And now, a few reasons why you should read Tender Is The Night:
“The strongest guard is placed on the gateway to nothing. Maybe becausethe condition of emptiness is too shameful to be divulged.” -p. 80
“It was good to be hard then; all the nice people were hard on themselves.” -p. 67
“Heavy, belly-frightened in love” -p. 97
“I’m tired of you both, but it doesn’t show because you’re even more tired of me- you know what I mean.” -p. 91
“You’re a fetching kid, but I couldn’t fall in love.” -p. 161
“Well, you never knew exactly how much space you occupied in people’s lives.” -p. 211
“That’s something you do so well, Dick. You can keep a party moving by just a little sentence or a saying here and there. I think that’s a wonderful talent.”
“Its a trick.” -p.219
“He supposed many men meant no more than that when they said they were in love- not a wild submergence of soul, a dipping of all colors into an obscuring dye.” -p.220
(via awordisdead)
Photo credit to Dan Turek.
It was the last morning of Labor Day Weekend Family Camp, and it was windy and cold out, but meredith had scheduled a bunch of us at the waterfront to guard. not a single person came, and we were exhausted. and lifeguard tubes are very nearly pillows anyway.
(via j-isnt-here-anymore)
On finally seeing Titanic, and other things
I saw Titanic for the first time on April 14th of this year. On the 100th anniversary, in 3D, in a theater. And despite what some people might believe to be the profundity of that, i was pretty skeptical in the beginning. BUT i’d be lying if i said i wasn’t swept away by the whole thing by the end.
But the part that really did it for me, was the car scene. because i suddenly realized that there’s a pretty parallel scene in Say Anything. First off, they’re sex scenes, in cars, second off, even the dialogue has a similarity to it.
Titanic:
Rose: You’re trembling.
Jack: Don’t worry, I’ll be alright.
Say Anything:
Diane: Are you shaking?
Lloyd: No.
Diane: You’re shaking.
Lloyd: I don’t think so.
Diane: You’re cold.
Lloyd: I don’t think I am
Diane: Then why are you shaking?
Lloyd: I don’t know, I think I’m happy.
Also, Lloyd, and Jack are both perceived as not good enough for Diane and Rose, respectively, by their families, and both Diane and Rose’s fathers are frauds.
I have to think that the commonalities were intentional on Cameron Crowe’s part. That he did it sort of as an homage. I know he directed the movie when he was really young. Like maybe he was even still a teenager, that makes a sort of sense to me. Like Shakespeare, in the beginning, only wrote histories, stories that already existed and already had been told, before the comedies and tragedies. So maybe Cameron was doing the same sort of thing.
seeing it done so well is hopeful for me, makes the massive, distant aspiration of writing something worthwhile seem a bit more attainable.
* Whoops, continuity error. Titanic was made AFTER Say Anything. and to be honest, it’s a little harder from me to believe that James Cameron did something in homage to Cameron Crowe than vice versa, and it was easier to relate to teenaged Crowe than the force in the movie industry that is James Cameron. So I might just attempt to go on misimagining that chronology
(via youwinhelena)
This morning, I was downstairs on the couch, working my way through the middle of a good, long, book, with my dog asleep by my feet and altogether rather comfortable. The only people home were myself and my sister Jane. Suddenly I stopped reading and thought about where Jane was. I had heard her shut the bathroom door behind her and hadn’t heard it open since. I wasn’t sure about the accuracy of my perception of the time that had passed but it seemed to have been a long time.
I had the idea that this could be attempt #2, in the bathroom, with only me home. it would be my fault. mom would be twenty minutes away at least and I would probably have to call 911, and maybe do CPR, and I would be incompetent and it would be my fault.
Then there was the moment of realization that i am being ridiculous, and then no, I am not, and for one fraction of a second i didn’t want to get up because I was so comfortable, and i knew Jake would would wake up and get off the couch. And then I berated myself for being a miserable example of the human race, and then I got up.
And, honestly, I wasn’t terrified or even scared, because I’m actually pretty good at beating away the debilitating emotional stuff until I have time to feel it properly. So I knocked on the bathroom door, and there was this pause. (goddamn that pause) and then:
I was just about to take a shower
Oh, have you got the chair in there? (she needs a shower chair, like dad needed a chair, like the chairs in the corner of the showers at the Y for senior members)
Yeah
Okay, I’ll just use the upstairs
Okay
So then I kept reading, until everyone else came home, and we went out for lunch.
I’m definitely looking forward to being out of the house for a few days.
