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Posts from the ‘Literature & Writing’ Category

Aug 30

“Chore list of champions”, a letter by Kurt Vonnegut – 1947

Here’s a wonderful little nugget by Kurt Vonnegut, a sort of Bill of Rights for the chores of a husband around the house. It was written in 1947 during the time his wife was pregnant with their first child.

I, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., that is, do hereby swear that I will be faithful to the commitments hereunder listed:

I. With the agreement that my wife will not nag, heckle, or otherwise disturb me on the subject, I promise to scrub the bathroom and kitchen floors once a week, on a day and hour of my own choosing. Not only that, but I will do a good and thorough job, and by that she means that I will get under the bathtub, behind the toilet, under the sink, under the icebox, into the corners; and I will pick up and put in some other location whatever movable objects happen to be on said floors at the time so as to get under them too, and not just around them. Furthermore, while I am undertaking these tasks I will refrain from indulging in such remarks as “Shit,” “Goddamn sonofabitch,” and similar vulgarities, as such language is nerve-wracking to have around the house when nothing more drastic is taking place than the facing of Necessity. If I do not live up to this agreement, my wife is to feel free to nag, heckle, and otherwise disturb me until I am driven to scrub the floors anyway—no matter how busy I am.

The letter will be published in an upcoming book called “Kurt Vonnegut: Letters”, a collection of his letters. This letter can be read in full at Harper’s Magazine online.

Chore list of champions—By Kurt Vonnegut Harpers Magazine.

Mar 31

The Old Man and the Sea sketched out

This is a cool animated version of Hemmingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea.” Haven’t read it since high school, but am tempted to do so again since I’m on a fiction streak lately.

the old man and the sea on Vimeo on Vimeo

Mar 24

Birth of a Book

A nice little film on the process of creating of books. With all the trouble printed media has had over the past 10 years, I still believe that the book will endure somehow. After all, Captain Picard himself reads books in the 24th century.

Birth of a Book on Vimeo on Vimeo

Mar 16

“On the Road” finally becomes a movie

Ever since the book was released in 1957, Jack Kerouac wanted to have his novel “On the Road” turned into a motion picture movie. Now 55 years later, he is finally getting his wish, but not exactly the way he originally wanted. In 1957, Kerouac wrote to Marlon Brando asking him to buy the rights to the novel and then act the part of Dean Moriarty with Kerouac himself playing Sal.

I visualise the beautiful shots could be made with the camera on the front seat of the car showing the road (day and night) unwinding into the windshield, as Sal and Dean yak. I wanted you to play the part because Dean (as you know) is no dopey hotrodder but a real intelligent (in fact Jesuit) Irishman. You play Dean and I’ll play Sal (Warner Bros. mentioned I play Sal) and I’ll show you how Dean acts in real life, you couldn’t possibly imagine it without seeing a good imitation. Fact, we can go visit him in Frisco, or have him come down to L.A. still a real frantic cat but nowadays settled down with his final wife saying the Lord’s Prayer with his kiddies at night…as you’ll seen when you read the play BEAT GENERATION.

Brando never responded to the letter. It’s a cinematic what-if to think what the movie might have been like. The rights would eventually be sold to Francis Ford Coppola in 1968 (Wikipedia says 1979). I’d love to hear the story behind that and the reason why it took 44 years for him to finally turn it into movie form. I would think that turning a novel like “On the Road” into a movie would be extremely difficult and have a high likelihood for failure. But you never know. The trailer does look pretty good.

On the road trailer – YouTube.

Mar 16

"On the Road" finally becomes a movie

Ever since the book was released in 1957, Jack Kerouac wanted to have his novel “On the Road” turned into a motion picture movie. Now 55 years later, he is finally getting his wish, but not exactly the way he originally wanted. In 1957, Kerouac wrote to Marlon Brando asking him to buy the rights to the novel and then act the part of Dean Moriarty with Kerouac himself playing Sal.

I visualise the beautiful shots could be made with the camera on the front seat of the car showing the road (day and night) unwinding into the windshield, as Sal and Dean yak. I wanted you to play the part because Dean (as you know) is no dopey hotrodder but a real intelligent (in fact Jesuit) Irishman. You play Dean and I’ll play Sal (Warner Bros. mentioned I play Sal) and I’ll show you how Dean acts in real life, you couldn’t possibly imagine it without seeing a good imitation. Fact, we can go visit him in Frisco, or have him come down to L.A. still a real frantic cat but nowadays settled down with his final wife saying the Lord’s Prayer with his kiddies at night…as you’ll seen when you read the play BEAT GENERATION.

Brando never responded to the letter. It’s a cinematic what-if to think what the movie might have been like. The rights would eventually be sold to Francis Ford Coppola in 1968 (Wikipedia says 1979). I’d love to hear the story behind that and the reason why it took 44 years for him to finally turn it into movie form. I would think that turning a novel like “On the Road” into a movie would be extremely difficult and have a high likelihood for failure. But you never know. The trailer does look pretty good.

On the road trailer – YouTube.

Mar 15

Where the Wild Things Are (as read by Christopher Walken)

Not much to say here except that Christopher Walken reading “Where the Wild Things Are” is not someone I’d first think of reading this book out loud. But it works.

Where the Wild Things Are (as read by Christopher Walken) – YouTube.

Mar 13

Keyboards and vocabulary: Hunting for the right words

This article on the modern relationship between vocabulary and QWERTY keyboards is, in the words of Commander Spock, fascinating. The theory goes that the high frequency of people using the keyboard to communicate with others has helped to develop and evolve new words and phrases in a language based on the ease of typing it onto a keyboard.

Messrs Jasmin and Casasanto identified the typed equivalent of tongue-twisters as words using more letters from the left-hand side of the keyboard, since the left hand has more letters to cover (15 as opposed to 11 for the right hand). Previous studies have shown that people asked to type individual letters on a keyboard perform more slowly with their left hand than their right. Volunteers were asked to give their impression of words from a 1,000-word sample vocabulary in English, Dutch and Spanish; words with more letters from the trickier left hand had more negative connotations.

Perhaps something to consider when coming up with a name for your child. Maybe this is why you don’t hear the name Fred very often anymore.

Keyboards and vocabulary: Hunting for the right words | The Economist.