for twisted, gory manga, and this series is definitely at the top of my list of favorites. There are flowers planted in brains while the victims are still alive, gutted corpses hanging from trees, fourteen-year-old serial killers with multiple personalities, chicks with strap-ons, and cannibalistic murderers with eating disorders. If you’re in the mood for something a little twisted, try one of the following: MPD Psycho, Uzumaki, Ichi the Killer, Jisatsu Circle, or Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service.

♠ The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. I don’t think I’ve read a book this intriguing since Gravity’s Rainbow. There’s no way to describe it using the language common to most book reviews; it isn’t engaging and it certainly isn’t moving. If anything, it’s exactly the opposite, and that’s what I like about it. The protagonist is surrounded by the extraordinary, and yet he somehow manages to make the events and characters he encounters seem absolutely mundane. Like most of Murakami’s other novels, it’s definitely not an easy read– but then, most masterpieces aren’t.

“Without mathematics, there is no art.”

-Luca Pacioli

(Photo by S. Lo)

Stuff I like today…

♠ Having a president-elect who collects comic books. And it gets even better: according to this BBC News article, Marvel will be releasing a special edition of The Amazing Spider-Man that features Obama.

♠ Really cute cephalopods. Such as piglet squids and dumbo octopi, for example. I guess the case could be made that all cephalopods are cute, but I have a feeling not everyone would agree with that assessment.

Honorable Mentions: Avant-Garde Architecture | Unnecessary Knowledge | Hitchhiker’s Guide

“I’ll example you with thievery:
The sun’s a thief, and with his great attraction
Robs the vast sea; the moon’s an arrant thief,
And her pale fire she snatches from the sun;
The sea’s a thief, whose liquid surge resolves
The moon into salt tears.”

-Timon of Athens,
William Shakespeare

(Photo by R. Motti)

8:46PM: Nothing is ever going to be the same again, and I’m going to wake up tomorrow with a smile on my face.

4:22PM: The results are starting to trickle in. McCain takes Kentucky and Obama takes Vermont, no surprises there. McCain is currently at 8 electoral votes, Obama is at 3.

1:03PM: Found on NYTimes.com:

“A woman from Lansing, Mich., called because she was confused by the pictures of old presidents next to candidate names on the ballots at her polling place. She said there was a picture of Abraham Lincoln next to John McCain’s name and a blurry picture of an president she didn’t recognize next to Barack Obama’s name.”

“The hotline received a handful of complaints about fake messages from Hilary Clinton and the mayor of Philadelphia urging people to vote on Wednesday.”

“In one elaborate case, someone posted fraudulent fliers in the Hampton Roads area in southeast Virginia on what appeared to be official state letterhead. The fliers said that because of increased registration, the state legislature had met in a special session and decided to make Republicans vote on Tuesday and Democrats on Wednesday.”

11:13AM: Go vote. No seriously, why are you just sitting there, reading this post? Stop being lazy, stop being apathetic, go put some pants on, go stand in line, and vote.

♠ Political Mud-Slinging. One thing I hate most about election season, especially towards the end of the race, is all the negative campaigning. I might be biased, being an Obama supporter, but it seems like the McCain side is particularly guilty of trash-talk this time around. Maybe it works on some folks, but for me, seeing a negative ad about something as ridiculous as a person’s middle name (Obama’s seems to have gotten a lot of attention) automatically makes me start considering the other guy.

♠ NaNoWriMo. This will be my third year participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), and as usual, I’m actually excited about the prospect of trying to crank out 50,000 words in 30 days.

♠ Olivia Wilde. She plays “Thirteen” on House, supports Obama, and happens to be one of the most beautiful women alive. Personally, I think it’s pretty clear that she and I are meant to be married and live happily ever after, but I don’t think her husband would agree.