~~art, death, philosophy. thank god my mom's here to make me think of all the basic things ^^;

first things first (hah, i wonder what this is saying about my priorities...).
marysiak has updated `circles of influence', vanityfair hath posted a luw13 cookie, and the loffly amalin hath gratified zillions of over-angstified fangirls (ie, me), by writing an alternate happy ending (exclusively for `armchair slash' mailing list angst month, but *cackles evilly* i have to spread the happy angst, don't i-- of course i do..! ha!) for `two lost souls'. hee~! *rejoices* i can read it now..!! *glomps amalin and professes undying (hee!) adoration (again!)* hee~! yeay! :D *goofy grin*
    you're the bestest :D

vain_glory drew beautacious fanart for ivyblossom's `blue vase'-- but-- but..! she also has a whole loffly amazing gallery with gorgeous multi-fandom manga-style watercolor & b&w fanart. her `let lazing dragons lie'!draco has always appealed to me (and actually is a print-out on my wall, hee). her style is beautiful and melancholy and delicate and her coloring is subtle and yet very expressive-- my favorite kind~:) i love this elf pic... and actually, all of her work. so like-- go appreciate her :D
    and, vignette00 has decided to grace us with a new ficlet, yeay :D *scurries off to read*
~~

i'm happy & bouncy now. *sigh* damn happy!art rush.
    was going to write about my mother's assertion that all good writers are philosophers, and that to write well you need to think and analyze the human condition (thus, psychology joins philosophy in `required aptitude' for good writing) and being "good at manipulating words" doesn't cut it, so to speak. i was trying to say she was underestimating the role of "pure art"-- or at least subconscious understanding-- in writing, but she said, subconscious or not, all that matters is that you understand.

i haven't noticed a majority of obvious philosophizing among the brilliant (fanfic) writers i read the journals of, -that- much, not equivalent to the brilliance of their fictional works. i mean, yes, i can tell thinking's going on, but-- if i didn't know they wrote, i wouldn't be able to predict. i don't know if that's required in the "you must be a philosopher" condition, but it's an interesting observation (to me) nonetheless. i've always wondered about it-- the interplay between your writer's self and your everyday self that people mostly display in their journal writing. a lot of journalists (historically) have been philosophical and deconstructive and as readable as fiction, but that seems a slightly separate gift, it seems.

i dunno. i think some of us are analytical, some of us aren't. and i guess the ones that aren't, you could cover under the "they just know" clause. do we (as writers, artists, etc.) know things "normal people" don't? it's nice to think we do. you could obviously make a case for say, shakespeare (who my mother kept bringing up) & tolstoy & keats & kafka & davinci so on, being philosophers, analysts of the human condition. i suppose i am. *sigh* i dunno if it's worth separating the two enough to make it a requirement. i mean, in a way-- whatever you write is automatically some sort of statement about the human condition, if you're not just plain dumb. "stringing words together"-- can good writing even do that? i mean, if you string words well, they automatically mean something. words are funny like that. that's the cute thing about language-- it can't help but imply things, even if you didn't -mean- to have it imply things. modern lit critics have a field-day with this, obviously. *sigh* oh well, no big revelations today, apparently.
~~

am disturbed by the death of richard harris (dumbledore), as much as anyone else, btw. but. am somewhat defensive about death. have had "bad experiences" with death, am likely to wax bitter and philosophical and existentially depressive about it. especially as with dancingrain's post....

``want death to be undoable-- who doesn't?
i've had it beaten and forced into my head at an early age that it isn't.
it can't be. things go away. i told my mother today that `i'm all about the memories' and she's like, `you're too young'.

and yeah, i guess i'm too young. and i guess i would be. i should be. but i'm not. it's not age after all. the minute you realize things go away, no matter how much you love them-- you can be seven-- or ten-- or eighteen-- that's it, there's no going back, there's no regaining that innocence. you realize memories are all you really have."