Citation Needed

Yit’s been/One week since you threw the ball/Cocked my head to the side and did a belly crawl/Two weeks since you dropped a treat/If you won’t do it, what am I supposed to eat?

O hello. I didn’t see you come in.

*turns a chair around, awkwardly sits, paws over the top of the seat back*

I’ve just been wrestling with my tv show idea. I keep hearing that a lot of writers have difficulties with beginnings and endings. I’m the opposite; I have trouble filling in the middles. I know where this show starts, and I know how it ends. I feel that’s more than you can say for a lot of tv shows, so I’m ahead of the game on that count.

This show is about magic. But it’s not the abracadabra magic of waving a wand, saying a weird word, and something spectacular happening. This idea came about — like a lot of my ideas — out of spite. Out of me being irritated by how other shows about magic work the mechanics. Or, rather, DON’T work the mechanics, instead putting no thought at all into exactly how it all works, who can do it, etc.

The driving question is: why is there no magic in the modern world? Our stories are full of wizards and spells, but why is that? Did magic once actually exist? If so, what happened to it? If magic is still around, what does it look like, and who does it? My show will answer these questions.

It’s been slow going, for sure. Mostly because I’m not under any time constraint, so I only write when a piece of the puzzle just kinda pops into my head, and there’s no telling when that will happen. But honestly, the fun is in the creation of this; I may never finish it, get it into the world. That’s fine. If I ever actually do, it’ll be as watertight as I can make anything.

ANANSI PROPER

Does anyone besides me remember this cartoon? In my childhood I had the book this was based on, and later I loved the animated version. I liked the simplicity of the designs and the idea of a symbol representing the different spiders, with their unique abilities. Like superheroes, now that I consider it. I guess I was always destined to do a lot of thinking about powers. And here I am today, still worrying the idea like a me with a bone. But, y’know, it’s a really yummy bone.

I once wrote a thesis paper for a college English course entitled “Rebels of Heaven”, that compared Anansi, Coyote, and Hermes. I don’t really remember it. I was probably full of shit, but I got an A+, so either I’m an awesome bullshitter or at one point in history I knew what I was on about. These days? Pfaugh. I got nothin’.

DOESN’T S.H.I.E.L.D. HAVE THIS?

Speaking of childhood, I have wanted cars to do this stuff since I was a pup. Independently-operating tires? Why’s it taken so long to make this happen? It’s so cool! And think of all the crazy action movie stunts they’ll be able to do!

Und nao it’s time for…

WHAT I’M READING

I need to workshop that title, because it’s not just about reading. It’s also about listening and watching and tasting. But let’s start slow.

House of Leaves, by Mark Z. Danielewski.

Holy shit, this book. When I first read it, it wrecked me for a week. It’s an example of ergodic literature, which refers to a type of book that requires some effort on the part of the reader to get through the pages. This one forces you to turn it upside-down, or rotate it, or read the pages in a mirror. If that’s all it did, it would be a fun read, but it’s more than that.

There are at least three stories in House of Leaves, each referring to each other in different ways. Ostensibly, it’s the story of a guy who recovers the manuscript of a recently-deceased writer, the subject of which is a documentary about a film that may or may not exist about a house that’s bigger on the inside than the outside.

Every instance of the word house in the book is in blue. I don’t know why. There are multiple levels of footnotes belonging to different entities, each in its own typeface. Sometimes the footnotes take up entire pages. Sometimes the text is only written on the outside perimeters of the pages. Sometimes you go mad trying to figure out this book, which is one of the stories it contains.

I can’t explain it in any way that would help you understand what it’s like to actually read it. But if you love stories, please do look for a copy of it. There is no Kindle version. It has to be physical. Enjoy.

And that’ll do it for the week that was. Please rescue insects in your house that properly belong outside, and think of me when you do. And now, your reality check: Losing You