Too Much Beauty

I follow this blog called The Literary Lab - a blog dedicated to writing about writing. The other day, they posted an entry that I found very interesting, mostly because it reminded me of Two Captains (at least in part.)

"Too Much Beauty"

Not that Two Captains is an excellent example of literature contrasting light and darkness, but... We have gotten one or two reviews that bash us for being so gruesome at times. Now, we are the first ones to admit that we are not very nice to our characters, but I think that some level of pain is required for a character to truly grow. (As I've mentioned before, I am not particularly religious, but one phrase from the Bible comes to mind: "refined through fire." You know, the process where a person must face hardship to become, well, better?) And, as the article said, without the darkness, the light doesn't seem so special. The shadow proves the sunshine.


I'm being a little rambly today. I feel like my thoughts aren't completely coherent, and I apologize for that. I recently got over a nasty sinus infection, which had my brain scrambled, and then - guess what! - I came down with yet another cold yesterday. So far today I am feeling like an absolute cesspool of bacteria and disease, and I have been able to concentrate on little else. Forgive me.


In other news, I was afforded the opportunity to be a part of the Conan studio audience this past Monday. It was pretty cool - got to walk around the Warner Bros studio lot (was not allowed to take pics, though) and see the studios where they filmed Casablanca, Friends, and Oceans 11. Too bad I didn't get to see the Harry Potter set. (Do they even film in America? I'm not sure...)

But I was on TV for a split second. Check it out:

Look at the far right side of the picture, right next to the guy in the khakis who didn't quite make it into the shot. I'm the one in the gray shirt and black cardigan, with my sunglasses on my head.

WOOT! I'm a TV star! (Not.)

But it was still a really great, really fun experience.