Jul 23
Khakjaan WessingtonCraft, Literature, TWAK, Uncategorized, evolution, humor, memes, philosophy, poetry, writing combatwords
Combatwords for July 23, 2010: Pleasure Versus Pain
Pleasure and pain; comedy & tragedy; happiness and despair—these are the moods and feelings we chase or flee. They are also the foundations of behavioralist worldviews. Han Fei Tzu and BF Skinner have plenty in common, despite their 2000+ year gap. Take this topic however you’d like: humans as animals; the two flavors in life; whatever.
Combat Deadline: July 25, 6pm PST.
Critique Expires: July 27, Midnight PST.
Time Bonuses: +1 per 5 hours ahead of deadline.
ARE YOU A JERSUSALEM CRICKET OR A CAMEL SPIDER???!!!
FIGHT!!!!!!(?)
Jul 22
KafkaLiterature, TWAK, humor, random
If you had burned those papers per my instruction, I wouldn’t have to write this and those geriatrics wouldn’t be getting rich off my toilet paper. Really, twenty-first century? Toilet paper? What do you do with erroneous manuscripts, throw them in the trash?
Also, stop fucking using the term “kafkaesque.” All of you.
Look at me, I reference everything slightly esoteric as “kafkaesque,” I’m so literary-chic because I made a Kafka reference.
You aren’t.
God damn you, Max Brod.
Jul 20
ValerieLiterature, TWAK, Web Goodies, books, guns, promotion, web, writing
ok, no not really our sponsor but an awesome contributor to trick with a knife and blogger of the intranettings- he, yeah that guy, has a new chapbook – there are only thirteen and this figure is inflated cause i know i bought one already and there are many cooler peoples who come to be in the know about hot happening things much quicker than me so there may only be like, one or two left and oh holy hell what will you do with yourself if you don’t have this awesome to turn between your sticky fingers and touch with your thirsty eyeballs? BUY IT NOW BEFORE YOU REGRET YOUR ENTIRE EXISTENCE
Jul 19
Nathan TyreeLiterature, random dennis cooper, inception, stuff
I have been very absent (not only from here, but from the internet in general). This has been due to personal and medical issues. I am back. Here are a couple of things.
Gavin Broom has something to say about Inception.
Dennis Cooper talks Mountain Goats.
Lit Uphas new stuff.
Jul 16
Khakjaan WessingtonUncategorized combatwords
Causality: Reflections, Echoes and Ripples: Hume made the point there is no reason why we should expect causality. Locke claimed that all things had primary and secondary qualities. Descartes said there was no reason to believe anything is real and Bishop Berkeley said the only way this world makes sense is if it’s mediated in the mind of God. So the origin of phenomena has been a question humans have long wanted to answer. We want to know the essence of a thing; as if that would stop the questioning. Since there is no satisfactory answer to the problems of phenomena (a task for philosophers besides!), it is a rich area to write about.
Combat Expiration: Sunday, July 18, 2010; at 6pm PST
Critique Expiration: Monday, July 19, 2010; at 6pm PST
Time Bonuses: Bonuses are scored in increments of 6 hours. Pieces that post from now until midnight PST get a +8; Midnight to 6am, +7; 6am-Noon, +6; etc.
Scoring Reminder: SCORING MUST BE METED IN INCREMENTS OF +/-1! There is a good reason for this rule: it prevents the ‘I liked it/I hated it’ critiques from predominating. It prevents score inflation; as if you think you can score +2 well what’s to stop someone else from scoring -10? You MUST score by increments of +/-1 and if you can’t be bothered, then your response doesn’t count for much. I will modify all scores to reflect this, as you all have had a few weeks to try the system out. So no more, “I loved it! +10,” Or “I’m a total moron and I can’t express why I hate your composition in simple craft terms; -100.”
PS: You might shoot at the wrong mule, so look out!
Jul 16
ValerieFilm, Web Goodies
are any of you guys/gals excited about ‘howl’? i’m not sure if i want to invest the energy to get my hopes up, but when in doubt fall feet first. i watched the trailer a few days ago – movie trailers tend to put me off. instead, four clips from ‘howl’ for you below. the second clip has fucked sound/visual synchronicity, but we are evolved peoples and we can get the gist. i’m sure i’ll wait for the dvd, cause i hate watching movies in public venues with total strangers.
thoughts?
also, i was perusing links on the twitter yesterday and came across this. the twitterer said something with regards to all females needing to read this, but honestly – this has nothing to do with the sexes and everything to do with finding one’s bootstraps and hoisting the defeated lump of yourself back to an upright position – you know, not just surviving but thriving? i swear this is no cookie cutter gary quinn life coach to the stars bullshit so – boys too : read.
oh and if you’ve got twenty bucks, another valerie has created a twak? inspired commodity. i wanted a fanny pack, as i strive to be the ultimate hipster, but life is all about disappointment now isn’t it?
Jul 13
The Humanistevolution, humor, writing
I would like to begin a discussion with the purpose of finding a place for Mather. The place will have to be full of people wearing name tags with their real names. The people there will have to be prepped so they know they have to tell Mather their full name and possibly give details about their geographic location before they can say anything else to him.
A lot of reeducation will need to be done to teach the people there to take his opinion as simply his opinion and never personally. This is because he will be doing a lot of stating his opinion and we need these people to stay and not leave offended.
Another trait the people in our theoretical bubble will need to develop is one of tolerance. Not of the religious or sexual variety, but of the putting up with nonsense kind. They must either have pre existing patience of saints, or extremely limited vocabularies (so they cannot form sentences that might anger him).
If anyone has been on TWAK for the last few days, this next point will be obvious. This place we are here to discuss, cannot abide Khakjaan Wessington. The people there should be screened to make sure they have never heard the name, incase they were to mumble it while dreaming and wake just before Mather caves their poor skulls in with a rock.
It might make sense to have no internet in this place because the internet as we all know is serious business. It could introduce far too much variety and if not destroy this place of dreams, it would threaten its stability. Since many of us have grown so attached to the web, we might not be able to muster the cold hearted strength it would require to deny Mather of it. I have given this a lot of thought and decided a simple web filter could be a viable solution and I invite anyone to discuss the definition dictionaries the filter will use.
In all seriousness, this might seem like a complete joke, but I am not kidding. I don’t think Mather will ever be able to adapt to the changes happening here. There is far too much creativity happening that he might think is because of Wessington, and if he is not attacking the work or the people posting it, he will be resenting it.
Mather here is your score:
Lack of class -1
Trying to ruin things for complete strangers -1
You are human +1
You like writing* +1
*Only if it isn’t related to Combat Words -2 (2 taken because this one spoils a redeeming trait in Mather, so it is doubly wicked)
Final: -2
Quiet people of TWAK, you who have gone about your business writing and living without becoming involved in the events leading to this point, please respond. I could go on, but it would be repetitive, like the horrible back and forths Mather and Wessington have been engaged in.
Jul 12
Mather SchneiderLiterature, TWAK, Uncategorized, poetry, random
The only genuine excuse for anonymity, in my opinion, is fear for your life. The anonymouses that are sprouting up around here, what are they afraid of? I believe poetry and all writing should be grounded in real life, and if you are not even willing to put your own name up against your words, what kind of reality are you writing from? Fantasy, game playing, tidly winks. People like this stand against individuality, identity and personal style, though they would all claim not to, simply out of pc, and the truth is they don’t know who they are or what they are doing. They are anonymous to the world because they are anonymous to themselves. They say their words should be enough, but their words sound anonymous too, edgeless, academically objective and dull, adhering to too many rules, the kinds of words that could be written by pretty much anybody who was born without a spine or any will toward personal identity. And when your anonymous comments and poems are loved and lauded by other anonymous commentors and poets, well then, anonymity wins, lowest common denomitor wins, banality wins.
Jul 10
Mather Schneiderhumor, poetry
FLANK STEAK MY ASS
A middle aged couple gets in my cab
at the cheapo hotel.
They want me to take them to a restaurant.
“Make it someplace good,” the man says.
I take them to El Corral.
Later they call for a ride back
to the hotel.
Let me ask you something, the man
says to me.
What is the signature steak in
Arizona?
I might have to think about that one
I say.
I’m from South Carolina, he says,
and the rib-eye is
our signature steak.
His woman nods in agreement.
We had a rib-eye back at that restaurant
he says
and it was not near
as good as the rib-eyes back home.
I’m not sure we have
a signature steak, I say,
we just like all kinds around here, I guess.
That’s weird, he says,
every place has a signature steak, I hope
it’s not rib-eye
because that was not a very
good rib-eye back there.
Maybe flank steak? I say,
the Mexicans use a lot of flank steak for
carne asada and that’s
a local popular dish.
Flank steak? he says,
Flank steak for your signature steak?
Well, I say, I’m not an
expert.
Hear that Hon? he says.
Flank steak!
Flank steak my ass!
At the hotel I drop them
at the door
with 101 branded on it
and he follows his wife’s
chuckling haunches inside, shaking
his head at my stupidity.
Jul 10
The HumanistUncategorized publishing literature beliefs opinion
Here is my reaction to this statement: A core belief of mine is that literature will be produced both in the absence and abundance of money.
Literature will always be produced, you are correct. (so long as there is language) What I don’t understand is the need some people feel to publish their literature. For a very long time that was my only goal as a writer, it was such an important goal I put it before becoming a good writer. I would day dream about my first publication and how I could kick my feet up on the foot rest of accomplishment, knowing that the hard part is over and its smooth sailing from there.
Now I had not been dreaming about publication like I used to. Pessimism had taken hold of my outlook, and my old positive self chipped off the sharp edges of the pessimism in this way: First I told myself ‘no one cares what you could say, they have no need for your point of view, others have said everything you could wish to say and most likely they have done it better’,
This was a crippling mindset. It backspaced over years of work, left countless pages without revision, and possibly crushed what was left of my youth. Living with that burden of thought was too taxing, so like Andy from Shawshank Redemption, I began to chip away at it with a tiny rock hammer. What was once a formation so great it blotted out the sun and everything around it, is now a manageable mountain.
I chipped away at it by telling myself ‘So what? I don’t need to publish this stuff, this stuff is for my own amusement, this stuff is something I can’t avoid, this stuff is my reality’. I wrote and continue to write because it has the potential to make me feel right. I don’t mean its affirming, I mean it’s natural. Which is why I agree with you that no matter the presence of money, literature will be produced.
The one reason I can see that makes sense to me when it comes to publishing work, is this: We are the present. Behind us is this immense history chalked full of great achievements in arts and sciences. Being in the present, we have a chance to carry this history over, and in doing so it passes through our hands, it passes through our minds. In the same way our bodies digest food, our minds digest ideas. We pick them apart, break them down, turn them into new and amazing things, and get rid of what we do not need.
Here is our chance in this relay race with no foreseeable end, to grab that baton and to run with it in a way that is peculiar to ourselves before handing it off again. With that said, I will try to look at every single persons attempt to publish their own work as a noble thing, as a necessary thing, as a natural thing. (even though there are a bunch of douchebags in the mix, if we didn’t have douchebags we wouldn’t have a metric to quantify the good ones)
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