Some vague ramblings, senseless and aimless as a colorless moth
Ahhh, finally feeling better.
My cough is finally clearing up. I can breathe freely for the first time in like three weeks. I was starting to go a bit stir-crazy, being cooped up in my apartment this whole time. Man, I don’t think I could handle working purely from home, I gotta get back into the office.
Continue reading “Chapter 118: The Quadrant”Well, I’m certainly feeling better than I was last week.
Though I wouldn’t quite say I’m no longer sick. I have a really nasty lingering cough, it’s been keeping me up all night, and freaking me out making me think I have gunk in my lungs. But, for the most part, I’m feeling a lot better. I really feel like I need a vacation, though. But I want to wait for the fall to take time off of work… when the weather is more amenable.
Continue reading “Chapter 117: The Whale Watch”Alright, let’s get back on track.
I’m all moved in now, it went… pretty smoothly, all things considered. I’m still settling in, of course, exploring the neighborhood and whatnot, getting used to new routines. Living in like an actual city again is nice, but very different. And I’m much closer to the sea, which is really energizing. I think that sea breeze is really going to help me survive the summer months.
Continue reading “Chapter 112: The Blacksmith”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”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”This is one of the chapters that really inspired me to do this blog.
The casual reader of Moby Dick, which I must assume exists because I was one, would come across this and be utterly confused. What the heck is a Heidelburgh Tun, and why is it being talked about like it’s some sort of famous reference that everyone knows? It’s a question that cries out for answering. This is the one that really got me started in on researching all these obscure 19th century references. Continue reading “Chapter 77: The Great Heidelburgh Tun”
See? I said I would start posting more regularly, and here I am at it again, less than a week later.
This chapter is a fun one, kind of a bridge between narrative and non-narrative. You get a bit of everything, including a return to Ahab being extremely portentous all the time. Let’s get into it! Continue reading “Chapter 70: The Sphynx”
What do you even do with a whale, once you’ve killed it?
Much has been said about what a monumental foe the sperm whale is, in this book thus far. So vast and terrible in its strength, such a rare thing to even see one, much less successfully kill it. After all that is accomplished, what do you do? How on earth does an old timey sailing ship accommodate such a massive carcasse? Well, that’s what today’s chapter, and the several following chapters, are about, so settle in! It’s gonna get gross. Continue reading “Chapter 67: Cutting In”
You thought chapter titles couldn’t get any longer? You fool. You absolute buffoon. Melville has no sympathy, and is following no rulebook.
This chapter is kind of a transition into a different mood from the previous two. Instead of a critical survey of art from the learned eye of an expert, it’s of Ishmael as a man reflecting on the nature of art and the world it inhabits. So yeah, I think I can find something to talk about here. Continue reading “Chapter 57: Of Whales in Paint; in Teeth; in Wood; in Sheet-Iron; in Stone; in Mountains; in the Stars”
The Beige Moth 