Ron Paulitics

sludge posted:

I just read Babel-17/Empire Star and Trouble on Triton: an abiguous hetereotopia by Samuel Delaney. The former gets into linguistics and the effect of language on the way one thinks. It's cool because Empire Star is an attached novella that gets referenced in Babel-17. Trouble on Triton examines our culture by thrusting us into an extirely foreign society where gender roles and notions of sexuality as we known them are entirely different.

Delaney is great but his stuff gets kinda painful to read when his thoughts on sex start leaking into it.

The only Joyce I've ever read is Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man. I hated it with a deep passion. A book should work like this: Plot, then symbolism. I feel like Portrait was, "Symbolism, symbolism, symbolism... and I'll squeeze in some plot thingies. There! An instant classic!" Example? The main character's last name is Dedalus. He is not Greek. It's just that Dedalus was the father of Icarus. Okay, so I'll name the character of my book John Midas because he sacrifices his family for wealth. It's brilliant I say, brilliant!

He's just simply not worth the attention he's received. Stream-of-conciousness my ass. If you want an author who can really read people's thoughts, read Tolstoy.

However, I understand that I may not have read one of his best works. I've just never given him another try after reading Portrait. I suppose I should. But just thinking of Portrait still makes me shudder. And please, no replies about how I "didn't get it."

I finally read Dune and I loooooved it! But now I've got a question: Should I read the rest of the books? Some people have said that I should not in any way read the sequels to Dune because it will ruin everything I loved about the first. Other people have said that at least the first few are good reads. Comments?

Also (related to Dune but not the question at hand), I was at Gamestop yesterday in Evanston, IL where one of my friends works. As I'm chilling by the counter, this guy walks in to reserve a game. He gives his last name: Harkonen. The nerd in me popped out and I say, "Really? Like Harkonen from Dune?" and the guy answers, "Yeah. My dad worked with Herbert and they were big rivals so..." I thought it was pretty damn cool.

My Girlfriend is a typical uninformed American who only gets her facts from CNN and family guy and the like. Her parents (who are 100% straight up pot smoking hippies, obviously liberal) basically reinforce this idea. It makes me so fucking angry to hear her talk about how she likes Hillary, but has NO REASONS to back this up. Any well informed, well educated person knows that Hillary's views are ANTI AMERICAN, aka she wants government to be in charge of everything and wants to make American a big nanny state.

It makes me so frigging angry talking to her, because she's so frigging left side, where i am middle of the road! I hate Hilary (democrat) and I hate Mike Bloomberg (Republican, NY City Mayor). And i LOVE Giuliani! I know I'm being shallow but god damnit does it piss me off. At least if she had an informed opinion I could respect it, but i hate these people who just think

A) she's a woman, and a woman president would be progressive! (balls in mouth)

B) She's a democrat and i like democrats (balls in mouth)

C) She's a Clinton, and Bill was a great president (Clinton WAS a good president, but gets FAR to much credit, as the economy had NOTHING to do with him being in office).

D) She's all of the above and i only listen to CNN and only get the liberal side and nothing else! (balls back in mouth)

Ok, end rant. Start sleepless night caused by aggravation caused by a stupid subject (i guess)