Thou Shall Love Proust Above Everyone Else

It's official: I'm addicted to Word Shoot.

The premise is simple enough: Type the word that appears below each little bad guy.  Press 'enter' and BANG, he is shot dead, permitted that the word is spelled correctly. 

About a half hour into the game (on "easy"), the number of little dudes on the screen is a smidge above ridiculous; they start to overlap each other, so it's hard to make out the words at times.

Irony alert! Watch out for misspelled words.  Type them as they appear on screen. :/   

I played the Flash-based game for a solid two hours before my fingers began to cramp.  Happy typing!

I finished reading A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole, last night.  It is book No. 10 for the 50 Book Challenge.

I started this year's challenge in August.  So, I hope to have read at least 50 books by August 23rd of 2007. 

I digress, A Confederacy of Dunces was a recommendation and a subsequent loan from my academic adviser.  Strangely enough, all of her "lending" books are in mint condition although she has read each one.  I wonder if she keeps extra copies for the purpose of lending them to her students.  I never walk out of her office without another book (sometimes stacks of them) in my hands.  Under my ownership, the book has gained considerable bends/creases in the binding, folded page corners, spine tilting, fingerprint smudges on the glossy cover, and one Cheetos stain on page 273. 

But that's beside the point.  The book itself was a howl!  The wicked satire and outrageous 1960s Louisiana characters had me in stitches (mostly during my rides on the public bus system; I was the bus "crazy person" many a time thanks to the maniacal laughter).  It's truly a shame that Toole ended his own life before writing more novels.  Apparently, Toole's mother found the manuscript to the book after going through his personal belongings, so the book was printed posthumously.  The foreword, by Walker Percy, explains the difficulty in printing the manuscript and his initial avoidance of the manuscript altogether.  This knowledge adds an eerie layer to the novel, but I would advise to not read it with the hopes of finding "clues" to Toole's state of mind prior to his suicide.  You won't find them.

• Curled Up With A Good Book -- Review

 

Up next:

On my recent trip to Monterrey, Mexico, I visited Planetario Alfa to take in their new exhibit, "Los Antiguos Mexicanos" -- The Ancient Mexicans.  And no, they were not displaying photographs of my grandparents, as appropriate as that may be. ;)

The museum hosts a sizable collection of authentic pre-Hispanic artifacts from the Maya, Olmeca, Mexica, Mixtecas, Zapoteca, and Occidental cultures.  The exhibit was split up into various thematic sections, for example as Technology, Education, Family, Death and Science.  Each section explored x culture's practice(s) in the theme.  Very interesting stuff, particularly the Science and Death sections.  Apparently, there was a video lecture to accompany the exhibit, but the viewing room was closed during my visit.     

I snapped a few artifacts via my camera phone.  The picture quality is lacking, but the artifacts can still be enjoyed.  I will try to record what few facts remember about each piece. 

 

  "Curandero" - Mexica(?)

The traditional folk healer, or shaman, is depicted as having a large, rectangular skull; the "cross" bands represent his brain power. I vaguely recall that his crouching position was one of power, but there was a more specific explanation I can't remember.

 

These Olmeca men represent the journey of the afterlife.  The "leader" is the deceased and his followers are companions.  The small object at the leader's feet is his pet dog.    

 

 The Family section had many of such figures, stating that the bond between mother and child was a vital one in the Olmeca and Mextica society.  The woman on the left is nursing her child.  The woman on the right holds her child at her hip with what appears to be a shawl.  She is also carrying a bowl held by a strap around her forehead.

 

  I can't recall what culture this is from. The title is self-explanatory.

 

Can't recall the culture this bowl came from; perhaps Mayan.  What I do remember is that this bowl was filled with grains or other food items at the time of the ceremony.

 

There are a few more pictures of artifacts on the Planetario's website. At the entrance, click the large, cylinder-shaped building; then click "antiguos Mexicanos."  You can also check out their physical science exhibits (each level has a theme; the Space/Astronomy floor was so entertaining--they have a "black hole" tunnel that leaves you quite dizzy and disoriented).

Show us something by your favorite artist.
Submitted by Miss Parker.