February 14, 2007
today's links
Tivo Shortcut Tips [GeekSugar]
Top Web 2.0 Search Engines [OEDb]
Great Poems About Sex [Slate]
The Genius of Dick Cavett [Slate]
February 07, 2007
Crash Course
Next weekend I will be immersed in nine hours of theater when I attend performances of The Coast of Utopia. The trilogy explores a group of friends who come of age under the Tsarist autocracy of Nicholas I. Playwright Tom Stoppard says it's not necessary to do any pre-theater study, but I'd like to have a fighting chance of taking in as much as I can when I actually attend the plays. Of course, I've had the tickets for some time but only now am I doing any reading.
Stoppard appears in tonight's Charlie Rose. Check your local PBS station for listings - the episode airs here at 12:30 a.m.
The official website for the plays also features some brief notes, and the current issue of the Lincoln Center Theater Review features a conversation with Stoppard as well as a few essays.
At some point I'd picked up a book on Russian history, but I've misplaced it during the move. It will suffice as post-theater reading.
March 23, 2006
Poetry Reading: Sharon Olds
Very late notice. Sharon Olds reads tonight at 7 p.m. at Woodward Academy's Richardson Fine Arts Center (main campus - College Park). The event is free, and the public is welcome.
March 02, 2006
Coinage
moi gras (mwä grä’): n. Any occasion when one feels particularly fat, such as when one cannot fit into a favorite pair of pants, or when a previously cute top currently gives one the appearance of a stuffed sausage. Moi gras often leads to declarations of a return to the gym and/or the swearing off of desserts or other calorie-laden foods. In the alternative, moi gras can lead to binge-eating during particular circumstances such as vacations, breakups, or hanging out with girlfriends, or on condition of dieting immediately after such eating. In such cases as these, moi gras may be accompanied by vin gras, the heavy intake of wine or other alcohol.
[French : moi, me + gras, fat]
December 28, 2005
SF&F Notes
The Magician - "Thirty years before Harry Potter, Ursula Le Guin was writing novels about a school for wizards. As well as good and evil, her fantasy worlds also address issues of race and gender" [The Guardian]
The Shared Jargon of SF [Languagehat via sstrader]
November 21, 2005
15,125 words
What I did instead of writing this weekend:
Laundry.
Folding laundry.
Hanging out and staying up late with friends.
Finding used cds & music dvds: Michel Gondry's short works, INXS videos, Sigur Ros, Liz Phair, French 60s pop, Gillian Welch, The Cars Are Made of Stars.
Episodes of Battlestar Galactica.
Maintaining peace between three cats, occasionally using the spray-bottle method as reinforcement.
Brunch: El Gato Bizco makes awesome pancakes. The Flying Biscuit is excellent as usual.
Cleaning the kitchen.
Washing dishes.
Buying drawer trays and organizing the junk drawer. It's really a beautiful thing. I kept opening and closing the drawer, marveling in delight.
Getting some new socks.
Talking to my sisters.
Reading the paper.
Getting sick - a tickle in the back of my throat so far.
However, there's still time, provided I write at least 4k a day. (Right, deano?)
November 18, 2005
Boxes
In an office
on a screen
in a browser
through a webcam
I watch
the baby panda
sleeping in his cage.
November 17, 2005
10,847 words
I should probably consult Nanowrimo's message board that's called "I hate myself and I want to die."
November 07, 2005
2108 words
That's my Nanowrimo total since midnight last Monday. Since then, I've been sleeping, driven up to Athens to have dinner with rawbrick who was passing through on assignment, attended an art show by local artist Deb Davis and a performance by Hope for a Golden Summer (including Deb, one of the band members). Saturday involved housework - it says something that I will do laundry and wash dishes and sweep and take out the trash to avoid sitting down and writing. Oh yes, lots of silly internet quizzes and blogging when I should be working on my novel. Late Saturday involved stopping by a housewarming party in Cabbagetown, where I ran into Scott and Lisa. Scott says very funny things when he's had a few drinks. Met lots of wonderful people and I was able to contribute my knowledge of obscure pop song lyrics ("You ain't seen the best of me yet / Give me time I'll make you forget the rest").
I've set up my older PC in the bedroom so I can write there as well. I've got an AlphaSmart so I can write in coffee shops if I feel like it. I'm keeping a steno pad nearby, which came in handy when I woke up late Sunday morning and had an idea for a complete plot and storyline, which has nothing to do with what I seem to be writing so far. Perhaps I can merge it all together?
Instead of writing much last night, I watched the premiere of Boondocks on Adult Swim, called Earthlink and went through a number of steps on my new-ish PC, only for Victor, the help rep, to tell me that my modem driver needs to be rebuilt. So I will probably do that tonight, after making up my session with my therapist tonight. I got so caught up reading for my book group that I forgot I had an appointment immediately before. Gah.
Today and last week were research requests from Hades. I rather dislike it when people sit on their research for months, then suddenly ask you to work on their stuff overnight at last minute's notice. And being a procrastinator-type myself, I understand why it happens but yet I remain most seriously displeased. I am a librarian, not a research wench, damnit.
I think it's time for another cup of coffee.
Austen in the eyes of Literary Darwinists
A new view on Pride and Prejudice, as an example of this form of criticism:
...[F]or an emerging school of literary criticism known as Literary Darwinism, the novel is significant for different reasons. Just as Charles Darwin studied animals to discover the patterns behind their development, Literary Darwinists read books in search of innate patterns of human behavior: child bearing and rearing, efforts to acquire resources (money, property, influence) and competition and cooperation within families and communities. They say that it's impossible to fully appreciate and understand a literary text unless you keep in mind that humans behave in certain universal ways and do so because those behaviors are hard-wired into us. For them, the most effective and truest works of literature are those that reference or exemplify these basic facts.
The Literary Darwinists [NYT Magazine]
October 07, 2005
Next Month: My Stint as a Hack Writer
And how would that be different from my usual blog posts, you ask?
This time around, I have a writing partner. We haven't exactly worked out the details of the partnership, but it will involve encouragement, competitive comparisons of word count, perhaps even forced readings of each other's material. Yikes.
August 15, 2005
Language Mapping
Color Code is a full-color portrait of the English language.The artwork is an interactive map of more than 33,000 words. Each word has been assigned a color based on the average color of images found by a search engine. The words are then grouped by meaning. The resulting patterns form an atlas of our lexicon.
--Martin Wattenberg
August 09, 2005
love is the every only god
love is the every only god
who spoke this earth so glad and big
even a thing all small and sad
man may his mighty briefness dig
for love beginning means return
seas who could sing so deep and strong
on queerying wave will whitely yearn
from each last shore and come home young
so truly perfectly the skys
by merciful love whispered were,
completes its brightness with your eyes
any illimitable star
-E.E. Cummings
August 04, 2005
Bridget Jones, at a premium
Well crappity crap. I checked The Independent to see today's newly-returned Bridget Jones column from Helen Fielding. However, it's for paid subscribers. I'm not really surprised, but I am disappointed. I wonder how many subscribers they'll get who want to read Bridget every week?
August 02, 2005
Bridget Jones returns
Helen Fielding: She's back - (hurrah!) - Bridget will be back with her observations on the pages of The Independent starting Thursday, August 4.
July 28, 2005
Misreadings
I find it interesting and frustrating that only now do more people (U.S. citizens, that is) realize that the "war on terror" hasn't resulted in "mission accomplished." Where was this skepticism back when links between Saddam and 9/11 were scattered around like confetti?
The following links cover the administration's choosing of new choice phrases such as the "global struggle against violent extremism" instead of the "global war on terror." When the language you're using isn't working - to market your product, to advocate your policy - just change it. Reframe the debate, redefine the reality. Black is the new black, extremists are the new terrorists.
Shifting Language: Trading Terrorism for Extremism [NPR]
U.S. Officials Retool Slogan for Terror War [NYT]
June 29, 2005
The Pot and the Kettle
I haven't lost my clout, Bush says [Seattle Times] Trailing the play on this news. Oh the layers of absurdity:
In what has become a monthly session with reporters, Bush said an Amnesty International report condemning the U.S. treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was "absurd.""It seemed to me they based some of their decisions on the word of - and the allegations - by people who were held in detention, people who hate America, people that had been trained in some instances to disassemble - that means not tell the truth," Bush said. He appeared to have intended to use the word "dissemble." [Emphasis added]
Bush disassembles English language, again [BoingBoing]
This isn't amusing - it's depressing.
June 02, 2005
Shards!
List of fictional curse words [Wikipedia]
Devoid of Content [NYT] Suitably apropos is a recent guest op-ed by Stanley Fish, in which he describes assigning his students to invent their own language.
I once did a project in which I discussed how several fantasy/sci-fi authors introduced their readers to "foreign" words - language that was foreign to the reader, and usually to one of the characters. I was interested in studying how the authors went about revealing the nature and function of such words in the course of the narrative.
March 31, 2005
Sesquicentennial: Charlotte Brontė
I had to look up the spelling for that one, and found, to my surprise, that I'd gotten it right. I'm not sure one can say "Happy Sesquicentennial, Charlotte!" because today marks the 150th anniversary of her death. (That's been a big subject here of late on the Armoire. We've gotten a bit Victorian in our fascination, perhaps, but our mindset ought to improve with the onset of Spring. So fear not, lads and lassies, Lady C. shall conquer this bleak mood.)
Some links:
Charlotte Brontė: An Overview [Victorian Web]
Apparently there's a cult of Charlotte; I shouldn't be surprised, nor should I be one to cast stones, given my affection for Austen. This commentary was too emphatic and dishy to pass up:
Reader, I shagged him In the Books section of The Guardian, reviewer Tanya Gold declares her mission:
As the 150th anniversary of her death on March 31 1855 approaches, it is time to rescue Charlotte Brontė. She has been chained, weeping, to a radiator in the Haworth Parsonage, Yorkshire, for too long. Enough of [Elizabeth] Gaskell's fake miserabilia. Enough of the Brontė industry's veneration of coffins, bonnets and tuberculosis. It is time to exhume the real Charlotte - filthy bitch, grandmother of chick-lit, and friend.Brontė never much cared for Jane Austen. Here are some comments she made in regard to Austen's work. More on this in a moment.
Brontė's Jane Eyre was one of the first literary works that I owned as a kid; I still have my copy, in fact. The librarian I volunteered for at school gave me a gift certificate to Barnes & Noble and I was fully prepared to blow it on a few copies of paperbacks from the Windswept series. (Remember those, girls? The series of supernatural mystery/teen romance novels? Like Harlequin for girls. And yep, I also read the Sweet Dreams series, the Sweet Valley High books, Judy Blume and Beverly Cleary. I had to hide all this from my mother, though. I was supposed to be dutiful daughter/super-student with no thoughts of a social life with friends, let alone romantic notions. Really, how silly of me to think that. Although had she intervened, maybe I'd not have filled my head with unrealistic expectations about relationships...or I could have turned out the same anyway.) Anyway...
I did not get the Windswept books. At my mother's "suggestion" I was to choose between two works: Jane Eyre or Anne of Green Gables. Eventually, I did read the Anne books, and I loved them, but at the time I preferred the Gothic cover illustration of Jane Eyre, Romantic Heroine, to the freckled, red-headed cute-but-still-homely Anne Shirley. So grudgingly I went with Jane Eyre, and my parents paid the difference between what the certificate covered and the book's cover price.
I read the book. I loved it. (Yes, Mother, you were right. This was the better book to choose.) I identified with the young girl to whom everybody was most unkind and not the least bit understanding. (Gee, can't imagine why.) But although I enjoyed Jane Eyre - it was thrilling and satisfying, so wonderfully Gothic and romantic, so remote from my everyday life - Brontė's work doesn't hold for me the same deep regard that I feel for Jane Austen's novels. For the most part, her works are "domestic" adventures, not Gothic ones, but there is so much depth in these seemingly shallow stories about society. There is romance, drama, comedy, tragedy, delicious irony and sly wit - it is all there if you are willing to see beyond the surface. Austen is such a keen observer of people; even minor characters come to life. Ignore that these are period settings; the lives of her characters have such modern sensibilities that they can be recognized in our own lives today.
Hmmm. A post about Charlotte Brontė has veered off into a discussion of her arch-rival. Enough of my selling you on these authors. I haven't tried to disguise my favorite, but both are worth reading, if you are so inclined.
March 21, 2005
Hoist By One's Own Petard
I knew the figurative meaning of this - to be done in through your own design or caught in a trap of your own making - but not the literal meaning. For some reason I thought a petard was a sword, but then I couldn't work out how "hoist" figured in. To lift oneself by one's sword? Huh? I think in my mind I must have mixed up the expression with to fall on the sword, which has more to do with sacrificing oneself for the sake of others. I guess the modern equivalent would be to take a bullet for someone.
Turns out a petard is a medieval-era incendiary device - a bomb. So to be hoisted by one's own petard is to be thrown, or lifted, by one's own bomb - to be blown up. Note that the name for this device comes from the French and also refers to a different sort of explosion: "a loud discharge of intestinal gas."
Falling on one's sword is a messy business, but there's a sense of nobility. In a way, it relates to that samurai business of hara-kiri.
To be hoist by one's own petard, however, aptly captures the lack of dignity and pain that is inherent in being stuck in a mess of one's own making.
What's a petard, as in "hoist by his own ..."? [The Straight Dope, Chicago Reader]
hoist by one's own petard [The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy]
March 17, 2005
Andre Norton
Science fiction author Andre Norton dies
[AP via Kansas City Star][Bugmenot for login/pwd]
I've only read a few of her novels, but I liked them very much. (I have an irrational hangup of committing to a whole universe of novels, never mind that I already do this with certain authors.) I didn't know she'd been a librarian, too.
February 16, 2005
Time is
Too slow for those who wait,
Too swift for those who fear,
Too long for those who grieve,
Too short for those who rejoice;
But for those who love,
Time is eternity.
-Henry Van Dyke (1852-1933)
February 04, 2005
The Reluctant Consumer
My book group's next selection is Tom Wolfe's I Am Charlotte Simmons. It's checked out or on hold at the library. (Through my connections, I've checked several library systems and still no luck.) Used copies aren't available yet at the usual bookshops I haunt. So I'm stuck and had to buy it last night.
I'm trying to keep an open mind about the novel, but I can't help thinking it's going to be an old man's hysterical rant about hypersexed youth. I might take Wolfe more seriously if he weren't so consumed with maintaining his image, wearing a white suit everywhere he goes.
Right now Border's has it for 50% off, meaning that the book is around $15. I made a deal with myself to buy something I really wanted, to make up for having to buy the Wolfe book. (Never mind that there is much media at home, awaiting further exploration.) After a bit of aisle-roaming, I picked up an album by The Long Winters that a friend highly recommended: The Worst You Can Do Is Harm. If I have to give Tom Wolfe his royalties, I can at least give royalties to someone I want to support. Border's isn't the most affordable place for CDs, but the album was more reasonably priced than some of the better-known stuff. (Nope, still not gonna pay $20 for The Life Aquatic soundtrack.)
Happy Friday.
The Reluctant Consumer
My book group's next selection is Tom Wolfe's I Am Charlotte Simmons. It's checked out or on hold at the library. (Through my connections, I've checked several library systems and still no luck.) Used copies aren't available yet at the usual bookshops I haunt. So I'm stuck and had to buy it last night.
I'm trying to keep an open mind about the novel, but I can't help thinking it's going to be an old man's hysterical rant about hypersexed youth. I might take Wolfe more seriously if he weren't so consumed with maintaining his image, wearing a white suit everywhere he goes.
Right now Border's has it for 50% off, meaning that the book is around $15. I made a deal with myself to buy something I really wanted, to make up for having to buy the Wolfe book. (Never mind that there is much media at home, awaiting further exploration.) After a bit of aisle-roaming, I picked up an album by The Long Winters that a friend highly recommended: The Worst You Can Do Is Harm. If I have to give Tom Wolfe his royalties, I can at least give royalties to someone I want to support. Border's isn't the most affordable place for CDs, but the album was more reasonably priced than some of the better-known stuff. (Nope, still not gonna pay $20 for The Life Aquatic soundtrack.)
Happy Friday.
January 25, 2005
somewhere i have never travelled
I love e. e. cummings. This poem came to mind today. Something tender and achingly delicate in the heart of winter.
'somewhere i have never travelled'somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond
any experience, your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too nearyour slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully, mysteriously) her first roseor if your wish be to close me, i and
my life will shut very beautifully, suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility: whose texture
compels me with the colour of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens; only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands-- e. e. cummings
January 09, 2005
Epigraph
I've been out of town for a few days. More on that later. On one of my jaunts I found a used copy of Some Words of Jane Austen by Stuart M. Tave (University of Chicago Press, 1973). I'm only a few pages in, but I like it so far. Tave opens his book with two epigraphs:
The most beautiful lives, in my opinion, are those which conform to the common and human model, with order, but without miracle and without extravagant behavior.
-Montaigne, "Of Experience"If one wants uncommon experiences, a little renunciation, a little performance of duty, will give one far more unusual sensations than all the fine free passion in the universe.
-The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell
While these quotations appear before a collection of essays about the works of Jane Austen, maybe it's also because of the new year that I find these words so compelling. I've actually scrawled an over-ambitious list of resolutions. (No. 1: No more cropped pants. EVER!)
Synonyms for resolution include:
definition: answer
syn.: analysis, assertion, band-aid, breakdown, call, conclusion, decision, declaration, determination, dissection, elucidation, end, exposition, finding, interpretation, judgment, motion, nod, outcome, pay dirt, presentation, proposal, proposition, quick fix, recitation, recommendation, resolve, settlement, solution, solving, sorting out, ticket, unraveling, upshot, verdict, working outdefinition: determination
syn.: aim, boldness, constancy, courage, dauntlessness, decidedness, decision, declaration, dedication, determination, doggedness, earnestness, energy, firmness, fixed purpose, fortitude, guts, heart, immovability, intent, intention, judgment, mettle, moxie, obstinacy, perseverance, pluck, purpose, purposefulness, purposiveness, relentlessness, resoluteness, resolve, settlement, sincerity, spirit, spunk, staunchness, staying power, steadfastness, stubbornness, tenacity, verdict, will, willpower
Some of these are preferable to others, such as determination, fixed purpose, or courage. Others seem to have less lasting effects: band-aid or quick fix. Some seem to convey compromise or an element of chance: settlement, sorting out, working out, upshot. Other words speak more to me about the difficulty of maintaining one's resolve, of hanging on to one's decision, if need be, by the skin of one's teeth: doggedness, steadfastness, perseverance, tenacity, fortitude.
It's early yet in the year. No need to drive myself so that I abandon my goals as lost causes, as reason for disappointment or heartbreak. If I can merely hold fast, if I can remain fixed of purpose, then sometimes that will be enough. If. If. If.
December 04, 2004
Moving Notice & Other Pronouncements
I'm going to deactivate comments temporarily, for several reasons:
1. Fucking Comment Spam. I wish MT had a better interface for deleting comments. I wish MT had a button that let you zap and electrocute the asses that do this for a living.
2. Moving This Weekend (12/3-12/4). I will most likely move the site THIS weekend, meaning that the URL www.ladycrumpet.com may not seem to work for a heart-clutching 24-48 hours to possibly longer (lord, I hope not). So DO NOT PANIC, dear handful of regulars. I shall return. You can find me at www.ladycrumpet.ORG while we all wait for the .COM address to finish propagating. Of course this notice might have been more helpful a few days ago.
2a. Still MT for Now. No, I don't want to hear about why I should move to a different platform. I've installed and re-installed Movable Type too many times in the past ten days to contemplate something else at this point, even though it would probably mean the restoration of my sanity. But I have gone from knowing squat about MySQL to setting up databases, dumping and importing them, and also using SSH to work basic Unix commands, including removing whole directories with stuff still in them. *gasp* Those of you with real computer skills can just quit laughing now. Pretty please. I find that it helps to work in small chunks of time on discrete tasks. That sometimes one needs to step away in order for the simpler solution or idea to present itself.
2b. All By Myself, If I Do Say So...Myself. I did this practically on my own, without much input from certain people who promised to help and then jilted me once I joined their recommended host and ran off with their referral bounty, leaving me, after ugly bouts of self-pity, to SUCK IT and DO IT MYSELF. That's ok - I found the anonymous love through the support forums at DreamHost and Movable Type. This time I have a binder, with tabs, containing manuals and copious notes. This time I haven't rushed anything. Well, when I did, I made mistakes and had to figure them out and fix them. It didn't kill me, so I am stronger, I guess.
2b. Favorite New Phrase: "Suck it" - thanks to LTR for sharing this most useful sordid expression - and for not directing it at me. Sort of a variation on "suck it up" but slightly more crude and potent, which so appeals to my inner cretin.
2c. Bad Form. If I'm overdosing on the ALL CAPS and swearing a bit too freely, it's because I'm a little loopy being up so early, being unable to sleep. Also I've been reading John Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany, whose title character speaks in ALL CAPS, ALL THE DAMN TIME. I'm trying to decide if I want to bother finishing the book. I am just not that excited about it, and it's not like I don't have things I want to read, like returning to Jonathan Strange.
3. Oh Well. There was going to be another point, but I forgot what. Maybe it was one of the above.
November 07, 2004
Antickes and Frets
Or, "A Work of Halloween Fiction" by Susanna Clarke, who's currently promoting her book, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. It was published last week in the op-ed section of the NYT, but I'm only now getting around to posting the link. Enjoy.
Antickes and Frets [NYT] [Bugmenot]
October 20, 2004
The Paperback Revolution
From the site description:
Welcome to The Paperback Revolution, an online exploration of the history of paperback books.From the 1935 launch of Britain's Penguin until 1960 the year in which dollar sales from paperback books first surpassed those of hardcovers the paperback revolutionized the readership, marketing, distribution, circulation, and reception of books and reading in the United States, Canada, and many other nations. This website begins an investigation into this history with the dual aim of inspiring further interest and research into both paperback history in general and in our local repository, The Edmonton Collection.
Fascinating. Definitely something to explore further.
October 16, 2004
We Don't ♥
I remember the old New York tourism tv and radio ads that featured the still-great "I ♥ NY" logo. There was even a cheesy jingle [RealAudio req.]: "I love New York (What a great vacation!)/ I love New York (What a great vacation!)." The ♥ symbol was translated as "love" - makes sense.
Apparently it's the thing nowadays to say "I heart" this or "I *heart*" that instead of "I love." We even have a movie, I ♥ Huckabees, whose trailer will tell you it should be spoken as "I Heart Huckabees."
What are we, thirteen-year-old girls? Shall we draw circles over our i's instead of dotting them?
I loved the word "snark." Now every Joe and Josie has used it to death (including me). Now it's "I heart." Don't even get me started on the abuse of "vanquish" which apparently is the only thing the stupid half-naked girls on Charmed ever do to their enemies. (I don't watch the show. It just seems that whenever I'm channel-surfing and land on that show, it's "if you mess with me and my sisters I will vanquish you.")
I know language evolves, especially slang. Words like this are identifiers to indicate that you belong or that others don't belong to a particular group. So in this particular example, to say "I heart" is most likely nowadays to show identity with the "hipster" set. The usage says "I am young, I am cool, I am sophisticated yet in touch with the whimsical, I am ironic, I know what's going on" and so on and so forth. That's the point of slang. I should probably embrace it, given that I have a pretty inflated opinion of myself and like to think that I too am "with it" or "in the know." But sometimes I'm just square like that, a cantankerous cow, a knee-jerk contrarian penning yet another useless rant. Or does that make me just another blogger? ;)
The usage is no great crime against humanity. I simply find it irksome, and so I choose not to use the expression. We'll agree to disagree; it's simply a matter of taste, yadda yadda. (Incidentally, a phrase I also cannot stand. But then again, I cared not for Seinfeld.) I suppose it's a reaction to overuse of the word "love" wherein "I love that dress!" expresses something quite different from "I love thee to the depth and breadth and height / My soul can reach...."
And yet, how often do we use the word, in its truest, deepest sense, to tell those whom we love how much they truly mean to us?
October 05, 2004
Yes, it really is Amazing.
Sometimes I'm just an asinine contrarian, the latest example of which is illustrated by The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon. Friends of mine recommended it. It made the rounds in all the right literary circles. It won a Pulitzer. Was this enough for me to finish it in time for my book group? (No.)
Apparently, the churlish pouty cow side of me wanted to resist this book just because of the seeming heaps of hype. Fortunately my better sense prevailed. In the last couple of weeks I decided to commit. I set aside all other bits of reading. I stayed up to read instead of channel surfing and falling asleep to infomercials for videos of wayward college girls. And in a final burst whereupon I simply had to finish the book or die trying, my glorious read came to an end over the weekend at 2:37 Sunday morning.
This isn't a book to read five minutes at a time. It sucks you in, it grabs you by the collar and shakes you, demanding that you pay attention and consult the dictionary if need be, damn it! (When you're thrown a delicious word you've never heard before - say, nystagmus - it's hard not to get all goosey with excitement. That is, if you're the kind of person who longs for their own personal copy of the OED. But even if you're not, the language of this book is full of shivery thrills.)
The book is brimming with the sizzling heady energy of New York. It's like an epic roller coaster as it follows the title characters on their quest for art, love, and life by way of the comic book. One of my favorite chapters was the origin story for Luna Moth, but given that it features a librarian who becomes the embodiment of an ancient goddess and has to save mankind from itself, I guess I'm kind of partial. ;) Breathtaking.
Love love love this book. And if they ever make a movie, Adrien Brody has to be Joe Kavalier. Has to! (Thanks to Mags for the link that gave me the sudden epiphany.)
September 02, 2004
Lady Crumpet, Treasure Huntress
I've been a first-day consumer of late - I just had to buy the new Finn Brothers and Bjork albums as soon as they were released. Fortunately they were priced to move (oftentimes an album is on sale during its first week). Of greater import: I am not at all displeased with my purchases - my feelings in this regard are quite the opposite. Usually I will track down a used copy, but some things simply cannot wait. Or at least that's how I justify it.
So how could I resist the siren's call, the tantalizing invitation to hold, in my own hands, an advance, still shrinkwrapped copy of a novel whose official release is still a week away? A book about which I am now even more than a teensy bit excited, because I have the opportunity to immerse myself in it before meeting the author?
Granted, it's only a week. And I shall be quite preoccupied throughout the long weekend. But the treasure hunter in me is excessively pleased for the opportunity of the chase as well as its successful conclusion. My deepest gratitude to the siren little toy robot who clued me in - and could not himself resist when presented with the fortuitous discovery of a small cache of copies placed innocuously beside other neat stacks of new fiction. A mistake on the part of some clerk, or is some greater magic at work?
September 01, 2004
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
I first learned of this novel from an article in NYT Magazine ("Susanna Clarke's Magic Book" John Hodgman, 8/1/04). It made me curious enough to want to read it. Perhaps even a little excited about it. I wonder if there will be any promotion for it at DragonCon, even though the book is being marketed towards a broader audience (the Harry Potter adult demographic).
A little toy robot told me that the author's U.S. tour begins here in Atlanta.
I've just RSVP'd. And now I'm a teensy bit more excited.
August 27, 2004
Dissecting "War on Terror"
An excellent intervew with linguist George Lakoff. Definitely worth the read. For instance:
You've said that progressives should never use the phrase "war on terror" why?Lakoff also has a forthcoming new book called Don't Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate, currently available for preorder from the publisher, Chelsea Green (and soon to be available on Amazon and elsewhere).There are two reasons for that. Let's start with "terror." Terror is a general state, and it's internal to a person. Terror is not the person we're fighting, the "terrorist." The word terror activates your fear, and fear activates the strict father model, which is what conservatives want. The "war on terror" is not about stopping you from being afraid, it's about making you afraid. [Emphasis added]
Next, "war." How many terrorists are there hundreds? Sure. Thousands? Maybe. Tens of thousands? Probably not. The point is, terrorists are actual people, and relatively small numbers of individuals, considering the size of our country and other countries. It's not a nation-state problem. War is a nation-state problem.
August 17, 2004
Books About Librarians
I'm currently reading The Time Traveler's Wife for my book group. Until I picked it up (there were too many holds on the title at the library, so I had to buy it), I had no idea that one of the main characters is a librarian - at the Newberry in Chicago.
Librarian Career Romances A grad student working on her MLIS presents this site as her online portfolio. The profiled novels date from the 1940s to 1960s, with examples of cover illustrations and brief excerpts. Titles include Kitsy Babcock, Library Assistant and The Loveliest Librarian. From the latter: "The light changed, and Katie walked briskly across the main street. Decidedly beautiful, Katie carried with her that continued air that lovely girls often do. Katherine Anne Dugan had long ago realized that being pretty helped her to be a better librarian, actually stimulating interest in learning and reading."
Finally, books that speak to me and my place in the profession! Can Lady Crumpet, Law Librarian be far behind? On the other extreme...
Librarians in Pornography A survey of "hard core pornographic paperback novels [which] covers 49 books published between 1978 and 1988." Some summaries are available, with brief notes as to the stereotypes. Unsurprisingly, the language is quite explicit. Memepool notes: "When a librarian encounters pornographic novels about librarians, one can only expect a catalog of pornographic novels about librarians will soon follow." [via randomness]
Wired takes a stand on capitalization
According to Tony Long, Wired News' copy chief:
Effective with this sentence, Wired News will no longer capitalize the "I" in internet.At the same time, Web becomes web and Net becomes net.
True believers are fond of capitalizing words, whether they be marketers or political junkies or, in this case, techies. If It's Capitalized, It Must Be Important....
It's Just the 'internet' Now [Wired]
August 13, 2004
Azar Nafisi at the Atlanta History Center
Attended a lecture Tuesday night given by Ms. Nafisi, the author of Reading Lolita in Tehran. It was fairly broad in scope, for a more general audience. (She had given a lecture to the NY chapter of the Jane Austen Society of North America. I'm sorry to have missed that, as it was said to have been quite good.)
Some of her points (paraphrased): Reading allows us to participate in the "republic of the imagination." The importance of being curious, of seeking knowledge through reading - Alice in Wonderland being an excellent example of literary criticism, of how to be a curious reader. Literature, words as a vehicle for memory. How we crave the things or experiences we are denied - moreover, we desire those things which represent the highest achievements of humanity, particularly when we are most deprived of our humanity. So reading and meeting in secret to discuss Nabokov, Henry James, and Jane Austen, among other authors, was a way of remaining in touch with the world outside, of keeping one's spirits alive. Culture isn't what the state dictates - it is what people think, the books they read, the movies they see, the films they watch, the music they listen to, the discussions they have - even if these things must be done in secret and at great peril.
Nafisi meant high culture when she refers to "culture" - at one point she made a small dig at the Da Vinci Code, which was a somewhat risky move given that the book is such a bestseller here in the U.S. Her point was that reading is not, should not be, mere escapism or entertainment. Reading is a way to step outside of oneself, to explore other ways of seeing the world, even (perhaps especially) when doing so puts you, as a reader, at the risk of being uncomfortable. Reading is a way to fulfill and yet encourage the exploration for knowledge. On the drive home we talked about this - reading is escapism if you get exactly what you expected or wanted out of the book. I read Da Vinci Code and it was diverting, but no more - in other words, about what I expected to get out of it. I read it for my book group, and we had selected it because we just wanted something fun and not too difficult to get into over the holidays.
The lecture was around an hour, with a brief Q&A afterwards. I would have liked to hear more specific discussion about works of literature, but this wasn't the right opportunity for that. I was especially pleased, and surprised, to see the images Nafisi talks about in her book. Towards the end of the lecture, on the screen behind her appeared the two pictures of "her girls" - first wearing the black veils and robes that were necessary to wear out in public, and then the image of the young women in the clothes hidden beneath all that black fabric. Some of the women still wore their headscarves, because that was a reflection of their religious devotion, but they were different scarves, of their own choosing - not regulation, apparently. Such a contrast between two realities - in one image, a sober, anonymous group; in the next, smiling, relaxed, distinctive individuals.
Afterwards there was a line for getting our books signed. A camera crew went around getting soundbites from the crowd; fortunately we were able to demur. When I got up to the table, I could have said how much I enjoyed her book and the lecture, how I wish I could have attended her talk on Jane Austen, how I had gotten my book club to read her book and we enjoyed it very much - but no, my mind went blank and I just said "Thank you."
June 25, 2004
Here & There
Tatertot Blue Cheese Casserole [via da*xiang] OMG. I need to attend a party so I can share this, instead of eating the whole dish by myself.
FCKeditor [via rawbrick] An online text editor. Am I the only one with a dirty mind when I see the name?
The Scribbler [via Dru Blood] Another cool online illustration toy.
Readability.info Upload a document or input a URL to generate an analysis of the text according to different scales of measurement. No surprise - this site is fairly easy to read.
June 23, 2004
Happiness, Overrated?
Against Happiness [Jim Holt, The Way We Live Now, NYT Magazine, 6/20/04] Is happiness all it's cracked up to be? The essay comments on findings reported in the May issue of Psychological Science: in laymen's terms, that "Sad people are nice. Angry people are nasty. And, oddly enough, happy people tend to be nasty, too." A hypothesis proposes that happy people's happy attitudes "[reduce] the motivation for analytical thought." Which may explain why I sometimes trod on people's feelings and not realize it until they tell me. IF they tell me.
Another passage that I found interesting:
There is one bit of the world that happy people do see in an irrationally rosy light: themselves. As the British psychologist Richard P. Bentall has observed, ''There is consistent evidence that happy people overestimate their control over environmental events (often to the point of perceiving completely random events as subject to their will), give unrealistically positive evaluations of their own achievements, believe that others share their unrealistic opinions about themselves and show a general lack of evenhandedness when comparing themselves to others.'' Indeed, Bentall has proposed that happiness be classified as a psychiatric disorder.
I'm still reading The Liar's Club by Mary Karr, my book club selection from last month. In her memoir Karr explains how people in her hometown acknowledged other people's problems:
This kind of bold-faced ugliness was common to us. The theory behind it held that not mentioning a painful episode in the meanest terms was a way of pretending that the misery of it didn't exist. Ignoring such misery, then, was equal to lying about it. Such a lie was viewed as more cruel, even, than the sad truth, because it somehow shunned or excluded the person in pain...from everybody else.
The "cruel to be kind" approach, however, doesn't work for everybody. Especially if they are inclined to think that you are just being cruel.
June 08, 2004
Azar Nafisi
Author Finds That With Fame Comes Image Management [Julie Salamon, NYT, Books, 6/8/04] NYT article about Azar Nafisi, who is having to cope with the success of her book Reading Lolita in Tehran. Great picture of her surrounded by books, floating in the air.
May 27, 2004
Monkeys
The few who've ever been to my apartment are well acquainted with my banker's boxes full of books. Too many books and not enough shelves for them all. (And hellacious to move, as my dear friends can attest.)
This year I've been giving myself the assignment of setting out a few books from these boxes, Books I Should Read. Books that I've bought merely because the descriptions sounded good, or because there were favorable blurbs from other writers I had heard of (but not necessarily read). Aspirational reading, I guess, for the literary writer I thought I maybe could be someday. Having picked up all these books and moved them up and down the country, I ought to at least read them before taking them in to trade somewhere.
A few weeks ago I finished Susan Minot's Monkeys, a slim volume from 1986 whose chapters are yearly vignettes in the life of large New England family. An honest work, spare and essential.
By coincidence, there's an article in today's NYT about the literary and artistically-minded Minots, brothers and sisters in a large New England family. Fragments of their real life are commingled with the fiction in Monkeys, as well as in the works of the other siblings.
"The Minots, A Literary Clan Whose Story Divides Them" - Dinitia Smith, NYT, 5/27/04
May 01, 2004
Word of the Day
Asshat \'as-'hat\ n : a person who exhibits ridiculous, immensely aggravating behavior -- to have one's head up one's ass : to be foolishly stubborn, willfully dense syn ASSCLOWN, DUMBASS, ASSHOLE mean a stupid, incompetent, or detestable person. ASSCLOWN implies a ridiculously stupid or incredibly incompetent person. DUMBASS suggests an average, bone-headed stupid or incompetent person; a doofus. ASSHOLE stresses a exasperatingly stupid, incompetent, or detestable person, a real jerk with few redeeming qualities.
It's a choice word that I've learned from Zeebah, who has to contend with a garden-variety Asshat of her own. I will try to use this word more often. It makes me laugh, instead of wanting to cry or punch a hole in the wall when faced with asshat-like behavior.
Sadly, we are not the first to use this expression. Asshat has an entry at UrbanDictionary, which offers audio pronunciations and suggested definitions provided by regular people. My favorite: "A foolish person, as one who would wear an asshat."
Joel at The Evolving Word does some further tracking of this delightful term. Unsurprisingly, several URL variations have been claimed - including this one.
Sample usages:
I tried to be supportive, to give useful advice and positive encouragement to a friend of mine. But instead she bit my head off, because she's an asshat.
I am an asshat for thinking this person was my friend.
However, I am an assclown for spending way too much time writing this. Thanks, Z, for making me laugh instead of cry.
April 27, 2004
Free Cone Day
Ben & Jerry's is offering thanks to its customers and promoting new voter registration by offering free ice cream at select locations. Here in Georgia, the only participating shop in Atlanta is the location on N. Highland. It's only until 8 tonight, so have at it.
Don't know as I'll get to stuff my face with ice cream, 'cause I'll be stuffing my face elsewhere with my book group to discuss Steinbeck's East of Eden. Am I finished with the book? Hahahahaha.
Out of curiosity, I checked out Oprah's Book Club to see what they had to offer about the novel. I was surprised to find (though I shouldn't be) that it's nicely done. There are chapter summaries, discussion questions, background on Steinbeck, family trees for the characters. There's even a Q&A section with featured questions that people have about aspects of the novel.
April 19, 2004
Epistolary E-novels
Call Me E-Mail: The Novel Unfolds Digitally - [Adam Baer, Technology, Circuits, NYT, 4/15/04] "A former English professor who teaches executives how to write, [Eric] Brown, 59, calls "Intimacies" a digital epistolary novel, or DEN, terms that he has trademarked. The plot of "Intimacies" is based on "Pamela," the 18th-century work by Samuel Richardson that is one of Western literature's first epistolary novels." Additionally, Brown plans to market the writing software that he used so other people can write their own DENs.
The story can be read at greatamericannovel. Click on the link marked DEN, then select "Intimacies."
April 11, 2004
Judy Blume, OMG!
Karen Glass, a senior executive with Disney's Buena Vista Motion Pictures, was working on the 2002 film adaptation of "Tuck Everlasting" when the movie's producer, Jane Startz, mentioned that she shared office space with the author Judy Blume.If, as a teenager, you'd ever read Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, Deenie, Blubber, Forever, Tiger Eyes or any of her other books, you'd go OMG OMG OMG too."I said, `Shut up!' " Ms. Glass recalled in an exclamatory cadence more familiar among adolescent girls than women in their 40's like Ms. Glass. " `You do not! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!' So I went to Nina, my boss, and said, `Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!' " ["Judy Blume, Girls' Friend, Makes a Move to the Movies" - Julie Salamon, NYT, 4/8/04]
March 25, 2004
Words Made Real
The Oxford English Dictionary people have set up a pilot project in which "the words associated with a special field of interest are collected so that knowledgeable aficionados can help the OED find useful examples of these words." Their first field of interest is science fiction literature. Submissions for citations are welcome, but be sure to check their standards for acceptable sources.
One of the many things that I like about SFF is that the creation of imaginary worlds also requires the invention of cultures and languages. Tolkien often said that his interest in writing The Lord of the Rings had much to do with his linguistic pursuits. In college, I even wrote a linguistics paper that discussed how "native" words were revealed and explained to the reader in several sci-fi and fantasy novels, including Ursula K. LeGuin's The Left Hand of Darkness and Robin McKinley's The Blue Sword.