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Tuesday, April 29, 2008 Zombie Naturalist Has A Blog Charles Darwin's blog. "Resurrected Victorian scientist and author." We definitely need more dead people blogging. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 3:47 PM : Speaking of Reviews OH JOHN RINGO NO. (via links in the previous post) Wow. Now that is an awesome review of a terrible series. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 12:58 PM : Stars? What Stars? Mmmm...One Star-rific! In response to an author behaving badly trainwreck, a SF author posts his one-starred reviews from Amazon. He also posts a list of authors who took up his one star challenge. Tangential ramblings: Even as someone who reviews books as a hobby, I don't believe in starring books or rankings. It smacks too much of pretend "objectivity". People have to remember that it has no bearing on whether or not the author is truly good or bad. It's just somebody's opinion. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 11:45 AM : Sunday, April 27, 2008 Briefly 50 best cult books. I think a definition for cult book should be that it is inherently not a bestseller, well-known, or well-regarded by critics. Cult books should be like cults--inspiring fanatical devotion by the few and derision from the mainstream. Take for instance Star Trek, the works of Joss Whedon, or Neil Gaiman. These nerdy and fannish topics might make them cult, but because so many people know of them, they aren't. Besides, the mere appearance on some list in a major publication immediately renders the listed books un-cult. I also recently watched two documentaries: Wordplay and Helvetica. Although both of them talk about words, the tone of each is vastly different. Wordplay, a film about The New York Times' crossword puzzle editor and other crossword enthusiasts, reminded me a lot of Word Wars and Spellbound. Geeky and charming, it's easy to get sucked into the crossword mania that famous and non-famous alike indulge in. As for Helvetica, well, the documentary as a whole was very stylish. I thought the history bit on Helvetica's development was interesting. But those interviews with graphic designers--oh geez. Whether they were ranting about Helvetica's conformity and "pro-war" image like streetside preachers or waxing poetical like enraptured lovers about the typeface's simplicity and modernity, I just heard pretentious babble. What about the opinion of the average person on the street? Oh right--I got the impression from those designers that they think that regular people just blindly use the default because they're totally ignorant of art. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 2:45 PM : Thursday, April 24, 2008 Memes Booking Through Thursday: Springing Do your reading habits change in the Spring? Do you read gardening books? Even if you don’t have a garden? More light fiction than during the Winter? Less? Travel books? Light paperbacks you can stick in a knapsack? Or do you pretty much read the same kinds of things in the Spring as you do the rest of the year? I don't think my reading tastes change throughout the year, but I do read more during the summer (and during winter break) simply because I have more time to do so. The Thursday Threesome: The Convenience of Extra Cash Onesome: The-- endless onslaught of junk snail mail: how much do you get each week? I'm thinking maybe we could use it as insulation in our houses... I would say it would probably average to about a piece of junk snail mail every other day. The most annoying piece of junk mail is the weekly "paper" thrown at my door every Tuesday. I never read it because there are only fluff articles and advertisements. Twosome: Convenience of-- a quick in and out? Do you have a convenience store nearby that is really convenient for you? There is one, but I have never used it. Threesome: Extra cash--? When you need some, where do you get it? ...the ATM? ..."write for over" at the store? What is this 'cash' thing you speak of? Uh, let's just say I'm practical enough to avoid the ATM. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 7:10 AM : Wednesday, April 23, 2008 If I Were a Villain, I Wouldn't Settle for Third I found Amanda Quick's latest a breezy, amusing read. But for the uninitiated, The Third Circle  might be all mystery and maybe even a little campy. The constant references to secret societies, paranormal powers, and a seemingly forward-thinking cast of main characters in a late Victorian setting might make the casual historical reader think she was thrown into a parallel universe. Well, as far as I'm concerned, the setting is a parallel universe. And if you're familiar with Quick's (a.k.a. Jayne Ann Krentz a.k.a. Jayne Castle) oeuvre, there are a lot of little things to pick up. This entry in the Arcane Society series isn't so much as a romance or even a mystery as it is a connection to a larger story arc.On her way to recover a family heirloom, the powerful aurora stone, from an ambitious antiquities collector, Leona Hewitt stumbles over Thaddeus Ware standing over a dead woman. Ware is also after the stone, on behalf of the Arcane Society which deems it too dangerous to be let loose. Despite having separate agendas, Leona and Ware realize that Delbridge the collector and his association with other villains is more formidable, forcing the two to work together. I'm not sure I buy Leona and Ware's relationship. One of Krentz/Quick/Castle's major themes in her books is trust. And I think in this case, the characters were a little too, uh, quick to trust each other. From their suspicious first meeting and conflicting purposes to not entirely respectable backgrounds, I don't see how even a little misunderstanding couldn't be present. But that said, that doesn't mean that the characters didn't have their own individual funny quirks. True, the villains were stereotypical (archetypal almost--the author uses a number of handsome, blond-haired men as bad guys)--comically so--but they were smart enough to figure things out fairly early on. Now if only they had displayed some knowledge of the advantages of delayed gratification, they would have been rather formidable opponents for the main characters. Another Krentz/Quick/Castle trademark character type is the hypnotist--who is usually either villainous or ineffective. However, in this book, the hypnotist is the hero which makes for an interesting reversal. Leona is another one of Quick's optimistic heroines although I think she clings to her "think positive" mantras and her uncle's advice a little too desperately. No, the most intriguing thing about Leona is her ability to work crystals. I don't think the author just picked this out of thin air--instead, I think it's a deliberate reference to the books she writes as Jayne Castle. Many of the characters in those futuristics use crystals or amber to focus their powers and with a reference to the Arcane Society in Silver Master, it is probably not a stretch to consider Leona an ancestor of those characters. Other links: Leona's dog Fog who bears a remarkable resemblance to the dust bunnies in the Castle books. And there are hints, too, that the matchmaking madness in the author's stories taking place in later times probably originated with a secondary character in this installment. Hm. I probably said too much about this book. But I wouldn't be surprised if the complicated occult network uncovered with The Third Circle is related to the cabal Krentz/Quick is revealing in the parallel story line in White Lies and Sizzle and Burn. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 11:37 PM : Feminism and Two Trainwrecks on the Interwebs The Internets work how they're supposed to. This is a write-up on some movement called "The Open Source Boob Project" at some SF con. Man, that's wrong. If there's anything to perpetuate the stereotype that sci-fi geeks are socially inept men not getting any and still living in their parents' basement, that is it. Somewhat unrelated: This reminds me of this internet money raising thing I've come across before on some blogs--where people put up pictures of their (covered) breasts to raise money for something, a charity I think. And then there's this whole breast cancer awareness thing. Yes, worthy causes, but when random men start championing these kinds of things, I can't help but feel a little skeeved about it all. Do men only sit up and notice if there are breasts involved? Feminist bloggers and racism. Interesting schism. That's the problem with devoting oneself to a particular cause/movement/whathaveyou. People get tunnel vision. It's not just A vs B. There's also X vs Y vs Z and a kazillion other things. Anyways, I just look at this as evidence of why I'm a little uncomfortable about the major feminist movements--because maybe they espouse white feminism rather than feminism in general. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 9:11 PM : Tuesday, April 22, 2008 Gasp, I Need Air! This morning, I walked past a bunch of young women. From a couple yards away, I could smell the sickly sweet miasma of their combined perfume power. I don't get it. Along with the clacking of sharp heels (as annoying as dripping water in the middle of the night), are certain females' need to cloud themselves with scent some sort of attention getting gesture? They're liable to asphyxiate any potential suitors before they even get into the same room with them. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 10:41 AM : Monday, April 21, 2008 Inverse Snow Globe For the past three hours, I've been engrossed in work. I finally look out the window, and snow is falling, heavily, thickly--the white bits as wide as dimes. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 3:03 PM : Sunday, April 20, 2008 Some Guys Buy into the Beauty Myth, Too Beauty myths. For some reason, this reminds me of all those painful memories of growing up. Sometime in sixth grade, I had asked my mom about shaving and she told me something to the effect that I didn't need it or I was too young. I suppose she probably hoped that I would forget about it after that discussion because I wasn't a girly girl in the first place--I paid little attention to makeup and the like as it was. But it is not a pleasant thing when boys make fun of your legs whenever you're wearing shorts. I don't have to tell you how f'ing annoying it is to have "You didn't shave!!!!" shrilly yapped at you. Aside: Sixth and seventh grade were particularly hellish for a variety of reasons. I also find it interesting that every guy who had ever bullied me during those years ended up playing football in high school. Fortunately in high school, I was taking the advanced classes where the other nerds left me alone and football players were absent. Anyways, you know those dreams people have about going out in public in their underwear? I don't have those. Instead, I have occasional nightmares about wearing shorts in public and then belatedly realizing that I have sasquatch legs. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 6:35 PM : The Usual Turn of Phrase Perhaps an expert explicator can glean the genius of the Pulitzer winning Time and Materials by Robert Hass, but this collection of poems--at least to me--reads like the introspective doodlings of an aging baby boomer. I found myself asking, often, why? Some of the poems were amusing or poignant, but none of them rose above the point of slightly better than ordinary. If these words were written by anyone other than Hass, would they have gotten a Pulitzer? (Probably not.) It's an eclectic mix of old codgerism with a bit of get-off-my-lawn-darn-kids! vibe, preoccupation with sex, name dropping, memories of family, and political poems.The collection starts off with a very short poem, "Iowa, January", with two pseudo-cryptic lines that would probably make Frost turn in his grave. But that doesn't mean that there aren't any clever turns of phrase with lucid imagery. I liked this bit from "Etymology":
And there are times when the simple can be evocative. Example from "Poem with a Cucumber in It"
I'd have to say that attar is now my favorite word. Some of the poems, admittedly, made me giggle because they were permeated by a grumpy old man narrator. In "The Problem of Describing Color" and "The Problem of Describing Trees" I could easily imagine a frustrated artist trying to explain his perceptions to a literal-minded audience more concerned about getting the right hex code to match a photograph to a website layout. The nerd in me positively squealed when I read "State of the Planet"; although commissioned and somewhat clunky at times, it had an entire stanza about GFP (green fluorescent protein) with an intriguing insight: "In the dark the creatures give off greenish light./Their bodies must by very strange to them." On the other hand, when the subjects turn more seriously to Hass's family--such as "The World as Will and Representation" about his alcoholic mother--there's something quite stark and earnest about the allusions. The weakest part of the collection are the political poems. Unless Hass was aiming to make the reader feel numb and inundated, the run-on prose doesn't work. Maybe politics and poetry inherently don't mix--but I think it's totally possible to turn the music of words into passionate rhetoric. However, Hass's "I Am Your Waiter Tonight and My Name Is Dimitri", "Bush's War", and "On Visiting the DMZ at Panmunjom: A Haibun" doesn't have this energy. Instead, they're like monotone interruptions in an already snore-inducing lecture. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 2:17 PM : Saturday, April 19, 2008 Hm, Interesting (Redux) An update from this post: I came across SF and Fantasy in the New Millennium: Women Publishing Short Fiction and the addendum to that essay. Finally, some numbers! Apparently, not as many women are being published because they aren't submitting. Linville posits that this could be due to "perceived bias, added household demands, a tendency to write at novel length, or any number of other subtle factors." [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 5:46 PM : Thursday, April 17, 2008 Click 'n Read Tangled Bank #103 is over at rENNISance woman on the Nature Network. Read about the world's oldest tree, the transmission mechanism of mad cow disease and its ilk, and monkeys vs. computers--who will write the better book? Booking Through Thursday: Vocabulary Suggested by Nithin: I’ve always wondered what other people do when they come across a word/phrase that they’ve never heard before. I mean, do they jot it down on paper so they can look it up later, or do they stop reading to look it up on the dictionary/google it or do they just continue reading and forget about the word? Does anyone remember a method of reading called "context reading"? I was introduced to it in fourth grade--you would read a passage that had a couple of unfamiliar words and then afterwards, answer some questions to see if you caught the meanings, by context. That's what I usually do when I come across an unfamiliar word while reading. I don't stop to jot it down or interrupt myself by grabbing the dictionary. I try to glean the word's meaning within its environment. If I can't figure it out, I make a mental note of it to look it up later and move on. The Thursday Threesome: Visualize Whirled Peas This is the problem with long-time participants to memes. They remember stuff. I answered these questions a little over two years ago. I still stand by my answers, by the way. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 8:00 AM : Wednesday, April 16, 2008 More Nerd Than Girl, Probably Stuff Girls Like. (again via 2Blowhards) I don't know. It's not as funny as Stuff Asian People Like for some reason. Maybe it's because I recognize some Asian habits/stereotypes in myself so that I'm able to laugh about it. Whereas girly stereotypes--well, I'm not so girly. Or at least I don't think so. Take for instance, the assertion that girls find Barry White sexy. Blech. His music makes me want to dress up as an angry clown (complete with curly neon green wig) and throw frozen pumpkins in the nearest body of water. Or another example: going as groups into restrooms. Unless it's a pit stop in the middle of a trip/concert intermission/some long event, heck no! I'm not going into restroom with a bunch of people for some random reason. Frankly, I find it creepy when someone picks the stall next to mine instead of one of the others in a very large yet empty restroom. As for people talking in bathrooms--arg, please let me bash my head in at the door corner. Book clubs? There's no way I'm letting a bunch of self-appointed literati (female or no) give me any "suggestions" for my leisure reading. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 9:01 PM : Tuesday, April 15, 2008 Hm, Interesting Are We Talking About Gender and Magazines AGAIN? ...Yes. I would really like to see the percentages in the slush pile as well. If that matches the percentage being published, then the question will have to be--why aren't there more women submitting in the first place?* But in at least one case, I don't think that is the problem. There are some stats at the bottom of that post and there's something very obvious that immediately jumps to the eye. For F&SF, the number of women authors being published noticeably decreases when a male editor takes over. Hm. *I also don't think this is a problem for another reason. Most aspiring fiction writers I've met are women. I admit, this is anecdotal, but I can't be all wrong since I've observed this in many different places and not at just one, perhaps, anomalous location. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 7:41 PM : Monday, April 14, 2008 Oh Great I just discovered that the SF Site has a list of all the YBFH volumes. How long has it been up and I've just not found it? Now that some reputable site has all the info, I might as well just delete my stupid little fan site. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 10:13 AM : Sunday, April 13, 2008 Updates on Another Site After almost a year of dawdling, I finally got the new, spiffy version of The Sluice up. Major new stuff uploaded: info on volume 21. If you notice anything I've forgotten to add, drop me a line. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 1:07 PM : Thursday, April 10, 2008 Memes Booking Through Thursday: Writing Challenge *Pick up the nearest book. (I’m sure you must have one nearby.) *Turn to page 123. *What is the first sentence on the page? *The last sentence on the page? *Now . . . connect them together…. (And no, you may not transcribe the entire page of the book–that’s cheating!) The nearest book doesn't even have 123 pages (it's a book of poetry). The next closest book is Around the World on Two Wheels by Peter Zheutlin. The following is the first and last complete sentence on that page. She arrived soaked, with a "broken machine," though the nature of its mechanical problem wasn't described. "The roads were very muddy yesterday and today and she was compelled to take the railroad tracks," reported the newspaper. Whoa. That actually makes sense. The Thursday Threesome: Kitchen Gadget Store Onesome: Kitchen- What's your favorite room at your place? Do you migrate towards the kitchen, or prefer to cozy up in the living room? ...or do you prefer the patio? ...or even the back porch!? The living room, I suppose. All my books are there. Twosome: Gadget- What's your favorite gadget type item and why? The piston-driven air displacement pipette. It's possible to work in a biological laboratory without one, but who would want to? Threesome: Store- What's your favorite store to browse, even if you never actually buy anything there? Man, that's obvious. The bookstore, of course. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 8:06 AM : Wednesday, April 09, 2008 I Am So Late FPDuck tagged me for a meme a long time ago, and I'm sorry to say I didn't catch it the first time around. What's the last thing you wrote? Some text to go with a scientific figure. Was it any good? What do you mean by good? Being clear would be good. Flowery would be bad. I hope to heck it's clear. What's the first thing you ever wrote that you still have? Hm. I wonder if my parents threw it out? It was a mystery with a hard-boiled detective and a femme fatale which I wrote in fourth grade. Write poetry? I used to. In high school. That stuff was the first writing I ever attached the pseudonym that I still use. I also wrote some poetry as an undergraduate and tried submitting to the college literary mag--but got rejected. Well, actually they never did send a rejection. I only knew I wasn't accepted when I got the next copy of the lit mag (which was filled with stuff written by the editorial staff anyway so I had a suspicion my writing wasn't dismissed solely due to perceived lack of quality). Angsty poetry? It's quite possible I've written one or two angsty poems, but I tended toward more fanciful and strange subjects. Favourite genre of writing? For fiction, it's definitely speculative--fantasy, science fiction, horror--it's all cool. Most fun character you ever created? I always think my most recently created characters are fun. Most annoying character you ever created? Hm. Even annoying characters have some redeeming features. I usually use possibly annoying characters as comic relief. So no, I can't really pinpoint an annoying character. Maybe a reader can. Best plot you ever created? I always think that the plot I'm working on at the time is the best one EVER. Coolest plot twist you ever created? I try to go for the gradual and subtle so that plot twists on the order of Luke finding out that Darth Vader is his father don't really happen. Although I do have an unpolished novella where an expected battle erupts between a chthonic god and some pirates commandeered by an old lady. How often do you get writer's block? Almost never. The problem is, I don't have time to write as much as I'd like. There's always something else that's more pressing. Write fan fiction? No. Do you type or write by hand? I can do both. It depends on what's available and what my mood is at the time. Do you save everything you write? I try to. But do I know where everything is located? No. Do you ever go back to an old idea long after you abandoned it? Yes. Sometimes, I need an idea to simmer a bit before it's ready. What's your favourite thing that you've written? It's usually the most recent thing that I've come up with that I think is kind of clever. As of this moment, it's the last line in the previous post, comparing catty authors to the characters in Lord of the Flies. What's everyone else's favourite story that you've written? The only stuff that's for public consumption at this point are two published short stories and the Nanowrimo novels I've archived here. A fair number of random people who I don't know have e-mailed to tell me how much they had enjoyed Foxfire. I guess people like steampunk and shapeshifters and characters who are sort of ambiguous. Do you ever show people your work? The stuff I do for Nanowrimo, sure. I have no plans to submit them anywhere so it's okay with me to just post it on my website. I have also shown short stories to writing groups. Did you ever write a novel? I've written several. Ever written romance or teen angsty drama? As subplots, sure. But as the dominant genre of a particular piece, I steer away from teen angsty drama as I see no point in wallowing in it (although I have no problem with other people reading it). There have been times when I've been tempted to write a romance due to the sheer buying power of that genre's audience--but so far, my "writing muse", for a lack of a better term, isn't interested in that area. What's your favourite setting for your characters? Anywhere, really, as long as there's something not quite normal with it. How many writing projects are you working on right now? Quite a few. Most of them are science related. Do you want to write for a living? No. The day job will pay more. Have you ever won an award for your writing? No. I'm not sure I would want to win an award. Because once you get one, wouldn't you start worrying if your next effort is a let down? Ever written something in script or play format? I tried last year, but failed. I'm trying again this year. So far, it's not looking good. What are your five favourite words? As of this moment: Byzantine. Ambergris. Xanthine. Ferrule. Necrotic. Honorable mention (due to another meme): Skirl. Do you ever write based on yourself? Most of my characters have aspects of myself in them. What character have you created that most resembles yourself? Hard to say. Although they all have bits and pieces that are like me, on the whole, they are quite different. If I had to pick one, I'd say probably Jared, a nerdy and somewhat socially inept gas station attendant. Where do you get ideas for your other characters? Everywhere. Do you ever write based on your dreams? Sometimes, if I remember them. Do you favour happy endings, sad endings, or cliff-hangers? As long as the ending fits the story, I'm cool with it. Have you ever written based on an artwork you've seen? No. But it's possible I could in the future. Are you concerned with spelling and grammar as you write? Yes. Ever write something entirely in chatspeak? (How r u?) Other than the occasional OMGWTFBBQ!!!11!!1! to emphasize the heinousness of something in particular, no. Entirely in L337? No. Was that question completely appalling and un-writer like? In these times, no. Does music help you write? Maybe when I first put it on. But once I get going, I completely tune it out. Quote something you've written. The first thing to pop into your mind. Something I wrote in response to a prompt almost two years ago. I think I got the idea from being disgruntled about all the kickass heroines in urban fantasies. The flash of cheap, red earrings caught Carmen's eye when the bell to her candy shop rang. Amanda, the resident wannabe fortune teller and monster hunter was on the prowl in her tight strapless tank and squeaking vinyl mini-skirt. A pair of snakeskin Jimmy Choos completed the ensemble--with heels high enough to cause a nosebleed. Oh, and apparently this is one of those tagging memes. I don't really like tagging anyone, but if you want to do it, go for it. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 9:21 PM : Tuesday, April 08, 2008 No Single Interpretation From Neil Gaiman's Journal: "Once you’ve written something it’s not yours any longer: it belongs to other people, and they all have opinions about it, and every single one of those opinions is as correct as that of the author – more so, perhaps." I find myself agreeing with this. Readers bring in their own preconceptions and biases which color the work. It's like comparing people's perceptions of word meanings. Take "apple" for instance. I don't think anyone else will be picturing the same kind of apple or have the same connotations that I am if that word is mentioned. But just because someone is picturing a Red Delicious while I'm thinking of a Granny Smith doesn't mean that the other view is less valid. This also reminds me of a publishing train wreck I came across here. Aside from the implications that Amazon's review system has pretty much zombie-fied, the instance of an author and her posse heckling and stalking a reviewer for daring to state a negative opinion leave me wondering if they aren't really Lord of the Flies escapees masquerading as grown women. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 10:39 PM : Additional Comments Addendum to previous post: Heh. Here's another entry. Geez, did these people secretly videotape my childhood? Play piano since the age of four? Check. Play a string instrument? Check. Oboe and clarinet? Check, check. Ever play in a church service? Check. Music competitions? Check. Got forced by other Asians to play so that their kid could show me up? Check. I should have learned the triangle instead. Of course, other areas of my life have also been so stereotypically Asian that I inwardly cringe thinking about it. Sometimes I wonder if I'm not really me, that I might just be a caricature. I mean, I'm aware, but I don't go out of my way to be completely different either. Isn't being rebellious just another caricature, too? [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 7:18 PM : Totally Going Into the Blogroll Stuff Asian People Like. (via 2Blowhards) There are very few blogs which make me laugh and feel like jabbing somebody with a pair of sharpened chopsticks at the same time. SAPL is one of them. Take for instance this entry. That's like some of my relatives, to a T. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 12:45 PM : Monday, April 07, 2008 Imaginary Parasites Mythical 16th-century disease critters. (via Drawn!) Some neat excerpts from a Japanese medical book written in 1568 about malevolent creatures causing disease. They remind me of medieval bestiaries. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 9:12 PM : Strange Two days ago, I borrowed a copy of Robert Hass's Time and Materials without knowing anything about it. And today, I find out that it won a Pulitzer. I guess I have to read it now. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 6:51 PM : Leave Me Alone, Redux I'm walking to school, less than a block away from lab, when some old guy in a minivan pulls up. At first, I thought he was asking for directions. Plenty of visitors have asked me for directions to so-and-so building. But no. This guy is offering a ride. What's up with older people latching onto me when there's plenty of other people wandering around? There's no way in hell I'm getting into a moving vehicle piloted by some unknown, slack-jowled, creepy geezer. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 8:41 AM : Sunday, April 06, 2008 If I'm Shopping, Leave Me Alone One thing I hate about shopping in public is that there are people around. Like salespeople. But at least they leave you alone when you tell them, "No thanks." Then there are the other shoppers. Sure, there are the crazy people who get in your way, but they're nowhere near as annoying as those shoppers who think the store is a social free-for-all. Take, for instance, the lady who kept following me around, giving me unsolicited advice when all I wanted was to get a pair of jeans to replace the worn out ones that I do have. Now unsolicited advice isn't all bad. If an expert decides to tell me how to best run an experiment or some random person tells me how to eat some food without it getting on my shirt, that's terrific. But pants with elastic waistbands? Please. I might be the untrendiest twenty-something in the pacific northwest, but there is no way in hell I'm taking fashion advice from a middle-aged, frumpy hausfraus in a tracksuit. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 3:31 PM : Saturday, April 05, 2008 Trying to See the Future Is Futile You Tell Me: Who Will We Be Reading 50 Years From Now? The comments are interesting in that they fall into three categories--1)popular and bestselling books; 2)literary fiction; and 3)novels that the commenters personally like. Half a century from now, I'm not even sure that people will even be reading books. But whatever they will be reading, it sure won't be stuff that I'm reading or even considering to read. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 6:37 PM : Friday, April 04, 2008 Stupid Trivia Of course it wasn't cited, but on the radio I heard that only given different heights, men consider taller women to be smarter. And since I'm freakin' short, I guess by looks alone I'd appear dumber than supermodels and basketball players. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 5:31 PM : Thursday, April 03, 2008 Memes Booking Through Thursday: Lit-Ra-Chur When somebody mentions “literature,” what’s the first thing you think of? (Dickens? Tolstoy? Shakespeare?) It depends on that somebody and in what context. Sometimes it is all about that stuff that was read in high school, the novels also termed "the classics", the majority of it written by white dead guys. At other times, I think of the modern genre of literature which has been appropriated by the yuppie and issue-conscious. The genre where style is favored over plot and where all characters come to depressing ends. This includes any award-winning novels published in the 20th century onwards. Thirdly, literature can also be the stuff that stands the test of time. And finally (this is beginning to look like one of those really long dictionary entries), I also think of the scientific literature which doesn't necessarily consist of books. Mainly it refers to science papers. Do you read “literature” (however you define it) for pleasure? Or is it something that you read only when you must? Other than high school and one undergraduate course on 18th century literature, I have only read novels that I feel like reading. I generally don't care what other people think of my reading material, so this may or may not include what I define as "fiction literature". As for the scientific literature, it's a bit of a mix. There is definitely stuff I have to read (understandably, the more that it's related to my research, the more interesting it is) and then there's stuff that's just plain cool. The Thursday Threesome: State Fair and Rodeo Onesome- State: What state (or territory) do you live in? Have you lived in any other(s)? Where would you like to live? And as a bonus: Any idea what year your state became a state? I seem to recall that there was a very similar Thursday Threesome question a couple of years back. I currently live in Idaho (admitted to the Union in 1890)--which I couldn't have imagined would happen, say, five years ago. I have lived in Ohio, Tennessee, California, and New Hampshire (as well as Quebec and Ontario if you want to count Canada). I'm not sure exactly where I would ideally live, but as long as I don't have obnoxious neighbors, that's always a plus. Twosome- Fair: Or amusement parks: Did you enjoy them as a kid? What was your favorite ride? How do you feel about them now? Ready to go wander around one again, sampling funnel cakes and corn dogs and riding rides until you're sick? ...or would you rather just enjoy the entertainment or stay home and avoid the crowds? Sure, they were fun. As a kid, an amusement park was a novelty because my parents rarely took me to one. I didn't have a favorite ride--basically what I usually did was to try all of them. Of course, now the novelty has worn off and I'm not as interested. It's not because of the crowds or that I want to stay at home. In fact, I have a constitutive urge of wanderlust--if I wasn't constrained by time, money, and other commitments and interests, I'd be traveling to random places. Threesome- And Rodeo: Have you ever been to or watched a rodeo on TV? Did you enjoy it or consider it a barbaric spectacle? If you liked it, what was your favorite event? Ever tempted to race barrels or ride a bull yourself? When I used to have access to a TV, I once did some channel surfing and briefly came across a rodeo that was set up as a sports event. Otherwise, I've seen them on documentaries. And another time, someone invited me to a rodeo, but I was too busy to go. I don't consider rodeos on the same level of barbaric as, say, football--but I don't exactly see the point of it either. I suppose if you strip it down, it's basically a ritualized fight between man and beast. And some people totally dig that. Me, I just don't care so much. Probably because my encounters with bovines usually involve squirming away from needles and eating hats. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 8:20 AM : Wednesday, April 02, 2008 Many Things Tangled Bank #102 is up at Further Thoughts. Plenty of interesting stuff--from sleep to lizards and to...slackers? Last night, I went to a talk at the Borah Symposium - specifically, that of Nobel laureate and former President of South Africa, F.W. de Klerk. Even after the rhetoric about forgiveness and breaking the cycle of bitterness and retaliation, Klerk briefly mentioned something that I thought most true of all (although this may just indicate my cynicism): that if people were to be honest with themselves, they really don't forgive and forget. Forgetting would only be accomplished by selective amnesia. You can view the speech here (RealPlayer required). You know, I don't really like trying to find flights. The problem is, the flights going out of here are not so convenient for most destinations. I mean, you can't avoid transfers. If only there were more travelers around these parts than homebodies. Dang it, still have not started Script Frenzy. Too busy with other stuff. Maybe I'll try starting the script tonight. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 4:05 PM : Tuesday, April 01, 2008 Filtering By Literary Taste It's Not You, It's Your Books. My taste in books is eclectic, to say the least, and I'm sure there are people out there who hate particular books that I love and love what I hate. I'm thinking I'm fairly knowledgeable about books--even of ones that I haven't read--and I can reel off a list of authors in almost any given genre. So I could probably get along with anyone as long as they aren't snobby about entire genres and subjects (except maybe self-help and new age). But what if they don't read? Well, as long as they have an interesting hobby that they're passionate about, that's a-okay with me. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 7:54 AM : |
