CHRIS ARVIDSON

words and art
 

Jan 18, 2011 8:34 AM EST

Erm, I'm worried (just a bit). What has happened in your life recently to bring about this cataclysmic reassessment?
On a more serious note - the rehabilitation of soap opera as a serious artistic form is way overdue. We live in an exponentially accelerated entertainment culture where most people's experience of anything other than their own lives is reduced to the crack cocaine-like reward hit of video gaming or skimming a few pages of a short story on the bus into work. (The latter being the 3 people left in our society who actually read fiction . . .). Soap opera offers complexity of plot, exploration of social issues, long-term development of character and continual dramatic & emotional engagement. All the stuff the novel was supposed to do in the 19th century in fact . . .
(Reasoned arguments against the above proposition very welcome, by the way).
So, I hope you're putting all that time to good use by revisiting Bleak House and Middlemarch and Return of the Native . . .

- Nick

Jan 18, 2011 9:30 AM EST

Holy crap, Nick. Now I understand my attraction to the soaps. It wasn't a guilty pleasure, but rather a high-minded recognition of dwindling entertainment attributes. Shit. Well, it is true that I have replaced the time I would normally spend watching these shows with reading...albeit not the classics you mention!

- Chris Arvidson

Jan 20, 2011 5:46 AM EST

Glad you're "taking the cure," painful though it may be. May I suggest substituting different addictions. I'm struggling to break a powerul Sudoku habit with knitting.
Television-wise, I highly recommend crime, especially murder. Forensic shows have a lot to offer: thoughtful searching for truth, patience, dogged determination, and reserving judgment until all the facts are in. They're presented in soothing, matter-of-fact voices, utterly lacking in hysteria. Families of victims speak with genuine emotion. Other than the lightning speed of DNA results, they're very real.
There's an element of fantasy, too. In the end, everybody gets justice, better than the average soporific for getting a good night's sleep.

- Mary Olive

Nov 30, 2010 7:41 AM EST

not much for funerals, either, Chris, but you write so well of the other "stuff" that is left after a person's life ends. Enjoyed, not because of the death, but enjoyed your detailing.

- Stephanie Gooch Millis

Nov 30, 2010 11:50 AM EST

Thanks, Steph. Appreciate your good words!

- Chris Arvidson

Oct 19, 2010 4:50 PM EDT

Good Luck!!!!!

- Susan

Oct 20, 2010 8:27 AM EDT

Chris - good luck. This sounds like a sensible & productive way of going about getting it in front of someone actually capable of taking a decision (always an appallingly hit-and-miss thing in this busness for some reason . . .

- Nick

Oct 25, 2010 4:06 PM EDT

Chris, I'm so glad to read about your "writingness" and your excitement about the conferences. It's a refreshing thing to read, especially for an old-timer who sometimes forget what a gift he's been given (that sounds conceited, but you know what I mean). "Keep up the work, whether it's good or not" is a rule I learned a long time ago, and gladly pass it along. Another one, if I may be so bold (as the creepy waiter said to Jack N. in "The Shining"), is to take what you think you need from a critique and to heck with the rest. Many times critiques are a mixed bag: some excellent advice, combined with dumb-as-hell incomprehension. Don't let it get to you, it's the same for everyone. No critic or manuscript guru or what-have-you can ever really get inside you to know which parts of a text you feel especially attached to. In other words, if the guru misses something in your text that's obvious to you, or misunderstands something you meant to say, it's not his/her fault, as they are not you. But don't ditch the whole page, or idea, or joke, or whatever just because they didn't get it. Just re-write it in different ways until you're pretty sure your point is clear. Hey, I ought to be getting paid for this!

- Lil Johnny Grooms

Oct 25, 2010 4:12 PM EDT

Lil Johnny, thanks for the wise words. After all, some of my doing this is all your fault anyway for giving me a chance way back in the olden days!

- Chris Arvidson

Oct 28, 2010 1:51 PM EDT

I'm so proud of you Chris! I just sent a little something off myself...and it is scary...especially when you don't hear back from the immediately (ah, perspective). I'll keep my fingers crossed.

- Nicole

Dec 20, 2010 3:31 PM EST

That's great! You have been writing. I hope it goes well in Charlotte.

- Lynda

Mar 31, 2011 5:53 PM EDT

How exciting! I love the title and relate so well to the subject, seems so prevalent they should leap at the chance to publish it. I hope you get an advance. I've been published and have self-published. If at all possible the former is better.

- Emily Weinstein

Sep 22, 2010 8:29 PM EDT

So many books, so little time!
Nice logo of book spines.
Enjoy!

- Neev

Jul 28, 2010 8:59 PM EDT

Chris, Great video of Day 5. Liked the banjo music and the water droplet fade in/out. Thanks for sharing the New River here. Enjoy!

- Neeva

Jul 29, 2010 2:44 AM EDT

Thanks, Neev! I am going to try and record some original music for the Expedition with Henry -- ha ha like I don't have anything else to do! I will let you know.

- Chris Arvidson