- I have never read Ulysses, and only a few of the stories in James Joyce’s Dubliners — I have a copy somewhere at home — but today is apparently Bloomsday, commemorating the life of the author and the events of his most famous book. As Gary Dexter writes:
The paradox of Ulysses is that one needs to read it to understand twentieth-century literature, but one needs to read twentieth-century literature to build up the stamina to read Ulysses.
Gene Wolfe’s “Solar Cycle” is my big reading project this year, so I think Joyce will have to wait.
- Dana Carvey and Robert Smigel in the AV Club:
Robert Smigel: One thing about Dana’s determination not to be a showbiz person: Dana was the only celebrity I knew who was offered Sesame Street when his kids were very young, and turned it down.
They’re both refreshingly candid about the quality (and sometimes lack thereof) of their work, specifically on The Dana Carvey Show.
- John Scalzi offers some thoughts on internships:
What bothers me about unpaid internships is not fundamentally that they are unpaid (although that really isn’t a good thing), but that the purpose of internships seems to have changed in an uncomfortable way: it’s gone from a way to train students in practical real-world application of skills they’ve learned in college to a way to plug, for free, actual skill gaps in one’s work force.
I don’t know for certain if our company pays its interns, or if we’re teaching them any valuable skills they can apply in the publishing world later on. But I do know it makes our jobs easier when we have one.
I’ve always sort of regretted not going after an internship of my own back in college.
- Despite what Jonathan Wright might say, I think story arcs are generally a good thing. They don’t always work, I’ll grant you that. You’ll find no argument from me that Babylon 5 didn’t falter in its final season, or that the show’s mythology arc isn’t what eventually undid The X-Files. (Well, that and Annabeth Gish, but don’t get me started on that.) But I much prefer story arcs to the more formulaic alternative, where characters never change (or acknowledge past events), and where the status quo is never challenged. There’s room for both in my heart, but if I had to choose, for example, between Star Trek, where the status quo is de rigeur — the new reboot not at all withstanding — or Farscape, which repeatedly proclaimed to have no reset button, I’ll absolutely choose the latter. Story is all about character, and characters who grow and adapt are simply more interesting.
Abigail Nussbaum had some interesting thoughts on serialized vs. episodic television not too long ago.
I’ll reserve judgment on these new Torchwood episodes until I’ve seen them — I was a big fan of the second series, which I re-watched recently, but still think the first was pretty dire — but it’s worth noting that this is a mini-series, which by its nature implies expectations of a self-contained story arc. (Also that there’s plenty of story arc to be found in the earlier episodes; you’d probably have better luck starting at the beginning than anywhere in the middle or at the end. I don’t know how standalone those episodes really are.)
- And finally, I’m with Caitlin R. Kiernan on this:
I need summer. Real summer. Too hot to walk barefoot on the sidewalk without blistering your feet summer. Sweltering after dark summer.
Well, okay, I don’t know about the “sweltering after dark” bit, but I’m a little tired of this schizophrenic weather. It could be worse — Heather was reporting snow in her neck of the woods just over a week ago — but frankly, I like seasons that feel like seasons, genuine spring and summer, autumn and winter. And the less that one bleeds into the other, the better. Is that so awful?
- And finally, I’m with Caitlin R. Kiernan on this:
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You know, reading that Torchwood article (or is it more of a whine?), it occurs to me that my own attitude pretty much is that a show that’s not worth making a “serious commitment” to watch pretty much isn’t worth watching. At least not these days, when it’s almost trivially easy to avoid missing an episode, or to get caught up if you come in late.
Personally, I’m quite happy at the weird, mild summer we’re mostly having so far, but then the 100-degree-plus, blazing-sun, suck-the-moisture-right-out-of-your-body weather we get here in the summer is pretty much my least favorite thing about New Mexico.
I’m pleased to report that it seems to be warming up here!
Mild summer I can handle. I don’t genuinely want sweltering heat. While winter is probably my least favorite season, summer is a distant second. I much prefer spring and autumn, if I have to choose.
But cold and rainy — I’ve kind of had my fill for awhile.