Book/DVD thread

#1

I keep a list of the books and DVDs I’ve gone through, and I don’t want to dump that on anyone. But I do want to share stuff I’ve really liked.

The best one I read recently was Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way. It gives a lot of useful advice about plowing through doubt, including a term I like called “crazymakers.” And how we should avoid them.

I really liked this because I’ve often felt (in a lot of creative circles) I wasn’t as exciting as X, but I guess I plodded along any maybe helped others with the boring details. But reading about crazymakers (who may be successful artists or not) I realized–people I thought were just more high energy than me, or who brought up good points during rants (usually just by random luck,) were just spouting for attention or cutting people down.

I wound up reading it twice before returning it to the library. I do recommend it as it’s not very long and the next few days, I managed to harvest some good ideas.

I also checked out the Larry Sanders Show on DVD from the library. I’d meant to watch it, and I enjoyed Youtube clips of it. I haven’t started yet, but I think I’ll really enjoy it.

What’s everyone else reading/watching?

#2

Some movies watched or re-watched recently: Winter’s Bone, Inception, Up, Lord of the Rings.

Speaking of LOTR and creative circles, I read somewhere that the way the Ents talk in the LOTR books may have been inspired by C.S. Lewis’ way of talking, and also that if it weren’t for C.S. Lewis, the LOTR might never have gotten published, because he’s the one who encouraged Tolkien in that direction (publishing a story he was working on, I mean) in the first place.

#3

IIRC Treebeard was probably the most CS Lewis-ish of the ents. I remember reading a book on the Inklings. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inklings that mentioned things like this. Dunno how much people are aware of the Inklings, but I remember liking Charles Williams’s novels and also enjoying Owen Barfield’s The Silver Trumpet.

Apparently Lewis and Tolkein had a rift later in life and Tolkein regretted that. Which is very sad. But they pushed each other a lot, and that was good for us all.

Oh, one other thing. I still enjoy Henry Beard/Harvard Lampoon’s Bored of the Rings as a guilty pleasure. I think it’s possible to enjoy both works.

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#4

dvds, dude? I know we all play a game media that is a relic from the 70’s but no need for that with movies and series… :smile:

I’ve largely forsaken tv and movies watching, but whenever I’m in the mood for it, it’s streaming for netflix.

last book I read was in the kindle: The Consolation of Philosophy, by Boethius. quite striking and poetic, a precursor of sorts to Dante. very good reading, superb reasoning by a man in chains, waiting for death

right now, I’m in an IF mood, playing mostly some Infocom and early 2000’s IFCompers.

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#5

I’ve just re-read the Sandman comics. It’s probably the third or fourth time I re-read them, and they were even more awesome and thought-provoking.

I don’t watch much TV nowadays, though I’m waiting to get Better Call Saul’s second season and, as a fan and afficionado, plan to enjoy the new X-Files miniseries. Regardless of its actual quality.

I’m currently re-reading my Pratchett collection.

#6

[quote=“namekuseijin, post:4, topic:235”]
dvds, dude? I know we all play a game media that is a relic from the 70’s but no need for that with movies and series… :smile:

I’ve largely forsaken tv and movies watching, but whenever I’m in the mood for it, it’s streaming for netflix.

last book I read was in the kindle: The Consolation of Philosophy, by Boethius. quite striking and poetic, a precursor of sorts to Dante. very good reading, superb reasoning by a man in chains, waiting for death[/quote]
We still watch videocassettes from time to time, believe it or not. :astonished:

I read The Consolation of Philosophy for a class and remember liking it. It’s been a while though.

(And to sort of bring the conversation full circle–Dorothy Sayers, whom I did not know was an honorary Inking but that’s what the Wikipedia article said that Andrew linked, translated Dante’s Divine Comedy. She also wrote murder mysteries…I have not read any of them though, I don’t think.)

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#7

My favorite book is Tree and Leaf, the analogy of Tolkien’s writings. The different editions vary widely in what they contain, but I think they all have at least the short story “Leaf By Niggle” and the essay “On Fairy Stories.” If you find a copy, I hope you’re lucky enough to get one that includes the awesome poem “Mythopoeia,” though that’s also online.

“Leaf By Niggle” brought me to tears. It’s the story of a small man with dreams that are too great for him, his sacrifice and his redemption.

“On Fairy Stories” and “Mythopoeia” really impressed with the power of art, and even of creativity more broadly. I really think that creativity is a mystical, transcendent power, the power to take the basic semantic material and remix it into something wonderful or horrible. I think all people have this same power, but those of us who use it deliberately–artists, writers, designers—should be aware of how serious and potentially harmful our craft can be. Combined with a media theory class I took (where I read a famous essay by James Carey as well as selections from Jean Baudrillard), I came away with a strong sense of standing in the tradition of mediated mythology, that we’re always expressing archetypal myths and universal truths to each other by building our shared reality in the imaginary world of ideas that we all inhabit. (And now I really want to read Kierkegaard even though that would probably be far above my comprehension, because I suspect that I’m some kind of Christian Existentialist.)

Every now and then, I’ve been streaming an episode of Farscape. Space opera television is one of the media genres that I love the most, and Farscape began as some kind of ironic parody but evolved into a powerful depiction of morality and character development, set in a sci-fi universe that is compelling and believable from within its own absurd parody logic and makes its characters stories more meaningful. I also like both Battlestar Galactica shows (the one from the 70s and the one from the 00s), Babylon 5, and Deep Space Nine (which is the only Star Trek that really does it for me).

My fandom as a teenager was the fantasy series The Wheel of Time. I probably liked it for the same reasons that my sister likes The Gilmore Girls. It was probably the nerdy boy equivalent to MTV teenager shows. Cheap drama, shallow but relatable characters, etc. But I’m still fond of the series. It had breathtaking worldbuilding as well as some truly powerful and memorable moments.

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#8

[quote=“bainespal, post:7, topic:235, full:true”]
(And now I really want to read Kierkegaard even though that would probably be far above my comprehension, because I suspect that I’m some kind of Christian Existentialist.)[/quote]

In a nutshell, what is a Christian Existentialist? Or how are you thinking of it, anyway? (Pretty sure Kierkegaard is over my head too.)

#9

My thinking is that meaning never comes from the component pieces of something, but flows downward from the greater into the smaller.

Take Tolkien’s poem. There is no requirement for the collection of molecules that make up a tree to be considered a meaningful thing called a “tree.” Two atoms that happen to be stuck together have no more inherent meaning than two different atoms located at opposite ends of the universe. (I’m actually not that interested or knowledgeable about science, so don’t get caught up in the model of the universe. It’s just an object lesson.)

Meaning doesn’t exist apart from creativity, and shared meaning can’t exist apart from communication. Trees are trees because they represent something meaningful to us, and we label them as a distinct thing. Presumably, some pre-historic human one day had the creative revelation that a tree is a meaningful entity with a distinct place in the cosmos. (The Creation story in Genesis has Adam naming the animals.)

I feel that all meaning is a revelation of the eternal, pre-existing meaning that is my clearest and deepest understanding of God. (“In the beginning was the Word.”) I imagine that atheists might explain primeval humans’ coining of a concept of a tree based on what they used trees for in their habitat for evolutionary advantage, and I have neither the education nor the inclination to argue against that. (I’m not trying to be an apologist here.) However, I believe that if our created meanings are not drawn from some transcendent Truth, then ultimately there is no reason to value anything at all.

Listening to the Gamechurch podcast interviewing ex-Christian atheist Scott Benson, I realized that I’m more nihilistic than the atheists. Nothing matters. The empty universe doesn’t care about progress, or justice, or community mores. The belief that the state of being alive is a preferable condition for a human organism than the state of being dead is arbitrary. There are social ethics and cultural narratives, but there is no reason for their savage betrayal to be inherently worse than their observance. Obviously some people find meaning in the things themselves, enough meaning to be motivated to live good lives and to make the world a better place. I can’t find that meaning without believing in God.

The Word became flesh. To me, the Christian Incarnation means that the River of meaning was born into human history. One corollary is that the intangible inspiration behind all the mythologies actually became real. I’m not a fundamentalist. (Though nearly ever day I worry whether I should be.) I believe that in Christ, the truest meaning behind all the narratives and myths and religions, so far as they reflected divine Truth, came true. As Tolkien wrote in the end of On Fairy Stories, all tales may yet come true.

So… I don’t actually know if that’s what Christian Existentialism is. But its what I believe.

#11

[quote=“bainespal, post:9, topic:235, full:true”]
My thinking is that meaning never comes from the component pieces of something, but flows downward from the greater into the smaller.[/quote]

Interesting. Thanks. I don’t know if I’m philosophically-inclined enough to be able to analyze this in detail but it basically makes sense to me.

[quote=“bainespal, post:9, topic:235, full:true”]However, I believe that if our created meanings are not drawn from some transcendent Truth, then ultimately there is no reason to value anything at all.

Listening to the Gamechurch podcast interviewing ex-Christian atheist Scott Benson, I realized that I’m more nihilistic than the atheists. Nothing matters. The empty universe doesn’t care about progress, or justice, or community mores. The belief that the state of being alive is a preferable condition for a human organism than the state of being dead is arbitrary. There are social ethics and cultural narratives, but there is no reason for their savage betrayal to be inherently worse than their observance. Obviously some people find meaning in the things themselves, enough meaning to be motivated to live good lives and to make the world a better place. I can’t find that meaning without believing in God.[/quote]

This reminds me of a Flannery O’Connor story. Or possibly more than one? I think one of my favorites of hers is “Good Country People.” Flannery O’Connor’s stories are not everybody’s cup of tea–they’re not always mine (and they’re meant to make you uncomfortable, I think) but some of her characterization cracks me up, e.g. this part from Good Country People:

The girl had
taken the Ph.D. in philosophy and this left Mrs. Hopewell at a complete
loss. You could say, “My daughter is a nurse,” or “My daughter is a school
teacher,” or even, “My daughter is a chemical engineer.” You could not
say, “My daughter is a philosopher.” That was something that had ended
with the Greeks and Romans. All day Joy sat on her neck in a deep chair,
reading. Sometimes she went for walks but she didn’t like dogs or cats or
birds or flowers or nature or nice young men. She looked at nice young
men as if she could smell their stupidity.

#12

This discussion about meaning reminded me–a book I would recommend to pretty much anyone is Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, who was a psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor. The book isn’t about the atrocities of the Holocaust per se–it’s about how he and his fellow prisoners responded. What was it, he asked, that enabled some prisoners to maintain a sense of interior freedom, and transcend their horrific circumstances, while others gave up? I’m trying to paraphrase from possibly faulty memory and it’s been several years since I read it, but I remember that it was a beautiful book.

Oh look, Wikipedia says he was involved in founding “existential therapy.” And a previous title of his book was From Death-Camp to Existentialism. I did not realize that when I started this post!

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#13

I have a (cheap) combination DVD and VHS player. I don’t use it much any more, but even back in 2008 when I checked out a bunch of VHSs from the library, the checkout person was genuinely curious why. The answer: I couldn’t find them in any other format! I also did very well buying old VHSs from garage sales. I remember one time I walked past, saw them 3 for a dollar at 4 pm, said, oh wait, I’ll go get some cash–and when I came back they just wanted to get rid of stuff so it was 5 for a dollar. Apparently they thought I was trying to bargain!

Chicago Public Library now has DVDs only. But I got my money’s worth from the combo player.

I enjoyed it too! I remember taking psychology courses in college but not really exploring the books they referred to that weren’t part of the syllabus. Til one day I looked at one, then read another…it’s amazing what’s there. I also recall Elie Weisel’s Night being quite good.

And I’ll throw out a personal favorite I come back to: John D Fitzgerald’s The Great Brain. A series of 7 short and funny book about a kid who gets swindled repeatedly by his older brother, Tom. Though Tom swindles just about everyone in town. Tom’s a complex character and he does many nice things and many mean things–and John’s also well dealth with, in terms of his conflict, or knowing he’ll get suckered but he’s just curious how.

I’m a big fan of short and simple but clever books and The Great Brain series fits that. I think it’s not as well known as it should be.

#14

[quote=“AndrewS, post:13, topic:235, full:true”]
I have a (cheap) combination DVD and VHS player. I don’t use it much any more, but even back in 2008 when I checked out a bunch of VHSs from the library, the checkout person was genuinely curious why. The answer: I couldn’t find them in any other format! I also did very well buying old VHSs from garage sales. I remember one time I walked past, saw them 3 for a dollar at 4 pm, said, oh wait, I’ll go get some cash–and when I came back they just wanted to get rid of stuff so it was 5 for a dollar. Apparently they thought I was trying to bargain!

Chicago Public Library now has DVDs only. But I got my money’s worth from the combo player.[/quote]

Heh. For us it was like, we had a TV/VCR that was a hand-me-down from a friend who was getting rid of it, and then someone else was like, “Oh, you have a working VCR? Here, take these VHS tapes that we can’t watch anymore.” Then the VCR broke and we got another one at the second-hand store for $8 so we could still watch the videotapes. That store used to have VHS tapes for cheap but they seem to have stopped carrying them in the past few years.

[quote=“AndrewS, post:13, topic:235, full:true”]

I enjoyed it too! I remember taking psychology courses in college but not really exploring the books they referred to that weren’t part of the syllabus. Til one day I looked at one, then read another…it’s amazing what’s there.[/quote]

Ha. If I’d had to try to guess which books people on an IF forum had read in common with me, I probably would not have guessed Man’s Search for Meaning and The Consolation of Philosophy. Makes me wonder what other semi-obscure books people have read.

I read one or two of those as a kid. I remember feeling sorry for the protagonist because his brother was always taking advantage of him.

#15

Makes me wonder what other semi-obscure books people have read.

Faith and Reason, by Nels Ferré. An obscure find from my community college’s library. It was as formative to my thinking as the C.S. Lewis books.

#16

We all have those, don’t we? Those books we discovered that maybe aren’t the super bestsellers, but they’re very good.

I know I am glad to find them, like Jenny Nimmo’s Charlie Bone series. One book I particularly remember is the Cinverse Cycle. My high school chess coach said he hated book 1 so he fobbed it off on me for free. And it was 10+ years before I searched online and found a used copy of the whole trilogy. It wasn’t earth shattering, but it was the first book I really picked apart for its pluses and minuses.

One of my favorite quotes was along the lines of “Roger had always assumed that the boring movies of the 60s and 70s were due to the social upheaval at the time, but he never considered there was an evil plot to make them worse deliberately.”

#17

I was surprised to find children’s books in a college library–but it makes sense if they were meant for education majors.

Possibly my most memorable unexpected library find (not a children’s book) was Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis. I don’t hear people talk about it much, but I preferred it both to Narnia and to the space trilogy.

#18

Mine didn’t have them. I remember there was a branch of the city library nearby where I wound up checking out all sorts of books I didn’t read in high school because someone might say, aren’t you too advanced for that?

One in particular was Ivanhoe. It was in the university library, because Sir Walter Scott is kind of a big thing, but it felt less intimidating in a public library. And tackling a short “easy” book gave me confidence for tougher classwork…much more than time wasting etc.

Another book I read and enjoyed was Steven Johnson’s Where Good Ideas Come From. It’s got a TedTalk in short form–but it’s about how we as people or societies don’t have Eureka moments but buzz around an idea til we hit on it.

TedTalks thread