Friday night my friend, Hypster Mom, hosted a sort of literary salon featuring J.C. Hallman author of many things, most recently the short story collection The Hospital for Bad Poets.
Before he read a story he talked a little about a book he edited called, The Story About the Story. Specifically he talked about the [...]
January, 2010
27
Jan 10
Days of Crank & Crabbiness
Monday I fell into some January funk and it took a long time to get climb out of it (when you have adult-onset ADD two days is a very long time). The funk yesterday was so awful that I totally shut down. I spent the day whining, taking a hot bath, and napping.
It was [...]
24
Jan 10
The validity of eye witness accounts
Yesterday I rode to Rock & Roll Bookclub with Jaycie, Ben, and Max. I’m not sure how we got on the topic but Max was waxing eloquently on the awesomeness of MonsterQuest and how I should spend my time watching it.
“Eh,” I said from the front seat, “It’s not my thing.”
“But they talk about Sasquatch,” [...]
22
Jan 10
On the awesomeness of superheroes
“I think they take a bath with their suits on, right Aunt Jodi?” Liam is playing Lego Batman on the Wii. He keeps up a running dialog that I mostly ignore until I hear my name.
“Right,” I said. I was half listening at all.
“Does it take their suits a long time to dry? Huh, Aunt [...]
21
Jan 10
Two resolutions: One for me & one for the Internet
I’m a little cranky because I just read an awful graphic novel and bad books make me angry. There might be extra vitriol in tonight’s rant when normally there would just be the regular amount of vitriol. You’ve been warned.
Actually, graphic novels have something to do with my resolution. Long about yesterday I decided I [...]
20
Jan 10
Leno v. Conan is more like Baby Boomers v. GenX
This is the obligatory I know there are more important things going on in the world right now statement required by the Society of Blog Readers for Pointing Out You’re Shallow & Pointless.
This whole Leno vs. Conan thing really makes me angry. It’s indicative of the whole Baby Boomer vs. GenX battle that has been [...]
19
Jan 10
Way back in aught-six
It’s 11:16 and I’m just finishing up work for the day. This is not a complaint. I just want to record it somewhere for posterity because it’s been a very long time since I’ve been so busy working. In fact, I think it might have been the launch of Paint Shop Pro 11 back in [...]
17
Jan 10
Brought to you by my discovery of the first season of She-Ra on hulu
Me circa 1987
The worst part of growing up in suburban Minneapolis in the 80s was the ridiculous standard of beauty. Sure we laugh at it now, but big hair was a lot of work. It required, in some cases, hours of diligence and sometimes life threatening feats involving aerosol Aqua Net and a hot curling [...]
14
Jan 10
Like an unfunny episode of That 70s Show
When I finished reading all 368 pages of Charles Burns’ graphic novel Black Hole the first thing I thought was, well that three hours would have been better spent listening to Black Hole Sun on repeat.
One again one of the High Holies of the graphic novel realm has left me disappointed. The High Holies, [...]
12
Jan 10
Four wholly unrelated things I want to tell you
I.
On Sunday I made a creamy cauliflower soup. It involved pureeing and that frightened me. Plus, I had the divide the recipe in half, so there was math that also frightens me. It turned out delightful and silky and it is so good I’m a little sad that I didn’t have anyone to share it [...]
11
Jan 10
A conversation with Trip Shakes
For those of you who have forgotten, Trip Shakes is one of my Nerdery co-workers. He’s the bomb digs, for real. When I interviewed there last fall he asked me what was the best forty-nine cents I ever spent. I bombed the question because I was really seriously thinking about it, and he was making [...]
10
Jan 10
Winkletoe, Sparkletoe, Wushy, D.T. & Blackhole Sun Blanket
Max calls his Winkletoe and Jaycie’s is Sparkletoe. Cade called his Wushy. Liam calls his D.T., because that’s what Nolan called his. Mine’s called Blackhole Sun, a nickname given to it by my college roommate F.R. Chicken because of its resemblance to an afghan that can be seen in the Soundgarden video.
The blanket doesn’t [...]
8
Jan 10
The politics of Tom & Jerry
Liam is hopping across the living room, laughing his head off. “The mouse is chasing the dog.”
“I see that.”
“The dog always beats up the cat,” he says, hopping in the other direction. “The cat beats up the mouse. What’s the dog’s name?”
“Spike,” I say.
“How do you know? Are you sure?”
“Yes, I used to watch this [...]
6
Jan 10
The only thing you need to know about today, my heart’s like a kick drum
Today I discovered Kick Drum Heart by The Avett Brothers.
I discovered the song today after buying their album I And Love And You. It’s one of those things I do every New Year, vow to discover new (to me) music. And today The Avett Brothers caught my eye and hot damn am I glad they [...]
