Periodic shouting against the wind, or proposing an ANNUAL U.S. ARTS LOTTERY

Recently was reading an article about literary prizes in which the author stated it has become common knowledge that they are "akin to a lottery." Indeed. This is why WE SHOULD HAVE A LOTTERY. Get rid of all these arts administrators who give out prizes and such, or redirect their energy to creating a database of artists and have an annual drawing, giving away dozens or hundreds or thousands of monetary prizes, each winner drawn as in a lottery. Get rid of the pretense of quality and especially get rid of competition between apples and oranges, and just have a lottery. So simple! It could be a magnificent day of suspense and celebration -- and "losing" wouldn't suggest an insult, "they hate me," as now but simple poor luck. THE ANNUAL U.S. ARTS LOTTERY, prime time, an hour of drawing and giving out money to artists and artistic groups. No competition! All based on good fortune! This is the best idea on the subject in ages. Someone with youth and energy should take this ball, run with it, and score a touch down.

End of periodic shouting against the wind. Well, hell with the compromise -- end of periodic pissing against the wind.

World is Drowning in Corporate fraud | Common Dreams

World is Drowning in Corporate fraud | Common Dreams:

"Hardly a day passes without a new story of malfeasance. Every Wall Street firm has paid significant fines during the past decade for phony accounting, insider trading, securities fraud, Ponzi schemes, or outright embezzlement by CEOs."

All Hail the PUBLIC Library | Common Dreams

All Hail the PUBLIC Library | Common Dreams:

"This is not the time to take the word “public” out of the public library. It is time to put it in capitals."

Knee Jerk (poem)

Knee Jerk

As soon as I heard
Osama bin Laden
was dead I wondered
how long it would take
for the racists and crazies
to spin the event
into a conspiracy
perpetrated by
the Great Pretender
our so-called President
foreigner Muslim (sshh) nigger
a fake death
to make us over-confident
to make us more vulnerable
in his unholy quest
to make the world Muslim.

It took less time
than it took to write
this poem.

--Charles Deemer

Audio books

Graham Greene

One thing I find disappointing about the new Kindle universe is that so many books I want to reread are not scanned. Indeed, literature of the 40s-70s, where so many of my favorite books are found, more likely than not will not have a Kindle version. I am particularly disappointed that my favorite novelist, Graham Greene, is not "Kindlized" yet. However, many of his books have audio book versions, including in a Kindle friendly format, so I decided to try one. I purchased the audio book version of The Human Factor.

Tim Piggot-Smith

The book is read by Tim Piggot-Smith, and this audio book is a gem. I regard the novel very highly, of course, and this reading is superb. Dramatic, engaging, just a joy to listen to. I've become a new audio book fan and after this I think I will listen to Derek Jacobi reading The Iliad. Audio books are a regular part of my "reading" now, I think.

Aging

Feeling old lately, the aches of moving parts worse, a greater exhaustion from teaching and grading, the pits. Trend or passing condition? Find out soon enough. Meanwhile a struggle today.

Summer video

I came up with a summer video project I can do alone and use in class: a narrated comparison of parts of the screenplay of The Fr Lt's Woman with corresponding scenes, showing how the stark simple clarity of Pinter's writing translates into lush film storytelling, clarifying what the screenwriter contributes -- and does not contribute -- to movies. I can make a 15 min or 30 min video and use it in class. If it comes off as I imagine, this would be very useful -- and I'd put it online so other teachers and students can access it. A worthy project.

More on Kindle

I haven't paid much attention to the audio features of Kindle. But today I loaded some classical mp3s. Very nice. And I tested text to speech, which is quite good and, to my surprise, works with my own documents. I can have Kindle read a screenplay to me, for example. Again, very nice.

Don't look now but ...

...the Mariners have won 4 in a row and are only a game from getting out of last place. This is a big deal in the rainy Northwest.

Red carpet

Hey, Yanks, let's not get too smug about the wedding across the pond. We have the Oscars!

Brilliant film

Energizing my weary body today, sort of, by watching for the upteenth time The French Lieutenant's Woman built from Harold Pinter's brilliant screenplay. Never see enough of this one. I need to teach it next year. Never have because the screenplay is out of print but I can work around that. Yes, I can.

Recovery

A very exhausting week for some reason. May take me a few days to recover. Takes longer for an old fart.

Rough day

More midterms to do ...

Midterms

Mids to grade and banjo class tonight ... so much for today.

A very busy week

A full day of student conferences ahead. I also collect midterms, which means I read them all day tomorrow, a lengthy chore. Thurs we share the best of them in class. Next week we study Juno. Onward.

Royal Wedding (poem)

Royal Wedding

It is important to remember
amidst all the flashing cameras
the media's drooling over-statements
the ostentatious glory of it all
royalty indeed being different
and the bride is so beautiful
and the groom is so cool
so why not wish them the best?
even as we remember
because it's important to remember
that even as they give their vows
even at this very moment
in the dark shadows of Afghanistan
there is a young teenager as
beautiful as any future queen
if you know what to look for
a girl who dreams of her future
no less than commoners wedding
royalty a girl not yet a woman
but woman enough for the soldiers
who drag her into the barn and
have their way with her before
beheading her for her sin of
compliance the unholy whore
it is helpful to put royal
weddings in perspective in
this larger vision of the world
because this and not royal
weddings is what we must call

reality

--Charles Deemer

20th Century Fox Starts “Emerging Writers” Program To Incubate Original Script Ideas – Deadline.com

20th Century Fox Starts “Emerging Writers” Program To Incubate Original Script Ideas – Deadline.com

Celebration (poem)

Celebration

I celebrate writers who
are dead. They don't need
charisma. They don't peddle
books after readings or
have a Facebook page.

The longer dead, the better.
A man can do worse than
read Greek classics the rest
of his days. Far worse.

Dead authors speak over time
as if time did not matter.
If they don't, they quickly
are forgotten and truly
dead. I celebrate writers
who speak living words from
the grave. There are many.

Forget the lists and the clubs
(Pound said never join
a Book Club!) and the hype
and the awards and the prizes
and tune your own ear to
your own frequency -- and
when you find it, keep
the power on, keep the
power on. And listen.

--Charles Deemer

Uncensored

When From Here To Eternity was published in fifties it was heavily censored ... in May the original version is being released and I just ordered Kindle version.

So far so good

Short of something turning up on blood tests I am still alive and kicking. Have scheduled separate eye and ear exams. Go the whole hog. Back to gray and lazy.