Month: February 2014

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Man vs. Nature or Man vs. Self?

Santiago hasn’t caught a fish in 84 days.  He sets out alone and soon hooks a large marlin who drags the boat out to sea.

I wasn’t sure if Hemingway could keep me interested in two days at sea for 120 pages, but he did.  At first, I thought this would be the traditional theme of Man Vs. Nature, but it ebbed and flowed with a lot of internal monologue and sometimes the fish was secondary to inner conflict of the fisherman.

I am not sure if I am stretching things to see a Christ-figure in the man.  He injures his hands and at one point Hemingway mentions he gives an involuntary noise like a noise one would make as a nail pierces his hand.  He spends two nights at sea which could be a parallel to the two night Christ spends in the grave.  At the end of the fishing trip, the man sleeps on his bed with his arms stretched out.

If I am way off base, let me know in the comments.

 

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Brideshead Revisited-Beautifully Crafted But Not Convincing

Image from the BBC miniseries of Brideshead Revisited

It looks like I missed last week’s update on my 2014 Reading Challenge, but no worries, I’ve been keeping up.

During the past two weeks, I have continued to press on in my reading of the Sacrament of the Present Moment, but have had no new insights on the book. I also finished Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited and began reading a book for some Continuing Education I have been working on for my teaching profession.

While, I found Brideshead Revisited to be beautifully crafted, I only enjoyed the first 2/3 of the book.  As an American, it was hard to gasp the class differences that play such a heavy role in the story and by the end none of the characters seemed redeemable.  To me, Waugh seems nostalgic for the aristocracy, but he did not convince me of why I should care that this era was coming to a close.  The Lords and Ladies described in the book seem like spoiled trustifarians, done in by their own excesses.

Next up is Ernest Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea, which looks to be Moby Dick set in Cuba.

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My Life in Records #3 Kickstarter Project!

Music makes the Star Wars toys come alive in the latest issue of My Life in Records. Includes 3 new never-before-seen “B-Side” stories.

Each morning, before my family wakes up and before my family members wake up, I make comic books.  My Life in Records is a series I have been working on in some shape or form since December 2005.

This project seeks to print the third issue with two never before seen “B Side” stories.  The first issue is currently out of print and the second issue is close to being out of print as well.  I would like to use some of the Kickstarter funds to reprint these books.

Backer Rewards:

Besides My Life in Records, I also put out a small black and white comic book about once a year with several short stories it called Dodo Comics.

If you back this project at the $10 Level, you will receive the latest issue of Dodo Comics in addition to My Life in Records #3.  For $40 you will receive the all four issues of Dodo Comics and and all three issues of My Life in Records.