Hey MA, thanks for welcoming my friend. BTW- love the new avatar - the man on the step ladder. Where did you find it?
I know, right? But hey, anything to be more "sociable" . You're welcome to the comments; I had fun rereading and wracking my brain to see if there were any suggestions I could make. Thanks for the headsup on the ItunesU; I'll definitely check it out! That's a good way to take a look at possible colleges too...Enjoy D! I'm dying to read something else by him, but in interests of diversity, especially in my senior year, I'm trying to cram in a few last minute classics (unfortunately most of them are hefty tomes) before going to college next year.
"Loners Anonymous" - a social group for meeting solitary people? Isn't that an oxymoron? (ROTFLMAO). I joined anyway. I'm 10X more outgoing online. THANKS for your comments, Andave. I made a few changes but not all yet. I've left off writing for a few weeks-I can push myself too much and lose out for it. Still finishing the big D now, as in Dostoevsky. Also - do you have ITUNES? On ItunesU, I think, they have college-level courses you can download and listen to for FREE! University of Berkeley has one philosophy course called "EXISTENTIALISM" and they cover Dostoevsky's Brothers, which is surprisingly fair and balanced in its treatment of Dostoevsky's Christianity. I've learned much from it (I'm listening to it in sych with my reading progress).
hey Countess! hope you're well!
Hey Countess, First, let me apologize for taking so long to get back to you on this; hopefully it will make up for my tardiness Before I begin, however, I caught a grammar mistake: "it’s PVC and latex clad dancers" should be its. Could you possibly put in a bit of foreshadowing about her being a "human slave?" When I read that part in the story my thoughts went something like this: "whoa, wait, back up a minute. I was NOT expecting that!" Is she a tasteful "black-cherry haired vixen" or a sleazy one? Beyond a bit of forwardness it's a little difficult to say, and as a reader I was unsure whether or not I was supposed to sympathize or dislike or pity her... What did Dorian think of her when he saw her? Did he immediately suspect that she was connected to the vampire in some way? Could that be used as a method of foreshadowing? "Aren't I the lucky one?" seems a bit out-of-place, old-fashioned, considering the very contemporary settings they're in. Perhaps instead of having her announce, make her speak in a low, sultry voice. And maybe flick her eyelashes at him. And have her say something low-key, perhaps a bit more sophisticated, less effluvious, like, "I see. I'm Miranda, by the way." Again, I'm not sure how Dorian feels about her, so this point may be moot. About his answer to her question "are you new in town," if he's trying to get close to her, either for her or for the vampire, then that's probably the best way to do it, although if it's important have him be more, I dunno, looking for a pickup sort of thing. If he doesn't want her or doesn't know she's linked to the vampire, have him act more distant and cold. Maybe then, if she's really interested, she oozes more charm, yadda yadda. Even though he pretends to want her when he's pretending to be drugged. Especially when. Maybe instead of her saying "no family or siblings" she could add a sob story of her own? Why'd it take him so long to think she was neither human nor Sang? Later on, when he realizes she is human, can you put an explanation as to why he thought she was human? Any help? . Cheers, and best wishes.
That was eerie! wow! Yes, Dostoevsky is BRILLIANT!! If it wasn't for a driving urge (ok, semi-school driven) to read other classics, it's a good bet that I'd be finishing up Dostoevsky's works about now.
Actually, I'm rereading Brothers Karamazov right now and read that *exact* quote only a day ago. Eerie, eh? (Now you know why I love Dostoevsky so much!) I admit, Bosch and Goya paint beautifully, but their subject matter is - er - suspect. (-:
Yes, you're very right about the painting. Hell shouldn't be beautiful. In fact, your words reminded me of a quote by Dostoevsky on the matter: "What to the mind is shameful is beauty and nothing else to the heart. Is there beauty in Sodom? Believe me, that for the immense mass of mankind beauty is found in Sodom. Did you know that secret? The awful thing is that beauty is mysterious as well as terrible. God and the devil are fighting there and the battlefield is the heart of man." The Brothers Karamazov, Constance Garnett translation. On Bosch...yurk. I saw a reproduction of that awful one he's famous for, the Garden of Earthly Delights and was revolted. Of course he's a good painter, but for me that was on par with some of Goya's works.
You know why that picture scares me? Because Hell isn't supposed to look that good. I expect grotesquely overweight people and repulsive figures sodomizing themselves with pipes ala Bosch. But here - against this backdrop of eternal damnation - are these two exquisitely beautiful naked male figures in a vampire embrace. Somehow Bouguereau has captured the temptation (beauty) of sin against it's eternal consequences. My mind argues with itself over the painting; it never sets well with me, and I continuously depart from it struggling to reconcile this attraction to the male figures against the horror of eternal damnation. That's why people call it "powerfuL" but oftentimes cannot account for their impression. The painting is a self-contradiction the same way painting a man murdering another man against the backdrop of heaven would be.
suffer? suffer?! Come on, you know me better than that by now!! Gladly I will read your stuff and make some suggestions, if any occur to me. However, if it's ok with you I'll do it on the weekend -- I've just started the crazy part of my week.
