log: the left hand of darkness, the stranger, bang brave bang bravern
My brain is a whirlpool these days and I'm certain that it's not going to recover, so I'm giving up on being strict with writing coherently. I've been slacking on taking notes about the art that I've seen, but I haven't been looking at much besides Transformers... Well, there's only a few things that have been hanging around in my mind, anyway.
By the way, when I write here, I'm self conscious about sounding like I have VN/LN voice. I don't think it's curable.
The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula Le Guin
- What I was actually taken most aback by was the harshness of Genly's experience in prison. It's not characterized by dramatic brutality or violence, but the gross, passive cruelty of sick systems maintained by the sick.
- Ideas of gender have broadened enough in society and science fiction that the idea of the ambisex culture maybe doesn't punch as much as it did back when Left Hand was published, but the thoroughness of its conceptualization across the different cultures of Karhide, Orgota, and the Ekumen is still amazing.
- This discussion of the novel by intersex readers brings up good points regarding how Genly is effectively intersexed on Gethen even though from the perspective of the audience it's the other way around.
The Stranger - Albert Camus
- I'm not sure that I got a good read on this book at all. What I'm hung up on the most is that while Meursault is incompatible with the world, Meursault's response to the world and the world's response to Meursault are equal in absurdity.
- Meursault's a misogynist but he's very fixated on the female attention in his life, from his mother, Marie, and the woman who stares at him at the trial.
Bang Brave Bang Bravern - CygamesPictures
- Obari, I kneel.
- Seriously, if you're sad, Bravern will snap you out of it.