As I flip through the TV channels this weekend, I’m noticing a trend: the Super Bowl Sunday alternative programming. Of course, there’s the Puppy Bowl, but there’s also about eight Law & Order marathons, a Man vs. Food marathon, America’s Next Top Model, Jersey Shore, and Real Housewives on Bravo. I’ll be watching the game, but I can’t resist this Puppy Bowl Cuteness:
Oh and the kitten fans will enjoy the halftime show:
I don’t generally just post reviews on this blog. And this probably won’t be one either. But it is a post about a book. So, I guess it is review-ish.
My friend and loyal commenter Nicole lent me her copy of THE LITTLE STRANGER a few weeks ago. Tempting me with how it has all the elements of things I love: British people, stately houses, a ghost, class struggle, and a mystery to boot. HAPPY DAYS. (Already I started thinking back to how much I loved THE FORGOTTEN GARDEN by Kate Morton.)
So, I started said book and was immediately loving the writing. Loving this super tweedy house in decline. I mean, there’s a character named RODERICK. What could be bad, dear reader? THE ANSWER IS NOTHING.
But then, after about a hundred LOVELY pages of house description and family drama (and you know I am an impatient reader, so they were some GOOD pages) I found THE MYSTERY. What is this wicked thing that is happening in this house? IS it a ghost? Or isn’t it?! Keep reading to find out.
And so I did. FOR about 500 pages, or what felt like it, a bunch of tweedy Brits hemmed and hawed about whether or not it was a ghost. And all I could do was shake the book and say IT IS A GHOST. AND A KIND OF MEAN ONE. GET AN EXORCIST. FOR GOODNESS SAKES! Of course, if an exorcist had COME, it would have been a different book, but possibly a less frustrating (and possibly tragic one).
Ok, I might be giving away too much here, but I will say that the ending of this book, despite the middle being tedious, is very satisfying. And that is VERY RARE. So, my feeling at the end of the book is that I am glad I finished it based on the merits of the first 100 pages because it also had a lovely back 75 or so.
What did y’all think of this book? I know many have read it. If you want to keep up generally with what I think of what I read, check out my Goodreads shelf.
We can live vicariously through Ethan Watters who was and has submitted a funny list “10 Things You Should Know Before going on The Daily Show” to The Rumpus. Essentially: the gift basket is good and just trust Jon Stewart, he will get you through it.
As a geeky lover of new technology, I eagerly reloaded Gizmodo and Engadget today to find out the news of the iPad. (I’m not even going NEAR that name. Discuss amongst yourselves if you must.) It sounds great, although I might wait for version 2.0 that has a camera and ACTUAL support for connecting to my TV. But the real story of today probably is: the iPad broke the Internet. According to PCWorld.com (which, clearly, might have a bit of a conflict of interest here) no websites were working during the announcement. So, while the iPad might allow us to access the internet anywhere/anytime (as long as you aren’t in Floyd County, VA where AT&T has chose not to provide ANY service), its announcement kind of ruined everything. Or so they say.
I love books and weird things, but I also fear clutter. So when this product THUMBTHING was brought to my attention by one of our LOYAL blog readers (hi sister!) I thought: this is silly. OR maybe just a joke.
It holds open your book for you. Which is a lovely thing to do. But do we REALLY need a plastic thing to accomplish having a book open (I know there are those weighted things for cookbooks, but that isn’t what this is for.)
One lovely thing about it is that it knows that some people (raising hand here) have fat thumbs. Actually, I have MURDER’S THUMBS (which doesn’t mean I will murder you) and it comes in FOUR SIZES.
So, I’m not really sure what to say (I still have a sense that it MIGHT be a joke that I am falling for…) and it’s been lingering in my inbox so clearly it was something I wanted to discuss with you DEAR READERS. What do you think of the Thumb Things?
So after I read the New Yorker article about Kate and Laura Mulleavy, the creators of Rodarte, I was, of course, fascinated. And one of the things that the article says is that while all of their clothes cost about a billion dollars, their newly launched Target line is hard to come by. And so today when I was at Target in The Bronx (my favorite lazy day thing to do), I was shocked to see racks and racks of Rodarte there. I was admiring how pretty it was when this couple walked by and looked disdainfully at the rack. The guy said, “What useless clothing that is.” The snob in me was thinking, “Don’t you know about how fancy and hard-to-come-by this is?” So, I tried on a dress. And what I discovered once it was on was that it was indeed useless. It was a lovely dress, but it would NEVER fit me properly–it was giant and gaping on the top and teeny on the bottom. (Sorry, ladies, I am built the OPPOSITE, as are many women, I think). AND it looked like a nightgown. But I know it was intended to be worn to a cocktail party.
And so, the fact that all the Rodarte is remaining in The Bronx is completely explicable.
Being that I haven’t posted in a while. And also being that I’m not feeling all that share-y right now, I am just going to reprint what the lovely Maud Newton recently posted on her blog. Because it is smart. And it is advice I should take.
A friend who just finished writing a(n excellent) book in a short period of time says you have to ignore your brain when it tells you it’s done for the day. You may think you can’t keep going, but if you push on, what comes out will be even better. The next day, do the same. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Also, no socializing. Apart from whatever job pays the bills, do nothing but sleep, eat, procrastinate, and write.
I spent the rainy day today with my best friend Marge celebrating her birthday. We had a mediocre brunch which made me mildly ill and then took the bus down to see It’s Complicated. It was an okay movie, not great, but entertaining (and I only wondered what time it was ONCE) and a nice balance of funny/sad. Plus, while I went to it to see Meryl, Alec and Steve, I was amazed by John Krasinski. He totally stole the show. Also, APPARENTLY a scene from it was filmed in my hometown, but I didn’t see which one it was. Maybe it got cut.
In any case, the real reason I’m writing is that during the movie, they play a song that I have always loved and that I haven’t heard in a long time, it is both romantic and sad called “Since I Fell For You.” The version I heard originally, I THINK, was recorded by Dinah Washington. But I can’t find that version anywhere online. There is one, but it isn’t MY version. It’s been recorded by many others as well. I’ve evaluated a number of versions and here are some good ones:
Dusty Springfield:
Barbra:
Nina Simone:
Enjoy!
The New York Times has crunched the numbers and knows what movies are most popular in what cities. And luckily Flavorwire has digested it for us. Example:
Mystery: What’s up with Minneapolis zip code 55450? A lone and persistent white spot within the city’s “Most Rented” patterns, the district seems to be immune to rental trends, opting instead for the first three discs of Battlestar Galactica: Season Three.
Conspiracy Theory: Led by Minnesota Representative Michele Bachman, a woman Jon Stewart said “speaks crazy to power,” zip code 55450 is home to a renegade Tea Party sect that associates Hollywood blockbusters with liberal politics, and in lieu of movies, has settled on watching the popular Sci-Fi series.
More Likely Answer: 55450 is the zip code of the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport. Is this how air flight controllers relax on weekends?
My attention span is too short to watch movies outside of dark rooms where it would be socially unacceptable to wander around and check my email. BUT, Netflix is great especially if you like to watch TV on DVD. Like The Gilmore Girls. But now I just watch it on the interweb.
