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shadowkatTerribly bummed today. For numerous reasons that I won't bore people with. You could probably figure them out anyway if you've been reading my live journal. Besides after a while the details start to sound like a long incessant whine.
A brief R.I.P for Wonderfalls. I'm not surprised it was cancelled. Actually more or less saw it coming. But I do wish Fox had given it at least as much of a chance as they gave Arrested Development and Tru Calling. Hoping they will burn off the episodes in the summer. But not counting on it. Maybe Trio will pick it up for Brilliant But Cancelled??
Okay enuf depressing/ranty stuff - this is sort of a meme, but not really because my brain isn't operating at full speed this week and I keep blanking on questions or answers to them, which ahem is why I don't do memes. I get halfway through and blank...okay have no idea what to put there, guess I can't do this. So this is like all my memes, feel free to play and create your own variation. And you don't have to answer all the questions.
1. What article of clothing comforts you ?
Soft sweaters or sweatshirts. I have a cardigan sweater I've been loving lately.
2. What book or type of book comforts you? (you can list as many as you want or just a type if you've blanked on it)
Fantasy stories generally. I find Harry Potter and PG Wodehouse oddly comforting. Also the occassional
Janet Evonich novel.
3. What tv show or type of tv show? (can list as many as you want)
Buffy The Vampire Slayer for a while. Then it was briefly Joan of Arcadia (up until the last five episodes which have annoyed me). Fantasy shows usually. Dramas with a serial nature. ER used to.
[Procedural dramas like CSI and Law & Order depress me and stress me out for some reason.]
4. What types of movies or movies? (can list as many as you want)
Zero Effect. Grosse Pointe Blank. The Harry Potter movies.
5. What type of food and drink?
Pasta. Chocolate. Cookie Dough. Greek Meatballs. Apple Pie made by my mother. Stress-B Vitamin Water, Hot Tea, Hot Cider. A glass of smooth red wine, usually merlot or pinot noir.
6. Add your own category - music, poetry, whatever....
For me - music: Mozart, Aimee Mann, Sarah Mclachlan, Crash Test Dummies, The Cheiftans, and The Monkees.
But this changes all the time.
Need some book advice!!
Considering buying one of the following from Amazon:
1. Reading Lolita in Tehran
2. The Best of HP Lovecraft's Blood-Curdling Tales
3. Grave Deserts (?) by Jim Butcher
4. The Last Hot Spot by John M Ford
5. The Little Friend by Donna Tartt
6. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
7. The St. Germain books by Chelsea Quinn Yarbaro
Any other recs?
Which do you recommend? Have you read any of them? If so let me know what you think. Thanks, muchly.
A brief R.I.P for Wonderfalls. I'm not surprised it was cancelled. Actually more or less saw it coming. But I do wish Fox had given it at least as much of a chance as they gave Arrested Development and Tru Calling. Hoping they will burn off the episodes in the summer. But not counting on it. Maybe Trio will pick it up for Brilliant But Cancelled??
Okay enuf depressing/ranty stuff - this is sort of a meme, but not really because my brain isn't operating at full speed this week and I keep blanking on questions or answers to them, which ahem is why I don't do memes. I get halfway through and blank...okay have no idea what to put there, guess I can't do this. So this is like all my memes, feel free to play and create your own variation. And you don't have to answer all the questions.
1. What article of clothing comforts you ?
Soft sweaters or sweatshirts. I have a cardigan sweater I've been loving lately.
2. What book or type of book comforts you? (you can list as many as you want or just a type if you've blanked on it)
Fantasy stories generally. I find Harry Potter and PG Wodehouse oddly comforting. Also the occassional
Janet Evonich novel.
3. What tv show or type of tv show? (can list as many as you want)
Buffy The Vampire Slayer for a while. Then it was briefly Joan of Arcadia (up until the last five episodes which have annoyed me). Fantasy shows usually. Dramas with a serial nature. ER used to.
[Procedural dramas like CSI and Law & Order depress me and stress me out for some reason.]
4. What types of movies or movies? (can list as many as you want)
Zero Effect. Grosse Pointe Blank. The Harry Potter movies.
5. What type of food and drink?
Pasta. Chocolate. Cookie Dough. Greek Meatballs. Apple Pie made by my mother. Stress-B Vitamin Water, Hot Tea, Hot Cider. A glass of smooth red wine, usually merlot or pinot noir.
6. Add your own category - music, poetry, whatever....
For me - music: Mozart, Aimee Mann, Sarah Mclachlan, Crash Test Dummies, The Cheiftans, and The Monkees.
But this changes all the time.
Need some book advice!!
Considering buying one of the following from Amazon:
1. Reading Lolita in Tehran
2. The Best of HP Lovecraft's Blood-Curdling Tales
3. Grave Deserts (?) by Jim Butcher
4. The Last Hot Spot by John M Ford
5. The Little Friend by Donna Tartt
6. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
7. The St. Germain books by Chelsea Quinn Yarbaro
Any other recs?
Which do you recommend? Have you read any of them? If so let me know what you think. Thanks, muchly.
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Musical Favorites
Date: 2004-04-05 02:56 pm (UTC)Whatever happened to that guy with the great, deep voice in Crash Test Dummies? Are they still making music?
;o)
Re: Musical Favorites
Date: 2004-04-05 08:29 pm (UTC)I have such eclectic tast in things - like a broad range. The only music I don't like is anything that is too high pitched, high soprano for instance, or has too much feedback - which can kill live performances for me. I adore Aimee Mann for instance, but I think she sounded better on the CD than live due to the feedback. Also never was quite able to get into Rap for some reason.
no subject
Date: 2004-04-05 04:24 pm (UTC)Books:
I really, really recommend the ones I've read. But they're all so different. I confess I got them all from the library, though.
The Little Friend is excellent--did you read The Secret History?
I think everyone should read Reading Lolita... it makes you aware of what repression really is, and also the power of thought and art to rise above it, or at least struggle with it.
The Last Hot Time--I believe the word here is "noir." And very well done.
Neverwhere--the only thing better that I know of is American Gods.
Don't know Butcher and Yarbaro, but the list is so good, I suspect they are too.
And Lovecraft...I don't like to read him anymore, but he's so strange and so related to so many other things, it's definitely worthwhile. I know others will recommend him strongly.
Thank You
Date: 2004-04-05 08:35 pm (UTC)Yes, I did. It is actually one of my favorite books. Still haunts me. But I looked on Amazon and the reviewers over there really seem to hate The Little Friend, so I'm a little afraid of buying it. Don't want to be disappointed. Also I wasn't a fan of The Lovely Bones by Sebold - one of the few people who didn't like it and from the description it sounds like this may be similar?
Reading Lolita..
This book I've been intrigued with for quite some time now. Have read the first page at the book store. It looks like one of those few non-fiction books that reads like a novel - pulling you in. Also the idea behind it fascinates me. That book is pulling at me with invisible strings. Wicked also pulled at me with invisible strings.
Some books do that. They aren't always easy to read - but they do haunt you.
Re: Thank You
Date: 2004-04-06 06:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-04-05 04:27 pm (UTC)I love my yoga pants and tank top or t-shirt...something soft, comfy, with room to grow....;)
2. What book or type of book comforts you? (you can list as many as you want or just a type if you've blanked on it)
Boy, I go all over the place on books, from true crime to philosophy but have to admit I love the horror genre of books the best. As a kid my fave was Little Women and Anne of Green Gables, but then hormones kicked in and I found my first few horror books. I may still go back to Little Women but Horror is my home. ps: I have all the Harry Potter books.
3. What tv show or type of tv show? (can list as many as you want)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Red Dwarf, Blackadder, Absolutely fabulous, The Sopranos, sometimes CSI, then it's mainly to the movie channel for movies. With Buffy, Angel, now Wonderfalls down I have to say that network TV didn't die, it committed reality suicide.
4. What types of movies or movies? (can list as many as you want)
Wow, I have a large collection. I have Stephen King mini-series like Salems Lot. Then we can move over to Lord of the Rings. Others include Red Dragon, Hannibal, Hellraiser (the first one), Moulin Rougue, Dog Soldiers, Mimic, The Matrix (the whole series as of tomorrow), Little Women, Seabisquit (the lady who wrote the book has CFS like me so have to support friends), Elizabeth, Blade 1&2, Joyride, The Order, Near Dark, Stir of Echos, Deep Rising, Daredevil, Spiderman, Nightbreed, The Bride, Lake Placid (my brother in law did some work on it), Flambards, The Hulk, Darkness Falls, Gosford Park, The Power of Myth (so it's not a movie...sue me), From Dusk til Dawn, Star Trek Nemisis, Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, Shadow of the Vampire, Bend it like Beckham, Deamcatcher, Donnie Darko, Frailty, The Fog, From Hell, Gettysberg, Fright Night, Thirteen Ghosts, City by the Sea, Harry Potter, Dogma, Reign of Fire, signs, Dracula, Horror of Dracula, Jeepers Creepers 1&2, Stigmata, Minority Report, The Fog, Ghost ship, eight-legged freaks, Kate and Leopold, Hackers, Arachnophobia, Underworld, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen...I forget the rest other than Firefly, all of Buffy and Angel that is available.
Zero Effect. Grosse Pointe Blank. The Harry Potter movies.
5. What type of food and drink?
Chocolate, Japanese food, chicken, Starbucks chocolate malt, I have the habit of making a cake or brownies and eating some of the batter (call it a stress thing which eventually becomes a bigger ass thing), soft ice cream
6. Add your own category - music, poetry, whatever....
music: Aimee Mann, Sarah Mclachlan, the Carpenters, Sade, Sheryl Crow, Carole King, Kim Richey, Norah Jones, Lenny Kravitz, Abba.
Rufus
no subject
Date: 2004-04-05 08:47 pm (UTC)Ah. Yes. If you don't have cable you are more or less completely sunk in the US right now. Granted I had to have cable to get the dang free network channels.
According to the latest post on Whedonesque - if you live in Canada - you might be in luck - Wonderfalls apparently did very well in the Canadian and Global markets. So Canada may pick it up.
Okay, this is yet another reason in an ever increasing list for me to defect to Canada. Ugh.
no subject
Date: 2004-04-05 06:00 pm (UTC)Anyhoo book recs. I just finished The Last Hot Time and while I didn't adore it like everyone else seems to have, it was pretty good. I found some of the motivations a bit murky and it just plunges into this alternate world without much explanation. That's fine but I did have a few huh moments - could just be me. Reading Lolita is fabulous and I agree that everyone should read it. If you're looking for a comfort read though... it does demonstrate the power of literature to sustain, but the oppression these women faced can be infuriating - as it should be. Neverwhere is actually on my comfort books list (along with Barry Hughart's Bridge of Birds it would be in my top 5 comfort reads, the rest being kid books). I always picture BtVS characters as some of the main players, so it's an extra kick of good stuff for me.
Hmmm...thanks for this
Date: 2004-04-05 08:39 pm (UTC)Course I should read Lolita first. Seen both film versions. But somehow not the same.
Barry Hughart's Bridge of Birds
This I haven't heard of. Must look into it. Comfort book?
Also several people have rec'd Neverwhere now...interesting. I did like the description of it.
no subject
Date: 2004-04-05 06:00 pm (UTC)I wear sweatpants and sweatshirts when I'm sick, otherwise my favorite t-shirts and comfortable pants.
2. What book or type of book comforts you? (you can list as many as you want or just a type if you've blanked on it)
I reread Little Women, A Little Princess, Beauty, Sherlock Holmes, Jules Verne-stuff I read as a young teenager, usually.
3. What tv show or type of tv show? (can list as many as you want)
BtVs, AtS, Forever Night, Now and Again. Plus anything with unrequited love, lots of doom, maybe a little gloom.
4. What types of movies or movies? (can list as many as you want)
Obscure horror or s/f movies like Baffled!, Miracle Mile and Spectre, Jane Austen movies, Andi McDowell movies except St. Elmo's Fire, fantasy movies like Dragonslayer, Star Wars, Beauty and the Beast, the Harry Potters, Ladyhawke.
5. What type of food and drink?
I don't eat when I'm really stressed, but I will pig out on cookies, especially cinnamon ones, if I'm mildly stressed. I used to drink coffee or tea, but I discovered chai and now I'm addicted to it.
I've never read Lovecraft, but after AtS and Hellboy, I'm planning to. I read Yarbro's Hotel Transylvania, which is a St. Germain book I believe, but didn't like it much. It had the excesses of both the horror and romance genres without anything to leaven them or keep my interest. I did like Neverwhere very much, especially since it had characters that seemed like they were out of BtVS.
thanks
Date: 2004-04-05 08:43 pm (UTC)Ann Rice got on my nerves after a while doing the same things.
Okay that's at least three rec's for Neverwhere...so maybe I should.
I also adore Ladyhawk - one of those movies I tend to stop and watch whenever it comes on.
no subject
Date: 2004-04-06 04:46 am (UTC)Arethusa, we have very similar reading tastes.
I love FHB. I love Jules Verne. Everything you listed above (besides Beauty) was the main staple of my 'reading for fun' when i was a child.
I hadn't discovered "Beauty" at that time, of course.
no subject
Date: 2004-04-05 09:41 pm (UTC)Same as you! Anything soft and fuzzy does it, along with old T-shirts and sports pants.
2. What book or type of book comforts you? (you can list as many as you want or just a type if you've blanked on it)
Almost anything I read and loved as a kid is a comfort book -- LM Montgomery, Susan Cooper, Robin McKinley, stuff like that. YA books make me feel all nostalgic and happy.
3. What tv show or type of tv show? (can list as many as you want)
Buffy! Buffy is my comfort show, especially early Buffy. Later Buffy is my emotional catharsis of angstiness. Same with early and late Angel.
4. What types of movies or movies? (can list as many as you want)
Almost anything animated -- Chicken Run is the movie that cheers me up the fastest, along with Nightmare Before Christmas. Also, Moulin Rouge and Singin' in the Rain and Strictly Ballroom. I need to get Lilo and Stitch because I think that's going to be a comfort movie too.
5. What type of food and drink?
Chinese food, especially homestyle stuff like dumplings or rice porridge or a big bowl of noodles. That, and ice cream.
6. Music: Er. Me First and the Gimme Gimmes ^_^. And currently the Lilo and Stitch soundtrack because the Hawaiian stuff just sounds so happy.
Re books: Here's what I thought of Reading Lolita in Tehran. The only other one I've read is Neverwhere, which I love, but not as much as his other books.
Reco-"meme"-dations
Date: 2004-04-07 09:32 am (UTC)I'm one of those guys who hangs onto beloved articles of clothing long after their allotted lifespan. A raggedy denim jacket, a King Crimson t-shirt now at least two sizes too small, and a Who t-shirt that screams "What were you thinking?" Not much into jewelry, but the dragon stickpin I received from the mayor of Llubljana, Slovenia is always a comfort. It's permanently attached to my black dinner jacket.
2. What book or type of book comforts you? (you can list as many as you want or just a type if you've blanked on it)
Science fiction novels, social satire novels or allegorical novels/epics. Preferably some combination of the above. Swift, Kafka, Borges, Philip K. Dick, Harlan Ellison, etc. You know. I also love a book of short stories, where an author can throw an insane idea at the audience, play with it for a while, toss it aside before it gets tiresome, then go on to the next one.
3. What tv show or type of tv show? (can list as many as you want)
Any show that creates a believable universe with interesting characters. Buffy. Trek. Hercules/Xena. X-Files (first five seasons). I'm much more tolerant of Xena's historical gaffes than Tru Calling's odd version of "New York," because I believe in Xena, Gaby and Joxer, but find Tru, Harrison and Davis wafer-thin as characters.
4. What types of movies or movies? (can list as many as you want)
I'm a sucker for visionary directors/screenwriters, even though they can be raging egotists. I'd see anything by Quentin Tarantino, Terry Gilliam, Alexander Payne, Peter Jackson, Spike Jonze/Charlie Kaufman, Martin Scorcese, and probably a dozen others.
5. What type of food and drink?
Chocolate. Nothing else quite measures up...
6. Add your own category - music, poetry, whatever....
I love quirky singer-songwriters. Not California mellow like James Taylor and Jackson Browne (although I've got nothing against those guys); weird, off-beat and living in a world of their own. Arists like Tom Waits, Loudon Wainwright (and son Rufus), Leonard Cohen, the Roches, Andy Patridge and Colin Moulding (XTC), Ray Davies (the Kinks), vintage Brian Wilson, Pete Townshend (the Who), Kirsty MacColl (RIP), and many, many more.
P.S.: Consider this a fourth recommendation for Neverwhere.