30 June 2005, 12:06 AM

A tribute to laziness

In this month's Discover magazine, there's a short entry in the Flash column of the R&D section on a study that was done on problem-solving skills vs. position. Apparently, you can solve problems faster when you're lying down; even the minor effort involved in sitting or standing triggers the release of norephinephrine, a stress hormone. I'm assuming this means you'd be better at other cognitive skills, too. So I'm feeling a little more justified in my recent purchase of a laptop--since apparently it isn't just my imagination that I write better prone. :>

Of course, I'm also a little puzzled at the entry two down from that blurb, which states that researchers say overweight people have a lower risk of death than average-weight people. That's the literal phrase. "Lower risk of death." What, immortals are more likely to be obese? (Insert your own joke about Buddha figurines here.) I suddenly want to write a story on that. "Well, I'm never going to die, so I might as well indulge in my vices...mmm, chocolate!" Usually when I've seen this done it's smoking. Or alternately, "Scientist proves death-defying power of Popsicles!"

Also, further to yesterday's bit on LHoD, has anyone noticed the similarity between Estraven and estrange? (This is probably because I pronounce "Estraven" as ess-TRAY-ven, rather than ESS-truh-ven, like everybody else I know.) However, Ursula Le Guin has said before that the similarity between Ged and God came as a complete surprise to her when someone mentioned it years later; this, I think, would be the same.

Thus wrote Melanie in the categories: Reading , Writing
Full pamphlet here , with notations here (0) .

28 June 2005, 2:06 AM

On The Left Hand of Darkness

Ursula K. Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness is one of my all-time favorite books. My high opinion of it is shared by...er...pretty much everyone I've ever talked to about it. It's also one of the books I see most recommended to people who aren't science fiction fans, which plays into one of the reasons I really enjoy it: the way the experience of the story morphs from reading to reading.

The first time I read the book, Genly Ai was a window. I didn't pay attention to his character at all; I was him, interacting with the people of Gethen, learning about them, making the journey at the end, feeling the weirdness of the final moments. The first reading for me was a mind-blowing story of politics and the study of the other; what I remember pulling from the book was a fascination with the social system involved, especially in how it may or may not have related to the word around me. I was about fourteen at the time, and this was my second Le Guin book.

The second reading, a couple of years later, was a completely different experience. Now I knew the culture and the people; the story this time was Genly's, how he grew and changed as a character, with help from a hard-to-penetrate Gethenian named Estraven. This was the first time I really paid attention to the...oh, heavens, I can't remember the word for it; the foretelling. And I paid attention as well to the structure of the story, how even the parts from Estraven's viewpoint reflect on what we can assume is Genly's retelling or translation. For a more capable reader, I assume this type of reading and the previous one would be combined.

And then the third reading. The third reading is where I decided I loved this book, because on the third reading the entire story is about Estraven. And Estraven is really damn cool. But I think knowing Genly first is a prerequisite—because Estraven rarely (to my memory) tells you anything about himself, and when he does, you have to deal with Genly's reactions. The rest of the story, and thus Estraven's actions, are also told in one way or another from Genly's point of view. So you need to know Genly, you need to know your filter, before you can understand the pain and the hope and the joy of Estraven's story.

The fourth reading was the reading of shifgrethor, but I'm very bad at social things, so perhaps it was a more integral part of the story for everybody else.

Anyway, if others' reading experiences are similar to my own, I think this is one of the reasons we tend to recomend LHoD (other than its quality, of course). Genly is an excellent proxy to understanding the world, explaining it to a level that you rarely see in sf, especially while engaging so directly with its inhabitants. Genly's attempts with the Gethenians mirror the way readers may be struggling to understand science fiction, and so the experience is less jarring than it might otherwise have been for readers used to a purely mimetic experience.

Thus wrote Melanie in the categories: Reading
Full pamphlet here , with notations here (0) .

27 June 2005, 12:06 AM

Enjoyment and quality of genre fiction

I attend the University of Iowa, home to the Iowa Writers' Workshop, which is known as one of the best graduate writing prorams in the country. They're known for realist writing—not a place where spec fic authors are encouraged, to understate the case. Many of the teachers here are less than fond of genre writing. I've always taken strong offense to this--how can they not realize the brilliance of, say, Ursula Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness? This also goes along with the occasionally-heard statement, "Oh that's not science fiction—it's too good," another sentiment I dislike.

But then again, I don't really like most literature, as it's used in English classes. It's okay, but it doesn't speak to me the way speculative fiction does. And, eventually, this got me thinking about what we use to define quality.

Thus wrote Melanie in the categories: Reading
Full pamphlet here , with notations here (0) .

26 June 2005, 9:06 PM

Updating...

Changing the look of the site rather completely; please forgive the weirdnesses for the next couple of hours.

Thus wrote Melanie in the categories: Admin
Full pamphlet here , with notations here (0) .

21 June 2005, 12:06 AM

Too much thinking about overarching themes

FreeCell continues apace. Why, with this stellar regimen, I could be finished with all the games in a mere 109.57 years! Go me!

In other, more interesting news, I've been thinking about...

voyeurism and Sweeney Todd.

Thus wrote Melanie in the categories: Musical Theatre
Full pamphlet here , with notations here (0) .