Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    

Frankly, anybody who can't feel something scorching their dangly bits
probably deserves a festering carbuncle to remind them that it's there.
 

Re Neil's laundry woes:  If you wear black the god of Static Cling is
not your friend, and I think that missing black sock is probably stuck
on something else that is black so he can't see it.  Socks can be
sneaky that way.  Socks are probably solitary creatures forced by
humans to work in pairs.  Each laundry day provides yet another
opportunity for them to reclaim their individuality and free themselves
from the oppression of the pair.  

I believe the world will end the day we find out what happened to all
our missing socks.  Remember Götterdämmerung?  Maybe something got lost
in the translation and Vidar wasn't wearing a slipper made from all
the leather scaps in the world when he slew Fenrir. Perhaps it was all
our missing socks! And that sock, stuffed into the jaws of Odin's
greatest enemy, enabled him to restrain chaos and conquer evil. I know
it's a bit of a reach, but they do go missing don't they?  ;p
  

    
Damn... just read the Fischer article...
sad and frightening, but it's long been said that there is a thin,
thin line between genius and insanity.
  

    
>it's long been said that there is a thin,
>thin line between genius and insanity.

     It has, but is it true?
     There have certainly been well-known cases of mental instabililty
among chess grandmasters (Paul Morphy being probably the best known),
as among mathematicians (Nash, Erdös).  But there are far more of both
groups who are perfectly well-balanced.  And from the available
evidence, the majority of the seriously mentally ill are not brilliant
or talented, yet one never hears that there's a thin line betewen
stupidity and madness.
    What does happen with a lot of extremely talented people is that
they are focused on, or just interested in, particular things that are
not necessarily interesting to others; in such areas as pure
mathematics and theoretical physics they aren't easily comprehensible
by most people.  It's arguable that one of the definitions of "genius"
(and there are many) is the -ability- to get that focused, to think
harder and deeper about a problem than others can.
     It's interesting, to use the word loosely, that someone who
brings pretty ordinary management work home from the office every
night, to the neglect of his family and person, may be considered to
have lost perspective and need a vacation, but no one ever suggests
that he's insane.  Spend the same effort on string theory or the
three-body problem and you're obviously a little funny in the head.
     None of which has much to do with Fischer, of course.
  

    
My, I'm ranting a lot lately.  Apologies.  Nothing personal meant.
  

    
I have a book about the art of the insane.  It's called The Art of the
Insane.  Basically, it finds that insane people aren't particularly
artistically talented, withall.
  

    
No need for apologies, Mike. Nothing personal taken.
I'm up for a good spirited debate!
I'm not sure that I consider my quote to be a truism, but it seemed to
apply in the case of Fischer. It goes to that focus you pointed out
about (although I would argue that Genius lies not so much in the
ability to focus to such and extreme degree, as the ability to make
cognitive jumps that simply wouldn't occur to the majority of humankind
regardless of their ability to focus.)

But the question of focus is interesting with Fischer, because it is
just that kind of focus that seems to have aggravated his mental
instability. Based on the article, it looks like his inability to
function or relate to the world outside of the chessboard encouraged an
increasing disassociation with that world.
To use your example, the man who brings home ordinary management work
would probably be considered insane if he filled out the same
spreadsheet a dozen times each night, arranging the formatting into a
secret pattern that was guaranteed to act as a ward against the minions
of satan.
I think that it is that disconnect from wider reality, that retreat
into one's own mind and one's own constructs that leads to the phrase
about the thin line between genius and madness. Kind of like they are
two nations that share a border, but have many many other roads that
lead to their kingdoms.
My own grandfather was institutionalized for some time, although it
was before I was born, and his road to madness had nothing to do with
genius.
  

    
Martha: That sounds like an interesting book.  I read The Man Who
Mistook His Wife for a Hat" (Oliver Sacks) a while back, and thought it
was fascinating and scary.  The idea of what makes us human interests
me, and those were people exploring the outer boundaries of human
being.

Mike: I, for one, welcome your rants any time.  As rants go, they're
of superior signal to noise ratio.

And I have to admit... the *mechanics* of how this alleged scientist
managed to burn himself in quite that spot struck me as... um, awkward
to explain.

And as regards the relationship between brilliance and insanity...
it's always been my personal pet theory that anyone with the
intelligence to perceive the world with exceptional clarity would
naturally have to become either insane or an artist*.
;-)

*Especially if one considers certain levels of scientific endeavor as
an art of sorts.

"People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't
realize how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."
-Calvin (from Calvin & Hobbes)

-Pam
who is quite clear that she lands on the *other* side of that fence
  

    
We finally gave in and decided to buy the Magnetic Fields' 69 Love Songs.
As we were leaving the store, the security alarm went off, and they brought
us and our bag back to try to deactivate the little security strips on all
of the CDs we bought, figuring maybe the salesclerk missed one.
Nope, we went to leave again and it still set off the alarm.

bert says "I guess that because it's a 3-CD set, it's hard to demagnetize it
all at once", pulling out the Magnetic Fields' box.  I couldn't help myself,
and asked whether maybe it might be difficult to demagnetize the magnetic
fields, and we giggled for quite a while.

so thanks, Neil, your music recommendations are providing us with joy
before we even listen to the music!
  

    


From Christy Smith:




Greetings from Connecticut!  I'm on my dad's computer now, with a cat
periodically dozing on my lap.  (She just got naughty and hissed at me, so
she lost lap privileges for now.)  How are you all doing?

Dan -- Ugh, your poor mom.  How is she holding up?  I will be thinking about
all of you this week.

While following an old link you posted a while ago, I came across where your
_Pinch_ site's going to be, and I like what I see so far!  It's bookmarked
back at home.

Neil (1863) -- I'm dumbfounded -- and wondering how it is that, after all
this time, you can still surprise me.  My gosh... is there anything you DON'T
do?

Sometime when you're at the computer more often, we must talk further.  For
now, I have asked my family for Flash Girls CDs for Christmas, out of
curiosity.

> the Tea Song (Tea and Corpses)

Yup.  That's what I always think of when I think of tea.  Corpses.  Uh-huh.
Yeah.

Have a good "countdown" week with the film, and I hope your ear infection
clears up quickly.
<gives Neil a get-well kiss on the cheek>
<pulls back>  Ow!  Beard bristles!

Erynn -- Good for you guys!  (Besides you and your husband, who's "we all"?)
Sounds like it was time to move on.  Good luck!  You must keep us posted on
your adventures!  :)

Pam -- Watch out for that tree!

Abbess -- Too funny!  On a related note, I just saw _69 Love Songs_ in a
chain record store in my local mall.  I was kind of surprised; I'd just
figured it'd be hard to find offline.

Oh!  Mary -- I was just in your mom's neck of the woods yesterday.  My high
school has an annual all-class reunion brunch in November, and this is the
first time I went; in fact, it was the first time I'd been back to the school
since graduation!  I'm happy to see they're taking good care of my school.
There's a new wing with art rooms and computer labs, an expanded guidance
office, and all sorts of good stuff.  And there's a lot that still looks the
same, which was nice.  I went backstage in the auditorium (I trod the boards,
luvvy!), and it was as though the last 15 years just disappeared.  So nice.

And I was thrilled when the principal and several of my teachers and guidance
counselors remembered me!  I really got reminded yesterday what a good school
I went to.  And, appropriately for this week, I'm very thankful.  :)

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Christy
  

    
So, last Friday, I won tickets to go see Counting Crows tonight (I was
the 11th caller-is that a trip or what?), so Debbie & I went.  It was
a 30th anniversary concert for WXRT, the coolest radio station, like,
ever.  (They hooked me when I first moved here, 12  years ago, by
playing Maya Love from All Things Must Pass.  I mean who plays album
cuts from George Harrison *and* U2 *and* KoKo Taylor?)

So, anyway, we go, and about 8:30, when the show is about to start
they announce that there's going to be an opening act, and Lin, one of
the djs, starts talking about how they love to promote new bands, and
local bands, and I look at Debbie & go "No, they *didn't*!"

They did.

We got to hear 5 songs from Billy Corrigan's new band.  How cool is
that?  Very cool stuff--the set was acoustic, but the material is
strong.  XRT has been playing a single for a couple of weeks now.

And then Counting Crows kicked ass.  Adam Duritz has an amazing voice.
 It sort of took awhile for them to really get going, but by the end
of the set they were really amazing.

OK, crashing.  'Nighty-night!   M.
  

    


I wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving holiday. :)
  

    
<ahem>

*Will you Chicago folks go sign up for the meet-up before I have to
spank you all!*

We now return you to your normally scheduled, turkey-induced torpor.
  

    
Mary, aren't we the only ones who signed up ever? We have our own
meetups. I keep deleting the emails. I guess I better go check the
thing.

Saw/heard Tori Amos tonight. Am more than glad. These past two years,
she's been better than I've ever heard her. I'm so impressed by her.

I have to leave for a football game in two hours. I don't know how to
convey my very real distress over this, so I'll leave it at that.
  

    
Maure--there are 3 people besides us who are signed up, and one of
them says he's (she's?) coming this time.  And this is the first time
it's been *in* Chicago instead of the suburbs.  If we don't have at
least 4 people by tomorrow night, it gets canceled again.  I'd just
like to see one happen (and I took off work to go this time). 
  

    
I can't possibly go to this one. I wrote down the date for the next
one, though. I'll see what I can do for that one.
  

    
Hey, did anybody go see Eddie?
  

    <scribbled by dfowlkes Tue 3 Jul 12 10:14>
  

    
Speaking of Boston, I just found out that Future Bible Heroes are playing
here this coming Sunday night (Dec 8) at the Coolidge Corner Theater.

And I just fell in love with "69 love songs" but have heard nothing actually
by Future Bible Heroes but can't pass up the opportunity, anyway.  I don't
think I will be making a mistake.

69 Love Songs is the perfect length for a drive from Boston to NY/Northern
NJ.  Just so you know.
  

    
Hey everyone, just wanted to drop by and say hello.

Turkey Day was only very mildly hellish (I didn't expect it to be
otherwise - and the boy was excellent comic relief during dinner).

And we're not discussing the wedding... really. Oh, but my dress was
fine - nothing so 'attention-grabby' as the bride's dress, so all's in
the good.

Okay, sleepy... and somewhat mentally disturbed (and disturbing ;P),
squeaky me
  

    
1866 -- Erynn -- I think, from what Tori said, that she wrote the
journal bits on Scarlet's Web herself. I'll ask her when she gets back
from filming the movie song.

Getting your photo taken with the queen is the same for Connery or
Brosnan: you stand in a long line of people and she walks down the
line. When she reaches you and says her few words, the photo is taken.


Re: the line between genius and insanity. Hm. Be an interesting thing
to check statistically. It does look from that article like Fischer was
always nuts in potentio, and I'm not convinced that paranoia and
brilliance go hand in hand...

Dan Guy -- what did he say about the blog? (blink blink)

Abbess -- go see the Future Bible Heroes, if you can. The songs are
very funny and sad and have beautiful melodies, something that wasn't
always apparent on the first CD and the EPs...

.......

love you all. 
  

    
Neil--As an actor, I was trained to give as much as possible
(particularly in comedy) by directors who said, "I'll tell you if it's
too much".  Admittedly, this was stage work, but you get used to doing
it.  And film requires little things--small movements, tiny changes of
expression.  It's a whole different ballgame. Personally, I like to
rely on the director to pull me back if it's too much, but can't
always.  I did a production of Abduction From the Seraglio once where
the director decided that the duet between Blonde and the chief
torturer was boring, so he put me onstage as a harem girl, with my
hands tied, in a cage on one side of the set, as if I were going to be
the next victim of the torturer.  My direction was "Get loose.  Take
the whole aria to do it."  I'd be willing to bet half the audience
never even saw Blonde & the torturer. I thought he was nuts, but it got
a ton of laughs every night, and made an insufferable aria, well,
sufferable.  But this is why I don't much want to direct--shaping all
that energy made me a nervous wreck the first & only time I did it. 

Dan, Adriana, thoughts?  Dan, did you watch your rushes on the film
you just shot?  How did you make your performance "small enough" ?  Do
you think/worry about this stuff? My Acting for the Camera class was a
long time ago .......

Mary(who just read Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady by Florence
King, and is now reading Growing Up Weightless by John M. Ford)
  

    
There is snow outside.  Why I am here at work instead of curled up in
front of the fire sharing body heat with someone I desire?  (Aside from
the obvious fact that that isn't what I'd actually be doing if I had
stayed home.)

Anyway, I've been really quite lately, so I thought I'd blabber a
while.

Madness and genius both require the individual to view things in ways
no one else does.  Sometimes they can express this in a way that is
socially acceptable (E=mc^2) and sometimes they can't (can't sleep,
clowns will eat me).  However, I'd think that majority of brilliant
people aren't insane - they just get less press because they aren't as
interesting.

Thanksgiving was held at a friends house this year - and it was nice,
and we could have immediately held another full meal with the left
overs.

I got all my New Zealand pictures developed, and I must force myself
to sit and scan them one of these days.  So far, I've only scanned the
ones of me on Franz Josef Glacier wearing my kilt.

Hmmm... I guess there is a reason I am quiet here.

So, I'll just wish Neil the best of luck on his film and go off to
wait impatiently for people to finish things they owe me.
  

    
Abbess -- I'm going to the Coolidge box office later today or tomorrow for
FBH tickets; do you want me to pick up a pair for you, too?

(Anyone else?)

Davey
in haste
  

    
Neil:  filming...the...movie...song??  Whahuh?  Tell.  You must tell. 

Mary:  Certainly there is a subtlety and exactness that I am only just
now beginning to come into understanding, coming from a stage
background.  I am very aware of my every movement on camera, especially
what I'm doing with my hands, which seem to want to wander.  I had a
director tell me recently (she was a mean old biddy) that I looked like
I had palsy.  Now I'm paranoid. I spent many years being told to move
and take up more space, and now here I am in Los Angeles learning just
the opposite.  It's thrilling to me, finding all these different ways
to tell a story.  I love it all.  
  

    
Davey - I'm operating on the assumption that it won't actually sell out,
and that we'll just wander on by on Sunday evening.  If that's a bad
assumption to make, I'll probably buy by phone and pay whatever evil
convenience fee it costs.

I might not have been clear the first time, but yes, I'm definitely not
going to pass up the chance to hear Future Bible Heroes, even though I've
not heard a single thing by them in this incarnation and only just fallen in
love with the Magnetic Fields.   No extra encouragement necessary from Neil,
but thanks for the extra encouragement anyway.    Anyone who can rhyme
"we've so many tchotchkes we've practically emptied the louvre" with "in all
our palaces there's barely room to manouevre" is worth betting on being
worth staying up late for!

It's perhaps a Good Thing that I hadn't fallen in love with the Magnetic
Fields yet when you did that reading/concert thing in NY, as I would
probably have quite unreasonably driven there for the night...