Some vague ramblings, senseless and aimless as a colorless moth
Let’s keep this train a-rollin’.
I apologize for being a bit late this week, things were busier at work and I’ve been a bit stressed over my upcoming move. I’m really workin’ on it in earnest now, getting things organized, packing up all my books and video games and movies, etc etc. A lot of that is all squared away now, plans are set, all that’s left is to be ready on the day itself.
Continue reading “Chapter 111: The Pacific”The pieces are starting to fall into place.
It’s funny, so much of this book is either vague and philosophical, blowing out its themes to a vast scope, or extremely mundane and specific, that one quite forgets that there’s an actual plot going on, and certain things must be set up for it to conclude. Not that we’re ever going to fully get away from Ishmael’s philosophical reveries, of course. Yet, this is one such chapter, containing a pivotal development that will resonate with the inevitable end of this tale.
Continue reading “Chapter 110: Queequeg in his Coffin”I almost forgot!
This week I read the chapter early, because I was bored at work, and thought about writing the post really early. Then, I almost forgot to come and write it this evening because I was too caught playing Unicorn Overlord (which is really good by the way). But no! I will continue posting, and I will see this through to the end.
Continue reading “Chapter 109: Ahab and Starbuck in the Cabin”Dang, I should’ve saved the Walrus and the Carpenter image for this week. Ah well!
Trying to get back into a groove here, not make that last post a one-off. Especially since this one follows up on it in an extremely direct way. Why, if it weren’t for the complete shift in tone and genre, they could’ve been combined into one chapter. Perhaps an author with a different bent might’ve done so, if somehow combining the ideas presented previously into the milieu of this scene in order to make a more harmonious whole. But Melville is not such an author, and neither is Ishmael. The medium is the message, it would do you well to remember.
Continue reading “Chapter 108: Ahab and the Carpenter”Alright, let’s get back to business, shall we?
How does this go again? Excuse me if I take a moment to get my bearings. The last time I was writing on this subject, the very flames of hell were licking at my monitor from outside my lone apartment window. Now they have been replaced with the icicles of the holy fanfiction of one Dante Allighieri. No, but we have in fact had a rather mild winter this year, no snow down here in the Green River valley, though it is a little chilly tonight. It will… not quite freeze, reaching a mere 33 degrees.
But enough about the weather, let us move on to today’s subject.
Continue reading “Chapter 107: The Carpenter”Summer continues apace here in Pacific Northwest, and it has been awful, here in my little apartment.
This place was not designed to deal with this sort of heat. I get the radiant warmth from lower floors, so it is nearly impossible to maintain livable conditions without sitting directly in front of a fan at all times. And, over the past weekend, we had some awful wildfire smoke to boot! Ugh. The rains of fall cannot come soon enough.
Continue reading “Chapter 106: Ahab’s Leg”The last day of my vacation has come, and I decided to take advantage and write one more post, for now.
The damnable summer heat has finally abated, somewhat. The famous clouds of my homeland have returned, if not the more-famous rains. But I know that they shall, in the fullness of time. I can only hope we don’t suffer from awful wildfire smoke this year (knock on wood).
Continue reading “Chapter 105: Does the Whale’s Magnitude Diminish?—Will He Perish?”Guh, my friends, the heat has come to torment me once more.
I do so despise the summer. I picked this week for my vacation thinking it would still be nice and mild, like it was last year, but I was wrong! It’s always nice to have a break from work, but in the future I may elect to take more time in the fall or spring, rather than the doldrums of summer.
Continue reading “Chapter 104: The Fossil Whale”Ahhhh, nice to be able to get back to this.
I’ve been so busy lately, very stressed out about this project at work, plus I got sick last weekend. Ugh. But now, I’m on vacation, time to get back to my true passion: writing about writing about the sea.
Continue reading “Chapter 103: Measurement of the Whale’s Skeleton”Guhh, it’s hot.
The one bad thing about living in this apartment, rather than at my parents’ place in West Seattle, is that it gets hotter and stays hot longer. We always had a nice breeze coming off the water, but now I’m inland! A who two or three miles from the Salish Sea, probably! Merely on a river valley… alas! Anyway, I’ll go turn my fan on and we can get to the business at hand.
Continue reading “Chapter 102: A Bower in the Arascides”
The Beige Moth 