The politics of language
Clutter is the language of the Pentagon calling an invasion a “reinforced protective reaction strike” and justifying its vast budgets on the need for “counterforce deterrence.” As George Orwell pointed out in “Politics and the English Language,” an essay written in 1946 but often cited during the wars in Cambodia, Vietnam, and Iraq, “political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible… Thus political language has to consist largely of euphemisms, question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness.” Orwell’s warning that clutter is not just a nuisance but a deadly tool has come true in the recent decades of American military adventurism. It was during George W. Bush’s Presidency that “civilian casualties” in Iraq became “collateral damage.”
No, it’s not Markos Moulitsas Zúniga at Daily Kos. It’s William Zinsser in the 30th Anniversary Edition of On writing well. And it’s just page 16. Boy, I am going to enjoy this book.
Technorati Tags: writing, politics, Orwell
How to make a writer
I’ve almost finished reading Stephen King’s On writing. I love this book. No wonder: it discusses the topic I love reading about—writing, the evolution of a passion, and elements of style—and tells a story with a happy ending.
On Writing is also the story of the support, recognition, and love that are needed to make a writer. Stephen’s mother praises his first story on a big white bunny named Mr. Rabbit Trick:
She said it was good enough to be in a book. Nothing anyone has said to me since has made me feel any happier. I wrote four more stories about Mr. Rabbit. She gave me a quarter a piece for them and sent them around to her four sisters (…). Four stories. A quarter a piece. That was the first buck I made in this business.
Museum art is dead
Yesterday Husband and I went to the Whitney Museum in NYC. In this period the Whitney is having the 2006 Biennial, which is titled Day for Night in homage to François Truffaut’s movie La Nuit américaine. Some of the pieces were outrageous (a large virginal white canvas with piece of dirty chewing gum splattered on it, huge holes in the museum’s walls), some were moving and unsettling (Brauntuch’s shirts, Hannah Greely’s baby), ironic and/or provocative in a sexual (Vezzoli’s trailer for the never made remake of Caligula, Iannone’s "I was thinking of you") or political way (Serra’s Stop Bush, Anderson’s take on Black History, Nari Ward’s Glory).
But what was truly odd and out of place was to see modern art in a modern art museum.
How to be creative
I’ve just finished reading Hugh MacLeod’s How to be creative [PDF] (available at Changethis.com together with other interesting stuff). It felt like the first a ray of light after the eclipse. It made me happy after going to the gym, playing sudoku for hours, and eating dark chocolate failed.
Hugh MacLeod is the author of the popular blog Gaping Void, creates cartoons on the back of business cards, and in his spare time plays a microbrand consultant. When I grow up, I want to become like him.
Tags: gapingvoid, macleod, creativity
A bug drank my drink
Scott has been playing with animation recently. First, he photographed an animation on paper that he started but never completed 20 years ago. Now he is experimenting with stop-motion photography.
His first attempt is called “A bug drank my drink”. The technique can probably be improved, but I love the results anyway.
The spider in the movie belongs to Santiago, the 3 1/2 year old son of our friend Diego. He came here a couple of weeks ago and forgot his spider. Scott made this movie for Diego. He send an e-mail with the movie as an attachment, begging Diego to come and get his bug. If you watch the movie you’ll understand way.
Watch A bug drank my drink.
Technorati Tags: animation, bugs, stop-motion
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