Mike Oren.com

Bridge to Terabithia is one of the saddest movies I've seen in awhile, even with the softened ending (the sad part comes several minutes before the end, and there's no allusion to Jess having throat cancer). But that's fitting since it's one of the saddest stories I've ever read, so sad that even though I don't think I've read the book since elementary school, I remembered exactly how Leslie died and Jess's reaction to her death... It's a story that I feel anybody with even an ounce of creativity (so pretty much everybody) can relate to and the loss just has this cold reality to it that is made all the harsher when contrasted with the imaginary world the children make up. I'll admit that my eyes starting watering while watching the movie when the water level of the river was rising, since I knew the cruel fate that would await. Then when Leslie died, I really couldn't stop from crying (so probably a good thing I was watching it alone, and next to some tissue). The power of that moment is just incredible, and I feel it's made more incredible by my remembering my own made up worlds of my youth (hell, as a hobbyist writer, I still have imaginary worlds), and I saw Leslie's death not so much as a death of an individual but as the death of this great imaginative passion--this creative power. It's a powerful tragedy, for me at least.

Now that that's out of my system (I just finished watching the movie, I bought it today, and I'll probably cry every time I watch it...), I'll get back to some updates. So, I don't think I mentioned this before, but besides Google's much hyped Tech Talks, they also have this wonderful program called Authors@Google, where they invite authors who have recently published a book to come speak, sometimes they are non-fiction writers discussing current events, but on other occasions they are creative writers (oh, and Google is also kind enough to purchase some books which they give out to employees attending the talks on a first come, first serve basis)--I'm not quite sure why this isn't hyped up more, as I think it's awesome that they aren't just enabling employees to improve their technical knowledge, but also allowing employees exposure to the humanities (which more often than not are ignored by those in tech/sciences). This past week Aimee Bender came and did a reading from her book Willful Creatures, which is her collection of short stories (described by the New York Times as "contemporary fantasy"). Her writing style is fairly typical of modern American short story writers (I describe this modern style as "prosaic poetry", with its short Hemingway inspired sentences and the vivid imagery and heavy use of similes and metaphors traditionally associated with poetry). However, Bender differs from most contemporary short story writers (especially those who elevate writing to its highest levels) in that she has an imagination. She doesn't try to do realistic short stories, she delves into the creative depths of her imagination and paints pictures of worlds, exploring ideas and paths. She is one of the few modern writers I have found whose stories are idea driven, rather than character driven, and yet she still manages to breath incredible depth into her characters. That's not to say I think she's a phenomenal writer, I don't--I think she's a fairly good writer, but not particularly exceptional. However, in the realm of the modern short story, she is a bold and refreshing change from the typical stuffy academia inspired realism that has all but destroyed the short story for modern readers. As such, I highly recommend picking up Willful Creatures both as a way of supporting this divergence in short story writing as well as to have a nice enjoyable read that can be done in short bursts (15 short stories, that can be read fairly easily during the daily commute--assuming you're not driving, that is).

I've continued being busy on weekends--last weekend I took a trip to Big Basin (a state park), where I walked around and enjoyed the fresh air. Then last Sunday I threw a Wii party where roughly 20 people showed up, so good times were had by all (and it wasn't all video games--I played some Fluxx, which is an incredibly fun card game made by Looney Labs). Then this past weekend, I went to 2 movies (Ocean's 13 and Nancy Drew--one was technically Thursday night), plus I went to Monterey where I went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and then had dinner over in Carmel. Monterey Bay Aquarium was fun, smaller than I had thought since I had heard it was one of the best aquariums in the world and such, but it was a good time (and one of the interns I was with took over 270 pictures...) I didn't even bring my camera (and I really wouldn't have been able to get any pictures to turn out with my camera given the lighting conditions at the aquarium). It was a great trip though, and then a couple of us watch Moulin Rouge when we got back (I was playing on the songs on my MP3 player as we drove in, and I hadn't seen it in a long time, so I figured it was as good a time as any to watch it again). I've learned that I now have most of the songs memorized, which I'm told is impressive, but most of the people I know have a decent number of them memorized (I think), so I'm not sure it's really all that impressive...

Some other news, is that one of my very good friends from DePauw sent me a box of delicious food about 2 weeks ago (brownies, grape jelly--made from Indiana grapes, and Indiana honey). Very thoughtful and very nice--needless to say I'm trying to find something nice to send her as a thank you (either something Californian or perhaps some nice Google t-shirt or something). So I'll have to look into that. I also still owe another DePauw friend (from Nepal) a t-shirt because he was awesome and brought me back a hemp bag and Nepali t-shirt when he visited last summer. So I should really get on top of that ASAP.

posted by Mike Oren  # 10:36 PM