Margaret Atwood on 'Positron', Writing Habits, and Her Pre-Feminism Feminism

Margaret Atwood on 'Positron', Writing Habits, and Her Pre-Feminism Feminism

[as freedom is a breakfastfood] by E. E. Cummings : The Poetry Foundation

[as freedom is a breakfastfood] by E. E. Cummings : The Poetry Foundation

Kurt Vonnegut -- All Articles -- In These Times

Kurt Vonnegut -- All Articles -- In These Times

NOW | A Tribute To Kurt Vonnegut | PBS - YouTube

NOW | A Tribute To Kurt Vonnegut | PBS - YouTube

South of the Border, West of the Sun, Murakami

"But I didn't understand then. That I could hurt somebody so badly she would never recover. That a person can, just by living, damage another human being beyond repair."

Chapter 2, South of the Border, West of the Sun, Haruki Murakami

4AD - The National announce sixth studio album, Trouble Will Find Me

4AD - The National announce sixth studio album, Trouble Will Find Me

How to enjoy poetry | Brain Pickings

How to enjoy poetry | Brain Pickings

Los Angeles Review of Books - Bringing Chaos To Order: On Kurt Vonnegut's Literary Remains

Los Angeles Review of Books - Bringing Chaos To Order: On Kurt Vonnegut's Literary Remains

Virginia Woolf on How to Read a Book | Brain Pickings

Virginia Woolf on How to Read a Book | Brain Pickings

"...filled with a sense of Naoko's presence"

"With Naoko gone, I went to sleep on the sofa. I hadn't intended to do so, but I fell into the kind of deep sleep I had not had for a long time, filled with a sense of Naoko's presence. In the kitchen were the dishes Naoko ate from, in the bathroom was the toothbrush Naoko used, and in the bedroom was the bed in which Naoko slept. Sleeping soundly in this apartment of hers, I wrung the fatigue from every cell of my body, drop by drop. I dreamed of a butterfly dancing in the half-light."

Norwegian Wood, Haruki Murakami

Gwen Stacy + Kurt Vonnegut

Since I live in the time-delay world of paying huge amounts of $$$ for cable, and thus never go to the movies anymore (sigh) and never use Netflix or rent DVDs (because of stated indebtedness to the cable bill), I just watched The Amazing Spider-Man (2012).

A few days later I had to watch it again—it is quite good except for the manipulation of the details of the origin story that does mostly keep the essence of the myth intact—mainly because I spotted something interesting while Gwen Stacy sat outside at lunch in an early scene of the film.

And, yes, she is holding a copy of Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle:

A damned fine if-not-wonderful novel that has a bit of a web motif:

But also it is a cautionary tale about science. Dr. Felix Hoenikker enters the novel as a father of the atomic bomb, inventor of ice-nine, and personification of the division between science and morality:

After the thing [atomic bomb] went off, after it was a sure thing that America could wipe out a city with just one bomb, a scientist turned to Father and said, "Science has now known sin." And do you know what Father said? He said, "What is sin?" (Cat’s Cradle 17)

R.E.M.'s Brave New World | Music News | Rolling Stone

R.E.M.'s Brave New World | Music News | Rolling Stone

Adrienne Rich on Love, Loss, Creative Process, and Public vs. Private Happiness | Brain Pickings

Adrienne Rich on Love, Loss, Creative Process, and Public vs. Private Happiness | Brain Pickings

"Maybe that's why people don't like me."

"You're very clear about what you like and what you don't like," she said.

"Maybe so," I said. "Maybe that's why people don't like me. Never have."

"It's cause you show it," she said. "You make it obvious you don't care whether people like you or not. That makes some people mad." She spoke in a near mumble, chin in hand. "But I like talking to you. The way you talk is so unusual. 'I don't like having something control me that way.'"

Norwegian Wood, Haruki Murakami

"I felt almost guilty being me"

"My arm was not the one she needed, but the arm of someone else. My warmth was not what she needed, but the warmth of someone else. I felt almost guilty being me."

Norwegian Wood, Haruki Murakami