I'm a player because I got it like that
I'm not much of a Coldplay fan. Sure, I like my "Clocks" or "In My Place" or whatever, but they're basically that soothing band that does really pretty if slightly dull songs. iTunes commercial was nice, but I was mostly rolling my eyes, because I remember when "Speed of Sound" came out and how that album went down and everything.
But I've been listening to Viva la Vida just now, and I don't know if it's 'cause I'm slightly melancholy or because it's been raining or what, but it's really hitting something in me. Don't know if it'll last, so I'll give it another listen through tomorrow, but I quite like it today.
Tim Russert's death shocked the hell out of me. I found out from Stephanie while we were at Blockbuster of all places because I hadn't really been home all day (Allison's party + FFX with Yarden), and I just didn't know what to think. I mean, it's not that I was in love with the guy or anything, but my most enduring memory of the clusterfuck that was the 2000 election was Russert going crazy with his whiteboard. There's been Russert on Meet the Press for as long as I can remember, and it's just so strange, I guess, to realize that even steadfast icons of the media, present since birth, can and do die. And he was only 58, too. It's sad, really.
I'm reading Ring for Jeeves The Return of Jeeves, actually, which is identical except Chapter 5 of Return is Chapter 1 of Ring and Towcester is Rowcester in the English version (which strikes me as incredibly strange, because P.G. adapted the novel from the play Come On, Jeeves, where the name was Towcester, so he basically changed all the Ts to Rs for Ring and then back into Ts when Return was published in America). It's...interesting, I suppose. I appreciate what he's doing, but there's just something so fundamentally wrong about a Jeeves story with no Bertie. Because as Bertie-like as Bill might be, he is no Bertie Wooster. It's also pretty easy to see how comfortable Wodehouse was with these by this point, because even in third person (mostly-omnicient, although Jeeves remains untouchable), there are plenty of Bertie's favorites poking through in the general narrative. Kinda cute. But I mostly can't wait to get to the inevitable so I can dive back into Jeeves and Bertie proper.
Speaking of which, something seems to have gone wrong between me and Jeeves in the Offing (though I prefer How Right You Are, Jeeves - basically, the English titles >>> the American titles). It's not that I didn't enjoy it, exactly, but it made very little in the way of an impression on me, which is sad, because its blurb is so great. I mean, anything to do with Aubrey Upjohn is instant gold. I was happy to finally see how Bertie and Roddy got to those terms with each other. And I sporfled at Swordfish. And all the seat-jumping and dachshund descriptions. And the bathing belles story holding Bertie spellbound (because that really is the most dreadfully adorable mental image ever. If they weren't Doing It (which they weren't, really, even though they were totally married), then they most certainly had that older brother/best chum imparting knowledge thing going on). But all the same, even with those individual flashes of brilliance which is what draws me to these books in the first place, the novel as a whole was just sort of...meh. Like, weren't they far enough in their relationship by this point for Jeeves to have stopped using the Bertie-is-insane thing already? It's not like he had any reason to punish Bertie. Sure, the kid pulled him off his vacation, but it's just not like him to be so extreme anymore.
Hmm, that got away from me a bit. Anyway, Wodehouse tally time:
Short stories to go - 5
Novels to go - 4 + rest of Return
Favorites are definitely The Code of the Woosters and The Mating Season among the novels, and from the short stories...well, one can't really choose. They're all delectable.
I'll leave it there, I think. I'm too tired and sad-ish to either type more or cut what I already have, so n-night for now, I suppose.
But I've been listening to Viva la Vida just now, and I don't know if it's 'cause I'm slightly melancholy or because it's been raining or what, but it's really hitting something in me. Don't know if it'll last, so I'll give it another listen through tomorrow, but I quite like it today.
Tim Russert's death shocked the hell out of me. I found out from Stephanie while we were at Blockbuster of all places because I hadn't really been home all day (Allison's party + FFX with Yarden), and I just didn't know what to think. I mean, it's not that I was in love with the guy or anything, but my most enduring memory of the clusterfuck that was the 2000 election was Russert going crazy with his whiteboard. There's been Russert on Meet the Press for as long as I can remember, and it's just so strange, I guess, to realize that even steadfast icons of the media, present since birth, can and do die. And he was only 58, too. It's sad, really.
I'm reading Ring for Jeeves The Return of Jeeves, actually, which is identical except Chapter 5 of Return is Chapter 1 of Ring and Towcester is Rowcester in the English version (which strikes me as incredibly strange, because P.G. adapted the novel from the play Come On, Jeeves, where the name was Towcester, so he basically changed all the Ts to Rs for Ring and then back into Ts when Return was published in America). It's...interesting, I suppose. I appreciate what he's doing, but there's just something so fundamentally wrong about a Jeeves story with no Bertie. Because as Bertie-like as Bill might be, he is no Bertie Wooster. It's also pretty easy to see how comfortable Wodehouse was with these by this point, because even in third person (mostly-omnicient, although Jeeves remains untouchable), there are plenty of Bertie's favorites poking through in the general narrative. Kinda cute. But I mostly can't wait to get to the inevitable so I can dive back into Jeeves and Bertie proper.
Speaking of which, something seems to have gone wrong between me and Jeeves in the Offing (though I prefer How Right You Are, Jeeves - basically, the English titles >>> the American titles). It's not that I didn't enjoy it, exactly, but it made very little in the way of an impression on me, which is sad, because its blurb is so great. I mean, anything to do with Aubrey Upjohn is instant gold. I was happy to finally see how Bertie and Roddy got to those terms with each other. And I sporfled at Swordfish. And all the seat-jumping and dachshund descriptions. And the bathing belles story holding Bertie spellbound (because that really is the most dreadfully adorable mental image ever. If they weren't Doing It (which they weren't, really, even though they were totally married), then they most certainly had that older brother/best chum imparting knowledge thing going on). But all the same, even with those individual flashes of brilliance which is what draws me to these books in the first place, the novel as a whole was just sort of...meh. Like, weren't they far enough in their relationship by this point for Jeeves to have stopped using the Bertie-is-insane thing already? It's not like he had any reason to punish Bertie. Sure, the kid pulled him off his vacation, but it's just not like him to be so extreme anymore.
Hmm, that got away from me a bit. Anyway, Wodehouse tally time:
Short stories to go - 5
Novels to go - 4 + rest of Return
Favorites are definitely The Code of the Woosters and The Mating Season among the novels, and from the short stories...well, one can't really choose. They're all delectable.
I'll leave it there, I think. I'm too tired and sad-ish to either type more or cut what I already have, so n-night for now, I suppose.