Category Archives: Philosophy

BOOK: “How To Be The Best Improviser On Earth” by Will Hines

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How To Be The Greatest Improviser On EarthHow To Be The Greatest Improviser On Earth by Will Hines
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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This guide to performing improv comedy alternates chapters that explore various tenets of the art with chapters that present exercises to help one carry out said tenets in practice. So, it is both a philosophy of improv and a how-to manual. The tenets include: “be present,” “be changeable,” “be brave,” “be authentic,” and “be funny” — among others.

Being a neophyte to the subject, I knew nothing beyond the oft joked upon advice to always “Yes, and…” during a scene, a lesson intended to keep a scene moving and which also provides much material for wisecracks. This book doesn’t spend much time on that rule beyond discussing when one should break it, and how one can do so without bringing a scene to a halt. The key takeaways of the book were about pacing and the need for normality in contrast to the absurdity to make a scene funny. That is, one can’t just go to the whackiest place possible out of the gate and with all characters, instead it is the contrast between everyday conversation and the introduction of an absurd premise that makes a scene funny. As with the “straight man” of a comedic duo, one needs straight elements or characters.

I found this book to be informative. It’s a quick read and offers much food-for-thought that could benefit one offstage as well as on.

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PROMPT: Work / Life Balance

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How do you balance work and home life?

Live in the moment.

PROMPT: Leader / Follower

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Are you a leader or a follower?

That’s a tough one because I think most people who would describe themselves as followers have failed to write their story boldly enough. Yet, the majority of people who describe themselves as leaders are more full of hot-air than of the capacity to inspire others to action.

I’d say, overall, I’m neither a good follower nor a good leader, but in varied contexts – as necessary – I can pull off either.

I think it might just be a false dichotomy.

PROMPT: Improvement

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What’s one small improvement you can make in your life?

Realize you have no control of what happens in the world, but complete control of your perception of it.

PROMPT: Brands

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What are your favorite brands and why?

The ones that offer the best value for the money at a given time. I have no brand loyalty, and — in fact — find it to be an absurd concept. It’s corporate hacking of humanity’s proclivity for tribalism in service of profit-maximization.

PROMPT: Elections

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Do you vote in political elections?

Not as religiously as I did in my youth. Counter to the general trend of younger people hollering and protesting but not showing up to the polls, and thus not influencing change because politicians are cued into to the older crowd that tends to show up hell or high water.

“Beginning My Studies” by Walt Whitman [w/ Audio]

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Beginning my studies, the first step pleas'd me so much,
 The mere fact, consciousness -- these forms -- the power of motion,
 The least insect or animal -- the senses -- eyesight -- love;
 The first step, I say, aw'd me and pleas'd me so much,
 I have hardly gone, and hardly wish'd to go, any further,
 But stop and loiter all the time, to sing it in ecstatic songs.

Kailasa of Ellora [Blank Verse]

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They carved a temple in a mountainside,
   Cutting away all rock that wasn't temple,
 Chipping from the top down and outside-in,
   Until some domed stone segregated sky
 From inner sanctum and all its idols, 
   And it has stood over twelve hundred years,
 And it will surely stand twelve hundred more,
   But someday it'll be a mountain again.

“Tacit” [Poetry Style #12] by Sikong Tu [w/ Audio]

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Without a word,
   The gist is grasped.
 With no wails or soft sobs,
   Sadness spreads heart-to-heart.
 There is an enigmatic Prime Mover
   With whom each of us either sinks or floats.
 Dregs of rustic wine in a fine strainer.
 Buds on the cusp of bloom turned back by cold.
 Dust motes spreading by Brownian motion.
 Sea spume floating and tumbling onto shore.
    Shallow, deep, cohering, or scattering.
 Of ten thousand, any sample will do.

NOTE: The late Tang Dynasty poet, Sikong Tu (a.k.a. Ssŭ-k‘ung T‘u,) wrote an ars poetica entitled Twenty-Four Styles of Poetry. It presents twenty-four poems that are each in a different tone, reflecting varied concepts from Taoist philosophy and aesthetics. Above is a translation of the twelfth of the twenty-four poems. Translated titles vary: Herbert Giles entitled this one “Conservation,” whereas Tony Barnstone and Chou Ping called it “The Implicit Style.”

BOOKS: “Gothic Tales” by Marquis de Sade [Trans. by Margaret Crossland]

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Gothic TalesGothic Tales by Marquis de Sade
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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Release Date: September 3, 2024

This collection of short fiction is an excellent entry point for the reader wishing to be introduced to the philosophy and literary stylings of the Marquis de Sade. It is less visceral and explicitly violent than the works for which Sade is most famous (i.e. Justine, 120 Days of Sodom, and Philosophy in the Boudoir.) While it does deal in libidinal issues throughout and has a few stories that are explicitly erotica (notably the last couple pieces,) it never ventures up to or over whatever thin line separates erotica from pornography.

While all the pieces share Sade’s signature philosophy and interests, it is in other ways a quite diverse collection of writings. The first piece, “Eugenie De Franval,” is a novella that takes up about half the book, and it is followed by a piece that, in today’s parlance, might be called flash fiction, “The Horse-Chestnut Flower.” Pieces such as “Eugenie De Franval” and “Florville and Courval” are tragedies while the comedies include: “Emilie De Tourville,”[granted with grim elements] “The Husband Who Played Priest,” “Room for Two,” and “The Self-Made Cuckold.” Those last three – as well as “The Horse-Chestnut Flower”– are comedic in a modern sense, not just the literary sense.

I can’t say how much of the difference in tone and intensity of these pieces from Sade’s other stories is owed to the selected source material and how much is owed to translation and editorial decisions, but it makes for a read that is more intriguing in story and less shocking and disturbing than many other translations of Sade’s work.

I enjoyed these stories. They had many clever twists and turns that I don’t recall experiencing in Sade’s novels. Several stories rely on a great deal of deus ex machina coincidences, but I think that works just fine — particularly in the more humorous stories. I’d highly recommend this for readers looking to ease into the work of the Marquis de Sade.

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