Hmmm
Could there possibly be a less appetizing name for dog food than "Science Diet"?
2/28/2007
2/27/2007
Yes! Yessss!
Junot Diaz' long-awaited second novel is finally coming out next fall. However, it's coming out the day after Labor Day weekend, which is a terrible time for books. People are going back to school and are consumed with their school duties. Parents are consumed with their kids' school duties. People bought books all summer long for their vacations and are done with pleasure-reading for a while.
However, since it's been 10 years since Diaz' first book, an easy-to-read but stil literary short story compendium, DROWN, made a big splash (ha ha), the new book is likely to make waves (ho ho). Part of it appeared in the New Yorker several years ago and was great.
I also was in Diaz' journalism class in high school, which is a story I will tell, well, probably never, but it was interesting.
Junot Diaz' long-awaited second novel is finally coming out next fall. However, it's coming out the day after Labor Day weekend, which is a terrible time for books. People are going back to school and are consumed with their school duties. Parents are consumed with their kids' school duties. People bought books all summer long for their vacations and are done with pleasure-reading for a while.
However, since it's been 10 years since Diaz' first book, an easy-to-read but stil literary short story compendium, DROWN, made a big splash (ha ha), the new book is likely to make waves (ho ho). Part of it appeared in the New Yorker several years ago and was great.
I also was in Diaz' journalism class in high school, which is a story I will tell, well, probably never, but it was interesting.
2/26/2007
Monday Mailbag
(posted so late today, it's almost Tuesday!)
From C in Kansas:
They wouldn't put the "h" there if they didn't want us to pronounce [vehicle], would they? And it IS an alternate pronunciation in my dictionary. So.... how do you guys pronounce things like "vehicular homicide?" No "h" in vehicular? Sure, you can mention it on your blog. Just be sure to include my Kansas twang. :-)
From Sally in MN:
Finally, snow forecast for MN - we're talking a foot or more, possibly. New "Snowplows are out" photo at my blog.
Okay, I thought of a combonym:
When your bra straps keep falling down or the undewire is poking you, you've got a "brablem."
Yesterday I was having brablems galore.
Take care!
Sally
From Dymocks, the official bookseller of Australia, where the Carrie Pilby cover was really great (but unfortunately I only have two of that version at home, so I tried to order more):
Dear C----,
This is an update to your Dymocks Online order DYMXXXX. The publisher of Carrie Pilby(ISBN:0733545548) advises that this book is no longer in print, and thus is not available. We have cancelled this item from your order, and apologise for any inconvenience caused.
The following is a list of all items in your Order and the current details
TITLE: Carrie Pilby PRICE: $16.32 QTY: 3 STATUS: Cancelled-Out of Print---------------------------------------Please note all prices indicated are in Australian dollars
Oh fudge.
(posted so late today, it's almost Tuesday!)
From C in Kansas:
They wouldn't put the "h" there if they didn't want us to pronounce [vehicle], would they? And it IS an alternate pronunciation in my dictionary. So.... how do you guys pronounce things like "vehicular homicide?" No "h" in vehicular? Sure, you can mention it on your blog. Just be sure to include my Kansas twang. :-)
From Sally in MN:
Finally, snow forecast for MN - we're talking a foot or more, possibly. New "Snowplows are out" photo at my blog.
Okay, I thought of a combonym:
When your bra straps keep falling down or the undewire is poking you, you've got a "brablem."
Yesterday I was having brablems galore.
Take care!
Sally
From Dymocks, the official bookseller of Australia, where the Carrie Pilby cover was really great (but unfortunately I only have two of that version at home, so I tried to order more):
Dear C----,
This is an update to your Dymocks Online order DYMXXXX. The publisher of Carrie Pilby(ISBN:0733545548) advises that this book is no longer in print, and thus is not available. We have cancelled this item from your order, and apologise for any inconvenience caused.
The following is a list of all items in your Order and the current details
TITLE: Carrie Pilby PRICE: $16.32 QTY: 3 STATUS: Cancelled-Out of Print---------------------------------------Please note all prices indicated are in Australian dollars
Oh fudge.
2/23/2007
Random thing I just remembered from elementary school
It's sixth grade, Mrs. Shaak's class. She's teaching us spelling. The next word is "vehicle." She says, "You don't pronounce the 'H'. You don't say ve-HICle, right?"
This girl, Dawn, says, "On the Dukes of Hazzard they do."
The teacher says, "Well, you shouldn't listen to how the Dukes of Hazzard pronounce it."
Just another case of '80s television ruining our minds.
Happy Friday!!!
It's sixth grade, Mrs. Shaak's class. She's teaching us spelling. The next word is "vehicle." She says, "You don't pronounce the 'H'. You don't say ve-HICle, right?"
This girl, Dawn, says, "On the Dukes of Hazzard they do."
The teacher says, "Well, you shouldn't listen to how the Dukes of Hazzard pronounce it."
Just another case of '80s television ruining our minds.
Happy Friday!!!
2/22/2007
Thursday
I guess yesterday's photos were actually taken in fall, since the leaves are falling from the trees, but they look like fresh spring leaves so maybe not.
I hosted trivia with The Boy on Tuesday night. He did an excellentamundo job! Also, I am pleased to see that in its fourth year, Tuesday Night Trivia is still going strong. With our talented co-hosts there every week, it practically runs itself.
In other notes, it's warm out. I feel like spring is coming already. A bad idea to get hopes up, though. The weather has been erratic lately.
In writing news, I gave my novel to my agent about a month ago. I checked in about 10 days ago and she said she hadn't gotten to it yet. This isn't unusual. I'll just wait and see what suggestions she has.
I'm not going to start anything new writing for quite a while. But I have a few ideas. No matter what I write, I know this: I want the next book I publish to be a book that you will sink into an easy chair with, sipping hot tea, your feet up in slippers, surrounded by shelves full of other books you have enjoyed in wintry days of the past. I want it to be a book that you are happy to have found, whose main character you'd like to have a conversation with, a book you are glad to spend a day with.
I guess yesterday's photos were actually taken in fall, since the leaves are falling from the trees, but they look like fresh spring leaves so maybe not.
I hosted trivia with The Boy on Tuesday night. He did an excellentamundo job! Also, I am pleased to see that in its fourth year, Tuesday Night Trivia is still going strong. With our talented co-hosts there every week, it practically runs itself.
In other notes, it's warm out. I feel like spring is coming already. A bad idea to get hopes up, though. The weather has been erratic lately.
In writing news, I gave my novel to my agent about a month ago. I checked in about 10 days ago and she said she hadn't gotten to it yet. This isn't unusual. I'll just wait and see what suggestions she has.
I'm not going to start anything new writing for quite a while. But I have a few ideas. No matter what I write, I know this: I want the next book I publish to be a book that you will sink into an easy chair with, sipping hot tea, your feet up in slippers, surrounded by shelves full of other books you have enjoyed in wintry days of the past. I want it to be a book that you are happy to have found, whose main character you'd like to have a conversation with, a book you are glad to spend a day with.
2/21/2007
2/20/2007
2/16/2007
The 'Killer App'
I always wondered what "Killer App" meant. It was a phrase I used to hear in the 1980s: businesses wanted to find the "killer app."
After heavy reserach (clicking Wikipedia), I learned that a "killer app[lication]" would be a computer program that is so important that all other programs, software, etc. would have to be compatible with it. It would have a deep impact on our culture. Microsoft Word is a bit like that. Know anyone these days whose computer uses WordPerfect? Nope. All manufacturers eventually bowed to the superior Word format.
I think the next "Killer App" may involve dating sites.
I have racked my brain on occasion for dating insights to give friends (although I of course am far from an expert), but it seems like any generalizations I try to offer tend to fall flat because there are too many exceptions. I know some people who hate on-line dating, but it works for others. I know some girls who meet only guys who are jerks, but there are nice guys out there, too. I know nice guys who only meet jerky girls, but of course, most of my female friends are very nice.
It just takes a while to meet the right person, and unfortunately, that can involve making yourself vulnerable and putting yourself out there over and over again. It can mean telling someone intimate details of your life as you get to know them, and not having it go anywhere in the end. It can also end up truly wonderfully, but it can mean getting hurt beforehand during the process, unless you meet the love of your life when you are 14.
Internet dating is a modern phenomenon. Only a few years ago, people thought it was creepy, but now it's something that many people try. It can be hard for shy people to advertise themselves, though...but they have to do it. And then we all find out the inevitable: Someone may seem different on the internet than they do in person, etc., etc.
This doesn't make internet dating a failure, because there are all those possibilities in other forms of dating as well.
Anyway, my point is...people are constantly trying to invent the "killer" dating site. In the New York region, there are match, jdate, eHarmony, and nerve...and some less-popular ones. They all have their plusses and minuses. But I know that people are trying to look at the minuses and figure out an improved way to meet.
I recently heard of a website that invites groups of friends to meet each other at events, so there isn't as much one-on-one pressure. The idea is that people will eventually get to know each other through groups of friends, and then pair off if they find someone they like. I also know someone who tried to take the pressure off by starting a site called "nodating" where people just hang out without the pressure of having to act like it's a dating event. Of course, if they HAPPENED to meet, then...
Yes, knowing you are SUPPOSED to meet someone at an event adds pressure. So if someone comes up with a killer dating site that reduces some of the potential for disappointment (is that possible?), makes it seem less contrived, and uses all the positive aspects of meeting through friends and that sort of thing, it could go over well. Of course, everyone is human, so there's really no way to take out the risks or chances. But I know that people are still trying to figure out a better formula. If someone does, that person will become VERY rich caballero.
And anyway, that's one of the things that was going through my brain before V-Day...the fact that someone who creates a really really popular dating site -- whoever that person is -- will be building a sort of "killer app."
I always wondered what "Killer App" meant. It was a phrase I used to hear in the 1980s: businesses wanted to find the "killer app."
After heavy reserach (clicking Wikipedia), I learned that a "killer app[lication]" would be a computer program that is so important that all other programs, software, etc. would have to be compatible with it. It would have a deep impact on our culture. Microsoft Word is a bit like that. Know anyone these days whose computer uses WordPerfect? Nope. All manufacturers eventually bowed to the superior Word format.
I think the next "Killer App" may involve dating sites.
I have racked my brain on occasion for dating insights to give friends (although I of course am far from an expert), but it seems like any generalizations I try to offer tend to fall flat because there are too many exceptions. I know some people who hate on-line dating, but it works for others. I know some girls who meet only guys who are jerks, but there are nice guys out there, too. I know nice guys who only meet jerky girls, but of course, most of my female friends are very nice.
It just takes a while to meet the right person, and unfortunately, that can involve making yourself vulnerable and putting yourself out there over and over again. It can mean telling someone intimate details of your life as you get to know them, and not having it go anywhere in the end. It can also end up truly wonderfully, but it can mean getting hurt beforehand during the process, unless you meet the love of your life when you are 14.
Internet dating is a modern phenomenon. Only a few years ago, people thought it was creepy, but now it's something that many people try. It can be hard for shy people to advertise themselves, though...but they have to do it. And then we all find out the inevitable: Someone may seem different on the internet than they do in person, etc., etc.
This doesn't make internet dating a failure, because there are all those possibilities in other forms of dating as well.
Anyway, my point is...people are constantly trying to invent the "killer" dating site. In the New York region, there are match, jdate, eHarmony, and nerve...and some less-popular ones. They all have their plusses and minuses. But I know that people are trying to look at the minuses and figure out an improved way to meet.
I recently heard of a website that invites groups of friends to meet each other at events, so there isn't as much one-on-one pressure. The idea is that people will eventually get to know each other through groups of friends, and then pair off if they find someone they like. I also know someone who tried to take the pressure off by starting a site called "nodating" where people just hang out without the pressure of having to act like it's a dating event. Of course, if they HAPPENED to meet, then...
Yes, knowing you are SUPPOSED to meet someone at an event adds pressure. So if someone comes up with a killer dating site that reduces some of the potential for disappointment (is that possible?), makes it seem less contrived, and uses all the positive aspects of meeting through friends and that sort of thing, it could go over well. Of course, everyone is human, so there's really no way to take out the risks or chances. But I know that people are still trying to figure out a better formula. If someone does, that person will become VERY rich caballero.
And anyway, that's one of the things that was going through my brain before V-Day...the fact that someone who creates a really really popular dating site -- whoever that person is -- will be building a sort of "killer app."
2/15/2007
Belated V-Day
Too busy for the "Killer App" post I was gonna write - so, tomorrow maybe. But here's something V-Day related. This guy wants to love you. Why is the article so focused on sex though? Not that I had time to read past the first page, but geez, this guy gets more play than most people.
Too busy for the "Killer App" post I was gonna write - so, tomorrow maybe. But here's something V-Day related. This guy wants to love you. Why is the article so focused on sex though? Not that I had time to read past the first page, but geez, this guy gets more play than most people.
2/14/2007
Happy V-Day
If you know two people who are single, or more, even someone at work or tangentially in your life, think about who you can introduce them to or tell them about who's also single and possibly right for them. Yes, I know it's risky. Everything in dating is a risk. But if you don't try to set up friends, you run the risk of keeping them from meeting someone who could make their life great. Just think about it. It's better to meet through friends, and some people just don't get that chance all that much.
I'll write more on V-Day tomorrow. Because we have an ice storm to contend with! Photos coming later to my barometer blog -- see link at the right.
Oh, I should add that I have a wonderful person as my Valentine and I am vewwy lucky.
If you know two people who are single, or more, even someone at work or tangentially in your life, think about who you can introduce them to or tell them about who's also single and possibly right for them. Yes, I know it's risky. Everything in dating is a risk. But if you don't try to set up friends, you run the risk of keeping them from meeting someone who could make their life great. Just think about it. It's better to meet through friends, and some people just don't get that chance all that much.
I'll write more on V-Day tomorrow. Because we have an ice storm to contend with! Photos coming later to my barometer blog -- see link at the right.
Oh, I should add that I have a wonderful person as my Valentine and I am vewwy lucky.
2/13/2007
More updates
and then I'm done for today.
A girl writes about Z. Toskovich's suicide...she says he had found out he didn't get into his #1 Ivy choice. He would have found that out months ago, though, I think.
Also, more harsh reaction to Maureen Dowd's put-down of chick lit, including from Jennifer Weiner. I'm just sorry that Dowd didn't trash my book in her column...negative publicity is still publicity! Thanks for nothing, Mo!
and then I'm done for today.
A girl writes about Z. Toskovich's suicide...she says he had found out he didn't get into his #1 Ivy choice. He would have found that out months ago, though, I think.
Also, more harsh reaction to Maureen Dowd's put-down of chick lit, including from Jennifer Weiner. I'm just sorry that Dowd didn't trash my book in her column...negative publicity is still publicity! Thanks for nothing, Mo!
WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT
FROM 6 PM THIS EVENING TO10 PM EST WEDNESDAYTHE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN UPTON HAS ISSUED A WINTER WEATHERADVISORY...
WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM THIS EVENING TO 10 PM EST WEDNESDAY.
LIGHT SNOW IS EXPECTED TO BEGIN LATE THIS AFTERNOON...BECOMING STEADIER AND HEAVIER TONIGHT.
AS WARMER AIR MOVES INTO THE REGIONWEDNESDAY...
THE SNOW WILL BE MIXING WITH SLEET AND FREEZING RAINWEDNESDAY MORNING...AND POSSIBLY MIXING WITH RAIN DURING THEAFTERNOON.
AS THE STORM MOVES TO THE NORTHEAST LATE WEDNESDAYAFTERNOON AND COLDER AIR FLOWS BACK INTO THE AREA...
THE MIXEDPRECIPITATION WILL THEN CHANGE BACK TO ALL SNOW BEFORE TAPERING OFF AND ENDING WEDNESDAY NIGHT.
TOTAL SNOW AND SLEET ACCUMULATIONS BY THE TIME THE PRECIPITATION ENDS COULD RANGE FROM 3 TO 7 INCHES...WITH ABOUT A TENTH OF AN INCH OF ICE ACCRETION DURINGPERIODS OF FREEZING RAIN.
A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY MEANS THAT PERIODS OF SNOW...SLEET...OR FREEZING RAIN WILL CAUSE TRAVEL DIFFICULTIES. STRONG WINDS ARE ALSO POSSIBLE.
BE PREPARED FOR SLIPPERY ROADS AND LIMITEDVISIBILITIES...
AND USE CAUTION WHILE DRIVING.
THERE CONTINUES TO BE SOME UNCERTAINTY AS TO THE EXACT TRACK OF THE LOW... WHICH WILL HAVE AN IMPACT ON PRECIPITATION TYPE AND SNOW AMOUNTS.
SHOULD THE TRACK OF THE LOW RESULT IN HIGHER SNOWACCUMULATIONS...THE WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY WOULD HAVE TO BE UPGRADED TO A WINTER STORM WARNING.
STAY TUNED TO NOAA ALL HAZARDS WEATHER RADIO OR VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WEATHER.GOV/NYC FOR FURTHER DETAILS AND UPDATES. MPS
Coming tomorrow: Valentine's Day post (maybe)
And maybe some time this week if I have time: Snow photos (maybe maybe)
FROM 6 PM THIS EVENING TO10 PM EST WEDNESDAYTHE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN UPTON HAS ISSUED A WINTER WEATHERADVISORY...
WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM THIS EVENING TO 10 PM EST WEDNESDAY.
LIGHT SNOW IS EXPECTED TO BEGIN LATE THIS AFTERNOON...BECOMING STEADIER AND HEAVIER TONIGHT.
AS WARMER AIR MOVES INTO THE REGIONWEDNESDAY...
THE SNOW WILL BE MIXING WITH SLEET AND FREEZING RAINWEDNESDAY MORNING...AND POSSIBLY MIXING WITH RAIN DURING THEAFTERNOON.
AS THE STORM MOVES TO THE NORTHEAST LATE WEDNESDAYAFTERNOON AND COLDER AIR FLOWS BACK INTO THE AREA...
THE MIXEDPRECIPITATION WILL THEN CHANGE BACK TO ALL SNOW BEFORE TAPERING OFF AND ENDING WEDNESDAY NIGHT.
TOTAL SNOW AND SLEET ACCUMULATIONS BY THE TIME THE PRECIPITATION ENDS COULD RANGE FROM 3 TO 7 INCHES...WITH ABOUT A TENTH OF AN INCH OF ICE ACCRETION DURINGPERIODS OF FREEZING RAIN.
A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY MEANS THAT PERIODS OF SNOW...SLEET...OR FREEZING RAIN WILL CAUSE TRAVEL DIFFICULTIES. STRONG WINDS ARE ALSO POSSIBLE.
BE PREPARED FOR SLIPPERY ROADS AND LIMITEDVISIBILITIES...
AND USE CAUTION WHILE DRIVING.
THERE CONTINUES TO BE SOME UNCERTAINTY AS TO THE EXACT TRACK OF THE LOW... WHICH WILL HAVE AN IMPACT ON PRECIPITATION TYPE AND SNOW AMOUNTS.
SHOULD THE TRACK OF THE LOW RESULT IN HIGHER SNOWACCUMULATIONS...THE WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY WOULD HAVE TO BE UPGRADED TO A WINTER STORM WARNING.
STAY TUNED TO NOAA ALL HAZARDS WEATHER RADIO OR VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WEATHER.GOV/NYC FOR FURTHER DETAILS AND UPDATES. MPS
Coming tomorrow: Valentine's Day post (maybe)
And maybe some time this week if I have time: Snow photos (maybe maybe)
Competition
When I was in high school, there was plenty of competition to get into "top" colleges, but it wasn't insane. Since then, it has gotten a lot worse. Nowadays, it seems like kids aren't allowed to have summers free if they want to get into a prestigious school (of course, you can get an equally good education and have a good experience at hundreds of non-"prestigious" schools, but competitive parents don't want to hear that).
Students who want to get into top schools often spend their summers doing research internships or volunteering. While I think kids should learn about volunteering, I hope that today's kids get time to be kids, too.
Hard to speculate what drove this kid to suicide last week.
[Note: Glen Rock H.S. in New Jersey is not to be confused with Glen Ridge, where a) Tom Cruise went and b) football players were accused of raping a learning-disabled girl in someone's basement years ago in a famous case.]
Related reading:
The Overachievers: The Secret Lives of Driven Kids. (I read this book last year.)
http://nymag.com/news/features/24398/index.html The Superapplicants (article.)
When I was in high school, there was plenty of competition to get into "top" colleges, but it wasn't insane. Since then, it has gotten a lot worse. Nowadays, it seems like kids aren't allowed to have summers free if they want to get into a prestigious school (of course, you can get an equally good education and have a good experience at hundreds of non-"prestigious" schools, but competitive parents don't want to hear that).
Students who want to get into top schools often spend their summers doing research internships or volunteering. While I think kids should learn about volunteering, I hope that today's kids get time to be kids, too.
Hard to speculate what drove this kid to suicide last week.
[Note: Glen Rock H.S. in New Jersey is not to be confused with Glen Ridge, where a) Tom Cruise went and b) football players were accused of raping a learning-disabled girl in someone's basement years ago in a famous case.]
Related reading:
The Overachievers: The Secret Lives of Driven Kids. (I read this book last year.)
http://nymag.com/news/features/24398/index.html The Superapplicants (article.)
2/12/2007
Uh oh, spaghettio
Maureen Dowd has written a column blasting chick-lit. Way to be on the cutting edge, Mo!!
On another note, they are predicting our first winter storm of the year here in Joisey, for Tuesday night into Wednesday. Snow-starved schoolchildren will be happy if they get a day off.
On a third note, young writer Robyn Schneider has posted her own New York-living entry on her blog. It comes a few weeks after the aforementioned entry by Jessica. Robyn reports that she is leaving, although she doesn't know for how long. Well, if you can make it here, you'll make it anywhere, and she made it.
Coming tomorrow: Competitiveness among high school honors kids reaches its limit.
Update: So that you don't have to look for it, here's the beginning of Maureen's column:
I was cruising through Borders, looking for a copy of “Nostromo.”
Suddenly I was swimming in pink. I turned frantically from display table to display table, but I couldn’t find a novel without a pink cover. I was accosted by a sisterhood of cartoon women, sexy string beans in minis and stilettos, fashionably dashing about book covers with the requisite urban props — lattes, books, purses, shopping bags, guns and, most critically, a diamond ring.
Was it a Valentine’s Day special?
No, I realized with growing alarm, chick lit was no longer a niche. It had staged a coup of the literature shelves. Hot babes had shimmied into the grizzled old boys’ club, the land of Conrad, Faulkner and Maugham. The store was possessed with the devil spawn of “The Devil Wears Prada.” The blood-red high heel ending in a devil’s pitchfork on the cover of the Lauren Weisberger best seller might as well be driving a stake through the heart of the classics.
I even found Sylvia Plath’s “The Bell Jar” with chick-lit pretty-in-pink lettering.
“Penis lit versus Venus lit,” said my friend Leon Wieseltier, the literary editor of The New Republic, who was with me. “An unacceptable choice.”
Maureen Dowd has written a column blasting chick-lit. Way to be on the cutting edge, Mo!!
On another note, they are predicting our first winter storm of the year here in Joisey, for Tuesday night into Wednesday. Snow-starved schoolchildren will be happy if they get a day off.
On a third note, young writer Robyn Schneider has posted her own New York-living entry on her blog. It comes a few weeks after the aforementioned entry by Jessica. Robyn reports that she is leaving, although she doesn't know for how long. Well, if you can make it here, you'll make it anywhere, and she made it.
Coming tomorrow: Competitiveness among high school honors kids reaches its limit.
Update: So that you don't have to look for it, here's the beginning of Maureen's column:
I was cruising through Borders, looking for a copy of “Nostromo.”
Suddenly I was swimming in pink. I turned frantically from display table to display table, but I couldn’t find a novel without a pink cover. I was accosted by a sisterhood of cartoon women, sexy string beans in minis and stilettos, fashionably dashing about book covers with the requisite urban props — lattes, books, purses, shopping bags, guns and, most critically, a diamond ring.
Was it a Valentine’s Day special?
No, I realized with growing alarm, chick lit was no longer a niche. It had staged a coup of the literature shelves. Hot babes had shimmied into the grizzled old boys’ club, the land of Conrad, Faulkner and Maugham. The store was possessed with the devil spawn of “The Devil Wears Prada.” The blood-red high heel ending in a devil’s pitchfork on the cover of the Lauren Weisberger best seller might as well be driving a stake through the heart of the classics.
I even found Sylvia Plath’s “The Bell Jar” with chick-lit pretty-in-pink lettering.
“Penis lit versus Venus lit,” said my friend Leon Wieseltier, the literary editor of The New Republic, who was with me. “An unacceptable choice.”
2/09/2007
Blog or not
I don't read blogs as much as I used to, and there very few I check every day. The reason isn't that hard to explain: Most of my friends' blogs are rarely updated anymore, and never very personal.
I have said from the beginning that it's bad for a blog to get too personal. There are really no advantages to putting your personal life on the internet, except, well, more people will read it if you do. But where does that get you?
I'm a writer, so for me it's part of my profession - a nice way to stay in touch with people who are kind enough to read my stories, and it's still a way to update or amuse friends on occasion. But I'm sure the time will come soon when I only post once every few days.
Four years ago, people were very naive about the internet. Several people got fired for blogging about their jobs, or during work time. For some reason, it never occurred to them that the boss could find them on the internet.
Durr!
We haven't heard too many of those stories lately, because people are smarter, or at least less naive.
A few of my friends who used to write about dating have stopped. Probably a good idea.
Some people who started off anonymously have toned down their blogs because they are no longer anonymous.
Now we can wait for the next horror - growing older, having kids, and finding our kids' diaries!
I don't read blogs as much as I used to, and there very few I check every day. The reason isn't that hard to explain: Most of my friends' blogs are rarely updated anymore, and never very personal.
I have said from the beginning that it's bad for a blog to get too personal. There are really no advantages to putting your personal life on the internet, except, well, more people will read it if you do. But where does that get you?
I'm a writer, so for me it's part of my profession - a nice way to stay in touch with people who are kind enough to read my stories, and it's still a way to update or amuse friends on occasion. But I'm sure the time will come soon when I only post once every few days.
Four years ago, people were very naive about the internet. Several people got fired for blogging about their jobs, or during work time. For some reason, it never occurred to them that the boss could find them on the internet.
Durr!
We haven't heard too many of those stories lately, because people are smarter, or at least less naive.
A few of my friends who used to write about dating have stopped. Probably a good idea.
Some people who started off anonymously have toned down their blogs because they are no longer anonymous.
Now we can wait for the next horror - growing older, having kids, and finding our kids' diaries!
2/08/2007
2/07/2007
Wednesday Mailbag
("Monday mailbag" would sound better, but I didn't think of it in time.)
A sportswriter I know writes:
"don't worry about people being 'mean' to Rex Grossman, that's what sportswriters and columnists are paid to do. It's a staple of sports radio."
Okay, I guess taking the criticism is par for the course. Just like if you're a politician. And Rex makes more money. Still, do they have to be such meanies? It's not like Rex is sending soldiers to Iraq.
A New Yorker writes:
You've been engaged for a month now, right? How does it feel? Have you kiled each other yet? My first month living with the future Mrs. [name withheld to protect the innocent], we had a few rough spots and a battle over toothpaste, but eventually we figured it out. Compromises are definitely worth it.
So far so good. We haven't fought over toothpaste, but ...Hopefully you didn't give the Boy any ideas! Anyways, there are always initial compromises to make when growing with someone, but it's sure worth it when you love someone (awwww).
T. writes:
I have a combonym for you! goatmeal: Oatmeal made with goat's milk.
Pretty good...I guess. Also, Sam from Hawaii had some Sniglets that weren't quite combonyms, but I lost the e-mail with them in it, so Sam from Hawaii, if you want to send again, I'll post them. Up to you.
Now go eat your goatmeal, everyone!
("Monday mailbag" would sound better, but I didn't think of it in time.)
A sportswriter I know writes:
"don't worry about people being 'mean' to Rex Grossman, that's what sportswriters and columnists are paid to do. It's a staple of sports radio."
Okay, I guess taking the criticism is par for the course. Just like if you're a politician. And Rex makes more money. Still, do they have to be such meanies? It's not like Rex is sending soldiers to Iraq.
A New Yorker writes:
You've been engaged for a month now, right? How does it feel? Have you kiled each other yet? My first month living with the future Mrs. [name withheld to protect the innocent], we had a few rough spots and a battle over toothpaste, but eventually we figured it out. Compromises are definitely worth it.
So far so good. We haven't fought over toothpaste, but ...Hopefully you didn't give the Boy any ideas! Anyways, there are always initial compromises to make when growing with someone, but it's sure worth it when you love someone (awwww).
T. writes:
I have a combonym for you! goatmeal: Oatmeal made with goat's milk.
Pretty good...I guess. Also, Sam from Hawaii had some Sniglets that weren't quite combonyms, but I lost the e-mail with them in it, so Sam from Hawaii, if you want to send again, I'll post them. Up to you.
Now go eat your goatmeal, everyone!
2/06/2007
Cold morning
It's very cold out. Very very.
I noticed recently that I'd been getting some hits from a new blog that linked to me. The blog is called bad lesbi*an dates. From reading it, it's clear that girls have just as hard a time dating girls as boys do.
Welcome, bad lesbi*an dater! (Only blocked out so people don't come here looking for HLA.)
2/05/2007
Super Bowl Monday
I went to a small Super Bowl (two words) party last night. It was fun! Many thanks to the host and hostess. The game itself was pretty sloppy, being played in the rain, but still fun to watch.
Prince was excellent at halftime. His Royal Purpleness did a great job.
The Boy told me that the Chicago Sun-Times has been picking relentlessly on Bears QB Rex Grossman. I checked today, and they are cutting him a little slack (some of them, anyway.)
On another note...some of the reporters at the newspaper I work for are so young. They come to me and say they couldn't find a phone number, and they say they looked allllll over the internet for it. And then, when I ask if they called Information, they didn't even think to do that. Durr.
Update:
I was just outside and I saw a guy pour tea out of his car, and it froze on the pavement.
Don't go out there.
The Boy says that USA Today and ESPN have some mean stories about Rex.
I guess I can't feel tooo bad for him...he probably made hundreds of thousands of dollars for being in the Super Bowl.
I went to a small Super Bowl (two words) party last night. It was fun! Many thanks to the host and hostess. The game itself was pretty sloppy, being played in the rain, but still fun to watch.
Prince was excellent at halftime. His Royal Purpleness did a great job.
The Boy told me that the Chicago Sun-Times has been picking relentlessly on Bears QB Rex Grossman. I checked today, and they are cutting him a little slack (some of them, anyway.)
On another note...some of the reporters at the newspaper I work for are so young. They come to me and say they couldn't find a phone number, and they say they looked allllll over the internet for it. And then, when I ask if they called Information, they didn't even think to do that. Durr.
Update:
I was just outside and I saw a guy pour tea out of his car, and it froze on the pavement.
Don't go out there.
The Boy says that USA Today and ESPN have some mean stories about Rex.
I guess I can't feel tooo bad for him...he probably made hundreds of thousands of dollars for being in the Super Bowl.
2/03/2007
While we're on the topic...
While we're on the topic of people who are shockingly still alive...
There are several authors who are still alive, whom you'd think would be dead by now. Especially since their books and stories were classics when you read them in school.
J.D. Salinger is still alive and is living in seclusion in New Hampshire, and writing books he refuses to publish. He's in his eighties and partially deaf.
Ray Bradbury is alive.
Kurt Vonnegut is alive.
Harper Lee, who wrote To Kill A Mockingbird, is also alive and lives a very quiet life in NYC and Alabama. She never wrote another book after that. Strange but true.
What the four of those authors have in common is that their work is so straightforwardly written. A pleasure to read.
I am always grateful to the authors whose classic works wrapped me up in their verbal winter coats, keeping me warm with their words and insights.
I am not grateful to the authors (who shall remain nameless) who pounded me over the head and made me feel stupid. Hey, just because I was an English major doesn't mean I like to read paragraphs that run on for three entire pages. There's no excuse for it! None!
While I'm rambling, Sunday is the Super Bowl (two words, ok, Bunny?) Go Bears...no, go Colts...oh, who cares. I want my hard limeade.
If you can make it there, you'll make it anywhere...
Former trivia co-host Jessica wrote this entry (scroll up) about how her expectations and lifestyle have evolved since moving to NYC six years ago, and how her life no longer resembles a chick-lit novel. Pretty interesting, and I think it's that way for a lot of people I know. Maybe someday I'll write about my own experiences and evolution since moving up here. Hmmm, eventually.
One thing's sure - the internet really changed things, allowing me to meet people whom it would have been harder to meet otherwise, especially because it helped publicize trivia and other ways to connect.
While we're on the topic of people who are shockingly still alive...
There are several authors who are still alive, whom you'd think would be dead by now. Especially since their books and stories were classics when you read them in school.
J.D. Salinger is still alive and is living in seclusion in New Hampshire, and writing books he refuses to publish. He's in his eighties and partially deaf.
Ray Bradbury is alive.
Kurt Vonnegut is alive.
Harper Lee, who wrote To Kill A Mockingbird, is also alive and lives a very quiet life in NYC and Alabama. She never wrote another book after that. Strange but true.
What the four of those authors have in common is that their work is so straightforwardly written. A pleasure to read.
I am always grateful to the authors whose classic works wrapped me up in their verbal winter coats, keeping me warm with their words and insights.
I am not grateful to the authors (who shall remain nameless) who pounded me over the head and made me feel stupid. Hey, just because I was an English major doesn't mean I like to read paragraphs that run on for three entire pages. There's no excuse for it! None!
While I'm rambling, Sunday is the Super Bowl (two words, ok, Bunny?) Go Bears...no, go Colts...oh, who cares. I want my hard limeade.
If you can make it there, you'll make it anywhere...
Former trivia co-host Jessica wrote this entry (scroll up) about how her expectations and lifestyle have evolved since moving to NYC six years ago, and how her life no longer resembles a chick-lit novel. Pretty interesting, and I think it's that way for a lot of people I know. Maybe someday I'll write about my own experiences and evolution since moving up here. Hmmm, eventually.
One thing's sure - the internet really changed things, allowing me to meet people whom it would have been harder to meet otherwise, especially because it helped publicize trivia and other ways to connect.
2/02/2007
Living history
Isn't it amazing that Miep Gies is still alive? She's like 98 though.
In the category of people who are alive even though I wouldn't have thought it...Shirley Temple. But she was young when she got famous and she's only 78 now.
(not that one person has anything to do with the other...they're just two people I wouldn't have thought would still be alive.)
Also appropos of nothing, today is Groundhog Day. Weather news at www.barometer.blogspot.com.
And if any of you need a hug today, (((hhhhuggggg))).
TGIF!
Isn't it amazing that Miep Gies is still alive? She's like 98 though.
In the category of people who are alive even though I wouldn't have thought it...Shirley Temple. But she was young when she got famous and she's only 78 now.
(not that one person has anything to do with the other...they're just two people I wouldn't have thought would still be alive.)
Also appropos of nothing, today is Groundhog Day. Weather news at www.barometer.blogspot.com.
And if any of you need a hug today, (((hhhhuggggg))).
TGIF!
2/01/2007
Food review
The Boy is going to help me review a new restaurant. Photos may be forthcoming. As well as some free sushi.
'Love is a Mix Tape'
The above is the title of a memoir that just came out that I think I want to read, so i'm making note of it now, because often, a book comes out that I want to read and then I forget about it and then I can't find anything good to read, and that's always a bummer. It's called Love is A Mix Tape. It's by a music writer who met his wife in grad school and suddenly had to cope with her untimely death.
From Booklist: Rob Shffield was a "shy, skinny, Irish Catholic geek from Boston" when he first met Renee. Southern born and bred, "she was warm and loud and impulsive." They had nothing in common except a love of music. Since he made music tapes for all occasions, he and Renee listened together, shared tapes, and though never formally planning to, married. On May 11, 1997, everything changed. He was in the kitchen making lunch. Suddenly, she collapsed, dying instantly of a pulmonary embolism. Devastated, he quickly realized that he couldn't listen to certain songs again, and that life as he knew it would never be the same. Fun and funny, moving and unbearably sad, Sheffield's account at its quirkiest, and because of his penchant for lists, is reminiscent of Nick Hornby's novel High Fidelity (1995). Anyone who loves music and appreciates the unspoken ways that music can bring people together will respond warmly to this gentle, bittersweet reflection on love won and love irrevocably lost.
The Boy is going to help me review a new restaurant. Photos may be forthcoming. As well as some free sushi.
'Love is a Mix Tape'
The above is the title of a memoir that just came out that I think I want to read, so i'm making note of it now, because often, a book comes out that I want to read and then I forget about it and then I can't find anything good to read, and that's always a bummer. It's called Love is A Mix Tape. It's by a music writer who met his wife in grad school and suddenly had to cope with her untimely death.
From Booklist: Rob Shffield was a "shy, skinny, Irish Catholic geek from Boston" when he first met Renee. Southern born and bred, "she was warm and loud and impulsive." They had nothing in common except a love of music. Since he made music tapes for all occasions, he and Renee listened together, shared tapes, and though never formally planning to, married. On May 11, 1997, everything changed. He was in the kitchen making lunch. Suddenly, she collapsed, dying instantly of a pulmonary embolism. Devastated, he quickly realized that he couldn't listen to certain songs again, and that life as he knew it would never be the same. Fun and funny, moving and unbearably sad, Sheffield's account at its quirkiest, and because of his penchant for lists, is reminiscent of Nick Hornby's novel High Fidelity (1995). Anyone who loves music and appreciates the unspoken ways that music can bring people together will respond warmly to this gentle, bittersweet reflection on love won and love irrevocably lost.
