wApr 29, 2008


The common thread is books

Natalie Portman is going to play Catherine Earnshaw in a new movie version of Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights. While I'm glad that there won't be 8,000,000 more remakes of Jane Austen novels in the near future and people have realized that other women were writing great stuff in the 19th century, I'm not sure how much I'll like Portman as Cathy. I've liked her in everything I've seen her in thus far, though, so I guess I'll give it a try when it comes out.



There is an awesome article in the New York Times about depressed writers.
With all our scans and neurotransmitters, we are not much closer to figuring out that relationship than was Lord Byron, who announced that poets are “all crazy” and left it at that. But effective drugs make the question more urgent now: would Virginia Woolf, medicated, have survived to write her final masterpiece, or would she have spent her extra years happily shopping?

...

As for the central question of whether treating the illness impairs the creativity, Ms. Hornbacher weighs in firmly on the side of her meds, imperfect though they may be. “For me, the first sign of oncoming madness is that I’m unable to write.” Depression silences her; mania may flood her mind with glittering words, but they scatter before she can get them down.

...

While mental illness may form a part of the creative cycle, if untreated its own cycles invariably take over. “Depression steals the voice,” writes Liza Porter. “Silence breeds depression. Depression breeds silence.”


I find this interesting. For me, when I'm feeling down, everything else gets stripped away except for words, which I am more likely to write down then than when I am happy and preoccupied.


Tomorrow morning, I have a Ballroom Dance practical exam, which I'm a bit afraid of, as I missed the day of practice on Monday. I opted to miss that over 3 power lectures, though, so hopefully it'll work out okay. As for the paper due Friday, I haven't written much yet, but there is more to my presentation notes than I thought there was. The nice part about this paper (sort of?) is that the professor has really given absolutely no direction, and it seems like it's supposed to mostly be personal reflection (seeing as most of the class is reflecting on their study abroad experience). I think that that will make things much easier. Still attempting to read like mad so that I can include info on as much manga as possible.

I need to figure out how to get a hold of the last volume of Vaughan's Y: The Last Man.

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scribbled mystickeeper at 11:38 PM
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