Category: Absurdity

Demon Mask

Posted on September 29, 2018September 29, 2018 By Mark Tiedemann

This last two weeks have been stunning in the extremes of experience and emotion. Between the unexpected trip to Los Angeles at the invitation of Susan Ellison to attend the memorial gathering for Harlan to the circus in congress to the second annual BookFest in the Central West End to a significant amount of personal matters, I have rarely had such a ride. Â I should write about these things in separate posts, but just now I lack the energy and the coherence of thought to deal with it.

So bear with me as I sort and shuffle.Â

Meanwhile, an image.…

In What?

Posted on April 26, 2018April 26, 2018 By Mark Tiedemann

I had no idea till yesterday this was a thing. The Toronto van killer apparently was a member of a supposedly oppressed group that wishes to declare open rebellion against—

Well, I’m not entirely sure, but I think I understand. They have adopted a cognomen, which took me by surprise, one because it has the sound of something clandestine, serious, a thing with heft and glamour. But when you discover what it actually stands for there is a moment of dismay and…really?

Incels.

The incel rebellion is upon us.

Involuntarily Celibate.

Take a moment. Or two. This has emerged from something else with a label I had not heard before (because I don’t, apparently, pay attention to the people or places where I would hear such things), the Manosphere.…

Picking Nits

Posted on March 7, 2018 By Mark Tiedemann

To some, this may sound petty, but others will know what I mean.

Back when I worked in photography, one of the things that separated the amateurs from the pros had to do with Finish. I did lab work most of my career, what was referred to as “finishing.” Now, at its most basic, this was simply processing the film and printing the pictures, but there was so much more to it than that simple description suggests. Because we weren’t just supposed to print someone’s photographs—we were supposed to make them lookÂ good.

And that required a lot of practice, more than a little experience, a bit of expertise, and, most importantly, what that idea meant.…

Left Here With No Comment

Posted on November 16, 2017 By Mark Tiedemann

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Annual Pose

Posted on October 14, 2017October 14, 2017 By Mark Tiedemann

Okay, so maybe this is going to be a thing. I think I put my vanity in a box and on a shelf because I don’t wish to be vain. I am, somewhat. I am saved from being an ass about it by being basically too lazy to really Â attend to it, at least to the extent of making myself an object of derision. But it’s there, I admit it.

Most of my vanity has to do with the interior. I want to be a certain kind of person. I wish people to see the kind of person I’m trying to be.…

Basic Mismanagement

Posted on September 3, 2017September 3, 2017 By Mark Tiedemann

One of the few lessons I learned in all the years I held even minor management positions is basic to human psychology. People are inconsistent, emotionally. Not that most circumstances will reveal that, but when you push something it comes out. This is fundamental and in order to navigate life beneficently you need to understand this. You also need to understand the process of what I call Issue Transition.Â That is, you begin with a situation that constitutes an Issue. Depending on how you respond, the next step often becomesÂ a completely separate issue.Â But because it stems from the initial issue, it can appear to be the same issue.…

Usual Suspects

Posted on August 18, 2017August 18, 2017 By Mark Tiedemann

Next year, it will have been 30 years since I attended Clarion, the science fiction and fantasy writers’ workshop, in East Lansing, on the campus of Michigan State. Â It has since moved to San Diego.

While there, I not only acquired–somehow–the requisite skills to write fiction, but also a cadre of lifelong friends with whom I share a bond that is unique. I can think of only one other instance where I made a friend so fast and so solidly. But I have several from this six week experience. Â Kelley Eskridge, Nicola Griffith, Brooks Caruthers, Andy Tisbert, Peg Kerr…others…and this guy.…

A Note On Personal Taste

Posted on August 11, 2017August 11, 2017 By Mark Tiedemann

I had a conversation yesterday with a coworker about music that ended up going into some places I didn’t like. We have theseÂ faux clashes from time to time, they’re always–always–done with great good humor and the self-awareness that we’re just, you know, funnin’. Â But this time I actually found myself getting a bit worked up.

It was about music. He took exception to my categorical dismissal of punk as essentially garbage. Fair enough. Superlatives are always wrong. Do I hate punk? Hate is a strong word. I loathe it. I find its self-justifications back in the day one with all anti-intellectual movements.…

The Absurdity of Unexamined Positions

Posted on August 7, 2017August 7, 2017 By Mark Tiedemann

Recently I had an exchange with someone over climate change. It was short and frustrating. The basis of the exchange was a report—recycled from 2007 and given a new lease on life because of the recent book and film—on Al Gore’s presumably exorbitant energy use in his home.Â Depending on which non-news site you chose, he either uses 34 times more than the average American or 21 times. Â The intent of the articles was to show Mr. Gore as a hypocrite, someone preaching the sermon but then balking at the walk.

It’s true, he lives large.Â He has a ten thousand square foot home, which is more than five times the size of the average American home, and that doesn’t include the grounds.Â …

How Doctor Who’s Sex Change Explains Everything

Posted on July 23, 2017July 23, 2017 By Mark Tiedemann

Heavy sigh.

Seriously? People are getting exercised over this? I suppose these will be some of the same people who will come out in angry revilement if the next James Bond really is a black man.

There’s a certain space wherein this kind of angst is perfectly acceptable.Â Private conversations with people who share the same interests and have Opinions about the condition of a favorite bit of entertainment and how it would be if certain changes were made.Â Three or four of you get together over beers (or floats, depending) and pizza and spend an hour or two reconstructing the wholeÂ Ã¦sthetic as you would have it.Â …