Recently finished

I just finished Galatea 2.2 by Richard Powers. I'm not sure what I think of the book, it was definately different. Good writer, odd premise. Half biographical memoir, half fictional story, it placed the author in a fictional story through which during the course of events he was able to reflect on the previous 15 years of his life. It all pulls together, sort of, in the end, that is if you're like me and you like to pull all sorts of crazy meanings out of books that the authors may or may not have intended (although I'm inclined to believe writers hide far more of that stuff in their intentionally than we might think).

It's not the sort of book i'd recommend to everyone, or in fact manyones. You'd have to be the sort of person who likes the sort of novels you'd read in a literary course for english majors in some pretentious private college. If you like those, or you like the sort of novels that you can write papers about, you might like this one.

It was way heavy. Not weight-wise, but it took me quite awhile to trudge through the 326 pages. I'd suspect that it will take me half that time to read the 400+ pages of my next book, Sons of the Oak, a pulp fantasy sequel to a series i've liked on-and-off for the past couple years. After that, I either go to the short story book by Susanna Clarke (who wrote the best fantasy novel of the past many years in Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrell) or back to the heaviness with more Garcia-Marquez (Love in the Time of Cholera). we'll see. maybe something else will catch my eyes between now and then.

Warning--insert football post here

Both my boys won today. Can you believe the Chiefs pulled that one out? Me either. and the Bears? good boys. Reminds me of a joke. Chris, you've heard this one before...

Where do you let a bear dance?

Anywhere it wants to. True that.

I'm not in the panther cage, you're in the panther cage.

So I've been reading a lot lately, and by lately i mean this year. I've always loved reading, from before i could read even (my parents say that from a very young age, i loved paging through books in my crib & such). I go through phases in my life where i'll read a lot for awhile, then i won't read barely anything for a long time. Well, i've been on public transportation most of this year (which i don't mind much of the time), which allots me a good hour plus of read time every day.

In the past, one of my stumbling blocks was finding somethign I wanted to read. I have a short attention span, so if I don't find something I love fast, i lose interest and then it just sort of gets put on the side. Well, for whatever reason, I've become motivated to read--in general--and this has helped me trudge through some stuff I might not have in the past. Kinda nifty, 'cuz I've found a lot of quality reads.

I've been reading mostly pretentious literature--nobel prize winners (100 Years of Solitude by Gabrielle Garcia-Marquez), foreign authors (The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy), modern american classics ("No Country for Old Men" by Cormac McCarthy), and my current book was picked because I was reading a list of the Top 100 First Lines from novels in the past 100 years (Galatea 2.2 by Richard Powers). It's really interesting to me, because I have definately noticed why these books are considered "good literature." There's just something about their writing styles--not necissarily their plots or characters or anything, but they just write better. I'm not sure I can describe exactly why yet--i'm working on it--but it's pretty clear.

I've also read my share of pop culture literature, and even a little bit of pulp(I Love You Beth Cooper by Larry Doyle, etc.), and while they certianly don't share the intellectual satisfaction, they've been a whole lot of fun to read. I think I like them just as much. They're a lot faster reads, that's for sure.

Anyways, you can take a look on my page and see all the books i've read this year. i'm pretty excited. I've still got a few more months left to rack up my year-long list. Suggestions, always welcome. Won't promise i'll read it, but i'll listen.

Did you see Heroes?

can I just say, "holy crap!?!?!"

Frankie, this is for you (no football, I promise)

True: conformable to an essential reality, fully realized or fulfilled; being that which is the case rather than what is manifest or assumed

Fact: something that has actual existence; an actual occurrence

So i've been thinking a lot about the disparency between something being true and something being factual. Mostly, i blame Madelaine L'Engle for the line of thought, but the more i think about it the more I've come to the conclusion that something can be true without being factual. In fact as an artist, I think it's not only possible, but it's necessary. How else can fiction be relevant to us as a society beyond anything more than passing amusement if it doesn't contain truth. I find it hard to believe that we would even find fiction amusing if it didn't contain some bit of truth to which we could relate somehow.

Jesus himself was pretty familiar with this idea, consciously or not. One of his primary methods of teaching was through parables and stories, little imaginary vignette's of life he used to illustrate important lessons and truths of God, life, and following Him. In this vein, I find it more and more likely that much of the stories from the Bible aren't literal, factual events, but rather stories and "based on a true story" chosen by God and used to illustrate and important truth about Him.

Take, for example, the book of Job. Science considers that it is probably the first book of the bible that was written. Some theories ascribe it's authorship to Moses (just like Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, & Deuteronomy), but nobody's really sure. It's a difficult story to place chronologically in the Old Testament, and it's even placed in the category of "poetry" books. Not that I disagree...

But my point is that I personally find it highly unlikely that this story actually happened. This was a story, a philosophical exposition, a poem that some inspired and dedicated follower of God used to address some pretty big questions of life in general as well as reveal some characteristics of God (among many other things). Could it have happened? certianly, it could have, but does the fact of it's happening or not happening change at all the truths that are contained within?

As an artist--a songwriter and writer of other things in theory--this becomes quite important to us, this ability to be true without being factual. I once heard a sermon about art & christianity, and the speaker explained that the responsibilities of christian artists (and if you're Madelaine L'Engle, you believe that all art--all true art--is christian regardless of the beliefs of the artist) are two-fold: to tell the people stories (or truths) about God, and to tell God stories (or truths) about the people. now, getting into the details of THAT is a whole nother blog or book or pages upon pages, but the important thought is that if fiction can contain truth, then we must let go of our preconceptions that something must be factual to be true.

We have to embrace that learning and knowledge isn't just memorization and facts. Songs and stories and movies and comic books can all be viable and powerful methods of communicating truth (remember, you always communicate with, never communicate to). Fiction can be as valuable in education as multiplication tables. We are losing the traditions of storytelling and folklore and fables in our culture, and with this loss comes the loss of the truths conveyed there-in.

Or something.

And just to make it one of Frankie's favorite posts...
I like a girl. and her name begins with....a letter....of the alphabet....

On the Playlist for this Post...
The Fratellis Costello Music

Ricky, this is for you

So Ricky Borba shows up for our flag football game this weekend, and for the second time in the last two times he's talked to me, he says to me, "nate i really wish you'd start blogging again." so, ricky, this is for you. I'll come back with a little bit more important stuff to talk about later (or never), but I gotta start with this:

Flag football stats so far!
Today I:
caught 3 passes for estimated 30 yards (including one that was tipped by another player before i snagged it out of the air). i also dropped one other pass that went right through my hands
i threw 3 touchdown passes, 1 interception, and got sacked once. I don't know the exact stats, but I would guess my passing was probably about 12-14 of 26-30 for 130 yards-ish.
had 3-4 "tackles," one pass defensed, and probably about a few blow assignments.


Last week, if I remember...
I threw 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions. I dont' remember getting sacked at all, but i might have had one. The touchdown was probably the best pass i've thrown in my life to Chris F who could be a dangerous target for me this year.
I rushed probably about 6-7 times for probably 40-50 yards.
Defensively, i didn't do much stat-wise (though I directed the defense from the middle linebacker spot). i probably got 3-4 "tackles" and i deflected one pass i should have intercepted.

with 8 more games to go, I should set a goal or something. I'd like to throw a total of 15 touchdowns with 14 or less interceptions. I'd like to run (in games were rushing is allowed) an average of about 25-30 yards per game. I'd like 4-5 interceptions, 3-4 sacks, and an average of 3-4 "tackles" per game.


I should also put together a simple short rule book for our house rules. You know, "if we have 7 on 7, we play like this. if we have 8-on-8, etc."

anyways, that's all for now