The new Asimov's has a short story by Frederik Pohl called "Generations". I liked it enough to read it all the way through. I particularly liked the way it was structured, the narrative flow if you will. But I have some problems with it that are bugging the hell out of me.
Synopsis: Scientists discover that the constants like the speed of light are changing. They decide it is the work of some Experimenter (who needed a model the size of his universe to study, which is our universe). This leads people all over the world to abandon their religions.
My problems: First off, if more than 200 years of science cannot convince half of Americans that evolution is true, I don't believe they'll be trusting the scientists on this one either. As for the scientists themselves, they'd be scrambling to explain what they've found rationally, not writing it off as the work of an Experiementer whose existence cannot be proven.
Not to mention, wouldn't changing the constants be catastrophic? I don't really know, honestly; my knowledge of science is smallish. But I read that Lee Smolin book that postulated that universes evolve, and it certaintly sounded like life as we know it required our constants to fall within a very small range. I can let this one go since I don't really know, but a paragraph in the story explaining why changing the constants had no effect on anything would have been nice. He mentions the measurement of the distance to the moon was considerably short since c had changed, but not that anyone was perceiving it as being larger in the sky. No visible effects brings me back to point 1, the general population not believing the scientists.
Now I'm getting into the nitty-gritty. For background, I would consider myself a nonchristian univeral unitarian, a pagan, and a pantheist. I don't like labels, but that should give you the general idea. And I do not forsee myself ever taking part in an organized religion, pagan or otherwise. So keep that in mind when I say I'm a little tired of the condescension being delivered to people who are religious, portraying them as unthinking, gullible sheep. At the very least it's lazy writing.
Say everyone in the world took the scientists at their word, all the way down to believing that some cosmic Eperimenter was changing our universal constants. It does not follow that there is no god. The story concludes with a very Dark Ages church taking over with the idea that the Experimenter created god too as part of his model of the universe. I think that would be the last thing a religious person would believe. At the very least, the idea that the Experimenter was god would come before it. I imagine most people would believe that god stood over the Experimenter, and for pantheists like me, god would include the Experimenter.
Sunday, July 31, 2005
Friday, July 29, 2005
The novel
I've set the short stories aside for a while so I can focus on the rewrite of the novel. The first draft was 454 pages, 130,000 words, but I decided the scope wasn't large enough. No really. I've added characters and done more research on places, so I expect the rewrite to be 500+ pages easy. (Then I'll revise and pull out the Stephen King 10%).
At any rate, the rewrite is not going well. I write 30 pages, delete them, write 40 pages, delete them, write 50... This is apparently how JRR Tolkein wrote LOTR, like waves on the beach. But since LOTR wasn't published until he was 62, I'm looking for a more effective approach. There are two things at work here. Problem number 1: editors and agents only request the first three chapters (and I seriously doubt they read that much of every submission). so the opening has to be strong. No pressure! Just be brilliant.
Solution: Forget about the opening. Just keep going, you can always revise it later.
So that would be okay except for problem number 2: I'm convinced I'm missing crucial details as I go. Well, I'm convinced of this mostly because I keep noticing that I am missing crucial details as I go. So, as much as nearly every writer extolls the "organic" method of just letting the story flow, I just can't do it that way.
Solution: An outline. A very, very specific outline.
I started work on that yesterday. First just charting out physically where the action moves, then filling in what the characters need to be doing. There are seven main characters (two are more important than the others since they share the POV), three important secondary characters (one of whom never physically appears but his presence is felt everywhere), and about ten less important secondary characters. Did I mention I had widened the scope?
But this is fun, charting out the arcs for each character. Now when I sit down to write, I'll know what needs to be accomplished by the end of the chapter. I hope it will kill the panic factor.
It's like storyboarding a movie. Nearly every filmmaker does it these days, but Spielberg was one of the first. He said once that storyboarding allowed him to be more spontaneous on the set, not less, because he had worked ahead of time exactly what he needed. With that knowledge, he was free to use what was available to meet that need; he wasn't chained to the preconception. I've taken this as my philosophy for homeschooling. I schedule each schoolyear out to the day, which most homeschool moms think is nuts, but I find this allows us to be more spontaneous. I know when I need to have certain things done by, so on any given day I can feel comfortable moving things around or making it a halfday.
Well, I hope it will be true of writing too. So I went to bed last night still thinking about the characters and their arcs, since I've only got the bare bones of an outline so far (when you have something less than 2 hours a day to write, things move slow).
Then I had this dream, and it wasn't about my book. It was about Harry Potter. What's up with that? Can't my subconscious stay on task? No, it says, "here's a cool ending for a book you didn't write". It was weird. Harry's head split open, specifically his scar did, and a baby brother came out of his head, like a Zeus/Athena thing (it didn't kill him; it was magic). The spell Lily did to protect him involved his unborn baby brother (in my dream). Must be my subconscious mind's interpretation of the older magic Voldemort doesn't use, the love thing. Or perhaps my fond wish for Harry to have a family of his own.
So you can see why I don't use my own dreams for my writing, cause that's just creepy. Of course Voldemort's face coming out of the back of Quirrel's head was creepy too. You be the judge.
At any rate, the rewrite is not going well. I write 30 pages, delete them, write 40 pages, delete them, write 50... This is apparently how JRR Tolkein wrote LOTR, like waves on the beach. But since LOTR wasn't published until he was 62, I'm looking for a more effective approach. There are two things at work here. Problem number 1: editors and agents only request the first three chapters (and I seriously doubt they read that much of every submission). so the opening has to be strong. No pressure! Just be brilliant.
Solution: Forget about the opening. Just keep going, you can always revise it later.
So that would be okay except for problem number 2: I'm convinced I'm missing crucial details as I go. Well, I'm convinced of this mostly because I keep noticing that I am missing crucial details as I go. So, as much as nearly every writer extolls the "organic" method of just letting the story flow, I just can't do it that way.
Solution: An outline. A very, very specific outline.
I started work on that yesterday. First just charting out physically where the action moves, then filling in what the characters need to be doing. There are seven main characters (two are more important than the others since they share the POV), three important secondary characters (one of whom never physically appears but his presence is felt everywhere), and about ten less important secondary characters. Did I mention I had widened the scope?
But this is fun, charting out the arcs for each character. Now when I sit down to write, I'll know what needs to be accomplished by the end of the chapter. I hope it will kill the panic factor.
It's like storyboarding a movie. Nearly every filmmaker does it these days, but Spielberg was one of the first. He said once that storyboarding allowed him to be more spontaneous on the set, not less, because he had worked ahead of time exactly what he needed. With that knowledge, he was free to use what was available to meet that need; he wasn't chained to the preconception. I've taken this as my philosophy for homeschooling. I schedule each schoolyear out to the day, which most homeschool moms think is nuts, but I find this allows us to be more spontaneous. I know when I need to have certain things done by, so on any given day I can feel comfortable moving things around or making it a halfday.
Well, I hope it will be true of writing too. So I went to bed last night still thinking about the characters and their arcs, since I've only got the bare bones of an outline so far (when you have something less than 2 hours a day to write, things move slow).
Then I had this dream, and it wasn't about my book. It was about Harry Potter. What's up with that? Can't my subconscious stay on task? No, it says, "here's a cool ending for a book you didn't write". It was weird. Harry's head split open, specifically his scar did, and a baby brother came out of his head, like a Zeus/Athena thing (it didn't kill him; it was magic). The spell Lily did to protect him involved his unborn baby brother (in my dream). Must be my subconscious mind's interpretation of the older magic Voldemort doesn't use, the love thing. Or perhaps my fond wish for Harry to have a family of his own.
So you can see why I don't use my own dreams for my writing, cause that's just creepy. Of course Voldemort's face coming out of the back of Quirrel's head was creepy too. You be the judge.
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Juggling Cats
Oliver is slowly easing into kindergarten. He's only four, but I'm following the same plan I used for Aidan, skipping preschool entirely and doing two years of kindergarten. Most preschool curriculums are designed for kids going to some sort of group school, public or private, and the emphasis is on tying your own shoes, buttoning your own coat, standing in line, raising your hand when you want to talk, etc. etc. Really, it's all about making life easier for the kindergarten teachers of the world, which is very useful if you're going that route but of no use for our family. Hence, we spread kindergarten out over two years.
I slip subjects in one at a time (both with Aidan and now with Oliver). This serves two purposes: it's such a gradual process there is very little rebellion (I can't imagine going from 0 hours school one day to 3 or more the next), and it gives me time to adjust my own schedule. When Aidan started kindergarten, Oliver was a baby, so I had to fit Aidan's school in around naps and feeding times. Now I have to fit Oliver's school time around Aidan's school time.
So, juggling cats.
Oliver only does phonics and math. He has a preschool workbook from Target that has other activities, but that's mostly for fun. 10 minutes of phonics, 10 minutes of math. Sounds easy, right? Well, the minute I start Oliver school, Aidan immediately forgets everything he ever knew and is incapable of finishing his task without my help. I re-explain the concept to Aidan while Oliver shouts, "What about the number five! What about the number five!" (The things Oliver shouts about don't necessarily need to have a corrollary in the real world. He just likes to shout). I turn back to Oliver to resume discussion of the number five, but Aidan needs me to explain the concept he's working on one more time.
And so on and so on.
And there are homeschoolers with ten or more kids! I don't know how they do it.
On the upside, Oliver has mastered all the short vowels sounds and is moving on to consonants now. His phonics program is all rhymes: "A is the first vowel that we say, /a/ is the short vowel sound of A." So guess what's on the permanent loop in my head?
I slip subjects in one at a time (both with Aidan and now with Oliver). This serves two purposes: it's such a gradual process there is very little rebellion (I can't imagine going from 0 hours school one day to 3 or more the next), and it gives me time to adjust my own schedule. When Aidan started kindergarten, Oliver was a baby, so I had to fit Aidan's school in around naps and feeding times. Now I have to fit Oliver's school time around Aidan's school time.
So, juggling cats.
Oliver only does phonics and math. He has a preschool workbook from Target that has other activities, but that's mostly for fun. 10 minutes of phonics, 10 minutes of math. Sounds easy, right? Well, the minute I start Oliver school, Aidan immediately forgets everything he ever knew and is incapable of finishing his task without my help. I re-explain the concept to Aidan while Oliver shouts, "What about the number five! What about the number five!" (The things Oliver shouts about don't necessarily need to have a corrollary in the real world. He just likes to shout). I turn back to Oliver to resume discussion of the number five, but Aidan needs me to explain the concept he's working on one more time.
And so on and so on.
And there are homeschoolers with ten or more kids! I don't know how they do it.
On the upside, Oliver has mastered all the short vowels sounds and is moving on to consonants now. His phonics program is all rhymes: "A is the first vowel that we say, /a/ is the short vowel sound of A." So guess what's on the permanent loop in my head?
Saturday, July 23, 2005
At long last, rejection
I got my rejection from Asimov's today. They say the main reason they have for rejecting things is that they've seen it before. So they've already seen too many stories about futuristic Chinese magicians who team up with little black girls with chips in their heads to move 12th century Norsemen into the future so they can voyage to the stars.
I'm being facetious of course. It was a form letter, so who knows what really the problem was. It just didn't stand out enough to make the cut. It's already on its way to The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Hoping for better luck this time (or at least a faster rejection).
I'm being facetious of course. It was a form letter, so who knows what really the problem was. It just didn't stand out enough to make the cut. It's already on its way to The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Hoping for better luck this time (or at least a faster rejection).
Monday, July 18, 2005
Willy Wonka, Willy Wonka, the Amazing Chocolateer
So, we took the boys to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory today at the Imax. We tried to go yesterday, but Aidan suddenly got very ill just as we got to the theater (a 30 minute drive on a Sunday) so we turned around and came back home. Luckily, we got passes for our non-refundable tickets ($60 for the four of us!). It took over an hour to get there today (Monday), and he started to feel ill again just as we got there. The going theory is that he was just too excited to see the movie, but it was a tough situation to deal with. After an hour of stop-and-go traffic I was not prepared to turn back around and go without seeing the movie for the second time. Luckily, as we figured, he felt better by the time the previews started (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire can make anyone feel better). I love a teaser trailer, they are always cooler than the "here's the entire plot to the movie" trailer that comes out later. My all-time favorite teaser was the one for Strange Days that was just Ralph Fiennes doing the hard-sell for playback (being Lenny, his character from the movie). No scenes from the movie at all; it was brilliant.
But anyway, Willy Wonka. First off, I love an Elfman score. This one was Elfman genius. It used the oompah-loompah songs from the book (it always bugged me that the first movie didn't seem to find them worthy). Oliver and I sat through all the credits because he's a music nut too. Secondly, Johnny Depp is the bomb. He knows just how far to go to make the character really interesting, then pushes it just a bit farther. One of the reviews I've read was comparing a Depp comedic performance, which is always in character, to someone like Jim Carey, where it's anything for the laugh. I like both kinds of performances, actually, but each kind tends to work in a very different type of movie. Anyway, as much as I loved Gene Wilder in the first movie, Depp goes in a completely different direction. What can I say, he's brilliant (and he apparently had a lot of fans in the theater tonight).
It's an all-around very cool movie, faithful to the book to an almost LOTR degree. There was an added spin about the meaning of family, but it's not cheesy. Tim Burton vies for the number one spot on my list of all-time favorite directors, and so far I've seen all of his films in the theater except Planet of the Apes (yeah, I know; I have the DVD but only watched it once) and Big Fish (which is really excellent; Ewan MacGregor does a Southern accent that is to die for). Tim has gotten a lot of mileage out of his own emotionally traumatic childhood (he has a book of poems I quite like that is particularly clear on this theme). I think it's really cool that he made a movie where the main character realizes the importance of his own family, rather than the sort of vogue thing these days of finding a circle of friends and making them "like family". I reckon it's because Tim just started his own family. Everything changes when you have kids, right?
Allow me to recommend Imax presentations of Hollywood movies. This is the third for the boys, second for me (I couldn't bring myself to go see Robots; I hated Ice Age and can't take anymore of Robin Williams, whom I used to find very funny). The tickets are quite a bit more ($60 for the four of us), but that tends to keep out the riff-raff; you have to make a commitment to the movie to drive all the way to Apple Valley and pay that much to see it. Still, best sound, best picture (by a long shot; no chewed-up prints here). They even let you bring in your own food (and they ought to at these prices). We're already planning to go there to see Harry Potter in November, just in time for Aidan's birthday.
But anyway, Willy Wonka. First off, I love an Elfman score. This one was Elfman genius. It used the oompah-loompah songs from the book (it always bugged me that the first movie didn't seem to find them worthy). Oliver and I sat through all the credits because he's a music nut too. Secondly, Johnny Depp is the bomb. He knows just how far to go to make the character really interesting, then pushes it just a bit farther. One of the reviews I've read was comparing a Depp comedic performance, which is always in character, to someone like Jim Carey, where it's anything for the laugh. I like both kinds of performances, actually, but each kind tends to work in a very different type of movie. Anyway, as much as I loved Gene Wilder in the first movie, Depp goes in a completely different direction. What can I say, he's brilliant (and he apparently had a lot of fans in the theater tonight).
It's an all-around very cool movie, faithful to the book to an almost LOTR degree. There was an added spin about the meaning of family, but it's not cheesy. Tim Burton vies for the number one spot on my list of all-time favorite directors, and so far I've seen all of his films in the theater except Planet of the Apes (yeah, I know; I have the DVD but only watched it once) and Big Fish (which is really excellent; Ewan MacGregor does a Southern accent that is to die for). Tim has gotten a lot of mileage out of his own emotionally traumatic childhood (he has a book of poems I quite like that is particularly clear on this theme). I think it's really cool that he made a movie where the main character realizes the importance of his own family, rather than the sort of vogue thing these days of finding a circle of friends and making them "like family". I reckon it's because Tim just started his own family. Everything changes when you have kids, right?
Allow me to recommend Imax presentations of Hollywood movies. This is the third for the boys, second for me (I couldn't bring myself to go see Robots; I hated Ice Age and can't take anymore of Robin Williams, whom I used to find very funny). The tickets are quite a bit more ($60 for the four of us), but that tends to keep out the riff-raff; you have to make a commitment to the movie to drive all the way to Apple Valley and pay that much to see it. Still, best sound, best picture (by a long shot; no chewed-up prints here). They even let you bring in your own food (and they ought to at these prices). We're already planning to go there to see Harry Potter in November, just in time for Aidan's birthday.
Saturday, July 16, 2005
Please, Severus...WHAT?
"Please, Severus, kill me" or "Please, Severus, don't kill me." I'm thinking he meant the former. I don't think Snape is really evil. My personal theory is that Snape in his school days was in love with Lily, Harry's mother. He reported what he heard of the prophecy, but when Voldemort followed up on that by killing Lily (and James, but I don't think Snape cared about that), Snape switched sides.
Also, I think Dumbledore is really dead (despite the possible phoenix connection), but in an Obiwan Kenobi "I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine" sort of way.
Oh, did I mention I finished reading a certain book?
Also, I think Dumbledore is really dead (despite the possible phoenix connection), but in an Obiwan Kenobi "I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine" sort of way.
Oh, did I mention I finished reading a certain book?
Thursday, July 14, 2005
A couple links
For those who like my South Park pictures, here is a link to where you can make your own:
http://spstudio.elena.hosting-friends.de/spstudio.html
Also, while I previously thought that surely I was the only one who loved both James Joyce and J.K. Rowling, this link proves me wrong:
http://books.guardian.co.uk/harrypotter/story/0,10761,1521834,00.html
Although I should say it's probably only really funny if you are familiar with Joyce. Then it's hilarous, it is so spot-on. It's from a contest, write the death of Dumbledore in the style of some author. You can see others here:
http://books.guardian.co.uk/potter/page/0,13381,1521782,00.html
Probably up for a limited time only, so check it out. Hemingway is also very well done, as is Jasper Fforde (and if you haven't read anything by Jasper Fforde, what are you waiting for? He's books are terrific, and they get funnier as you go).
http://spstudio.elena.hosting-friends.de/spstudio.html
Also, while I previously thought that surely I was the only one who loved both James Joyce and J.K. Rowling, this link proves me wrong:
http://books.guardian.co.uk/harrypotter/story/0,10761,1521834,00.html
Although I should say it's probably only really funny if you are familiar with Joyce. Then it's hilarous, it is so spot-on. It's from a contest, write the death of Dumbledore in the style of some author. You can see others here:
http://books.guardian.co.uk/potter/page/0,13381,1521782,00.html
Probably up for a limited time only, so check it out. Hemingway is also very well done, as is Jasper Fforde (and if you haven't read anything by Jasper Fforde, what are you waiting for? He's books are terrific, and they get funnier as you go).
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
Saturday, July 09, 2005
Bored Now
My employer's computer network is down, the boys are at swimming, and I have nothing to do while I wait for IT to fix the problem. So here I am. Let's talk short stories (if I can get my kitty with the ponytail fetish OFF MY NECK! Down, Spike! Sure, it's all fun and games until you start to feel like your falling...)
I mostly hate them. What I lovely thing for me to say, I know, being a writer myself, but it's true. My curve isn't even 10% good for 90% crap (which is supposed to be like the Golden Rule of any genre). I like quite a bit less than 5%, I would guess. For instance: I have about five volumes of WOTF compilations, to check out the competition. The overwhelming majority of them I never get past the third or fourth paragraph. Out of all of them the only one I genuinely liked was In Orbite Medievali from Volume XVI. I've read it twice, and that's high praise from me. It's a really cool idea and the prose is very engaging. I'll name names here, that was Tobias Buckell (Toby in this anthology), and I already preordered his first novel on Amazon.
Other than that, the only story that made an impression was Beautiful Singer by Steve Bein. I could see someone making a really creepy movie out of this one. Or perhaps not; many really good Stephen King stories have ended up as deeply bad films. Imagine a really cool director with a great sense of visuals, particularly of color. Hmm, M. Knight Shyamalan?
At any rate, I also subscribe to Asimovs, the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and Realms of Fantasy. ROF prints way too many myth and folklore retreads for my taste. I like them when they're brilliant like Gaiman's Snow Glass Apples, but few are brilliant. To be fair, I've read so much mythology and folklore myself I've probably burned out on it; there is nothing new to be said here for me. They are probably very interesting stories for people who don't know the source material so well. Wait, that sounds really conceited. You realize that mythology obsession is unhealthy and socially disruptive. Umm, like a Star Trek thing only without the social element of having other Trekers to share your obsession with. I'd have more friends if I read less books, right? OK...
Asimov's tends to run a little dry for my tastes, but there have been two good ones recently: Shadow Twin by Gardner Dozois, George R. R. Martin, and Daniel Abraham was really good. I kept thinking I knew where the story was going, but then it took a 90 degree turn. And it did this a couple of times! Very well crafted. The other I really liked was The Little Goddess by Ian McDonald. It had a mythology/religion back drop but used it to tell a really interesting story about a girl. I liked it immensely.
Mailman came. No SASE. Grrrr. Waiting...
Where was I? With FSF I usually make it through more of the stories, but there hasn't been much I think back on later. Nothing haunts me, and I like to be haunted. Spell by Bruce McAllister was pretty good, but I just read it last night so we cannot yet assess the long-term effects.
You know, I'm probably just way too picky, but it came to me recently that life is short, which is a cliche but you know what I mean. When I was 15 I used to read the same books over and over, and now I realize that even books I really like I might never get a chance to read again because there is so much else out there to be read. I don't have the patience for B-grade stuff when there are A's waiting for me (and yes we are grading on a curve here). The problem is finding the A's. They could be anywhere. I try to solicit recommendations from other readers, but that's often an iffy proposition, individual tastes widely vary.
But the next person to tell me I simply have to read The DaVinci Code is losing a limb. I swear. Amazon should do one of their redirects, "If you liked The Davince Code, you'll love Foucault's Pendulum!" And we could watch people's heads explode. Or something.
Ahh, Umberto Eco.
I mostly hate them. What I lovely thing for me to say, I know, being a writer myself, but it's true. My curve isn't even 10% good for 90% crap (which is supposed to be like the Golden Rule of any genre). I like quite a bit less than 5%, I would guess. For instance: I have about five volumes of WOTF compilations, to check out the competition. The overwhelming majority of them I never get past the third or fourth paragraph. Out of all of them the only one I genuinely liked was In Orbite Medievali from Volume XVI. I've read it twice, and that's high praise from me. It's a really cool idea and the prose is very engaging. I'll name names here, that was Tobias Buckell (Toby in this anthology), and I already preordered his first novel on Amazon.
Other than that, the only story that made an impression was Beautiful Singer by Steve Bein. I could see someone making a really creepy movie out of this one. Or perhaps not; many really good Stephen King stories have ended up as deeply bad films. Imagine a really cool director with a great sense of visuals, particularly of color. Hmm, M. Knight Shyamalan?
At any rate, I also subscribe to Asimovs, the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and Realms of Fantasy. ROF prints way too many myth and folklore retreads for my taste. I like them when they're brilliant like Gaiman's Snow Glass Apples, but few are brilliant. To be fair, I've read so much mythology and folklore myself I've probably burned out on it; there is nothing new to be said here for me. They are probably very interesting stories for people who don't know the source material so well. Wait, that sounds really conceited. You realize that mythology obsession is unhealthy and socially disruptive. Umm, like a Star Trek thing only without the social element of having other Trekers to share your obsession with. I'd have more friends if I read less books, right? OK...
Asimov's tends to run a little dry for my tastes, but there have been two good ones recently: Shadow Twin by Gardner Dozois, George R. R. Martin, and Daniel Abraham was really good. I kept thinking I knew where the story was going, but then it took a 90 degree turn. And it did this a couple of times! Very well crafted. The other I really liked was The Little Goddess by Ian McDonald. It had a mythology/religion back drop but used it to tell a really interesting story about a girl. I liked it immensely.
Mailman came. No SASE. Grrrr. Waiting...
Where was I? With FSF I usually make it through more of the stories, but there hasn't been much I think back on later. Nothing haunts me, and I like to be haunted. Spell by Bruce McAllister was pretty good, but I just read it last night so we cannot yet assess the long-term effects.
You know, I'm probably just way too picky, but it came to me recently that life is short, which is a cliche but you know what I mean. When I was 15 I used to read the same books over and over, and now I realize that even books I really like I might never get a chance to read again because there is so much else out there to be read. I don't have the patience for B-grade stuff when there are A's waiting for me (and yes we are grading on a curve here). The problem is finding the A's. They could be anywhere. I try to solicit recommendations from other readers, but that's often an iffy proposition, individual tastes widely vary.
But the next person to tell me I simply have to read The DaVinci Code is losing a limb. I swear. Amazon should do one of their redirects, "If you liked The Davince Code, you'll love Foucault's Pendulum!" And we could watch people's heads explode. Or something.
Ahh, Umberto Eco.
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
11 Days to Go
On Friday I started re-reading Order of the Phoenix. I was figuring it would take me most of the two weeks before HPB to read it, but I blew through it over the weekend (granted it was a long weekend). So now I'm just waiting and wondering. I haven't heard many advanced hinting on this one compared to OOP, and I freely admit I have no idea who the Halfblood Prince is. I suspect it isn't anyone we've met yet. I suspect Harry will be Quidditch captain. That's the only prediction I can make.
OOP is my favorite Harry Potter book so far. I'm partial to long books, especially long books like this one that don't feel the need to go over and over the same territory (that means you, Robert Jordan). Neville Longbottom has been my favorite character since the first book, and I was happy to see he had a much more prominent role to play in OOP; I hope he doesn't disappear again. But for me, Fred and George made the book.
So now I have nearly two weeks to kill. I suppose I could get some writing of my own done. The second draft calls...
OOP is my favorite Harry Potter book so far. I'm partial to long books, especially long books like this one that don't feel the need to go over and over the same territory (that means you, Robert Jordan). Neville Longbottom has been my favorite character since the first book, and I was happy to see he had a much more prominent role to play in OOP; I hope he doesn't disappear again. But for me, Fred and George made the book.
So now I have nearly two weeks to kill. I suppose I could get some writing of my own done. The second draft calls...
Saturday, July 02, 2005
A Wee Bit More Live 8
I didn’t stop watching after a-ha. I saw Pet Shop Boys playing from Moscow; that was pretty cool. They did “Go West”. I guess they're the only band playing in Moscow. I'm not sure what even happened to Tokyo. For a PSB live show it was pretty sedate; they usually do impressive, operatic things (Neil in an electric chair is a memorable image from Performance).
I don’t know what I was seeing in Rome. It looked like a hill-billy trucker rapping in Italian. ??
Sting seemed to be sticking to old Police songs, but he redid the lyrics to “Every Breath You Take” to address the world leaders. I didn’t catch most of it (I always have a hard time understanding the words of songs on the first go-round), but I liked “Every smile you fake, we’ll be watching you.”
Robbie Williams was fun, even though I don’t really know his songs. He has enough personality for two people, I swear.
Then there was the Who, another one of my faves (this concert is a lot like the random mix of my iTunes, only without Shonen Knife). They’re looking really old, but still rock like they're kids.
The Cure looks older than the Who.
I don’t know what I was seeing in Rome. It looked like a hill-billy trucker rapping in Italian. ??
Sting seemed to be sticking to old Police songs, but he redid the lyrics to “Every Breath You Take” to address the world leaders. I didn’t catch most of it (I always have a hard time understanding the words of songs on the first go-round), but I liked “Every smile you fake, we’ll be watching you.”
Robbie Williams was fun, even though I don’t really know his songs. He has enough personality for two people, I swear.
Then there was the Who, another one of my faves (this concert is a lot like the random mix of my iTunes, only without Shonen Knife). They’re looking really old, but still rock like they're kids.
The Cure looks older than the Who.
In which I am Fulfilled
I was watching Madonna and almost missed them! I heard three songs, "Hunting High and Low", "Take On Me", and "Summer Moves On". I may have missed one at the beginning, I'm not sure, but at least I got to see them. I'm always amazed by Morton Harket, the man never hits a sour note, and he has an incredible range. Come to find he couldn't hear himself over his earpiece and I'm even more impressed.
I should amend my earlier post, in point of fact a-ha will be performing in NYC in September. Too bad there is now way I can go. They were my first concert ever (second row!), and I have two live DVDs of theirs. They are an excellent live band and I'd love to see them perform again. Perhaps in another 20 years they'll play the Twin Cities again. One can hope!
OK, back to work.
I should amend my earlier post, in point of fact a-ha will be performing in NYC in September. Too bad there is now way I can go. They were my first concert ever (second row!), and I have two live DVDs of theirs. They are an excellent live band and I'd love to see them perform again. Perhaps in another 20 years they'll play the Twin Cities again. One can hope!
OK, back to work.
Still in pursuit of a-ha on Live 8
Still in pursuit of a-ha on Live 8.
I was originally planning on recording VH1 all day and watching it tomorrow, but my DVD recorder picked today of all days to go completely bat-shit. It’s says all my blank disks are “available for playback only” (hello! They’re completely blank!), then the message screen alternates “open” and “close” for about ten minutes, which would normally mean the little disk tray would be going in and out only nothing is happening. It also locks up and gives me the much more honest, if vague, “error” message.
After being accused of acting like Oliver (whose 4 and has some excuse for low temper control) I went back to my office and sulked. Then I started monkeying around on the internet and found the live feeds that AOL is playing. This is actually much cooler. I can see all the cities and who is playing or about to play and pick what I listen to (technically I’m working, so I’m not watching, but I’ll punch out when my guys perform, guarantee it). On the downside, I won’t be able to watch it again like I would if my recorder were actually working. On the upside, I get to pick what I hear, not VH1.
I heard Brian Wilson in Berlin. He did all Beach Boys songs, which is cool but I was hoping he’d do something from Smile. I love the guy, he’s such a terrible singer. I mean that in a good-natured ribbing sort of way. His back-up singers were fantastic, but he’s a warbler. It must be frustrating for him. His songs are so beautiful, I can see why he wants to sing them himself, but whoa.
I was originally planning on recording VH1 all day and watching it tomorrow, but my DVD recorder picked today of all days to go completely bat-shit. It’s says all my blank disks are “available for playback only” (hello! They’re completely blank!), then the message screen alternates “open” and “close” for about ten minutes, which would normally mean the little disk tray would be going in and out only nothing is happening. It also locks up and gives me the much more honest, if vague, “error” message.
After being accused of acting like Oliver (whose 4 and has some excuse for low temper control) I went back to my office and sulked. Then I started monkeying around on the internet and found the live feeds that AOL is playing. This is actually much cooler. I can see all the cities and who is playing or about to play and pick what I listen to (technically I’m working, so I’m not watching, but I’ll punch out when my guys perform, guarantee it). On the downside, I won’t be able to watch it again like I would if my recorder were actually working. On the upside, I get to pick what I hear, not VH1.
I heard Brian Wilson in Berlin. He did all Beach Boys songs, which is cool but I was hoping he’d do something from Smile. I love the guy, he’s such a terrible singer. I mean that in a good-natured ribbing sort of way. His back-up singers were fantastic, but he’s a warbler. It must be frustrating for him. His songs are so beautiful, I can see why he wants to sing them himself, but whoa.
Grrrrrrr
So, the Live 8 concerts are today. Lots of cool bands, tons of cities. Didn't they only do 3 last time? I remember Philly, NY, and London, but it was a long time ago and my memory may be wrong. I remember watching it. It was a weird time for me. We had just moved to MN from TN, and I was still adjusting to the idea that rock and pop were not from the devil. I'm not joking, by the way, that was really what I believed up to the age of 12. I remember watching LiveAid and really enjoying it, although I had no idea who most of the bands were. Here's a good bench mark: I recognized Lionel Ritchie and Tina Turner. That's how hip I was!
But back to the Grrrr. The paper did one of their very insightful articles which is just a bunch of blurbs that are supposed to be hip or witty or whatever. The kind of thing where you can tell the writers read a lot of Entertainment Weekly, know what I'm saying? And they listed my all-time fave band a-ha under head-scratchers. If they were performing in NY I suppose that would be a head-scratcher, but they're playing in Berlin. They never lost their popularity in Europe (or South America, or other large chunks of the globe which are not the US). They play arenas, people, and not just in Norway.
If a tree falls in the woods, and the woods aren't in America, does it even count? Or to paraphrase Mike Myers, "If it's not American, it's crap!!"
Grrrrrr.
I'm working today but will be taping as much as they show on TV. Who wants to bet I never see my guys? Luckily, there are a lot of cool acts. I'm sure I'll see something I like. But I'm still pissed.
But back to the Grrrr. The paper did one of their very insightful articles which is just a bunch of blurbs that are supposed to be hip or witty or whatever. The kind of thing where you can tell the writers read a lot of Entertainment Weekly, know what I'm saying? And they listed my all-time fave band a-ha under head-scratchers. If they were performing in NY I suppose that would be a head-scratcher, but they're playing in Berlin. They never lost their popularity in Europe (or South America, or other large chunks of the globe which are not the US). They play arenas, people, and not just in Norway.
If a tree falls in the woods, and the woods aren't in America, does it even count? Or to paraphrase Mike Myers, "If it's not American, it's crap!!"
Grrrrrr.
I'm working today but will be taping as much as they show on TV. Who wants to bet I never see my guys? Luckily, there are a lot of cool acts. I'm sure I'll see something I like. But I'm still pissed.
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