The Great Diminution Continues

Must trim 137,000-word novel to 115,000 words.

7/31 129,947 words

[interval of insomnia, hives, other work, in which a mere 10 words were shaved off the ms., oh, the shame]

8/17 129,937 words
8/18 128,986
8/19 128,538
8/20 127,198
8/25 126,634
9/1 125,743

9/23 126,092 (going a bit backwards here)

9/24 125,847 (that's better)

Goal: 115,00 words

Clay Feet

Slavoj Zizek's recent Guardian interview reminds me of what I liked least about grad school.

Q: What do you consider your greatest achievement?
A: The chapters where I develop what I think is a good interpretation of Hegel.

Shoot me now.

Ken Lee, Two Chinese Characters, Kiki and Bubu

The Internets coughed up three fab things recently:

First: Bulgarian Idol contestant Valentina Hazan sings with her heart, adding a whole new dimension to whatever the hell we are talking about, when we talk about love.

In the process, she spawns the dance hit of the summer, inspires a raft ofYoutube imitators, and even Mariah Carey responds by saying the right thing.

Ken lee, tulibu dibu doutchu...

Then, just in time for the Olympics, Two Chinese Characters teach you how to say "Beijing," and to cheer on your team in Chinese.

And, finally, there's Kiki and Bubu, the world's only classical Marxist sock-puppets. In a series of videos, they take on the contradictions of the "new" economy, explore surveillance as a bourgeois privilege by means of a reading of Orwell's 1984, and deconstruct copyright and identity while helping their friend, the Online Porn Monster, avert a psychological crisis when he is accused of being a plagiarism. ("Want to be .... SOMETHING ELSE ...")

Oh, okay. Just one more: An Engineer's Guide to Cats.