Tuesday, February 17, 2009

New Blog


After some consideration, I’ve decided to start another blog. The douchey-sounding Adventures in Intellectual Stupidity is intended to be a repository for essays, notes and commentary on history, politics, philosophy and any number of other interests running around in my head.

Here is my standard disclaimer: don’t expect a more ‘scholarly’ version of Adventures in Voluntary Simplicity. In fact, some of my regular readers may be put off by the dryness of the material or by an inherent lack of cohesion in how ideas and themes are presented.

But who gives a shit. Here’s the bottom line: now that I’m leaving law firm purgatory I am going to have a ton of time to devote to some of my long-standing interests, principally reading, writing, film and arts in general. As impossibly boring as it might sound, I can’t wait to be able to read an analysis of how Alexander the Great defeated the Persian empire without having to check my blackberry. Or to peruse an article dissecting the political underpinnings of the American Civil War (any John C. Calhoun fans out there?) without checking my voicemail. Or to watch a documentary on the Katyn massacre in Russia (did anyone see the film by Wajda?) without having to make it to bed before 11pm.

And isn’t that the meaning of freedom, my dear reader? To be able to pursue your interests unabated; to focus your senses on those things that truly touch your heart without any pretense or impediment?

For me, freedom is the opportunity to immerse myself in the waters of nerdy douchiness, even as I celebrate the added drinking, biking, traveling, and assorted womanizing I’m looking forward to in the years to come.

5 comments:

  1. My favorite part is not having to make it to bed before 11 PM...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Suggestions:
    Read-
    Thucydides: the Peloponnesian War
    Hitler's Willing Executioners/Ghost soldiers (either will do)
    Nietzsche: Birth of tragedy and/or Beyond good and evil
    Go to-
    Dollywood
    Mall of America
    See-
    Man on wire (shits & Giggles)
    Anything on history channel (HD)

    Bonne Chance!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Have you ever read "Guns in August?" (it's about the start of WWI)

    Also, check out the short films exhibit at the Hirshhorn.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dear Sir,

    I happened to chance on you blog(s) and love you apotheosis of nerdishness. Have been there, done that. Unclattering (the expression I found in B Globe for the fact you do not read blackberry/voicemail/do anything bad after every second long paragraph in a book you are reading, you simply focus on what you are just doing without virtual bi- or multi-location) is good for your brain and is a mark of character. You sharpen your focus, you do what you do, you are there. You do not switch, fickle, damage your brain pretending you keep up with the machine.

    I hope you focus and find serenity.

    You only need to know THIS IS (the details of Alexander's stratagem) what you are.

    Spoiled Russian nobility in the 19th century lived this lifestyle: supported by their estates, they stayed in German universities for a lifetime of study and pastime. They had their lusty female companions as you, sir, plan on doing. Yet, ultimately, they felt not fulfilled. They complained of boredom and worse, of missing purpose in their lives. At least what is said of Oblomov, the superfluous man.

    After spending years (and years) following your presumed course I got a little bored too (and immensely boring). You MUST cycle around America or similar to get the right kick out of the accumulated knowledge. If not you get buried in the bed of books. Oblomov did not leave his bed.

    In one of the film dialogues (I do not recollect if by Wajda, Tarkovski or Zanusi) Oblomov says: I know a lot about what Ashoka did in the 3rd century BC. But how does it concern myself?

    That is why I ask about whether this is [that and that stratagem /story/ shard of insight] what you are.

    Best of luck and more power to you

    Nehopsa

    ReplyDelete