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I’d love to credit the photographers, but I only got these in an email forward from Michael Schwartz, abusing his own excellent Iraq analysis listserv.
Click for full sizes.
Of course, I won’t be able to bear to listen to it (aaahhhhh my voice aaaahhhhhh), but maybe you will…
Interview for WORT’s A Public Affair
Posted in IraqiGirl: Diary of a Teenage Girl in Iraq
audio/mpeg (28 66 ko) I went to high school with this guy!
…and he was always a theater star even then. Awesome.
h/t what is the what
UPDATED: Okay, I had to add his Tony acceptance speech:
The Dr. Herbert he thanks for telling him he was a writer? Did me some good turns in 8th grade English, too. So awesome.
Posted in Crazy things that happened at school
Keep your rigid opinions about when Wednesday is to yourself, y’all.
I am self-educated from genre books.
– Charlaine Harris, CLUB DEAD
I blew threw all nine Sookie Stackhouse books in two and a half weeks, y’all. Master’s thesis? What Master’s thesis?
Actually, it turns out that there’s a reason for my inability to do much more than lie on the couch reading trashy novels and rubbing Cooper’s belly for several weeks — besides my incorrigible laziness, I mean — and that is Vitamin D deficiency. It turns out Vit-D isn’t something you want to mess around with. So now I am recovering with my prescription-strength vitamins (seriously?) and newfound will to accomplishing things. And mourning the loss of my muscles, my beautiful muscles, but my gym classes are just waiting for my return, my enthusiastic return, and so it goes.
Anyway, the Stackhouse books are hella predictable (like, when I can call all the plot twists, and I mean all, I have to consider the possibility that it’s not because I am a genius but rather that these books were designed that way), and when you read them right next to one another you see how completely full of continuity errors they are. Continuity errors, and also the kinds of repeated passages you get when you’re churning out a series, because there’s only so many ways to say
When Elizabeth looked at Jessica it was like gazing in a mirror. The same shoulder-length blond hair and aquamarine eyes, the same color as the Pacific Ocean. The twins shared perfect size-six figures. They were identical right down to the dimple in their left cheeks… until you got to their personalities, that is.
and if I hadn’t referenced the size-6 figures I would have referenced the birthmark on Elizabeth’s shoulder that was the only way to tell them apart because that’s how you knew if you were reading Sweet Valley High or Twins, is what I’m saying. Sometimes I felt like twenty percent of the Stackhouse books was this kind of repeated scene-setting, like how many times is Charlaine Harris going to have Sookie narrate that vampire-human marriages haven’t been legalized yet… not that any vampires have asked her? Seriously, how many times?
Nevertheless, these were intensely addictive, and I felt such profound relief when I had finished the last one (published so far) and could move on with my life. It reminds me of the extreme addiction I had for a while to Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series, and then suddenly I just… didn’t. I still own two more of the books, but I’ve never felt compelled to read them. I got over it.
Posted in Sookie Stackhouse series, Sweet Valley books, Wednesday Words
…I don’t know that I’ve seen this bested.
Posted in Maybe I read kids' books because I have the maturity of an 8-year-old
A man wearing what were, from the front, normal tan pants, approximately the color of his skin… and from the back were painted to look like he was wearing a thong. By which I mean, only a thong.
“What are you going to be for Halloween?”
“Naked from the back.”
Huh???
Posted in Uncategorized
And despite how mean I am to him*, I love him too.
* Have I mentioned before on-blog how my favorite activity at home is to say really mean things to Cooper, in a really nice tone of voice? “Hello, you terrible dog! You are a maker of trouble! You do nothing but create problems for me and other people! Look at you wag your tail like you think that’s okay! You think you can get by on being cute, but your looks won’t last forever! You’ll see!” Like that.
Other times I tell him about how he’s a mediocre dog, perfectly acceptable, but nothing special like he seems to think he is. (Which, obviously, is false. Look at him! So special!) Now that I’m writing this out, I’ve become positive that I picked it up from Peter Cameron.
Posted in Cameron, Peter, Life with step-dog, Someday This Pain Will Be Useful To You
I have long stated that my aspirations in life were to acquire a dishwasher, a washer-dryer, a massage chair, and a spice grinder. The past two weeks have seen half of those items crossed off my list.
Less cool? When the Walgreens cashier who rang me up (“I fell for your damn demo,” I announced cheerfully as I placed the portable massage chair on the counter) told me how she uses this same brand every night at home. “Yeah, I just go home, take an Ibuprofen, and sit in that thing,” she explained of her evening routine. Please don’t let that become me.
Also? Grinding spices is tiring. Damn toasted cumin.
Posted in This--like so many things--is all about me
That’s what my step instructor said in class. It’s not what you most want to hear your step instructor say.
Posted in Uncategorized
I haven’t seen the WTWTA movie yet (can’t wait. And I want to see to CLOUDY & A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS too. And I never go to children’s movies). But I think this is an interesting short review even though I got sort of lost in the argument:
But this isn’t a coming–of-age movie. In the final scene, it’s joyously unclear whether Max has learned anything from his adventure. One thing that is clear is that, whether scary or sad or belligerent, children should see this movie if for no other reason than as an antidote to movies made by men who want them to grow up.
One reason I think I love YA books so much is that I truly love coming-of-age stories. But I’m interested in the idea that stories about younger kids maybe shouldn’t all be about growing up, but about simply being the age that they portray. You know, the Ramona books are always my gold standard for anything, but I’m now wondering if this is one reason why.
Actually, even in a lot of the YA I love, it sometimes bothers me that the teenagers are like little adults (I’m thinking of Sarah Dessen’s protagonists here, but this is something that bugs me all the time). They have adolescent lives — particularly, they’re under their parents’ control in certain respects — but they have a level of emotional maturity that some of us… lacked. Not that they don’t make mistakes, but they aren’t particularly adolescent mistakes. I’ve been reading so much lately about adults who read YA (like me!), and I wonder how much of this is driven by YA that isn’t really about adolescence at all, except as a metaphor.
Posted in Page and Screen
Dude, I’m crushing on a non-analytical capitalist.
Said with an appropriate amount of self-disdain; followed by emphatic drinking of wine.
Posted in Wednesday Words
Her ideas of what makes a good illustration for a children’s book are different from those of children.
– Steve Hely, HOW I BECAME A FAMOUS NOVELIST
That’s from a very funny passage in a very funny book. I kept wanting to sic Editorial Anonymous on the characters producing the illustrated children’s book PRUDENCE WHIDDIECOMB: THE GIRL COOPER.
Posted in Wednesday Words
I forgot to type the Wednesday Words I’d picked, or bring the book to school with me today, so Thursday is the new Wednesday. In the meantime, here’s…
Chants from the National Equality March
- Harvey Milk was right!
Show your pride and fight! [or: Come out proud and fight!] - Heeeeey, Obama!
Let Mama marry Mama! - Hey Congress, we won’t wait!
Equal rights for gay and straight! - We’re proud, you know it
We’re here to show it!
What you see is what you get —
And you ain’t seen nothing yet! - L! G! B! T!
We demand equality! - Tell me what you want, what you really want
JUSTICE!
Tell me what you need, what you really need
JUSTICE! - Barney Frank is wrong!
We’ve been waiting FAR too long!* - Back of the bus — hell, no!
Barney Frank — fuck you!* - We’re not waiting any more!
Civil rights or civil war! - Gay, straight, black, white!
Marriage is a civil right! - Gay, straight, black, white!
One struggle, one fight! - Get up, get down!
There’s a civil rights movement in this town! - We are here and we will fight
‘Til you give us civil rights - We’re out! We’re proud!
We’re here to fight, we won’t back down! - Money for health care, not for war —
Money for AIDS, we need a cure! - Bigots say Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
We tell them to go to hell - They say: Prop 8
We say: Stop hate! - Hey Obama, take a stand
Equality’s what we demand! - Down with 8
No more hate
Se – pa – rate the church and state - Hey Obama, get to work
Won’t settle for crumbs, won’t settle for dirt - Black — Latino — Arab, Asian and White
Our community is proud, you see
Give us equal rights! - Si se puede! Yes we can!
Equal rights across the land! - No discrimination!
We want liberation! - Don’t Ask Don’t Tell
TEAR IT DOWN!
DOMA
TEAR IT DOWN!
Bigotry
TEAR IT DOWN!
The whole damn system
TEAR IT DOWN!
Chant fragments I wish I could remember the rest of:
- Justice delayed is justice denied!
Anyone else there hear other good ones?
* The Barney Frank chants are because he basically denounced the march, saying “the only thing they’ll be putting pressure on is the grass.” Yeah, people were pissed.
Posted in Uncategorized
… and considering that was 18 hours (each way!) of bus ride full of giddy college students, there was a lot of competition in this category.
This is from one of the regularly occurring automated announcements in one of the rest stops:
At the end of the night, you might not be able to perform brain surgery. But you will be able to say you stayed at a Holiday Inn Express!
Um, right. In other news… 200,000 beautiful people, y’all.
Posted in Uncategorized
From Jennifer Donnelly’s THE TEA ROSE:
“It’s never been alright. Not since the day I walked up these stairs and walked away from you. I ‘urt you that day, I know I did, but all you lost was me. I ‘urt myself a million times worse because I lost you.”
From MY SO-CALLED LIFE’s should’ve-been-penultimate episode (damn you, “Weekend”), “The Betrayal”:
Angela: Look, I don’t care anymore, okay? So just go away.
Rayanne: You’re not the only one who got hurt.
Angela: Well, forgive me if I can’t feel sorry for you, Rayanne.
Rayanne: You lost nothing, Angela. You lost a lousy, selfish friend, a guy you never really had… you lost nothing! …. I lost a really good friend! I lost everything.
And then comes the part where I cry and cry. It’s better on the show than in the book.
Posted in Donnelly, Jennifer, Shades of My So-Called Life
So I mentioned that Jennifer Donnelly’s THE TEA ROSE was nearly the only YA book I brought on my vacation (it’s true! I’ve been reading adult fiction up the wazoo!), and iloveamandabynes, AKA my long lost camp roommate, said in comments that she’s been reading it and hadn’t even realized it was YA. Which made me remember that Donnelly also writes for adults, and just because the book looks like YA — the cover and, especially, the page and font size — don’t make it so. In fact, a cursory look at the quotes on the cover would’ve made it obvious that this is clearly not being sold as YA.
…As would’ve simply flipping open to the first sentence: “Polly Nichols, a Whitechapel whore, was profoundly grateful to gin.” Um, yeah. I know YA’s gone through some dark phases, but no.*
The thing, though? I’m still in the first five pages, but this is so written like YA. Check out this paragraph:
Not come to the river? she thought, admiring the silvery Thames as it shimmered in the August sunshine. Who could resist it? Lively waves slapped impatiently at the bottom of the Old Stairs, spraying her. She watched them inching toward her and fancied that the river wanted to touch her toes, swirl up over her ankles, draw her into its beckoning waters, and carry her along with it. Oh, if only she could go.
Seriously, adults read this stuff? …I mean, adults who don’t primarily read books for teenagers. Which, apparently, qualification needs making. **
* By the way, has anyone ever seen an authorial narrator — as opposed to a character — ever refer to anyone, in any YA book, as a “whore”? I’d be stunned but now I’m curious.
** By the way ^2, I would love to hear y’all’s thoughts on whether it’s true that more adults read YA now (it certainly feels true, but given that I’m an adult YA blogger, I kind of think my anecdotal evidence may be selective…) and if lack of plot in adult literary fiction is why. Grossman’s response to critics is here.
Posted in Donnelly, Jennifer, On Genre
They were all in high spirits and good humour, eager to be happy, and determined to submit to the greatest inconveniences and hardships rather than be otherwise.
– Jane Austen, SENSE AND SENSIBILITY
Posted in Wednesday Words
Hello,
Just a quick note to let everyone know I am writing this from the lovely Riad dar Maia, AKA my hotel in Marrakech, Morocco, where I have just landed for a combination of academic conference + really freakin’ needed vacation. (What proportion those two things are occurring in is something best left undiscussed on this quasi-public forum… but who knew there were such perks to being a demographer? The International Population Conference is high in my esteem already, and it doesn’t even start until Sunday!)
The only YA/kidlit I brought were Jennifer Donnelly’s THE TEA ROSE and Phillip Pullman’s THE SUBTLE KNIFE — I still haven’t read past THE GOLDEN COMPASS! — but, in a break from form, I brought tons of adult fiction. Almost finished THE CITY & THE CITY on the plane — now I can do it in a cafe in Morocco’s city square!
I probably won’t be posting much, in other words, although you never know. Frankly I haven’t been posting much anyway of late, and it’s possible this can I stress again how MUCH-NEEDED this is vacation will be just the thing to get me back into book chatting…
Posted in Uncategorized
