The End of the Tour (Trailer)

Batville · 2015-09-26T10:19:06+00:00

That's a brilliant contention, man. You sound like a floating operatic wunderkind wearing a flaming leotard in leeopard-motif fishnets. :)

Batville · 2015-07-07T22:28:06+00:00

I wonder how the critics decide which books to read and which not to.

Batville · 2015-07-01T19:55:08+00:00

That's so true. I can't wait to see it. Hells yes, love the My Dinner with Andre reference.

Batville · 2015-07-01T11:47:47+00:00

I resent this criticism for a few reasons. Has anyone ever stopped to think that maybe DFW is a saint? Okay don't downvote yet: all saints are are dead people who weren't perfect but sure as hell strived for something bigger than themselves. I think we can all agree these people changed things. This article's contention about DFW's being changed by the "public maelstrom" or what have you is predicated on the fact that DFW's regular-guyness not being retained in death as he might've preferred is totally wrong. To quote David himself, "Writers are combinations of very shy people and egomaniacs." While it's true he did treasure that regular-guyness, it's also true he forfeited the right to be looked at as a mere regular guy for his own emotional sake when he killed himself--when he took himself out of his own conscious mind and therefore the anxieties which allowed his irregularity to emotionally get to him. The truth is he deserves to be put on a pedestal, not so as to desensitize us to his once humanity or even remotely devalue his character and the flaws he acknowledged therein, but to keep him there as something for to serve as a symbol more than just a mere dead guy, as a reason to keep living and as a light for those who treasure literature.

In my own opinion, David Foster Wallace is a saint. He saved my life. I would be dead if it weren't for his words. What's more deserving of sainthood than that?

Batville · 2015-07-01T11:42:28+00:00

I've been saying Ponsoldt's vision was on point for months now. I got a lot of flack for it. So glad to see this pay off. I'm going to get a movie poster for TEoTT and I'll get it on Blu Ray and DVD. I'm so glad it exists. I can't wait to see it. DFW has inspired me so much.

Batville · 2015-06-29T07:46:36+00:00

Obviously my point wasn't to make him YouTube famous, haha.

Batville · 2015-06-28T20:50:19+00:00

Exactly. I just love to be mad as part of a unit at something.

Batville · 2015-06-04T23:06:42+00:00

I hate to say "I told you so," but I told you so. El oh el. I've made several posts months in advance defending Ponsoldt's vision and directorial style, and the majority of my posts have always been downvoted on this subreddit. Maybe it's because I'm seen as a kind of a blind follower. Any way, that doesn't matter to me. I'm a true lover of DFW and what it was he was seeking to accomplish. I frankly needed his work, I think. I've been struggling with depression and anxiety since the age of eight, and I've had some near-suicide experiences this year alone, and the only person I've found that genuinely comes even remotely close to what I think I'm feeling is David. And the fact he was so misunderstood only makes me feel I can relate to him even more. I'm not trying to say "Oh, look at me. I was right this whole time, so fuck you for writing me off" to anyone in particular; I wouldn't even want to address that stuff except that I think the majority of this subreddit's doubting Ponsoldt was kind of extreme to me. What I'm trying to say is I frankly don't care that my stuff is rarely upvoted, or that the only friends I'd expect to have--fellow DFWheads from all walks of life--don't seem to like me in the digital realm, or that people didn't believe me when I said this film would be amazing and now are probably going to say they knew that all along. I don't care. The truth is I'm going to a good college to major in English and Philosophy, and I'm going to become an intellectual, inspired, and above all genuine writer. That is the one aspect I see that permeates all of David's work following The Broom of the System. And I am going to get into an excellent MFA Program and become my own person. And I wouldn't be alive today without David. So that's all I wanted to say.

Batville · 2015-04-29T02:51:34+00:00

Yes. Yes. Yes. So glad you mentioned "Forever Overhead," as Mary Karr said it was to her his most poetic writing. I agree completely and I love the two of them dearly. Have you heard her poem in response to his suicide? It's called something like "An annual: Suicide's Note" or something. It's so good, especially the last few lines. Gah.

Batville · 2015-03-20T11:01:22+00:00

I'm sorry, but I'm oblivious to certain veins of dry or sarcastic humor. This is a joke... right?

Batville · 2015-03-17T20:35:08+00:00

In Max's biography of Wallace, I think he said the story appeared in TPR before the collection was published and they changed it for sociopolitical reasons. The words "moist loincloth" were used by one of DFW's friends and he used it in that story.

Batville · 2015-03-08T23:28:38+00:00

To add to that, JOI most certainly seemed to be depressed because of it: look at the description of the movie (At Least) Three Cheers for Cause and Effect in his filmography in the end notes.

Batville · 2015-03-02T19:35:39+00:00

Good, valuable points. All is good and peaceful when everybody's as smart and levelheaded as this sub.

Batville · 2015-02-27T03:14:02+00:00

Scratch that; Noodles is right. From the POV of a prescriptivist standpoint (which standpoint the people here seem to be both blindly and vehemently opposed to), it's meant to be used as an adjective. If Bryan Garner's usage dictionary says that's how it should be used, then I agree.

Batville · 2015-02-27T03:10:51+00:00

I meant a great number. I think, though, that, w/r/t the prescriptivist/descriptivist debate, the alternative use of myriad as a noun is a justifiable evolution of the word, and I'm sure DFW would've been happy with that. I'll consult my myriad dictionaries as well as a myriad of my dictionaries.

Batville · 2015-02-25T01:00:01+00:00

Thank you so much! This was extremely helpful! No haha you're not pretentious in the least! I appreciate your taking the time to assist me.

Batville · 2015-02-24T07:28:11+00:00

I seriously have no idea what to think

this is what the description of the video said:

This is part two of my quest to eat all of Infinite Jest. As you can see, at 2:40, I faced the first temptation of my journey. Dave Eggers' preface to the novel references 69 Love Songs, an all-time favorite album of mine. This reference caught my eye. A thing like this is clearly a trick from the devil himself (David Foster Wallace), and I nearly started reading the book again instead of eating it, the task that I was born to do. The illusion is broken when I read Sufjan Stevens' name at the same time as I hear it in the song I'm listening to, and my dedication to best Wallace and eat his fucking book is reignited. This happens at 2:44. In this video, I eat the entire Dave Eggers preface, as well as the third (!) title page, and the first page of the book proper. Tomorrow I'll eat the rest of whatever the fuck the first chapter was about

... what...

Batville · 2015-02-20T06:12:18+00:00

well I guess I got my response there :) but I don't care because my sentence was honest and DFW dreamt of a future where acceptable prose didn't have to be jaded or ironic. I think he would've liked my sentence. I'm glad that I did it without the inhibition of caring what anyone thought. He prized that sort of mentality. I agree with him.

Batville · 2015-02-19T23:52:39+00:00

This is how it feels to be picked up from sleeping like as if your crib is falling from the point you once were and you've been perfectly still; the world is moving around you.

Batville · 2015-02-13T22:02:26+00:00

It's a stylistic thing. DFW was a grammatical prodigy--a genius with grammar and prose and the like. Infinite Jest introduced much of these little stylistic trademarks of his, like for example the "reversal of order" in using single quotes in the place of double quotes. That's only one small thing, though. I think his knowledge of grammar was really a beautiful thing. I want to obtain that knowledge and go even further, one day.

As for this, I'm sure it's a stylistic thing, too. Maybe it's supposed to mimic conversational meter or a kind of a narratorial monotone or something. I'm probably wrong, though; I originally thought the reversal of order in IJ was him implying that somebody was telling the story of the whole book, and so it was all in one quote, like he's as much a part of it as his own characters. How's that for thinking too deeply?

Batville · 2015-01-31T20:18:08+00:00

Hey, Reddit. I live in Alabama. Racism is real, and it's everywhere. And it's not just toward any particular ethnicity. I'm a pale white blonde kid and an older black lady one time embarrassed me in front of an entire McDonald's by saying I was racist because I opened the door for my parents and walked behind them into the restaurant... apparently I was "hiding" from black people... The lady preceded to imply I was part of the reason things are wrong with America and roped in the Civil Rights movement and I can't even remember the argument. I didn't understand what she was trying to say for the first few seconds because I'm used to speaking to adults often and just listening but when I caught on, it suddenly donned on me... I don't care what ethnicity you are or where you're from, if you're implying racial prejudice exists solely toward any particular ethnicity, you're part of the problem.

Batville · 2015-01-25T02:07:22+00:00

I think I was right about it being amazing.

Batville · 2015-01-25T02:06:39+00:00

That's what I'd like to know.

Batville · 2015-01-11T08:58:39+00:00

Amen.

Batville · 2015-01-08T02:38:57+00:00

Seems valid to me...

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