Archie Shrugged
This is what I woke up to this morning, and what I’ve spent the day with, as well:
We’ve been in the kitchen all day long, staked out in the comfy chair with the laptop and the paper and the big new Ayn Rand bio, which is as repellently riveting as its subject. I had other plans for the day, but it’s been snowing, so we’ve settled in for the extended hang. This is how the winters work around here: big blankets, small dogs, and a chance to catch up on my reading.
So far today, I’ve done part of the crossword, had a couple gallons of tea in one cup increments, made at least ten trips upstairs to offload liquids, researched big-girl cameras (what can I say, I’m craving the bokeh), dinked around on the internet (although the wifi’s wee at this end of the house), and plowed through the better part of Rand’s adulthood, from the writing of The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged to her elevation as Our Lady of Laissez-Faire, the culty queen of unfettered capitalism.
For me, seeing a hotly-thumbed copy of Rand’s masterworks of selfishness on a new dude’s bookshelf is, as they say, a real bonerkiller. But not everyone feels the same way. Back in 1998, Modern Library polled readers on their favorite books and Rand won the top two spots. In all, she had a total of four books in the top eight, which only goes to show that there have been a lot of college sophomores out there, looking for heroic validation of their BIG DREAMZ and their spiraling self-absorption.
I wonder what Rand would make of the hillbilly hellraisers who are going Galt in her name? I mean, talk about your moochers and looters. It’s like the objectionists meet the objectionables. Or from Roark to Dork.
(Stop me, I could go all night…)
So, did you have a rational self-interest phase back at the good ol’ University (or did you just read Rand for the sex scenes)? And what camera and lenses would you recommend? Any thoughts on either one?
Time for bed again. Say goodnight, Archie:
Tags: atlas shrugged, ayn rand, bokeh, chihuahua, crossword, dslr camera, going galt, laissez-faire, objectivist, rational self-interest, selfishness, sex scenes, snow, sunday, the fountainhead, winter
December 7th, 2009 at 10:19 am
Reminds me of freshman year, when my girlfriend began collecting add-a-beads and couldn’t understand why anyone would read a novel “with a stupid poem in the middle of it”, much less write it. Then there was the day she handed me the copy of Atlas Shrugged, given to her by her Marketing “professor”. I knew it wouldn’t be long before she took up with some beach music hog with lime green trousers and a little caterpillar mustache.
If things had turned out differently, I’d have some truly fucked up kids in college, or panhandling in a bus station about now.
May 3rd, 2010 at 5:08 pm
[...] the iphone. I haven’t figured out a way to administer constant sharp leash corrections to Asshole, Jr. while also managing my big-girl camera and its unslender lens. I am just not that [...]
July 7th, 2010 at 9:45 pm
That is AMAZING! Cooper sleeps like that–head on the pillow. They are most certainly cousins.