Consumption, February 2020

2/29
Harry Potter and the Goblet…(2005): the things we do for our progeny. This movie was actually fairly boring and was such a dramatic departure in dimension from the book.
HP5, 50 pp.: to be honest, I’d been excited about reading the next book (after finishing HP4), and only waited for Lucian to finish. The death of Cedric seems like a turning point and I am curious how Rowling negotiates it. I also still don’t understand why LV hates HP so much.
Brontë, 20 pp.
The Expanse, 1.7, 20 minutes

2/28
Brontë, 10 pp.
Harry Potter 5, 15 pp.

2/27
Rousseau, 10 pp.: finally to the spectacle, done with his defense of the Genevan clergy and calling out d’Alembert’s supposed compliment of the philosophical spirit; spectacle as reflective a nation’s psychological constitution. This is the sexy stuff that I’d been waiting for. Seriously.

2/26
Finished Krasnahorkei
Brontë, 20 pp.: she sees an apparition and provokes Emanuel’s rage with her letter
Pippin, Modernism as a Philosophical Problem, 15 pp.: reading this is rekindling philosophical interests in me.

2/25
Rousseau, 5 pp.
Krasnahorkei, 10 pp.

2/24
Rousseau, 10 pp.
Kill the Irishman (2011), 40 minutes: a fart in the wind, not worthy of more than 10 minutes.

Cover of Allan Bloom's translation of Rousseau's Letter to d'Alembert, under the title Politics and the Arts

2/23
Finished Okja
Brontë, 5 pp.
Rousseau, Politics and the Arts, 10 pp.

2/22
Brontë, 10 pp.

2/21
American Assassin (2010): God will smite me

2/20
Okja (2017), 30 minutes
Brontë, 25 pp.

2/19
Krasnahorkei, “Death of a Craft”, being the second version of Hermann

2/18
Krasnahorkei, Herman …, 31 pp.: this story is interesting in its content alone, but also when one addresses the infrequent quotations littering the narrative. They do not function to capture what a character had said, but instead capture the words or phrases or statement of unknown speakers.
Brontë, 5 pp.

Cover of the Last Wolf by Lázló Krasnahorkei

2/17
Finished HP4
FC podcasts on Little Women, Parasite

2/16
HP4, 70 pp.
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Brontë, 50 pp.

2/15
Brontë, 15 pp.
Casablanca (1941)

2/13
HP4, 50 pp.
Tolstoy, 10 pp.

2/12
Rise of Empires: Ottoman (2020), #1-2
HP4, 20 pp.

2/10
Tolstoy, 20 pp.: Following Rostov at the front
Brontë, 30 pp.: Lucy meets Dr. John, with whom love seems to be expected. But Lucy is so poorly esteemed on Rue Fossette that one doubts whether she could actually attract his attention. The flying billets-doux.
HP4, 20 pp.: Harry still hasn’t heard from Sirius. The TriWizard Tournament is announced. I think I saw the movie for this book, ages ago. Before I know anything about the series.

2/9
Latest issue of the NYRB, especially the piece on Susan Sontag, whose essay “Fascinating Fascism” was a germinal influence—also, Ivan the Terrible, fucking hell
Girard, 10 pp.
Tolstoy, 5 pp.
Brontë, 20 pp.

2/8
HP2 Chamber of Secrets (2002)
Rowling, HP4, 60 pp.
Girard, 10 pp.: Blood
Tolstoy, 10 pp.: Pierre visits Prince Andrej and the latter expresses his nihilism—Pierre tries to make him a Mason

2/7
Brontë, 10 pp.
Girard, 5 pp.

2/6
Brontë, 10 pp.
Finished LOTR: I do not recall the closing, perhaps saccharin lines about the telling of stories and their influences

Cover of a Penguin edition of Charlotte Brontë's novel Villette

2/5
Bronte, 10 pp.
Girard, 10 pp.
finished Norell
Tolstoy, 5 pp.

2/4
Bronte, 10 pp.
LOTR: The Two Towers (2003?), 1 hour

2/3
Finished Foreign Correspondent
Vertigo, last 15 minutes
Norell, 10 pp.
Bronte, Villette, 10 pp.
Girard, Violence and the Sacred, 5 pp.

2/2
Pippin, finished
Bronte, Villette, 10 pp.

2/1
Pippin, 20 pp.
Foreign Correspondent (1940), 90 min
Vertigo (1958), last 30 minutes