New Layout
(I gave in to my obsession)

Book Round Up:
Amsterdam - Great character studies and more action than his most recent work. Great read.

The Ten Cent Plague - Interesting, but a tad repetitive. I'd advise waiting for the paperback.

Enigma - Harris maintains an irritating emotional distance from his characters and I'm not sure I buy the plot but the cryptography stuff was interesting.

Y:The Last Man - I loved this series. So many comic books are just endless action sequences but this relied on character and dialog and emotion. And the world was so intelligently thought out.


( Accomplishments: )

I'm so excited that The Verve has a new record coming out. Urban Hymns is like the most perfect album ever. But I hate waiting.

Six of One is the episode BSG gets a writing nod for? Really? Michael Angeli, writer of such gems as The Woman King, gets a nod. Seriously?

Book round up:
The Agony and the Ecstasy - Wonderful book. So many fascinating details about Michaelangelo's life and work. Though, the insight into his mind was somewhat lacking. I was consistently pulled into Renaissance Florence/Rome but I never quite felt like I was in Michelangelo's head.

Watchmen - I understand why this is a classic. Just like I understand why Anna Karenina is a classic. But I don't particularly enjoy either. The plot dragged kind of a lot and I never connected with the characters.

Pennsylvania Avenue - Boring. Brief bio sketches that read like they were written by the subjects' mothers.

Maps and Legends - Some of the essays are better than others. At times it feels like he's really scraping the bottom of the barrel to find enough similarly themed pieces to make up a book. But the last essay, about a not quite true story he's told in public many times, makes it all worthwhile.

The Most Famous Man in America - Great biography. Thoroughly researched, beautifully written. All of the people and their world come alive. But it's more than just a biography of Henry Ward Beecher, it's a portrait of religion in America. I highly recommend it.

Yesterday I saw:
( Dark Knight )

and

( Dr. Horrible )



( Accomplishments )

"I work from awkwardness. By that I mean I don't like to arrange things. If I stand in front of something, instead of arranging it, I arrange myself." - Diane Arbus

I (along with the rest of the world) have been watching/rewatching RDJ's oeuvre. At some point I'll probably make a big post. But for now, I want to say that Heart and Souls is the most charming movie ever. And I really enjoyed Fur. I wish Nicole Kidman wasn't so horribly miscast, but I'm looking past that. It did a great job of illuminating Arbus's world view in a fresh way. I love her photographs. There's so much acceptance in them. So much delight in the variety of humanity. She epitomizes a virtue I lack completely: openness. I'm always aware of my deficiencies. Not smart enough, not well educated enough, no social skills. And because I'm so self conscious about my own failings, I tend to leap on the foibles of others. It wasn't until I was in my early twenties and met people who were genuinely kind and accepting that I realized there was a better way. The point of this ramble is that I want to look at the world less like me and more like Diane Arbus.

Book round up:
Edith Wharton - Way way way too detailed. Parts were interesting, but on the whole I found this book coma inducing.

Brunelleschi's Dome - My incredibly non-technical mind would have benefited from more pictures but I enjoyed this.

The Fortress of Solitude - Why are people from Brooklyn so OBSESSED with being from Brooklyn? This book was pretty tedious. There was an odd pseudo-magical realism thing. And the main character was hard to take. But, it did mention Iron Man at one point, which made me stupidly happy.

( bag meme )

( movie meme )


( accomplishments )

It's unbelievably hot in LA. Even with the air conditioning on high, I still break a sweat in my car. So you can imagine how lovely my non-ac apartment is. I'm considering emptying out my fridge, tipping it over, and curling up inside to sleep. The upside is, it's giving me the perfect excuse to eat my weight in pinkberry.

You can probably tell from my lack of joyful squee, I still don't know for sure if I have a job. Maybe next week.

In other news, Iron Man is still eating my brain. I want to go see it again. Why isn't the dvd out yet?

Book Round Up:
Melville: His World and Work - Fascinating. Offers a lot of great insight into Moby Dick (one of my favorite books) and the rest of Melville's works. In fact, it focuses almost entirely on analyzing his work and world, since he left no diaries or letters to illuminate his inner life.

When You Are Engulfed in Flames - I love David Sedaris. Nothing here is as brilliant as Me Talk Pretty One Day, but it's still hilarious. I had to stop reading several times because I was doubled over with laughter. Luckily, I've learned my lesson and no longer read David Sedaris books in public.

Shakespeare: The Thinker - Great book by one of the great Shakespeare scholars. He meanders through the plays in roughly chronological order, letting the sequence of ideas unfold naturally. Kind of amazing.

Saturday - Intimate and yet somehow encompasses all of modern life. A beautiful little book about everything from terrorism to the power of poetry.


( Accomplishments )

( Iron Man )

( BSG - Faith )

Book Roundup:
Jane Goodall - Great read. Makes her work really come alive. A little skewed toward her work life and light on personal details, most likely out of respect for her privacy and it's hard to slight him for that.

The Story of David - Very strict translation. At times a little hard to read. But the footnotes more than make up for it.

Your Inner Fish - Very interesting look at evolutionary biology.

The Season - Fascinating look at the theater world in the 60s. Goldman has some unfortunately dated theories about homosexuality but on the whole, a very informed and delightfully opinionated book.

Phantasmagoria - I love Marina Warner's work, but this was a bit of a let down. A lot of facts, not a lot holding it together.

The Guns of August - Very detailed look at the first months of world war one. Highly readable.

The Pride of Baghdad - Great book. Vaughan uses the lions to explore the psychological state of the Iraqi people post invasion. Very interesting analysis of the price and value of freedom.

( Accomplishments )

Today I wrote for 6 hrs. I love Instant Boss. It makes me so much more productive.

( BSG - The Road Less Traveled )

( LibraryThing Meme )

( Accomplishments )

Book round up:
The Story of Art - Classic introduction to the History of Art. I'd read various chapters in Art History classes over the years, but this was my first time reading it cover to cover. Gombrich has a casual yet refined prose style that never gets old. The only thing I would change about this book is the page count. It could do with being twice as long.

The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency - I read this in a day at the spa. Perfect place for it. There's a certain darkness lurking in the heroine's past, but on the whole, the book exists in a very comforting world of morality and compassion and good natured humor. It's, in a weird way, like watching reruns of The Dick Van Dyke show.

The Last Duel - Before duels were about honor and looking hot in the morning mist, they were about determining the outcome of legal proceedings. If you lost, clearly God hated you. Despite the insanity of the underlying world view, this book is completely engrossing. It reads like a thriller. Couldn't put it down.

The Courtier and the Heretic - Great analysis of the way Spinoza and Leibniz's theories influenced each other and predicted the great debates of the modern age. Plus, it's a fascinating window into the frequently bitchy world of 17th century philosophy. The author has a clear bias toward Spinoza, but who can blame him? Monads? Seriously? That's your solution? My dog could crap a better philosophical stance than that.

Fuck You, She's Awesome meme:
Originated by dsudis.
So I was adding some new interests to my LJ profile (because I, uh... have some new interests. Yes.) and found myself feeling defensive every time I typed a female name, thinking, basically, FUCK YOU, SHE'S AWESOME,because I felt as if someone somewhere was going to be criticizing my love for them.

So, anyway, then I made a list of women who make me want to say FUCK YOU, SHE'S AWESOME. They are far from the only women who are awesome, or the only women people need to be told to step off of, but they are the top ten I feel that way about, right now, off the top of my head.

you want to argue with me about the awesomeness of any of these women, I am afraid I will simply be referring you to the subject line. THAT IS ALL.

In no particular order.
1. Buffy Summers
2. Kate Austen
3. Darla
4. Elizabeth Swann
5. Buffy Summers
6. Rose Tyler
7. Laura Roslin
8. Starbuck
9. Lisa Cuddy
10. Buffy Summers

Can you guess which variety of character bashing pisses me off the most?

( Accomplishments: )

Book round up:
St Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves: I confess, I have no great love for the short story form. It always strikes me as lazy. Each of these stories has an interesting premise but none are well fleshed out enough to mean much. By far the best of the bunch is the title story.

The Perfect Summer: Written in the style of the Harpers Weekly review, this book barely deserves the name. It's more a list of things that happened in 1911. The best thing I can say about the book is that the brief sketches of a few of the notables of the time have inspired me to buy more in depth biographies.

The Thirty Years War: An amazing book. Fascinating, detailed, incisive. The only problem is that there are a bewildering array of personalities and shifting alliances to keep track of. Wedgwood does a fantastic job of keeping the narrative going, but there were times when I could have done with less detail.

Now I'm reading a book of Chekhov's short stories. See above re: not learning from my mistakes.

Tv is a little sad right now. I'm really loving Lost. The new characters are great. I'm watching SCC, which I want to like. It's got so many good elements, but it seems like they're shooting their first idea more often than not and the characters are, at times, too stupid to live. I have hope, the last episode was really beautiful. (No surprises, written by Toni Graphia.)


I still find it helpful to force myself to account for my time at the end of the day.
( accomplishments )

Some things of late:

1. Indian Visa - Here's what I learned about applying for an Indian visa: don't put down 'writer' as your occupation. Apparently anything that involves the printed word is a type of journalism and your application will be delayed while they make you fill out forms swearing you won't write exposes on India's wild monkey problem while vacationing there.

2. Pub Crawl - I went out drinking last night. It was a lot of fun. I haven't gotten that drunk in a while. But I've come to the conclusion that I'm completely boring and incapable of talking about anything but the strike. Which brings us to:

3. The Strike - It's amazing, the shit the AMPTP thinks they can get away with. I was out picketing in the rain on Friday, my fingers started to go numb and turn blue, but there was a really good turn out and everyone is still energized and ready to see this thing through until September if need be. I'm really looking forward to ME day. It'll be fun to see another lot and picket with new people. Plus, I get to see saltygoodness24!

4. Book round up - The Age of Turbulence is a fascinating book. I feel like I have a much better understanding of how the world works after having read it. The Omnivore's Dilemma made me scared to buy groceries. I really wanted to like I Am America and So Can You but I barely laughed at all while reading it. I guess I'm just getting tired of his shtick. The White Mughals is a great book about the early days of the English occupation of India. The story centers around the relationship between an English officer and a Mughal noblewoman but the scope of the book is much wider, encompassing a good deal of Indian history, politics and the complicated relationship between the East and the West. I loved Atonement. I cried three times but I still didn't want it to end. Finally, I just finished Charlie Wilson's War. Completely engrossing. Complex, vivid characters, outlandish twists, and all non fiction. You'll never look at the US government the same way again. Now I'm reading London: The Biography.

( Thursday Accomplishments )

( Friday Accomplishments )

Book round up:
Reading Lolita in Tehran - This was so much more interesting than I thought it would be. Usually the reading group themed books that make the best seller list are so Lifetime-y, just the blurb on the back makes me throw up a little in my mouth. I was pleasantly surprised to find a thoughtful, critical approach to both the books discussed and the events that the author lived through.

City of Djinns - This was a little disappointing. Full of cute anecdotes and interesting factoids, but it never really comes together.

American Gods - Fast read, entertaining. Great premise. The main character was a little detached for my liking.

The Great Mortality - Fascinating book. The narative follows the plague as it cuts through Europe, pausing along the way to explore the impact it had on society and culture.

Now I'm reading Madame de Pompadour.

I finished The Prince of The Marshes. It's one of the best books I've read about Iraq. Stewart avoids the pitfalls of trying to find a unified field theory of what went wrong and instead focuses on one province and one group's attempt to rebuild. Then I read A Short History of Nearly Everything. It's perfect for the literature major who doesn't know the first thing about science. Very readable and remarkably thorough. Then I moved back to fiction and read Mother Night. Gets a little preachy toward the end but the rest is an interesting look at how what we pretend to be and what we are merge. I want to read Friday Night Lights next but Amazon is being slow.

I'm pretty much done with the great apartment redecoration of '07. I love my new furniture. The only problem is that the bed is so comfortable I can't pry myself out of it in the morning.

( here are the results of my labors )

( Shakespeare challenge meme )

TV:
The Tudors has devolved from cheesy to cheese whiz. I found the last episode genuinely distasteful. I don't mind the historical inaccuracies, it's the complete lack of real human emotion that makes me wonder what the hell Showtime was thinking. This was their answer to Rome? Seriously?

I'm loving Drive, though. Gripping, vast paced but with real, vivid characters.

Books:
I finished reading Rubicon. Decent, I recommend it if you miss HBO's Rome. I also read The Wives of Henry VIII. Great biography with an emphasis on feminist reinterpretations of the old cliches about each of the wives. Now I'm reading Reading Like a Writer. So far, it's a little slight but I'm not very far in.

Music:
I crazy love the new Bright Eyes and Peter Bjorn and John's new album is shockingly brilliant.

I watched some movies. Just so you know, The Good Shepherd is the most boring movie ever. I loved the Children of Men. The visuals were amazing and it was a frighteningly likely depiction of our future. The best movie I've seen recently, though, is The Lookout. It's a truly character driven thriller.

I've been watching the Tudors. It wants to be West Wing but it's coming off more like Desperate Housewives. Still, I kinda love it. I've also been watching Robin Hood. Might be the cheesiest show ever but it's also the least cynical show since the 1950s. Robin's so unfailingly good and righteous. Plus, hot. And it's hard not to love the whole steal from the rich, protect the downtrodden thing even if they do indulge in lines like, "I shot the sheriff." "No, you shot the deputy."

I read the first two issues of Buffy S8. Not sure what to think so far. ( Am I really supposed to find )

I finished reading Collapse. I feel smarter and more scared. Diamond manages to tackle an incredibly broad topic with impressive depth. He shores up every facet of his arguments with study after study and never falls back on simplistic answers. I've started Rubicon cause I kinda miss Rome.

Work has been more of the same. The biggest excitement was the earthquake preparedness fair. I bought an emergency preparedness kit and the most brilliant device ever. It's a flashlight, it's a radio, it's an alarm, it charges your cell phone and it's all operated by a hand crank charger. I love any sort of complex electronics that can be powered with nothing more advanced than a butter churn.

I made furniture. It was really difficult... and heavy. I shouldn't have bought so much at ikea but I'm weak. And of course there was no parking in my neighborhood so I had to park illegally a block and a half away and carry the boxes of lumber and allen wrenches in my noodle-y arms. Between that, vacuuming and having a cold, I'm pretty much exhausted.

Last week I finished Embers, which reads like a really intense murder mystery where there's been no murder, the characters are too old to actually hurt each other, and the whole story is about friendship and a dying empire. But other than that, just like a murder mystery. Then I read A Long Way Gone, which is every bit as upsetting as you would imagine. After so many reviews referred to it as "uplifting" and taking into account the fact that Starbucks is pimping the hell out of it, I was worried it would be saccharine, but it's very honest about the horrors while maintaining a belief that people can come back from even the worst experiences.

Tv! I watched( bsg )
and ( rome )

I watched some movies at work last week. Screeners are the best thing ever. The Inside Man was three and a half hours too long. The Last King of Scotland was a better thriller and had the benefit of being much more intelligent. And The Lives of Other was magnificent. Totally earned the Oscar. I whipped up a few icons cause I couldn't find any. All are shareable.


I've recently discovered a deep and abiding love for Friday Night Lights. It's so incredibly real and honest and fantastic. Tyra is my favorite. If she was any more awesome she'd have to be Starbuck.

I finished reading Shakespeare: The Biography. It's a fantastic book. Much more thorough than Will in the World (one of my favs). The level of detail was so intense, every time I looked up from the book I was shocked to find myself in 21st Century Los Angeles.

Last week I read Arthur and George, which is interesting but somewhat bogged down by a tedious level of detail. I think the author read every issue of every daily newspaper that was printed during the timespan of the book. I learned a lot of fun facts about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the creation of the Court of Appeals but in the end it wasn't emotionally satisfying. There's a detached distance throughout that was slightly irritating. It's possible I was just expecting to much. After that I read, A Man Without a Country, which, I'm sorry to say, feels extremely phoned in. The simplicity of the style is somewhat winning, but the thoughts and analysis are vapor thin. If you like hearing old men talk about their trips to the post office, by all means, read it, but don't go into it expecting much more.

I also watched tv. Heroes is becoming must see. The last few episodes have really rocked. I'm completely bored by Jessica/Nikki but there was something so bizarrely romantic about her husband walking through walls to visit her in solitary. And the ending of last week was awesome. Now that the characters are interacting with each other more, I'm starting to really enjoy them. Today I watched the first disc of How I Met Your Mother, which is exactly the fun, comforting sort of show I needed. Yay Barney!

And now for the return of ( Accomplishments! )

I finished Complications, which I highly recommend, particularly if you like Grey's Anatomy. It's all about the difficulties that come with being an intern and feeling completely overwhelmed by the things we don't know and the ethical lines they have to walk. There are a number of stories in the book that I'm pretty sure served as inspiration for episodes of Grey's. I also read The Sea, finally. It's everything people say. Beautiful language, no plot to speak of. If you like ruminations on memory and grieving, I'd actually recommend The Year of Magical Thinking over this, but Banville is still worth it for the prose. ( Last lines )

Next, I'm thinking of rereading Jane Eyre. I think the last time I read it I was in High School. I'm in sort of a gothic mood but I wonder how long that will last against the countervailing force of Jane's insufferable goodness.

( Accomplishments: )

Being unemployed is fun in an anxiety provoking way. I've decided to make the apartment less of a hole since I actually spend time here now. Today I went to Ikea for a lamp. Predictably, I walked out with cushions, a couple throws, new bowls, some pans, a new duvet set and a lamp. But I was most excited about the lamp, until I took it home, opened the box, and smashed the glass shade against the metal base. This is why I shouldn't be allowed to live by myself. Clearly, I still need adult supervision.

In better news, my McSweeney's order came and not only did they send me the Collins library (which is what I ordered), but also the 2006 Music issue of The Believer, Housekeeping vs The Dirt (Nick Hornby's book reviews), and Animals of the Ocean: In Particular the Giant Squid ( all of which I did not order). Nice of them.

A selection from Animals of the Ocean: "The ocean has been on the earth for thousands of years. It is generally blue and nearly always vicious. Most people feel that the ocean is not interesting to study because of these factors, but I think the ocean is not so bad. I believe my partner Benny and I are the only scientists ever to explore what is in and under the sea. The book has been created for readers of all ages and levels of intelligence. Most of it, nevertheless, will go over your head. Forgive me if I find you bothersome."

English as She is Spoke is my favorite part of the Collins Library. It's an English phrase book for speakers of Portuguese written by a man who didn't know English. You can learn such helpful phrases as: "Comb-me quickly; don't put me so much pomatum. What news tell me? all hair dresser are newsmonger." and "It is a noise which to cleave the head."

I finished Homage to Catalonia this week. It's quickly become one of my all time favorite non fiction books. Orwell's account of his time in the Spanish Civil War captures the absurdity of his ill equipped "army," the political infighting and the boredom of war. But while the book is peppered with reminisce about the haplessness of the various ant-Fascist armies ("There were nights when it seemed to me that our position could be stormed by twenty boy scouts with air-guns, or twenty Girl Guides armed with battledores, for that matter.") and the way that the various groups managed to work at disastrous cross purposes, there's also a sense of nostalgia for the idealism that drove him to the war and the camaraderie he found there.

I finished Stranger Things Happen. ( My favorite passage is about a whacked out beauty pageant ) Then I read Achilles in Vietnam. It's a really interesting look at the psychological damage that combat inflicts. Next book: Shakespeare Wars.