The November 2008 Challenge
Produce the shopping list (or to-do list, or Post-it note, or something of that nature) that you found on the refrigerator or desk of Gertrude Stein, Marcel Duchamp, Aristotle, or someone of that ilk.
The Results
Sam Bleckley
Kurt Gödel’s shopping list
soap
raisins
oatmeal
cantaloupe
all grocery items not directly or indirectly specified by the following when followed by its own quotation: “all grocery items not directly or indirectly specified by the following when followed by its own quotation:”
shaving cream
spinach — Adele
Eric Maland
Sigmund Freud
Charles Bukowski
Brian Raiter
from the desk of David Foster Wallace
Ryan Finholm
Marcel Proust’s shopping list
1 tin petites madeleines
1 tin pomade
Cookie Monster’s shopping list
1 ton COOKIES
1 ton pomade
HAH! Love Bukowsky.
David Foster Wallace was hysterical.
The Proust/Cookie Monster comparative study was lovely.
I just realized that, in my hurry to send in something between chapters, I used “it’s” as a possessive. *head-whack*
by Sam Bleckley — 4 December 2008 @ 17:10
Sam’s typo has been fixed. When I was younger I used to make that mistake all the time. Now I can’t abide it: it has become my least favorite spelling error.
This challenge was a welcome bit of lighthearted effort in the middle of a month too much writing. I also appreciate the uniform display of irreverence here, seeing as how all of our chosen targets are dead (except for Cookie Monster).
Also, since Sam didn’t mention it, I feel compelled to point out that the “Adele” in his entry refers to Godel’s wife. In his old age, Godel became irrationally fearful of being poisoned, and required his wife to taste everything first before he could eat it. (And in fact he ultimately died of malnutrition when Adele became sick and had to spend several months in the hospital.)
by Brian — 5 December 2008 @ 15:16