Depressing, downbeat, downright morbid? Ah, it must be literary fiction, the type of reading that's too emo hipster for me. Jim Shepard's short-story collection is on the National Book Award shortlist, with scores of rave reviews from popular publications and users of this site. To be fair, it must be very well written, because it kept me reading most of the way through despite my predispositions. Shepard sticks to certain themes: all his protagonists are men living in extreme settings (from the French Revolution to the site of one massive earthquake), with father issues, most of whom inadvertantly precipitate family tragedy (which leaves them wracked with guilt). We're talking excessive, nearly comic tragedy. The narrator of the first story is responsible for the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, the mass poisoning of the countryside, and the death of his two brothers (sorry, Dad). I did enjoy the horror themes in a few of the stories, such as "Ancestral Legacies." And "Pleasure-Boating in Litubya Bay" had me with its small, contemporary, domestic, slow-motion domestic disaster story. But I'm glad I've read my dose of highbrow fiction--I'll have to go for more of an escape next time.
Depressing, downbeat, downright morbid? Ah, it must be literary fiction, the type of reading that's too emo hipster for me. Jim Shepard's short-story collection is on the National Book Award shortlist, with scores of rave reviews from popular publications and users of this site. To be fair, it must be very well written, because it kept me reading most of the way through despite my predispositions. Shepard sticks to certain themes: all his protagonists are men living in extreme settings (from the French Revolution to the site of one massive earthquake), with father issues, most of whom inadvertantly precipitate family tragedy (which leaves them wracked with guilt). We're talking excessive, nearly comic tragedy. The narrator of the first story is responsible for the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, the mass poisoning of the countryside, and the death of his two brothers (sorry, Dad). I did enjoy the horror themes in a few of the stories, such as "Ancestral Legacies." And "Pleasure-Boating in Litubya Bay" had me with its small, contemporary, domestic, slow-motion domestic disaster story. But I'm glad I've read my dose of highbrow fiction--I'll have to go for more of an escape next time.
http://www.timeout.com/newyork/article/22280/slim-shady
Is it me or does it have to be more than coincidence that this ran in their FASHION issue? I'm all down with the virtues of hitting the gym (must set alarm for the morning!) and building muscle mass. There's definitely a core of sense here. But telling women "you can't trust BMI, you can't trust your weight, you can't trust your size" just isn't a good way to promote health. And the image too, it plays into that lizard-brain "I hate my body, I'm fat, I'm gross" instinctual thought pattern that most women constantly struggle to overcome. I'm especially concerned by the fact that they don't explain how a woman can find out whether she's really "too fat". As if there aren't enough women out there w/ eating disorders? Bleh.
Live Music Meme
Sep. 15th, 2007 10:47 pm![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Copy this list; leave in the bands you've seen perform live; delete the ones you haven't, and add new ones that you have seen until you reach 25. An asterisk means the previous person had it on their list. Two asterisks means the last two people who did this before you had that band on their list, etc.
[sorry about the difficulty of reading this, folks--I can't write about concerts and not reminisce!]
1. They Might Be Giants**
[oh, only about 6 *times*... sometimes with
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2. Tori Amos*
[twice, including in 1996 with
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3. Dar Williams*
[4 times, sometimes with
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4. Wilco*
5. Indigo Girls [3 times... the first was my first ever live show!]
6. Moxy Fruvous [may they rest in peace]
7. Da Vinci's Notebook
[RIP. 3 times, first w/
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8. Robbie Schaefer [he opened for Da Vinci's Notebook, as I was telling
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9. Dave Matthews
10. Sheryl Crow
11. Tin Hat Trio [3 times. RIP]
12. The Preservation Hall Jazz Band
13. The Mighty, Mighty Bosstones
14. Rage Against the Machine [didn't see THAT coming, didja?]
15. Girlyman [most recent show I've seen,
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16. Banana Fish Zero
[RIP, friends of mine, 4 or 5 times, JT & I were groupies and
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17. Gin Blossoms [i'm dating myself]
18. Spin Doctors [i'm REALLY dating myself]
19. Primus
20. The Lemonheads
21. George Clinton & the P-Funk All Stars
22. The M Shanghai String Band
[3 times; amazing live shows, if you're in the NYC area, you MUST check them out!]
23. Goo Goo Dolls
24. Moby
25. Sugar Ray
[editorial comment #1: I listen to and like a number of bands that previously were on this list, but I've seen very little big-name, new live music in recent years. So if anyone WANTS to go see Belle & Sebastian, The Magnetic Fields, Arcade Fire, or The Polyphonic Spree with a non-hip fogey, I'd totally be up for it.]
[editorial comment #2: I totally would have seen REM too, but my parents wouldn't let me go with my friends b/c it was Rosh Hashana]
Career Cruising meme
Sep. 13th, 2007 11:30 pm[courtesy of
r_ness although everyone in my various LJ social circles seems to have gotten this one today]
Instructions:
1. Go to www.careercruising.com
2. Put in Username: nycareers - Password: landmark
3. Take the 'Career Matchmaker' questions at the upper left corner
4. Post the top 10 results.
This is after the supplemental quiz--the initial one had me pegged as a set designer, which is extremely random. The thing about these quizzes is that of course there are tasks that come with any job that one would dislike. But there's a big difference between stuff I accept as a necessary evil (like paperwork) and stuff I wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole (STS), like working outdoors in all weather. And this quiz doesn't distinguish between them. Having said all that, here are my supplemental results:
1. Librarian
2. Communications Specialist
3. Professor
4. Writer
5. Researcher
6. Historian
7. Library Technician
8. Stenographer
9. Director
10. ESL Teacher
"But what I really want to do is direct...."
September birthdays, woohoo!
Sep. 6th, 2007 10:50 am![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
Update to dispatch
Sep. 2nd, 2007 09:35 pmDispatch from Water's Edge
Sep. 2nd, 2007 01:03 pmSign at boardwalk amusement park: No Single Riders
a_dodecahedron gave me E!
Aug. 29th, 2007 10:33 pmEnjoy the Silence--Depeche Mode
Everything--Alanis Morrissette
Everywhere--Michelle Branch
Everyday People--Sly and the Family Stone
Every Breath You Take--The Police
Everyone's a Little Bit Racist--Avenue Q soundtrack
Experimental Film--They Might Be Giants [ok, so the homestarruner.com film sold me on this one]
Everybody Have Fun Tonight--Wang Chung
Every Day Is a Winding Road--Sheryl Crow
Enormous Penis--Da Vinci's Notebook
Musical musings, #1
Aug. 25th, 2007 06:06 pmA while ago I posted about making themed playlists, and I thought I'd share. Here's the list about driving and traveling. It hasa some rough spots, but I'm pleased with fitting many different types of music together.
Come Sail Away--South Park
Fun, Fun, Fun--Beach Boys
Cadillac Car--Dreamgirls [look at me mister, I'm a star]
Little Red Corvette--Prince
Cars--Gary Neuman
Traveling Again--Dar Williams
Get Out the Map--Indigo Girls
Long Time Gone--Dixie Chicks
Every Day Is a Winding Road--Sheryl Crow
Running Down a Dream--Tom Petty
Hey Jealousy--Gin Blossoms [tomorrow we can drive around this town and let the cops chase us around]
Highway to Hell--ACDC
Route 66--Depeche Mode
I Left My Wallet in El Segundo--A Tribe Called Quest
Go West--Pet Shop Boys
German Test Drive--Spymob
Upside Down from Here--Atom and His Package
Destination Moon--They Might Be Giants
Highway Chile--Jimi Hendrix
South Side--Moby
Keep the Car Running--Arcade Fire
Into the Great Wide Open--Tom Petty
Like a Rolling Stone--Bob Dylan
Road Buddy--Dar Williams
I-95--Fountains of Wayne
and of course
Paradise by the Dashboard Light--Meat Loaf
Don't Stop Believing--Journey [not this a cappella version].
Dance Hall Days--Wang Chung
Dancing in the Dark--Bruce Springsteen
Dancing with Myself--Billy Idol
Daniel--Elton John
Dream On--Aerosmith
(Don't Go back to) Rockville--REM
Don't Get Around Much Anymore--[standard, I have a Duke Ellington version]
Don't Fear the Reaper--Blue Oyster Cult
Down Under--Men at Work
Wow. Clearly I stopped listening to music in the '80s.
Review of Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Aug. 17th, 2007 06:49 pmI read this book a couple of months ago, and it's definitely my fave stand-alone book of the year (HP7 being in a separate catagory for series). Like the work of Dave Eggers (yep, I'm uncool enough to admit to liking him), this was the kind of subway reading that had me hoping for an unexplained 20-minute delay in service.
Me: OMG, are you ok? I don't know what I would have done if you'd fallen.
O: I'm fine... you would have laughed.
Me: No!
O: I know you would have laughed. I would if you fell. <big grin>
<long pause>
Me: Well, it's good to have friends you can count on.
I still think he's wrong, but I felt this surge of affection when he said I would have laughed. Because it's possible that he's right, but either way, it's good to have a friend who understands that kind of thing. (And it helps to know, based on our 12 years of friendship. that he might have laughed for about 20 seconds before making sure I was ok.)
Poems Wot I Wrote: The 90s
Aug. 15th, 2007 07:15 pmI think being an English major in a program that emphasized the Major English Poets (Chaucer and Shakespeare and Milton, oh my!) definitely had an effect on my writing of the time. I was lavish with adjectives, flush with formality, and hopelessly romantic. But you're only young once! And I still like these little guys.
Why I haven't been around...
Aug. 13th, 2007 09:39 pmIronically (or maybe not), my Writing and Editing for the Web class is kicking my ass. I mean, it's difficult, probably because
A) my last experience with journalism was back in college
and
B) I have a more-than-full-time job, several extracurricular activities, and a life.
But on a more positive note, some of the fun things I've been doing with these late, great days of summer. Last Thursday night some friends (including matt_rah) and I went to see a triple bill of Main Squeeze Orchestra, Mucca Pazza, and Slavic Soul Party. Things were a little dicey at the beginning, with doors opening over an hour late due to a last-minute "inspection" of the venue. But we got in, got a table, got our obligatory drinks, and then... well, there's nothing like an all-accordion "Bohemian Rhapsody" to warm the soul.
Saturday I went to Warm Up at PS 1, this outdoor afternoon dance party at a contemporary art museum. Big summer fave. This year the courtyard's been done up with what look like Dr Seuss-inspired beach cabanas (and sand). Not to mention the sculptures that drop a ton of water on your head if you time it wrong (or right). My friends wouldn't dance, and I wasn't ready to leave them behind, so we ended up back in Central Park at a free jazz concert to benefit New Orleans. Not bad.
Sunday I got up before some of y'all went to bed, and waited in line to get free Shakespeare in the Park tickets w/ my equally insane friends (and a few hundred of our fellow New Yorkers). The show was absolutely worth it, though--they're doing A Midsummer Night's Dream, and the outdoor setting was MADE for that play, I swear. This was one of the few shows in recent seasons that hasn't relied on a few big names from movies and TV. Nope, these were actual stage actors, and it showed. Great lighting, costumes, music....
Now I'm happy 'cause my friend loaned me her They Might Be Giants double-CD set. And suddenly everyone's my friend in New York City.
Online class
Aug. 8th, 2007 10:33 pmJust had my first online class chat. Interaction not quite as rich as face to face, but I was less intimidated about commenting or asking questions. Downside: hard to remember who said what (tho personalities did emerge). Upside: I kept picturing the one guy in the class as HOT. (I mean, what's the Internet REALLY for, anyway? Um, kidding.
An die Musik
Aug. 4th, 2007 12:19 pm![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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I made three:
*One about cars/driving/traveling--for the car I don't own
*One about New York City, 'cause we really are as self-absorbed here as you think
*One for the holidays--never too early, and Halloween decorations are out already
*and one about cheating/being cheated on--I blame my new Amy Winehouse album (and jury duty)
(no subject)
Aug. 2nd, 2007 01:00 pmI recently saw the movie "Sicko", which was entertaining and horribly depressing at the same time. I'd really like to get some background on the healthcare systems in other nations (England, France, Canada, Cuba), as Moore presents a fairly one-sided view. But I'm willing to believe that the gist of the film is accurate--we don't have universal health insurance and many other nations do. The friend I saw the film with brought up a couple of good points, including the idea that R&D for medical devices/procedures/drugs mostly occurs in the US and that if care were less expensive the companies who do that work would have no incentive to do so. It will be interesting to see how the issue of health insurance plays itself out in the 2008 presidential election. Until then, I just need to keep my job and benefits....
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Jul. 29th, 2007 06:04 pmI'm taking a class on Writing and Editing for the Web, and one of the assignments involves discussing two Web sites I really like and why, as well as two I really dislike and why. Seems to me this might be interesting to folks, so I'm posting my responses below:
LIKE:
*Google, natch: in addition to its awesome usefulness, I appreciate the clarity and simplicity of the design—just the search box, with News, Maps, etc options in the upper left corner