Being a book junkie, I tend to read all the online literary mumblings I can get my mouse on. In the past few weeks I have read articles bemoaning the lack of "comic" novels and "work" novels.
What I want to know is, where are all the "cardboard coaster" novels? Or all the "hidden-picture-within-a-novel" novels? Or all the "coral reef" novels? Or all the "slightly mundane in the beginning, until the middle where you realize that the novel is a metaphor on the mundanity of life, until the end where you realize the novel is a parody of those novels that try to be metaphors on the mundanity of life" novels? Or "purty-is-an-acceptable-spelling-of-the-word-pretty" novel?
Actually, I don't want to know where all these novels are because my list of books to read (and this is just the list of travel books) is already too long. But if anyone HAS read any books with cardboard coasters in it, you know, the kind with frat-wit beer company puns on'em, let me know. That's something for which I'd be happy to kick Homage to Catalonia(or whatever)off.
UPDATE: News mirrors fiction I'm writing. A bear sighting in the news, after I just decided to put a bear in my book.
Monday, May 7, 2007
Sunday, May 6, 2007
sartorial advisors and such
Watching BBC America, and I think I just heard one of the characters say,
"Ever killed a man? Doesn't seem right to do it in britches" to explain why another character would like to buy a new pair of trousers. I don't know whether I hope I misheard it, and thus can use it (which seems unlikely) or hope that it was indeed what I heard, and thus can applaud the writer.
Either way, the next time someone asks me what the hell I think I'm doing, I'll use the "Ever killed a man? Doesn't seem right to do it before dessert (or whatever thing I'm doing)" and then walk away.
Feel bounds and leaps better. The hay fever or whatever that attacked me really slammed me down, as is no doubt obvious by my lack of posting and, where I did post, the focus on my lack of joy with the earth and its many pollens
"Ever killed a man? Doesn't seem right to do it in britches" to explain why another character would like to buy a new pair of trousers. I don't know whether I hope I misheard it, and thus can use it (which seems unlikely) or hope that it was indeed what I heard, and thus can applaud the writer.
Either way, the next time someone asks me what the hell I think I'm doing, I'll use the "Ever killed a man? Doesn't seem right to do it before dessert (or whatever thing I'm doing)" and then walk away.
Feel bounds and leaps better. The hay fever or whatever that attacked me really slammed me down, as is no doubt obvious by my lack of posting and, where I did post, the focus on my lack of joy with the earth and its many pollens
Friday, May 4, 2007
pobrecita
my head feels like it got Grindhoused or something. pulverized. so i thought my sister said she was getting liposuction on her toes, when she actually said light pink (toe polish). v. different.
can't read. eyes get all blurry and water. go sleep now.
can't read. eyes get all blurry and water. go sleep now.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
je suis...
sick. and i don't know what it is either. but everytime i open my mouth, i feel like i'm going to gag -- now I know how other people feel (rimshot).
also, watched old Northern Exposure today with Jack Black in it. freaking crazy.
also, watched old Northern Exposure today with Jack Black in it. freaking crazy.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Lovely Jackson
It would be ironic if I developed carpal tunnel not because of the hours I spend on this damnable machine but from lifting books all day. My poor little right wrist is aching something fierce. Fierce, I say. (Fierce.)
Axiom I don't understand: "You made your bed, now you have to sleep in it." Don't you make your bed after you're already up for the day, and hence, you don't actually have to sleep in it. You could go to a hotel that night, or not go to sleep at all. You could fall asleep in your chair after a long night studying, book still open in your lap. You could pass out drunk on someone's futon. Who knows?
I'm a fan of New York Magazine. Well, insomuch as I peruse it online from time to time. But I think whoever wrote the little blurb on Peter Jackson anticipating a budget of 65 mil for "The Lovely Bones" knows nothing about the film industry. 65 million is perfectly reasonable for a film that is probably going to want to attract some big names and while crazy f/x aren't going to be necessary, this is Peter Jackson. As in, Peter "my movies look friggin gorgeous because I make sure my audience gets their money's worth" Jackson. You want the best, 65 million is chump change.
Especially since every woman between 30 and 80 is probably going to see this movie. And possibly me. And, if it's PJ, maybe a few guys too.
Axiom I don't understand: "You made your bed, now you have to sleep in it." Don't you make your bed after you're already up for the day, and hence, you don't actually have to sleep in it. You could go to a hotel that night, or not go to sleep at all. You could fall asleep in your chair after a long night studying, book still open in your lap. You could pass out drunk on someone's futon. Who knows?
I'm a fan of New York Magazine. Well, insomuch as I peruse it online from time to time. But I think whoever wrote the little blurb on Peter Jackson anticipating a budget of 65 mil for "The Lovely Bones" knows nothing about the film industry. 65 million is perfectly reasonable for a film that is probably going to want to attract some big names and while crazy f/x aren't going to be necessary, this is Peter Jackson. As in, Peter "my movies look friggin gorgeous because I make sure my audience gets their money's worth" Jackson. You want the best, 65 million is chump change.
Especially since every woman between 30 and 80 is probably going to see this movie. And possibly me. And, if it's PJ, maybe a few guys too.
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
poetry month is dead; long live poetry
http://www.comedycentral.com/motherload/index.jhtml?ml_video=85566
Happy May Day
My current job requires quite the upper body workout, daily, which is nice.
I've been distracted by a small medical drama in my family, but everyone's still alive, so I'm reasonably happy.
I don't know why people get in such a tizzy about how green Ireland is. Right now, looking outside, I am pretty bowled over with a bright, verdant green. Certainly, the New England greenery is broken up by more houses and roads and unsightly monstrosities than Ireland. But give it time. Ireland will soon blot out its luscious green hills, too.
I am often curious to see films that I don't want to support by actually paying to see them. Since piracy is illegal and you are unlikely to meet a bigger goody two-shoes than myself, I have to resort to borrowing the films from the library. This is quite the trend, and if I'm going to be honest, the residents of Wallingford don't borrow many books from our library, but they sure do pack away the DVDs.
Anyhow, I borrowed, among several books, Marie Antoinette, which is an extraordinarily beautiful film, as if Valentine's Day and spring and all that is luxurious and lovely had been boiled down and made into a perfume that Sofia Coppola snorted as she wrote the script. I don't remember being that impressed with Versailles, but then again, the place wasn't spiked on tarts and petit-fours either, and in person, extravagance doesn't really do anything for me anyway. I'm more of a Skid Row kind of gal myself, and I find a flood of gold inlay rather mundane compared to the grit of, let's say, Montmarte after dark (or hell, anytime of the day). Back to the film, it's 2 hours and it's not terribly exciting... I can imagine getting extremely restless in the theater, but despite by my general lack of enthusiasm for anyone associated with that film (though casting Rip Torn as King Louis the whateverth was nothing short of genius), there was actually nothing wrong with it. It was a good movie. I mean, why is The Squid and the Whale allowed to be lauded despite the fact that it's pretty damn dull, but not MA? I don't know. The film certainly made Marie Antoinette a sympathetic character, and we will never know for certain whether she was indeed simply the product of her circumstances or, in fact, a spoiled little bitch. I have met both sorts of people, but I have never met any Austrians, so we'll have to leave it at that.
My sister, who is more of an impulse shopper, rented Bobby, which, while mildly educational for those of us born after the RFK assassination, was only half about Bobby. OK, a quarter. The other quarter was about the other people who were shot at the Ambassador. And the other half was actually about how it is kind of important who is president. Because a man who puts the environment, race relations, and class problems at the forefront is going to do different things for a country than someone who doesn't care about any of those things. And that was 40 years ago. All in all, it's not a great film, but it's worth watching.
I've been distracted by a small medical drama in my family, but everyone's still alive, so I'm reasonably happy.
I don't know why people get in such a tizzy about how green Ireland is. Right now, looking outside, I am pretty bowled over with a bright, verdant green. Certainly, the New England greenery is broken up by more houses and roads and unsightly monstrosities than Ireland. But give it time. Ireland will soon blot out its luscious green hills, too.
I am often curious to see films that I don't want to support by actually paying to see them. Since piracy is illegal and you are unlikely to meet a bigger goody two-shoes than myself, I have to resort to borrowing the films from the library. This is quite the trend, and if I'm going to be honest, the residents of Wallingford don't borrow many books from our library, but they sure do pack away the DVDs.
Anyhow, I borrowed, among several books, Marie Antoinette, which is an extraordinarily beautiful film, as if Valentine's Day and spring and all that is luxurious and lovely had been boiled down and made into a perfume that Sofia Coppola snorted as she wrote the script. I don't remember being that impressed with Versailles, but then again, the place wasn't spiked on tarts and petit-fours either, and in person, extravagance doesn't really do anything for me anyway. I'm more of a Skid Row kind of gal myself, and I find a flood of gold inlay rather mundane compared to the grit of, let's say, Montmarte after dark (or hell, anytime of the day). Back to the film, it's 2 hours and it's not terribly exciting... I can imagine getting extremely restless in the theater, but despite by my general lack of enthusiasm for anyone associated with that film (though casting Rip Torn as King Louis the whateverth was nothing short of genius), there was actually nothing wrong with it. It was a good movie. I mean, why is The Squid and the Whale allowed to be lauded despite the fact that it's pretty damn dull, but not MA? I don't know. The film certainly made Marie Antoinette a sympathetic character, and we will never know for certain whether she was indeed simply the product of her circumstances or, in fact, a spoiled little bitch. I have met both sorts of people, but I have never met any Austrians, so we'll have to leave it at that.
My sister, who is more of an impulse shopper, rented Bobby, which, while mildly educational for those of us born after the RFK assassination, was only half about Bobby. OK, a quarter. The other quarter was about the other people who were shot at the Ambassador. And the other half was actually about how it is kind of important who is president. Because a man who puts the environment, race relations, and class problems at the forefront is going to do different things for a country than someone who doesn't care about any of those things. And that was 40 years ago. All in all, it's not a great film, but it's worth watching.
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