An Actual Post About Real Life.
I bought the book Newton's Cannon by Gregory Keyes this weekend and consequently lost a good deal of my weekend to it. Before this, the last book I bought was Etta by NPR darling Gerald Kolpan and it was rather disappointing. I tend to be able to spot a Mary-Sue from a mile away and unless the book is just blatant brain candy (a la Laurell K. Hamilton, and other authors that aren't *good* but I like to read anyway...) it will just about ruin a book for me. Such is the case with Etta. She's drop-dead gorgeous, nearly six feet tall, comes from a wealthy family, orphaned at a fairly young age, able to ride and shoot as well as any cowboy, and everyone she meets (with a couple exceptions who are clearly Bad People) falls instantly in love with her. This includes people like Buffalo Bill Cody, (obviously) the whole of the Wild Bunch with the singular exception of Kid Curry, Eleanor Roosevelt, etc., etc. It became obvious within the first chapter or so that Mr. Kolpan was just writing out some kind of fantasy of the perfect woman.
Anyway, I had meant to say nice things about the book I liked, not rant about the one I didn't. But now I kind of feel like I've lost my steam so I'll switch topics entirely.
My song "buttons breaking" was featured in last week's Cool Music Show on ccmixter.org. I was fortunate enough to have a very solid base in the form of Old Dog's santoor piece, but I really enjoyed putting this piece together and that other people like it makes me quite happy.
Also, David is doing a project for one of his classes in which he has to design a CD cover and create a "corporate identity" for a band, so he's doing it for me. We sat down last night and talked about the JE spadille and what it means and all that, and I learned a lot not just about design but also about who I am musically and the message I am trying to convey. We also learned the traditional reason for the Ace of Spades being the most ornate card in the deck (It was to show that duties had been paid on the pack of cards and they were legal).
Also, watched the Will Smith Oscar-bait vehicle "Seven Pounds" last night. It was tiresome. I mean, don't get me wrong, I have no beef with Will Smith, but this movie was just plain lame. Cheap tears a la "Pay It Forward" along with what has to be the most implausible suicide I've ever seen in my life make this some of the most blatant emotional manipulation I've seen outside of "Extreme Home Makeover."
Also, those people who sign up for google talk and twitter and whatnot and have it send out invitations to everyone in their contacts can go to hell. Our catalog and customer service emails get hammered with those all the time.
Ok, that is all. We now return you to your regular schedule of fictional babble.
<3je
Anyway, I had meant to say nice things about the book I liked, not rant about the one I didn't. But now I kind of feel like I've lost my steam so I'll switch topics entirely.
My song "buttons breaking" was featured in last week's Cool Music Show on ccmixter.org. I was fortunate enough to have a very solid base in the form of Old Dog's santoor piece, but I really enjoyed putting this piece together and that other people like it makes me quite happy.
Also, David is doing a project for one of his classes in which he has to design a CD cover and create a "corporate identity" for a band, so he's doing it for me. We sat down last night and talked about the JE spadille and what it means and all that, and I learned a lot not just about design but also about who I am musically and the message I am trying to convey. We also learned the traditional reason for the Ace of Spades being the most ornate card in the deck (It was to show that duties had been paid on the pack of cards and they were legal).
Also, watched the Will Smith Oscar-bait vehicle "Seven Pounds" last night. It was tiresome. I mean, don't get me wrong, I have no beef with Will Smith, but this movie was just plain lame. Cheap tears a la "Pay It Forward" along with what has to be the most implausible suicide I've ever seen in my life make this some of the most blatant emotional manipulation I've seen outside of "Extreme Home Makeover."
Also, those people who sign up for google talk and twitter and whatnot and have it send out invitations to everyone in their contacts can go to hell. Our catalog and customer service emails get hammered with those all the time.
Ok, that is all. We now return you to your regular schedule of fictional babble.
<3je