The Tattered Page

Quickie TBR Challenge Update

tatteredpage — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 04:43:45 +0000

Of my original reading list for the TBR ’11 challenge, I’ve completed three novels so far. They are:

Ngugi waThiongo – Wizard of the Crow
Jean Rhys – Wide Sargasso Sea
Mark Haddon – The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Proper reviews are coming soon!

Now Listening…

tatteredpage — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 23:14:25 +0000

I went on a music buying frenzy last night…
It all started because I watched the pilot to that new cop procedural Body of Proof with Dana Delaney and there were a song on there that I really liked. Now I did not know that ABC has what they call a “music lounge” online where they list the soundtracks of various popular shows. It was probably safer that I didn’t, but the cat’s out of the bag now. Anyway, I found what I was looking for and in the mean time found quite a bit more after checking out the selections for Castle. I didn’t buy everything offered, and in fact those lists led me to some other music that I discovered while browsing. So far it’s been enjoyable tunes and music that’s both consistent and very different from my usual tastes. Fun!

Here’s what I got (links included for your audio browsing pleasure):

The Albums:

Pink Martini – Sympathique
Florence + The Machine – Lungs
The Constellations – Southern Gothic
Clif Lin – And Your World Will Burn

The Singles:

Uncle Lucius – A Million Ways
The Seventeens – Anywhere With You
Sarah Vaughn – Fever (Adam Freeland Remix)
Laura Jane Scott – The Librarian
Latch Key Kid - Got to Be
Junior Senior – Can I Get Get Get
Jules Larson – You Know It’s True
Dragonette – Get Lucky
Dragonette - I Get Around
DJ Dimi – River To Your Soul
The Daylights – I Hope This Gets to You
Citizen Cope – Healing Hands
Carney – Think of You
Beautiful Small Machines – Super Conductor
Beautiful Small Machines – Counting Back to 1
All Night Chemists – Whole Again
Actionslacks – We Are Not the Losers (Anymore)
Aceyalone – Workin’ Man Blues, feat. Bionik

About the show, Body of Proof: I liked Delaney’s character, she’s complicated, but there’s also a certain brusqueness about her that, well, has been done. She’s a new addition to the Bones/House/Lie to Me cadre of frustratingly brilliant but loveably flawed protagonists that seem to show up in many shows lately. What I did like about her (and found different from others) is that she’s aware of those flaws through what was probably a pretty brutal experience. Now she finds herself in a position where she is still the “shark in heels” that built her professional reputation while also trying to rebuild that part of her life that reputation helped destroy. I found her apparent frustration interesting and her observation that “a woman working 18 hours a day is an absentee mother, but a man working 18 hours is providing for his family” was refreshing in a realistically cynical way. For that, I’ll give the show a chance.

Tagged: Music, soundtracks, tv

Challenge: Battle of the Prize – British Edition

tatteredpage — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 03:14:38 +0000

My second reading challenge of the year is the Battle of the Prize – British Version in which I get to read a handful of novels that have either been awarded the Man Booker Prize (England) or the James Tait Black Memorial Prize (Scotland).

Since I’ve read two of the three novels that won both awards, I’m going to take the second option. That is to read two Man Booker winners and two James Tait Black winners.

Here’s my potential selections:

For the Booker:

A. S. Byatt – Possession
Paul Scott – Staying On

For the Black:

Zadie Smith – White Teeth
Iris Murdoch – The Black Prince

I can’t wait to get started!

Midbook Review: Wizard of the Crow

tatteredpage — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 19:13:06 +0000

I’m currently reading Ngugi waThiongo’s Wizard of the Crow, an interesting if weighty tome with a plot so circuitous I haven’t figured out an easy way to summarize it yet. Needless to say it deals with a wizard, and the political machinations of a fictitous African nation, but no crows.

The list! The list!

tatteredpage — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 21:15:38 +0000

Okay, I didn’t mean to take this long to get back to you with my TBR reading list, but with my recent MO of months between posts a week is pretty darn good. So, in no particular order here they are:

Christopher Isherwood – The Berlin Stories
Ngugi waThiongo – Wizard of the Crow
Ivy Compton-Burnett – Manservant and Maidservant
William Golding – The Lord of the Flies
Anthony Burgess – A Clockwork Orange
Jean Rhys – Wide Sargasso Sea
Mark Haddon – The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Bessie Head – A Question of Power
Bruce Chatwin – In Patagonia
Nadine Gordimer – July’s People
Julian Barnes – Flaubert’s Parrot
Beryl Bainbridge – The Birthday Boys

I know we have the choice for alternates, but really all these books must be read this year anyway, so it’s not exactly a TBR challenge as it is an M(ust) BR one!

Reading Challenge: TBR 2011

tatteredpage — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 23:05:57 +0000

To be honest, I’ve tried reading challenges in the past and haven’t been entirely successful, but this may be my year! I have books I need to read – lots of them – and I could definitely use motivation. Challenges make the going fun, in a check a title off the list kind of way. So my first challenge is TBR 2011, referring of course, to that eternal Mount To Be Read, the continually growing pile of books that I’d like to – or need to – read before the end of the year. So I’ve thrown my hat into the ring, coming up soon – the list!

Peepicide!

tatteredpage — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 22:07:40 +0000

After a conversation on Plurk about torturing peeps, I decided we just had to try it for ourselves. Behold! The results:

We thought a blindfold and (spaghetti) cigarette would be appropriate for the first one out.

DH was hoping this one would explode – the microwave was set to 5 minutes at 100% power. It didn’t, but it did almost catch fire.

Then we decided a match of boys vs. girls was in order.

En garde!!

Unfortunately, it only took about 15 seconds for the boys’ team to keel over.

For the grand finale something spectacular was in order:

I think we’re going to need a bigger plate…

We did have one little peep left over:

Hmm…he looks panicked .

Tagged: cell snaps, fun, peeps, timewasters

Typography Thursday: What are you saying, exactly?

tatteredpage — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 07:02:47 +0000

Tagged: typography, videos

AFK – Chihuly at CMA

tatteredpage — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 03:48:54 +0000

Today I decided to go visit the Columbus Museum of Art. Right now most of it is closed because it’s under renovation, but I did get to see one exhibit by glass artist Dale Chihuly. This exhibit is part of a larger celebration of glass art going on in Columbus right now.Elsewhere in town, at the Franklin Park Conservatory, there are other displays of his work. Franklin park also has some more permanant displays in their collection. That’s where I first came across his art.

I admit before I moved here I hadn’t heard of him and my first impressions were somewhat skeptical. Well you see, a lot of his work has a strangely organic look and they seem to have their own energy. It’s as if I can almost see the pieces moving – or maybe I’m just short on sleep. Anyway, at Franklin Park there’s these chandeliers that remind me of some kind of alien organism – and then again I’d bet they’d look gorgeous if they were lit from within. It’s that kind of art. Since I’ve lived here I’ve grown to enjoy his work more. I love the vitality of the colors and even those strange tendrils of glass hold an interest for me.

It was a nice relaxing afternoon and even though the rest of the galleries are closed right now I think I’ll be going back to see this exhibit again. First, I think I may have missed a piece. I remember seeing a glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye, but I never did see the whole thing. The other reason is because I got to practice some photography, even if it is with my cell phone. And by the way, don’t let the image above fool you – it IS in focus, WordPress is just being myopic.

Tagged: Art, cell snaps, Chihuly, glass, museums, photography

It started With A Dancing Hampster…

tatteredpage — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:27:16 +0000

Sometimes, you have to sit back and take a break. And then again, sometimes the break takes you. Anyone who spends any amount of time online has at some point lost time to a meme. And not necessarily the kind that asks you what you last ate, but those viral bits of media, humor, and virtual flotsam and jetsam that take on a life of their own once they hit the interwebz. Now, there’s a website that offers a timeline of internet meme awesomeness where you can flip through years of distraction all at once – or, well at least the goodly part of an afternoon. Some of the links are dead, unfortunately, but most of the ones I tried aren’t and you get the opportunity to relive the fun (or, perhaps agony) of the experience. It’s part nostalgia, part cringeworthy performance, but either way it was interesting to see such a collection all in one place. I admit there’s a lot here I haven’t seen before and some that I have. What’s your favorite? And which one are you hoping to avoid?

Also, with narratives on the brain lately, such a timeline also makes me wonder about what kind of a history is being created here. I’m not looking to make any division between high and low brow information here, but I do wonder about the evolution of popular culture. Is it possible that the home videos and LOLcats are pointing the way to an even more prolific and democratized popular culture than what already exists? Or has such homegrown humor just found the ultimate free distributor?

Tagged: digital media, fun, humor, Memes, narrative, pop culture, timewasters