skipnotes...

has anyone noticed the footnotes? 

I have been reading through them and noticed that the Authors name is spelled out by the first letter of ever footnote between 27 and 42. Upon completion of his name spelling, the footnote reads "Then in fact all Troy seemed to me to sink into flames... and Carthage must be destroyed" (37).  Any thoughts? Is he turning himself into an unseen character? 

New and Improved SKIP IT from Tiger Toys...

Jessica is frustrated. She has read through it all and pushed herself and said "Danielewski is the anti-christ". Jessica has skipped everything after the first two times of skipping nothing (Jessica doesn't like to not understand). Jessica decided to stop reading the footnotes; she found them an annoyance as she started checking them for complete understanding. Jessica has OCD. Jessica does not appreciate Danielewski's vision at the moment. 

Jessica however, loves the book. She LOVES the fact that when characters are panicked or trying to get away from something there are only one or two words on a page causing her to flip pages quicker. She thought that was a brilliant move by the author. Jessica did not read any of the red print as it made her eyes hurt because she lost her glasses and found it embarrassing to ask her younger classmates to help her read it. Jessica felt old. She HATED the sections about Echo. She found them boring and skipped through all of it. She also didn't read the lists of names. Jessica liked that some of the footnotes were turned into waistnotes but only turned to novel to see what they were and she moved along and chuckled at her discovery of "waistnotes". She is still chuckling. 

Jessica had a phone call while writing this blog and during the call referred to herself in the 3rd person and decided that it was time to stop. 

Video

"Architectural space certainly exists independently of the casual perceiver, and has centres and direction of its own." I think the house holds a different experience for each person in it; however, the one common feature the house holds for each person is its ability to create a sense of smallness and panic.

A House is not a House

 I think the house represents the family dynamic of the 21st century. The dissolution of a solid relationships within this century is expressed through the ever growing home. Maintenance of the outward appearance rather than the structure itself is causing a chasm between the individuals sleeping under its roof. 

The expansion and maze of the home is for me, the hopelessness of individuals that cannot find a means of communication. I like Prof. Lennon's example, I think the house is a metaphor for failing relationships. Constantly banging your head against a wall until it breaks only to find another wall standing strong behind it. 

But maybe the house doesn't represent something negative at all. Perhaps the house is the beginning of something new, a relationship perhaps. Long dark hallways, fear of the unknown, leaving the safety of the living room to explore something just to understand it. 

OR can the house just represent the individual? The experience of life, death, love, whatever...

House

I imagined the house as part of a levittown street. Perfect on the outside but horribly dysfunctional and corrupt on the inside. "Karen spent every night of her fourteenth year composing that smile in front of a blue plastic handled mirror" (58). I can't imaging a has-been model living anywhere that doesn't aesthetically fit in with it's surroundings. 

Character Sketch

Karen:

Karen is in denial. She is consistent in trying to maintain a sense of normalcy throughout. "She challenged its irregularity by introducing normalcy: her friends presence, bookshelves, peaceful conversation" (37). 

I found her general existence a falsity. I don't believe anything she has to say and her emotion is meaningless after finding out that she has been unfaithful: "Refer to footnotes 19 and 20 concerning Karen's infidelities" (83). 

I hate her character. She seems like a cookie-cutter wife/mother with no regard for anything but herself and her appearance. "I don't care, stop drilling holes in my walls" (30) 

visual literature

i think this novel is something that should be studied over the course of a semester. I have been reading it for 5 days and literally can not get past page 46. i want to sit in a normal sized bathroom and turn on the water and sit in a normal sized tub... only to rock back and forth....

the stories are fantastically interesting, but i can help but read through everything, which then equates to a poor reading of everything which then forces me to re-read everything all over again. 

my thoughts at 1am:

This book wasn't meant to be read, only seen.

argh..

This book makes me feel stupid. 

i have read and re-read 90 pages. 

      i have 

  s    

         k    

 i   

         p 

p  

      e

      d 

through and  

jumped 

around and i still feel dumb. i'm not quite sure i am reading this correctly... or have i been reading incorrectly my whole life?! 

i have lost track of characters and am finding myself reading the beginning over again to re-learn who everyone is. 

i am falling behind in the reading and am freaked out. 

I have never read anything so harrowing. 

The 21st century is kicking my rear.

Can anyone offer any insight or help get through this properly?!

selling bombs

Does anyone else feel like Banksy has "sold out"? Is there a connection between Banksy's selling his tags to the social elite and "Greenburg" being sold the financially elite? This leads to the question : what is the point of graffiti? Are there class boundaries for the writers? Or can Donald Trump decide to "bomb" the West Side Highway and be respected among the rest of the graffiti writers?

complicated houses...

I think House of Leaves is fantastic, smart, and extremely creepy... but just a thought:

In a time when society is based around convenience and easy entertainment, to put forth a book so aesthetically complicated seems like a risk. If people today could have coffee through I.Vs to get to work faster, they would. I just can't imagine people flipping this book upside down and right side up on the F into the city. Was this a smart move by the artist? Or does it even matter?