This Moment in Existentialist Dread Has Been Brought to You By....

Inspired by the GI Joe who was brutally kidnapped by Iraqi Insurgents (a classic in "this moment in what the hell was brought to you by whatthefuck.com"), I checked out Dick's The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch at the library. I didn't think that was enough existentialist dread so I also decided that, because of the snow and my own optimism, it might be the time to finally read DeLillo's White Noise. I would've gotten some Baudrillard but, let's face it, my free time is laughable and I'm crazy to have even gotten what I did. (But crazy in a fun way.)

Speaking of the library, they still insist they can't find In the Shadow of No Towers (which was kick-ass by the way, but too short! Artie, you got two books off the Holocaust, you could manage just a little more for 9/11!), so I had to go back and talk to the billing people again. They are required to do two more searches and then we can "negotiate" replacement fees. They THOUGHT. I'm hoping they'll drop it as professional courtesy but otherwise I'll give 'em hell--I refuse to pay for their error.

Grr, argh. Other than that, it's been a laughably busy week, but largely drama free (mostly because the boys are as busy as me so there hasn't been time for bitter/bittersweet/otherwise overly-emotionally-intense exchanges). Just as well since I'll be working my ass off tomorrow and Saturday to get stuff done.

Ayn Rand's 100th

Yeesh, at 100 she'd be even scarier than she already was. Here's the Rand-o-Rama, a list of quotes and articles and such, including this excerpt:

“He spent several days deciding on the artifacts [that would be found with his dead body]....He would be found lying on his back, on his bed, with a copy of Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead (which would prove he had been a misunderstood superman rejected by the masses and so, in a sense, murdered by his scorn) and an unfinished letter to Exxon protesting the cancellation of his gas credit card.” —Philip K. Dick, A Scanner Darkly (1977)

I read The Fountainhead back when I was 17, as pre-reading for my senior Advanced Placement English class. Then I thought it was a bit like war--slogging through miserably, every moment a pain, wondering what exactly I was fighting for. I reckon it still is a bit like that. I also never got the whole it-was-rape-but-she-liked-it thing. Um? No? I'm as much for masochistic sex as anyone, but I do make a point of saying "yes" before (and sometimes during...and I'll stop right there shall I?).

Anyhoo, good article, nice quotes. Even have one from Dirty Dancing. Can't tell if I'm surprised Phil K. would be a few scrolls from Patrick Swayze or not. But that's pop culture for you, I guess.