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Showing posts from May, 2016

The Real Reason I Can't Remember Names... Oh Shit! LOL.

The Psychopathology of Everyday Life by Sigmund Freud My rating: 2 of 5 stars Freud analyzes language, memory of names, and behaviors for signs of our repressed subconsciouses. He uses different anecdotes, describes the observation, and then uses his theory of the mind to explain how a forgotten name or a missed appointment derives from the darkest reaches of our minds. I have few problems with those origins actually. I believe in dark intent and repressed urges. The problem I have with the many anecdotes here is the constant flimsy reasoning seems entirely arbitrary. That being said, it is an important dawn of psychotherapy book and is important. It also is a book of its time and tells us a lot about people then and provides great background for those times. If you consider the time it's written it is nice to have a window of the mind - however distorted - to those historical characters. Still, it was often cumbersome, but ultimately I am happier with this than the Inter

The Importance of Great Dialog and Sharp Wit

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde My rating: 4 of 5 stars It's been years since I had read this or watched it performed, but I still remembered how crisp and clever was the dialog. After reading it again, I enjoyed it even more than the pleasant memory. This play is about two men, John and Algernon, who lead double lives. They are habitual liars, and their mainstay fib is a "Bunbury", an invented friend/relative who they use to avoid social obligations. This concept of double life, of course, reflects other aspects of Wilde's life that later lead to his downfall. This play was actually still on stage when Oscar Wilde prosecuted the Marquess of Queensbury for libel, which led to disclosures about his homosexual relationships, crimes punishable by imprisonment. The Importance of Being Earnest was Wilde's last dramatic work, and represents his top form. In the hands of Wilde the characters cut scalding paths through such topics as death, marriage