SPANX! Excellent - I actually had to cut the crotch panel out to accommodate 
MYSELF, but other than that, I am svelte!

Yes, you and Emily are almost without thinking, members of the MGC. Dirty 
little secret: If you could see inside Voldemort's head and heart, there is a 
crowd of "mean girls" in there, to rival the Pope's last audience at the 
Vatican. Ssshh, just between you and me, Bob.

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bob Price <bobpriced@...> wrote:
>
>  
> I can only hope this means Emily and I are being considered
> for full membership in the "mean girls", because, frankly, we're
> finding being on the boring list---well, you know, pretty boring; don't get us
> wrong, we're flattered to be on any list in Voldemort's book of lists, we just
> think we've earned consideration for a higher calling.  And to prove my 
> personal commitment, I've ordered
> my first SPANX Men's starter kit. 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YK0QVBi112A
> 
> ________________________________
> From: Ann <awoelflebater@...>
> To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com 
> Sent: Sunday, August 18, 2013 7:29:33 PM
> Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Is Voldemort a hack? (was The Prerequisites for 
> Enlightenment)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> May I just say that I can go to bed tonight happy? In fact, I'm positively 
> giddy.
> 
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bob Price <bobpriced@> wrote:
> >
> > 
> > ________________________________
> > From: turquoiseb <no_re...@yahoogroups.com>
> > To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com 
> > Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2013 7:58:43 AM
> > Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: The Prerequisites for Enlightenment
> > 
> > >>>And for your information, I dash off things here and send them without
> > editing them because most of the time I'm just having fun with them.
> > That, and the audience I'm writing for doesn't meet my standards for
> > deserving edited copy -- they're not paying me.
> > 
> > >>>For paying customers, I edit. Non-paying customers who don't like
> > my unedited posts can go suck eggs. Non-paying editors who get off
> > on editing my posts for me should pay *me*, for providing them with
> > something to do on those days when they're off work and thus not
> > busy...uh...editing.   :-)
> > 
> > ******
> > 
> > I was thrilled with last weeks *posting without limits*,
> > it gave me a sense of power and control knowing that I could
> > respond to any and all of the 1500+ posts that I just finished reading.
> > 
> > One of our illustrious contributors suggested that we might consider a 
> > *Best of FFL*
> > going forward, and with that in mind I set myself the difficult task of 
> > picking
> > my favorite subject for the week; it was a challenge (how could anyone best 
> > Share's attempt
> > to prove she speaks in tongues), but a decision had to be made and I'm 
> > going with: 
> > 
> > "Is Voldemort a hack?"
> > 
> > When I read Voldemort's posts I ask myself: "Where's the art?". For someone 
> > with his
> > considerable output on FFL, who puts so much effort into selling himself to 
> > us as 
> > 
> > a creative writer, art seems conspicuously absent from his contributions; 
> > this might
> > be less true if you consider manual (or phonebook) writing a creative act.
> > 
> > As he makes clear above, Voldemort is a writer of manuals, and, IMO, when 
> > he attempts 
> > 
> > anything more than that, the word "hack" pretty much nails what he becomes.
> > 
> > For something to be considered art it's imperative that it have the ability 
> > to defamiliarize*
> > by making the familiar, unfamiliar and *new*; Voldemort's posts completely 
> > fail at this.
> > OTOH, Judy's choice of the word "hack", to describe Voldemort, is a great 
> > example of effective
> > defamiliarization---it gave me a new experience of something that was 
> > familiar about him.
> > 
> > I also must agree with Judy that irony is the life blood of creative 
> > writing 
> > 
> > (writing phonebooks, not as much), and reading Voldemort's attempts at 
> > writing creatively 
> > 
> > ---when he is so handicapped in the irony department (narcissism will do 
> > that), is like watching 
> > 
> > someone with no hands attempt to show off his penmanship (no "My left foot" 
> > jokes please). He also
> > appears to be unable to go beyond cliche and what Martin Amis calls "heard 
> > words", which make 
> > 
> > his offerings, on this forum at least, quite artless. Anyone who considers 
> > Voldemort a creative writer
> > might consider rereading Hemingway (if you are interested in understanding 
> > some of Kerouac's limitations,
> > who Voldemort attempts to emulate---without demonstrating any of Kerouac's 
> > talent as an artist).
> > 
> > 
> > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Abc819rT6wI
> > 
> > 
> > The film "The Master" was an example for me of the way art can make the 
> > familiar *new*; the whole film 
> > 
> > delivered artistically, but the scene where Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour 
> > Hoffman) "Processes" Freddie 
> > 
> > Quell (Joaquin Phoenix)---for the first time, felt in some way like the 
> > first time I meditated; my experience of 
> > 
> > the scene was familiar and at the same time completely new; part of it was 
> > the suggestiveness of Dodd's
> > voice, but more was the scene's transition from Dodd's voice to Quell 
> > *living* a previous experience
> > as if for the first time, and the familiarity it had to my first meditation 
> > and the first superlative 
> > 
> > clarity of the thought (engram or, if you will, un-stressing) that reported 
> > or noticed an artifact of my 
> > 
> > awareness that had just existed without thinking. 
> > 
> > 
> > The art of the writing, acting, and editing were part of it, but I believe 
> > it was the cinematography,
> > with its use of 70mm film (which is rare today), that more than anything 
> > else was essential to making 
> > 
> > the experience possible for me. 
> > 
> > 
> > Another component of the film that worked the same way for me was Joaquin 
> > Phoenix's characterization
> > of Freddie Quell, which allowed me to experience---as if for the first 
> > time---character types that I
> > met as a child who were friends of my father that had served with him in 
> > WW2; JP's characterization 
> > 
> > of Quell had the same effect on me as a number of characters Jim Thompson 
> > (writer of "The Getaway" and 
> > 
> > "The Grifters") created that felt as new, when I read about them in his 
> > novels, but reminded me of some
> > psychopathic cowboy's my father socialized with. 
> > 
> > 
> > I wouldn't disagree that Voldemort's posts are full of conflict (more than 
> > one detective has found creative
> > uses for the Yellow Pages, when interviewing a suspect)---and that conflict 
> > is essential to drama, but conflict 
> > 
> > without art is no more than conflict; Voldemort is also capable of irony, 
> > although I've yet to read anything
> > ironic in his posts that was not inadvertent and ended up making him look 
> > vacuous. I'm sure most of us have
> > favorites of his inadvertent irony, my personal favorite is his declaration 
> > that he can type as fast as he
> > thinks (smile).
> > 
> > Share, lets imagine that Voldemort is not pushing 70---with the emotional 
> > palette of an 8 year old; lets
> > imagine he has some class and wants to apologize for his abusive post to 
> > you, and lets imagine a song he
> > would apologize with:
> > 
> > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjZmSkUL6Ws
> > 
> > 
> > *Reference: Victor Shklovsky - "Art as Technique"
> > 
> > http://web.fmk.edu.rs/files/blogs/2010-11/MI/Misliti_film/Viktor_Sklovski_Art_as_Technique.pdf
> > 
> >   
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> >   
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> >  Â 
> >
> 
> 
>   
>


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