Twilight and Dar Williams
So I finished reading Twilight yesterday. It is complete and utter tripe... and uber-misogynistic to boot. Seriously, the plot was pretty much like this: delicate and accident-prone girl gets her life saved again and again and again by supernaturally strong (vampire) man. Her redeeming qualities? Well, she's unconditionally loving and accepting, she's self-sacrificing, she can cook, and... oh yeah, she's really pretty.
I have never seen writing that was so chronological. "I woke up this morning. I put on my jeans. I had some cereal." Every single day needed to be described. The only time that time went unaccounted for was when the narrator was unconscious. The characters were total stock with absolutely nothing original about them.
The whole story actually had me feeling a bit nostalgic for Anne Rice. I polluted my mind with her vampire novels (and subsequent discussion and fanfiction and frequently oversexed internet roleplay of her vampire novels) when I was 15 years old. But at least Rice had a brain. Her vampires didn't play baseball or sparkle in the sunlight. The psychological and existential torment they routinely endured was believable. Now, today's 15-year-olds (and many of my co-workers in their late 20s and early 30s!) are polluting their brains with Stephenie Meyer. What has this world come to, I ask you?
Yesterday evening, Rebecca and I drove out to Harrisburg to see Dar Williams in concert. Dar performed well but we have a feeling she may have cut her set list short because she wasn't feeling well. The crowd was also comprised of stuffy old white affluent straight people. At one point, Dar was dedicating a song to parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and "especially gay aunts and uncles." Rebecca and I both went "WHOOO!" and everybody stared at us. Apparently we were the only gay aunts and uncles in the premises.
I love Dar's sense of humor and her storytelling, and that she's so down to Earth. The opener, Jeffrey Gaines, was definitely not my type of music. His songs were waaaaay too sappy-ass inspirational for my tastes, but he was very funny as well and had a great stage presence. All in all, the show lacked the kind of energy I like, but it was worthwhile. I'm looking forward to seeing Dar at Musikfest this year, where hopefully the crowd will be better and she won't be sick.
Tonight, we're driving (OMG) to Philadelphia and apparently going to Sisters, a lesbian bar/club. This should be interesting.
I have never seen writing that was so chronological. "I woke up this morning. I put on my jeans. I had some cereal." Every single day needed to be described. The only time that time went unaccounted for was when the narrator was unconscious. The characters were total stock with absolutely nothing original about them.
The whole story actually had me feeling a bit nostalgic for Anne Rice. I polluted my mind with her vampire novels (and subsequent discussion and fanfiction and frequently oversexed internet roleplay of her vampire novels) when I was 15 years old. But at least Rice had a brain. Her vampires didn't play baseball or sparkle in the sunlight. The psychological and existential torment they routinely endured was believable. Now, today's 15-year-olds (and many of my co-workers in their late 20s and early 30s!) are polluting their brains with Stephenie Meyer. What has this world come to, I ask you?
Yesterday evening, Rebecca and I drove out to Harrisburg to see Dar Williams in concert. Dar performed well but we have a feeling she may have cut her set list short because she wasn't feeling well. The crowd was also comprised of stuffy old white affluent straight people. At one point, Dar was dedicating a song to parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and "especially gay aunts and uncles." Rebecca and I both went "WHOOO!" and everybody stared at us. Apparently we were the only gay aunts and uncles in the premises.
I love Dar's sense of humor and her storytelling, and that she's so down to Earth. The opener, Jeffrey Gaines, was definitely not my type of music. His songs were waaaaay too sappy-ass inspirational for my tastes, but he was very funny as well and had a great stage presence. All in all, the show lacked the kind of energy I like, but it was worthwhile. I'm looking forward to seeing Dar at Musikfest this year, where hopefully the crowd will be better and she won't be sick.
Tonight, we're driving (OMG) to Philadelphia and apparently going to Sisters, a lesbian bar/club. This should be interesting.