I've read 10 pages in the last 2+ months, but I only have 90 pages or so to go and I want to see how it ends.

I have 368 to go. It's so hard to get motivated when there's no end in sight.

During finals week (probably bad timing) I pulled 75+ pages 4 days in a row and managed 100+ one of those days, but that was reading from like 4-8 in the afternoon and then 11-1 at night.

Believe it or not, the Cliff Notes on ULYSSES are very helpful. It's also about 100 pages long, but it helps one find interesting bits in seemingly dull sections. It might be available on-line. Of course, there are 10,000 different resources for ULYSSES, but the Cliff Notes are nice and compact and well-written.

I just read The Stranger. One of my friends said she didn't like it (and provided no reasoning, she never does, it's annoying) and another said she didn't like it because it was anti-religious or some thing. She said existentialism was stupid if you don't believe in God. I'm not sure how I feel about what she said.

At any rate, I enjoyed it. It was particularly enthralling, but I liked it.

"existentialism was stupid if you don't believe in God."

Boy is that a confusing statement

you just dont wanna admit your friend said some stupid shit. you're a good friend. i'm usually the opposite.

Hahaha, I told her she was full of shit when she said she saw someones hand grow back in 5 minutes. God's work, naturally.

ha ha-- naturally!

Upon first reading "The Myth of Sisyphus" in my late teens I immediately set to work on and wrote a Kierkegaard-infused essay that made Camus look rather foolish and embittered.

Your female friend knows more than you do at the present time. Deal with it.

naked lunch.

How? What? The notion of not believing in God is predicated on the idea of a God that [may] exist. Simple, surely? How can you dis-believe something if the something isn't a concept you're familiar with?

Re-reading some Lester Bangs collections again. His "eulogy" to Sid Vicious is both sadly moving and scathingly angry.

I'm with Rob. First off, the mixed tenses--was and don't. Huh? When are you talking about. Second, stupid is awfully vague. Finally, why is/was it stupid if you don't believe in God? It seems to make more sense if you don't believe in God.

What are you on, boy?

existentialism posts that individuals create and assign any and all meaning to their lives and the world around them, instead of a deity or a religious belief system doing it.

that makes mad sense whether or not you believe in any gods.

the line I quoted above, besides being horrendous grammar, is stupid and nonsensical.

existentialism IS stupid if you do believe in a god/gods, It makes perfect sense if you do NOT.

exactly.

Man, Glice, you can come up with some head scratchers.

Books i will be reading/re-reading this summer

Miss Wyoming
Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee
Middlesex
Less Than Zero
Life After God
Hotel California

ooo, I hate Less than Zero.

I never got around to Bury My Heart.

I don't know the rest.

I am currently reading

THE MIND IN THE CAVE: Consciousness and the Origins of Art



and

CHAUVET CAVE: The Art Of Earliest Times



I have been reading a lot lately about cave paintings and the cave systems that they are found in. I would love to see some of these in person.

what i think the child meant (if i read that sentence correctly) is that

1. if you do not believe in the existence of gods, you have multiple options
and
1a. some of those options are stupid, some are non-stupid

additionally:

2. existentialism is one of those options,
and
2a. existentialism belongs to the stupid category.

this seems nonsensical to most us mortals, who think some of these existentialist bitches were pretty clever. but maybe alex's friend is the cleverest of them all.

now alex-- to probe whether your friend is idiot or savant, ask her to name and describe non-stupid options for unbelievers ("convert to jesus" doesn't count).