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…to the publication of Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar. It’s one of the first books I remember having read to me when I was in preschool. It is quite possibly one of the best toddlers’ books in existence and probably always will be. Anyway, thanks to the Google homepage, I came across this gem:
I am hooked on these series, and right now I’m plowing through “The Best American Non-Required Reading 2007.” The wonderful thing about this collection is that the panel of judges who determine the selection are all high school students who take part in Dave Eggers’ writing lab. The money from the sales of these books benefits 826 Valencia, a nonprofit writing and tutoring and student publishing center. I have much to say concerning this series and the selections within, but those will out in bits and pieces. For now, here is a quote by Dave Eggers that gives me even more pride in my country:
“Not all of us Americans appreciate the fact that we have about 150 very good quarterlies in this country. Every state seems to have a very good quarterly, and about a hundred colleges have very good quarterlies… So by our estimate there are about 150 very good quarterlies in this country. Maybe more. Now, the thing we don’t always appreciate here in America is that elsewhere in the world there are few to no quarterlies. Few to none! There simply isn’t the same tradition in Europe, Asia, or anywhere else. Even Canada has nothing on us, and it seems to beat us in many other things, including looks (Canadians are spectacular-looking and all smell of pine and honey). But when it comes to quarterlies, we are in good shape.”
Stephen King began his writing career under the pseudonym, Richard Bachman. As Richard Bachman, he produced such gems as The Running Man and The Regulators. At some point, Stephen King, probably realizing how proud of his work he should be, began affixing his real name to his published works and stopped using the name Richard Bachman. In one early novel, The Dark Half, Stephen King toyed with the idea that when a writer uses both a pen name and his real name, he was channeling two different personalities, or that one was the persona, and one was the actual self. In The Dark Half, a writer, tired of using his pen name to write horror stories, decides to “kill” the pen name author by laying him to rest. I may be getting the chronology of events within the story wrong here, but shortly after, the author is hit by a drunk truck driver, goes into a coma, and miraculously experiences a full recovery. At some point during the coma, the part of his brain that he used to write his horror stories, the part of his brain that belonged to his pen name, specifically, appears to take a physical form. This being menaces the author’s world until it comes down to a battle between the author and his pen name.
I mention this story because it appeared to mirror Stephen King’s own dilemma of dropping the pen name of Richard Bachman. I think he used that story to express a worst-case scenario. Art imitates life. BUT, do people remember Stephen King’s own brush with death? Several years after this book was published, he was walking along a road in Maine, and hit by a truck driver who was reaching behind the seat for a beer. Stephen King was in critical condition, but made a full recovery, fortunately. Now life imitates art. Quite creepy. Stephen King mentioned this strange coincidence in his non-fiction how-to book, On Writing.
People made fun of Stephen King for not churning out horror stories in recent years that could rival The Shining, Misery, or Carrie. I do admit that aside from Cell, I hadn’t had the urge to read anything by Stephen King for a while. But, I tell you this: Stephen King is back. I just finished reading his latest page-turner, Duma Key. This is a return to his strengths as a horror writer, the most noticeable being: Stephen King understands the nature of fear. I think the best way to describe Duma Key, is to tell you that after Stephen King had that accident that eerily echoed the one in his novel, he began to think: What if an artist (writer, painter, musician, whatever) were so gifted, that he could make life imitate art? And, following that idea, what if the gift turned on him?
I am kind of hoping that this book becomes a movie, but at the same time, if it does, I wonder if the hyperbole of being “frightened out of your wits” may adopt a literal meaning.
So of course I’ve known about this company for a while, because… well, Tina’s husband, Bill works there. And he supplies me and Jason with cool accessories and sweatshirts (although Tina made us “earn” a couple of the sweatshirts by doing pull-ups in the warehouse). Anyway, for some reason, it never really occurred to me to visit the company website. I finally did today, and it’s very cool. Rick’s blog is hilarious and fascinating, and let me tell you: this site is not just about fashion. Check it out and be amazed.
Here is a great quote I found in my Q newsletter:
“He can’t stand the thought of James Blunt writing crap songs down the road.” - A pal explains to The Sun why Noel Gallagher is selling his pad in Ibiza.
December Nights is back!!
http://www.balboapark.org/decembernights/
You all know why I love this event so much. This time we’re hoping to catch both nights; that way, we can eat our way through everything and take back twice as much baklava.
Museums are offering free admission from 5 - 9 PM both nights. I would highly recommend getting paella, empanadas, and baklava. I would also discourage the mead, mulled wine, and Lion’s Milk. Unless you like sour wine or alcoholic Good N’ Plenty’s.
My sister directed me to a website she knew I would love. I think it is one of the greatest websites ever and will probably use it for the rest of my life: http://someecards.com/
Jason and I caught the Bodies exhibit at Westfield UTC. It was really interesting and I would recommend checking it out. They extended the exhibit’s run there because it was so popular. I would like to see Bodyworks and see how they compare, but I was very satisfied with what I saw. The human body really is amazing.
There was a section on babies that really upset me. WARNING: IF YOU ARE PREGNANT OR THINK YOU MAY BE UPSET BY READING ABOUT SEEING HUMAN FETUSES AND CHILDREN IN THE EXHIBIT, PLEASE SKIP THE REST OF THIS BLOG ENTRY. I saw fetuses at different stages of growth, and I realized how quickly it looks like a human: at only 9 weeks! By the time you realize you’re pregnant, it’s already shaped like a tiny person, with tiny hands and feet! You can’t pass through this section and not think about the issue of abortion. Did it change my views (I’m pro-choice)? No. But it will definitely influence my decision if I should ever reach a point where I must consider abortion. I think it’s very important for a woman to know very clearly and distinctly what the consequences of her options are and to choose what she thinks is best. No one would choose to be in this position. No one wants to kill their baby. Anyway, it wasn’t even this part that upset me. What upset me was seeing babies that had died during childbirth, due to defects and complications. One baby was born with its internal organs outside of its body. Another one had a significant part of its brain missing, and its head had been severely dented. There was one other baby whose defect I didn’t properly understand, so I can’t remember it. The rest of the exhibit just passed me by in a haze, since I was so upset from seeing the babies. My eyes were red and tearing from that point on, and I kept sniffling. There was a warning posted at the entrance of this section, and so I entered knowing that I would see disturbing things, but it still really shook me.
After sending a request to my wonderful site hoster, he revamped my site! Now you can go back and look at old entries, or entries under different categories…
That being said, since I already went to see “Junk,” I can now tell you that it was great! The songs were all really catchy; the costumes and set were really fun and original. The lead girl had some Natalie Portmanesque-type features (ie, she was really, really pretty), which is very high praise, coming from me.
Anyway, if you want discounts on the tickets or something, let me know, and I will try to send you a flyer or promo code or something. Watch it!
It’s about half a block away from Pink’s Hot Dogs, too. Jason, Kat and I went there in the pouring rain so that Jason could try them for the first time. I got the Rosie O’Donnell (chili dog with cheese, sauerkraut, and mustard), he got the… I forgot. Anyway, the onion rings were very, very good, and when I finished my dog, I kind of regretted inhaling it bc I started feeling a bit nauseous. Their toppings are so rich and plentiful! The toppings can also be overwhelming. Jason liked it, but recommends not getting anything with nacho cheese in it, bc they really pile it on.
So final call? Top Dog is wayyyyyyy better. But you can’t really compare the places. Pink’s is about the toppings; Top Dog is about the dog. Pink’s doesn’t fry the buns, either. Their wieners do have a nice crisp snap to them, though. Oh, and the employees at Pink’s are slow as hell. Top Dog is kinda like the hot dog version of the Soup Nazi (as publicized on “Seinfeld”)- fast and efficient.
I’m planning on going to see my very first rock opera soon. I won’t say when, because Kat gets nervous if she knows her friends are in the audience before a performance. The rock opera has a MySpace page, since the songs are by a band called Brainpool:
http://www.myspace.com/junkrockopera
I’ve been listening to the songs and I’m finding “Here Comes the Week” very catchy indeed.
Benjamin Kunkel’s Indecision sucked balls. Well, it wasn’t bad, but it definitely was not very good or impressive. It certainly didn’t deserve all the recognition it received. I also hadn’t realized when I purchased the book that this guy was a writer for The Nation, and I’m pretty notoriously conservative. I need to get Chuck Palahniuk’s latest work.
I just finished reading Toni Morrison’s Sula. The verdict? Definitely not one of her better books. I loved Jazz, and The Bluest Eye was intense. I haven’t read Beloved yet, and I need to - I’ve got a bad habit of reading the unknown works of famous writers and ignoring their prize-winning ones. I think I prefer finding hidden gems; award-winners tend to disappoint me.
Sula just had really predictable symbols and too-obvious foreshadowing. Maybe I’ve read so many books in Morrison’s style that I’ve grown to expect certain types of imagery and symbolism. Now I’ve got this hankering to reread Jazz, because I can’t remember it at all, and I want to see what I found so intriguing and ingenious about it. Right now I’ve got to decide whether my next book is a rereading of Jazz or Benjamin Kunkel’s Indecision.
