The Last Half-Year

Returning again to this blog.  I left it on the Winter Solstice, I’m returning now that we have passed the Summer Solstice.

I left because -- so many things went wrong between those two soltstices!

In early December, my car was stolen.  Long story--maybe I’ll tell it later.

In late January, just as we were about to buy a new car, my dental crown fell out.  By the time that was fixed, in late February, another tooth or two had gone with it, and I had my first dental bridge.  “Oh Joy!”  The temporary had threatened to come loose just as I was settling in for coffee and a sandwich at Pantheacon.

End of February, congratulating myself on surviving the car and tooth “incidents” -- both our computer and our printer stop working; so we were off to research replacements.  If I tell you we ended up moving from Windows 7 to Windows 8.2…some of you will appreciate that we had a bit of a “learning curve.”

Middle-to-end of March:  The house plumbing starts to back up again.  We get it unclogged; within ten days it’s a mess again.  Unclogged finally--but the toilet seemed defective.  Off we go to research toilets.  And so it went through April and May.  And finally we had a sleek (?!) new toilet!

I’m sure other matters came up--or maybe it just felt that way as we recovered from these disasters.

You get the picture.

And now--June--the Supreme Court decision on gay marriage.  And, unfortunately, the killings in Charleston.  I’ve been online all week discussing the propriety or impropriety of the Confederate flag.

And figured: Solstice-to-Solstice was enough of a gap here on Grail and Wand.

So I’m back.

"Wrong Move" (film)

I discovered this film ("Falsche Bewegung") by Wim Wenders somehow or other because it was described as being a “loose” adaptation of a Goethe novel (Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship).  As far as I can tell, the adaptation is quite “loose.”  I’ve watched it twice now and just realized that I could watch it again, with Wender’s commentary turned on.  But I don’t think I could bear to do that, at least for another month or two.  I did listen to the first few minutes of the commentary.  Wenders apparently titled the film “Wrong Move” because he decided that the idea of going on a journey to find yourself (the novel was one of the first Bildungsroman) was basically misguided.

The first time through the film, I had to stop after thirty minutes.  This looked like one of those European art films where people spend long stretches staring into space and not talking to one another; and in fact it is.  This film would never work as a commercially released American film.  It might not even work as an American art film.  But I watched the last hour and a quarter in one sitting and enjoyed it; and watched the entire film again the following evening.

I haven’t read Goethe’s novel; the online synopsis looks pretty intimidating; but I can see some similarities between it and the film.  You have two men who want to become writers.  You have two women.  

Now I’m curious what Goethe would make of the film.  Might have a few too many silent stretches for him (he was, among things, a dramatist).  But it’s interesting, and I recommend it.  Just be prepared for those long silent stretches—and little background music.  And it’s in German…with subtitles.

The Literary Swirl

Many influences swirling in my brain just now.  As November approaches, so does NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).  I’m planning to write a draft novel, just as I did last year.  Meanwhile, an article of mine is on the verge of appearing on a fairly high-traffic website, and I’m excited about that.  Then there’s the slow formation of a South Bay Writers group focused on “underground” writing—whatever that means!  And my own exploration of such writing—watching a documentary about Charles Bukowski; attending our South Bay Writers October meeting in costume as Geoffrey Firmin, the main character in Malcolm Lowry’s novel Under the Volcano, publicly reading an excerpt from William Burroughs’ Queer.  And we’re starting a third Open Mic, exact schedule to be determined, to be held in downtown Los Altos.  The next month should be full of literary events!

Laugh at the Rest?

Hermann Hesse said “Learn what is to be taken seriously and laugh at the rest.”

But people get so serious about certain things—and I want to laugh about it!

Yesterday I read a lengthy online post about “different from” vs. “different than.”  Both have apparently been in use for centuries and both are apparently “considered acceptable” (by whom?).  But “different from” is strongly preferred.  “Different than” comes with a strong advisory (a strong admonition).

Some people have rules for when to use each one.  “Than” is for quantities (“less than one”).

Okay.  Or have we simply become overly pedantic?

I’m smiling already.

“Another Kind of Polyamory—or Not”

(from the October South Bay Poly Newsletter)

I’ve seen multiple discussions in progress lately on the subject of polys who are involved with people who “aren’t really poly,” or people who are “kinda sorta poly,” or people who “might or might not be poly,” and so on.

I told someone a month or so back:  “You know what polys are calling a poly/non-poly relationship now?  A mixed marriage.”

Well what do you call such a thing?

I’ve always suspected that there might be two kinds of polys (although I’ve also often said that “there are poly ways to be poly.”  That is, many ways to be poly).

But anyway.  We usually say that polys want or are drawn to multiple relationships.  But there are people who aren't drawn to multiple relationships—but they can accept their (single) partner having multiple relationships.  What do we call these people?  Shall we call them “Co-Polys?”  Or maybe “Passive Polys?”

I don’t know.  But I know that these people exist.  And I’d hesitate to call them “monogamous.”