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CarrollBlog 5.31
For fans of THE LAND OF LAUGHS:
CarrollBlog 5.30
'The Uncanny Valley' is a concept developed by the Japanese robot scientist Masahiro Mori. It concerns the design of humanoid robots. Mori’s theory is relatively simple. We tend to reject robots that look too much like people. Slight discrepancies and incongruities between what we look like and what they look like disturb us. The closer a robot resembles a human, the more critical we become, the more sensitive to slight discrepancies, variations, imperfections. However, if we go far enough away from the humanoid, then we much more readily accept the robot as being like us. This accounts for the success of so many movie robots — from R2-D2 to WALL-E. They act like humans but they don’t look like humans. There is a region of acceptability — the peaks around The Uncanny Valley, the zone of acceptability that includes completely human and sort of human but not too human. The existence of The Uncanny Valley also suggests that we are programmed by natural selection to scrutinize the behavior and appearance of others. Survival no doubt depends on such an innate ability.
CarrollBlog 5.28
a reader's response to an article in the GUARDIAN newspaper: Paustovsky has a wonderful story of seeing a whole heap of drafts on the desk of his friend Isaac Babel, the minimalist short-story writer, and thinking: good heavens, Babel's writing a novel! But he wasn't. Babel's method was to write it long and then start cutting ruthlessly. He said he knew a story was finished when the only words left were the ones he couldn't do without. Carol Ann Duffy
CarrollBlog 5.27
One of many good reasons not to eat family members: Laughing Death Laughing Death, more commonly known as Kuru, was exclusive to the tribal Fore people of New Guinea. The disease, which was characterized by sudden bursts of maniacal laughter, hit the headlines in the 1950s, and drew in doctors from around the world. U.S. and Australian physicians observed men and women with shaking limbs, which subsided with rest, but a month to three months later sufferers would begin to sway and stumble, lost the ability to stand, become cross-eyed, and lose the power of coherent speech before eventually dying. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke reported that tests on the deceased showed death had been caused by the emergence of holes in the brain, known as "swiss-cheesing." Eventually the American physician Carleton Gajdusek worked out that the infection was being passed on through the village custom of eating family members after death. When cannibalism was eliminated, the epidemic came to an end. In 1976, Gajdusek was awarded the Nobel Prize for his work.
CarrollBlog 5.26
ON German TV there was a short documentary about the man who invented the silhouette figures on traffic lights: The little walking man on the green "GO!" light, the standing still man on a red "STOP!" light. The inventor described how difficult it was to come up with just the right balance between the static figure and the moving, fluid one. He went on and on, delighted to be interviewed about what he said was his most important invention, one that most of humanity could care less about. Yet what a pleasure to watch the passion and enthusiasm he showed in describing his creation. How easily we forget or overlook the fact there are people spending great chunks of their lifetime thinking up things we barely notice-- the figure on a traffic light, the shape of an electric plug, the theft proof bicycle lock, or clear instructions in the handbook for our new cellphone. --------------------------------------
CarrollBlog 5.25
The old woman recently lost her husband. That's what the waitress tells me. I used to see the couple together in the cafe around four in the afternoon. Both of them handsome, well dressed, obviously happy in each other's company. They talked a lot and you often saw them laughing at something the other said. You could easily tell they'd had a nice long life together. He would have coffee and some kind of sweetie-- a slice of chocolate cake with a side order of whipped cream, or the wonderfully sinful cremeschnitte. In contrast, his wife always had just a cup of tea. I remember that because the first time I saw her alone (before he died I never saw either of them alone in the cafe), she was eating a big ice cream soda. Now whenever I see her there she is eating that same ice cream bonanza in a parfait glass. I asked the waitress if she always orders this now.The waitress looked at me a brief moment, understanding completely what I was asking, and then smiled sadly. I think both of us were silently wondering why the widow had waited until he was gone to do this.
CarrollBlog 5.24
Last night I was reminded again of the great, long lasting power of books. It was a very heartening experience. The school where I taught for many years is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary. Lots of gatherings, parties, memories galore this weekend as the tribe from days past assembled. I went to one of these events and talked for hours with old students. Again and again they said things like, "I'll never forget that book we read in 10th grade," or "Reading ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE in your class made me a lifelong reader," or " CRIME AND PUNISHMENT was the best book I've ever read. I've re-read it three times since then and always gotten something new from it," or "THE GREAT GATSBY introduced me to..." Many years have passed and these people have all grown up into interesting varied lives. But so many of them made the same eager point-- how this or that book influenced them hugely both now or in the past. As a writer, it's easy to forget sometimes how deep your stories can go, how far they travel, how much meaning they take on in distant hearts.
CarrollBlog 5.22
Leaving the subway station, I see two men standing nearby. One of them is an old gent with a large bouquet of roses in one hand, digging in his pocket with the other. Finding what he wants, he takes it out and hands it to the other man who I now realize is shabbily dressed. He must have asked the old guy for money. Saying thank you, he touches his forehead in deference. The old man nods and turns away. As he does, he lowers the bouquet to his side. After a few steps, one of the beautiful long roses falls out of it onto the sidewalk. The old man doesn't notice. The other does. He walks over, picks up the rose and without a pause turns around and walks away in the other direction.
CarrollBlog 5.21
Rock Tea At a hot springs in Sawtooth Mountains
CarrollBlog 5.20
I've got a new short story entitled "THE STOLEN CHURCH" in the latest CONJUNCTIONS magazine. As you can see from the table of contents and the theme of the issue, there's lots of really interesting writers at work here. http://www.conjunctions.com/justout.htm
CarrollBlog 5.18
Vienna is full of streets large and small named after notable Austrians. The famous mathematician, musician, Social Democrat... Walking by one of the streets this morning I thought okay, I lived a life full of accomplishments, awards, acclaim. After dying I look down from my cloud and see that the city I chose to live in honors my memory by naming a street after me. On that street are a crummy pizzeria, an Indian restaurant that never has any customers, a video store where most everyone going in or out looks either nerdy or shady, a hairdresser that makes all of its customers look like they stuck their finger in a live electrical socket... I don't know. I think if it came to a posthumous award, I'd prefer a small plaque on the side of the building where I lived most of my life saying "Carroll was happy here for many years."
CarrollBlog 5.13
The beautiful woman is running to catch the bus. She looks wonderful-- chic clothes flying, her hair all over the place, a kid's smile ear to ear. Will she make it? It's going to be close. I think she even has her tongue sticking outside her mouth a bit, like a girl trying her damndest to win a race in fourth grade. As soon as she steps on the bus though everything changes. Her cool returns, her hauteur. The humor goes away, the naked joy. Her face is only beautiful again. I wonder if her partner has ever seen that sprinting girl's delighted face?
CarrollBlog 5.12
That's the power of books. We live lives that are not our own, and in doing so, discover things about ourselves and others that we might never have known, or have forgotten. Karie Hoskins
CarrollBlog 5.10
Two women are standing together in front of a store window. It looks like a mother and her early middle aged daughter. Then I notice the daughter holds the long white walking stick of a blind person. She's gripping the other woman's arm and her head is tipped down. She is listening intently. The mother appears to be describing what is in the store window. The daughter keeps smiling and nodding her head as if she grasps each detail. Both of her mother's hands are flying around and about, part of her emphatic way of describing what she sees. If only the daughter could see how wonderfully alive these hands are, like birds bursting out of a cage.
CarrollBlog 5.8
La Strada A dollar got you a folding chair Then the big reels and low-tech chatter La Strada. Rashomon. HMS Potemkin. And The Bicycle Thief, and for God's sake, You can't find them That's just the way it goes. Even if you could, You're just not young enough, Les Enfants du Paradis, or Ikiru,
CarrollBlog 5.7
While walking to a cafe this morning, I had an idea for a new short story I'm working on that made me very excited. I think that is what I like most about writing-- coming up with an idea and knowing soon you'll sit down and try to translate your excitement for it into hopefully as-exciting words or scenes on a page. The beginning of THE WOODEN SEA happened like that: I was standing at a cafe one day drinking coffee when a bum lurched by outside wearing a hideous leather jacket and a canary yellow shirt. Immediately I thought, "Never buy yellow clothes or cheap leather." That sentence-out-of-nowhere made me grin. I knew I wanted to use it somewhere soon so I wrote it down on a napkin and put it in my pocket. When I began TWS I chose that as the first line of the book because it was sharp, funny, but made no sense at all until you fleshed out the person who would say something like that.
CarrollBlog 5.6
"For the first time in my life I began to realize that it is not evil and brutality, but nearly always weakness that is to blame for the worst things that happened in the world." Stefan Zweig Elizabeth Hardwick Nikos Kazantzakis, ZORBA THE GREEK
CarrollBlog 5.5
terrific short story:
CarrollBlog 5.3
"But you will get over their death, although you don't believe it now. Know why? Because you knew him alive. Memories of life and living always win. You knew him dead for one terrible night but you knew him alive for a decade. Death is strong and has a viciously powerful hold for a while, but life is constant and insistent. It refuses to let go or be pushed back. When his death has eventually stopped bullying your memories, life will shove it aside and say, "Give me my place again. You have had your time in the spotlight but it is over. Go to the background where you know you belong."
CarrollBlog 5.2
"I've been thinking about the days back in high school."
CarrollBlog 5.1
a nice one from KM: "In and Out" - Jane Kenyon The dog searches until he finds me Sometimes the sound of his breathing |
