8 thoughts on “absinthian mistakes.

  1. Like the imagery here. Very sensual.

    They advertise absinthe in High Times:Really Fucks You Up. Or something like that. ////// I suppose it does / / / So if you go chasing little green fairies beware . . . . / / / /

  2. “I don’t quite chase anything.”

    No? Not even the mot juste you’re seemingly so good at catching?

  3. Yes, yes!

    Would you like to know why? Because it’s a mindset which no matter how naturally it seems to come to you or anyone who possesses it must at some time be cultivated — and then once cultivated is so thoroughly absorbed into the brain that it becomes something like a way of life. But despite any initial predilection, predisposition,propensity or proclivity, that fundamental desire must come first, and that desire is the chasing.

    In literature more than any other art, there’s really no such thing as natural talent.

    It reminds me a little of a line from my favorite movie of all-time:

    Verna: What are you chewing over?

    Tom: A dream I had once. I was walking in the woods, I don’t know why. A wind came up and blew my hat off.

    Verna: And you chased it, right? You ran and ran and finally caught up to it and you picked it up. But it wasn’t a hat anymore. It had changed into something else. Something wonderful.

    Tom: No, it stayed a hat. And no, I didn’t chase it. There’s nothing more foolish than a man chasing his hat.

    1. Miller’s Crossing? I’m not aware of this film, but I’ve made a note to find a copy. I very much like that quote, as well. You’ve given me quite a bit to think about… Now, how does one go about cultivating a desire they don’t know they’re cultivating?

  4. Miller’s Crossing — yes. Very nicely done. Tom Regan, the main character, is my favorite character in all of cinema. Why? I’ve asked myself that question many times. It’s because he’s complex, brilliant, in a way, physically reminds me of my father (RIP), and also he’s something more enigmatic, something difficult to pin down. It’s been said — and I agree — that one of the truest tests of good fiction is when you can discuss the characters as if they’re real people — when you can psychologize over them. Tom is the best movie example of this that I’ve found.

    “Now, how does one go about cultivating a desire they don’t know they’re cultivating?”

    Well, now, that doesn’t quite sound like the typical discussion one finds in comments, and I think to ask that question in such an articulate way is, in large part, to answer it.

    My response: by doing what you’re doing, Fountains. How many, for instance, would choose such a beautiful yet relatively obscure passage from “Venus and Adonis” for a tagline?

    1. Haha, it seems you caught me. “Obscure” and “complex” are words I’m quite familiar with. Anyway, I think all of humanity are characters, in a sense. With enough experience, drama, disappointments, or fulfillments we all become caricatures of ourselves eventually.

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