Didactic Synapse

True story:

There’s a connection between the sleep deprivation and finding my favorite bookmark after four years — there has to be.

I wonder how much sense it makes for me to spend 4 hours drawing and coloring something like this, which probably gets read by 20 people at most, and very quickly. Oh well.. it’s an interesting story.

In About Four Seconds, A Teacher Will Begin to Speak

I have less than a week of summer vacation left. I’m rested and ready for a new school year, but I’m very comfortable right now in my Cocoon of Sloth. I’ve been playing lots of video games (Uncharted 2, Tiger Woods ’08) and working (slowly) on the biography of Balzac’s wife Eveline HaÅ„ska.

I was supposed to do the second draft of my novel this summer, but .. well, I didn’t. (I did about two and a half chapters, then got worn out and put it back in the filing cabinet.) I had a vision the other day of our house catching fire and how I would need to grab the folder with the first draft in it, since it’s the only copy I have. So that’s another important reason for me to work on it.

I’m really bad about sticking with projects like that — I’m actually amazed I finished the first draft. I’ll tell myself to work on something a little bit each day (I’ve done this several times with working out), and then I’ll do it for a week or two. Then one day I’ll be like “Ehhh, it’s not a big deal if I don’t do it today”, and then the next day I’m all “Yeah whatever.. Two days is okay — tomorrow I’ll go back.” And then it’s like “That thing I said I would do isn’t so important.” And so on.

TimeWasterâ„¢

Kirstin Schaal is funny. Perhaps you’ve seen her on The Daily Show or The Flight of the Conchords.

Today I’m listening to: Pink Floyd! (I got on a weird Pink kick last night — I went years without listening to them, and then suddenly I broke my neck importing all their albums into iTunes.)

Yeah, I know.. Coolest Chucks ever made. It’s okay — you can say it.

An Indonesian court has upheld a ban of the Australian movie Balibo, which tells the story of journalist Greg Shackleton and four other men, who were killed in the days leading up to the Indonesian invasion of East Timor (during which more than 100,000 Timorese died).

The movie is based on a book by journalist Jill Jolliffe, which has apparently been criticized by some relatives of the Balibo Five, since she apparently voices dissatisfaction over activists’ efforts (or lack thereof) to find justice for Shackleton and others.

Regardless, the Jakarta court’s decision is pretty sad, since it shows the government’s unwillingness to wrestle honestly with its escapades in East Timor.

A censorship board official, RM Tedjo Baskoro, told the Globe that the film “did not cover both sides by failing to include information from the Indonesian side.”

If the film were screened, he said, it would reopen “old wounds” between Indonesia, Australia and East Timor.

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Here’s the trailer for the film.

Today I’m listening to: Loden!

Here’s the one-minute video of our awesome two-week summer funtime experience, featuring friends in Madison and a road trip to Hammonton, New Jersey. Enjoy!