false 1531739 male The United States 09/2008 12/2009 18 346 340 true 5702358 read 1 true 3389132 currently-reading 5 true 3389131 to-read 66 false 3408208 plain-ol-fantasy 44 false 3426309 funny 35 false 3426250 sci-fi 25 false 3403291 urban-fantasy 16 false 3426236 non-fiction 13 false 3426315 for-kids-too 12 false 3426285 short-stories 11 false 3426276 graphic-novel 11 false 3426259 spooky 4 false 3426359 how-to-do-stuff 2 false 3426358 mystery http://www.goodreads.com/trivia http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1231450247p2/1531739.jpg 1531739 Mark http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1231450247p2/1531739.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1531739-mark Tue, 08 Sep 2009 13:23:22 -0700 http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/66651806 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170953796s/78508.jpg 1531739 Mark http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1231450247p2/1531739.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1531739-mark Thu, 13 Aug 2009 22:27:33 -0700
I shall now type the emoticon of sorrow:

:(

See what you've brought me to?]]> http://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/8929-there-are-many-places-in-this-vast-world-but-which-is-the-best-place-to http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1231450247p2/1531739.jpg 1531739 Mark http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1231450247p2/1531739.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1531739-mark Mon, 23 Feb 2009 11:28:48 -0800 http://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/9765-in-the-past-few-years-graphic-novels-have-started-to-receive-wider-reco http://photo.goodreads.com/polls/1234901502p2/9765.jpg 1531739 Mark http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1231450247p2/1531739.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1531739-mark Fri, 20 Feb 2009 13:02:14 -0800 Antoine, I totally get what you're saying. Comparing apples to oranges, writing to symphonies, novels to graphic novels... If you're not careful, it can quickly devolve into a bunch of rhetoric and sophist dialogues.

So what are we waiting for? ;P

I guess the heart of my question perhaps comes more into focus with your insightful remark of the comparison of books and symphonies. Both are ostensible art forms, and, by and large, the creators of both are trying to communicate something to their audiences; be it a story, or a concept, or even just a simple feeling.

I, myself, enjoy a bit of the old "classical" music, but compared to some of my friends, my appreciation for the form is severely limited. I just don't have the same understanding that they possess. Or, that's my take on it anyway. Some of my other friends just say that my inability to understand what the artist is trying to communicate lies in the fact that classical music is "stupid". To them, the lack of communication stems from the medium. Yet another person tells me that there's nothing to get from Sibelius, that he was just an old Finnish poo-head who didn't have one one-hundredth of the talent that, say, Mozart possessed. So, to them, the fault lies in the artist.

So, is beauty truth, and truth beauty? Or is beauty in the eye of the beholder? I know a lot of folks who hold sequential art in great disdain (inspiring my diatribe for option 6), so of course, to them, "graphic novels" could never hope to achieve the depth and wonder presented in a traditional novel. At the same time, I have friends who love them some comics, but still honestly contend that prose will always be able to kick sequential art's butt in a depth fight, just because that's prose's job.

I was tempted to throw my hat in with option three for a second or two just because the majority of truly moving stories that I've had shared with me were straight prose. But the absence of my experience with something does not disprove its existence, I suppose. I think I believe that all art can be equally efficacious at communication of emotion and idea, given the proper pairing of artist and audience.

I'm probably not making any sense.

But that's only because I haven't drawn out my ideas in a comic yet.
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1602-which-of-the-following-types-of-monster-stories-most-piques-your-interes http://photo.goodreads.com/polls/1223146674p2/1602.jpg 1531739 Mark http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1231450247p2/1531739.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1531739-mark Thu, 19 Feb 2009 14:37:54 -0800 Amanda, strapped to a table and forced against your will, you might become the man-made monster! Mwahahahahahaahah!

Okay, seriously, that was kinda dumb. Sorry.]]>