During the Renaissance, cabinet of curiosities came into fashion as a collection of objects that would often defy classification. As a precursor to the modern museum, the cabinet referred to room(s), not actual furniture, of things that piqued the owners interest and would be collected and displayed in an aesthetically pleasing manner. Collectioun of Cunnynge Curioustes is my 21st century interpretation of that idea.
Dear Internet,
Listening
The Take Off and Landing of Everything by Elbow
I will write up a longer review after a few more listens, but first impressions? Near perfection. There are a few missteps, but it is an aural delight.
Reading
Near to the Wild Heart by Clarice Lispector
(Amazon | WorldCat | GoodReads)
Status: Currently reading
From a few days ago,
I’ve started Clarice Lispector’s Near to the Wild Heart and it is beyond exquisite. I injected half the book in one sitting last night and had stop because I was getting woozy on a Lispector overdose. She adroitly does things to language and words, even in translation from Portuguese to English that is just breathtaking. I am having trouble reconciling that it was published in 1943 as it reads so contemporary. Reading Lispector is breathing flames under the muse for me and I’m reconsidering how to write fiction.
I’m terrible at fiction. I always feel so damned constricted when trying to form the rules of the game, my writing comes out halting and unsure. I’ve got brilliant ideas for stories, I see the stories in my head as they are played out but getting them onto paper? No. The ease of my language sounds immature and protracted. Sure, you could argue if I practice more it would mature and grow and there is some truth into that. But I think because I’ve been reading tightly bound prose for so long, I’m near drunk on Lispector’s stream of consciousness and realising that yes, this is how you do it. This is how you give birth to a story and how it will end.
Feral. Unstructured and messy, like life.
Finished
Watching
- Last Tango in Halifax
Delightful series about two pensioners who reconnect after 60 years, their joining of lives, and the complexity of that joining. Second season tackled some very difficult areas and the ending tied up the big plot points. So on one hand, it wraps up nicely and pulls things together, and then presents some possibilities for a third season. But I hope this is not going to happen. The show has had its life and it needs to end a quiet death. - True Detective
The new anthology series by HBO ended slow and the tie up was kind of meh. But I am curious as to what will happen in season two. - Banshee
Why more people are not watching this show is beyond fucking me. Each episode of the second season was tight, dramatic, and brilliant. It’s just bloody awesome. Second season ended with a whole fuck load of plot points that means that season three is going to be fucking brilliant.
Weekly watching: The Americans, Survivor: Cagayan, Moone Boy, Edge of Heaven, Vikings, The Musketeers, Mr. Selfridge, Black Sails, Top Gear, Stella, University Challenge, House of Lies, Episodes, Archer, Under the Gunn, Justified, Reign, Elementary
Links
- Comics Artist Burns Books He Made With $50k in Kickstarter Funding
- Read All the Discworld Books with Mark Oshiro
- Curling: Right on the Button
Reviews
What have you read/watched/listened to this week?
x0x0,
lisa
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