Monthly Archive for October, 2007

Halloween

Published
by
Sara
on October 31, 2007
in Blog
. Closed

This year I went as myself.

My Halloween costume: me, circa 1992

In 1992.

Annotations: One button says “I Color Outside The Lines,” the other is Hothead Paisan’s cat Chicken saying “Oh Purr.” The T-shirt is from Clarion 1991, and it reads: “Nobody noticed the whistling man with the chainsaw. They were all looking at the transvestite with the flamethrower,” a genuine sentence from a genuine critique session, as some readers of this site can attest. The rest of the outfit consists of fatigue shorts and beat-up combat boots. If I could’ve, I would’ve carried a boom box playing nothing but Concrete Blonde, Tori Amos, and the Indigo Girls…

(Note that I don’t dress entirely unlike this now. But I am slightly less prone to wear ludicrously oversized flannel shirts.)

If you were going to dress as a past (or future) version of yourself, what would it look like?

Kind of cool, kind of sad

Published
by
Sara
on October 30, 2007
in Thrifting
. Closed

…because I yearn for the days when thrift stores weren’t trying to “reposition the nature of the merchandise.” But this Washington Post article profiling the DC area Goodwill’s various marketing strategies also links to the marketing manager’s blog, DC Goodwill Fashionista, which I really like, possibly in part because she looks like a shorter-haired Katrina with glasses.

What do you think about thrift stores selling themselves as vintage boutiques?

Carla Speed McNeil, Geoff Ryman

Published
by
Sara
on October 28, 2007
in Recommended Authors
. Closed

Carla Speed McNeil writes and draws the phenomenal Finder series of graphic novels: read the first chapter of Talisman.Geoff Ryman is the author of several extraordinary novels; my two favorites are The Child Garden and Air: read an excerpt.

It was only recently that I realized that there are ways in which their work reminds me of each other’s, so I  made a few notes about things that both creators explore. If I were a real literary blogger, this would be a real essay, with full paragraphs and stuff, but I am scattershot and fragmentary, so here are some fragments:

Memory and its nature, how it can be manipulated/enhanced.

The unintended consequences of technological advances.

The nature of artistic creations, reacting to them, reinterpreting them, using the narratives of others to deepen and enhance the story being told. “She reads, thought Milena in admiration, unheard-of books.”

Culture clashes and connections, rituals.

Political organization and its discontents.

Details that immediately let the reader know she’s somewhere unexpected – the sneakers and the portable music player from this bazaar scene in Talisman; this bit from the opening of Child Garden:

It was a production of Love’s Labour’s Lost. The children were bored; they could follow the play with such ease…’Another one of these New History things,’ sighed a little girl in the front. Her cheeks were purple from the sun. Her voice was sulky, light, breathy. She was about three years old.

Friday Five

Published
by
Sara
on October 26, 2007
in Recommended Authors and Reviews
. Closed

“Friday Five” is the most convenient meme, because despite its origin as five questions you are supposed to blog your answers to, you can instead totally just list five random things. WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT I’M GOING TO DO.

1. Wildfire has the most minimal website I’ve seen since approximately 1996, but at least there’s a phone number and map. We went there last night. I learned what sopressata is, and that it is delicious, and also that truffle oil is a fine addition to a mushroom-oriented pizza. Check it out, Portlanders.

2. American Gangster and other stories by Mark Jacobson. The title story is the basis for this movie. I can’t speak for the film, but I agree with the Entertainment Weekly review that puts Jacobson in the tradition of Joseph Mitchell as a New York City chronicler. Also, were I to make a “If you like The Wire” booklist, I would put this book on it.

3. Territory by Emma Bull. Thanks to Greg for the recommendation. You could, in fact, high concept it as magical Deadwood. I enjoyed it enough that I started over at page one again immediately after finishing. I love the way she handles the magic.

4. I was happy to see that Rules is one of the titles featured in this Eclectica Magazine article: An Extra Helping of Family Chaos. The reviewer is the inimitable Colleen Mondor, who also wrote the Territory review I linked above. I’m especially pleased that she loved Battle.

5. And a question: what, if anything, are you going to do and/or be for Halloween? (And is there any other context in which we ask “what are you going to be” without following it with “when you grow up”?)

Rules for Hearts podcast begins…now.

Published
by
Sara
on October 23, 2007
in Podcast
. Closed

Because I like reading aloud to the Internet.

The first installment should be up soon in the iTunes store, or you can download it as an mp3.

And yeah, I’m planning to keep reading. Tell your friends. :)

Computer-assisted bibliomancy

Published
by
Sara
on October 21, 2007
in Writing
. Closed

I just stumbled on a great way to procrastinate combat writer’s block and kick-start your brain.

Bibliomancy is my favorite form of divination. Think of a question. Close your eyes, open a book at random, put your finger somewhere on the page, and the sentence your finger hits is the answer. But in case you’re tired of lifting up those heavy books and flipping through the pages manually, bibliomancy.org lets you choose from one of several texts (and it looks like they’re planning to add more) and get a reading.

What are some of your favorite ways to unblock yourselves?

Estate sale photo post

Published
by
Sara
on October 21, 2007
in Thrifting
. Closed

Since I’ve started taking pictures at estate sales, I don’t buy as many things.

National Secretaries Week trophies
National Secretaries Week.

Golden Anniversary. One dollar.
Golden Anniversary.

Closeup of a butterfly inside a plate
Actual butterfly.

Actual butterflies inside
Plate from which the previous photo was a detail.

Flowers made from feathers
Flowers. Made from feathers.

Getting fitted for TruType Teeth

Wavrin Trutype Tooth Guide
TruType teeth.

Care of the Back

Ideal Marriage
I like that it’s going to give you both physiology AND technique.

Three things found inside Emily Post's etiquette
This is what I came closest to buying, but the book had been pretty seriously gnawed.

Baby shower invitation, gift tag, photo

Off

Published
by
Sara
on October 19, 2007
in Blog
. Closed

I put in enough hours earlier this week that I was going to have to take today off, anyway, to avoid going into overtime. And of course, since this week has been really busy (and fantastic) and exhausting (and awesome), I got sick.

Now, I’m sufficiently fueled by guilt that when I take a sick day, I typically get freaked out about even leaving the house to buy chicken soup and rent some movies. Because clearly, if I’m well enough to do that, why the hell am I not at the office? The great thing about already having the day off is that I could leave the house without fear. (Do others share this paranoia?)

Anyway, I picked up the first several episodes of the first season of Rome. I am an enormous fan of Mary Renault (though admittedly she is more about the Greeks) and I, Claudius, and I’m hoping this will sound some of the same notes.

Non-optimal feline storage

Published
by
Sara
on October 17, 2007
in Thrifting and cat
. Closed

catfile.jpg

Snag, inside the flat file that is perhaps our best estate sale acquisition ever. Sixteen drawers, big enough to store original comics pages. Snag is in the zines drawer.

This post is mostly for Sharyn

Published
by
Sara
on October 15, 2007
in Recommended Authors
. Closed

So, Laurie was gracious enough to mention me in her utterly fantastic Teen Author Lecture speech. She also talked about her editor, among many other people and things. And, well, afterwards, a girl came up to me and said, “I understand that you’re Laurie Halse Anderson’s editor, and I just want to thank you for that, I think that work is really important.”

I smiled and thanked her, because it was easier than explaining, but I figured I should pass the sentiment along to the person it was actually intended for.

Another highlight: one girl in Laurie’s very very long signing line was a fan of Empress.

Both/and, again. Librarian, writer. Simultaneous.

But — I’m not an editor!