SKIP IT

Rob Adams was rather intimidated by this book, he was afraid to open it. Call him what you want, but fear comes with the territory of text boxes written backwards. Rob didn't want to open the book, he wanted to sit on his nightstand, but eventually Rob bit the bullet, Rob cracked the book.

When Rob began his journey into the strangest books he has ever read, he only got to page 8 and stopped. He was rather out off by how convoluted the pages looked, how schizophrenic the plot seemed. He started on Saturday, he ended on Saturday; only to pick it up late Monday night.

Quite frankly Rob again, read only a few pages again. Rob skipped over most of the footnotes, as a former history major, Rob thinks footnotes were put on this earth to annoy and bother every writer on the planet, leaving them feeling cold and begging for the MLA format. Rob hungry, Rob smash.

Then Rob got to page 50. Page 50 has a math equation. Rob doesn't like math. While it is rather petty to ignore about 4 or 5 pages because a math equation, Rob continued forward. Rob got to about page 64, and stumbled upon the same thing Tom Mikos did, the list of names, while it conjured up memories of John Hodgman reading 700 Hobo names in his opus The Area of My Expertise. Nonetheless it isn't entertaining and nor is it to the tune of "Big Rock Candy Mountain."

Rob skipped the crossed out red lines from from 110-111. He saw minotaur but only went that far. He then proceeded to 119-145 where the text boxes make there appearance. Thats where Rob halted the reading process, he didn't want to have to read in the mirror, he then continued to page 147 and finished the rest of the assignment. While not reading that whole section, Rob did wonder if it was an elaborate Tetris game.

VIDEO

Whilst reading through the first couple of pages of House of Leaves I came across the mention of the HG Wells historic radio reading of War of The Worlds from 1938. The widespread panic that occurred from this broadcast immediately reminded me of Karen's inability to enter or even comprehend what was in her own home. She is scared but what she is told. Much like the listeners of the War of the Worlds, who were actually believe that world was being invaded by an alien force. It plays on fear, Karen has disorder that causes her fear. She is claustrophobic, she is in an ever changing house, which confronts her ever changing fears. The house expands, he disorder becomes less and less, but as the house becomes tighter, he fears grow. The War of the Worlds reading plays on the fear of the listening public.

I LI KE T HIS B OOK

I have read through the first

200 hundred pages

I shall finish it tomorrow

Its not that bad.

More to come.

First Drafts

House of Leaves has left me in a bind. For the most part, the plot isn't as convoluted as I expected it to be. It seems very intimidating when you first open the book. The text becomes very, lets say, different as you proceed further and further into the book. From what I've gathered, its a story inside a story, with another story in the footnotes.

The typography seems to be the draw for me at the moment. Kevin mentioned two things that I had crossed my mind, one being that within the first couple of pages, you come across the word "house" highlighted in blue, much like a hyperlink, which in return brings up that point that it was in fact originally on the Internet. Its now driving me insane to see where that hyperlink would bring the reader. Kevin also brought up Joyce's Finnegan's Wake, which is the most incomprehensible piece of literature I have read, while I appreciate it as a landmark piece of literature from one of my favorite authors, it drives me nuts on an annual basis.

Which intrigued me was that it reads like a first draft, from the cross outs, the change in font, the change in color, to the text boxes that seem like notes, but also read as anecdotes, or outside commentary. Right now I'm doing my best to differentiate the characters, but I have a feeling that it is going to take multiple read throughs if this book to fully grasp. I was even contemplating just reading the footnotes (off the record, as a former history major, I've realllllllly grown to loathe footnotes).

This made me chuckle.

Yes

Rosa Parks sat so MLK could walk, MLK walked so Barack Obama could run.

Thank You President Lyndon B Johnson

This is what made everything tonight possible, thank you.

Let the Great Experiment Begin

As I sit in front of my television watching the numbers scroll across the bottom of my screen, George Stephanopoulos comments on the board behind, Obama wins parts of the upper midwest. While I am overjoyed by the current state of the polls, I can't help but remember back to the other day while I was waiting for elevator on the second floor.

As I stood in front of the elevator, waiting to go up to the sixth floor, one elevator door opened. As I peered in with Kevin, we were greeted by a full elevator of students. Kevin and I are weren't prepared for what was said to us. One student blurted out, "The McCain elevator is over there." The elevator exploded into laughter, we both stood there stunned. As the door closed, I stuck my foot in so the doors would open again to react to what they said. Unfortunately I had to explain express my political views to get an apology and a resounding cheer after I informed them of my choice. I hadn't felt that insulted in a long time and sure says a lot about the voting public. Yes it was an act of racism, even if they were joking, it makes me worry about the voting youth.

Nonetheless, as of right now, things look good, but I'm not taking anything for granted.