Not the Usual Scoundrels

While reading a book about Tom Paine's Rights of Man, I discovered that Samuel Johnson's oft-repeated quip, "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel," isn't as progressive as it sounds. I guess back then, people who supported democratic and radical causes in England were known as 'Patriots' and it is only to this group that Johnson was directing his barb.

Just a little tid-bit that might come in handy the next time you need to out know-it-all a smarty-pants at a dinner party.

Leeches Leave Behind a Scar Shaped Like the Mercedes Benz Symbol

I learned it from Tom Waits, so I assume it's true...

Dr. Vincent Lam gave a reading at the U of A a few months back, put on jointly by the Humanities and Medicine Faculties. I had expected the crowd to be separated by faculty allegiances, with an awkward silence between them, much like a junior high dance, so I was surprised that the med students/doctors and the art students/hobos moved among each other without incident.

There is a now-famous story about how Lam got his big break by meeting Margaret Atwood on an Alaskan cruise and showing her his manuscript, which led to Atwood's email reply: "Congratulations. You can write." As encouraging as that tale is (I advise all writers to keep that manuscript at the ready, in case you see Guy Vanderhaeghe in line at Tim Horton's or Michael Ondaatje riding the bus), I don't think it's the whole story.

Consider my made-up, yet more plausible version (given Atwood's reputation as being rather prickly when handed a manuscript from a stranger): Atwood, sea-sick on an endless cruise through the arctic wastelands, asks the ship's doctor (Lam) for a prescription for anti-nauseants. Lam, plucky young writer that he is, refuses to hand over the drugs until Atwood agrees to read his manuscript. Atwood's reply: "Congratulations. You can write. Now will you please give me some drugs?" Much more likely, you'll agree.

Oh, right...the book. Not bad. Lam's a good writer, and he tells interesting stories about medical students and young doctors. I think the best story in the collection is the one about a psychiatric patient who starts to make his doctor question his own sanity. However, I found that most of the stories didn't keep me thinking once I put the book down. My favourite short stories are those that demand to be read again and again and won't leave my brain alone. I'm not denying that Lam can write, but I don't feel the need to read his stories again.

probably the most shallow thoughts ever, on david foster wallace

funnily enough, the day i brought home infinite jest was the day david foster wallace (my fish) started jumping for food. it may just be, he got a real set of 'brass ones' since i put him in the bigger bowl by accident, but i like to think it's his internal author flushing with appreciation at me finally owning a whole book by his namesake.

having my own copy of the novel also means i have, in my posession, the inside author bio picture of david foster wallace. what a pretty, itchy face he has! so i decided for my next illustration project (author portraits for store displays), i would put his delightfully scratchy mug up in lights...

browsing photos online, i came to the sighing realization that there just isn't that much photographic interest in authors. they get shots done for book covers, maybe one or two press shots over the next decade, and that's about it. even hemmingway has only so many pictures around. and once there's a nice picture out there, it tends to be used for absolutely everything. like the scruffy david foster wallace picture, which turns out to be older than i ever expected.

(on every book cover)



vs. (now-- reading at UCLA or something)


my dreams? in shambles.

to those writers out there: 1) get many photos taken, otherwise illustrators have nothing to work with and then all your illustrations wind up looking about the same... many photos = interesting art with your face in it. also, 2) stop teasing us with how attractive you were before. and/or keep up with yourself better. david foster wallace, man, you let yourself go. i now have to love you for your mind alone.

avoidance & acquisition

i generally brave all forms of impending doom & looming project completion dates in the same manner: i buy books & read them like i'm ...well, like i'm not tying up my bachelor of design degree.

yeah, i do. on the way to a partner project meeting, i innocently slip into Pages & ask for a book they likely have in stock. today? moby dick. while they drag it off the shelf i: stuff my hands in my pockets; lean to peek at the 'new books' table; rock back & forth on my heels & lift my chin to see the way-up-high books on the 'staff recommendations' shelf; pull in my lower lip & poke around the fiction shelves...the anthologies... before you know it, i have an armload of literary bid-ness.

my handles on the little plastic Pages bag actually started ripping right off, halfway to my apartment.

also, i had to sit through aforementioned partner project, which was interrupted by me constantly stopping him and saying, "hey look what else i got!" while pulling out another book from the bag he started referring to as, "the clown car bag". it was more appropriate than funny.

. moby dick / herman melville
(see that jonathan? oh, it happened. i snuck in 5 pages of reading &, oh boy, i am excited.)
. the people of paper / salvador plascencia
. dharma bums / jack kerouac
(if you're wondering why–it's because penguin has started a classic deluxe edition, where their classic novels are illustrated by graphic novelists. hooray! it is the most unpretentious, nice cover for a kerouac novel i've ever seen. also, no portrait.)
. infinite jest / david foster wallace
(i am a big beautiful book fanatic & hey, rhianna liked it more than not...is $17.oo too much to drop for a brick of d.f.w. goodness? i named my fish after him, so i should have something of my own.)
. bloodletting & miraculous cures / vincent lam
(i was the only kid to ever go through my school's 5th grade PE class & do a report on bloodletting.)