Yesterday I went to the Utah Arts Festival with my friend Jessica and it was delightful. Kristyn was supposed to come with us, but when she said she wasn't busy Saturday night what she really meant was that she was working a double. Silly girl. I saw a lot of really good art that I cannot even begin to afford like this and that. It was also a mecca of artists, intellectuals, gays, hippies, potheads, et al. and as such there was also a saturation of cops. I just thought that was a nice touch. We can't have these sections of society in large groups without a heavy police presence. Just an example of why I'm opposed to building a new police station on Library Square. We also saw SLC Film Center's Fear No Film Festival which showed a selection of short independent films from across the globe. My favorite was "Roads" a film from Tel-Aviv about a couple of Arabic kids who work for, and then run away from, one of the largest drug dealer's in Lod which is the Arabic neighborhood. The creepiest was "X-Mess Detritus" a 90-second, stop-animation film, and everyone knows my horror of stop- and clay-animation. It was a moralizing story about all the crap we give and get at Christmas which become odds-and-ends that fill storage boxes and eventually end up choking landfills and destroying the planet. So instead we should give love and other gifts that don't require wrapping. However, it was not nearly as disturbing as the film Dain, Elise, and I saw a few years ago involving chickens and pirates and stomachs and I don't even know. I still haven't recovered from seeing that.
Speaking of movies, there are a lot of films that just came out that I need to see. There were several summer blockbusters that came out before Memorial Day this year, and then there was nothing. Anyway, I'm super excited to see Away We Go, I can't even contain myself. The other movies on my list include The Brothers Bloom, Easy Virtue, My Sister's Keeper, and Cheri. So I guess I will be spending my weekday afternoons at the Broadway Cinema.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Far
It's been difficult to get back into the real-world mode after taking a week-long vacation, but--after resolving an IP address conflict and thus enabling Internet access once again--I have more or less caught up on Facebook, emails, and blog posts. I'm not really sure where to begin, except I guess at the beginning.
Last week I was madly reading Gaiman's American Gods which I finished minutes before we left for the airport. I enjoyed the novel though I think that Gaiman's genius--to call it that--lies more in storytelling than perhaps in writing itself which I think makes him more suited to comics and short stories than epic novels. Nevertheless, there are genuinely wonderful passages from the book. I did want to share this chapter epigraph which is by Agnes Repplier from Times and Tendencies and which has been stuck in my mind for the last week or so: "America has invested her religion as well as her morality in sound income-paying securities. She has adopted the unassailable position of a nation blessed because it deserves to be blessed; and her sons, whatever other theologies they may affect or disregard, subscribe unreservedly to this national creed." And that struck me as being very true.
On the cruise I continued the reading frenzy I have lately been on, and both started and finished Bret Easton Ellis's Less Than Zero and Alexandra Fuller's Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, which we are discussing for book club. As I began Fuller's memoir I had some misgivings despite her delightful appearance in Minneapolis. Once she began a more or less chronological account of her life (more than a few chapters in), it was interesting and her mother is a startling character but it's not exactly Out of Africa. I'm still trying to figure out what to talk about. Less Than Zero was a small, spare novel that was thoroughly disturbing and vintage Easton Ellis. I still have not finished Revolutionary Road but I'm making progress, and I now need to decide which book from my summer reading list to tackle next.
To prepare for the cruise I downloaded Regina Spektor's album Soviet Kitsch--I needed more/new music for vacation--which I actually enjoy more than Begin to Hope though "Samson" is one of my favorite songs ever. Favorites from Kitsch include "Us" and "Somedays." I am now listening to her latest release Far on NPR in its entirety. I enjoy it so far and will probably purchase it sometime soon. Oh, and on an entirely unrelated side-note Battlestar Galactica Season 4.5 is released on July 28th--happy fraking birthday to me!
So, the cruise, (and pictures will be uploaded on Facebook sometime), we arrived in Ft. Lauderdale close to midnight local time and it was quite warm and very humid--which was to be a recurring weather situation throughout--which requires the constant reapplication of deodorant. Also, our ship sailed out of Miami but it was cheaper to fly to Ft. Lauderdale which in case you didn't know is less than twenty minutes away from Miami. In fact it's a bit difficult to tell which skyline belongs to which city (well, that might be a touch dramatic). Anyway, Miami is huge and beautiful just like in Dexter (aside from serial killers and gore). Our ship was the Carnival Valor and much to my surprise I enjoyed this Carnival ship much more than the Royal Caribbean (our staterooms were bigger) we had been on last, though to be fair the Valor is a much newer ship. The only disappointing item was that the food wasn't quite as good. I mean it was still very good, but there was no life-changing chicken stuffed with peppers and prosciutto or a delightful baked onion and gruyere appetizer.
Cruises are fun but I've realized that the kind of vacation I enjoy involves checking into a local boutique hotel (with a fantastic bathroom) in the middle of a vibrant city center full of great restaurants, cocktail lounges, cafes, museums, theatres, and local shops. And if I am to be at sea, I think I would prefer a private yacht with a fully stocked bar complete with a chef or caterer. But that's just me. Nevertheless, the cruise was quite fun and it's all-inclusive, aside from shore excursions and beverages, so that's rather nice. On a related note, cruises are more fun if you drink, but also much more expensive. I've also learned that cruises are not for single people unless they are flirty and adventurous (which I am not) or accompanied by a gaggle of their single friends (which I was not). Other cruising notes--bring along a wristwatch; ports-of-call can be soul-crushing in their touristy tackiness; sleeping on a cruise ship is better than sleeping anywhere else since the interior cabins are pitch-black and the subtle rocking of the ocean acts like a cradle--it does make waking up rather difficult though.
Our first port-of-call was Grand Cayman where we travelled to "Stingray City" which is a sandbar full of these intriguing creatures and everyone gets to kiss and feed the stingrays. We also did some snorkeling and no matter how careful one is, one will inevitably get a mouthful of salt water which is not pleasant. Afterward, we ended up eating at the Hard Rock Cafe there--how typically tourist. Next, we visited Roatan which is the largest island off of Honduras's coast. Here we took a two-mile zip line through the jungle which was actually fun. The next day we visited Belize which was probably the most destitute of all the places we visited. We visited some Mayan ruins which was somewhat interesting, and then we were supposed to go cave tubing. However, it had been raining hard for the last several days (in Belize and not on us, thankfully) and so the river was dangerously high and the caves had been closed. So instead we drove all over Belize and ended up at the zoo were we saw indigenous animals such as leopards and eagles and monkeys and got bitten by angry ants.
Our final port was also my favorite--Key West in the good ol' US of A. Key West, besides being bloody hot and humid, is the southernmost point in the United States, and is a party island that marries the Caribbean with New Orleans, especially in regards to is colonial architecture. There are bars everywhere on this rather small island; it also features its own gay and lesbian visitor center, which sadly I did not visit. We found the Harry S. Truman White House, Mile Marker 0 of US Highway 1, the Southernmost Point of the island (90 Miles to Cuba!), and ate conch fritters. We also saw the aquarium where I petted a nurse shark. And then I personally visited Papa's (Hemingway) House. This is where he lived with Pauline and wrote a vast amount of his work including A Farewell to Arms, To Have and Have Not, "The Snows of Kilimanjaro," and "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber." The house is gorgeous as are the grounds which include a swimming pool and are home to the forty to fifty cats which are all descendants of the cats Hemingway bred. I then walked up Duval Street stopping for a Papa Double (a relative of the daiquiri) which was more sour than I would have liked. But I also stopped at the Blond Giraffe to get a slice of Key Lime Pie--on a stick! It was frozen and dipped in chocolate which made it a chocolate-covered, KeyLime popsicle and it was delicious! I'm now obsessed with Key Lime pie. And then we sailed back to Miami and disembarked and made our way back to Ft. Lauderdale to discover our flight to JFK had been delayed by seven hours, so instead we changed our flight and stopped over in Atlanta instead.
If I go on a cruise again, I think I would prefer sailing to the Eastern Caribbean--to the Virgin Islands, Turks and Caicos, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, St. John's, Barbados, Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago--you get the picture.
So now I'm back to regular life wondering where exactly June went--I was only gone for one week! But I'm glad that it's finally sunny and warm here in Utah. I saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button again and continue to assert that it is a gorgeous and heartbreaking movie. And as much as I love Cate Blanchett, my favorite part is his affair with Elizabeth (Tilda Swinton) in Russia which is deliciously romantic. By the way, Tilda Swinton is also the best two minutes of Prince Caspian aside from Regina Spektor's song "The Call," of course. But now I must find housing in Seattle (Kristen, I need you!), and I got a registration packet in my inbox which I need to take a look at. But I've been suffering with a bout of ennui lately and don't want to deal with that now. In fact, I'm wondering if I can hire someone to earn my MA for me. Once I'm there, it'll be good I know, but it's the getting there that's hard. Oh well, c'est la vie.
And finally, sasquatches son de verdad y son muy extranos!
P.S. If you haven't seen the premiere of Nurse Jackie you need to see it. It's wonderful and hilarious. I believe you can download it on iTunes or see it at sho.com. Also, I just wanted to mention that To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf is the greatest summer book ever penned--in case you're looking for a suggestion.
Last week I was madly reading Gaiman's American Gods which I finished minutes before we left for the airport. I enjoyed the novel though I think that Gaiman's genius--to call it that--lies more in storytelling than perhaps in writing itself which I think makes him more suited to comics and short stories than epic novels. Nevertheless, there are genuinely wonderful passages from the book. I did want to share this chapter epigraph which is by Agnes Repplier from Times and Tendencies and which has been stuck in my mind for the last week or so: "America has invested her religion as well as her morality in sound income-paying securities. She has adopted the unassailable position of a nation blessed because it deserves to be blessed; and her sons, whatever other theologies they may affect or disregard, subscribe unreservedly to this national creed." And that struck me as being very true.
On the cruise I continued the reading frenzy I have lately been on, and both started and finished Bret Easton Ellis's Less Than Zero and Alexandra Fuller's Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, which we are discussing for book club. As I began Fuller's memoir I had some misgivings despite her delightful appearance in Minneapolis. Once she began a more or less chronological account of her life (more than a few chapters in), it was interesting and her mother is a startling character but it's not exactly Out of Africa. I'm still trying to figure out what to talk about. Less Than Zero was a small, spare novel that was thoroughly disturbing and vintage Easton Ellis. I still have not finished Revolutionary Road but I'm making progress, and I now need to decide which book from my summer reading list to tackle next.
To prepare for the cruise I downloaded Regina Spektor's album Soviet Kitsch--I needed more/new music for vacation--which I actually enjoy more than Begin to Hope though "Samson" is one of my favorite songs ever. Favorites from Kitsch include "Us" and "Somedays." I am now listening to her latest release Far on NPR in its entirety. I enjoy it so far and will probably purchase it sometime soon. Oh, and on an entirely unrelated side-note Battlestar Galactica Season 4.5 is released on July 28th--happy fraking birthday to me!
So, the cruise, (and pictures will be uploaded on Facebook sometime), we arrived in Ft. Lauderdale close to midnight local time and it was quite warm and very humid--which was to be a recurring weather situation throughout--which requires the constant reapplication of deodorant. Also, our ship sailed out of Miami but it was cheaper to fly to Ft. Lauderdale which in case you didn't know is less than twenty minutes away from Miami. In fact it's a bit difficult to tell which skyline belongs to which city (well, that might be a touch dramatic). Anyway, Miami is huge and beautiful just like in Dexter (aside from serial killers and gore). Our ship was the Carnival Valor and much to my surprise I enjoyed this Carnival ship much more than the Royal Caribbean (our staterooms were bigger) we had been on last, though to be fair the Valor is a much newer ship. The only disappointing item was that the food wasn't quite as good. I mean it was still very good, but there was no life-changing chicken stuffed with peppers and prosciutto or a delightful baked onion and gruyere appetizer.
Cruises are fun but I've realized that the kind of vacation I enjoy involves checking into a local boutique hotel (with a fantastic bathroom) in the middle of a vibrant city center full of great restaurants, cocktail lounges, cafes, museums, theatres, and local shops. And if I am to be at sea, I think I would prefer a private yacht with a fully stocked bar complete with a chef or caterer. But that's just me. Nevertheless, the cruise was quite fun and it's all-inclusive, aside from shore excursions and beverages, so that's rather nice. On a related note, cruises are more fun if you drink, but also much more expensive. I've also learned that cruises are not for single people unless they are flirty and adventurous (which I am not) or accompanied by a gaggle of their single friends (which I was not). Other cruising notes--bring along a wristwatch; ports-of-call can be soul-crushing in their touristy tackiness; sleeping on a cruise ship is better than sleeping anywhere else since the interior cabins are pitch-black and the subtle rocking of the ocean acts like a cradle--it does make waking up rather difficult though.
Our first port-of-call was Grand Cayman where we travelled to "Stingray City" which is a sandbar full of these intriguing creatures and everyone gets to kiss and feed the stingrays. We also did some snorkeling and no matter how careful one is, one will inevitably get a mouthful of salt water which is not pleasant. Afterward, we ended up eating at the Hard Rock Cafe there--how typically tourist. Next, we visited Roatan which is the largest island off of Honduras's coast. Here we took a two-mile zip line through the jungle which was actually fun. The next day we visited Belize which was probably the most destitute of all the places we visited. We visited some Mayan ruins which was somewhat interesting, and then we were supposed to go cave tubing. However, it had been raining hard for the last several days (in Belize and not on us, thankfully) and so the river was dangerously high and the caves had been closed. So instead we drove all over Belize and ended up at the zoo were we saw indigenous animals such as leopards and eagles and monkeys and got bitten by angry ants.
Our final port was also my favorite--Key West in the good ol' US of A. Key West, besides being bloody hot and humid, is the southernmost point in the United States, and is a party island that marries the Caribbean with New Orleans, especially in regards to is colonial architecture. There are bars everywhere on this rather small island; it also features its own gay and lesbian visitor center, which sadly I did not visit. We found the Harry S. Truman White House, Mile Marker 0 of US Highway 1, the Southernmost Point of the island (90 Miles to Cuba!), and ate conch fritters. We also saw the aquarium where I petted a nurse shark. And then I personally visited Papa's (Hemingway) House. This is where he lived with Pauline and wrote a vast amount of his work including A Farewell to Arms, To Have and Have Not, "The Snows of Kilimanjaro," and "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber." The house is gorgeous as are the grounds which include a swimming pool and are home to the forty to fifty cats which are all descendants of the cats Hemingway bred. I then walked up Duval Street stopping for a Papa Double (a relative of the daiquiri) which was more sour than I would have liked. But I also stopped at the Blond Giraffe to get a slice of Key Lime Pie--on a stick! It was frozen and dipped in chocolate which made it a chocolate-covered, KeyLime popsicle and it was delicious! I'm now obsessed with Key Lime pie. And then we sailed back to Miami and disembarked and made our way back to Ft. Lauderdale to discover our flight to JFK had been delayed by seven hours, so instead we changed our flight and stopped over in Atlanta instead.
If I go on a cruise again, I think I would prefer sailing to the Eastern Caribbean--to the Virgin Islands, Turks and Caicos, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, St. John's, Barbados, Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago--you get the picture.
So now I'm back to regular life wondering where exactly June went--I was only gone for one week! But I'm glad that it's finally sunny and warm here in Utah. I saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button again and continue to assert that it is a gorgeous and heartbreaking movie. And as much as I love Cate Blanchett, my favorite part is his affair with Elizabeth (Tilda Swinton) in Russia which is deliciously romantic. By the way, Tilda Swinton is also the best two minutes of Prince Caspian aside from Regina Spektor's song "The Call," of course. But now I must find housing in Seattle (Kristen, I need you!), and I got a registration packet in my inbox which I need to take a look at. But I've been suffering with a bout of ennui lately and don't want to deal with that now. In fact, I'm wondering if I can hire someone to earn my MA for me. Once I'm there, it'll be good I know, but it's the getting there that's hard. Oh well, c'est la vie.
And finally, sasquatches son de verdad y son muy extranos!
P.S. If you haven't seen the premiere of Nurse Jackie you need to see it. It's wonderful and hilarious. I believe you can download it on iTunes or see it at sho.com. Also, I just wanted to mention that To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf is the greatest summer book ever penned--in case you're looking for a suggestion.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Rainy Day
As soon as June commenced, the weather turned . . . for the worse. Now I love summer thunderstorms a lot--they come without warning and they're usually very extreme. But what we've had lately is several days of rainy and increasingly cold weather. I suppose I should get used to it seeing as I'm moving to Seattle. Last night while I was sleeping, I had my window open, and at one point the rain was coming down harder than I can ever remember, and I wanted to go out and stand in the rain (it's always been a fantasy of mine to get caught in movie-rain, the kind that soaks you completely in seconds), but I went back to sleep instead. This morning when I woke up, it really felt like autumn, like there should be soggy brown leaves flying in the wind and a fire lit in the fireplace, which is all a bit ridiculous since it's June and almost Midsummer. Anyway, currently I am enjoying some hot, black tea and cream--if only it were clotted cream. *sigh*
Speaking of Midsummer, I just finished Little Big: or, The Fairies' Parliament by John Crowley and I think I'll have to agree with the critics and say it's the greatest fantasy ever written by an American. However, it transcends the paperback genre (it's not even similar in anyway) and belongs, instead, to the canon of High Literature. It's a very difficult novel but well worth the effort. I just wanted to quote the ultimate paragraph which is so beautiful (and doesn't give anything away, so don't worry).
"One by one the bulbs burned out, like long lives come to their expected ends. Then there was a dark house made once of time, made now of weather, and harder to find; impossible to find and not even as easy to dream of as when it was alight. Stories last longer: but only by becoming stories. It was anyway all a long time ago; the world, we know now, is as it is and not different; if there was ever a time when there were passages, doors, the borders open and many crossing, that time is not now. The world is older than it was. Even the weather isn't as we remember it clearly once being; never lately does there come a summer day such as we remember, never clouds as white as that, never grass as odorous or shade as deep and full of promise as we remember they can be, as once upon a time they were."
So that's another summer book checked off the list. Also, last night was book club. We enjoyed a lovely potluck dinner, and then Megan and I had a wonderful discussion of The Secret History as she was the only other one who finished it (even though it's one of my favorite novels!). Anyway, if you were ever in the Writing Center, you can imagine what it was like for two former English majors to discuss an interesting novel that they both enjoyed while the rest of the group sat around a bit bemused. For our next book we're reading Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller, so I'm very excited.
Yesterday, I bought a ticket to see Tori Amos when she comes to Salt Lake in July. I have to say that Abnormally Attracted to Sin is probably my least favorite album of hers, though, much to my surprise (and then again, not), it's starting to grow on me. In some ways it's not entirely different from much of her work, and then again it stands it stark contrast to everything she's done, especially in relationship to her last album, the rock and roll American Doll Posse. It's her first album that is entirely self-produced, released by her own personal label, and I feel that it's indulgent and would have benefited wonderfully from some editing and outside input. Sonically cohesive, it smolders, slowly, moodily through the whole album building up to the crescendo in the final and longest track: "Lady in Blue." The album reminds me of dark embers--red and black, glowing hot. Gone is the concept album, but also gone is the magic of Amos's freely associative and allusive lyrics creating narrative poems and inverting symbols. Amos the Iconoclast, well aware of her status, has never felt less iconoclastic. Highlights (I don't want to call them favorites or gems; not yet anyway) from the album include "Not Dying Today" (easily the best song and for the Neil reference) and "500 Miles" which are the most upbeat songs, and "Maybe California" and "Lady in Blue," while "Give" for example is repetitive and sentimental. Nevertheless, I'm still excited to see Tori in concert and I hope she plays a lot of her previous work as well.
Lately, I've been thinking of what "liberal" means to me. The American Heritage Desk Dictionary defines liberal as "Open-minded; tolerant." While I agree with most of the Democratic Party's platforms, I am not a hardcore party-liner. I think liberal means being open to all ideas--even (conservative) ideas that make me personally uncomfortable--and trying to understand the issue from multiple points of view; I don't think any issue has only two diametrically opposing viewpoints. After careful consideration, I can make my educated decision on the issue and take a stand, which generally takes on a live-and-let-live flavor, though I still want to be open to new ideas and information that could change my paradigm. Anyway, just some food for thought.
Speaking of Midsummer, I just finished Little Big: or, The Fairies' Parliament by John Crowley and I think I'll have to agree with the critics and say it's the greatest fantasy ever written by an American. However, it transcends the paperback genre (it's not even similar in anyway) and belongs, instead, to the canon of High Literature. It's a very difficult novel but well worth the effort. I just wanted to quote the ultimate paragraph which is so beautiful (and doesn't give anything away, so don't worry).
"One by one the bulbs burned out, like long lives come to their expected ends. Then there was a dark house made once of time, made now of weather, and harder to find; impossible to find and not even as easy to dream of as when it was alight. Stories last longer: but only by becoming stories. It was anyway all a long time ago; the world, we know now, is as it is and not different; if there was ever a time when there were passages, doors, the borders open and many crossing, that time is not now. The world is older than it was. Even the weather isn't as we remember it clearly once being; never lately does there come a summer day such as we remember, never clouds as white as that, never grass as odorous or shade as deep and full of promise as we remember they can be, as once upon a time they were."
So that's another summer book checked off the list. Also, last night was book club. We enjoyed a lovely potluck dinner, and then Megan and I had a wonderful discussion of The Secret History as she was the only other one who finished it (even though it's one of my favorite novels!). Anyway, if you were ever in the Writing Center, you can imagine what it was like for two former English majors to discuss an interesting novel that they both enjoyed while the rest of the group sat around a bit bemused. For our next book we're reading Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller, so I'm very excited.
Yesterday, I bought a ticket to see Tori Amos when she comes to Salt Lake in July. I have to say that Abnormally Attracted to Sin is probably my least favorite album of hers, though, much to my surprise (and then again, not), it's starting to grow on me. In some ways it's not entirely different from much of her work, and then again it stands it stark contrast to everything she's done, especially in relationship to her last album, the rock and roll American Doll Posse. It's her first album that is entirely self-produced, released by her own personal label, and I feel that it's indulgent and would have benefited wonderfully from some editing and outside input. Sonically cohesive, it smolders, slowly, moodily through the whole album building up to the crescendo in the final and longest track: "Lady in Blue." The album reminds me of dark embers--red and black, glowing hot. Gone is the concept album, but also gone is the magic of Amos's freely associative and allusive lyrics creating narrative poems and inverting symbols. Amos the Iconoclast, well aware of her status, has never felt less iconoclastic. Highlights (I don't want to call them favorites or gems; not yet anyway) from the album include "Not Dying Today" (easily the best song and for the Neil reference) and "500 Miles" which are the most upbeat songs, and "Maybe California" and "Lady in Blue," while "Give" for example is repetitive and sentimental. Nevertheless, I'm still excited to see Tori in concert and I hope she plays a lot of her previous work as well.
Lately, I've been thinking of what "liberal" means to me. The American Heritage Desk Dictionary defines liberal as "Open-minded; tolerant." While I agree with most of the Democratic Party's platforms, I am not a hardcore party-liner. I think liberal means being open to all ideas--even (conservative) ideas that make me personally uncomfortable--and trying to understand the issue from multiple points of view; I don't think any issue has only two diametrically opposing viewpoints. After careful consideration, I can make my educated decision on the issue and take a stand, which generally takes on a live-and-let-live flavor, though I still want to be open to new ideas and information that could change my paradigm. Anyway, just some food for thought.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Rigmarole
So it's June. I really don't know where May went--it was just starting and then suddenly flitted away. So summer is more or less in full swing--I like to be ambivalent about absolutes--and the irises are in bloom and are lovely. I'm beginning to think that Iris might also be a nice name a la Iris Murdoch who is somewhere on my never-ending reading list but certainly not this summer. My reading list is coming along nicely, and I have the highest hopes that for the first time I will actually read everything on my summer reading list. I just finished The Secret History by Donna Tartt for book club and even though this is the fourth time I've read it, I really love the novel. Of course my favorite part is the first book which could be subtitled "et in arcadia ego" a la Brideshead Revisited. In both novels, the bucolic enchantment which flavors the beginning is irresistible though it soon veers, sadly and inevitably, towards tragedy. I shortly expect to finish Jesus and Yahweh: The Names Divine by my favorite literary and religious critic, Harold Bloom--a major deity in my personal and undefined godhead. Perhaps his book's greatest accomplishment is its valid refutation of any so-called Judeo-Christian tradition as the new covenant of Christianity did not fulfill some old Jewish covenant but rather subjugated the Tanakh and held it hostage under its new revision as the Old Testament. His analysis of the literary characters of Jesus and Yahweh are interesting and sometimes outrageous if not always persuasive. Nevertheless, his secular and gnostic reading of the New Testament and the Tanakh will send one running back to the Bible to read it for oneself. I've also made it a great deal further in Little, Big which, as I cannot emphasize enough, is amazing. Hopefully, I will finish it this week. Then I can finish Revolutionary Road and American Gods, both of which I am about half-way through, before moving on to the rest of my list.
I broke down and bought Abnormally Attracted to Sin by Tori Amos on iTunes, mostly to prepare myself for her concert in two months. I usually like to buy albums in the physical CD version--it's just how I prefer to listen to an entire album. However, the digital version included a bonus track. So far it stands in stark contrast to all of Amos's previous work and not necessarily in a good way. Perhaps later I'll give it a more in-depth review, but currently I am on a self-imposed one-week Tori Amos cleanse/detox. I've been listening to her so much lately that it has started to become unhealthily excessive. So in the meantime I am reacquainting myself the rest of my music library. and looking forward to Regina Spektor's new release later this month.
At the Marriott Library my full part-time hours have been reinstated as John, who is gorgeous, has turned in his two-weeks notice. So that's happy (and just a little bit sad). I also picked up a shift this Saturday at the City library which was not nearly as hellish as I suspected it would be. The last time I worked there--in March--was awful which can be expected of all new jobs. I had no clue what I was doing, the manager wasn't there, and nobody was helping me. This time I was kindly taken under the guidance of Aubbie and others and now have a much better understanding of what the hell I am doing. I had fully anticipated parting ways with the City library after this weekend, but it was enjoyable enough that I have picked up more shifts. I still have yet to receive my name badge that was ordered back in February, nor has a new parking card been ordered for me as per my request a few weeks ago. But things are starting to look up. maybe. Well that's about all I have for today. It's not a lot, but I felt the need to put something out there. Shalom.
I broke down and bought Abnormally Attracted to Sin by Tori Amos on iTunes, mostly to prepare myself for her concert in two months. I usually like to buy albums in the physical CD version--it's just how I prefer to listen to an entire album. However, the digital version included a bonus track. So far it stands in stark contrast to all of Amos's previous work and not necessarily in a good way. Perhaps later I'll give it a more in-depth review, but currently I am on a self-imposed one-week Tori Amos cleanse/detox. I've been listening to her so much lately that it has started to become unhealthily excessive. So in the meantime I am reacquainting myself the rest of my music library. and looking forward to Regina Spektor's new release later this month.
At the Marriott Library my full part-time hours have been reinstated as John, who is gorgeous, has turned in his two-weeks notice. So that's happy (and just a little bit sad). I also picked up a shift this Saturday at the City library which was not nearly as hellish as I suspected it would be. The last time I worked there--in March--was awful which can be expected of all new jobs. I had no clue what I was doing, the manager wasn't there, and nobody was helping me. This time I was kindly taken under the guidance of Aubbie and others and now have a much better understanding of what the hell I am doing. I had fully anticipated parting ways with the City library after this weekend, but it was enjoyable enough that I have picked up more shifts. I still have yet to receive my name badge that was ordered back in February, nor has a new parking card been ordered for me as per my request a few weeks ago. But things are starting to look up. maybe. Well that's about all I have for today. It's not a lot, but I felt the need to put something out there. Shalom.
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