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echo-inthevoid · 5 years ago

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Season 2 q&a and overall reaction

Jonny stealing everyone's names XD

Is martin going to be ok!? I also need to know!

He said no;-;

ok ya, no one's gonna be ok.

Ya, he must do sooo much research.

Ya, except for "fatigue" lol.

Eyyy the mechanisms!!

What's the red string brigade? Ok, I guess a group of fans theorizing about stuff.

Oh ok so someone else did martins poetry. Ooh, there's more martin poetry out there! *grabby hands*

Ok ya, Alex clarifying that Jon isn't stupid he just makes poor decisions. Probably if he'd paused and thought about it (like I did lol, I had to go do some stuff in the middle of that ep and thought about it a whole bunch lol) instead of immediately going out and buying an axe and further isolating himself and panicking immediately he probably would have figured it out. This is why it's bad to panic in a crisis guys.

Eyyy! Jonny's parents voiced Gertrude and Leitner! That's so cool.

XD Jonny grumbling about having to work with his parents.

Hmm, I hadn't really thought of Gertrude being like a mother figure in the story? She just seems very cut-throat I guess from what Leitner said. Idk so far I've been very suspicious of her. Especially since that one statement where her photo burned a whole bunch of people or something. She just seems very shady...

Alex chortling over Jonny's pain. XD

Side note, Every time there's a q&a I just can't stop noticing Jonny's voice going in and out of archivist range? Like most of the time I'm just listening along and then he'll say a sentence a bit grumblier and my brains immediately like "ARCHIVIST! That's THE ARCHIVIST!!"

Martin would be the last one alive in Friday the 13th! It's official!

(Is it bad that this gives me hope)

Jon likes Nonfiction, documentaries, and probably collects something just a little bit weird. *writes down for use in potential fics*

also while im at it I remember jon saying he dislikes coffee at one point, and so many people have him liking coffee in their fics! This has been your daily reminder of that fact because ever since then it keeps bugging me lol. (But also do whatever u want.)

Alex's spluttering sounds so much like Martin.

Yes!! I want to hear jon sing!! Yes! Musical Episode When!!?

Ah yes yes yes! All the characters are so unique!!? How does he do it!!

Ya, it being in audio format sometimes makes it hard to understand what's happening in the live-action bits. (Live-action is the wrong word but u know what I mean.)

Oh ok ya, how he mentioned he got a pipe was quite clever I didn't realize that that's why he mentioned it at all.

Ooh, there's a manga where there's something similar to Michael? I'll have to look that up later...

XD Alex and Jonny arguing about apples.

Ok, so all the statements we're hearing ARE for reals. I kinda assumed but good to have it confirmed.

They used to hang out together!!? Work function curry nights!! ;-;

Ya Ya! Who made the leitners!?

"You are assuming a book needs to be written" ...ok then. (but it has to have been created somehow??? Did they just spring fully formed from the powers? why? And why take the form of books?)

Alex's mischievous laugh about whether jon has friends *trembles in fear*

Yes!! Micheal is so good! I'm so happy they love him too! Yesyes! His laugh!

Ah Yes!! Mary kaey was so creepy!

XD yes yes yes fatigue was written on zero sleep, I knew it!

Akskdjdkd I love them so much. Also, I've looked up Michaels voice actor luke booys and he does some other horrory type sketches n stuff and I kiiinda want to do a little animatic with some of those but it's Michael like annoying some poor soul lost in his halls... I think that'd be fun. I wonder if anyone's done that yet? If so someone send me the links I neeeed iiitt :3

Season 2 summary:

Uuuuu ya so this season was really good. I kinda listened to it in bursts of about ten episodes every couple weeks and then have been saving up the reactions to post later so these are usually going up about a week or so after I actually listened to the episode just FYI.

I also do have a lot of spoilers cause I can't keep myself away from fanfic and people don't always tag for spoilers and I kiiinda wana know what's coming beforehand anyway? Idk it's hard man I get very stressed about what might happen and then also listening to too much at a time is too spooky for my poor little heart so I gotta read the less spooky fanfic to fulfill the hyperfixation you see. (If anyone has fanfic with spoilers only up to season 2 that'd be great btw)

Anyway, I try not to take spoiler type stuff into account unless I'm just so sure of it I can't really not acknowledge that I know about it.

Also, can I just talk about Michael for a minute?? Cause he's such a unique character? And I guess maybe there are other characters like him but I haven't ever seen one -tho to be fair tma is only like the third horror thing I've ever really got into (the other two are the SCP Foundation in its various forms and Little Nightmares. Hence why I keep making reference to SCP it's really the only thing I know similar to this.) But he's such a cool concept!!? Like someTHING that still has a personality? He's so not human? Like I get what he says but also I don't really? Idk im pretty sure he's an avatar right? Right?? Idk if that means he was a person at some point? But all this to say that he is probably the most inhuman character I've come across so far and I'm trying to figure out what it is about him that's so "other" to me? Like... I don't really know what Micheal's deal is? he seems to want to be sort of a neutral mischief-maker but also it seems like he keeps getting invested. But also I just love the way he talks about himself. Like he's a monster that has a personality and is fully intelligent but isn't just evil but isn't neutral either and certainly isn't benevolent. Like he's so complex and just,,,, the idea of a "thing" that's got a personality?? I love it? Kind of like dryads or spirits of things? Like the idea that after a long time things gain personality just by existing? Not that that's what Michael is necessarily? but that same sort of concept applies to him I think. Like the way he IS the maze and wants to help but wants to just watch but wants to kill them all. He's just so interestinggggggg. (And another vision of what jon could become?)

also "es Mentiras" is a beautiful name 💕

So are him and not-Sasha avatars? Not-Sasha also seems completely inhuman and I was under the impression that avatars were (or used to be) human? Or are they like personifications of their power? Do all the powers have personifications of themselves. not-Sasha seems even less human than Michael? Like she seems to just really genuinely enjoy causing fear? Tho I guess we didn't really get to hear a lot of her. She just seemed kinda gleefully angry most of the time we heard from her. Was she... Human once!???

Anyway. Also, can I just talk about leitners line about jon belonging to the eye!!? Just..*chefs kiss* hnnnngg I need more jon grappling with that. I just need more everyone dealing with the fallout post all of the finallies ok? I still need more of jon angsting over his worms scars and stuff and now I also need jon freaking out about belonging to a fear god power thing.

Also Martin! Is Martin ok? He sure did a lot of yelling which he doesn't usually? Look I love him and he actually thinks before he acts (unlike SOME people *looks at jon*) and he writes poetry and it is pretty good poetry ok!! And he cares about everyone and just wants a happy ending and aaaaa😭

Petition to get some statements from Martin's pov tho? I mean that's not gonna happen cause Jon's the archivist but I want more martin pov!! Maybe we can get some of his poem tapes??? Pls?????

I feel so bad for Tim. It sounds like he's kinda fallen into despair.

Also Elias!!? Is showing his spooky side!!? He can control cameras and beat a man to death with a pipe!!? This is his "place of powerr"!!? I am afeared!!? At least jon knows he shouldn't trust him now. Oh jeez, I wonder if jon will listen back to the tape and know what happened. Thhhatsss rough. Oh dear, I hope he doesn't feel guilty cause Leitner did keep trying to hurry him and now everyone thinks it was him. Even martin thinks he did it? Wich like I kinda want to hear more of his thoughts on that? How much does he believe that jon did it? Tim certainly seems pretty certain but he's a bit biased and cynical right now so.

And they were in the maze for DAYS?

Now I need martin recovering from being stuck with Tim in Michaels maze for days being angry and worried and hungry etc... Dksjdksa knowing jon could be dying RIGHT NOW and there's nothing he can do. Please someone give me the fic links if this exists!! I've already written like 5 drabbles based entirely on spoilers/other fics (which I'll probably post (w/ links to their inspirations) once I'm caught up and can make sure I'm not just completely demolishing cannon lol.

Leitner didn't even scream or yell or anything when he was murdered. Literally the chillest dude ever. F

Overall super great, Elias is terrifying, let's dive into the next season!!! I've got 2 seasons to finish in like, less than 2 or so weeks(?) if I wana be caught up by season 5 hhhh,,,

Better get started I guess.

#tma #tma lb #tma liveblog #liveblogging #tma season 2 #season 2 #season 2 q&a #season 2 finale #the magnus archives

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salavante · 6 years ago

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Ethem-Cailo

Full Name: Ethem-Cailo, The Divine Squire, God of Aspiration / Jovix-Cailo, The Ravenous, God of Greed

Gender and Sexuality: Male, Bisexual (but uncomfortable with it)

Pronouns: He/Him

Ethnicity/Species: Threnghelleon God

Birthplace and Birthdate: All of the OG Threnghelleon gods are born from experiences that Glory had in hist first years on their world. Ethem-Cailo was born when Jovix-Diocunigast decided he wished to scale the world’s highest peak, which would one day become their version of olympyus. After a long journey, Diocunigast and his accompaniment found a boy sitting cross legged on the mountaintop, who introduced himself as the God of Aspiration.

Guilty Pleasures: Probably a bunch of creepy shit better left unsaid, to be honest. At a certain point though, Jovix-Cailo revels in any pleasure he finds, so, nothing is really a guilty pleasure.

Phobias: Fears of being inadequate, being alone, being forgotten, being unloved or working/suffering with no reward. Wybjorn makes him really insecure because it shows that there is not some foundational problem with Cailo himself that makes him inherently unloveable or irredeemable, he’s just a jerk.

What They Would Be Famous For: Being a God!

What They Would Get Arrested For: violating a restraining order or killing someone, lol.

OC You Ship Them With: Cailo, and Wybjorn by proxy, have had two canon long-term romantic relationships. One is his first and only wife, Eleanor of Warns, Breaker of Horses, a sturdy lass who was the daughter of the man who he was supposed to train to unify Thregelleon’s tribes. It was a whole big thing that ended in tragedy and the start of the Red Age, Threnghelleon’s big nasty barbarian period. The second is a less documented romantic relationship with a champion male wrestler that he squired, named Raske Callhand, but male/male romance was not something looked on well in their culture so it was kept quiet. This is all stuff that occurred thousands of years before our game started. In the present, Cailo has actually been secretly hooking up with a human girl who saved his life, named Helena Kirsch, but that is very much a secret and is not going to be plot relevant until our next game. I feel like any other relationships (Like Cailo/Ozzy or Cailo/Celair) kind of dial up a skeev factor that I’m not comfortable with, and are better left to ol Wybjorn, who is a significantly better version of him.

OC Most Likely To Murder Them: Ozzy is supposed to murder him but is not sure if he can! Wybjorn would kill him, The Helmsman would kill him, Rumenthlay and Apherhaim would kill him, Celair would kill him, Diocunigast would kill him…lots of people would try to kill him, to be honest. He is not a popular guy.

Favorite Movie/Book Genre: He likes a little bit of everything, he’s seen it all. Things most relevant to his interests in movies are are sports films, shlocky action movies and 80’s teen romance, and in books he’d like poetry (both epic poems like The Odyssey and Beowolf in addition to like, Robert Frost and Bukowski and etc) and classical literature.

Least Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: “Why does the jock always get the girl in those stupid teen movies, huh? When’s it gonna be the nice guy’s turn!” But in seriousness is very trope-savvy and probably gets tired of most genre conventions really easily.

Talents and/or Powers: Ok well he’s a TTRPG boss so, Ethem-Cailo’s powers, and also Wybjorn’s, are built around a series of three different runic magical shields and provide passive buffs as well as effects when they are broken. Jovix-Cailo additionally can tell whatever gross dirty thing your heart longs for by looking at you with his awful red peepers. Other than your usual godly fare (can change his size, supernatural endurance and strength, flight, etc) he can make constructs out of stone, which is where Wybjorn came from.

Why Someone Might Love Them: In rare moments, Cailo is emotionally sincere and tender, and is in general very passionate and old-school romantic (sonnets and poems, small tokens of affection, etc). Objects of his affection are protected at great lengths, and obsessively adored. Some people might dig that. He has great investment in the rights of children and is very sensitive to situations when they are taken advantage of in any way, due to his personal experiences as a squire to mortal champions. His temples on Threnghelleon generally doubled as a gymnasium/YMCA kind of deal, and woe fall upon those who fuck with its younger members or try to use its systems to exploit them. He really wishes he could’ve had a family with his (ex and thousands of years dead) wife, Eleanor.

Why Someone Might Hate Them: As Ethem-Cailo he is emotionally needy, has an obnoxious need to prove himself, is selfish, buys too much into toxic masculinity, has physically violent tantrums, hardly ever accepts blame unless it’s in a self deprecating fashion and is creepy/awkward/obsessive around the girls he likes, so, what’s not to hate. He is the reason the Lapinine (Rumenthlay’s race) are all dead. He’s the reason why a LOT of people are dead! As Jovix-Cailo, he is a vicious, cruel, hedonistic monster who takes everything he wants by force and purposefully stirs the pot to break apart Jovix-Diocunigast’s ranks, with the long-term goal being to overthrow him. He’s more confident and cares less about what people think, but he’s still a fuck.

How They Change: I mean, spectacularly for the worst. He goes from being the God of Aspiration to the God of Greed because his hate and entitlement and desperation is too much to pack into his tiny body. I feel like I go over this pretty thoroughly across the board so I don’t want to repeat myself too much.

Why You Love Them: To be honest the only reason why Wybjorn exists is because I got way too attached to Ethem-Cailo and when we saw a way to give me an outlet for that and really embrace Cailo as a villain, we took it. He’s my favorite antagonist that I’ve made for a TTRPG. His core desires are not things that are inherently bad - a desire to be loved, recognized for his struggle, have his pain acknowledged and respected for his hard work. But his fatal flaw his his inability to reflect and look internally for a solution to his troubles rather than seeking it externally, and so he is always a victim in his mind, and always desperate to prove things to people who couldn’t care less. He started as a good person with good intentions, and while he isn’t evil, he’s definitely a capital b Bad Guy. I find him sympathetic while still enjoying how just depraved and cruel he is, and he has a certain just rock solid conviction to get revenge on the universe that I find really compelling. To me, Wybjorn and Ethem-Cailo represent a divergence in processing complex trauma - self reflection, remaining open and compassionate, accepting you may fail as you try to heal vs. clinging to the past, an obsession with being the victim, and embracing cruelty so that you can direct it towards a world that you feel has failed you. I mean, as far as I relate to it anyway. It’s my way of working through some stuff that I probably chose to ignore for a little too long, lol.

#shepnanigans #ethem cailo

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londontheatre · 8 years ago

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Brodsky Baryshnikov, Alvis Hermanis and Mikhail Baryshnikov (courtesy Janis Deinats)

When you work in London’s West End, just metres from a cornucopia of theatre and performance, it’s hard not to indulge on a regular basis. Occasionally, something a bit different rears its head and for most of us, the opportunity to broaden our horizons is quite an appealing challenge. Whether or not the production appeals to us and whether or not it is ‘critically good’ are two very different conversations. Brodsky/Baryshnikov is aimed at a very select audience and I have no doubt, that for this audience it is a production that surpasses expectations.

Brodsky/Baryshnikov is a performance art piece based on the works of Russian poet Joseph Brodsky who passed away in 1996 at the age of 55. A close friend of Brodsky, Mikhail Baryshnikov brings to the West End a unique tribute that is somewhere between a poetry recital and abstract movement piece. Visually stunning and with a dynamic use of lighting and soundscape, the set resembles the Von Trapp gazebo, but having seen better days; perhaps this is a metaphor for the work itself, classic but having suffered hardship.

You could be forgiven for expecting that this would be heavily dance based, but this is not the case, and the focus is kept predominantly, and rightly, on the language. Indeed, the most engaging moments are those where Baryshnikov is seated on stage delivering Brodsky’s words with an almost tangible reverence.

On the subject of language, the piece is performed entirely in Russian. I can’t say that I have ever before had the desire to become fluent, however, I really do feel that it would have increased my enjoyment of the piece enormously. Of course, surtitles are provided and are projected onto the roof of the set to ensure that there is little change in focus needed to move between the projection and the performance. Had the dialogue been prose, I think this would have worked perfectly as the brain is able to briefly skim the text and anticipate the narrative flow without too much concentration. Poetry, on the other hand, is a much more delicate art and needs careful consideration to ensure that the audience can fully embrace the linguistic artistry and imagery. With this in mind, it becomes difficult to focus on James Gambrell’s surtitles and fully appreciate the art on stage; which leads me back to my earlier comment lamenting the language barrier.

Under the direction of Alvis Hermanis, Mikhail Baryshnikov delivers an enthralling performance. Moving with sense of purpose and refined precision it is clear to see that there is an intention in each of his movements. It is clear that he is personally invested in the heart of this piece which ensures that the audience remains engaged with his presence even if they temporarily lose sight of the subject matter. His energy and poignancy are maintained during his delivery of both the spoken and movement elements, ensuring that the momentum of the piece remains consistent throughout.

I can’t help but feel that I was unable to engage fully with this production, and this saddens me because I genuinely feel that I was privy to something very special. Indeed, if the reactions of the audience around me were anything to go by, then it certainly hit home with its intended audience. If that isn’t enough to go by, the 4 curtain calls to deafening applause should certainly speak for themselves. For fans of Brodsky or Russian literature, a must!

Review by Cassandra Griffin

Bird and Carrot presents Brodsky / Baryshnikov (UK Premiere) Based on the poems of Joseph Brodsky Directed by Alvis Hermanis Performed by Mikhail Baryshnikov May 3-6, 2017 Apollo Theatre

Brodsky / Baryshnikov is a one-man show based on the poems of Nobel laureate Joseph Brodsky, performed by Mikhail Baryshnikov. Conceived and directed by Alvis Hermanis, noted Latvian director of The New Riga Theatre, Brodsky / Baryshnikov is an emotional journey deep into the poet’s visceral and complex compositions. Performed in Russian, Brodsky’s mother tongue, Baryshnikov recites a selection of his long-time friend’s poignant and eloquent works. His subtle physicality transports the audience into Hermanis’ reverent imagining of Brodsky’s interior world.

Performed in Russian with English surtitles English translation by Jamey Gambrell

Brodsky/Baryshnikov UK PREMIERE is made possible thanks to the generous support of Norvik Banka and Blavatnik Family Foundation.

Running Time: 90 minutes Show Opened: 3rd May 2017 Booking Until: 7th May 2017

http://ift.tt/2pe0gNo LondonTheatre1.com

#IFTTT #LondonTheatre1.com

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justforbooks · 8 years ago

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Min Jin Lee on the Road to Free Food for Millionaires

I had already failed at two novel manuscripts. Publishers had rejected my first manuscript, and I rejected the second, because it was not good enough to send out. I was 32 years old and beginning my third novel.

I had been trying to get a novel published since 1995, the year I quit being a lawyer. Since high school, I’d had a chronic liver disease, and I couldn’t work the hours of a Manhattan law firm without getting ill, so I thought I’d write fiction. My husband Christopher had a steady job with health insurance, but we had gotten our apartment and mortgage with two incomes in mind. Money was tight. After a miscarriage and a difficult pregnancy, our son Sam was born, and that same year, we learned that beloved family members, who could no longer support themselves, were awash in catastrophic debt, and suddenly, we were responsible for another household.

It is never a financially prudent idea to be a fiction writer, but I had not anticipated running through my savings in a year, being unable to earn even a modest living, not being able to afford part-time childcare to write, having a debilitating liver disease, and taking on the debts of people I love.

I was ashamed. After six years, I had not yet written a published novel, and I was broke from the choices I had made. I wondered how we’d pay all these bills, send Sam to college, and save for retirement. When my friends asked me to lunch, I made excuses because I could not afford the luxury of eating out. I could not answer when they asked kindly when my book would be available to purchase. I hid my failure by staying home.

From the moment I quit lawyering, I tried to learn how to write good fiction. I had written and published personal essays in high school. I was a history major in college, but for pleasure, I’d taken three writing classes in the English department. To my surprise, in my junior and senior years, I won top writing prizes for nonfiction and fiction, respectively. It’s possible that the college prizes misled me to believe that I could publish a novel immediately after quitting the law. However, the more I studied fiction, the more I realized that writing novels required rigorous discipline and mastery, no different than the study of engineering or classical sculpture. I wanted to get formal training. Nevertheless, after having paid for law school, I could not hazard the cost of an MFA. So, I fumbled around and made up my own writing program.

Always a reader of the 19th-century greats, I read more widely. I read every fine novel and short story I could find, and I studied the ones that were truly exceptional. If I saw a beautifully wrought paragraph, say from Julia Glass’s Three Junes, I would transcribe it in a marble notebook. Then, I would sit and read her elegant sentences, seemingly pinned to my flimsy notebook like a rare butterfly on cheap muslin. Craft strengthened the feelings and thoughts of the writer. When I read and reread Junot Díaz’s stories in Drown, I was struck by his courage and genius. His perfect narrative voice matched the intricacy and greatness of his plot architecture. Great fiction required not just lovely words or fine feelings, it demanded emotion, structure, ideals, and bravery. Fine works of fiction made me feel glad, the way I feel glad when I see a painting by a master, an ocean at dusk, or the face of a child.

In New York, it is possible to study with great writers for very little money. If one can afford to live here, there is a shock of riches in culture, so much so that artists work for almost nothing. Once a week, when Christopher could watch Sam after work, I took a turkey sandwich in a baggie or a carton of hummus and went to my writing classes or met with my writers’ group. For less than $200, I was able to study for several weeks with Lan Samantha Chang, Rahna Reiko Rizzuto, and Jhumpa Lahiri at the Asian American Writers’ Workshop early on in their careers. I took a class at the Gotham Writers Workshop with Wesley Gibson. For about the same amount and for a season’s length of classes, I studied with Jonathan Levi, Joyce Johnson, Joseph Caldwell, Joan Silber, Shirley Hazzard, and Nahid Rachlin at the 92nd Street Y. The Y runs a famous preschool, and in the evenings, grown men and women sat in these preschool classrooms, smelling of tempera paints and box apple juice, anxious to know if their stories made any sense. Teachers generously encouraged me to continue, but privately, I wondered if I should quit. I was getting older, and I was afraid that I could not return to a steady profession.

The year after Sam was born, impulsively, I applied for a spot at the Sewanee Writers’ Conference and was accepted. The tuition was more money than we could spare, something like $1,000. However, I knew it was difficult to get a spot at all, and I felt I had to go. I had nursed Sam for a year, and I thought this might be a good reward for having given up my body—or so it seemed to me—for the pregnancies, the illnesses, and the breastfeeding. Christopher took time off from work and stayed with Sam, and I went to Tennessee. For nine days, I studied fiction with Alice McDermott and Rick Moody. Each day, after my class, I would go back to my dorm room and cry because I missed my baby.

At Sewanee, it felt like everyone had gone to prestigious MFA writing programs like Iowa and had book contracts. Back then, conference attendees wore name tags, and mine read just my name, indicating that I had not received any scholarship money to defray the cost of the conference tuition. One day, during lunch, I met a young woman whose name tag stated her name plus the name of her fellowship. She hadn’t paid any tuition because her publications had merited her a scholarship. There was a group of us at the table, most of whom had scholarships, and the young woman casually mocked the housewives who had paid full freight to attend the conference. I didn’t realize at first, but she was talking about me. That summer, I was 30 years old, a new mother, and I learned that a talented young woman artist held housewife writers in contempt. I couldn’t eat so I returned to my room. I avoided her for the rest of the conference, because I sensed she was right. It had been a mistake to come all this way to take a class. Then at the end of the conference, Alice McDermott nominated my workshop story for an anthology called Best New American Voices 2000, and though the editors didn’t take my piece, I thought that maybe I could keep trying.

Then something else good happened a few months later. I got an Artist Fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts in the category of fiction. It was for $7,000. I used some of that money to pay for a five-day writing class in California with the famous editor and writer Tom Jenks and the novelist Carol Edgarian. To improve my understanding of the sentence, I began to read poetry. I took a class at the Y with David Yezzi to learn prosody, and it changed the way I looked at every word. Whenever the poetry critic Helen Vendler came to the Y to give one of her seminars, I did whatever I could to attend.

There was so much to learn and practice, but I began to see the prose in verse and the verse in prose. Patterns surfaced in poems, stories, and plays. There was music in sentences and paragraphs. I could hear the silences in a sentence. All this schooling was like getting x-ray vision and animal-like hearing. I had no way to prove objectively the things I was learning, and I can’t tell you why I thought my self-curated education correct, but I followed the steps I could afford to take and somehow trusted that I would learn how to write something fine.

When I ran out of money for classes, I went to readings and bought hardcover books I could not afford. At the bookstore or library, I’d sit all the way in the back. If there was a Q&A, I would have half a dozen questions forming a lump in my throat, but I wouldn’t voice a word. I went to the readings of Herman Wouk, Marilynne Robinson, Junot Díaz, Joyce Carol Oates, Gary Shteyngart, Julian Barnes, Richard Ford, Jay McInerney, Chang-rae Lee, Veronica Chambers, Ian McEwan, Joan Didion, Susanna Moore, Shirley Hazzard, James Salter, Kazuo Ishiguro, Toni Morrison, Rick Moody, Susan Minot, and many more. I wanted to know: How did you do that? How did you send me into this whole other world of your creation? How did you make me feel these new and old feelings? How did you keep trusting that it was all worthwhile? And yet, I could barely form an audible sentence around them, but I suppose I didn’t have to, because I had their work, and their work spoke to me and stayed with me in a private way without me having to prove anything to them or them to me.

As a habit, I read on the subway. One day, I was finishing V.S. Naipaul’s A House for Mr. Biswas on the 2 train, and I burst into tears, amazed at the magnificence of Naipaul’s literary achievement. I knew of his politically controversial attitudes (e.g., he thought women writers were unimportant), and yet I understood that in this work, this man had done something extraordinary with fiction. Through characterization and sympathy, Naipaul had made me care deeply for a humble and curious character, who so clumsily yet so vitally struggled for his wishes. Later, I learned that Arwacas, the fictional setting of the novel, was based on Chaguanas, an immigrant town where East Indian-Trinidadians live and where Naipaul had grown up. Naipaul gave me permission to write about Elmhurst, my town in Queens.

After the classes, the readings, the discarded drafts, I started to research my novel like I was a journalist. When I wanted to learn more about my character Ted Kim, the investment banker, I interviewed several men who went to Harvard Business School. One of them told me that I should pretend to apply, because one had to see a school like that to believe it. So I did. I logged into the website, and I filled out a visitor’s form, and I was able to come in for a day.

I sat in on a class. There were maybe 25 students, and each person had a name card in front of him or her. It was impossible to hide in that room; however, what was clear to me was that no one was hiding. It wasn’t like any class I had ever attended in high school, college, or even law school. I don’t know if everyone in that room had done his homework or if she understood the lecture and the complicated spreadsheet on the whiteboard, but I learned something about these attractive young people. I surmise that what distinguishes a Harvard Business School student is his confidence in his abilities. I have never been in a building so filled with young people who look like they can do anything and want to solve very difficult problems. After a few hours, I started thinking that maybe I should apply for business school because the energy was so buoyant. If anyone was depressed or anxious or doubtful, I think he or she must have stayed home that day. No, I did not apply to HBS, but that day changed me, because I started to value research, not for the details or the velvet scraps of dialogue, but for the feelings that new information made me have. I felt confident just by being with other highly energetic people. I wondered what it would be like to have two years of that atmosphere when even I, an applicant pretender and a writer with no book, felt that positive after mere hours. So I took that feeling and gave it to Ted, a man who believes that he is right even when he is troubled or afraid. Ted’s convictions propel him to great economic success. However, even his convictions are weakened in the presence of sexual desire and a secret yearning for a kindred person. Ted is not good, but research allowed me to recognize his vulnerability, which allowed me to love Ted in his totality.

Then something wonderful happened. The Missouri Review published a story I’d rewritten 17 or 18 times. I had a Bankers Box filled with just drafts of that one story. Maybe that’s what it took.

Not much after that, my wrists began to hurt. I had trouble lifting a coffee cup. My son was in preschool then, and to drop him off and pick him up, I had to walk a few blocks, but it was painful. My ankles were swollen and holding hands with my son to cross the street was hard. I couldn’t turn round doorknobs or walk up stairs with ease. After several misdiagnoses, I was sent to a rheumatologist who guessed correctly that my liver disease was making me ill. I had developed liver cirrhosis, and I had never had a drop of wine.

There were a lot of doctors, and they wrote about my case to each other. A gastroenterologist wanted me to try a course of treatment with Interferon, because I was so young, and liver transplants were not so easy to be had. For three months, I gave myself a shot of this medicine in my thigh each day. My hair fell out in clumps in the shower. When I bent down to sweep the floor, blood vessels would break in my face to make bruises. I could not leave the house sometimes because I had diarrhea or because I could not stop vomiting. Each day, I had a few hours of energy, and I would store them up for Sam, my three-year-old. I wanted him to think that I was well.

When the treatment ended, my liver function tests improved markedly. My doctor was cautious, so he took more tests. I continued to work on Free Food for Millionaires, compelled to finish a first draft. A year after the treatment, the doctor told me that I was cured of my chronic liver disease. One in a million, he marveled. I went home that afternoon, and I lay down on my bed with my good news. This life was unexpected. I told myself that I could not be so afraid of judgment that I would hold back. And so I did not.

When I sold the manuscript in the summer of 2006, I counted 11 years as my apprenticeship. I was 37 years old.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

#JUST FOR BOOKS

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glennjmcginley · 7 years ago

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Brain Gym Activities: Everyday Ways to Improve Your Cognitive Function

Are you trying to sharpen your mental ability, or concerned about how aging might affect your mind? Do you feel like your work has you in a deadening routine? Just like your muscles or any other part of your body, your brain needs regular exercise to keep it fit and in shape.

Whatever your reason for being concerned about your brain’s health, the things that you can do to exercise it are quite simple and often enjoyable, too. This article focuses on some specific suggestions for putting it into practice.

Read on for a list of some simple activities with which you can make your life much more cognitively stimulating without even having to take a lot of time out of your day. These small tasks will turn your everyday life into a brain-gym of your very own!

Change Your Commute

Let’s start with the simplest tactic: go down a different street on your way to work. That’s right, changing your commute forces your brain to problem-solve and navigate, and stimulates your senses with new sights and situations. It will take very little time out of your day, but it will repay you by making the time you spend anyway driving or riding the bus into something that benefits your health.

Turn Something Upside Down

Looking at familiar objects from a different angle activates different parts of your brain, particularly those that process new experiences and situations. Turning objects from your everyday surroundings upside down or repositioning them helps keep your mind alert and active.

If you want to get more serious about this, redecorate! It will stretch your spatial imagination and make you get reacquainted with your space. And it might give you motivated to put up those pictures you’ve been meaning to frame and hang!

Do Something with Your Eyes Closed

Try showering, sweeping, or taking out the trash with your eyes closed. Navigating familiar places with a different set of senses makes your mind perceive things in new ways, and uses different parts of your brain. But, be safe! Don’t try this where you could fall and hurt yourself, or with a task in which you might scald, cut, or injure yourself.

Count Your Change

Studies show that the brains of the blind, who must rely on other senses to navigate their world, learn to use different parts of the cortex to interpret stimuli. Just like when doing a familiar task with your eyes closed, using your sense of touch to identify objects will activate different parts of your brain for the task of interpreting your world. One way to practice this is to count the change in your pocket without looking at it; see if you can tell the difference between quarters, dimes, nickels, and cents without a glance at their shiny surfaces.

Memorize a List

Nowadays, we rely on our smartphones and other devices to remind us of everything that we have to do or buy. To mix things up, try a new way of organizing your day, like writing down your list on paper, or try to memorize it and recite it from memory. This will exercise your long- and short-term memory (depending on how long you need to remember your list for) and test your ability to recall.

Cook a New Dish

Sign up for a cooking class or just make yourself a new meal from a recipe. Counting, measuring, imagining how flavors work together, and plating your dish will activate the parts of your brain used for math, spatial reasoning, and synthesizing information, while the act of cooking will stimulate the sensory centers for sight, smell, touch, and sound. Bonus: you get a delicious meal when you are done, and you’ve learned something new!

There Once Was a Man from Nantucket (Write a Poem!)

Try putting together a few lines of rhyming verse. Try a limerick! It can be fun and funny, too, and it will exercise the parts of your brain that recall words and sounds and associate ideas. You can visit one of the many online poetry magazines, like the Poetry Foundation, if you want some inspiration.

Do Crossword Puzzles

Most local newspapers come with these, but if you don’t get one, you can findplenty online! Just print one out and work over it with your morning coffee.

Draw a Map

After you’ve gone somewhere, draw out a map from memory, by hand, of the route there from your home. Do this each time you visit a new place, and keep the maps. At the end of a few months you’ll have a nice little stack of maps, and you can look back and see all the different places you’ve been! For an added challenge, draw the map with your non-dominant hand.

Hand-Eye Coordination

Whatever happened to the days when grandfathers would putter about in the shop and grandmothers would crochet and knit? Whatever your gender, switching off the TV and putting some time into learning a tactile hobby like knitting or carving will forestall aging and keep the brain centers that deal with hand-eye coordination and spatial imagination alive and well.

Speak and Sing!

Finally, if you have the time to invest in a more ambitious approach, start learning to play a musical instrument or learning a new language. Even if you can’t afford formal classes, there are YouTube tutorials and free apps that will teach you a few words every day of a foreign language.

Studies show that sustained engagement in learning new skills—learning something new and at least somewhat complex over an extended time—helps prevent the usual effects of aging on the mind and keep it agile and able.

Whatever your age, doing these simple things every day as you go about your daily routine will exercise different parts of your brain, helping you keep your mind fit and healthy and increasing your problem-solving, creative, and imaginative faculties in tip-top shape long into life. Good luck and happy thinking!

Brain Gym Activities: Everyday Ways to Improve Your Cognitive Function published first on https://myneuroworld.tumblr.com

#Brain Gym Exercise #Brain Training For Kids #Test Your Brain #Brain Gym Training #Increase Short Ter

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debrapussery · 7 years ago

Text

Brain Gym Activities: Everyday Ways to Improve Your Cognitive Function

Change Your Commute

Turn Something Upside Down

Do Something with Your Eyes Closed

Count Your Change

Memorize a List

Cook a New Dish

There Once Was a Man from Nantucket (Write a Poem!)

Do Crossword Puzzles

Most local newspapers come with these, but if you don’t get one, you can findplenty online! Just print one out and work over it with your morning coffee.

Draw a Map

Hand-Eye Coordination

Speak and Sing!

Brain Gym Activities: Everyday Ways to Improve Your Cognitive Function published first on https://myneuroworld.wordpress.com

0 notes

julieabreaux · 7 years ago

Text

Brain Gym Activities: Everyday Ways to Improve Your Cognitive Function

Change Your Commute

Turn Something Upside Down

Do Something with Your Eyes Closed

Count Your Change

Memorize a List

Cook a New Dish

There Once Was a Man from Nantucket (Write a Poem!)

Do Crossword Puzzles

Most local newspapers come with these, but if you don’t get one, you can findplenty online! Just print one out and work over it with your morning coffee.

Draw a Map

Hand-Eye Coordination

Speak and Sing!

Brain Gym Activities: Everyday Ways to Improve Your Cognitive Function published first on http://myneuroworld.blogspot.com

#Brain Gym Exercise #Brain Training For Kids #Test Your Brain #Brain Gym Training #Increase Short Ter

0 notes

myneuroworld · 7 years ago

Text

Brain Gym Activities: Everyday Ways to Improve Your Cognitive Function

Change Your Commute

Turn Something Upside Down

Do Something with Your Eyes Closed

Count Your Change

Memorize a List

Cook a New Dish

There Once Was a Man from Nantucket (Write a Poem!)

Do Crossword Puzzles

Most local newspapers come with these, but if you don’t get one, you can findplenty online! Just print one out and work over it with your morning coffee.

Draw a Map

Hand-Eye Coordination

Speak and Sing!

#Brain Gym Exercise #Brain Training For Kids #Test Your Brain #Brain Gym Training #Increase Short Ter

0 notes