Friday What?

I don't know what I'm doing here. Usually when I have nothing of interest to talk about, I do it on livejournal. But I fear I've been boring everyone over there too much lately. So I'll just babble here for a while and throw some links in at the bottom and we can all happily move along, 'k?

Last night was the Husband's birthday. He, the Second Wife, and I went to eat at Fogo de Chao, a Brazilian steakhouse. If you've never experienced this, you must try it once. It is like Vegas in a restaurant. The funniest part is when you're ready for your meat course and you flip over your coaster to the green side to let the servers know, you're suddenly inundated by all these beautiful men in baggy pants and boots, waving around giant skewers of meat. You forget they'll keep coming until you flip your coaster back over and have to fight the urge to scream "Stop!" Oh yeah, not a place for vegetarians, by the way. SW made a comment about having to challenge everyone to a duel if he were wearing those pants and brandishing sword-like skewers, which then lead to an Inigo Montoya quote-athon as we dug into our very delicious meat array.

Then we went to one of my favorite bars in Austin for a nightcap, which was about all we could handle while our digestive systems worked overtime on protein. The owner is very nice and always greets us like we're his favorite people there. I was therefore pleased when he announced that - after being open after only 7 months - Nomad was given a "Best of Austin" award. which is way cool, but at the same time not, because then one becomes afraid of who else will start showing up. Yes, I'm a snob like that. I get tired of Austin hipsters. I also avoid certain bars because of the high college student quotient. I went to college bars when I was in college. No need to relive that now.

Then again, who am I kidding? I "go out" about once every two months. I don't really like bars that much anymore, and I'm not really a drinker. Trust me when I say being the lone sober person surrounded by drunks is not amusing. It's actually boring as shit. The funny thing is, because I so rarely join the Husband at his watering hole, when I do I am treated like a Queen. Everyone is soooo happy to see me. I don't pay for a single drink. While gratifying - and a boost to my ego - it feels weird to have all the attention. Luckily, drunks have short attention spans and move on quickly. Tonight will be one of those nights, as the Husband's official b-day party is at...a bar.

In other news, I'm trying to write a ghost story. But I can't get the atmosphere right, so instead it's just a story narrated by a ghost. We'll see.

Linkage:
I enjoy watching The Big Lebowski more now than I did when it came out. I think it's because, as this article states, of the high quotability quotient.

What are your favorite words? I actually knew about half of these off the top of my head. My favorite word, for sound effect only, is bamboozled.

Banksy makes statements again. This time legally.

I have found one of my favorite new blogs. I can only hope I am this stylish when I get old. Or maybe it's in the carrying yourself with style that allows old people to pull off such things with style. No joke.

Have a great weekend, y'all.

Speaking of gay...

Just a little linkspam to start off your morning (except, of course, those of you who are in another time zone):

Will Sarah Palin stop reading Where the Wild Things Are to her kids? I mean, the man who wrote it chose to be gay for his entire life. In speaking of his life, homosexuality included, Maurice Sendak states the sad truth of never publicly coming out:

“I just didn’t think it was anybody’s business,” Mr. Sendak added. He lived with Eugene Glynn, a psychoanalyst, for 50 years before Dr. Glynn’s death in May 2007. He never told his parents: “All I wanted was to be straight so my parents could be happy. They never, never, never knew.”

I've mentioned before that my favorite part of the week is the Guardian Digested Reads. No book is too sacred. This week, John Crace gives mini-digests of the prestigious Booker Prize shortlist. From Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh:

Deeti chewed on a mouthful of roti as she ground the poppies. "I must be in the book that ticks the historical, multi-layered, multicultural shortlist box," she said. "In which case," her husband replied, "I had better hurry up and die so that you can show off your research about the Opium Wars and sail away from Calcutta on board the Ibis with a cast of colourful characters who will use wilfully obscure and caricatured language that the judges will fall over themselves to call a tour de force of comic invention." "You're right," Deeti agreed. "And the best thing is I don't even need an ending as it's only the first in a trilogy."

So in case you've been living in a box for the past three weeks, Stephenie Meyer had a snafu regarding her next manuscript. And while I have been critical of the series, I do understand how she must feel violated by the incident (Unless, the very suspicious person in me whispers, unless she was the source of the leak because of the sad little nervous breakdown she had due to the laughing criticism of her book. Shush, little brat, I tell myself, let's just take people as they are, okay?). Meyer then officially released the first 12 chapters of Midnight Sun on her webpage with this slightly contradictory explanation:

I'd rather my fans not read this version of Midnight Sun. It was only an incomplete draft; the writing is messy and flawed and full of mistakes. But how do I comment on this violation without driving more people to look for the illegal posting? It has taken me a while to decide how and if I could respond. But to end the confusion, I've decided to make the draft available here (at the end of this post). This way, my readers don't have to feel they have to make a sacrifice to stay honest. I hope this fragment gives you further insight into Edward's head and adds a new dimension to the Twilight story. That's what inspired me to write it in the first place.

Be that as it may, if I were Meyer, I would take what good I can from the entire episode. What good is there in having someone you trust take a work in progress, scan it, and leak it on the internet, you ask? Well, of course, it opened the window for Cleolinda of Occupation: Girl to work her read and commentary magic:

Okay. The first thing I want to discuss is the fact that I cannot stop reading these books even though they fill me with feminist rage and horror. I can't stop, y'all. The imprinting! The forced kissing! The STALKING, OH MY LORD, THE STALKING. More to the point, perhaps: if Bella Swan hadn't met Edward, what was she planning to do with her life? I mean, what was she planning to do for a job? We're not even told enough about her interests to have any idea what career path she could have taken. Novels of the nineteenth century: that is pretty much it. And guess what? They're not hiring for those anymore.

Oh, Edward. Shine on you prissy diamond.

For your picture of the day:

The Bacon Flowchart (via BoingBoing):

What else am I reading?

Over at Think Progress, we are reminded once again what an asswipe our President is. From his 2000 Inaugural address:

“A generation shaped by Vietnam must remember the lessons of Vietnam: When America uses force in the world, the cause must be just, the goal must be clear, and the victory must be overwhelming.”

New Orleanian Blake Bailey reviews Julia Reed's Katrina Memoir, The House on First Street for the NYT:

As for Reed’s Katrina experience — well, strange to say, it made me rather nostalgic for my own. (I’m reminded of what Percy said about the weird gaiety of disaster.) Like Reed and her husband, my wife and I gave a dinner party the night before evacuation, and the next day we wondered what to do with the garbage...

Is Greater Than is a pretty cool online zine. I skim most of the articles, but this one hit a very special secret place in my heart. My heart that owns 52 lipsticks, each of which is a varying shade of one color:

But there is another, hidden allure to beauty products. That allure lies in the heady world of woman to woman bonding, a social phenomenon that often takes place in the context of beauty.

And I had a really really hard time picking a favorite children's book quilt:

Every teacher and pre-service teacher enrolled in Dr. Bergeron’s undergraduate and graduate Children’s Literature courses at the University of Miami makes a child-sized quilt-top inspired by a piece of quality children’s literature. Then, Dr. B quilts their projects and the quilts are displayed at the Lowe Art Museum.

I spent my weekend lost in the world of comic books and graphic novels (yes, I read those too).

Warren Ellis is just never afraid to go there. And it doesn't really matter what there we're talking about. Sometimes I feel it's a bit too much for my - ahem! - delicate sensibilities. Okay, mostly I just find it all a bit more depraved than I really need. Planetary, however, sucked me into a story where, while I may not understand completely what is going on, I am on this journey with Elijah Snow and the rest of Planetary to uncover the secret history of the world.

Minx is a girl-friendly division of DC comics that puts out digest-sized one-shots with girl-centric themes (and is there a way I could have had more hyphenated words in the previous sentence?). The reviews have been mixed overall, but the large variety of titles available (from comics heartthrobs such as Andi Watson, and Brian Wood, and YA girlcrush Cecil Castellucci) at least attempt to guarantee there might be something for everyone. So far I've read 4 of the offerings with mixed reviews of my own. Of course, DC could possibly...maybe increase their girl readership by, I don't know, dialing down the fanboy inspired cookie-cutter female body type? However, at least DC has a female superhero in their Big Three (that would be Batman, Supes, and Wonder Woman for those who don't care enough to ask). Marvel has....[crickets].

Hope everyone had a good weekend. Aside from reading comics, I gave myself a happy by (you guessed it) buying Hot Fuzz. Oh yeah. Oh, and watching an okay LOCI wherein I finally get used to The Beard, but wonder what the wardrobe department is trying to tell us by having Bobby wear that same striped shirt week after week.

Some linking fun

More actual pointlessness about my life later.

Literary Classics summarized in 3 lines:

The Lion, the Witch
and the Wardrobe

C.S. LEWIS: Finally, a utopia ruled by children and populated by talking animals.

THE WITCH: Hi, I'm a sexually mature woman of power and confidence.

C.S. LEWIS: Ah! Kill it, lion Jesus!

I am unashamed about my PC:

And you know what? Macs are too hip. Oh, look at me! I do graphic design! I wear women's jeans and hang out in coffee shops! I'm a DJ! Well good for you. My computer is not a fashion statement. It's a computer.

I never have perfected the booknap:

A booknap is not simply reading and then sleeping in sequential order. If you set your book or magazine aside, rolled over and slept you have not booknapped.

Travels around teh internets: Link fun round-up

Some things are too crazy/funny/cool not to share. If you do nothing else, at least watch the video at the end.

Today in Literary History: Stephen Crane dies of tuberculosis in 1900.

The desk on which Charles Dickens wrote Great Expectations is sold at auction for $850,000. Proceeds will go to a children's hospital on London.

Butterflies! I love butterflies. In Greek, the word for butterfly is (phonetically spelled) petaludia, which means flying flower.

I love this picture. Every time I get all droopy about the state of affairs here in the US, I remember in parts of Britain, everyone is photographed all the time on cctv. This picture makes me laugh and shiver at the same time (via):


Pulp's "Common People," performed by William Shatner in a video mash-up using footage from the classic cartoon. Please watch. Boing Boing called it slash, but I know slash and this is just plain fun: