What cranks my ennui handle? VP guessing games.
I took a lot of pictures of fog today.
Sometimes when I see the word "fog" I read "f composed with g".
I do not like Modest Mouse.
Also, I do not like spending hours waiting to see a counselor at a school I have not attended in many years, to figure out why they did not go through with the formality of signing a specific piece of paper, which formality risks preventing me from graduating from the school I do go to, whatever courses I take and pass. This I do not like.
On the other hand, later I get to fly on a red eye!
Now I feel a different sort of excitement. I see in a flash a thought forming as it were before my mind's eye--"This is at last the sort of situation which philosophers have always waited for--the sort of situation in which one as a philosopher can offer practical help!"
Everyone's too mopey to comment. Even the thread is self-defeating.
I wasn't kidding about the functional composition.
I can do the black belt ennui move of sitting motionless and staring at a wall for hours. Haven't done it in a while, thank god.
Also, that video was my first encounter with Modest Mouse. They suck.
8: Picture number 4 there looks familiar, benjamin. I seem to have seen that in similar circumstances, and liked it, and photographed it. I don't know why this would be worth remarking.
Actually, I rather like this encounter.
For the record, I don't think the song has a video, and this is just some movie clip someone stuck with it and uploaded to youtube.
4: Oh, the flashback. I did a M.Ed along with my J.D. in a joint program and the failure of the College of Ed to sign certain specific papers very nearly prevented me from taking the bar exam. I found making myself a nuisance slightly less helpful than finding someone at the College of Law willing make herself a nuisance on my behalf....
Also, I'd add an ennui comment, but I don't feeli confident enough in my understanding of what ennui is to do so...
4! Sifu -- good luck. A formality, right? You can iron it out, one does hope.
Not feeling any ennui, but Modest Mouse is just fine, you haters.
11.2 makes me feel better, as the vid is otherwise utterly baffling: What does it mean, man?
Actually, I rather like Modest Mouse. The movie is quite good as well (Sátántangó). I'm saving my ennui for another time.
It takes a fair bit of effort, and no small amount of energy, to cultivate a sense of ennui, I think.
Or do you mean that state where you are briefly, but powerfully, overcome by a vague sense of longing, and for what you cannot say, but the sense of loss is painful and quite palpable, and then you can't quite be bothered to get up and go to the kitchen and make yourself a cup of coffee? Is that ennui? Or should it go by the name of something else?
Sifu, good luck with 4. Don't be afraid to get all emotional, and give them a sob story, and even break down in tears, if necessary.
The indention on the couch shaped like your butt?
I'm perfectly comfortable with my ass groove, thank you (and I mean perfectly.)
Richard Thompson's "Painted Ladies" comes to mind as a go-to for me in this category. As does spending a chunk of the afternoon doing Google searches and the like on people I used to know, which occupied a good chunk of today (last college girlfriend: now a nurse in England!), to my regret. Spending my 40th birthday at the office, eating a sandwich at my desk, wondering where it all went wrong, would take the cake, I think, but I've decided to deny myself the pleasure and take the soon-to-come day off.
It takes a fair bit of effort, and no small amount of energy, to cultivate a sense of ennui, I think.
Contrariwise, it's trivial to put together an air of ennui.
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I am in the most boring labor & employment law seminar ever. 5:20-8:00 pm. Gah. We are reading a Union's constitution section by section, out loud. This class is so dropped, and I am going to take Low Wage Workers instead next semester.
Also, damn I miss Unfogged, and damn I hate Leechblock.
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Good luck, Sifu!
23: Enough to steal that line and use it at the next ASA annual meeting and pretend that it's my own and have it received with amused chuckles and knowing winks. Hope that's cool with you.
25: As long as you know in your heart that you're still in my debt. And any financial rewards that come from your shenanigans are rightfully mine.
26: Most definitely! I am sure the sociologists will give me dollars for saying that.
Just FYI, here's what the poster of the video says at YouTube:
Ok folks here is the idea:
There is this Steven Jay list of 1001 movies you must see before you die ( http://www.listsofbests.com/list/1081 )and though I don't totally agree with the choices (no Ed Wood, No Barbarella, No Duel), it brought some forgotten gems to my attention so that I'm currently working my way through the list (I'm nearly halfway there). Along the way I had unwittingly done a few videos using footage from various films on said list and I thought it would be a really good thing to eventually have 1001 videos that will cover all of Steven Jay's picks individually. For that, of course, I need your help. So what I want you to do is: Get the list, choose your favourites and create a video that is based on only one movie at a time. It doesn't has to be the rather easy music clip thing that I do. Whatever takes your fancy really. Then join http://www.youtube.com/group/1001movies and submit your video. But please be creative and don't just add the official trailer.
Bela and Isaak, please don't sue me for exploiting you so shamelessly, but you go so well together and if I get Modest Mouse Freaks into Bela Tarr and vice versa, it's not a bad thing, is it?!
Folks, all I can say is, get a copy of Satantango by Bela Tarr and a copy of The lonesome crowded West by Modest Mouse. These people deserve your money and it doesn't get more real than this.
If you enjoyed this video and feel halfway rock'n'rollesque, please join:
http://www.youtube.com/group/maximumr...
http://imdb.com/title/tt0111341/
http://www.modestmousemusic.com/
Shit, I forgot my best ennui-related* story:
8th grade, final shot at spelling bee (6th grade, I think, I had reached the county-wide bee, but not the onstage portion). About a half-dozen of us are sitting around being weeded out. Girl before me gets 'fuselage.' Not only am I a bit of a plane buff, but I am also a model-builder, including airplanes. But she, of course, is neither of these, and misses it. Argh. Next up, 'on-wee.' Or so it sounds to me. I'm utterly stumped. Here's the pisser: I'm taking French. We had even learned the word 'ennuiment' within the previous 2-3 weeks. But I made no connection between 'on-wee' and 'ennuiment,' and I fail ignominiously.
I'm nearly over it, I think.
* Really, 'ennui'-related
Fucking spelling bees. I was eliminated for a secondary, but correct, spelling. On the plus side, the experience proved to me that my nascent hatred of authority was right on the mark.
OK, this is actually my better spelling bee story, because it reveals something - OK, a lot - about my character.
3rd grade, actually up on the lunchroom stage. I get 'through.' I know how to spell it, of course. But all those pesky, silent letters at the end. Why not save some effort, and use the spelling I'm familiar with from the New York State Thruway?
NYDOT never responded to my appeal.
I still think Blair Boyko's certificate that year should include an asterisk.
32 is great. Since we're about the revealing elementary school story: 1st grade, had to write the alphabet in narrow lines. The fucking alphabet! I'd been all over that for like, years. So I came up with my own design for the alphabet, which as fonts go was unattractive but at least internally coherent. And my teacher fucking failed me, or at least gave me some negative mark that required my parents talking to me about it. I felt betrayed and irate; in retrospect, that was the beginning of the end for me school-wise.
I was shut down for spelling "differential" instead of "deferential". What can I say? I was more interested in mathematics than subservience.
Jesus, ben -- just got back from 802. Sam Amidon: amazing. He really has the old, weird voice, and the interesting stuff he's arranging around it is compelling at the least. Nico: very good. Apparently he's been in charge of writing the brand known as Phillip Glass for the past decade. Doveman: his cover of "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" made up for his cover of the Footloose soundtrack.
Now I'm going to give up anomie for acedia.
Actually, I quite like Modest Mouse.
Nah, just fucking with you all. But they have written some great songs, and I did rather like The Moon and Antarctica.
I know it's been discussed here before, but movie theaters with a bar are a great method for combating ennui. Especially when they're showing Iron Man.
ben w-lfs-n, you might have enjoyed exploring Antony Gormley's Blind Light exhibit. A friend of mine felt some real terror about exploring the room—it was really difficult to get around.
My experience from my childhood and that of many others is that a surprisingly high number of elementary school teachers don't like children very much. You ask yourself why they didn't train as electricians.
That looks pretty cool, Armsmasher. Though I have to say that part of why I liked taking pictures of the fog was that I like obscured/occluded things. (That whole Tsurezuregusa/In Praise of Shadows thing.) But, still, just that luminous obstruction that fogginess creates even when there's nothing in particular behind it is very worthy.
I'm horribly mopey at the moment. I have lots of things I should be doing but just can't be bothered. It's partly to do with not having had a proper holiday this summer (who thought going away for a month at Christmas was a good idea???), partly to do with not actually having had a fucking proper summer, and a lot to do with my girl going to school in 2 weeks' time.
Having had her around most of the time for nearly 12 years, I think I'm really going to miss her when she's at school. And I'm going to miss knowing what she's learning, what she's into. And realising that if she now stays at school till she's 18, she's going to be a different person to if she was home educated for another 3 or 5 or 7 years. That's really fucking weird. And I've got to put her name on everything and I'm going to have to iron things. Shit, I am not ready for this. And she can't bloody wait!
He really has the old, weird voice, and the interesting stuff he's arranging around it is compelling at the least.
Nico did the arrangements for much of what you probably heard (eg "Saro") and the tune are mostly trad folk.
Ennui: I think first of "N is for Neville who died of" and close thereafter of "Fighting vainly the old".
In my one and only spelling bee, I was first asked to spell 'aisle'. "I-S-L-E", said I. Homophones should be banned for at least the first round, I say.
As it happens, I made it onto my school's spelling bee team (not that the spelling bee actually has teams -- just the little contingent of us that got out of class to do spelling practice) by virtue of the fact that I did know how to spell "ennui," which was familiar to me from The Gashlycrumb Tinies. In the county bee, I was knocked out on "wrytail".
Homophones should be banned for at least the first round
Flagrant cheating by the organisers, unless they supplied a definition.
In all official Scripps national spelling bees (all part of the big tournament leading up to the annual US national bee), the pronouncer will always, on demand, provide a definition, language(s) of origin, and an example of the word used in a sentence.
Add me to the list of homophonophobes. Mine was "meatier", though at least it came in the second round. My fault for not asking for a definition, I suppose.
Did you all read the children's book, "The Day the Weather Turned into Food" or something like that? Meateors!
Modest Mouse are great. Gods a'mighty.
I lost on "squirrel" in 7th grade but I can't work up any hard feelings. I grew up in the country, I should have known how to spell it.
In other news, I had my first night of "Adult Beginning Japanese I" last night and now know how to stand up, sit down and mime various communicative activities on command. I also sort of know how to introduce myself for the first time. Woot!
I'm guessing that most of the "spellers" here have seen Spellbound, the documentary from 2002 that follows contestants in the national contest. If you have not, I highly recommend it.
Halcyon.
When I was in the fifth grade, I lost the Durham County Schools spelling bee on "ventricle," which to this very day does not end in A-L.
I won the school spelling bee in 6th grade, and then at the county one I was the very first person to be eliminated.
"Your word is...Ghost."
"Ghost. G..S...I mean G...H..O...S..T."
"I'm sorry, I can't accept that."
In 7th grade I decided not to participate because I was still embarrassed. Then the winner was this extremely popular athletic douchebag who had never shown any signs of intelligence before. It was all very depressing.
42: Aww, so bittersweet. So exciting for them to be growing up and moving on to new things. So sad that this includes the phrase and the feeling "moving on." Or something. Trying to find something useful to say, but should probably just have left off with "You have my empathy."
Wobegon County champion, 1960. I didn't make the first cut at State.
56: Yes, I learned that I do not do well under pressure in that kind of setting. I ultimately got it right, but I got hung up on "cabinet", somehow convincing myself that it might actually be "cabinent"* and the more I thought about it the more it seemed plausible. I dithered until I was warned on taking too much time. And then I knew "halcyon", but could not connect what I was hearing to the word in the moment. A couple of experiences with "Jeopardy/College Bowl" competitions in college cemented this learning.
*Unshockingly, it might actually just be that I am a shitty speller. "Album" being "alblum" is another one I have gone weird on, no problem when it is written out, but I can imagine all kinds of wrongness in my head.
In the one spelling bee I remember they split the class into two lines. The first person in each line would be given a word and either spell it correctly and go to the back of the line or be eliminated. When it became obvious that this severely disadvantaged the people in the shorter line, I, from the comfort of the longer line, objected only to be hushed by the teacher.
I learned my lesson, though. Years later in a French language contest that I won because someone else was eliminated before I got an equal number of questions I uttered no protest.
My moral decline has been steep.
Ennui?
Feeling responsible for your sister's death.
Watching your brother die, but maybe not, but probably.
Getting rejected for your kid's college loan and wondering where you'll get the money.
Watching a parent lose his mind and knowing someday that will probably happen to you.
Seeing kids on the brink of starvation and hearing them say that if Obama is elected all Kenyans will be granted immigration to the US and they will be saved. Finally. Saved!
I try not to go to these places, and when I go there I try not to stay long. What's the point?
I alternate between anomie, acedia, and the agenbite of inwit.
Did you all read the children's book, "The Day the Weather Turned into Food" or something like that? Meateors!
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs?
togolosh & Di - thanks. (First time I've had brackets from unfogged!) I'm just being somewhat pathetic at the prospect of things being different. And it is only bloody secondary school, a mile from our house, it's not as if she's leaving home - I'm sure I'll cope, there will be 3 of them left to keep me occupied!
61 - ah Tripp. Life can be shit.
Ennui - one of my students (private maths tutoring) phoning me yet again to ask when he's supposed to be here and ask what this week's homework looked like?
Now, I am going to watch the 200m final which I recorded earlier. No one tell me who won!
asilon,
Yeah, sometimes. Many have it a lot worse off than I do. A huge number actually.
So you have four children? Me too. Two of mine are off to college now. What ages or grades is 'secondary school?'
64: No one tell me who won!
The black guy.
re: 65
Secondary school is from 11 or 12 to anywhere between 16 and 18.*
* in some special circumstances some kids can leave at 15 [at least in Scotland, I'm not sure about England].
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs?
Yes! What great illustrations.
Add me to the list of homophonophobes. Mine was "meatier"
But it's pronounced totally differently from 'metier.'
65 - yeah, my eldest daughter's 11. Off to the school she will probably stay at for 7 years. Youngest is nearly 6. It must be quite a moment seeing them go off to college.
If anyone laughed, 69 was me. Otherwise, I was occupied studying my list of French loan words.
I lost on "squirrel" in 7th grade but I can't work up any hard feelings. I grew up in the country, I should have known how to spell it.
So they didn't accept D-I-N-N-E-R?
I'll be here all week, folks.
The picture for Neville is great.
I can't work up any sympathy for the little appeaser.
yeah, my eldest daughter's 11. Off to the school she will probably stay at for 7 years. Youngest is nearly 6. It must be quite a moment seeing them go off to college.
Ah. May I assume this 'off to school' does not involve boarding? I found that aspect - sending youngsters away to boarding school, one of the differences between the UK and the US. My friends in the UK told me the history behind it but still it seemed a tough thing to do to me.
As for youngsters and then college - they do an incredible amount of growing up between 11 and 18. I think when the time comes they will be more ready for it than you are. It may be tough, but not really so hard to adjust to. YMMV of course.
Oh gawd, no, she's walking to a state (i.e. free) school a mile away, she'll be out of the house from about 8-3.30. Not that many people actually go to boarding school - I think it's only about 7% of children who are at private schools, so perhaps 1%? I think it's just the simple fact of things changing that's making me a bit shaky.
But on the other hand, I'm really proud of her - this has all been her choice. She's been home educated since she was 4, and decided she was going to try to get into this incredibly competitive school, worked hard for the entrance test, did really well, and is so looking forward to it. Time for me to grow up!
I like Modest Mouse pretty well.
The internet is ennui.
What are the stereotypes associated with home-schooling in England?
Here, if I hear that someone has been home-schooled, I figure there is a 90% chance his parents are conservative Christian extremists, and a 10% chance his parents are anti-authoritarian, anti-hierarchical leftist types.
I'm in my mom's mostly-packed-up-in-boxes-for-an-impending- move-around-the-globe house, in Montana, and it's been raining since afternoon. Before that it was cloudy and cold so I couldn't go swimming in the river. Tomorrow I have to wake up early and spend all day on an airplane and go back to smuggy moggy icky WDC. I'm watching a Situational Drama on tv and because of the thunderstorm, the captions barely even work so I can't tell what is going on but everyone looks VERY VERY SERIOUS and I think they are going to be in BIG TROUBLE.
Earlier my mom and I were watching Cold Comfort Farm which I feel is a more adequate descriptor for me, now, than "ennui". I'm more in the "let's name our cows after various lacks of quality and moan a lot" frame of things, at the moment.
78 - I don't really think there are any - it's only in very recent years (as far as I can tell, HE numbers have shot up in the last 10 years, mostly due to the internet) that most people have even heard of it. But now on any British parenting website/board there'll be an HE section, and I think, generally and from reactions I get, that it's just seen as another option. (Which is not to say everyone thinks it's a *good* option!)
I don't think I could manage to come up with any one glib description for the 50odd families I consider to be my own personal HE community.
One kiddo starts high school next week, the other needs serious advice about picking a grad program, to start next fall. Moving on isn't always saddening.