Irony "the song of the bird that loves its cage"

Michel has gone back to work teaching High school this week. For his last weekend of freedom I left him to do what he most wanted to do. So he went in the the basement to sculpt. He is in terrible need of a head to sculpt and no heads have volunteered so I reluctantly offered my own.
As a woman who is a victim of our media and culture's war on women's self esteems, this is not my idea of a fun thing.

 
I tried to read "Infinite Jest" by David Foster Wallace.

In other words we hid from the world as usual.

He, or DFW,  was raved about in a recent class I took. 
I'm arriving late to the hip party of his fandom, but I want to see what all the hubbub is about.

I'm hooked. The book is as thick as a brick. But reading him or listening to him is like weight lifting for the brain.  It is hard work, but it feels like the brain is better for it. As though I feel an afterglow similar to after a run.

From what I can understand The protagonist is not being understood as he talks, but it is possibly due to the fact that he is talking on such an intelligent level. He says in the interview above that he did not want it to be funny. I find that very funny.
The protagonist must be based on him, who in interviews keeps thinking he is not making sense.


In the novel's world, each year is subsidized by a specific corporate sponsor for tax revenue. The years of Subsidized Time are:

1. Year of the Whopper
2. Year of the Tucks Medicated Pad
3. Year of the Trial-Size Dove Bar
4. Year of the Perdue Wonderchicken
5. Year of the Whisper-Quiet Maytag Dishmaster
6. Year of the Yushityu 2007 Mimetic-Resolution-Cartridge-View-Motherboard-Easy-To-Install-Upgrade for Infernatron/InterLace TP Systems for Home, Office or Mobile [sic]
7. Year of Dairy Products from the American Heartland
8. Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment
9. Year of Glad

David Foster Wallace thinks postmodernism is over. So do I and I have wished I could coin a new phrase.

Compost Modernism.



I was recently told that to grow new muscle, you need to lift weights "to fail" or until your muscle will not work any more. I will read this "to fail" and hopefully come out a smarter person.