Harpo Marx

No, it's not nearly as bad as some people are saying, unless you have the rare ability of truly caring about the people in the story. It's just an interesting/entertaining book.

bump. started this the other day, almost finished. back with a conclusive opinion on the thing soon. Hows about a house of leaves assignment for the abstract thread, ehhh? ehhhh?

Seconded. The way to go is Unibroue's Fin Du Monde. Belgian style abbey tripel ale from Canada. So...damn...good. It kind of makes me a miserable beer drinker but I'm not a huge fan of high alcohol IPA's. I just don't really dig super bitter beer. That said, Belgian beer is indeed where it's at. Bless the monks.

I'd like to get better, so tear them apart.

Big up to that. The best explanation as I believe that would be possible in terms of doing 'abstract' style would be to learn basic art essentials, and particularly with graffiti, letter form, as in know it like the back of your hand, and have structure down cold. All of the dudes in this thread, or the people who do legitimate abstract styles have a mastery of letter form and structure than 90% of shitty writers could only dream of having. That's it, no special trick, learn letters backwards and forwards and learn composition and flow. All the most basic, tedious and undesirable things that you could possibly imagine are what goes into it. Just to reiterate what everyone else said, before you even consider breaking any rules, you ought to make damn sure you know what they are, and you've followed them and have a total understanding of them before you decide to throw them out. You have to earn what you do in a sense. Not to be absolutely weak, but my knowledge of artists is limited, so I'm forced to use Picasso as an example. Before he did his abstract work, and cubism and the like, he was a damn good artist in the basic sense, with portraits, still lifes, all the things we'd consider standard I suppose, but I feel he was especially allowed his work of abstraction because he, himself mastered standard form. On the subject of 'it's art because I say it is' I agree that it should be bullshit. Now, more than ever, someone claiming they're an artist is unbelievably deceptive and stands to do far more harm than good, and allows for the acceptance of pure and total shit from which no actual growth can occur because there's nothing of any value within it.

As far as I know, there has never been genocide in the name of drugs... So I might venture to say religious beliefs have been the cause of more deaths...

Couldn't be at all justified, could it?

Drugs won't answer anything for you.

shhh, quiet, if we're too loud we'll scare all the good people away

Right, study up on your Chinese kiddies, English is on its way out... Easily the most important discussion on language to date: Though on the Chomsky bit, anyone read the article talking about the amazonian tribe that challenges Chomsky's theory of univrsal grammar: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/04/16/070416fa_fact_colapinto?currentPage=all ta-da!

So, Casek any suggestions as to what we should do?

No, its from all the crack he smokes.

You are wrong. J.R.R. Tolkien wrote Beowulf in the 70's... obviously.

it's animated... and crispin glover is grendel. How the FUCK does the seem so awesome?

It's a bad idea. A very very bad idea.

Indeed, this thread won't last long but it's pretty interesting stuff, though its implications are relatively upsetting.

Big ups to soulseek. No more cds. None.

What the hell, to go with the title of 'Academic Doping'... what the FUCK is the difference between kids taking medicine to do well in school and taking steroids in sports. Medicine for attention deficit can be harmful to people who take it, but we don't have a problem handing it out by the fistful, while we're scolding athletes and stripping them of their medals for steroids... they're both trying to get ahead, and neither is right, so why is only one criticized? sigh

It's a way to crush kids when they're younger. We take kids in their developmental and thoughtful and active years, and we stick them in schools where no one wants to be there: the teachers are underpaid and the kids aren't interested. We keep kids 'out of trouble' by stuffing pills down their throats to get them to fit a norm where they're 'safe' from society, then we put them into sports. Instead of allowing any real self expression, we just stick them in shitty classrooms working like machines on bullshit paperwork. All of that medicine is just a way to crush kids early so they're ready for the real world of more paper work in a place where no one wants to be there. God forbid we should allow kids to not be 100% focused, daydream, be restless, maybe be creative, maybe think outside of what we've provided as 'acceptable' behavior... but then again society would obviously fall apart, so to hell with that idea.

Re: Banksy sticks it to Paris meh.

Xmosh girlX (ps. look at dude's face in the background)

err, sorry to hop on the hell train but Tom Waits is fucking fantastic. After decades of making music, he never submitted to money offers, refused to do advertising, and stayed with what sounded good to him. Love him or hate him, he's got something different going on with the way he puts his music together, and because of that, it stands the chance of people either getting psyched about it, or calling it garbage. I think he's doing something worthwhile.