Anne Lamott, in her great Bird by Bird once describes the first day of the week as "your mute, Slavic uncle Monday." She suggests not starting big things -- no new novels; no screen plays; no house cleaning projects -- on Mondays 'cause, dude...uncle Monday.
And so that's how Monday is personified for me a lot of the time: an out-of-proportionally big guy, in an overcoat that doesn't fit, and huge clown shoes. Except all in a kind of rusty, grungy black. Shaggy dark hair, and no use for language.
In order to give uncle Monday a little run for his money, lets look at pretty things instead, shall we?
My two favorite new Tumblr blogs are all about the pretty things. Lets give some love to "You only lose what you cling to" and brown dress with white dots. These are both primarily photo blogs; the former is colloquially known as "fuckyeah cats lesbians and buddhism" -- just so you know what you're getting into: some of it may be NSFW, but the photography is wonderful.
brown dress is my new favorite photo blog at this point; sometimes the stuff going up can seem a little...posed and slightly artificial to my eye -- my totally untrained, amateur photographer's eye, by the way -- but then there's shots like this and this and this .... oh, and this.
So go forth and look at pretty things and maybe mute old uncle Monday will come and chill out with you for a bit and think about cats rather than glooming in the corner and thinking about cockroaches.
coming home from very lonely places, all of us go a little mad:
whether from great personal success,
or just an all-night drive,
we are the sole survivors of a world
no one else has ever seen. - john le carre
Monday, September 26, 2011
Friday, September 23, 2011
Friday Fun Times
Following through on last week...don't blame me if this gets stuck in your head for hours! I can still sing most of this -- as well as most of the opening of Act 1, all parts -- from memory; how sad am I?
Oh, and I suppose this is probably mildly NSFW if you care about that sort of thing!
Oh, and I suppose this is probably mildly NSFW if you care about that sort of thing!
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Rant: SW Fans, STFU
My parents and I have watched a lot of very bad movies. And when I say "a lot," I mean a lot: we must be past dozens and into the low hundreds. Movies so bad that they kind of paralyze you into watching them -- you know the ones I mean. Where you finish it and turn to the other people in the room as the final credits roll blissfully past and say, "Why did we watch that?" Movies like Quigley Down Under and Species and Twister. Okay, maybe not Twister for which I have a sneaking fondness based largely on Bill Paxton and the nifty-shit aunt who gets her house destroyed by the F4 or whatever the fuck it is.
Anyway, my point is: I watched a lot of bad movies with my folks when I was living at home. And I've watched a lot of bad movies since -- sometimes, I search out bad movies: movies with disappointing CGI, poor casting decisions, bad use of documentary footage, or movies that are simply a bad idea. Some of these movies turn out to be joyous little slices of deliciousness as in the wonder that is Shark Attack in the Mediterranean, a German attempt at Jaws dubbed into English which takes place in what may or may not be Majorca and the climax of which features Ski-Doo racers being stalked by a genetically recreated Megalodon with the accompanying soundtrack of a cheery little pop-song that I swear to God is unironically and with no apparent attempt at family-unfriendliness or sarcasm called "Do the Sixty-Nine." Sheer glory, I tell you.
Over the years, though, my parents and I have learned that there's this great thing on the remote to help you deal with bad movies: it's called the "stop" button or the "power off" button. It really works like a charm -- and I want all the Star Wars fans currently bitching about the Blu-Ray release of the movies to learn the fuck about it.
Don't like it? Don't freakin' watch it.
There's an "off" button, people -- better yet, keep your damned credit card in your wallet and don't shell out in the first place! It's not like Lucas isn't a multi-zillionaire nine times over at this point; I don't think he's hurting for your $59.95 or however much the Blu-Ray set costs. I myself own the original trilogy in two different formats at least 3 times over, the new trilogy -- I think only once. I'm happy with the edits I own: I was happy when Lucas brought out the original edits of the first trilogy on DVD; I bought the box set; and I stick with it. I have the circa 1998 edits, too, because I happen to like a lot of the changes he made to Empire.
And while we're on the subject, please, for the love of heaven, stop going on about how Lucas is ruining his own story. It's his story, folks, his. Not mine, not yours, not anyone else's. Okay, it's moderately Joseph Campbell's, but we'll let that slide since he didn't seem to mind. And I hate to tell you: but as long as that copyright is in Lucas' beflannelled little hands, he gets to do what the fuck he wants with it and maybe, just maybe, at this point, we could all just shut the fuck up about it. The man is a compulsive re-editor; we're just going to have to live with that. Yeah, he does shit we think is stupid; who doesn't, really?
And on the whole, I am still far more grateful to him for putting the story out there in the first place than I am niggly about different audio cues or actors edited in to places they shouldn't be.
Anyway, my point is: I watched a lot of bad movies with my folks when I was living at home. And I've watched a lot of bad movies since -- sometimes, I search out bad movies: movies with disappointing CGI, poor casting decisions, bad use of documentary footage, or movies that are simply a bad idea. Some of these movies turn out to be joyous little slices of deliciousness as in the wonder that is Shark Attack in the Mediterranean, a German attempt at Jaws dubbed into English which takes place in what may or may not be Majorca and the climax of which features Ski-Doo racers being stalked by a genetically recreated Megalodon with the accompanying soundtrack of a cheery little pop-song that I swear to God is unironically and with no apparent attempt at family-unfriendliness or sarcasm called "Do the Sixty-Nine." Sheer glory, I tell you.
Over the years, though, my parents and I have learned that there's this great thing on the remote to help you deal with bad movies: it's called the "stop" button or the "power off" button. It really works like a charm -- and I want all the Star Wars fans currently bitching about the Blu-Ray release of the movies to learn the fuck about it.
Don't like it? Don't freakin' watch it.
There's an "off" button, people -- better yet, keep your damned credit card in your wallet and don't shell out in the first place! It's not like Lucas isn't a multi-zillionaire nine times over at this point; I don't think he's hurting for your $59.95 or however much the Blu-Ray set costs. I myself own the original trilogy in two different formats at least 3 times over, the new trilogy -- I think only once. I'm happy with the edits I own: I was happy when Lucas brought out the original edits of the first trilogy on DVD; I bought the box set; and I stick with it. I have the circa 1998 edits, too, because I happen to like a lot of the changes he made to Empire.
And while we're on the subject, please, for the love of heaven, stop going on about how Lucas is ruining his own story. It's his story, folks, his. Not mine, not yours, not anyone else's. Okay, it's moderately Joseph Campbell's, but we'll let that slide since he didn't seem to mind. And I hate to tell you: but as long as that copyright is in Lucas' beflannelled little hands, he gets to do what the fuck he wants with it and maybe, just maybe, at this point, we could all just shut the fuck up about it. The man is a compulsive re-editor; we're just going to have to live with that. Yeah, he does shit we think is stupid; who doesn't, really?
And on the whole, I am still far more grateful to him for putting the story out there in the first place than I am niggly about different audio cues or actors edited in to places they shouldn't be.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Photo Monday: BU Bridge
Hi! Anna here.
Last Friday, Hanna and I walked from our apartment over to Cambridge via the Boston University bridge which has been under extensive restoration for the past several years. It was a gorgeous September day. Here are a few photographs that we snapped on the bridge.
Cross-posted at the feminist librarian.
Last Friday, Hanna and I walked from our apartment over to Cambridge via the Boston University bridge which has been under extensive restoration for the past several years. It was a gorgeous September day. Here are a few photographs that we snapped on the bridge.
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| Hanna looking west up the Charles river (photo by Anna, obviously) |
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| Moon over I-90 (photo by Hanna) |
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| graffiti on the freight rail bridge below (photo by Hanna) |
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| girders in the sun (photo by Anna) |
Cross-posted at the feminist librarian.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
So, really, I suppose this should be a Friday thing but y'know what? It's shaping up to be kind of a rough week, I don't have a lot of time to put a more complicated post together... and, honestly, I think we all need this.
Don't you think we need this?
And here's how they did it.
Thanks to Diana for pointing this out to me when my normal news sources were sadly remiss. :)
Don't you think we need this?
Thanks to Diana for pointing this out to me when my normal news sources were sadly remiss. :)
Monday, September 12, 2011
Announcement: Launching Fan Fiction Tumblr Today
Hear Ye! Hear Ye!
(Anna here)
I look at this as the (nearly) inevitable result when you take two librarians + a galloping fan fiction addiction + the internets and stir: Hanna and I, in search of a way to share our favorite fan fiction with friends who have a similar taste in leisure reading (and occasionally writing), have established a Tumblr blog for collecting and sharing fan-created fiction.
It's multi-fandom -- though our current obsession is with Supernatural's Dean/Castiel -- and we've enlisted the assistance of two pals (MH and R) to help us broaden our fandom scope. Our plan is to post a fic recommendation Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. So if fic is your thing, please wander on over and subscribe!
~Anna & Hanna
(Anna here)
I look at this as the (nearly) inevitable result when you take two librarians + a galloping fan fiction addiction + the internets and stir: Hanna and I, in search of a way to share our favorite fan fiction with friends who have a similar taste in leisure reading (and occasionally writing), have established a Tumblr blog for collecting and sharing fan-created fiction.
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| everything-gay-nothing-hurts.tumblr.com |
~Anna & Hanna
Friday, September 9, 2011
Friday Fun Times
Okay, you have absolutely no idea how many times I heard the opening notes of this song while searching down this video for you. But it was worth it, my friends -- so worth it.
Enjoy the charmingly unselfconscious Jensen Ackles. And have a great Friday while you're at it.
Enjoy the charmingly unselfconscious Jensen Ackles. And have a great Friday while you're at it.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Since I kind of think of it as "Whovian Wednesdays" around here -- although, obviously, I would never title anything that because, God, what kind of person do you think I am? -- here is something Whovian for your mid-week.
Also, I can't face thinking about The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People just now and I really do have to watch the episodes again to refresh a few details before I wibble on about them.
Normally I wouldn't link to io9 because I don't like the site that much but I can't resist the breakdown of 10 Totally Different TV Shows That Doctor Who Has Been Over the Years.
Also, I can't face thinking about The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People just now and I really do have to watch the episodes again to refresh a few details before I wibble on about them.
Normally I wouldn't link to io9 because I don't like the site that much but I can't resist the breakdown of 10 Totally Different TV Shows That Doctor Who Has Been Over the Years.
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| dr_who_who by the-quick-brown-fox. |
Monday, September 5, 2011
Photo Monday: Uneasy Detante
This is life in our household today. Hope yours is a relaxing!
~Anna and Hanna, Labor Day 2011
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| Geraldine attempts to commune with Bismarck: A Life by Jonathan Steinberg |
Friday, September 2, 2011
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