books: the king in yellow

picked this up because of the references made in hbo’s true detective, which was great, and was surprised by how much i actually enjoyed the inspiration material.

the book is roughly divided in half in terms of theme. the front section is devoted to the titular king in yellow, a story so sensational it drives its reader crazy by the end of its second act. chambers is credited as being an inspiration to the likes of poe and lovecraft and these stories are similarly haunting. the first story is even reminiscent of true detective in its use of an unreliable narrator and i wonder if show runner nick pizzolatto took inspiration from more than just character and setting.

the second half focuses on the latin quarter of paris during the late 1800's. they are mostly tales of bohemian students and artists living in squalor and falling in love. i would imagine those turning to this collection for tales of the macabre would be a bit turned off by this sudden turn to the charming, but i found both subject matter to be well done and some very pretty language to be found in the second half in particular.

for example this bit of verse:
there are but these things in the world—
thy mouth of fire,
thy breasts, thy hands, thy hair upcurled
and my desire.

books: drifting house

netted 3 books for $18 at a bargain book relocation sale and this was one of them. the books they had to offer were mostly low tier classics or modern works by little known authors and this one caught my eye because its familiar subject matter, them koreas.

drifting house is a collection of short stories about the dramatic post-korean war landscape and the many facets of what it means to be korean these days. some stories focused on the struggles of korean americans, others on it’s historic financial collapse, and some of that bizarre land north of the 38th parallel.

i wish there had been a story that touched on a slightly more modern korea, the most current was probably right around the turn of the millennia, but that’s only because it would have satisfied my own interests and place in a country i only sort of know.

flurry \flur"ry\

 1. to put in a state of agitation; to excite or alarm. (from websters)
(also, interestingly, the fourth listed definition: the violent spasms of a dying whale(!))

i am sitting in the sydney airport, having spent a long weekend visiting friends in the city, eating an m&m mcflurry and i am reminded of our frustrating differences. the components of this mcflurry, as far as i know, are the same and yet somewhere along the continental transition the process became majorly lost in translation. instead of enjoying an agitated mix of ice cream and m&m pieces i’m stuck with a cup of ice cream topped with m&m’s. can you imagine my agitation? my…mcfury? why even call this the same thing? how is flurry even applicable to this stagnant non-mix? mc-ice-cream-with-topping is what it should be called. a terribly uninspiring name for a terribly uninspiring ice cream treat.

but i’m getting carried away. travelers often get swept up in the magnificence of the places they visit. they comment on their growing appreciation at how great and different the world is, how expanded their worldview, but rarely do you hear about a growing appreciation of the point of origin. i never considered myself to be particularly nostalgic for “home”,” be that the us of a, kentucky, cincinnati, a house, wherever, whatever, whomever…so i’ve been surprised at the swell of national pride i’ve been having lately.

i think its because comparisons are so easy to make in a place like australia. a place that seems, perhaps more than anywhere else in the world, most similar to the united states. our sizes are roughly similar. our national foundations were built on similar stock. we share similarly shameful pasts marred by discrimination. somewhere along the line their accent became stupid while ours became boring and of course the geography of the land shaped our countries in dramatically different fashions, but overall i’m surprised there’s not more camaraderie between the us and australia. perhaps its because we’ve broken the shackles that had bound us to our heritage while the aussies still suckle at the teat of royalty? merely conjecture of course but i do believe they love the crown more than the brits themselves.

it seems a bit dismissive and simple to set the two up in a one on one of “which is the better” because, well that reduces two colorful and diverse nations to tiny little buckets, so i won't! except to say: USA! USA! USA! but i am returning from a visit with friends who live in the manly area of sydney which is across the bay on a northern peninsula. you can traverse from one harbor to the opposite in about 10 minutes by foot. the peninsula is defined by dramatic forested cliffsides that separate lovely white sand beaches. it is beautiful. which only served to underline how desensitized to australia’s beauty i had become, which in turn made me realize how desensitized to america’s beauty i have been. having been all over my great nation, i’m not entirely sure how it happened. i’ve seen our purple mountains majesty, our fruited plains, i’ve visited beaches on either coast, mountains out west and up north, camped, hiked, swam, drove…i have bore witness. and yet i still find it easy to dismiss at times.

this isn’t to say i’m now filled with nationalistic fervor. i have just renewed my appreciation for our (speaking to my fellow americans) beautiful homeland. while i don’t agree with those who refuse to leave its guarded borders, i can understand the ease of doing so. we do, more or less, have it all; a nation of privileged beauty. some of my english friends have committed tooth and nail to make it here, to make here it, but even half way through i think i realized i didn’t really care. i have a big beautiful country to return to so why should i? i wonder, am i trying to rationalize my imminent departure and make myself feel happy about my return stateside? possibly. but i think its also a genuine feeling of love for a much maligned country, both publicly and personally.

so here's to you america, you big, beautiful, difficult, complicated baby. i'll be seeing you in less than a month so you better not disappoint.

oh and here's some pictures of sydney why not.

we crawled down to this semi-hidden cliffside cave. doesn't really give a good perspective of how steep the drop/how amazing the view but we did our best successful explorers pose anyway.

the drop, again, perspective...

animated gif y'all!

books: why nations fail

it took me an inordinately long period of time to finish this. not that it wasn't interesting, per say, but there are a total of 15 chapters and the general thrust of the books argument is made within the first two. that's a lot of space for reiteration. at one point i accidentally hit a link to a reference made earlier in the book (kindle version, obviously), which switched me over to that section without me realizing i was re-reading a previously read section. it doesn't help the authors resummarize constantly within and at the end of chapters.

here's the cliff's notes version for anyone who wants to skip out on the full journey: nations are poor because of inclusive political and economic institutions (inclusive, meaning includes everyone). that is, nations that champion pluralism, encourage creative destruction, and embrace innovation will go on to be prosperous nations. the vast majority of the book then goes on to describe historical example after example of how this plays out. as a history buffer it was a pretty good read and to be honest i needed it. i learned a lot. about history. which is in a way learning a lot about the rise and fall of nations. fair enough. however this could have very easily been a much shorter book and not suffered from it.