Author: beccakinla

Wonderful reads this weekend

beccakinla alan paskow, Gadi Pollack, how to write, illustrations, inyan magazine, st mary's college of maryland, writer, writing process 2 Comments

I had one of those weekends where I spent a lot of time enjoying magazines. On Motzei Shabbos (Saturday night), I got my Winter 2011 edition of The Mulberry Tree (the official magazine of St. Mary’s College of Maryland), and it included a tribute to the late professor Alan Paskow. Dr. Paskow’s wife, Jacqueline, was my French professor for several semesters and the couple was notable not just for their intellectual brilliance, but for their kindness and dedication to their students.

The Mulberry Tree article excerpted a talk Dr. Paskow had given shortly before his retirement from SMC, entitled “On Writing an Academic Book.” I’m finding that I identify with a lot of what Dr. Paskow says in it about the process of writing his 2004 book book, The Paradoxes of Art: A Phenomenological Investigation. Take this:
Alan Paskow, professor of philosophy
“One of the first things I experienced in beginning my work was a periodic reminder that no one had asked me to write it…One of the most difficult tasks in writing the book was to suppress thoughts about how it would be received, even whether it would be received at all. I would think: No one will publish this thing.”

This is precisely the thought that has run through my head about the novel I’m supposed revise (and which I keep finding excuses not to). It’s really a great comfort to share your most recent existential crisis with someone you really admire, and even more a comfort to know that he was able to persist, completing his book and successfully publishing it. Here’s a link to Alan Paskow’s book. http://www.amazon.com/Paradoxes-Art-Phenomenological-Investigation/dp/0521828333 I think it’s out of print, so if you want to get your hands on it without spending a lot, your best bet is probably borrowing it from a university library.

(The book addresses the idea of why fictional characters and even images of people that appear in paintings affect our emotions, even when we are fully aware they are not real. Personally, I think this quality of art is a defense of both the arts and arts education. Dr. Paskow concludes, interestingly, that the fictional subjects of works of art achieve a sort of quasi-reality that allows us to interact with them. While at first glance, such an assertion seems peculiar, think about the legions of Harry Potter and Twilight fans who talk about the characters as if they are personal friends of theirs and dress in costumes appropriate to the books. Or think about the Cornelia Funke book Inkheart and the story “I Remember the Future” by Michael Burstein.)

The other interesting read this weekend was an outstanding profile of Gadi Pollack in the Inyan Magazine (HaModia) for Parshas Vayeishev. Most people are more familiar with Mr. Pollack’s artwork than his name. Here’s a link to some of the books he has illustrated.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&sort=relevancerank&search-alias=books&ie=UTF8&field-author=Gadi%20Pollack

The article in Inyan detailed how Mr. Pollack integrates his artwork and his spiritual life in an inspirational way. I recommend picking up the article while last week’s magazine is still on the shelf.

How sharing literature, movies, and music can lead to important conversations with your kids

beccakinla birds and the bees, books, boyfriend, boys, control, girls, literature, marriage, mom, parenting, relationships, teens Leave a comment

I just read this interesting article in the Chicago Sun-Times about how reading/watching the final episode of the Twilight trilogy is a great jumping off point for mothers to address serious issues with their teenaged daughters. http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/9007549-452/vampire-fantasy-can-spark-real-life-dialog.html

My Nitzsche Moment

beccakinla how to write, reviews, revision, writing process Leave a comment

Isn’t it Nitzsche who said, “Whatever doesn’t kill me makes me stronger?”

As I posted a couple weeks ago, I circulated the rough draft of my novel-in-progress among several friends and colleagues. The feedback that has been trickling back has been very enlightening, often useful, and will probably result in a much, much better book.

However–although most of the readers have overall liked my book and said they’d recommend such a book to friends–the feedback has also been extremely demoralizing and makes me want to crawl under a rock.

Everyone insists that I ditch the prologue, make a couple characters more obnoxious, and alter a particular detail. Add more action! More fun details about the planet. Make the robot even more menacing!

Okay, okay, I get it. If four people are telling me the same thing (so far), I guess I’d better take it seriously.

It’s going to take me a long time to fix all that, plus address various other issues brought up by my invited editors, reviewers, beta readers, whatever you want to call them. Plus, I still haven’t resolved the issue about whether to make the book accessible to a wider audience by limiting my use of Hebrew terms and explaining those used, etc.

I started working at the next draft, but had to stop when my computer died. This was probably a gift from Heaven. I think I need a little break. I was sitting in front of my computer, staring for a couple minutes at the screen, then begining to hyperventilate and twitch.

And I asked for it!

The craziest part is that I would ask for the experience again, because it’ll make me a better writer, and my book will certainly be improved. (Maybe I’ll even sell this one!)

A lot of writers disregard criticism of their “babies” because it’s so painful. But so is childbirth. Literary babies have to develop and grow just like our real children, and after their initial births, you have to spend even more time and effort “educating” them before they can go out and live on their own. Yes, occasionally someone will share an opinion that no one else shares, and you can ignore it. And, yes, criticism should be shared in a respectful way. But if several people who have opinions you trust tell you the same thing, you’d better take notice.

Even if it’s painful.

Heads Up on a Nifty Article & a Cloudy Recommendation

beccakinla cloud storage, HaModia, how to write, inyan magazine, writer, writing process, Yael Mermelstein Leave a comment

THE STUPENDOUS ADVENTURES OF SHRAGI AND SHIA
A Car That Goes FarYael Mermelstein, the wonderful Jewish author, is profiled in this past week’s (Parshas Toldos) Inyan Magazine found inside the HaModia newspaper. Immediately following the article is the first of a new two-part story by Mrs. Mermelstein. In the profile, Mrs. Mermelstein gives excellent advice about how to start writing as a career or as a hobby. If you are at all interested in this topic, I recommend reading the article.

And here are links to a couple of posts I’ve written on the topic–some of the advice is the same as Mrs. Mermelstein’s, but there are other hints, as well.

http://klempnerkids.blogspot.com/2011/03/how-do-you-do-it.html

http://klempnerkids.blogspot.com/2011/03/how-do-you-do-it-part-2.html

On a totally different topic, I have to tell you that the cloud has now officially saved my -ahem!- tush. My computer died on Thanksgiving day, resulting in a second replacement of its hard drive. Aside from the back up drive that supposedly saves all our updated files every two weeks, I’ve been relying on the cloud to preserve all my new documents daily. The result–my computer flaked, but I still have my novel, with up-to-date copies of my revision-in-progress. I HIGHLY recommend that all serious writers maintain multiple backups of all files (hard copies, stored in cloud, exterior drive, etc.).

Wiggleroom?

beccakinla blogs, books, children, children's books, clean, eric kimmel, esther, homeshuling, Judaism, midrash, movie, purim, young abraham, young avraham Leave a comment

About six months ago, my sister sent me the link to an interview with Eric Kimmel, the acclaimed children’s author. The popular blogger at Homeshuling chatted with Mr. Kimmel about his retelling of the Purim story, which came out early this past spring.

(Before I go any further, I want to make clear that I’m actually a big fan of Mr. Kimmel despite what follows. I assure you that many of his books are perfectly appropriate for Jewish families, and urge you to purchase them or borrow them from the library.)

One of the central themes of the interview is whether it’s okay to alter the details of a story from the Tanach (Hebrew Bible) or a folktale. Mr. Kimmel feels that “You cannot be absolutely tied to the text or you are going to tie yourself into knots.” 

Read more: http://blog.beliefnet.com/homeshuling/2011/03/an-interview-with-eric-kimmel.html#ixzz1eagiZr1n
He continues later,

I’m writing modern midrash. Because midrash continues to the present day. We are constantly reinterpreting and reinventing these stories. They are not locked in stone. I want children to learn that the stories of the Torah are great stories – they stand with the best of them – Anderson and Grimm – and it all comes down to the story.

 

Recently, my family purchased the animated movie, Young Abraham. This film incorporates many elements of midrash, dropping certain details and streamlining or fictionalizing others. I was a little uncomfortable with the tampering with tradition, but the overall message is the same as in the original midrashim and completely coincides with frumkeit so I don’t mind my children viewing it.

This is not the case with Mr. Kimmel’s The Story of Esther: A Purim Tale. The author plays fast and loose with the details of the original text, which is–after all–a sacred work from the Tanach. For example, he “glosses over” the deaths of Haman and his family. However, one of the central points of Book of Esther is that Esther and Mordechai are making a tikkun (correction) for the lack of follow-through King Saul demonstrated when he didn’t kill King Agag of the Amalekites despite HaShem’s instructions to do so. Additionally, it’s very important to a true understanding of the Book of Esther that Achashveirosh is a drunken slob and that Esther doesn’t really want to be married to him. Mr. Kimmel changes that detail, too.

These are changes to essential details, and I wouldn’t want to read this book to my children.

Similarly, in Even Higher, a retelling of the famous I.L. Peretz story about the Rabbi of Nemerov, Mr. Kimmel wanted to give a little context to the story. However, the information he interjects to explain the battles between the misnagdim and the chassidim is incorrect. His mishandling of the chassidus vs. misnaged battles of the 18th and 19th centuries actually makes the subject more murky, not less (and is probably not age-appropriate anyway).

In the same story, Mr. Kimmel shows the Rebbe livening up an old lady by dancing with her. It is highly unlikely a Chassidishe rebbe would dance with a woman, and it sends a message that you can just ditch halachah (in this case, the rules against negiah) if your intentions are okay.


I think that perhaps there is a little “wiggleroom” when you teach children (and writing a picture book is essentially teaching)–but you have to respect the original message and not misrepresent authentic Judaism in the retelling. For this reason, my husband and I generally screen even Jewish books before they enter our home.

What’s your opinion?

A trip into the Uncanny Valley

beccakinla graphic literature, movie, new, reviews, sci-fi, trailer, uncanny valley, Uncategorized 1 Comment

My kids love Tintin comics by Herge, so I was unable to suppress my desire to watch the trailer of the new Tintin film (despite the fact I haven’t gone to the movies in nearly eight years). If you’re interested it’s here:

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/05/17/tintin-adventures-trailer-spielberg/

What surprised me is that the animation in Tintin seemed to me to fall into what is called the Uncanny Valley.
The Uncanny Valley refers to the widespread belief that when computer graphics, robots, or other representations of people look and act almost, but not quite, like the real thing, people are creeped out. Apparently some genuine research has been done in this area, and many experts in CGI and robotics try hard to avoid stumbling into the Uncanny Valley in order to avoid turning off potential viewers. 
 
As technology advances, this becomes more and more difficult. Just when does the image flip from being disgusting and become convincing? And how are we supposed to respond to such simulacra? 

[Indeed, this is a favorite theme in science fiction. For example, both the classic book I, Robot by Asimov and the Ridley Scott movie Blade Runner (based on Phillip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep) directly address this conundrum. In one fictional world, androids are prohibited from having a convincing human appearance altogether; in the other, such robots exist, but are forbidden from living on Earth.]

Now let’s get back to the new Tintin adaptation. I watched the trailer (and I should repeat that I actually don’t watch movies in theaters and rarely at home unless Jewish), and I immediately responded—Ugh! 

I’m not sure why the producers opted for an image capture CGI as opposed to live action (there actually are already animated adaptations of the Tintin comics, so I’m not so shocked that they opted out of another animated version), but I had a visceral reaction against what I saw. I’m wondering if other viewers will have similar reactions. With more and more exposure to video game graphics and the like, maybe the Uncanny Valley will lose it’s effect on people who see a lot of CGI.