miscellany

It's been a whole week since I posted. I used to never let a week go by without posting; I couldn't bear to. I don't know precisely what's changed, though I have some ideas . . . but enough of that.

Here are some things I've been thinking about and would like to talk about more at some point. Alif the Unseen. I finished this book and loved it. It was funny--I was reading humorous bits out to family members--had excellent characters, an exciting story, and faith was an integral, moving part of the story in a way I liked. I'll make a Goodreads review at some point, and I hope I'll say more, but that's the executive summary.

Ondine. sovay reviewed that movie here, and I was very taken by what she said. The movie was everything she said it was, and the character of Annie, the daughter who weaves a story for her father and the woman he pulls from the sea, interested me very much--her role as the storyteller. I want to say more about that at some point, too.

The uses and limitations of empathy. The movie Ex Machina (flawed, dissatisfying film, but it did spark conversation here) got me thinking about what gets said about empathy and humanity and sociopathy, etc. etc., and I realized that, to me, it's more important how people ACT than how they FEEL. There are exceptions and caveats and curlicues, and I thought I might post a whole entry on this topic, but who knows when? But yeah, that's been on my mind.

Lastly--photos. Today wakanomori and I went for a bike ride and crossed a bridge. On one side, the water ran to sky; on the other, there were water lilies:





And some extremely contemporary graffiti was inscribed on the bridge: