I believe since the last time I gave an update on The Life Shuffle I've added a couple of aspects. For one there's the Shiz on the Shorts segments, in which I describe/review a short story I've read. I started a series, in which I describe my trip to DCH in Tuscaloosa to see Gam Nans (I don't call my grandmothers this). I'm still not done writing about it. I'm still trying to figure out how to treat other subjects that came up during the trip.
There's the Other Stuff I've Read tab and the Books I've Read in 2012. The latter only have one unfinished book in its slot. I've gotten only three chapters into that book, not the author's fault. The author is Zane Grey and evidently a titan in his field. The problem is I'm pretty random with my interests and I'm not into the Riders right now. I have read other stuff though, besides the articles from the other tab, while my interest in Grey's book lie dormant. I'll update that as soon as I can.
I've been writing new poetry, and dusting of some old bits, at the Pool. Check that out.
I write about other stuff from time to time, not on the Pool--that blog pretty much sticks to my creative endeavors, but on the Shuffle, yes.
I think that's it. We are all up to speed.
[Edit/add: I knew I was forgetting something. I wanted to do the same thing I do with the short stories with novels, also. I'll just call it plainly "Novels". Basically, I just wanted to do better book reviews than I've done in the past. I think I did well with the short stories and want to try to translate that into longer works. Now, that's it, besides the link to the short story review above.]
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Helping the Help: The Black Book
[ Director's/ Producer's cut (2/28/2013):
Before I move on with this post I want to not that on a few previous "Director's", "Producer's", and "Director's/Producer's" cut posts I messed around and forgot the date of the reissued version of the post. My bad. I'll try to remember from now on.
When I revisited this post I had only written the two questions below as a jumping off point. I was going to go on from there, structureless as usual, and try to explain what I felt were the problems in The Help centering around the book within the story that's a big part of the plot. Hence the title of this post "The Black Book" a play on words referencing the "little black book" of the 90s.
The sentences below start to wonder at the indiscretion of the book in the novel. The way, if looked at from a different angle, the book about all the goings-on of the white folks in that little town in Mississippi written by these black maids that happen to be women could come off making the maids actually look bad. Really what got me the most wasn't the book, but what one of the main characters, Minny, did in the book and I was going to talk a bit about that.
As usual, the additions, essentially the whole post, is going to be in bold. ]
What about the book skeeter and the maids wrote? Are their stories in there that aren't gossipy secrets?
Before I move on with this post I want to not that on a few previous "Director's", "Producer's", and "Director's/Producer's" cut posts I messed around and forgot the date of the reissued version of the post. My bad. I'll try to remember from now on.
When I revisited this post I had only written the two questions below as a jumping off point. I was going to go on from there, structureless as usual, and try to explain what I felt were the problems in The Help centering around the book within the story that's a big part of the plot. Hence the title of this post "The Black Book" a play on words referencing the "little black book" of the 90s.
The sentences below start to wonder at the indiscretion of the book in the novel. The way, if looked at from a different angle, the book about all the goings-on of the white folks in that little town in Mississippi written by these black maids that happen to be women could come off making the maids actually look bad. Really what got me the most wasn't the book, but what one of the main characters, Minny, did in the book and I was going to talk a bit about that.
As usual, the additions, essentially the whole post, is going to be in bold. ]
What about the book skeeter and the maids wrote? Are their stories in there that aren't gossipy secrets?
Helping the Help: The Three Trailers
[Director's cut/ Producer's cut:
So sometime early last year I'd grown solicitous about the movie/novel The Help. I'd read the book the year before and it was coming off of in interesting and successful fall-winter run in the theaters just as the novel was enjoying a strong and long run on the NYT bestsellers list. Along with its success came controversy because these two things walk hand and hand so, so often. The controversy dealt with the movie and book's rendering of race relations, etc. in the 1960's. Many groups felt the creation was quite soft on racism and played the "magic negro" trope that's been quite prevalent in much of the media depicting America's history in race relation.
Anyway, I started writing about this. I wanted to explore the controversy and see what it all means maybe to society, definitely to me personally. (Full disclosure: I enjoyed The Help.) I started with these three trailers. One is of what I believe was a well received movie about the period during civil rights activism in the south. It's the Rosa Parks story starring Angela Bassett. The second is Corina, Corina starring Whoopi Goldberg. The third is The Help.
I'm not going to say anything yet about it because I don't have much yet, but I'll be back with addenda putting this three trailers in context if I can. The addenda will be in bold.]
Below are three trailers for three movies set around the same time period.
(Civil Rights Movement, The 50's)
These are my takes on the trailers without any specifics on there relationship to one another. But my initial point here was to prove the inadequacy of The Help, but also prove that that is kind of the point. I've both read the book and seen the movie. I believe both are inadequate socially when compared to both the other movies I talked about, even Corrina, Corrina. But the help isn't really suppose to be social commentary, according to the author of the book it's almost a love letter to the lady that use to care for her when she was a little girl. And if looked at in that way, I believe, the movie/novel works.
So sometime early last year I'd grown solicitous about the movie/novel The Help. I'd read the book the year before and it was coming off of in interesting and successful fall-winter run in the theaters just as the novel was enjoying a strong and long run on the NYT bestsellers list. Along with its success came controversy because these two things walk hand and hand so, so often. The controversy dealt with the movie and book's rendering of race relations, etc. in the 1960's. Many groups felt the creation was quite soft on racism and played the "magic negro" trope that's been quite prevalent in much of the media depicting America's history in race relation.
Anyway, I started writing about this. I wanted to explore the controversy and see what it all means maybe to society, definitely to me personally. (Full disclosure: I enjoyed The Help.) I started with these three trailers. One is of what I believe was a well received movie about the period during civil rights activism in the south. It's the Rosa Parks story starring Angela Bassett. The second is Corina, Corina starring Whoopi Goldberg. The third is The Help.
I'm not going to say anything yet about it because I don't have much yet, but I'll be back with addenda putting this three trailers in context if I can. The addenda will be in bold.]
Below are three trailers for three movies set around the same time period.
(Civil Rights Movement, The 50's)
This trailer is from The Rosa Parks Story, starring Angela Basset. It's been forever since I've watched it, but I'm not interested in details right now. What I remember from the movie and what you can see from the trailer is that it's a serious movie. A biopic that's treating the period and the information used with care and pay tribute to the center of its story which is Rosa Parks, the period, and the events that made Rosa Parks's name known to all of us. It deals with the issues and events of the time in all seriousness. This is somewhat different from both trailers bellow.
Corrina, Corrina, starring Whoopi Goldberg, is a less historical rendering of the same time period. The movie is a period romantic comedy about a widower (Ray Liotta) falling in love with his African American nanny (Goldberg), creating societal pressures and problems between the couple. Unlike The Rosa Parks Story, Corrina, Corrina is fictional and not based on actual events.
This movie is the least serious of the three, done in the comedic art form. But there's still a seriousness to the issues addressed in the story of the movie.
The Help is a very different movie from the first two mentioned because it has the opposing qualities of both. Like The Rosa Parks Story, the movie tries to take the events of the times and present them a historical manner. But on the other hand, to some, The Help has an air of banality to it as if it were a comedy like Corrina, Corrina.
***
These are my takes on the trailers without any specifics on there relationship to one another. But my initial point here was to prove the inadequacy of The Help, but also prove that that is kind of the point. I've both read the book and seen the movie. I believe both are inadequate socially when compared to both the other movies I talked about, even Corrina, Corrina. But the help isn't really suppose to be social commentary, according to the author of the book it's almost a love letter to the lady that use to care for her when she was a little girl. And if looked at in that way, I believe, the movie/novel works.
Helping The Help: The Links.
[Producer's/Director's Cut:
Okay I'm going to try to pull this post off, but I'm not even close to in the same mindset I was in when I started it. The Help is like so two years ago and we've moved on to other buzz issues since then.
To me the 2011 movie The Help seems, not the first, but definitely an issue of race in a series of issues of race in Hollywood for movies following it. In The Hunger Games movie a few fans were upset, and by consequence shown to be a bit racist, when they found out a character in the movie was to be played by a little brown skinned girl. And on the Hollywood big wig front, the people heading the Cloud Atlas movie got a big problem when people found out they had actors in yellow-face rather than hiring people of Asian descent {something else I just thought of: In Snow White and the Huntsman those little people weren't actually little people which made actual little people highly upset. No pun intended.}
There's been some interesting, if not major, critiques on race relations involving the movies in the last couple of years. The Help is not the least of them especially considering race relations is kind of central to the story's whole premise.
See The Help is this novel written by Kathryn Stockett. (Pictured below).The novel is said Stockett's debut, and for a debut it ain't too shabby. The novel itself is about these 1960's era black maids and these white girl they have. The white girl name is Skeeter. Skeeter is a young girl fresh out of college and she wants to be a fancy-smancy NY journalist or something. They live in 1960's Mississippi so everybody is racist up in there. It's the way things were, I guess. There's this mean old/young lady that's really racist and very much juvenile--forget her name it was something like Milly, I think. And now, at the time the novel is set, on top of being treated like crap, these maids are being told, by the lady who's name is probably Milly, that they can't use the crappers in their employers home because of black disease* and whatnot. But it's okay because remember that white girl I told you about? The maids are able to, in the end, cash her in for good luck and everything works out in the end.
Or at least that's part of what was the problem with the film and books in 2011. I get to that later on whenever I add to the main post.
*By the way I'm not talking about the plague here. I'm talking this lady believes there were diseases specific to black people that would pass on to white people if the maids used their toilets. Weird and ironic considering the European history with the spread of disease in America.
Below are a bunch of links I found when I was gungho about writing this post. (Is the word gungho racist? Did I use it right?) I'm going to define the links later, probably when ever I add to this post with the three trailers. But right now it's just the links. I think my commentary will be in bold here as well and I might curate the links more. You know, cut and add as needed. Welp, until then. ]
I started my search here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Help#Criticism
And logically followed to here.
http://www.abwh.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2:open-statement-the-help&catid=1:latest-news
http://www.tnr.com/article/film/93779/the-help-black-racism
http://www.salon.com/2011/08/16/why_the_helps_critics_are_all_wrong/
http://acriticalreviewofthehelp.wordpress.com/2012/02/07/keep-on-keeping-on/
http://www.essence.com/2011/08/14/black-female-historians-critic-the-help/
http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/08/10/movies/the-help-spans-two-worlds-white-and-black-review.html?pagewanted=all
A Huge Room Full Of Worlds
[ Director's Cut 12/25/12:
So. I kinda have this dream. It's that, I hope one day to build a huge library in my house.
Like this:
 |
| Entrepreneur Jay Walker's Library via Flavorwire |
I like Walker's library because it's huge. It's kind of my current model dream-library, but it doesn't quite stand up to the immaculate order and expanse that is my original model dream library: Beast's from the Disney film Beauty and the Beast.
 |
| (via beautiful-libraries.com). |
My library's going to be bigger than both, combined.]
Monday, February 27, 2012
The Value in E
[Producer's cut 12/27/12:
I wrote this earlier this year and didn't post it. It's about the changing publishing scene and some of the news I read about it all the way back to the previous the previous year, fueled by and featuring primarily posts from Pimp My Novel* and Nathan Bransford.
* The Pimp My Novel blog is wonky right now, words bleeding into words kind of thing. I don't know why, but if I had to guess I'd say it's because of the changing Blogger interface and the fact that the blog is going on two years, after Eric announced his "indefinite hiatus", without an update. The blog is still mostly readable though.
Nate still blogs. ]
I've been thinking about the e-book revolution and piracy, etc. for months now. I started learning from Nathan Bransford's blog, through his blog I found the Pimp My Novel blog. This year I've read all of the PMN archives because my interests about the publishing industry was peaked and it's archives, though large, weren't as substantial as Nathan Bransford's.
One of the top stories on PMN was the digital transition which has looked to be less seamless than that of television's transition from the air waves. I learned from the blog that basically publishers, esp. the big six, being the old school hip cats that they are, weren't prepared for the e-book revolution. I guess they didn't see it catching on as quickly and thoroughly as it did. Therefore, there has been a lot of push and pull between a lot of different factions because of this move to a more digitized industry.
Anyway, I saw a problem with the digital transition that I don't see a lot of people talking about it. The problem is that people still have to buy both print and digital books if they want an edition in both electronic and physical. That's kind of crazy. I thought as I was getting acclimated to the information regarding the new publishing structures that it would have been in publisher's best interest to, instead ofshying running in fear and terror at the idea of electronic books they could have simply undermined the medium and been in a much better position than they are now regarding e-publishing. What I mean by this is if publisher had accepted digital publishing in the first place and used it as a supplement to physical books, say a 2.99 extra charge on physical books to get a digital duplicate and maybe even special offers of free ebooks with certain purchases, then the publishing world would look totally different now. That would have been my business model anyway. Rather than being worried about DRM or the integrity of the traditional book, the novel, writing or some such nonsense I would have took the fear I had of the popularity of ebooks and came of with a solution to that particular problem, like the ideal way of dealing with sickness I would have stopped the problem at the source instead of fretting over symptoms. But that didn't happen, instead ebooks undermine greatly the importance of physical books and many are waiting/watching for the fall of the physical book. Dropped ball, lost opportunity.
I read a post the other day from Mr. Bransford about DRM, it's benefits, and how it could be executed more fairly. Thought not as V for Vendetta as what I stated above Nathan Bransford posts the ideas that brought me to the conclusion above.
Below are post from both blogs that chronicle the changing publishing arena:
PMN Posts
http://pimpmynovel.blogspot.com/2011/05/this-is-my-shocked-face.html
http://pimpmynovel.blogspot.com/2011/05/final-frontier.html
http://pimpmynovel.blogspot.com/2011/03/agency-six.html
Nate Posts
http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2011/03/why-some-e-books-cost-more-than.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nathan-bransford/dont-believe-the-e-book-s_b_485984.html
I don't have a personal opinion about the move. I'm not for or against electronic reading. We can stay with high priced hard back and cheaper paper or move on to cheaper digital downloads. I've seen the pros and cons of both and I think only a few of them should actually be of deepest concern. I believe what's going on now is the initial rabble rousing when some new system, or what ever is put in place. People aren't sure what the outcome will be so they argue possible cons with the system. Hopefully what's left after the dust settles is something beneficial to the majority of the parties involved.
I wrote this earlier this year and didn't post it. It's about the changing publishing scene and some of the news I read about it all the way back to the previous the previous year, fueled by and featuring primarily posts from Pimp My Novel* and Nathan Bransford.
* The Pimp My Novel blog is wonky right now, words bleeding into words kind of thing. I don't know why, but if I had to guess I'd say it's because of the changing Blogger interface and the fact that the blog is going on two years, after Eric announced his "indefinite hiatus", without an update. The blog is still mostly readable though.
Nate still blogs. ]
I've been thinking about the e-book revolution and piracy, etc. for months now. I started learning from Nathan Bransford's blog, through his blog I found the Pimp My Novel blog. This year I've read all of the PMN archives because my interests about the publishing industry was peaked and it's archives, though large, weren't as substantial as Nathan Bransford's.
One of the top stories on PMN was the digital transition which has looked to be less seamless than that of television's transition from the air waves. I learned from the blog that basically publishers, esp. the big six, being the old school hip cats that they are, weren't prepared for the e-book revolution. I guess they didn't see it catching on as quickly and thoroughly as it did. Therefore, there has been a lot of push and pull between a lot of different factions because of this move to a more digitized industry.
Anyway, I saw a problem with the digital transition that I don't see a lot of people talking about it. The problem is that people still have to buy both print and digital books if they want an edition in both electronic and physical. That's kind of crazy. I thought as I was getting acclimated to the information regarding the new publishing structures that it would have been in publisher's best interest to, instead of
I read a post the other day from Mr. Bransford about DRM, it's benefits, and how it could be executed more fairly. Thought not as V for Vendetta as what I stated above Nathan Bransford posts the ideas that brought me to the conclusion above.
* * *
Below are post from both blogs that chronicle the changing publishing arena:
PMN Posts
http://pimpmynovel.blogspot.com/2011/05/this-is-my-shocked-face.html
http://pimpmynovel.blogspot.com/2011/05/final-frontier.html
http://pimpmynovel.blogspot.com/2011/03/agency-six.html
Nate Posts
http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2011/03/why-some-e-books-cost-more-than.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nathan-bransford/dont-believe-the-e-book-s_b_485984.html
* * *
I don't have a personal opinion about the move. I'm not for or against electronic reading. We can stay with high priced hard back and cheaper paper or move on to cheaper digital downloads. I've seen the pros and cons of both and I think only a few of them should actually be of deepest concern. I believe what's going on now is the initial rabble rousing when some new system, or what ever is put in place. People aren't sure what the outcome will be so they argue possible cons with the system. Hopefully what's left after the dust settles is something beneficial to the majority of the parties involved.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Bargain Books
I'm not one of those people that have anything, let alone certain things, that get them excited when they find a bargain for it in a store. Unlike Oprah, I have no legit favorite things list. I like what I like, when I like it and there's no telling what leads me to liking those things. Also, I never really gained the "value of a dollar" class of thinking. Money baffles me in more ways than one. These two points make it a rarity for me to get excited on the shopping circuit, even for things I like, i.e. books. But I found a few books yesterday and was able to feel the joy bargain shoppers feel when a good deal meets a price slash. I got two.
I went to, a Garden Ridge, in one of the designated, convenient commerce areas the people of a more rural area are force to shop at before they're then forced to take a day trip into the city for a bit more variety in their stores. It's a knickknack store, kind of looked like a big TJ Maxx, with less clothes and more knickknacks. The one I went to is pretty new. I went with the matriarch of the house.
Fast forward through the "boring" stuff and you find me at this three section book setup. I went looking for the books because after we arrived I heard a little olive skinned boy tell his mother his sister wanted to know if she could get a set of books, I believe she wanted three. Simple reason, but that's simply why I went. It was about ten or fifteen minutes after I heard this, after I looked around a bit, I went in search of these books. Turns out I past right by them on my way in the store without noticing. They were in the front, where stores like this usually put their books. There were several tables pushed together and covered in stacks of four and five books.The first section was children books, coloring books, etc. I didn't really checkout that table, only glanced at it and the third table was cookbooks, workout books, crafts, and things of that sort.
The second set of tables were lain with nonfiction books and novels. And I honed right in on that group of books, after a cursory glance at the other two. On this middle set, after only a little exploration, I found a John Le Carre book, The Mission Song. Actually, I'm jumping the gun a bit. Before the Le Carre book, I found this book about the history of architecture that I really, really want. It costed $9.99. Nine dollars and ninety-nine cents, plus tax, that I don't have and I wasn't going to be the one paying for the books. I try to be courteous and not milk my "good fortune" for more than it's worth.
So, for a minute, I fawned over the architecture book, which I still want and hope to get it with my own money soon, dreaming of reading and learning a few useful things about buildings, then somewhere behind the stack of architecture books, the Le Carre catches my eye. I believe the book at the Garden Ridge had a different color from the Wikipedia link above, black instead of gray. The huge "Le Carre" on the black cover captured me and I got excited cause I know this guy. He's a mystery writer, right? No, not exactly, but something like that. I know he wrote Tinker, Tailor, Solider and that movie was just released recently. I'm super excited. I had never read anything by Le Carre, which I hate, like the Twilight Zone guy from that one episode I wish for all the time he thought he had to read, but I knew Le Carre and in that I felt pride. In retrospect, I wonder if it showed on my face. Was I smiling? I hope not, but I probably was. I didn't pause enough in my excitement to get self-conscious. I was excited to show moms, who wouldn't get it, but would still probably listen to me jibber about books if I could slip it into conversation casually enough.
At this point, I wasn't even thinking about getting the book. No money means to me, no problem, you're not going to be getting anything. This has been my thinking ever since I was knee high, which is strange cause both my parents are the type of parents that would get me and my brother anything we ask for and everything we didn't. I was enjoying myself though, without having even bought and read the book. Just seeing an author I'm familiar with fulfilled me some. And I wasn't eve done yet.
I started hunting with gusto after my find. Wanted to see what other authors they were holding on to in this unassuming store. I found Spook Country by William Gibson under a couple of books, Michael Chriton's Next sat at the top of a stack to my right, Barbara Kingsolver's novel The Lacuna was under some stuff, but I think before I found her book I found Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger. Spook Country and Her Fearful Symmetry were two books I was actually hoping to read some day. This was a pretty good find.
Mom's offered to by me some books. She said I could get three, like I'm three years old. It was weird, obviously, but cute. I didn't hear her, or that thing I was talking about earlier, the "no money, no problem" thing gave me a bout of selective hearing. I got The Lacuna and Spook Country. It was a hard decision. I hate that I don't pay much attention to sales and what not. The decision probably didn't need to be as hard as it was.
Most of the books were $3.99, but Spook Country's price was cut from $3.99 to $1.00. Pretty good deal on some hardbacks, even if they are a bit older*. I think she even saved some pennies compared to the internet, cause even if the prices are low on the net, you still probably "get got" by the shipping and handling portion of the charge.
*The newest books were Niffenegger's Her Fearful Symmetry and Kingsolver's The Lacuna, both published in 2009. William Gibson has a new non-fiction book out that I want to read one day, Distrust That Particular Flavor, A collection of his essays and articles. Between the book I bought, Spook Country, and this new nonfiction there's been like six years. Also this is a second book in a trilogy and I wonder if it would be necessary to read them in order. If it is, I wonder if I can enjoy regardless...
I went to, a Garden Ridge, in one of the designated, convenient commerce areas the people of a more rural area are force to shop at before they're then forced to take a day trip into the city for a bit more variety in their stores. It's a knickknack store, kind of looked like a big TJ Maxx, with less clothes and more knickknacks. The one I went to is pretty new. I went with the matriarch of the house.
Fast forward through the "boring" stuff and you find me at this three section book setup. I went looking for the books because after we arrived I heard a little olive skinned boy tell his mother his sister wanted to know if she could get a set of books, I believe she wanted three. Simple reason, but that's simply why I went. It was about ten or fifteen minutes after I heard this, after I looked around a bit, I went in search of these books. Turns out I past right by them on my way in the store without noticing. They were in the front, where stores like this usually put their books. There were several tables pushed together and covered in stacks of four and five books.The first section was children books, coloring books, etc. I didn't really checkout that table, only glanced at it and the third table was cookbooks, workout books, crafts, and things of that sort.
The second set of tables were lain with nonfiction books and novels. And I honed right in on that group of books, after a cursory glance at the other two. On this middle set, after only a little exploration, I found a John Le Carre book, The Mission Song. Actually, I'm jumping the gun a bit. Before the Le Carre book, I found this book about the history of architecture that I really, really want. It costed $9.99. Nine dollars and ninety-nine cents, plus tax, that I don't have and I wasn't going to be the one paying for the books. I try to be courteous and not milk my "good fortune" for more than it's worth.
So, for a minute, I fawned over the architecture book, which I still want and hope to get it with my own money soon, dreaming of reading and learning a few useful things about buildings, then somewhere behind the stack of architecture books, the Le Carre catches my eye. I believe the book at the Garden Ridge had a different color from the Wikipedia link above, black instead of gray. The huge "Le Carre" on the black cover captured me and I got excited cause I know this guy. He's a mystery writer, right? No, not exactly, but something like that. I know he wrote Tinker, Tailor, Solider and that movie was just released recently. I'm super excited. I had never read anything by Le Carre, which I hate, like the Twilight Zone guy from that one episode I wish for all the time he thought he had to read, but I knew Le Carre and in that I felt pride. In retrospect, I wonder if it showed on my face. Was I smiling? I hope not, but I probably was. I didn't pause enough in my excitement to get self-conscious. I was excited to show moms, who wouldn't get it, but would still probably listen to me jibber about books if I could slip it into conversation casually enough.
At this point, I wasn't even thinking about getting the book. No money means to me, no problem, you're not going to be getting anything. This has been my thinking ever since I was knee high, which is strange cause both my parents are the type of parents that would get me and my brother anything we ask for and everything we didn't. I was enjoying myself though, without having even bought and read the book. Just seeing an author I'm familiar with fulfilled me some. And I wasn't eve done yet.
I started hunting with gusto after my find. Wanted to see what other authors they were holding on to in this unassuming store. I found Spook Country by William Gibson under a couple of books, Michael Chriton's Next sat at the top of a stack to my right, Barbara Kingsolver's novel The Lacuna was under some stuff, but I think before I found her book I found Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger. Spook Country and Her Fearful Symmetry were two books I was actually hoping to read some day. This was a pretty good find.
Mom's offered to by me some books. She said I could get three, like I'm three years old. It was weird, obviously, but cute. I didn't hear her, or that thing I was talking about earlier, the "no money, no problem" thing gave me a bout of selective hearing. I got The Lacuna and Spook Country. It was a hard decision. I hate that I don't pay much attention to sales and what not. The decision probably didn't need to be as hard as it was.
Most of the books were $3.99, but Spook Country's price was cut from $3.99 to $1.00. Pretty good deal on some hardbacks, even if they are a bit older*. I think she even saved some pennies compared to the internet, cause even if the prices are low on the net, you still probably "get got" by the shipping and handling portion of the charge.
*The newest books were Niffenegger's Her Fearful Symmetry and Kingsolver's The Lacuna, both published in 2009. William Gibson has a new non-fiction book out that I want to read one day, Distrust That Particular Flavor, A collection of his essays and articles. Between the book I bought, Spook Country, and this new nonfiction there's been like six years. Also this is a second book in a trilogy and I wonder if it would be necessary to read them in order. If it is, I wonder if I can enjoy regardless...
Monday, February 20, 2012
Found a Poetry blog
I just found a helpful blog about poetry called Poemfarm, particularly this post about white space. I occasionally write poetry in the Wading Pool and that post made me more aware that I can make my poems have a specific look, as well as a specific sound due to its structure. If I want that to be a good thing I have to mind my white space.
Always a good thing to remember people. Mind your white space, mind the shape and flow of what you write cause if you don't keep that in order, things can get kinda messy.
WoR
Always a good thing to remember people. Mind your white space, mind the shape and flow of what you write cause if you don't keep that in order, things can get kinda messy.
WoR
Saturday, February 11, 2012
If I May?
I'd like to give you a little quick advice in this new segment to the blog. It's writing advice from an amateur. Writing takes time. I mean, it takes a lot of time and a lot of patience and a lot of strength. If there ever are any sure things in life, writing isn't one of them. I'm finding not all writers paths are the same and when you set your mind on a certain path most likely it won't look the way you envisioned. There are stories of people who never thought they'd be big that gain fame, fortune, and/or critical acclaim. Others who were expected to be big that ended up flouncing (that is if that's a word and I'm using it correctly). I needed encouraging so I wrote this as much for me as I did for you guys. So, keep your head up if things aren't going your way and that goes for anything not just things that are suppose to be impossible, like writing as a viable career. Life is hard and complicated; sometimes the best thing you can do to remedy that is to not be so hard on yourself. Give yourself a break.
P.s. Sorry about the formatting. I'm posting with something (technologywise) I'm a little embarrassed to be using. Not only that, I feel guilty cause my little lotech (not the name of it) has been pretty loyal to me. As you can see, I'm posting, kind of funkily.
P.s. Sorry about the formatting. I'm posting with something (technologywise) I'm a little embarrassed to be using. Not only that, I feel guilty cause my little lotech (not the name of it) has been pretty loyal to me. As you can see, I'm posting, kind of funkily.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
And Then The Siren Sung F*ck
[Director's/Producer's cut:
The line that follows was written in place of immediate memory in the unpublished draft.]
Broadripple is burning by margot and the nuclear so and sos
I'm not an audiophile. Audiophiles are cool people with vinyls on shelves, in boxes, in chests, in safes? that can tell you what band did what when, with what track where, etc. etc., forever and always, world without end. I'm most likely no good at any of that. I've never even seen a vinyl let alone have a collection. But I do like music (and I hope that's okay with the audiophiles out there, if it's not I don't know the process by which I'm suppose the clear the matter with them). I listen to music all the time, haphazardly and recklessly, with no particular regimen to speak of. I listen to just about everything without bias, and love most everything within their contexts. I said all that to circumnavigate to a point about my being attracted to random musics, hooking up with the music, and eventually loving it for the tiniest incidental reasons. For instance the song that inspired this post is "Broadripple is Burning" by Margot and the nuclear so and sos (I wrote about this discovery elsewhere). I discovered this song and what hooked me to it is the surprise I felt listening to profanity comprised in the folky type music. There's one particular "f*ck" I believe mid-song that brought on a small rush of excitement and made my face O with surprise (and a bit of glee). It made me wonder whether I was too old (and profane myself) to get excited about a curse and I decided I wasn't. I hope I'm never too old or jaded to enjoy a lofty expletive now and again.
The line that follows was written in place of immediate memory in the unpublished draft.]
Broadripple is burning by margot and the nuclear so and sos
P'eww Plant
[Director's Cut 12/26/12:
via NatGeo:
]
New "Porta Potty" Flower Discovered
via NatGeo:
A big, weird flower.
It smells even worst than it looks.
 |
| Amorphophallus perrieri or "Porta Potty" plant, National Geographic |
]
New "Porta Potty" Flower Discovered
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
The Shiz on the Shorts: "The Moonlit Mind: A Tale of Suspense"
"The Moonlit Mind: A Tale of Suspense" by Dean Koontz
[Again no link. Purchased this on Amazon. So to keep from having to repeat this mantra, some of the shorts I gots for you have no link to read, most likely, cause they're in a virtual cloud somewhere.]
"The Moonlit Mind" is a novella written in true Dean Koontz fashion. There's suspense, quiet prose, ghostly and at times, it even leaks over into ghastly. Also, Koontz's prose are great, which I love. He's always a fun read.
The story is about a young boy called Crispin. He's on the run from God-knows-what; whomever it is, is at least semiomniscient and is surely fully ominous. Crispin is only twelve years old and he's been on his own for three years now, living off the finds of his companion, a mixed breed stray dog he named Harley.
He had not always been on the street. Before his three year stint as a young vagrant, Crispin lived in the lap of luxury with his two younger siblings and a more than negligent mother. The children lived in the palatial home of their mother's latest acquisition, a wealthy man, Giles, whose home was only second in size to the Pendleton hotel across the street. But after a while of living in their mother's husband's mansion, Theron Hall, Crispin starts to feel like Giles and Theron were less acquisitions gained by his mother's golddigging wiles and more maleficent entities that had called and captured them for only God-knows-what.
Crispin finds himself in a struggle against evil. His mother can't be trusted and he is the oldest of his siblings. His situation is dire and he seems to be all alone in this fight. At the age of nine, Crispin is forced to face a mirror, as his merit is tested. He has to learn if he as the strength of will to do what is right ...
"The Moonlit Mind" is the opening act to Koontz's novel 77 Shadow Street, a novel about the Pendleton Hotel and the mysteries contained within it's walls.
(Amazon Link: "The Moonlit Mind: A Tale of Suspense")
[Edit/delete: "prose always edge on being beautiful", "not-quite lyrical masterpieces and" These two lines came off, at least in my eyes, as condescending and I didn't mean it that way. I was thinking about this last night and decided they had to be rectified in some way. Just deleting them would have been too easy, so this compromise. Also grammatically I'm an idiot. I'm actually having to work at thinking of prose, owed to the -se in prose, as a singular noun. But that's neither here nor there.]
[Again no link. Purchased this on Amazon. So to keep from having to repeat this mantra, some of the shorts I gots for you have no link to read, most likely, cause they're in a virtual cloud somewhere.]
"The Moonlit Mind" is a novella written in true Dean Koontz fashion. There's suspense, quiet prose, ghostly and at times, it even leaks over into ghastly. Also, Koontz's prose are great, which I love. He's always a fun read.
The story is about a young boy called Crispin. He's on the run from God-knows-what; whomever it is, is at least semiomniscient and is surely fully ominous. Crispin is only twelve years old and he's been on his own for three years now, living off the finds of his companion, a mixed breed stray dog he named Harley.
He had not always been on the street. Before his three year stint as a young vagrant, Crispin lived in the lap of luxury with his two younger siblings and a more than negligent mother. The children lived in the palatial home of their mother's latest acquisition, a wealthy man, Giles, whose home was only second in size to the Pendleton hotel across the street. But after a while of living in their mother's husband's mansion, Theron Hall, Crispin starts to feel like Giles and Theron were less acquisitions gained by his mother's golddigging wiles and more maleficent entities that had called and captured them for only God-knows-what.
Crispin finds himself in a struggle against evil. His mother can't be trusted and he is the oldest of his siblings. His situation is dire and he seems to be all alone in this fight. At the age of nine, Crispin is forced to face a mirror, as his merit is tested. He has to learn if he as the strength of will to do what is right ...
"The Moonlit Mind" is the opening act to Koontz's novel 77 Shadow Street, a novel about the Pendleton Hotel and the mysteries contained within it's walls.
(Amazon Link: "The Moonlit Mind: A Tale of Suspense")
[Edit/delete: "prose always edge on being beautiful", "not-quite lyrical masterpieces and" These two lines came off, at least in my eyes, as condescending and I didn't mean it that way. I was thinking about this last night and decided they had to be rectified in some way. Just deleting them would have been too easy, so this compromise. Also grammatically I'm an idiot. I'm actually having to work at thinking of prose, owed to the -se in prose, as a singular noun. But that's neither here nor there.]
Thursday, February 2, 2012
The Shiz on the Shorts: "Voluntary Committal"
"Voluntary Committal" by Joe Hill, 20th Century Ghosts
[Sorry. I don't have a link for this story--I bought it, as a single, from Google ebooks.]
I believe "Voluntary Committal" is a bit of a coming of age story by Joe Hill. I read a story earlier by him that was definitely coming of age. I guess "Voluntary Committal" reads more like an H.P. Lovecraft/Poe confessional than that particular story.
The story belongs to three characters: Eddie Prior, Morris, and Nolan. Nolan is the narrator of the story. Due to the disappearance of his younger brother from a mental health institution, his brother's home, Nolan is now revisiting old memories, memories he worked hard to bury under years of repression and denial. They are now floating to the surface like bodies in shallow graves on low lying land. The bad thing about it is the memories are unresolved, live, like scabs pealed too early.
In his memories, Nolan is a mentally and emotionally confused, maybe even a little stunted in both respects, adolescent. Which for adolescents, in a lot of cases, is really redundant. He lives in a home with an average, if a bit preoccupied, mother; a father whom may actually have some milder form of aspergers; and a definitely autistic brother, Morris.
Morris is a special person and not just because of the autism. He likes to build things, castles and other structures. First, he picked up the hobby with wax paper cups, then he quickly graduated to cardboard box forts and castles. This seems like an innocent enough hobby for one such as Morris, but Nolan, at least in the little Jiminy Cricket voice that sits in the back of his mind, suspects there's something not quite right with Morris's constructions.
The last puzzle piece to this story is Nolan's troubled friend Eddie Prior, a schoolyard bully, black hole, and all around lost soul*. Being without an identity, it didn't take much for Nolan to fall prey to Eddie Prior's event horizon. Eddie Prior soon gets Nolan into the kind of trouble people like Prior are always on the cusp of getting into by towing the line between misdemeanor and murder. After the incident, Nolan is exposed to Eddie's true colors and then is able to see that Eddie Prior maybe more than a schoolyard bully.
Luckily for Nolan, his little brother wants to help him out of this life draining "friendship". The event that follows reveals to Nolan just how special his brother is.
It's a great story. It somewhat shows the nuanced dynamic in a non-too-typical family and the push-n-pull of an unhealthy adolescent friendship.
The writing is very good and the story at it's climax is incredibly intense. "Voluntary Committal" is an enjoyable read.
[Edit/add: If you wanted to purchase collection or story, here's a link to the single story on in Google ebooks and here's a link to the collection on Amazon. (That's just the way I purchased them for no particular reason. You should do what suits you best though.)]
[Sorry. I don't have a link for this story--I bought it, as a single, from Google ebooks.]
I believe "Voluntary Committal" is a bit of a coming of age story by Joe Hill. I read a story earlier by him that was definitely coming of age. I guess "Voluntary Committal" reads more like an H.P. Lovecraft/Poe confessional than that particular story.
The story belongs to three characters: Eddie Prior, Morris, and Nolan. Nolan is the narrator of the story. Due to the disappearance of his younger brother from a mental health institution, his brother's home, Nolan is now revisiting old memories, memories he worked hard to bury under years of repression and denial. They are now floating to the surface like bodies in shallow graves on low lying land. The bad thing about it is the memories are unresolved, live, like scabs pealed too early.
In his memories, Nolan is a mentally and emotionally confused, maybe even a little stunted in both respects, adolescent. Which for adolescents, in a lot of cases, is really redundant. He lives in a home with an average, if a bit preoccupied, mother; a father whom may actually have some milder form of aspergers; and a definitely autistic brother, Morris.
Morris is a special person and not just because of the autism. He likes to build things, castles and other structures. First, he picked up the hobby with wax paper cups, then he quickly graduated to cardboard box forts and castles. This seems like an innocent enough hobby for one such as Morris, but Nolan, at least in the little Jiminy Cricket voice that sits in the back of his mind, suspects there's something not quite right with Morris's constructions.
The last puzzle piece to this story is Nolan's troubled friend Eddie Prior, a schoolyard bully, black hole, and all around lost soul*. Being without an identity, it didn't take much for Nolan to fall prey to Eddie Prior's event horizon. Eddie Prior soon gets Nolan into the kind of trouble people like Prior are always on the cusp of getting into by towing the line between misdemeanor and murder. After the incident, Nolan is exposed to Eddie's true colors and then is able to see that Eddie Prior maybe more than a schoolyard bully.
Luckily for Nolan, his little brother wants to help him out of this life draining "friendship". The event that follows reveals to Nolan just how special his brother is.
It's a great story. It somewhat shows the nuanced dynamic in a non-too-typical family and the push-n-pull of an unhealthy adolescent friendship.
The writing is very good and the story at it's climax is incredibly intense. "Voluntary Committal" is an enjoyable read.
[Edit/add: If you wanted to purchase collection or story, here's a link to the single story on in Google ebooks and here's a link to the collection on Amazon. (That's just the way I purchased them for no particular reason. You should do what suits you best though.)]
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