THE MONSTER // FRANKENSTEIN BY MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT SHELLEY
"As the minuteness of the parts formed a great hindrance to my speed, I resolved, contrary to my first intention, to make the being of a gigantic stature, that is to say, about eight feet in height, and proportionably large. After having formed this determination and having spent some months in successfully collecting and arranging my materials, I began … How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form? His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing … but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun-white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips."
Yes!!! I always talk to my students about how hard it is to actually envision the monster. He sounds sort of weird-looking, but nothing properly accounts for how HORRIFIED every single person he meets is, by his appearance. There's something beyond mere looks that makes it impossible to gaze upon him--even at the end, when Walton is like "you poor wretch, tell me your life story," he can't bear to look him in the face; it shakes him to his very soul
so this sketch is way too foxy (those aren't straight black lips!), but I still enjoy the effort
Shay Shay I recently re-read The Diamond Age and this time I HATED IT (am planning forthcoming essay), BUT, I kept thinking of you specifically w/r/t "The Drummers," that weird undersea tube where it's 120 degrees and everyone is fucking in a massive drum circle orgy and ejaculating bright lights into each other, and it's all a computer program or something
It's also Victorian!!!! So instead of Polar Victorian Ice Rave it's Undersea Victorian Drum Circle Orgy
I could see this show being kind of like Lost, you know how at first it's really ambiguous if there's a monster on the island? Then by the time you get to Polar Victorian Ice Rave you are like "well this seems more or less normal"
To my discredit, I'd probably be at least a little bit into this paper if I got it. I love when they brag about the paper in the paper itself. It's so obviously self-loathing
Too bad the pic is cut off right at "1955 was a time," I bet the rest of that sentence is pretty spectacular
Legitimately a shit-eating grin was unconsciously plastered on my face the whole time I watched that teaser, I am very very happy to know about this, thank you Smelly
I thought the prequel was so good
I am excited
I love that all those people continue wanting to work on this insane novelty project
I feel so good about this. I'm very touchy about this adaptation, but I felt completely relieved to hear that Elba was cast as Roland. Roland has so many nuances to his character--strength and endurance combined with deep, calculating intelligence--masculinity, absolute authority over men, but abiding, raw emotional honesty and self-awareness to the point of masochism--chivalry, gentlemanliness, yet adaptive and yielding, open to learning new cultures--the tenacious survival instinct of a wolf, but like a horse, he could run himself to death--Elba is perfect for expressing all of that. I'm genuinely excited to see what he will bring out in the character on his own, as good actors can bring life that even the original author didn't foresee. Also, he's sexy. I didn't expect that from a Gunslinger adaptation, but Sexy Roland works for me. Thank you, casting gods!
I am extremely disappointed in the usage of Matthew McConaughey as The Man In Black, as I find him to be egregiously flimsy to the purposes of this and any film. Hopefully he will have very little screen time.
What story lines are they going to use? Is this going to be The Gunslinger or a hodgepodge with other Dark Tower plot lines? If it's The Gunslinger, why does it look so futuristic, like locations in the later books? If they use the later story lines, where are Eddie and Susannah?
edit: photo above is from Prometheus, that's why it looks futuristic lol
I could not possibly agree more passionately with every single thing LT just said. What a beautiful, spot-on description of Roland!!
I was so against the idea of adapting these books until I heard about Elba and then suddenly I was like....OOOH! It's just such a great, exciting call. He's truly a Good Actor in a very traditional, powerful, old-school kind of way. I love thinking of him reading the books and deeply pondering all the aspects of Roland's character LT highlights above. I also agree that it is interesting to bring out a certain hidden (but present, I would argue) sexiness in Roland. Especially in the earlier books, before the arthritis and the lobsters and him aging a thousand years, I feel he does radiate a certain haunted sexiness that Elba will be perfect for embodying.
Strongly agree about McConaughey. I think he will way overdo the M in B's condescending, simpering vibe and draw too much attention to himself. I don't think McConaughey is wise enough to play that character. He's barely in The Gunslinger except for that one epic scene around the campfire, BUT, I worry that the fact that they cast a big star in the role means they're planning on using him more.
It's maybe weird but I think a hodgepodge of all the books could weirdly work--the ideal adaption will be so trippy and weird to begin with, so much hoppin' around in time and space, I think smushing all the books together could really help create the confusing/complex adaptation I would most like to see.
This is a pretty woo woo book about doing work to try and reverse the damage that we have been doing to our society. I thought you might be interested in giving it a skim in regards to your book you are writing. Maybe not a source you will cite, but an interesting snap shot of actions people are taking.
ha ha ha "An A- is a generous reaction from someone as educated as your professors are."
I regularly get papers where the student has informed me IN THE TEXT OF THE PAPER that "this is a pretty good paper and I feel I did the best job I could do"
That first reason is so dark and so true in my experience. I have absolutely given higher grades simply because I knew a kid was a grade-grubber and I don't have the time or emotional space to deal with it. So the kid wins! I'm not proud of it. The grade-grubbing emails are just so intense and feel so fucking far above my pay grade, having to break down some Excel spreadsheet with a future business leader who "really needs an A in the class in order to get into the business program" but who sat in the back of the classroom the entire semester with his hat pulled down over his eyes and only takes an interest weeks after the semester ends and grades have been posted, at which point it would entail a fairly irritating amount of paperwork for me to get the grade changed even if I wanted to. Last Christmas a kid wrote me TWELVE EMAILS demanding I change his A minus to an A; I had 250 students that year, I had no idea who he was. I finally changed it, just to get the emails to stop!!!!! I'm getting better at writing extremely stern, chastising emails that work on a lot of students, but the business kids can't be shamed, and they won't quit. One of my colleagues told me about how one of his business kid's FATHERS called him to threaten him about a grade. "Let me speak to your boss!!!" lolololol
It's not the students' fault, at all--this is the way they've been trained to think of their education, as a consumer product (the grade) they simply pay for and receive. Also universities also make the situation worse, by putting absurd GPA limits on things (e.g. you have to get a B in an Honors class for it to count as Honors credit). But lord
I contested a grade once, at age 18 or 19--it was an online course and I scored high on tests and assignments but flaked the discussion portion. I was already in poor academic standing and a bad grade was going to mean I'd be suspended for a semester or more. I came to the professor absolutely desperate and aggressive. He said he wouldn't change my grade but did...
The irony is that the class was Afro-American Studies 101. The professor was black and a man; it could be that he rethought my position after our conversation, but my feeling at seeing the changed grade was that I bullied the professor by the power of my entitlement and he knew I could be trouble!
Comments
THE MONSTER // FRANKENSTEIN BY MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT SHELLEY
"As the minuteness of the parts formed a great hindrance to my speed, I resolved, contrary to my first intention, to make the being of a gigantic stature, that is to say, about eight feet in height, and proportionably large. After having formed this determination and having spent some months in successfully collecting and arranging my materials, I began … How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form? His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing … but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun-white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips."
http://www.mentalfloss.com/article/73316/police-sketches-5-literary-characters-based-their-book-descriptions
so this sketch is way too foxy (those aren't straight black lips!), but I still enjoy the effort
omg look! Great essay, but she doesn't mention the biggest obstacle of all--HIS APPEARANCE! See my above comment
https://www.etsy.com/listing/246478845/tablet-weaving-cards-of-horn
That sexy butter-making scene!
"buzz and his husbands"
lolol this is so weird "I want you to bring me back some cold rocks from the moon"
this is WONDERFUL
http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/the-terror-series-amc-adaptation-1201720587/
It's also Victorian!!!! So instead of Polar Victorian Ice Rave it's Undersea Victorian Drum Circle Orgy
LISA FRANK TAROT
To my discredit, I'd probably be at least a little bit into this paper if I got it. I love when they brag about the paper in the paper itself. It's so obviously self-loathing
Too bad the pic is cut off right at "1955 was a time," I bet the rest of that sentence is pretty spectacular
HE WOULD MIND
Walton writing that in his letter to his sister; sister being like "??"
Throughout history, humankind...
We as humans have always loved hot tubs
relief from the workday
LOL I LOVE THIS
Legitimately a shit-eating grin was unconsciously plastered on my face the whole time I watched that teaser, I am very very happy to know about this, thank you Smelly
I thought the prequel was so good
I am excited
I love that all those people continue wanting to work on this insane novelty project
'The Dark Tower' First Set Photos: Idris Elba Looks Rugged As Roland Deschain
I am extremely disappointed in the usage of Matthew McConaughey as The Man In Black, as I find him to be egregiously flimsy to the purposes of this and any film. Hopefully he will have very little screen time.
What story lines are they going to use? Is this going to be The Gunslinger or a hodgepodge with other Dark Tower plot lines? If it's The Gunslinger, why does it look so futuristic, like locations in the later books? If they use the later story lines, where are Eddie and Susannah?
edit: photo above is from Prometheus, that's why it looks futuristic lol
Qorl Grimes is basically Jake at 16
Most important: Who will play Oy??
I was so against the idea of adapting these books until I heard about Elba and then suddenly I was like....OOOH! It's just such a great, exciting call. He's truly a Good Actor in a very traditional, powerful, old-school kind of way. I love thinking of him reading the books and deeply pondering all the aspects of Roland's character LT highlights above. I also agree that it is interesting to bring out a certain hidden (but present, I would argue) sexiness in Roland. Especially in the earlier books, before the arthritis and the lobsters and him aging a thousand years, I feel he does radiate a certain haunted sexiness that Elba will be perfect for embodying.
Strongly agree about McConaughey. I think he will way overdo the M in B's condescending, simpering vibe and draw too much attention to himself. I don't think McConaughey is wise enough to play that character. He's barely in The Gunslinger except for that one epic scene around the campfire, BUT, I worry that the fact that they cast a big star in the role means they're planning on using him more.
It's maybe weird but I think a hodgepodge of all the books could weirdly work--the ideal adaption will be so trippy and weird to begin with, so much hoppin' around in time and space, I think smushing all the books together could really help create the confusing/complex adaptation I would most like to see.
I assume Oy will be CGI which worries me
Big question is: WHO WILL PLAY STEPHEN KING?
Jesse Pinkman character arc times a billion
This is a pretty woo woo book about doing work to try and reverse the damage that we have been doing to our society. I thought you might be interested in giving it a skim in regards to your book you are writing. Maybe not a source you will cite, but an interesting snap shot of actions people are taking.
I regularly get papers where the student has informed me IN THE TEXT OF THE PAPER that "this is a pretty good paper and I feel I did the best job I could do"
That first reason is so dark and so true in my experience. I have absolutely given higher grades simply because I knew a kid was a grade-grubber and I don't have the time or emotional space to deal with it. So the kid wins! I'm not proud of it. The grade-grubbing emails are just so intense and feel so fucking far above my pay grade, having to break down some Excel spreadsheet with a future business leader who "really needs an A in the class in order to get into the business program" but who sat in the back of the classroom the entire semester with his hat pulled down over his eyes and only takes an interest weeks after the semester ends and grades have been posted, at which point it would entail a fairly irritating amount of paperwork for me to get the grade changed even if I wanted to. Last Christmas a kid wrote me TWELVE EMAILS demanding I change his A minus to an A; I had 250 students that year, I had no idea who he was. I finally changed it, just to get the emails to stop!!!!! I'm getting better at writing extremely stern, chastising emails that work on a lot of students, but the business kids can't be shamed, and they won't quit. One of my colleagues told me about how one of his business kid's FATHERS called him to threaten him about a grade. "Let me speak to your boss!!!" lolololol
It's not the students' fault, at all--this is the way they've been trained to think of their education, as a consumer product (the grade) they simply pay for and receive. Also universities also make the situation worse, by putting absurd GPA limits on things (e.g. you have to get a B in an Honors class for it to count as Honors credit). But lord
The irony is that the class was Afro-American Studies 101. The professor was black and a man; it could be that he rethought my position after our conversation, but my feeling at seeing the changed grade was that I bullied the professor by the power of my entitlement and he knew I could be trouble!
Hahahaha
A wine theme park.
WOULD VISIT
THE LARGEST WINE--=--the building is literally envisioned as the world's largest wine