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shadowkat1. Started reading "A Haunting on the Hill" - which is Elizabeth Hand modern retelling of Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House. Apparently the estate decided Hand was the one best equipped to re-tell it.
(I'll let you know if I agree with them. Not that I'm necessarily any more qualified, but I have seen all the film and television adaptations, and read Jackson's novel twice. Of the adaptations - Wise's is probably the best film version, and Flanagan's is the best television adaptation. The PBS adaptation scared the crap out of myself and my brother as kids. The Spielberg/Donner one is an utter mess - and no one mentions it.)
I like Hand's writing for the most part. But I'm not sure I buy that a failed playwright would investigate a creepy house perched above an even creepier small town.
Also weird hares pop up - and I'm not sure what that is about.
Speaking of creepy things, a social media friend posted on FB about looking for the aura borelais in I think Iowa, and seeing something similar, followed by a loud crack between houses that set the hairs on the back of her neck on end with fear. And a shiver up her spine. She immediately retreated indoors, and bemoaned that this wasn't a problem in Northern Canada. And I thought - see? This is what people actually do when confronted with creepy unexplainable stuff - they run and hide. They do not venture out to investigate it. Also, it haunted me. And I decided, no, I don't want to know. I'm sure there's weird stuff out there - and I love to hear stories about it - but I've no interest in investigating it or confronting it. I have enough issues with insomnia, I do not require help.
At any rate, will continue reading. To date only T Kingfisher's novels have scared and kept me awake at night. They scare me more than Stephen King's do, King's books don't tend to scare me. Gross me out maybe, scare? Not so much. Gore doesn't scare me, it just grosses me out and I'd rather ...well just read it? I like psychological horror best.
I'm also reading Jeanne Winterson's Ghost Stories.. - although haven't gotten past her introductory essay on the literary form. I didn't realize she was still writing. I honestly thought she was in her 80s by now. Apparently, I was wrong. My game plan is to read all of them - and then give the book to Wales for Christmas. She likes Winterson.
2. Speaking of horror - making my way through Flannagan's Fall of the House of Usher episodes. Episode 4 referred to Poe's short story "The Black Cat" - which features an animal hater that kills a cat, then gets another one which he tortures and hates. His wife tries to stop him, and he kills her, bricking her up in the wall. Only to have the wall start shrieking at him. In a frenzy the wall is taken down - and it is discovered that he walled the cat in there with her - and it was shrieking.
In the Episode, Leo, one of Roderick Usher's bastard children, who is a video game developer and drug addict (all drugs including sex), in a drugged rage kills his lover's cat. (Honestly, did we have to kill the cat?) Anyhow, freaking out, he buries or gets rid of the cat's corpse, and goes to an animal shelter to get a new cat (the shelter is run by the demon Vera who is after his family). He insists on adopting a rare breed black cat that is unavailable because of the cat's uncanny resemblance to the one he killed. Even though she offers him nice cats, who require adoption before being put to sleep. But he insists on this cat. He takes the cat home, and the cat bites him, scratches him, and hides. Then it starts jumping out of nowhere to attack him. And stares at him. Leaving dead mice everywhere - such as inside his slippers, behind his pillow...Desperate he calls the shelter lady aka Vera, who is less than sympathetic, and goes into a spiel about how predatory cats truly are. And goads him. Until he gouges out the cats eyes. Suddenly Vera's eye is gouged out. And she's in the wall with the cat. Feeling chased and pursued by the cat and unable to get rid of it - he follows it out on his balcony and to his death. At the very end? His partner's cat reappears.
Not exactly an episode for animal lovers.
Each episode has a lot of other things going on in them - so it's easy to get lost or lose interest. The pacing is bad in this. Not helped by the fact that none of the characters nor the actors are remotely appealing.
I don't know if I want to watch the rather gory Pit and the Pendulum. But am curious about the Goldbug.
Yes, I'm on a horror kick at the moment. I'd gotten burned out on romance novels - so jumped to the polar opposite, horror novels.
3. Barbara Streisand Memoir
Apparently a lot of people have written and distributed lies about Streisand over the years? She keeps talking about it - and how this book is her way of setting the record straight. Her ex-roommate, long before she got her big break - wrote a book claiming they had an affair (he was gay),
and this other gay who she'd never heard of - claimed they also had an affair. Barbara states that she thinks she'd remember that or know.
She doesn't read the books or things they've written - mainly because she hates lies (particularly about herself). But it gets back to her via friends and others that she knows who have read them.
I'm currently at the part where she gets her first job on Broadway, the role of Ms. Marmlestein in "I can get it for you, Wholesale". This is the gig that changed her entire life - up to this point she was basically just a lounge singer doing guest spots on Carson and various Late Night talk shows.
This is a highly entertaining audiobook - which Barbara reads herself, along with chuckles, quips, etc. And the way it's read - it feels like I'm sitting in a room with her or talking to her on the phone, it's kind of conversational?
Apparently she was staying at six different apartments, sleeping on various folks coaches and scraping by at this point - doing tours and lounge singing gigs, along with appearances on television talk shows - singing.
And auditioning for Broadway shows, she got a few small roles, then finally landed Ms. Marmlestein in I can get if for you, Wholesale.
She hadn't really been seriously dating anyone at this point, and didn't really have a boyfriend at all. Striesand describes herself as a bit of a loner, fiercely independent, and introverted.
4. An almost Futile Quest for Rock Cornish Game Hens
Every Thanksgiving - I fix Rock Cornish Game Hen. So I went on a quest to find them at Whole Foods, having struck out at Food Town. It's a lot harder to locate these babies than one might think.
I see nothing but turkeys and chicken (large chicken) or chicken parts at the meat aisle. This is the Whole Foods, in front of the train station, next door to BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) and across the street from "The Center for Fiction".
I go find a security guard who takes me to a Whole Foods employee working in the veggie section.
ME: Excuse me, do you have rock cornish game hens?
Whole Foods Worker: Sure (he points at a bag of green broccoli spears)
Me: Uhm that's broccoli.
WFW (smiles)
Me: I'm looking for a hen - a small hen.
WFW: oh, you mean this over here - (he says heading to the produce section, specifically lettuce)
Me: No, a hen. Like poultry. Chicken. Meat. About this big. Those are vegetables.
WFW: Maybe a picture?
I give up and try someone else. He's equally lost. And has no idea what I'm talking about. To be fair - they both appear to hail from the Caribbean, and not Cornwall. So..
I'm about to burst into tears. I do not want to cook a turkey or a chicken for that matter. What else can I fix?
And then voila - I find it, hidden in a frozen food container, underneath and besides huge frozen turkeys from Bell and Evans, there it is the small little Bell & Evans Rock Cornish Game Hens. Hallelujah! My God, this used to be easy - I used to be able to get them at Food Town or Key Foods, now I have to hunt for the little buggers. I got four of them. Two for Thanksgiving and two for Christmas. Twenty minutes prep, and 1 hour cook time. And they taste better than chicken or turkey. And best of all? No left-overs.
I also got, white chocolate peppermint ice cream bars. (Yes, such a thing exists. I was impressed.) They are good too. I have insane taste in ice cream, I admit this. And a gluten-free Pumpkin Pie from Maine Pie Company. (I almost bought the Pecan Pie - but that's 66 grams of carbs per slice, and just no. Although I may cave at Christmas. And? I almost bought By the Way Gluten Free Bakery's Red Velvet Chocolate Cupcakes...but again, no.)
Instead got some lobster meat, some salmon (lunch tomorrow, dinner tonight), gluten free ravoli, whipping cream, and water.
I even avoided alcohol. Although I may grab some white wine on Wed for the hens or Chianti. Also a lemon (Wales doesn't want us to use lemon again but all the recipes use it - also we used too much last time, so if I actually buy one, it may not be an issue?) And I used vegetable broth not chicken broth last round - another problem.
Afterwards, I lug my stuff into the subway station, wait seven-ten minutes for the train to arrive, manage to snag a seat within a crowd of people, and tuck my groceries between my legs on the floor. (Carrying groceries on subways is never easy.) There's a woman across from me who is doing it with brown bags - I at least have cloth bags. And make it home - with only one leak - a hole got poked in the salmon - so I fix that tonight. And the bubbles Mochi (small packets, with just one in each) have melted. I put those in the freezer along with the hens, the lobster meat, the pie, and the ice cream bars.
**
I'd talk about Crazy Work Place...but honestly.
(I'll let you know if I agree with them. Not that I'm necessarily any more qualified, but I have seen all the film and television adaptations, and read Jackson's novel twice. Of the adaptations - Wise's is probably the best film version, and Flanagan's is the best television adaptation. The PBS adaptation scared the crap out of myself and my brother as kids. The Spielberg/Donner one is an utter mess - and no one mentions it.)
I like Hand's writing for the most part. But I'm not sure I buy that a failed playwright would investigate a creepy house perched above an even creepier small town.
Also weird hares pop up - and I'm not sure what that is about.
Speaking of creepy things, a social media friend posted on FB about looking for the aura borelais in I think Iowa, and seeing something similar, followed by a loud crack between houses that set the hairs on the back of her neck on end with fear. And a shiver up her spine. She immediately retreated indoors, and bemoaned that this wasn't a problem in Northern Canada. And I thought - see? This is what people actually do when confronted with creepy unexplainable stuff - they run and hide. They do not venture out to investigate it. Also, it haunted me. And I decided, no, I don't want to know. I'm sure there's weird stuff out there - and I love to hear stories about it - but I've no interest in investigating it or confronting it. I have enough issues with insomnia, I do not require help.
At any rate, will continue reading. To date only T Kingfisher's novels have scared and kept me awake at night. They scare me more than Stephen King's do, King's books don't tend to scare me. Gross me out maybe, scare? Not so much. Gore doesn't scare me, it just grosses me out and I'd rather ...well just read it? I like psychological horror best.
I'm also reading Jeanne Winterson's Ghost Stories.. - although haven't gotten past her introductory essay on the literary form. I didn't realize she was still writing. I honestly thought she was in her 80s by now. Apparently, I was wrong. My game plan is to read all of them - and then give the book to Wales for Christmas. She likes Winterson.
2. Speaking of horror - making my way through Flannagan's Fall of the House of Usher episodes. Episode 4 referred to Poe's short story "The Black Cat" - which features an animal hater that kills a cat, then gets another one which he tortures and hates. His wife tries to stop him, and he kills her, bricking her up in the wall. Only to have the wall start shrieking at him. In a frenzy the wall is taken down - and it is discovered that he walled the cat in there with her - and it was shrieking.
In the Episode, Leo, one of Roderick Usher's bastard children, who is a video game developer and drug addict (all drugs including sex), in a drugged rage kills his lover's cat. (Honestly, did we have to kill the cat?) Anyhow, freaking out, he buries or gets rid of the cat's corpse, and goes to an animal shelter to get a new cat (the shelter is run by the demon Vera who is after his family). He insists on adopting a rare breed black cat that is unavailable because of the cat's uncanny resemblance to the one he killed. Even though she offers him nice cats, who require adoption before being put to sleep. But he insists on this cat. He takes the cat home, and the cat bites him, scratches him, and hides. Then it starts jumping out of nowhere to attack him. And stares at him. Leaving dead mice everywhere - such as inside his slippers, behind his pillow...Desperate he calls the shelter lady aka Vera, who is less than sympathetic, and goes into a spiel about how predatory cats truly are. And goads him. Until he gouges out the cats eyes. Suddenly Vera's eye is gouged out. And she's in the wall with the cat. Feeling chased and pursued by the cat and unable to get rid of it - he follows it out on his balcony and to his death. At the very end? His partner's cat reappears.
Not exactly an episode for animal lovers.
Each episode has a lot of other things going on in them - so it's easy to get lost or lose interest. The pacing is bad in this. Not helped by the fact that none of the characters nor the actors are remotely appealing.
I don't know if I want to watch the rather gory Pit and the Pendulum. But am curious about the Goldbug.
Yes, I'm on a horror kick at the moment. I'd gotten burned out on romance novels - so jumped to the polar opposite, horror novels.
3. Barbara Streisand Memoir
Apparently a lot of people have written and distributed lies about Streisand over the years? She keeps talking about it - and how this book is her way of setting the record straight. Her ex-roommate, long before she got her big break - wrote a book claiming they had an affair (he was gay),
and this other gay who she'd never heard of - claimed they also had an affair. Barbara states that she thinks she'd remember that or know.
She doesn't read the books or things they've written - mainly because she hates lies (particularly about herself). But it gets back to her via friends and others that she knows who have read them.
I'm currently at the part where she gets her first job on Broadway, the role of Ms. Marmlestein in "I can get it for you, Wholesale". This is the gig that changed her entire life - up to this point she was basically just a lounge singer doing guest spots on Carson and various Late Night talk shows.
This is a highly entertaining audiobook - which Barbara reads herself, along with chuckles, quips, etc. And the way it's read - it feels like I'm sitting in a room with her or talking to her on the phone, it's kind of conversational?
Apparently she was staying at six different apartments, sleeping on various folks coaches and scraping by at this point - doing tours and lounge singing gigs, along with appearances on television talk shows - singing.
And auditioning for Broadway shows, she got a few small roles, then finally landed Ms. Marmlestein in I can get if for you, Wholesale.
She hadn't really been seriously dating anyone at this point, and didn't really have a boyfriend at all. Striesand describes herself as a bit of a loner, fiercely independent, and introverted.
4. An almost Futile Quest for Rock Cornish Game Hens
Every Thanksgiving - I fix Rock Cornish Game Hen. So I went on a quest to find them at Whole Foods, having struck out at Food Town. It's a lot harder to locate these babies than one might think.
I see nothing but turkeys and chicken (large chicken) or chicken parts at the meat aisle. This is the Whole Foods, in front of the train station, next door to BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) and across the street from "The Center for Fiction".
I go find a security guard who takes me to a Whole Foods employee working in the veggie section.
ME: Excuse me, do you have rock cornish game hens?
Whole Foods Worker: Sure (he points at a bag of green broccoli spears)
Me: Uhm that's broccoli.
WFW (smiles)
Me: I'm looking for a hen - a small hen.
WFW: oh, you mean this over here - (he says heading to the produce section, specifically lettuce)
Me: No, a hen. Like poultry. Chicken. Meat. About this big. Those are vegetables.
WFW: Maybe a picture?
I give up and try someone else. He's equally lost. And has no idea what I'm talking about. To be fair - they both appear to hail from the Caribbean, and not Cornwall. So..
I'm about to burst into tears. I do not want to cook a turkey or a chicken for that matter. What else can I fix?
And then voila - I find it, hidden in a frozen food container, underneath and besides huge frozen turkeys from Bell and Evans, there it is the small little Bell & Evans Rock Cornish Game Hens. Hallelujah! My God, this used to be easy - I used to be able to get them at Food Town or Key Foods, now I have to hunt for the little buggers. I got four of them. Two for Thanksgiving and two for Christmas. Twenty minutes prep, and 1 hour cook time. And they taste better than chicken or turkey. And best of all? No left-overs.
I also got, white chocolate peppermint ice cream bars. (Yes, such a thing exists. I was impressed.) They are good too. I have insane taste in ice cream, I admit this. And a gluten-free Pumpkin Pie from Maine Pie Company. (I almost bought the Pecan Pie - but that's 66 grams of carbs per slice, and just no. Although I may cave at Christmas. And? I almost bought By the Way Gluten Free Bakery's Red Velvet Chocolate Cupcakes...but again, no.)
Instead got some lobster meat, some salmon (lunch tomorrow, dinner tonight), gluten free ravoli, whipping cream, and water.
I even avoided alcohol. Although I may grab some white wine on Wed for the hens or Chianti. Also a lemon (Wales doesn't want us to use lemon again but all the recipes use it - also we used too much last time, so if I actually buy one, it may not be an issue?) And I used vegetable broth not chicken broth last round - another problem.
Afterwards, I lug my stuff into the subway station, wait seven-ten minutes for the train to arrive, manage to snag a seat within a crowd of people, and tuck my groceries between my legs on the floor. (Carrying groceries on subways is never easy.) There's a woman across from me who is doing it with brown bags - I at least have cloth bags. And make it home - with only one leak - a hole got poked in the salmon - so I fix that tonight. And the bubbles Mochi (small packets, with just one in each) have melted. I put those in the freezer along with the hens, the lobster meat, the pie, and the ice cream bars.
**
I'd talk about Crazy Work Place...but honestly.
no subject
Date: 2023-11-21 03:49 am (UTC)It was the weirdest thing. The shiver came first, then the crack noise. Which made it worse LOL!
no subject
Date: 2023-11-21 01:00 pm (UTC)Did anything show up in the light of day to explain it?
no subject
Date: 2023-11-21 04:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-11-21 05:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-11-21 12:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-11-21 01:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-11-21 01:04 pm (UTC)It's weird, at least here at my store, they have a separate little section with them all year long. Two weeks before Thanksgiving, the section was gone this year. Had to look and look (no one to help at my market). Like you, found them mostly underneath, peeking out between huge turkeys. The price for them was there nearby, but I had to look closely for the birds. Did the grocery stores cut down on their meat freezers this year or did the store execs all get together and decide, "oh, we'll sell more turkeys this year, lets pile them everywhere"?
no subject
Date: 2023-11-21 05:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-11-21 06:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-11-22 02:31 pm (UTC)I don't like turkey enough to bother with it. Plus it's just me and a friend - we barely eat enough for two small hens. Bell & Evans are smaller than the ones I used to get. For me, it brings back memories of home - because my mother used to make them for special occasions.
no subject
Date: 2023-11-21 01:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-11-21 05:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-11-21 04:21 pm (UTC)I just signed up to Netflix again and I was considering putting this on my queue but that is a big nope now.
no subject
Date: 2023-11-21 05:42 pm (UTC)The plot is hard to follow because it jumps around in time. It's not quite told in a linear fashion? Kind of like how someone would confess their life to you and pop around in it? It's told in flashback by Roderick Usher to August Dupin in the first episode, and Roderick has dementia.
no subject
Date: 2023-11-21 11:57 pm (UTC)That is so strange. I can get them at Ralphs, Vons, Pavilions, Albertsons, Walmart, Smart and Final. My fancy-pants delivery service has them, too, for a price.
no subject
Date: 2023-11-22 02:28 pm (UTC)I told a co-worker this story, and she was laughing.