[HN Gopher] This Is Water (2005)
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This Is Water (2005)
Author : mrpf1ster
Score : 69 points
Date : 2021-08-28 17:49 UTC (5 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (fs.blog)
(TXT) w3m dump (fs.blog)
| makapuf wrote:
| As a non native, I had to read it first, then listen to him while
| reading it again to begin to understand it. Thanks to have posted
| this and allowed me to discover this talk, you made my evening.
| [deleted]
| Tarsul wrote:
| the speech is pretty good. Basically he advocates for thinking
| for yourself, compassion, less egoism.
|
| I find it very weird that they made a book out of it with 144
| pages. How come 144 pages? Pretty easy, every page only has one
| line. But the people on amazon like it so who am I to judge.
| ismaildonmez wrote:
| Every now and then I listen to the recording
| https://youtu.be/PhhC_N6Bm_s to remind myself that this is water.
| jstx1 wrote:
| The crowd clapping and cheering approvingly at his example of
| how _not_ to think is a great moment.
| Tarsul wrote:
| his storytelling reads very differently when you know that he
| killed himself 3 years after this talk and was depressed for the
| last 20 years of his life.
| snet0 wrote:
| "Good Old Neon" reads entirely different in the context of his
| suicide. It's almost a different story when you put it in that
| space.
| taylorwc wrote:
| This and Bill Watterson's commencement speech at Kenyon[0] are
| both things I read a few times a year---challenging and
| relatable.
|
| [0] https://web.mit.edu/jmorzins/www/C-H-speech.html
| tartoran wrote:
| This is great. Thanks for posting it
| Emigre_ wrote:
| I liked Infinite Jest and Consider The Lobster And Other Essays.
| Not easy reads in my opinion, especially Infinite Jest obviously,
| but interesting and original books.
|
| The movie The End of the Tour (2015), although most probably
| inaccurate in his portrait of the man (from what I've read), is
| an enjoyable fiction that just happens to use Wallace as one of
| the characters. I recommend it.
| sbelskie wrote:
| End of Tour is enjoyable and most of the words are his own, but
| there is a clear need to make it a story about a guy who later
| commits suicide, and so all the acting and tonal stuff is
| inflected to that end. Having read the book first, the movie
| just seemed so much sadder and devoid of a lot of the joy that
| made the book so incredible.
| Emigre_ wrote:
| Yes... I enjoyed it... I think it was sad, yes, but it has
| been a while since I watched that movie...
| boldslogan wrote:
| the editor for ij released his edited version of a book dfw
| left, or remnants of a manuscript called pale king. have you
| read it?
| Emigre_ wrote:
| No, I haven't... Have you?...
| boldslogan wrote:
| ive read ij, with the footnotes and it took me so long I
| think I forgot some of the first part of the book while
| reading the later part. I enjoyed it kind of like a tv
| series but with so many episodes I forget the first season
| but kept watching.
|
| So on one hand Ive heard the hype, and it was good...but I
| wonder if it was shorter it could have had a bigger punch
| (like 1984 or something else) and while typing this I
| wonder if this tv show analogy ( Rick and Morty comes to
| mind) is a kind of good analogy? Or maybe im a
| philistine...
|
| I was almost going to buy the Pale king today but ill get
| it soon and start reading it.
| Emigre_ wrote:
| I hear you, it took me a long time too to finish it
| too!... :D
| nuclearnice3 wrote:
| "What will you say? What will you do?" "Oh -- I don't know."
| Eliot's sorrow and exhaustion dropped away for a moment as he
| became enchanted by the problem. A birdy little smile played over
| his lips. "Go over to her shack, I guess. Sprinkle some water on
| the babies, say, 'Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in
| the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and
| crowded. At the outside, babies, you've got about a hundred years
| here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies -- : "'God
| damn it, you've got to be kind.'"
|
| Kurt Vonnegut
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_Bless_You,_Mr._Rosewater
| davidpelayo wrote:
| Waoh! I didn't know this guy. Really interesting! Thanks for
| posting.
| codq wrote:
| Oh wow, you've got quite a journey if you decide to dive into
| the life and work of David Foster Wallace.
|
| A troubled, but absolutely brilliant mind. Enjoy!
| blakesterz wrote:
| Probably not a popular opinion... I first heard him read this
| shortly after it came out, and at first I thought it was great,
| but the second time I heard it, it fell apart. This fell flat for
| me considering it was a commencement speech. It reads like it was
| written by a sad lonely man, for other sad lonely men. He was
| speaking to a huge auditorium full of parents and children, and
| he wrote something for himself. He couldn't imagine a world where
| there was more than his life, outside his water. The world of
| every parent in that room. I've always felt like he made his
| point in ways he never meant to.
| nuclearnice3 wrote:
| I really like your analysis. But rather than falling apart, for
| me, it reifies the truth of the entire piece.
|
| As Tarsul points out elsewhere in the thread, he was a
| profoundly sad man and killed himself a few years after this
| speech.
|
| At the end of the day, neither the old fish nor the young fish
| could escape the water.
| mandliya wrote:
| I listen to this speech every 2 months. I have known a colleague
| for years now, but he became a good friend because I was able to
| understand his perspective in a useless conflict. This speech is
| so powerful, and calls attention to true human virtues which are
| easily forgotten (empathy, compassion). It is good reminder of
| how we live our lives as center of our own universe, completely
| unaware!
| [deleted]
| dang wrote:
| Past threads with comments (not many):
|
| _This is Water [pdf]_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27747931 - July 2021 (1
| comment)
|
| _David Foster Wallace: This Is Water_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25507754 - Dec 2020 (1
| comment)
|
| _David Foster Wallace: This Is Water_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25405924 - Dec 2020 (2
| comments)
|
| _This Is Water - David Foster Wallace_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17436613 - July 2018 (3
| comments)
|
| _This Is Water - David Foster Wallace_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12482325 - Sept 2016 (3
| comments)
|
| _This is Water - David Foster Wallace 's commencement speech
| from 2005_ - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5731340 - May
| 2013 (4 comments)
|
| _This Is Water_ - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5685071 -
| May 2013 (1 comment)
|
| _David Foster Wallace: This is Water_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5679086 - May 2013 (2
| comments)
|
| _This is Water (2005)_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5672961 - May 2013 (1
| comment)
|
| _" This is water, this is water."_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2909239 - Aug 2011 (29
| comments)
|
| _This is Water (David Foster Wallace on Life)_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2342230 - March 2011 (1
| comment)
| awaissamdani wrote:
| I came back to this like 5 times in a year. Thanks for making it
| 6ixth.
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