Friday, February 10, 2012

"I'm thirty. I'm five years too old to lie to myself and call it honor."

I periodically experience bouts of wanting to "better" myself, and a curious byproduct of that is my infrequent desire to read classic literature.

The quote in the headline comes from The Great Gatsby, which I recently re-read for the first time since eleventh grade, just for the hell of it, and...a couple of things...

1.  I cannot imagine why seventeen-year-olds are required to read this book.  This book is way too old for seventeen-year-olds.  (I'm not convinced that I'm yet old enough for this book.)

2.  THIS IS AWESOME.  It was well worth the re-read just to appreciate the hilarity of the book being recreated in the style of an old school Nintendo game.


Too bad I can't seem to get past the first boss. 

(I'm pretty sure there's a deep and clarifying point in here about a ricocheting generational divide, reflecting on both the events of The Great Gatsby and the use of the original NES platform - as each, it could be argued, is equally outdated and timeless at this point - and how they have been combined here in a medium unseen at the time of either's inception...

But I believe that that particular thought process is above my reading level.  And that, my friends, is why I never could have cut it as an English major.  [Refer back to headline.])

11 comments:

  1. ahahahah my head is blank now that I read that post ... guess I will have to red again to understand the message/lesson you wanna give here O.O

    what a coincidence btw: I have the great gatsby here to read - first gotta finish "say you are one of them" tho

    Sasha

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  2. I'm not sure *I* understand what I wrote here! But it seemed kinda deep (maybe?). Or maybe it was all just bullshit. :) (And that could also be an accurate summation of what I felt about The Great Gatsby. :D)

    You'll have to let me know what you think once you've read it yourself!

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  3. With all of the hooplah around Dickens' 200th birthday, I feel the need to reread his stuff that I hated reading in high school! We'll see how it goes : )

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  4. Meg, GREAT MINDS and all that! I picked up Great Expectations just last night!

    But, caveat, I also put Great Expectations down last night after reading the first paragraph. This is not to say that I won't be reading it in the near future, but I decided an, er, easier read might be helpful before I jumped back into the classic literature...

    (Points for intention, though, right?) Let me know if you get further along than I did! :)

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  5. UPDATE: I made it past the first boss and...that was clearly the most difficult challenge of the (weirdly short) game, because I totally beat the entire thing. Good times...

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  6. I'm thinking about taking the easy way: great gatsby is currently shown in one of the theatres in my town ...

    *hmmm-puts-thinking-cap-on*

    Sasha

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  7. Is the version with Leonardo Dicaprio?? I'm very excited about that one! But I don't know when it comes out...I'm thinking not till later in the year, though...

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  8. Is *it* the version...

    #proofreading fail

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  9. ummm not theatres aka movies ... theatres like a stage with real people on it - is there any other word for americans???

    sorry for the dissappointment I caused (after you read this) O.O

    Sasha

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  10. AH, no problem!! My mistake! :D You mean a play. Yeah, we call both "theaters," but I see so many more movies than plays that I just assumed. And I should never assume! :)

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  11. I rarely go to "plays", too. I just saw the advertisement for it in the metro and thought: maybe that's the easier way to get thru it. As your reports from the reading sound to promising.

    Sasha

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