Category Archives: books

Reading, watching, listening

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Reading: Well, this one will be short. 😉 Student essays. Lots of student essays. Um…last book I finished was Beige by Cecil Castellucci. Quick, enjoyable read. I liked it even better than The Queen of Cool.

Watching: I’m pretty far behind on my TV watching as well…tivo’s got a bit of a backlog going. Heroes, I have to admit, has been sort of letting me down. I was so excited about Kristen Bell, and I’m not even sure that’s enough to hold my attention. I haven’t watched Pushing Daisies in a couple of weeks, and I’m a week behind on Chuck.

So what have I watched? Well, I’m up-to-date on The Office and Scrubs (but a week behind on 30 Rock and two on My Name is Earl. Last time I watched Earl I was a little concerned that they’re out of ideas. Two episodes in a row that didn’t advance the plot at all…)

OH! and I’m continuing to love Dirty Sexy Money…but didn’t watch this week’s episode yet. Like I said, behind. If you had asked me if I thought Dirty Sexy Money was going to become my new favorite show, I would have laughed. But there ya go.

Listening: Not much new to report musically. Rand and I have been on a comedy kick lately. I’m quite enjoying Lewis Black, Hugh Fink, Elvira Kurt, and a whole host of others that I was already familiar with.

Of course, I listened to lots of music last weekend at OVFF! I was happy to get to see Michael “Moonwulf” Longcor, who is very entertaining and has a fantastic voice!

That’s it. Look for more next week, and tell me what you’re reading/watching/listening (to)!

House to House

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Earlier this week, David Bellavia’s book House to House was reviewed on NPR’s morning edition.

David, as you may know, is Rand’s brother. I have to admit that I haven’t read the book yet, but not because I don’t want to. Life has been busy, and I know that reading this book is going to take a lot out of me. Rand has read parts to me aloud, and shown me various passages…and even just those little bits have both disturbed and deeply moved me. I don’t think David’s book is partisan, so if that’s what you’re looking for, go elsewhere. It is a terrifyingly real account of what it means to be in combat. It is emotional and violent and spiritual.

David will be appearing at the Pittsford Barnes and Noble this Saturday, Oct. 20, for a book signing at 7 p.m.

In a couple of weeks, he’ll be at the new Barnes and Noble on Transit Road (corner of Transit and Main)…Saturday, Nov. 3 at 2 p.m.

If you have any interest at all in the book, I recommend stopping by. David’s a pretty cool guy, besides. 🙂

Friday roundup

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Oh, my. So much to say…so little time.

  • I had a really excellent time at my reunion. If you haven’t seen them yet, the photos are here. I had some wine, danced, and talked to lots of people I haven’t talked to in a very long time. It was great to see Anita (looking very tall and glamorous, as usual), as I only get to see her once every 4-5 years. I wish the turnout had been better, as there are lots of people I would have liked to see but didn’t. Ah well. The food was decent, and the DJ was…well…what you’d expect. There was much hair metal.
  • I also attended a family reunion during the day, and then Rand and I headed back to Buffalo on Sunday. And then I desperately needed a nap…therefore, I did not get to start reading Harry Potter until Sunday evening! It was painful, but I survived. I still owe a proper review (which I will be posting at Required Reading), but for now, here’s a post I wrote on point of view at Daily Writing Tips (it references Harry Potter).
  • My summer class is going fine…it’s much larger than I expected it to be. (I have 21 students registered. I think a couple of them have dropped off…) Summer classes usually aren’t this big. I’m choosing to believe that word has gotten out that I’m fabulous. 😉
  • Eden is famous. She’s all over teh intarwebs, and she’s gonna be on TV. It’s all over the kerfluffle caused by this video.
  • I had lunch with Jen on Wednesday, which was good! We ate at Steel Crazy Cafe, which was not as good as we’d hoped…
  • I received some strange and nasty troll-ish comments on my flickr account. I deleted the comments and blocked the user(s), but apparently I should have waited for flickr to investigate first. Oops. My bad. (the backstory is something I don’t feel comfortable posting about, sorry.)
  • I got an early birthday present. 🙂 More details later…

Er, that’ll do for now, I guess…happy Friday!

I’m in Gryffindor!

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Your Score: GRYFFINDOR!

You scored 4% Slytherin, 20% Ravenclaw, 60% Gryffindor, and 32% Hufflepuff!

You might belong in Gryffindor,
Where dwell the brave at heart,
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry
Set Gryffindors apart.

Gryffindors are known for their courage, audacity, and devotion to what is good and honest.

Link: The Sorting Hat Test written by leeannslytherin on OkCupid, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Good weekend

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Busy, lots to write about. Later.

Photos are being uploaded now, as I read Harry Potter. (which I did not have time to do over the weekend! Blast! I started last night, after a nap…PLEASE DO NOT SPOIL ME! We’ll chat when I’m done.) 🙂

I’ll post again when the photos are online. Happy Monday!

*UPDATE* photos are online.

Postings elsewhere

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I posted a short “getting ready for Harry Potter” post here.

There are some new 27 posts here.

And I’ve got some writing tips here and here.

Enjoy!

Reading, watching, listening

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I’m going to try and keep this brief–there’s a lot!

Reading: Lisey’s Story by Stephen King. Loved it. My favorite King in a long time. Elsewhere (YA), which I will post on the other blog soon. Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus vol. 1, My Faith in Frankie, Bloom County collected strips, Joss Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men (not very astonished so far, Joss…). The Android’s Dream by John Scalzi (fun read). The first book in Of Darkness, Light and Fire by Tanya Huff (Gate of Darkness, Circle of Light).

This puts me at about 40 books for the year so far. I’m probably missing stuff, but moving on…

Watching: My Name is Earl, Season 1. I had watched an episode here and there, and found it amusing but didn’t quite “get” it. Watching the entire first season from the beginning, though…yeah, I get it. 🙂

Entourage, Season 1.  Oh, my. I hate these guys so much. But Ari is funny, and Eric seems like a good guy. Even Drama begins to grow on me. (Turtle, however? Needs to be slapped.)

Remember the Titans. One of those movies that teachers are fond of showing in class, so I had seen the same 40 minutes of it several times. I finally sat down and watched the whole thing. I liked it. It’s what you’d expect from a Disney sports movie. Little Hayden Panettiere was great in it!

Knocked Up. Very cute. Very funny. And I admit, I fall into the half of women who would think the empty box proposal was cute rather than lame.

We just started watching season 5 of Scrubs. We’d caught a bunch of the episodes in syndication, and are finding that a lot of really funny scenes were cut. Here’s one that made me laugh:

Carla: …and then he walked away singing Safety Dance.

Elliot: I thought you learned your lesson that time you told him the Kommissar was in town.

Hee. I know there’s more here, but again…moving on…

Listening: Seanan McGuire, Stars Fall Home. As I said, Seanan is a brilliant songwriter. I’ve been enjoying this quite a bit.

Steve Martin, Pure Drivel. If it’s an audiobook, does it count as reading or listening? Hmmm…

Jill Sobule, Pink Pearl.

My “favorites” and “walking” lists on my iPod, and my “Great Big Sea radio” station on Pandora.

Other blogs

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I recently posted about the new Minx line from DC Comics. You can check it out here.

Minx is a series of YA graphic novels, aimed at teenage girls. How could I not read that? 😉

I’ve also been busy over at Daily Writing Tips. Cool! However, I think I’ve just reached the end of my saved posts. That means I’d better get busy on some new ones…

Happy first day of summer! 🙂

Writings elsewhere

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No new content here this morning, but I’ve got two new posts up at other webspots.

Over at Required Reading, I’ve got a short review and an interview with Cynthia Leitich Smith. Cynthia writes for children and teens, and her new book Tantalize is a YA urban gothic fantasy. Check it out!

Also, my second post is up at Daily Writing Tips. Enjoy!

By the way, let me know if there are any writing mysteries you’d like to see explained! I’m looking for new post topics.

Reading, watching, listening

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Reading: Current read is Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith, who so happens to be a sorority sister. Cool! I should finish that today.

Recently finished Size 12 Is Not Fat by Meg Cabot, the first in her “Heather Wells Mysteries” series. As I’ve said many, many times, Meg Cabot is always a great read.

I also finished Coal Run by Tawni O’Dell. O’Dell writes stories that are set in the general area of PA where I grew up…not precisely where I grew up, but in the “hey, we played them in football” area. She writes really well about tragedy and dysfunction, creating flawed but utterly human characters.

Also continuing to read and enjoy Daredevil.

Watching: I finally watched the last few episodes of Veronica Mars that TiVo saved for me. I liked the last couple of episodes for an end to the season…but if the show doesn’t come back for another? (the CW is still dangling a shred of hope over our heads…) Then the last episode was unmercifully cruel. Bah.

Movies…I haven’t seen a new movie in the last little bit, but Rand and I watched This Film is Not Yet Rated over the weekend. It seems like we watched a whole bunch of stuff, but I’m having trouble remembering what…oh well.

Listening: As you may have noticed, I’ve been on a bit of a Dixie Chicks kick. TiVo recorded their appearance on Austin City Limits, which was pretty cool. I’m still loving “Taking the Long Way.” 🙂