Patterns and fear

(EDIT: Okay I've edited and re-edited, but can't get any pics to show up.  Weird, this one needs a visual because it my whole damn point.)

Exhibit K is cool because it is set against a pattern that looks like a stained glass window or something.  But the text itself is in a pattern too.  It feels like it ebbs and flows, curls and loops.  I found that my reading and breathing pace had changed by the end.  I stumbled a bit with the breaks that form the pattern, but re-reading is easier.  Fear is an interesting topic.

I changed my mind

"Here lies your monster" was one of the ones I thought was a crap filler page.  But in class today it was mentioned and an idea about what the monsters really are (inner/ outer) struck me.  Its so simple and without indulging in a wordy exposition, it proposes a deep and interesting question.  If we hadn't all agreed on the project theme already, this would kick ass.  Makes me think I've been looking at this whole damn book the wrong way.

Eye. Strain.

Many of these are so damn hard to read because they are just all over the place.  Others like this one are actually physically hard to read.  I made it into the second paragraph and started to feel a headache coming on.  Is this some cruel prank?

If it floats

Boats and hoes!  Kidding, kidding.  But man does Gretchen group boats, ocean/ water and death together consistently.  I like it.  This fits with the theme of what the group project is:  How tiny and helpless we are in the midst of the world.  How our lives and voices are so brief, so faint that they are lost in the overwhelming scope of not only the population but the world.

Art brings emotions. Like anger.

Crap I'm behind on these.  And these examples aren't helping my initiative.  I am annoyed with the pages that are similar to these.  First, less is not always more, censoring out some portions of key text could have made for an intriguing and ambiguous thought or story. But with 75% blocked out, it just seems lazy and makes me not want to read it.

The following one is similar.  It just feels like "filler."  Bleh.

I like where this is going

Alright, I like Exhibit S.  It's rife with ocean and sex visuals.  Two of my favorite things.  It got a little dark and lost me toward the middle, but I still like it.  I like the alliteration and word choices even though I don't know half of them.  This one started to give me an idea for the group project.

 Exhibit B has some likeness with the water, waves, wind and carnal imagery.  Though more gory, they still have to do with desire for flesh.  It gets dark too and is chalk full of crazy words -that to be honest, I gave up looking up.  I'm just enjoying the sounds they make despite not having any basis for inferring their meanings based on the context because well the context is crazy.

Oh and here is an album of ambient music that I freaking love and is an interesting accompaniment to the random readings:

http://youtu.be/XN1WCFi_O3g

(Damn this was a long one.)

Better so far

Alright, I think I'm over the initial shock of how weird and unpredictable this book gets.  That said, it is a bit off putting since I haven't read for pleasure in ... way too long.  All I've read are things I had to read and none of them would even register on the WTF scale this book does.  I remember Prof Ogden saying it is a novel.  So that makes is the strangest assigned reading/ novel I've ever heard of.  But as I read it, I'm starting to get used to it.  Not to say I'm "enjoying" it yet, but we'll see.