May 2012
1 post
“Because TED is for, and by, unbelievably rich people, they tiptoe around...”
– Don’t mention income inequality please, we’re entrepreneurs - Salon.com
I love TED Talks, but they are problematic in so many ways.
April 2012
7 posts
3 tags
Wild Geese
You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile the world goes on. Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes, over the prairies and the deep...
2 tags
“I’ve never had any patience for people who claim their creativity controls them...”
– The Part Where I Hate The Damn Book « extribulum
Yes, exactly.
1 tag
“Everything in the world is trying to distract you from getting something on the...”
– How To Write The Great American Novel | The Awl
2 tags
WatchI have so little patience for talk of creative “muses” or inspiration being something outside of yourself. (As I was reminded, while listening to this podcast, and possibly startling my roommate by shouting at Elizabeth Gilbert during it.)
Just because we don’t understand every nook and cranny of the human brain doesn’t mean there’s some invisible field permeating...
1 tag
“I’m referring to literature that happens to be written by women. But some...”
– The Second Shelf: On the Rules of Literary Fiction for Men and Women - NYTimes.com
March 2012
10 posts
4 tags
“This old thing?, you want to say, pointing to your personal trivia or your...”
– A Partial History of Lost Causes by Jennifer DuBois
Every sentence of this book was good. Very good, in fact. There are not enough books that are really a joy to read as well as compelling and slow-burning and smart. And about chess, Russia, and some sort of foolish resilience in the face of, as it...
2 tags
“The problem is that modern museums of art fail to tell people directly why art...”
– Alain de Botton: Why Our Museums Of Art Have Failed Us And What They Might Learn From Religions
4 tags
“So this idea that genres are merging into something and losing their...”
– Lev Grossman | Books | Interview | The A.V. Club
Few months old, but gosh I wish this would really happen.
Early indicators
When I was in middle school, I did two separate science projects about noise pollution and now I find myself cursing the jerks who drive muffler-less vehicles and blast their car stereos and yell in residential neighborhoods.
Also I was born ninety five years old.
“In this episode, we cover Katniss and why she is a badass, Peeta’s lack of...”
– Novel Ideas - “Hunger Games: Practical Matters”
This is a podcast you should listen to.
I’m not just saying that because these are intelligent and hilarious people I know in real life.
2 tags
2 tags
“What’s interesting to note here is that women tend to be social media adopters....”
– Tiger Beatdown › But, Pinterest Is For Girls! Sexism and Social Media
February 2012
5 posts
4 tags
“I laughed when I saw it: surely this was some kind of hilarious New Yorker...”
– The Rejectionist: Special Guest Post: Meg Clark on Jonathan Franzen
Franzen angers me.
1 tag
3 tags
Planning a sleepaway writing camp.
ros: At meals someone would ask you how things are going and how long you spent just staring out the window.
ros: and they would just give you a disappointed face and not say anything if you gave a bad answer.
guil: We should find a way, charge money so we can do it for free.
ros: "Come to our fabulous Get Writing Done camp. It costs three times the actual expenses to attend."
ros: "You will get a complimentary travel mug as a bonus treat."
guil: "Productivity has been shown to increase 50%* (*statistics may vary.)
guil: "Has helped hit writers, like Guil who once took her play to a reading."
ros: Dang, I started reading that as that we would hit writers.
ros: and i laughed really loud
ros: I'm still laughing a little
guil: Hahaha, that's way better
ros: "If you do not improve we will beat you"
guil: "We will hit you with mallets"
1 tag
“What is it then that makes girls averse to science fiction? Could it be the...”
– ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ and Its Sci-Fi Heroine - NYTimes.com
Nearly everything about this article makes my eye twitch.
What makes girls averse to science fiction? You. You do. You with your gendering of everything, and assuming that girls act and think in concert, making girls who like sf/f feel like...
January 2012
2 posts
December 2011
9 posts
1 tag
2011 in books
I’m going to go ahead and put this here. These are all the books I read cover to cover in 2011.
Presented without any comment! Other than to say that 6 were especially horrible and I read them with growing dread. I will leave it up to you to guess which ones.
1. Life of Pi, Yann Martel
2. The Dante Club, Matthew Pearl (re-read)
3. Beatrice & Virgil, Yann Martel
4. When Everything...
“What I call “the cover design test” would be useful in Comp Lit discussions:...”
– JACKET MECHANICAL: 1. Fictions
Catching up on some reading; I read this footnote and reread it and thought “Dang, why didn’t any of my lit classes ever talk about the cover?”
3 tags
3 tags
3 tags
Pluses and Minuses
+ I treated myself to Panera this evening.
+ Found another Great Christmas Gift.
- It hasn’t snowed yet.
+ About to sit down and read me some Carl Sagan.
+ Five working days until vacation.
- It hasn’t snowed yet.
November 2011
5 posts
“I’ve got a little house in the middle of the Oregon mountains.” he said. “I have...”
– Data Furnaces Could Bring Heat to Homes - NYTimes.com
1 tag
2,858/50,000
Pantry recently stocked (candy corn, fancy chocolate, wine, coffee and tea)
Laptop up-to-date with software and file syncing.
Scrivener trial installed on laptop and desktop. And USB drive. Just in case.
Okay.
October 2011
5 posts
3 tags
2 tags
“We negotiate a field of signifiers every time we open our wardrobes, or, in my...”
– from Laurie Penny: Handbags, Gowns and Girl Armour | The New Significance
This is basically what I would have tried to talk about if I had a fashion blog. Not so much the clothes on the floor, I mean. The signifiers.
I have a lot of Thoughts about why I like to dress nice* and not wear jeans and...
5 tags
In Brief.
The more I read about people bemoaning the rise of ebooks for any number of illogical, faux-sentimental reasons that I won’t restate, the more I want to sell all paper objects I own and live solely in the cloud, just to spite them.
Stop talking. You sound foolish.
September 2011
8 posts
2 tags
275 words about a book.
Whoever you are, bear in mind that appearance is not reality. Some people act like extroverts, but the effort costs them in energy, authenticity, and even physical health.
I recently finished an advanced reading copy of Quiet by Susan Cain (on sale January 2012).
My thoughts while reading this book flipped between three groups.
The self-absorbed: Oh, that’s me or Oh, that’s used to...
3 tags
“I love that ebooks exist.
This doesn’t change the part where, every time...”
– seanan_mcguire: Across the digital divide.
2 tags
“We naturally tend to offload our memory tasks onto the world around us. This...”
– Google Is Not Making You Stupid : 13.7: Cosmos And Culture : NPR
Yes, please, thank you for your calm logic. I love my infinitely extensible brain that my high-falutin’ gadgets give me.
PodOmatic | Podcast - Boldly Going Nowhere -... →
It turns out I could listen to John Allison talk for ages.
I imagine it’s frustrating to be constantly reminded of, asked about, and pushed to go back to something popular you created in a different time, and are well past. My brain does this enough on its own without external influences.
Thinking about it, though I’ve always liked the characters and witty lines he comes up with, I...