Memes of Consciousness

Although some say that Mark Zuckerberg,, with his lizard-like features and robotically generated emotions, might not have a consciousness at all, his social-media-giant Facebook simulates that very thing perfectly. The same goes for Instagram, which was bought by Facebook in 2012. By having riverlike feeds from picture to picture, post to post, and therefore from subject to subject, they present their information in somewhat of a Joycean stream. Instead of the absence of chapters, a constant, infinite input; instead of eclipses, white bars dividing the first and the next post, and instead of the all-over-the-placeness of thought, a randomized collection of birthday parties, holidays, articles, advertisements and memes, or in Joyce´s words: “There is not past, no future; everything flows in an eternal present.” Despite the fact that Facebook and Instagram are easily finished within the ten minutes you are waiting for the bus, – whereas, for instance, Ulysses takes a full 800 pages -, both platforms carry aspects, and are in ways equal to, the stream of consciousness novel. Continue reading “Memes of Consciousness”

Advertisements

Writing About Music: Look Now

Writing about music has always been a challenge for me; if you could put it into words there’d be no need to write a song about it, right? As a wise man once said, even though no one is really sure who he was: “Writing about music is like dancing about architecture”.

Even so, life is all about challenging yourself, so I’ve decided to write something about the music I’m currently listening to. Maybe you’ll like it, too.

Continue reading “Writing About Music: Look Now”

What’s In My Notes?

14 October 2018 at 7:32 pm

 

  • Author’s note: I was procrastinating about a week ago and started going through my notes and thought it might be fun to share my scattered, unrelated, and unedited thoughts. Among others, I found some quotes, both story and essay prompts, random number sequences, and even a whole fanfic (which I will not share with you). Enjoy this compilation of notes from my phone but BE WARNED: lack of punctuation, bad syntax and grammar, and a lot of fragmented notes ahead.

Continue reading “What’s In My Notes?”

The Struggle for Hetero-Free TV

If you’re anything like me and have no problem with heterosexuality whatsoever, yet find yourself letting out an involuntary gasp of shock whenever you see two individuals of the opposite sex as much as touching hands, then you probably share my dilemma of what to watch on television. After all, no one can deny that in the past few decades heterosexuality has become more and more prevalent in mainstream media, and it is now hard to turn on any program without being confronted with the sight of two heteros bumping uglies on some seedy excuse for a mattress at one point or another. While I repeat that I am in no way heterophobic – I in fact have many straight friends, and probably at least one family member, who swing that way – this does not mean I have to be comfortable being exposed to it all the time, especially when in the privacy of my own home, from the comfort of my bed, while eating ice-cream, wearing sweatpants and picking my nose. And quite honestly, television just isn’t what it used to be anyway: one moment you’re watching a mildly interesting cop drama and then the next thing you know two straights are locking lips and rubbing privates on the nearest piece of furniture. It’s a disgrace. So, to all of you fellow movie lovers of class and moral uprightness, know that I have made the ultimate sacrifice of watching a whole stack of films and series over the course of the past year. Some were great, others terrible, but I was relentless in my quest. And, after painstaking hours of effort and more than several moments of intense heterosexuality-induced nausea, I here have a list of films and series you can watch with minimal exposure to any of that hetero hanky-panky. Trust me, you’ll thank me later:
 Continue reading “The Struggle for Hetero-Free TV”

Writer’s Block #38

Even as we post, our newest issue is being launched. It’s a new collection of poetry, essays, comics, photographs and other amazing stuff. We were all very impressed with the content and we hope you will be, too. You can find the digital version by clicking on the image below.

Don’t forget, if you have a poem, short story, essay, or anything else that you’d like to see published, please feel free to send it in at submissions@writersblockmagazine.com!

Schermafbeelding 2018-11-23 om 13.04.30

 

 

The Writer’s High

“Dance above the surface of the world. Let your thoughts lift you into creativity that is not hampered by opinion.”

— Red Haircrow

1. ONSET

Beginnings are always the hardest. Sitting at your computer, chasing that perfect opening line across your mindscape, searching, constantly searching. In what lair is it hidden? In what vault is it kept? In what forge is it created? And where are these places located? The mind is a strange realm, indeed; there’s so much uncharted territory that has yet to be discovered. Continue reading “The Writer’s High”