We’ve decided to have a weekly Chatterday! open thread. Use this open thread to talk amongst yourselves: feel free to share a link, have a vent, or spread some joy. About the only content-related rule is to keep this thread for things not covered in other threads over the past few weeks.
What have you been reading or watching lately (remembering spoiler warnings)? What are you proud of this week? What’s made your teeth itch? What’s going on in your part of the world?
Today’s chatterday backcloth comes via Zooborns (you might expect a lot of that). This rare okapi calf was born at Lowry Park Zoo in Florida.
FIRST
Sorry, that was gratuitous.
Here’s a dancing robot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3g-yrjh58ms
.-= annaham´s last blog ..Song of the Moment, or a Follow-Up of Sorts =-.
I spent the day at Campaign School, which is a non-partisan “learn how to run a political campaign at the federal, provincial or municipal level”. I was happy that they highlighted rural ridings (Nova Scotia is pretty rural), but I was so distressed at how much money it costs to run an effective campaign. *sigh*
Oh, Okapi! A word that’s fun to say, and an animal that’s cute to look at.
I’m reading “Sense and Sensibility” right now, and I have to say…it feels a little off to me. The prose isn’t as tight as some of Austen’s other words, it meanders a bit, and sometimes I lose track of what’s going on. Has anyone else noticed this?
I haven’t actually read Austen, though I keep meaning to one of these days. In, y’know, my copious spare time.
The critter is preeetty.
Sacrilege! Everything Austin wrote is perfect and without flaw. (This is sarcasm – I haven’t read S&S yet.)
Have you read Jasper Fforde’s stuff?
I haven’t read Fforde, although I have heard good things about him…any specific recommendations on a starting place?
I LOVE FFORDE. so clever! so pleasing! i recommend starting with the Thursday Next series, which focus on the eponymous Ms. Next, a literary detective who corrects problems when a character escapes from one novel to infiltrate another.
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/new-home-for-accessibility-at-google.html
Google accessibility improvements. Would be interested to see opinions on it.
.-= Shiyiya´s last blog ..Livejournal =-.
Today I just finished reading “If I am Missing or Dead” by Jeanine Latus. It’s a true story of Ms. Latus’ life (including abusive relationships, rape, and a horrible relationship with her father) and her relationship with her sister, Amy, who was murdered by her abusive boyfriend. It was really hard to read (as someone who has suffered through two emotionally abusive relationships) but it was a good read. Very triggering though.
TENTH! (har)
I saw “Where the Wild Things Are” (the film) today. My favorite part was watching all the Wild Things…though none were as cute as that okapi.
I’m also reading Mackenzie Phillips’s “High on Arrival.”
.-= Tera´s last blog ..New blog of awesomeness =-.
Oh, good. I’d heard from a friend that Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (a book I remember enjoying greatly) violated one of the Narrative Tropes that Piss Off Moira rules by killing off a central character’s mother to advance the plot. Which, mrr. So I was hoping for better from Where the Wild Things Are.
kaninchenzero,
No plot-advancing deaths in Where the Wild Things Are, thank goodness. It follows the book very closely…which is a feat, since the movie is, like, 2 hours long 🙂 There’s a lot more character development, and something that’s either an accident or bullying (not sure which), but otherwise it’s just Max, his kingdom, his boat, and the Things. And *James Gandolfini*!
.-= Tera´s last blog ..New blog of awesomeness =-.
I’ve been reading stuff from the Emberverse and Nantucketverse by S M Stirling. I can’t believe I never read these before – I’ve spent YEARS telling people I wanted stuff that wasn’t apocalyptic but showed people trying to cope and rebuild after an apocalypse (of any kind, really). And this is the only thing aside from ‘Parable Of The Sower/Talents’ that I’ve really found. And there’s lots and lots of books and more being written 🙂
Right now there are two parties happening in my shared driveway, from teh sound. Nothing can make me feel more cut off than the unreachable sound of other people socialising. Being bedridden SUCKS.
.-= Ricky Buchanan´s last blog ..The “Usefulness” Factor =-.
I’ve just started reading “Katz und Maus” by Günter Grass (there’s an English translation called “Cat and Mouse” but I’m reading it in German). This was sparked by the awful realisation that although I read English *all the time*, I haven’t read anything in German for *ages* and that this may be the reason I tend to do all my online wandering in English, that I am forgetting how to read German without a lot of concentration. So I, er, grabbed the first German book that Blackwell’s had don’t judge me. (I also picked up Berthold Brecht’s “Der kaukasische Kreidekreis” because Brecht is awesome.) If anyone has any good German recs for a native speaker who hasn’t done much reading in a while I’d be really grateful.
The book is taking some time to get used to – the style is quite unusual, the way it jumps around – and I’m reading it from a pretty slanted perspective as the main character is setting off my Aspiedar and everything is getting filtered through that perception. On the negative side, I miss female characters. 🙁
.-= Kaz´s last blog ..randomness =-.
I’m so excited that FWD now exists! So I’m reclining and squeeing.
Also warming up, as I’m just back from a housewarming party thrown by a Madison paratransit driver, where six or seven social circles intersected. The people were fun to meet, and one his circles is a monthly floating gourmet dinner, so the food was outstanding. He’s made friends with quite a few riders, so he got portable ramps so folks could get in to see his lovely new home, as well as hang out in the heated! tent in the backyard.
That’s my first non-fannish social interaction in months.
.-= Jesse the K´s last blog ..Delightful New Resources =-.