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shadowkatBitterly cold today, apparently. I can tell because my apartment is currently at 69 degrees. It would be in the 70's if it were warmer. My landlord's had a baby this past year, so they are keeping the heat a bit more regulated than in previous years. The baby is a little boy, named, Mighty. I kid you not. I wonder sometimes when people name their kids if they've forgotten what it was like in school. OR maybe they figure they'll get all the teasing out of the way early on - sort of like that old Johnny Cash song - entitled a Boy Named Sue? Toughen the kid up?
Because it was cold, I decided it would be a good idea to make blueberry/raspberry muffins this morning, but I forgot the egg. No idea why I spaced putting the egg in, but I did. Oddly enough, the muffins are fine. A little on the gooey side, but otherwise quite tasty. I used 1/3 cup of locally bought organic honey instead of sugar. I'm thinking the egg would have made them more cakey and less spongey. At any rate salvageable, and an interesting alternative in case I have to make them for folks who can't have eggs.
I gave up on Cookie Cutter - after only reading approximately 200 pages of it. Handed it to Wales last night - we'll see how far she gets. She may get further than I did. Somewhere along the way, not quite sure when, I got picky about my reading material. The days in which I will read anything that crosses my path are apparently long-gone. This may be due to the huge amount of dry and technical material I read at work, as well as write. When I read on my own time - the words have to have a sort of resonance. They have to sing. Not like poetry exactly, not overly fond of poetry any more to be honest, sort of like prose poetry.
Anywho, for whatever the reason, I've started the book I picked up on a whim from Barnes and Noble two weeks back. Wales jots the names of books that look interesting in book stores into her cell phone, then goes to the library to look them up, order them, and check them out. Me? I impulse buy them at the book store. What can I say, I don't like library books - I'm allergic to the mold and dust inside them. So instead I buy the things - so they can gather mold and dust in my own apartment. Apparently I don't mind my own mold and dust, it's others dust and mold that makes me cranky. Am currently reading The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff. We'll see how far I get. I've only started and dropped about five books in the last three months. I'm told this is a phase. I'm hoping it's a short phase. I miss falling into a good story and forgetting the passage of time.
Speaking of reading material - The Twilight craze continues. Overheard a woman talking about her love of the Twilight books on the train ride home one evening. She was a student, getting a degree in elementary education. (To be fair to the woman, she stated that she adored reading and had always loved to read. That is not something I take lightly, I love to read too - it's why I love New York City, most of the people in it are bookaphiles, like myself.)
I think there may be a woman in my building who is obsessed with Twilight - since the only two issues of Entertainment Weekly that I have not received - featured Twilight. I eventually got the issue with sparkly Edward on the cover. But never received the one dedicated to the film, with interviews and photos. That never came. Which leads me to suspect that Twilight lead someone in my vicinty to magazine theft. [It was either the landlord's wife, an actress studying to be a Protestant Minister who just had a baby (???) or the girlfriend of the guy who lives below me (I'm guessing the girlfriend - because he just doesn't seem the type - big hulking ex-solider from Iraq, who went to Harvard Business School??). Or maybe they swiped for their neice or a friend's teenage daughter? Or it was the old Italian neighbor's who live next door??? Got to say this about NY - every time I attempt to generalize about things, I look incredibly stupid - when some exception comes along and blows the generalization out of the water.] Don't mind the theft that much, the only bit of the magazine I missed was a Quantum of Solace review and a bit on Grey's Anatomy - which I read in a store.
Very hard not to be critical/judgmental of fans of the Twilight novels. Or make fun of them. Or make broad generalizations.
I shouldn't be. I know that. It's sort of hypocritical, for one thing. I went through my Nancy Drew/Harlequin/Barbara Cartlandt/Ann Rice/Ann McCaffrey stage after all. Not to mention my Spike craze (even if I like to think that was more complicated). Granted those books and characters were better written and more complex, if only slightly.
As far as I can tell the film Twilight, unlike Harry Potter, Buffy, or even Titantic and Dark Knight -is appealing mainly to one specific demographic or nitch audience -10-25 year old women who religiously read Harlequin romance novels, with a few minor exceptions. Men aren't into them at all, at least not seriously - the one who liked the film, a reviewer in AM, did purely as a campy entertainment. It made him laugh.
The woman speaking on the train couldn't have been much older than 22. I remember being similarily crazed over Kyle McLachlan doing Dune, when I was 14 or 15. Also was a bit nutty at one stage over Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones (that was also at age 15 or 16). And of course, my passions for all things Star Wars and BattleStar Galatica (12-16)- hey, what can I say, I adored Space Operas. There was also, my very brief, Ike Eiseman stage - associated with the novels and films Escape to Witch Mountain and Return to Witch Mountain - both of which I drug my poor dear parents to - at the ripe old age of 10. Heck, I fell in love with cartoons as a wee child, such as Kimba, Robin Hood (the fox in the Diseny Film - was a bit obsessed with that film at age 6 or 7), and Battle of the Planets (I adored Mark from Battle of the Planets and Princess (a female fighter pilot).) That said? I still don't think I'd have been into Twilight as a kid. Too damsely-in-distress for my taste. Was never much of a fan of the Princess fairy-tale motif. Like I said, my favorite Disney film was Robin Hood not Cinderella or Snow White. The film as my mother put it, looks like a bore.
It does. I considered renting it, but now not so much. The films that I am looking forward to seeing over Thanksgiving Holidays are: "Australia", Quantum of Solace, and the family Thanksgiving film with John Leguizamo and Debra Messing which I can't remember the name of. After months of crappy films, some interesting fair is finally coming out.
Sigh. Too long again. And need to make lunch. No clue what I'm doing today. Planned on going shopping at L&T, but it's bitterly cold and I don't want to spend the money and my body has been off all week. Considered Yoga at 1:30, but not overly fond of yoga for a whole host of reasons that I will be tactful of the yoga enthusiasts on my flist and not go into. Maybe I'll just relax, read, watch tv, bake, work on my novel...it's been a really hard work week and I haven't felt that great during most of it...so a wee bit of relaxation is okay.
Also need to clean refrigerator and sort through my closet...so might do that as well.
Don't know. The day appears to be planning itself...which has been the case oddly enough most of this week for good or ill.
Because it was cold, I decided it would be a good idea to make blueberry/raspberry muffins this morning, but I forgot the egg. No idea why I spaced putting the egg in, but I did. Oddly enough, the muffins are fine. A little on the gooey side, but otherwise quite tasty. I used 1/3 cup of locally bought organic honey instead of sugar. I'm thinking the egg would have made them more cakey and less spongey. At any rate salvageable, and an interesting alternative in case I have to make them for folks who can't have eggs.
I gave up on Cookie Cutter - after only reading approximately 200 pages of it. Handed it to Wales last night - we'll see how far she gets. She may get further than I did. Somewhere along the way, not quite sure when, I got picky about my reading material. The days in which I will read anything that crosses my path are apparently long-gone. This may be due to the huge amount of dry and technical material I read at work, as well as write. When I read on my own time - the words have to have a sort of resonance. They have to sing. Not like poetry exactly, not overly fond of poetry any more to be honest, sort of like prose poetry.
Anywho, for whatever the reason, I've started the book I picked up on a whim from Barnes and Noble two weeks back. Wales jots the names of books that look interesting in book stores into her cell phone, then goes to the library to look them up, order them, and check them out. Me? I impulse buy them at the book store. What can I say, I don't like library books - I'm allergic to the mold and dust inside them. So instead I buy the things - so they can gather mold and dust in my own apartment. Apparently I don't mind my own mold and dust, it's others dust and mold that makes me cranky. Am currently reading The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff. We'll see how far I get. I've only started and dropped about five books in the last three months. I'm told this is a phase. I'm hoping it's a short phase. I miss falling into a good story and forgetting the passage of time.
Speaking of reading material - The Twilight craze continues. Overheard a woman talking about her love of the Twilight books on the train ride home one evening. She was a student, getting a degree in elementary education. (To be fair to the woman, she stated that she adored reading and had always loved to read. That is not something I take lightly, I love to read too - it's why I love New York City, most of the people in it are bookaphiles, like myself.)
I think there may be a woman in my building who is obsessed with Twilight - since the only two issues of Entertainment Weekly that I have not received - featured Twilight. I eventually got the issue with sparkly Edward on the cover. But never received the one dedicated to the film, with interviews and photos. That never came. Which leads me to suspect that Twilight lead someone in my vicinty to magazine theft. [It was either the landlord's wife, an actress studying to be a Protestant Minister who just had a baby (???) or the girlfriend of the guy who lives below me (I'm guessing the girlfriend - because he just doesn't seem the type - big hulking ex-solider from Iraq, who went to Harvard Business School??). Or maybe they swiped for their neice or a friend's teenage daughter? Or it was the old Italian neighbor's who live next door??? Got to say this about NY - every time I attempt to generalize about things, I look incredibly stupid - when some exception comes along and blows the generalization out of the water.] Don't mind the theft that much, the only bit of the magazine I missed was a Quantum of Solace review and a bit on Grey's Anatomy - which I read in a store.
Very hard not to be critical/judgmental of fans of the Twilight novels. Or make fun of them. Or make broad generalizations.
I shouldn't be. I know that. It's sort of hypocritical, for one thing. I went through my Nancy Drew/Harlequin/Barbara Cartlandt/Ann Rice/Ann McCaffrey stage after all. Not to mention my Spike craze (even if I like to think that was more complicated). Granted those books and characters were better written and more complex, if only slightly.
As far as I can tell the film Twilight, unlike Harry Potter, Buffy, or even Titantic and Dark Knight -is appealing mainly to one specific demographic or nitch audience -10-25 year old women who religiously read Harlequin romance novels, with a few minor exceptions. Men aren't into them at all, at least not seriously - the one who liked the film, a reviewer in AM, did purely as a campy entertainment. It made him laugh.
The woman speaking on the train couldn't have been much older than 22. I remember being similarily crazed over Kyle McLachlan doing Dune, when I was 14 or 15. Also was a bit nutty at one stage over Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones (that was also at age 15 or 16). And of course, my passions for all things Star Wars and BattleStar Galatica (12-16)- hey, what can I say, I adored Space Operas. There was also, my very brief, Ike Eiseman stage - associated with the novels and films Escape to Witch Mountain and Return to Witch Mountain - both of which I drug my poor dear parents to - at the ripe old age of 10. Heck, I fell in love with cartoons as a wee child, such as Kimba, Robin Hood (the fox in the Diseny Film - was a bit obsessed with that film at age 6 or 7), and Battle of the Planets (I adored Mark from Battle of the Planets and Princess (a female fighter pilot).) That said? I still don't think I'd have been into Twilight as a kid. Too damsely-in-distress for my taste. Was never much of a fan of the Princess fairy-tale motif. Like I said, my favorite Disney film was Robin Hood not Cinderella or Snow White. The film as my mother put it, looks like a bore.
It does. I considered renting it, but now not so much. The films that I am looking forward to seeing over Thanksgiving Holidays are: "Australia", Quantum of Solace, and the family Thanksgiving film with John Leguizamo and Debra Messing which I can't remember the name of. After months of crappy films, some interesting fair is finally coming out.
Sigh. Too long again. And need to make lunch. No clue what I'm doing today. Planned on going shopping at L&T, but it's bitterly cold and I don't want to spend the money and my body has been off all week. Considered Yoga at 1:30, but not overly fond of yoga for a whole host of reasons that I will be tactful of the yoga enthusiasts on my flist and not go into. Maybe I'll just relax, read, watch tv, bake, work on my novel...it's been a really hard work week and I haven't felt that great during most of it...so a wee bit of relaxation is okay.
Also need to clean refrigerator and sort through my closet...so might do that as well.
Don't know. The day appears to be planning itself...which has been the case oddly enough most of this week for good or ill.
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no subject
Date: 2008-11-22 06:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-22 11:59 pm (UTC)Odd. Why would she forbid you to watch Kimba? I found a tape of it a while back, sort of rough copy, and watched it. It was an imaginative little show, with very little violence - not at all like the Disney version - The Lion King. Mostly it involved how a little lion and his friends had adventures in the jungle and solved problems - like how to get out of sticky situations.
Yes, we are of the same cohort. I think I read the book Escape to Witch Mountain five times, and even wrote a report and (ahem) fanfiction (at the very least in my head). Loved how tough the female character was - she took charge and often saved her twin brother. The original Disney film with Kim Richards was quite good and very close to the book. (Did not like the remake, which wasn't like the book at all.)
no subject
Date: 2008-11-23 12:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-23 03:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-23 04:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-23 05:05 am (UTC)I give Harry Potter credit - for getting more of these fantasy children's books made into movies. There are others out there - Zilphia Keatly Snyder's Witches of Worm, The Velvet Room and The Egypt Game come to mind.
I know there are plans under way to do films off of the original OZ books - not the musical, but the original novels. But what about - a film based on Swallows and Amazons or The Borrowers?
I get that it's easy and cheap to do something you already own the rights to and have already done, but it's also sort of boring.
no subject
Date: 2008-11-23 05:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-22 08:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-23 12:09 am (UTC)The first one was by far the best. And the closest to the flavor of book - which involved the two kids escaping and their adventures and people that helped them along the way, the girl had these dreams and ESP, while the boy had telekinisis. This version looks like a Rock action film that happens to feature two alien kids with powers. I may rent the original someday, assuming of course I can find it. The problem with remaking these things, is it becomes harder to find the original versions.
no subject
Date: 2008-11-23 12:16 am (UTC)http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072951/
Other's in the cast include Eddie Albert - in the Rock role (note the difference in the role and the acting calibre). Donald Pleasance as the guy chasing the kids. Denver Pyle as the kid's Uncle Bene. Kim Richards and Ike Eiseman (kid stars at the time),
were Tony and Tia Malone. It was my favorite childhood/Disney film.
(I personally think Diseny's films have sort of gone done hill since then. There was an innocence in them and imaginative energy back then that is lacking now with all the special effects and high tech wizardry.)
no subject
Date: 2008-11-23 12:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-23 04:08 am (UTC)Yeah, remember the days when we only had four or five tv channels, three networks, one pbs, and one UHF (which was local programming and old movies)? An antenna. Fuzzy picture.
TV shows ending at midnight, with the star spangled banner playing as the sign-off.
I also remember if you missed a show - you really missed it.
If it got cancelled - no reruns. If it didn't, you'd pray you'd get the rerun, or that was it. No second chance, no jump to the net to download. No one to tape it. You had to imagine what happened while your friend regaled you with the plot and story - if they saw it.
Kids today can see a frigging film before it comes out on DVD on their computers or ipods. And they can buy a cancelled tv series on DVD or rent via netflix the episodes they missed, or just download the episodes off their computer.