19 July 2008 @ 11:35 am
Dreams  
I had an bizarre confluence of dreams last night/this morning.

The first segment I remember was a strange combination of Cam and WoW. I think it sort of took place in the imaginary recurring campus that appears in my dreams, and sort of operated like WoW except that we weren't the WoW classes or races though we were all medievalish and had various magical powers and transformations and such. We weren't precisely toons though, either. Also, while there was no explicit references to the Cam, nor any specific cammies there, there was a distinct larperish feel and there seemed to be oblique references that reminded me of the Cam.

The second major segment I remember was a 'going back to Arch school' dream. It was sort of in the imaginary campus too, but in a particular area (I should really attempt to draw/diagram this campus sometime, but I'll probably forget it all in doing so) relevant to arch school. I don't remember a lot about this part except that a certain bitch from Arch school was distinctly in it, and we exchanged words.

The last major segment was a conglomeration of me job hunting and dealing with several former jobs. First I was going down this somewhat rural road area that sort of travels north eastward in my dream realm and came across a townish area. While walking around I was called by someone that I eventually deciphered to be a web developer job in east Houston, though it was in a different zone in my dream (I'm not quite sure if there is a Houston in my dreams).

Somehow this transitioned for me returning to a 'former' job that had a conglomeration of several previous jobs, including Suncoast, Eastwood, and ELI (very specifically Monica from ELI was there). I had to handle a call at some point that turned out to be asking if we had some sort of coffee machine/station. I recalled that we had a coffee pot, mentioned that, and then looked up and saw that we had a bean dispensor/grinder (rather like the kind in grocery stores), a coffee pot, and an espresso machine.

Somewhere while I was talking to this person I wandered around to the front desk area and there were two nicely finished but very out of place desks pushed up next to the main desk and at each one was a young corpulent hispanic girl that looked half dead (strangely yellowed skin and big bruisy spots around the eyes).

I also picked up a little doodad that looked like an octahedral crystal, but turned out to be two square pyramids placed bottom to bottom with a little flat square of wood between them.
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Current Mood: groggy
 
 
19 July 2008 @ 09:27 am
a question about the Pern series by Anne McCaffrey  
So, I just happened to notice* that the Pern series has exploded since I first read it in high school. At that time I read the Dragonriders of Pern trilogy, the Harper Hall trilogy, Moreta, Nerilka, the Dolphins of Pern, and one more with an AI in it. I read ten or twelve in total, I guess. Then I think McCaffrey worked on other projects for a while, and by the time she started writing about Pern again, I had moved on to other writers.

Now there are so many more books. Twenty-eight! Unbelievable. Anyway, my question is to those of you who have read the original books as well as more recent offerings - how are the newer ones? Should I read them, or some of them? Which ones? Are the ones co-written or written entirely by her son worth reading? Or should I just go back and re-read those that I remember fondly? Inquiring minds want to know.

*Thanks to the wonders of amazon.com recommendations. I mostly choose to buy books locally, but I have to admit their algorithms are very good.
 
 
19 July 2008 @ 05:05 pm
Something to cheer me up~  
( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )
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Current Mood: okay
 
 
19 July 2008 @ 08:13 am
malinger: Dictionary.com Word of the Day  
malinger: to feign illness or inability.
 
 
19 July 2008 @ 12:41 am
Possibly a weird request.  
So, here's the thing. I am itching for a high fantasy novel like you wouldn't believe. You know, elves, dragons, faeries, taverns, bloody orc battles... The works.

However, for some reason, I haven't really dabbled much in the genre since middle school or so, so I'm finding myself completely clueless on what's out there. The sword-y adventure niche seems a lot less popular than it used it be, and I'd rather have some input before I grab a random cheesy 80s paperback with a gryphon and chainmail bikini on the cover.

In conclusion: epic fantasy. Hopefully not in churned-out dime novel format, maybe with a creative touch... Just find me anything, really!

Thank you muchly, my fellow bibliophiles! ♥
 
 
18 July 2008 @ 11:40 pm
Friday  
We spent most of the day friday going nuts at the waterpark at the Lodge.  Friday evening everyone met over at my cousin Jen's house which is right on Traverse Bay off of Lake Michigan.  We all had a great time.  We had the whole Shull clan there.  My dad, his brother and sister, and all of their kids and their kids' kids were all there.

After a fun day we had a great time relaxing and catching up with family and enjoying the beautiful weather and great people.

Oh and my sister can still juggle when drunk.  In case you were wondering.
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18 July 2008 @ 11:16 pm
Great Wolf Lodge  
Thursday the family all headed up to Traverse City Michigan for our Shull family reunion.  A few of the families live here but most of the rest of us are staying at a small resort here called the Great Wolf Lodge.   We arrived thursday afternoon and most of the group all went out to dinner together.  We got back to the Lodge and even though it was almost 9pm we decided to head down to the indoor water park for an hour since it didnt close until 10.  Holy smokes, this place is awesome.  We played that night and almost all day friday at the waterpark here at Great Wolf.  Most of the waterpark is indoors and includes pools, hot tubs, kids areas, slides of all sizes, and the central attraction which is a giant 50 foot tall water playscape.   Every one of is us having a BLAST here.



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18 July 2008 @ 08:55 pm
they said you was high class, but that was just a lie  
I'm drinking wine that I bought specifically because the bottle had a funny looking frog on it.
 
 
Current Location: stay classy, aggieland
 
 
18 July 2008 @ 07:11 pm
No Control by Shannon K Butcher  
Publisher: Grand Central, 2008
Genre: Romance
Sub-genre: Suspense



Cross-posted from [info]genrereviews.

No Control features some of the same characters and similar themes as Butcher's No Regrets from 2007 and No Escape, to be released in October, but they don't seem to be marketed as a series. Which seems an odd choice to me, since series seem to be huge right now, but each of the books stand alone very well, so maybe they just wanted to skip all the confusion of people wondering if they had to start near the beginning or if they could just delve into the volume they held in their hands. (She says, as if she knows anything about it...)

The cover is certainly less embarrassing than the romance standard clinch cover, a faded, confusing jumble of blue arms and legs. Which is great. Smurf loving just doesn't get enough coverage, you know?

La la la la la la, it's a happy song... )
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18 July 2008 @ 10:22 pm
Books: Help me choose!  
I'm going to London in August and as books are a LOT cheaper there than in Denmark, I have a list as long as a mile to look into. That's why I could really use your help in cutting it down somewhat. If you'd care to play along, tell me which 5 of the following I should get (and if you feel like it - why). Also tell me which one I should stay far, far away from.

Books here )

Thanks! :-)
 
 
18 July 2008 @ 04:12 pm
summer reading  
So, my college is requiring all incoming freshmen to read "Beyond UFOs: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life and Its Astonishing Implications for Our Future" by Jefferey Bennett, and I was just curious if anyone has read it and if so, what they thought of  it. I'm not much of a science person per say, but I was surprised at how much I actually enjoy reading this book (I'm half-way through it right now).
 
 
18 July 2008 @ 03:07 pm
Dork Whore by: Iris Bahr  
Just started reading Dork Whore: My Travels Through Asia as a Twenty-Year-Old Pseudo-Virgin
I love it so far, and barely got sleep last night because I couldn't put it down.

Has anyone else read it? If so, I want to hear your thoughts on it :)
 
 
 
18 July 2008 @ 07:03 am
Tranquility is...  



Even though our new neighbours are the trashiest of the trashy, loud, in poor taste, and almost constantly smoking on their back porch, I still like our home. We've made it comfortable, and I spend a lot of good quiet time here.
 
 
18 July 2008 @ 07:19 am
 

And that's it from me. Next week, while I'm reading Christopher Priest novels on my friend's back porch and watching her chickens run around, the lovely, talented, whip-smart Jennifer Howard from the Chronicle of Higher Education will be guest blogging, along with the usual suspects. I will see you in a week.

 
 
18 July 2008 @ 07:17 am
 

This afternoon I got sucked into the wormhole of "I am the most unproductive person in the world", one which most writers know well. I admit that the entrance to this warped non-place, ironically, is often the completion of a project. I finished a little review and immediately thought to myself, "Well, this doesn't count unless I write eighteen to twenty more. In fact, I think I ought to review every literary magazine in existence between now and seven PM."

So off I went into the land of cyberspace searching for magazines to peruse and analyze. The sheer number was overwhelming, the links too tempting not to click, click, click. I buzzed through three without completing more than two full stories or articles.

"Are these just poorly written pieces?" I wondered. "Boring subject matters? Or do I have the attention span of a ten year old boy deprived of his Ritalin?"

Through Joyland and Lamination Colony and Beatrice...

"God, just write SOMETHING already! You don't even have any idea what you're talking about, do you? Just make a list of adjectives: wayward, soothing, heavy, peripatetic, elegiac, antiquated, skeptical... homeopathic? Homophobic? What? Stupid? Stupid."

And then:

Walking with an Essayist.

Thank you, Ms. Rough. I think I'll go on a walk.

 
 
18 July 2008 @ 06:30 am
 

J. M. Barrie laid down a curse on anyone who wrote a biography of him, and previous biographers have certainly regretted it. (Please watch out for the latest biographer, Piers Dudgeon, make sure he gets home all right.) But the story of the abused, impotent, stalking, "lover of young boys," writer is too twisted not to be told.

 
 
18 July 2008 @ 05:41 am
 

Oklahoma Commissioner Brent Rinehart is not just running for re-election, he's running against the devil. And everyone knows the best way to get your message out in such a situation is a comic book. To read the whole comic, with its talk of the gay conspiracy and the "anal sodomy," it can be found here (PDF file). Vote for Rinehart! It's what the angels want. Link from Journalista.

 
 
18 July 2008 @ 05:29 am
 

Paul Collins explains why you will not get rich dealing in stolen Shakespeare folios.

But the pursuit of folio-spotting remains unparalleled in literature, beginning with Thomas Dibdin's first census of folio owners in the London area in 1824 and Sidney Lee's worldwide folio census in 1901, detailing the condition and identifying marks of every known copy.

Does the folio have graffiti inviting the reader "to kisse the wrightere's arse"? Then it once belonged to theologian Daniel Williams. Were several plays used as scrap paper for loopy handwriting exercises by a quill-wielding 17th-century child? Then you're probably looking at the Sutro Library's folio. Did your folio contain greasy food stains and crumbs fallen into the binding? Then you're in the British Library with Samuel Johnson's old copy.

 
 
18 July 2008 @ 03:51 pm
The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood  

I reviewed The Blind Assassin a couple of days ago, and have been thinking about it since.

Something's been troubling me.

 
I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts on this.
 
 
Current Mood: curious
Current Music: rain
 
 
18 July 2008 @ 07:37 am
tatterdemalion: Dictionary.com Word of the Day  
tatterdemalion: a person dressed in tattered clothing.
 
 
17 July 2008 @ 10:18 pm
It's HORRIBLE!  
If you like Joss Whedon, or you like Neil Patrick Harris, or both, you need to check out Dr Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog



It's only on this week - Act I and II are up, and Act III goes up on Saturday, and they all come down again on Sunday.

It's funny. It's cute. Go watch it!
 
 
17 July 2008 @ 08:26 pm
Thirst  
For some reason, I have been extremely thirsty the past two-three days. I'm not sure if it has anything to do with my newly fucked up sleep schedule or not (I has srs headache! Whee!), but I keep drinking water and it's like my body just absorbs it all and I have no fucking idea where it's going because I'm still thirsty. And normally I'm one of those super-unhealthy people whose daily liquid intake is waaaaay below the recommended levels.

(I'm.... pretty sure it's not a food-related issue. I don't like eating that kind of food in the first place anyway.)

- - -

Xam'd.

For people who haven't heard, it's a Bones production that was apparently just released as a US exclusive for PS3 or something along those lines. see here

I guess they had to do SOMETHING for PS3 after the Final Fantasy for 360 announcement.

Anyway, LQ illegal torrents are already out. I may check it out when/if better quality torrents come out because it's Bones and it looks interesting*. As for the actual distribution decision -- I guess it's a pretty strange albeit interesting decision to me, and I'm sure there's some sort of reasoning behind it, but frankly I don't really care. As a totally shallow surface reaction though, I think Gonzo's deal with crunchyroll is probably smarter/makes more sense to me, just in terms of new-gen distribution tactics.

* By interesting I mostly mean that it's Bones. If it were any other company I probably wouldn't bother.

- - -

You know, I think I've whined about this before, but I am upsettingly unimaginative for a wannabe writer. I wish I had more versatility, especially in terms of character types. I need to stop with the crossdressing swordswomen already. I wonder if this is a fanfic related habit. (I HAVE touched upon this before -- to me, where original stuff is all about creating, fanfic is more about breaking things down -- and I excel at the latter and suck at the former.) Fanfic allows you to ignore the aspects of canon you aren't interested in. Ignore is perhaps not the best way to put it -- you still have to take those aspects into account and work with them, but like I said -- it's all analytical. The actual material's ready-made and waiting for you. You can't just do that when you're creating a world from scratch.

Though I *will* admit I've been trying to stretch myself a little more in recent fanfic endeavors. Which has been kind of interesting. But still not *enough*.

I especially have a problem with villains. Antagonists. Whatever. I have this... utter inability to come up with believable/intriguing motivations. I think this may also be an effect of too much animanga/video games -- in which the villains/antagonists are like pretty much ridiculous*/pseudo-metaphysical**/corporate entities, sometimes led by Mysterious Figure.... rarely very tangible villains, except for the utterly cliched ones with no shades of gray whatsoever. I mean, I keep going through the usual list: ambition, desire for power, revenge.... ??? That and I keep trying to keep myself from structuring everything as lol everything leads up to the final boss.

* i.e. the ones who sit around doing nothing except smirking. evilly. you know the type.
** This may work in a video game. (See: Romancing SaGa 3.) It *may* even work in anime... Not so much in a novel. (Not any novel *I'm* writing, anyway.)

I sense this is getting long. (Includes list of favorite villains...) )

Well, this'll give me some food for thought, at least.

But you know..... it really depresses me....... when I read/watch other works that are just simply amazing..... and know I will never be able to live up to those........

(This is the downside of marathoning awesome shit like BotI. Damn.)

(Yeah, I pretty much just went nuts with the tags. :P)
 
 
17 July 2008 @ 09:40 pm
Promotion  
Hi everyone, I'm Darcy. I just joined this community but kind of wondered if anyone was interested in joining a brand new book club kind of community called [info]moodybooks. I'm going to copy the first entry of the community under the cut so maybe, if any of you are interested, you could check it out! The membership is completely open and it's a casual sort of community where we can discuss the monthly books we read.

 
Thanks for reading, if you did. And also sorry if I bothered anyone by doing this!

Happy reading!
 
 
17 July 2008 @ 11:12 pm
A Plan  
The thing is, I need to stop smoking.

It's going to take a lot of alcohol and sex, but I think I can do it!
 
 
Current Mood: disappointed
 
 
17 July 2008 @ 09:42 pm
 

We have a new poet laureate today, Kay Ryan:


  • The NY Times reprints several poems, including "Home to Roost," which Ryan reads in the next bullet.
  • On YouTube: Reading "Home to Roost" (don't miss the part where she explains she gets mail from people explaining that chickens don't fly, or the other part where she talks about getting a shoutout in The Boondocks). She also says, I like to write personal poems in such a way that no one has to know that. Here's another where she reads for ten minutes at Casa Romantica: I have a great fondness for the natural world and the lessons we can learn from it. But I'm impatient, so I just make up the natural world, and have fake facts in my poems a lot. You should know that, if you read the poems.
  • At the Library of Congress site: Ryan’s poems are characterized by the deft use of unusual kinds of slant and internal rhyming–which she has referred to as "recombinant rhyme"–in combination with strong, exact rhymes and even puns. The poems are peppered with wit and philosophical questioning and rely on short lines, often no more than two to three words each. She has said of her ascetic preferences, "An almost empty suitcase–that’s what I want my poems to be. A few things. The reader starts taking them out, but they keep multiplying." Because her craft is both exacting and playfully elastic, it is possible for both readers who like formal poems and readers who like free verse to find her work rewarding.
  • A terrific essay by Ryan on poetry and humor: I have always felt that much of the best poetry is funny. Who can read Hopkins’s “The Windhover,” for instance, and not feel welling up inside a kind of giddiness indistinguishable from the impulse to laugh? I suppose there has got to be some line where one might say about a poem, “That’s too much nonsense,” but I think it is a line worth tempting. I am sure that there is a giggly aquifer under poetry.

Elsewhere:

Listen to Richard Tayson describe getting into a bar fight over Whitman's sexuality in this "Poetry off the Shelf" podcast, or read about it in VQR.

In the newest VQR, Amro Naddy compiles 11 Israeli and Palestinian poets: The following collection of poems from eleven Israelis and Palestinians offers an intimate look at the life of this region in conflict—but through a smaller and more personal lens than most news media allow. While each of these poems is politically conscious in some way, many delve into less predictable territory: sex, death, television, ghosts, memory, and resurrection.

 
 
17 July 2008 @ 07:58 pm
The Four Immigrants Manga  
 x-posted to books, bookshare, bookish

The Four Immigrants Manga
By Henry (Yoshitaka) Kiyama
 
            The Four Immigrants Manga is a must-read for fans of manga (Japanese comics) for it is an excellent early example of a Japanese artist taking an art style popular at the time (American newspaper comic strips) and adapting it to tell his own, uniquely Japanese-American stories. Yoshitaka Kiyama was a Japanese student who came to San Francisco in the early 20th century, re-named himself Henry, and set about studying Western art techniques. While technically proficient, Henry never broke into new territory with his painting. He experienced mild success back home in Japan, but for years was completely unknown on the other side of the Pacific.
 
            He did, however, create a semi-autobiographical collection of comic strips chronicling the lives of four friends, and these strips provide a compelling history of the first wave of Japanese immigrants, a group usually 

(...Review continued here...)
 
 
17 July 2008 @ 09:15 pm
Schwartz, David J.: Superpowers  
Superpowers
Writer: David J. Schwartz
Genre: Science Fiction
Pages: 376

David J. Schwartz's debut novel is just not for me. I'm no comic-book geek by any means, but thanks to my fiance, I know more than I want to know about the genre and its history, and I've seen more movies than I normally would've and have read far more comics and graphic novels than I would've had my fiance and I had never met. The point of all of this is to say that I do have my tastes when it comes to the superhero genre, and those tastes tend to run dark, cynical, and twisted, and honestly, Schwartz's novel was none of those things, so it wasn't for me.

The premise: five college students wake up the day after a party with superpowers, and they decide to do use their powers to fight crime in the town of Madison, Wisconsin.

That's it. But I should point out that this story? It starts in the summer of 2001. Think about that. Do the math.

The full review, WHICH DOES INCLUDE SPOILERS, can be found in my journal if anyone's interested. As always, comments and discussion are most welcome. :)

REVIEW: David J. Schwartz: SUPERPOWERS

Happy Reading! :)
 
 
17 July 2008 @ 10:29 am
Shiny!  
Playing With Fire (Silver Dragons, Book 1) by Katie Macalister
Genre: Fantasy/Romance
Pages: 352

From the Amazon description:
Gabriel Tauhou, wyvern of the silver dragons, has found the one woman who can withstand his fire. Too bad May Northcott is already bound to a demon lord. But when the demon orders May to steal one of Gabriel’s treasures—an immensely important relic of all dragonkin— Gabriel has to decide which to protect: his love or his dragons.

Snip! )

x-posted to [info]bookshare , [info]50bookchallenge , and my personal journal
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Current Mood: accomplished
 
 
17 July 2008 @ 09:03 am
 
Title: The Frog Princess
Author: E.D. Baker
Genre: Fantasy/Fiction
Pages: 224
Reading Level: Ages 9-12

Some of you may be asking just why a 24-year old woman is reading a book meant for elementary girls? Well, here's the scoop: I just graduated with my degree and my brain is mush. I'm finished with reading scientific and articulate books for the moment and I wanted a nice, light, enjoyable summer read that didn't take much thinking on my part. And what did I find? A nice, light enjoyable read written by E.D. Baker.

More under here. )
 
 
15 June 2006 @ 12:17 pm
A Spring without Bees  

Book Title:
A Spring without Bees: How Colony Collapse Disorder Has Endangered Our Food Supply
Author: Michael Schacker
Category: 
# of pages: 304
My rating of the book, F- [worst] to A [best].: A
Short description/summary of the book: (taken from amazon.com):
On the 100th anniversary of the birth of Rachel Carson, the world faces a new environmental disaster, from a chemical similar to DDT. This time the culprit appears to be IMD, or imidacloprid, a relatively new but widely used insecticide in the United States. Many beekeepers and some researchers think IMD is the new prime suspect for the devastating syndrome known as Colony Collapse Disorder, or CCD, which has raised the annual die-off rate of honey bees to 30% of all the beehives in the United States. They say even trace amounts of IMD make bees lose their desire to feed, which would quickly lead to the collapse of their colony. After several days, there are few or no bees left in the hive. Since honey bees are essential to the production of fruit, nut, and vegetable crops around the world, their demise could spell catastrophe for our food supply and global economy.

In a riveting detective story that melds science and politics, Michael Schacker investigates the case of the missing bees, examining the many theories on the cause, including cell phones, mites, new pathogens, and bee management. He then examines the evidence against IMD. The book does much more than illuminate the scientific research, however. Using CCD as a metaphor for our own human hive, Schacker asks:  Are the bees trying to tell us something? Could this be the warning sign of a much larger crisis looming directly ahead? Might humankind suffer someday from “Civilization Collapse Disorder”?  And how must we change our human hive in order to ensure its survival?

Like An Inconvenient Truth and Silent Spring before it, A Spring without Bees is a compelling cautionary tale and a clarion call for action.


My Thoughts: This book is soooooooooo important. It's basically gives you a step-by-step explaination on what is killing the bees, how it's happening, and what we are going to have to do to stop it. It's a little depressing and a little daunting. The Bayer Corporation who invented IMD(the pesticide that is killing the bees), has A LOT invested in this pesticide--they are going to fight hard for it. Anyway, I love science non-fiction books like this! Like anything written by Michael Pollan. Alas, if only I could get my hands on his lastest book. The author isn't just talking about banning this one pesticide, he's talking about a whole change in world view, or "paradiagm shift", as it is called. As he explains, 

"Kuhn shows how paradiagm shifts are really more like religious struggles with opposing doctrines than reasoned theorizing based on scientific evidence. Evidence and data have little to do with it...a Catholic theologian who, when asked by Galileo to view the moons of Jupiter through a telescope, refused on the grounds it could be an optical trick. Yet that was simply a poor excuse, to avoid seeing with his own eyes the proof positive... Could this "paradiagm reluctance" be at play today in the controversy over IMD? Bayer Cropscience reseachers, along with most agrochemistsin the governments and universities, are seeing the world through the eyes of the old paradiagm, as it was before the new worldview of ecology came along." pg. 89

I think this is what makes his writing and point of view unique, yet similar to Rachel Carson's. Also, it turns out that IMD is similar to DDT. Schacker gives us a plan however! This plan includes everything from not using pesticides in your garden to having global campaigns about IMD awareness and banning the pesticide in congress, as well as legislation to help the beekeepers get out of debt.

Okay, done with my rambling--THIS BOOK IS INFORMATIVE AND IMPORTANT. READ IT AND SPREAD THE TRUTH!

Links: http://www.amazon.com/Spring-without-Bees-Collapse-Endangered/dp/1599214326
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ge8kFmujv0&feature=related (it's a movie of the author talking about the book)


Books read this year: A third of John Adams by David McCullough (go read it RIGHT NOW, john/abagail adams are soo cool. I would marry that man or his wife if I could.) Lolita, which I have almost finished. The Color Purple by Alice Walker, read for the the third time >drools<. Cunt by Igna Muscio for the second time.


Next read(s): School girls: Young Women, Self-Esteem and the Confidence Gap by Peggy Orenstein (for the third time, yes, I'm one of those readers that read books over and over again but I haven't re-read it since I was 16, so there!) And anything else that Gemma, my grammar-nazi best friend, requests me to read.
 
 
17 July 2008 @ 11:04 am
I should not be in charge of 21 year olds ;)  
Poll #1225065 DP
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: None

When you hear the term "D.P." you immediately think of...

Dr. Pepper
11 (44.0%)

Double Penetration
10 (40.0%)

Other-comment
4 (16.0%)

 
 
Current Mood: guttery
Current Music: Tori Amos "Yes, Anastasia"
 
 
17 July 2008 @ 09:56 am
Review - Once; James Herbert  

Once…
James Herbert
Fiction; Horror / Dark Fantasy
 
I've loved James Herbert (a Brit, naturally!) ever since I read The Magic Cottage many years ago. 
 
 
 
17 July 2008 @ 09:54 am
 
Title: Bastard of Istanbul
Author: Elif Shafek
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 368
Rating: 9/10

Thoughts: This book is absolutely beautiful, and while I guessed who Aysa's father was long before the book had ended, I didn't feel slighted at all. I would recommend this book to anyone and I am very surprised that it hasn't received more acclaim. If you like International Fiction (think Kite Runner) then this is a book you might enjoy.

Title: The Host
Author: Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 624
Rating: 7/10

Thoughts: I just want to give Stephenie Meyer kudos for actually writing a book that didn't drive me utterly up the wall. . . and I know I'm going to get stoned for saying this, yet again, but the Twilight series just really sucked for me. So why did I even bother, yet again, to pick up a book of hers? Mainly, so I could continue to "bash" the author and know what I was talking about. But this time, The Host wasn't half bad, actually it was better than that. I mean, it's not a classic, it's full of cliches, but at least I didn't want to scream at the main character to pull herself together and be a man instead of a sniveling, emo, hormonal teenager.*cough*BELLA*cough*

Currently Reading: I'm rereading Tolkien right now. I haven't for about two years now, and I think it's about time. Especially since I am really considering getting something Tolkien related tattooed on my back. I'll be finishing The Hobbit today, and may start on the Fellowship, but I can't find my copy for some reason. I like how my first in the series books are all missing. . .can't find my Harry Potter either.
 
 
17 July 2008 @ 10:05 am
18/52  
 18.  It was my goal to read all of Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials Trilogy."  But I could barely get through the Golden Compass.  I have The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass sitting on my night stand ready to read.  The problem is I did NOT like the Golden Compass.  I wanted to read this series because of the outcry this book caused.  I LOVE how Pullman adressess the ideas of religion in this controversial way.  It is also quite obvious that Pullman has an INCREDIBLE imagination. But I found The Golden Compass, quite dull really - it never really held me.  My mind kept drifting to the Harry Potter series and the Narnia collection.  I think I will eventually return the rest of the series to the library...unread.  

I am in the middle of about five other books and will review them shortly.  I don't know why, but I have been very ADD in my reading style lately.  I can't seem to finish any book I have started!
 
 
17 July 2008 @ 06:58 am
 

BARBIE’S new S&M look has whipped up a storm – with protesters dubbing it “filth”. The doll’s image is transformed with kinky fishnets, motorcycle jacket, black gloves and boots.

Makers Mattel say Black Canary Barbie, out in September, is based on a DC comic superhero of the same name. (Link from Jezebel.)

 
 
17 July 2008 @ 06:42 am
 

Coudal is putting together events in Chicago and New York for the launch of this year's Field Tested Books. Alas, I will not be in either city at the time, so I have a perfect excuse for why I will not be on stage making an ass of myself. Which really, is a selling point for the events.

Field-Tested Books is a project we've put together here at Coudal Partners, a Chicago-based design firm. It's based on the idea that people's perceptions of a book are affected by the place where they read them. Or vise versa. To test that theory, we asked a wide variety of writers, designers, actors, and artists to write short essays about a memory they have of a book influencing a place or a place influencing their reading. Over the course of five years, we've assembled more than 140 of these essays from all over the world. Originally an online feature, this year we've decided to publish a book with the complete collection. And to help celebrate the launch of the new book, we'll be holding readings/events, first here in Chicago and then in New York, with LA and possibly more cities to follow.

 
 
 
17 July 2008 @ 05:40 am
 

I know Jason will have more about this later today, but Kay Ryan has been named Poet Laureate. Please pay her a lot of money.