Actually, Edward Gorey's "The Admonitory Hippopotamus: or, Angelica and Sneezby" is a bit of a disappointment all put together. I think it was the lack of illustrations to go along with the short bursts of text. The story only has one illustration, and I think Gorey's work is a prime example of the balance between text and image; it needs both working together to produce his usual high quality. Cut one away and the whole thing loses some meaning. But bully to the Paris Review people for bothering to use a different font and size for Gorey's piece.
I've reached the point in the rewrite where one of the characters diverges a lot from his original conception; I stopped myself from writing any further because I'd like to have a clear head (no public speaking anxiety) before I tackle that particular monster. I am quite pleased with how the rewrite goes, even though it still needs a lot of work and fleshing out. I think one of the important steps forward I've made this year is more about maturity when dealing with writing and revisions. It's comfortable and exciting to really think of this as your "career" and how you view it a bit differently, even responsibly. I think that even if I ultimately fail in my goals as far as writing as an industry is concerned, I'm at a point where the act itself is solid enough and important to me enough that I think I could still enjoy and derive a lot of pleasure out of it.
Joy's watching Talk to Her! I'm so excited at the prospect of sitting down and discussing this film with her. Michael and I got quite a lot out of it and I'm curious to hear more of what she thought. Has anyone else - besides Matthew - seen this film out there? Please say yes. Joy had watched half and expressed concern and frustration with the violence done on the bulls during the bullfighting scenes, which she attributed more to the world than the movie, and we discussed the how the scene where Lydia is strapped into her matador's outfit expresses a lot of the violence in the sport through the understated violence of strapping someone into a costume - the cinematography and movements, the way the strapping and buckling is portrayed implies so much destructive power even as it is a "creative" act. I don't know.
Tomorrow, I plan on having a drink in the Grad Lounge after class, regardless of whether or not anyone joins me. Then I want to work on my rewrite, do the homework for fiction workshop, and probably watch Ghost World - which case, expect some ruminations on that film when I post next.