In honor or today (the last day I am a resident of my rent house), I have posted a new header. Ironically, it’s a picture of the backyard in my previous rent house.
Gotta finish packing before the new tenants arrive. Oh and I made $77.17 selling my CDs and DVDs, while I only made $17.75 selling my books. Does this say something about the base values of our society at large or instead reveal the ragtag nature of my ex-book collection?
About the photo: Nothing spectacular. Think it was a point and shoot digital camera. But the flowers are pretty.
This is it, folks. I’m about to sell all my books, DVDs and CDs. It’s really over now. After they’re gone, nothing much will be left of my life here (well, except friends, family, and a 14″ color TV that nobody seems to want).
I’m pretty sad to say goodbye. But this experience has taught me that stability is an illusion. At every moment, the world as we know it is in a state of flux. Even when it seems like we’re sitting still, the earth is spinning, oribiting and cruising at very fast speed across the universe. So, the best thing a writer can do is ride the current of change instead of swimming against it. For me, that means I still need to let go of a lot more useless crap before I move.
One of the things I love about language is its vitality. Languages are living, evolving organisms (and not static, dead documents like your 5th grade teacher tried to tell you). Language can change. And this is good. I won’t bore you with the linguistics of how “bad” grammar is correct. But I will tell you that the English language, being a mix of many many breeds, has the remarkable ability to accept almost any foreign word and make it feel right at home. While this elasticity is great for global communication, it is even better for writers. It means that we can make words up and they flow into our lexicon without even a stoplight. Just ask Shakespeare.
I love making up new words. To me, it’s like filling in gaps in a giant mural. Where there was only blank space, now there is meaning. It’s an act of creation, and it’s practical. Kind of like making a clay ashtray in art class, but only better.
For example, my friend Amanda & I came up with a new word last week:
Cuggle (v.) : to giggle and cuddle at the same time.
Cuggler (n.): a person who likes to cuggle
Cuggley (adj.): Somebody whose particularly adept at cuggling
It’s quite a fun combination. You should try the word and action on for size. Tell me what you think. According to Merriam-Webster, the word “cuddle” entered the English language in 1520, it’s high time it gets a tune up. Only you can make this happen. Go forth and cuggle!
Posted in Writing Process
Tagged cuggle, grammar, language, linguistics, marriam-webster, new word
I love books. I have a lot of them. They make me happy. But not today. Today I have to say goodbye to some gems before I even got to read them. This makes me sad. I want to cry. But I am moving. So I have to let go. The only consolation is the promise of reading them for free at some future library. This blog shall help me remember what I sacrificed. Please see widget below for list.
Posted in Books
Tagged aldous huxley, anthony burgess, charles bukowski, d.h. lawrence, Goodreads, isaac asimov, john updike, kurt vonnegut, moving, ovid, stephen king
This header is my homage to the beautiful, bland suburbs of Arizona. Yes, you can blame the green lawn in the foreground and the forest of non-native palms for at least part of global warming. But isn’t the picture pretty? Don’t the palms make a nice silhouette against the desert sky? And aren’t the retro-hipster houses cute? Excuse my nostalgia, but I leave in about two weeks and my emotions are getting the better of me.
About the Photo: It’s about three years old and I don’t even remember what camera I used. The only photography advice I can give today is to wait for “magic hour” and then snap away. (Magic Hour is the time of evening when the sun is at the horizon and everything turns gold. Rumors say that Magic Hour also happens at sunrise, but I’ve never been around to find out.)
Posted in Art
Tagged arizona, desert, header, magic hour, palm trees, photography, suburbia
The main character in Michael Chabon’s Wonder Boys describes his lover’s attraction to him in this way: “She’s addicted to reading. And as a writer, I create her drug of choice*.”
As a music enthusiast, I feel the same way about musicians. Since, I hold a particular affinity for those of the rock variety, I’ve seen the film Almost Famous so many times that I now ration its viewings. Naturally, I really wanted … no yearned for Rock Star (2001) to be good. Maybe my expectations were set too high, because I found Rock Star to be mediocre to boring.
But why? The plot concept is great and the actors are perfectly cast. So what went wrong? The answer lies in the DVD extras, where one of its creators say that the movie is supposed to be a parody of 80s arena rock. Spinal Tap is a parody of arena rock. Rock Star is an earnest drama about the path to self-hood that tries to be a parody when it’s not too busy soul-searching. This mix doesn’t work. And the flick misses the mark on both parody and drama. (It doesn’t quite fail, it just hits the widest ring on the target.) Furthermore, the Steel Dragons are not a real band and nobody is interested in watching extended scenes of their performance. During one such sequence I minimized the screen and checked my e-mail without missing a beat (get it? A beat!).
But every thorn has its rose, and this movie has a few pretty buds. The plot revolves around the rise and fall of loser wannabe rockstar and his girlfriend. As I mentioned earlier, the lead casting is perfect. Mark Wahlberg is the quintessential everyman. If somebody were to revive Death of a Salesman, Wahlberg should be cast as Willy Loman. He’s ambitious and attractive in a way more evocative of successful car mechanic than of a leading man. Wahlberg’s qualities are so striking that three years previous another director spotted his dynamic and used it in a much better film, Boogie Nights. Similarly, Jenifer Aniston is the everywoman — beautiful in a bland way. She was a believable waitress in Office Space, a believable sales clerk in The Good Wife, and a believable maid in Friends with Money for the same reason that Bradd Pitt dumped her for another woman. (Angelina Jolie is not a believable waitress; she is a believable assassin.) And similarly, those are all better films. Who can forget Anistan’s argument about flair?
And everybody’s a sucker for a “true story” or a least something with a little verisimilitude. Seems that this movie is inspired by Ripper Owen’s rise from fan to member of the band Judas Priest. (Check out this 1997 NYTimes article for backstory.) Oh and what about the guy (John Corabi) who temporarily replaced Vince Neil? He must have had an experience similar to this one. (Except that Corabi got fired from Motley Crue.) I wonder what these guys have to say about the film. What do you think?
All in all, Rock Star is a good flick to catch on a rainy Sunday afternoon if it happens to air on VH1′s Movies That Rock … or, if you’re like me, desperate for a rock ‘n’ roll film fix.
But don’t take my word for it; check out these cool reviews:
Steve Rhodes on CelebrityWonder.com disagrees with me and thinks casting ruined the movie.
MoviesForGuys.com calls it a “formula movie that works.”
A.O. Scott of the NY Times calls Almost Famous “more complex and better written.”
TheCelebrityCafe.com says “If you’ve ever dreamed of being a Rock Star, then don’t miss this!”
*Quote to the best of my memory
Not only am I an authoress, I’m also an artist. When I was a kid I would do a lot of watercolors because that was the only medium that wouldn’t ruin my brushes (being young and carefree, I was too lazy to wash them immediately). Now I mainly do photography because I am too busy to even do watercolors. Anyway, I will be switching up the header image whenever I feel like it to display some of my art that otherwise has nothing better to do than sit on my hard drive. Enjoy. And, as always, critiques and comments are appreciated.
About this header: Shot with my digital Cannon Rebel at White Sands National Monument in New Mexico a couple years back. With this cropping, the lighting looks weird, but, trust me, the full size version looks better. As a shooting location, White Sands is striking, and I’d recommend it for anybody who’s looking for a cool trip.
NOTE: I do not work in a 770 x 140 pixel format. So you are seeing ultra-cropped versions of my photography. You’ll just have to imagine the rest.
DISCLAIMER: I promise to post my real review of the movie Rock Star tomorrow.
Tonight I will talk about some of the apprehension (I won’t say “fear”) that is involved with following your dreams. As you may or may not know, I am from Texas and I moved to Arizona to pursue my master’s degree. Now that I’m officially a master, nothing holds me to the Grand Canyon State except four years’ worth of friends and familiarity.
In two weeks, I will set off on my journey to find my fame and fortune as a writer. According to my predictions, this journey will take me to LA, NYC, Europe and finally drop me off in Austin to live out my days in the state of my birth. But first, I must make a pit stop in Las Vegas to build my freelancing portfolio and save up some fortune to fund the rest of my travels.
After a lifetime of being tethered to a textbook, I am excited to embark upon this great adventure. But tonight, I felt sad to leave all friends. That nostalgia devolved into a funk where I kept thinking that all the good memories to be had Arizona had already been had. I nearly lost it, but then I remembered that writers (this applies to all people, really) benefit from looking forward instead of backwards. As they say in rock climbing, “Don’t Look Down!” And tonight was the real life equivalent of taking a good, long stare at the rocks below. But I’m back on track. And as they also say in rock climbing, “focus on your next foothold.” I guess, in my case, they mean Vegas.
Posted in This Writer's Life
Tagged Austin, fame, follow your dreams, fortune, freelance, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, rock climbing, savings
