Instead of rewriting my project proposal and posting it as a comment to my original proposal, I'm doing this instead. Eventually it will also end up as part of the actual project.
Nice proposal. Two interesting things about doing it on video are, first, that I need to listen to the whole thing before responding to any of it (which is neither good nor bad - just different) and, second, that your enthusiasm is readily apparent.
I fully endorse the project in the abstract. The difficulty, of course, is one of scale - regardless of how crazy and isolated you get, you're not going to, I think, produce a *full* response to the book in the next couple weeks - your level of the narrative can't fully rival Johny or Zampano's, at least not in completeness.
So my main response was going to be: "you need to find a single aspect of the book as it stands which you want to focus on at first, then build out from there as you are able to do."
So I was excited by your idea of zeroing in on the Middle East. As you probably recall, the actual Navidson Record is being filmed in parallel with the *first* Iraq War. This would be a great way for you to open up your own narrative. The Middle East and Islam also comes up from time to time; for instance, the passage from Don Quixote on page 42 (which we're discussing on our last class) is, in context, about the history of Islamic-Christian warfare in Spain.
So my big advice is to try to do something focused first, and that the Iraq/Middle East theme (in relationship to the minotaur) should be a great starting point.
One other thing I can't help commenting on. Your fantastic line "It will have amassed itself into a manuscript," reminds me of something Martin Heidegger (who is, recall, quoted at length early in HOL) about his philosophy: "it thinks in me." Just had to say that...
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Nice proposal. Two interesting things about doing it on video are, first, that I need to listen to the whole thing before responding to any of it (which is neither good nor bad - just different) and, second, that your enthusiasm is readily apparent.
I fully endorse the project in the abstract. The difficulty, of course, is one of scale - regardless of how crazy and isolated you get, you're not going to, I think, produce a *full* response to the book in the next couple weeks - your level of the narrative can't fully rival Johny or Zampano's, at least not in completeness.
So my main response was going to be: "you need to find a single aspect of the book as it stands which you want to focus on at first, then build out from there as you are able to do."
So I was excited by your idea of zeroing in on the Middle East. As you probably recall, the actual Navidson Record is being filmed in parallel with the *first* Iraq War. This would be a great way for you to open up your own narrative. The Middle East and Islam also comes up from time to time; for instance, the passage from Don Quixote on page 42 (which we're discussing on our last class) is, in context, about the history of Islamic-Christian warfare in Spain.
So my big advice is to try to do something focused first, and that the Iraq/Middle East theme (in relationship to the minotaur) should be a great starting point.
One other thing I can't help commenting on. Your fantastic line "It will have amassed itself into a manuscript," reminds me of something Martin Heidegger (who is, recall, quoted at length early in HOL) about his philosophy: "it thinks in me." Just had to say that...
Good work.
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