Monday, August 08, 2005

High Fidelity

The rest of the weekend went well enough for me, and by that, I mean I didn't have to go back to the office anymore. I spent most of my Sunday nursing a slight fever, sleeping, reading, and still listening to Belle and Sebastian.

The only break was dinner, where I got to listen to my brother Osep tell the whole family about his UPCAT experience earlier that morning. Hard to believe he's already about to enter college. I know Frank remembers him as that little baby my mom tagged along during high school freshman dorm open house, when Frank was my roommate. That was some 11 years ago.

I did finally finish Written on the Body, and it really pissed me off. I am angry at Jeanette Winterson's conceit, stringing together a bunch of flowery words to tell a crap story, and then passing it off as a novel. I guess it's good for Winterson fans, but I liked her much better when she said, "Trust me, I'm telling you stories." She barely did on this one.

While I was in the middle of grappling with Body, I actually found time to re-read High Fidelity. I always thought About a Boy was a better-written, funnier, and more complete novel, and it certainly helped that it actually had a plot.

But I always was able to relate better to High Fidelity, and after re-reading it, I still do. It's not just the music ("Top 5 Elvis Costello songs") and the pop culture references ("Top 5 episodes of 'Cheers'") and the wry humour, although those things certainly make the book such a fantastic read.

What sets the book apart, really, is its honesty. It's been described as a man's confessional, and that's the perfect word for it. Hornby paints a picture of a regular guy and it's not exactly pretty: at different moments he is shallow, insecure, self-absorbed, petty, stubborn, cowardly, and well, he's a bit of a bastard. And despite all that, I could totally relate to what he's going through, and why he acts that way, because I can be shallow, insecure, self-absorbed, petty, stubborn, cowardly, and well, I can a bit of a bastard myself. And no, he's not a bad person, and neither am I.

I know why it drives Rob crazy when his ex-girlfriend hooks up with a guy who's into new age shit and bad music, and why he'd want to date a musician just so he could have his picture on one of her future albums, and why he gets that sick need to run away every few months or so just when everything around him settles down.

It's a brave effort, and the end result is an accurate map of the male psyche. I remember once, thinking, as a joke, that maybe I'd just make the next girl I go out with read a copy of the book, just so she could understand me better. Maybe I would. That way, just like Rob with his records, the book could do all the honesty and self-expression for me.

A while back, when Dick and Barry and I agreed that what really matters is what you like, not what you are like, Barry proposed the idea of a questionnaire for prospective partners, a two- or three-page multiple-choice document that covered all the music/film/TV/book bases. It was intended a) to dispense with awkward conversation, and b) to prevent a chap from leaping into bed with someone who might, at a later date, turn out to have every Julio Iglesias record ever made. It amused us at the time, although Barry, being Barry, went one stage further: he compiled the questionnaire and presented it to some poor woman he was interested in, and she hit him with it. But there was an important and essential truth contained in the idea, and the truth was that these things matter, and it’s no good pretending that any relationship has a future if your record collections disagree violently, or if your favorite films wouldn’t even speak to each other if they met at a party.

Labels:

Comments:

Hmm.. I really should expand my book reading horizons.

Maybe Hornby would be a good start...though my brother has a copy of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genious lying around somewhere.

A few more days of doing absolutely nothing during the night shift ought to force me to read it, hehe.

 

hornby's a really, really good start... i bet you'd take to it the same way you took to 'sideways'. i could lend you the books the next time we see each other :D

 

"and it’s no good pretending that any relationship has a future if your record collections disagree violently..."

how very true. i think i've posted something like this on my blog. (am too lazy to look... hehe.)

 

Post a Comment<< Home



ultraelectromagneticblog!
 

Weekly Top Artists - Powered by Last.FM


Subscribe to this blog

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Powered by Blogger

Listed on BlogShares

Pisay 98 Blog
Pisay 98 Website
Pisay 98 Message Boards

Bookish Bimbo
Brooding Pit
cartwheels seven times around the oval
The Ergonomic Quotient
Fire Light Song
For the Mail!
Garden Fresh
I'm ur pAL!!!
the jembunao experience
life, the universe, and everything
The Mighty Dacs
Pro Gamer to Programmer
Purple World
Riverwind
The Raven and the Stormcrow
The sad success story of the corporate slave
Sakura Mind Speaks
Si Yayan, Si Michel at ang Diwata
Sixteenth Floor
Verbal Diarrhea
The Wandering Geek
Whatever You
The Unbearable Lightness of Being Me

502 Bad Gateway
Across the Green Plains
ako? ako. ako. lagi na lang ako...
Anime West
The Buckfutter Blog
Contrast Medium
Locoflip's Xanga Site
Gaming Nookie
getting by...
Just The Type 2 Have 1
life of a kkmonster
karloCastertroy
the keep
Lock and Load
Memories From Dinner Last Night
Mic Olivares' Blog
Morning Has Broken
Paradiddles
Princess Toni's Enchanted Forest
Random Thoughts
So Lovely
Think, Pats! Think!!

Recent Posts

Wrapped up in books
On a much happier note...
Ack
Last night
Raul Roco
Mababaw, pero tawa ako nang tawa kanina dahil dito
Nung isang beses...
Greatest Games
She and I
More books

The story so far

September 2004
October 2004
November 2004
December 2004
January 2005
February 2005
March 2005
April 2005
May 2005
June 2005
July 2005
August 2005
September 2005
October 2005
November 2005
December 2005
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
February 2009
March 2009
April 2009
May 2009
June 2009
July 2009
August 2009
September 2009

www.flickr.com
This is a Flickr badge showing public photos from jtordecilla. Make your own badge here.


Home
Instant Pancit Canton
The Prose Portal
Email

A Dose Of Cynicism
Adventures in TV Land
Delusions of Grandeur
first draft
Freedom Sessions
Karmic Backstab
Indulgence
Perpetual Paranoia
Project Manila
Sky of Words
Small Furry Alien
telenobela
TravelKage
walanjo ka daril!


100 tears away
55 Words (and more)
Astig-Mama-Tism
Blogging from the UAE
Car Driver
Chaos Theory
Ederic @ Cyberspace
flatride.com
frances.effronte.org
Howie Severino's Sidetrip
The Life of an Earthbound Angel
Manuel L. Quezon III
Mimi and Karl Wedding Photography
moodswings
na(g)wawala
The New Online Confessions
nitpicky.org
No White Flag
Out of Bed
Pinay by the Bay
Rebel Pixel Productions
sablay.org
the silpur life
the sky sweetheart
Some Kind of Wonderful
Tapuy Moments
thinking about tomorrow
The Year of the Dog Woman
Weapon of Choice

Binibini
Clang-Fu
Four-point Play
The Histrionics of a Balding Drama King
i came, i saw, i blogged
intelektwal interkors
The Jason Journals
Mental Foreplay
Orange Pocket
Paiwinklebloo
Paperbag Writer
Peyups.com
Renaissance Girl
Seasonal Plume

avalon.ph
Bill Simmons
Dave Barry
Digg
Everything
Get Firefox!
Guardian Books
HoopsHype
I, Cringley
IMDB
Inside Hoops
Joel on Software
KDE-Look
Lawrence Lessig
Mark Cuban
Newsforge
Pop Matters
Reddit
Richard M. Stallman
Roger Ebert
Salon.com
Slam! Links
Slashdot
The Onion
The Onion AV Club
Wikipedia
Wil Wheaton