A Dance With Dragons

We diehard SOIAF fans have waited five freaking years for this mofo. And yes it was totally worth it. Martin's greatest trait, in my opinion, is his ability to build atmosphere. One moment I'm in the searing desert realm of Meereen with its multi-hued pyramids, fighting pits and exotic foods. Then, just as suddenly, I'm transported to the Wall where the cold bites to the very bone and the dead rise through eternal snowdrifts.

George, if you happen to be reading this - sure, I'm a little annoyed that it took you 5 years, but this is a truly magnificent book. But I'm not here to quibble about the plot (for once). I just wanted you to know that I've been reading your book to a very dear friend of mine who is very ill and is unable to read for himself. He is the one that introduced me to your marvelous series, and I know he's been waiting on tenterhooks for the 5th installment. Thanks for creating a world so utterly beautiful and foreign, and for allowing me to take my friend there, even if for a moment.

Teaser Tuesdays

*a new weekly spot borrowed from the ever-brilliant A Girl Walks Into a Bookstore

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

--Grab your current read

--Open to a random page

--share two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

Be sure NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

--Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers!

“Cleopatra was in Tarsus only a few weeks but had no need to stay longer. Her effect on Antony was immediate and electrifying.”

--From Cleopatra, by Stacy Schiff

'Nuff said.

NYC pictorial pt. XVIII - pets edition pt. IV

Contact High

Australian electro artists sure know how to spice up my morning. I just listened to Architecture in Helsinki's new song "Contact High" and I spent the entire three minutes, thirty-eight seconds slightly dizzy. It starts off with an '80s-ish guttery synth grunt, and I'm like okay yeah, sweet. Then this Chromeo-ish voice comes in and I'm like aw no. And then some weird rolling drums ease in and I'm like uhhh. And THEN, the chorus comes in, a peppy, sparkly dance-inducer. And then the Chromeo-ish nonsense comes back in. And then what sounds like 46 different synth loops blast me in the face. At this point, I'm so intrigued and so nauseous, I feel like I'm riding a violent rollercoaster soaring through rainbows.

I felt this way when Cut Copy came out with Bright like Neon Love (sadly, Zonoscope is doing NOTHING for me, btw) and when Empire with the Sun came out with "Walking on a Dream." I spend alternating moments loving the bright sparkliness of these Ozzie synths, and then being thrown into a spiral of confusion when they abruptly change the pacing with dirtier, darker beats/sounds. When all is said and done, I really do like this "experimental" music. It's fun, it's dancey and it's weird. Contact high indeed...

A lil' Thursday literary/musical morbidity

me: i'm about to start my first virginia woolf

Eric: haha lemme know how that goes

me: ever read her?

Eric: nope!

can't say i have

which one are u going to start with

me: her first novel actually

someone left it at work

"the voyage out"

Eric: what's that about?

me: i find it interesting (and a little morbid) to read someone's work, knowing she offed herself not that long after

Eric: haha

kinda like listening to nirvana?

me: yeahhh!

Eric: or elliot smith?

me: good comparison

all those

Eric: or hendrix?

haha

Eric: i'm sure there have been others

but ya, can't think of any off the top of my head

me: did hemingway off himself?

1Eric: if u call drinking urself to death offing yourself

The Children's Book

I think, at its heart, this novel is about the perils of being a dreamer. For those of this nature, it is far too easy to get caught up in your own thoughts, and thus, to ignore the damage you are enacting. The Children's Book focuses on the lives of the Wellwood family and their friends. In the late 19th century, they are immersed in the height of England's Fabian socialist movement. They believe in a society of free love, and a clean, simple livelihood enforced by literature, art and nature. Their children are brought up thus and the effects of such a bringing up have fierce and startling echoes down the line.

It is an eminently rich book, peopled with various fascinating characters, both dreamers and pragmatics alike. Shot through with poetic and literary references, a deep reverence for the pottery art of the time and a keen understanding of the various political/social elements of the period before WWI, it is a book worthy of the Man Booker nomination. AS Byatt has a supreme knack for combining such disparate elements, winding them neatly throughout a book, to create an effect that causes both rumination, fascination and an intense desire to understand the characters on a deeper level.

I, myself, am a dreamer. While reading, I've realized that dreamers and zealots have much in common. Both believe fiercely in a world that has yet to exist, and may never exist. It's the pragmatists, in the end, who, even through disaster and strife, have the gumption to keep on. But do they miss out on what it is to hope and dream? What it is to feel so absolutely impassioned by an idea?

NYC pictorial pt. XVII

Let the Great World Spin

Column McCann is master evoker of the human spirit. I don't really think he's a storyteller, he's more of an analyst of emotion, and boy, does he do it well. In 1974, Phillipe Petit constructs a high wire strung between the two towers of the World Trade Center, and in the early morning hours, he proceeds to walk, dance and even lie down upon it. When questioned why, he said "when I see oranges, I want to juggle them. When I see towers, I want to walk between them." This event becomes the core center of the novel, as different characters, seemingly unconnected, live out their lives while this extraordinary event occurs.

As McCann points out: New York isn't a city that wallows in the past. We don't build many monuments or cherish history the way older European cities do. What we revel in are flash-in-the-pan theatricals. Wild and effusive displays that compel people to marvel and think, "only in New York." To me, this is the most apt description of New York City that I've ever come across. Each of the characters, in their varied struggles, are trying to make more sense of their existences, but really, it's simply a matter of putting one foot in front of the other, balancing on the ever-tricky high wire of life.

Sprawl II

'Cause on the surface the city lights shine
They're calling at me, come and find your kind
Sometimes I wonder if the world's so small
Can we ever get away from the sprawl

NYC pictorial pt. XVI

Kafka on the Shore

"Inside our head...there's a little room where we store these memories. A room like the stacks in this library. And to understand the workings of our own heart we have to keep on making reference cards. We have to dust things off every once in awhile, let in fresh air, change the water in the flower vases. In other words, you'll live forever in your own private library."

This last little bit of this eminently wonderful novel really opened my mind. I've spent so many of these past few months yearning to seclude myself, in effect, to live in a private library, that it didn't occur to me that seclusion of that sort can be unhealthy. If we let our minds root, following the same paths day in an day out, dwelling on the past, letting ideas and emotions grow stale, then we of course can't expect our lives to course-correct. Fate exists, yes, but it's in all of us to wrest our futures into our own making.

This is what this book taught me, and for that, I am deeply indebted.

Kele - Everything You Wanted (RAC Remix)

Kele - Everything You Wanted (RAC Remix)

I write like...

I write like
Stephen King

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

A Fine Balance

In short, this is a novel that will break your heart. Doesn't sound very appealing, right? But maybe it isn't meant to be. Often life can be seen as a series of twists and turns - events that were perhaps fated to be and others that drop on you like bolts of lightning.

A Fine Balance tells the tale of four people from varying backgrounds. Maneck is a student from the beautiful mountain region of India; a middle-class boy with a good heart and thin skin. Dina Dalal is in her 40s, living alone in a home made absent by the death of her husband twenty years prior. She is stubbornly independent and down to earth. To save her eyesight from going completely, she hires two tailors who journey from their remote village to work for her. From a lowly caste, this remarkably stalwart uncle and nephew team struggle to leave behind their torturous past to ascend the difficult caste ladder and make a better life for themselves. The four eventually all come to live under Dina's roof, which in turn provides a safe haven from the horrors of India in the 1970's.

The year that follows is one of my deep happiness, despite hard work, money troubles and encroaching governmental practices. Mistry teaches us that the joys of friendship, humor and patience can keep even the most vicious wolves at bay.

But inevitably, the happiness ends. And horror and sorrow encroach. And my heart is quite literally broken thinking of their respective fates.

Beautiful beautiful beautiful but heart-wrenching book.

The Chap - We Work in Bars

this song is strangely catchy

Lost - The End

I don't usually post on anything here besides book reviews, music videos and photos, buuuut the conclusion of Lost deserves a special post. All season, I've been writing a series of emails analyzing/ruminating on each episode. Here is the final email:

The end of an era, everyone. I am devastated that this brilliant show is over. Seriously, I feel like I just went through a wrenching breakup. I was exhausted while watching the finale -- one moment gasping, another laughing, but most of all sobbing like a baby (really not kidding. Just about every two seconds, my eyes welled up). I honestly believe that the writers did a truly wonderful job of tying together many of the loose ends. Yes, many questions will remain unanswered, but the truths that were important were the ones that were revealed to us.

Here are a few of the best lines of the finale, many of which pointed to the final "twist" of the series, and many of which were simply great:

"Nothing is irreversible" -- Kate to Jack. The same words Jack says to Locke before he fixes him.

"I'll see you on the other side" Jack says to Locke before going into surgery

"That's a hell of a long con, Doc" -- Sawyer says to Jack. In many ways, the entire alt timeline/sideways world is a bit of a long con, for us, the viewers :)

"You can't let other people tell you who you are. You have to decide for yourself" -- Hurley to Sayid.

"You disrespect his memory by wearing his face" -- Jack to Not Locke

"I don't believe in a lot of things, but I do believe in duct tape" -- Miles

"DON'T BOTHER ME!!" -- Lapidus to basically everyone

"It worked" -- Juliet to Sawyer

"Everything that's ever happened to you is real." -- Christian to Jack

Final thoughts:

I don't believe many of the big questions need to be answered. (i.e., why can't women stay pregnant on the island, what was the point of the dharma initiative, why/how was Walt "special," why there were Egyptian symbols all over the island) This show doesn't need to answer everything. Many of these concepts can be attributed to the enigma that is the island. Sure, some people want a clear-cut answer, but I'm not one of them. The whole point is that this show was based purely on the show creators' mythology.

It took me a moment to figure out Desmond's purpose on the island. Because of his ability to withstand intense amounts of electromagnetism, he was able to wade to the center of cave, and literally uncork the light, thus initiating the destruction of the island, and more importantly, making Not Locke human.

Hurley is the final candidate! Really didn't see that one coming. And in a way, it makes perfect sense. Hurley, with his all-encompassing love, his good nature, his big heart. And Ben as his "number two." Brilliant. Ben is the steel, the brains, the loyalty.

We are left to wonder at the future of those that were able to escape the island -- namely, Kate, Claire, Sawyer, Lapidus, Miles and Richard. And we are also left wondering how long Hurley remained the candidate, who was elected afterward and what Ben and Desmond did on the island for the rest of their lives. To be truthful, I like not knowing. Their futures are ones that we, the audience can imagine on our own.

Many of the "flashes" they all experienced were really quite beautiful to watch. (Okay fine, some were over-the-top cheese). But, in a way, each "flash" was a tribute to the years we have spent with these characters, watching them grow with one another.

I believe that Jack was the hardest to get to "flash" because of his nature. Simply put, the strength of his own convictions got in the way, just like on the island. He can be so pigheadedly stubborn, but once he is convinced of his path, he is able to let go with a perfectly clear conscience. I thought it was particularly poignant that the room where he reconnects with his father, Christian, contained all the religious symbols of the world.

Jack dying in the original spot that he woke up in was a stroke of genius. And Vincent!! Seeing that perpetually happy dog settle down next to Jack as he was dying just about broke my heart. I'm sure the dog gave Jack a measure of comfort, as did the sight of the Ajira plane taking off.

The end of this show was a work of art. It was a truly beautiful concept -- the fact that these people, their love for one another, was so strong that they created a "world" where they could all be together; a kind of metaphysical stopgap between living and death. Yes, whatever happened happened and yes, they all died in the original timeline, whether it was on the island, or some time in the future off the island. Yet they came to this place in the end to find one another, to reconnect, to experience the sheer joy of What Could Have Been. Not everyone is there. Some are ready to move on, while others need to bide their time. In the end, they gave themselves the opportunity to just be together. Lost is truly an inimitable study of human nature, of the ties that bind us all.

Lastly, a very large part of the reason why I loved this show so much was the escapism factor. To me, escapism is a way to imagine a world so foreign to us, that it requires a true leap of faith to believe in it. I believed in this show, in this world, in these characters. It took me to a place I couldn't ever have dreamed of myself. Thanks, guys, for letting me share my long-winded and often ridiculous thoughts on this show. It's been a great ride.

NYC pictorial pt. XV - pets edition pt. III

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

Oscar's family suffers from a serious case of fuku, a traditional Dominican term for bad luck. Like the shit-out-of, you're absolutely screwed, may as well write your will kind of bad luck. This extraordinary novel jumps from the Dominican Republic to New Jersey, gliding effortlessly across time, in a raw and honest portrayal of one family's fight against fate.

To be honest, I wasn't sure what to make of this book after the first page. Then, the language sucked me in. Diaz has managed to write with literary prowess while instilling an earthy conversational appeal. His Lord of the Rings and Encyclopedia Brown references alone had me giddy with joy. His frequent use of Spanish, nerdology and modern-day lingo makes for a heady mix of wordskill that I couldn't get enough of.

And what a story! I felt for poor, fat Oscar and his lovesick earnestness, sympathized with Lola's plight, marveled at Beli's extraordinary childhood. Diaz tied together the story's elements in a truly unique way, and ended the tale intelligently; that is, to say, realistically.

I Know

the swirly summery strings in the intro match today's weather perfectly