Thursday, November 6, 2008
I’ve consumed more political coverage in the last couple of days than I have in the last few years. From bloggers and blogger friends, The Stranger, The New York Times, The Guardian, Michael Moore, Daily Kos, Wonkette, and so much more. I am elated and hopeful but overloaded. My brain can’t chew off any more at the moment. Instead it needs to gum on some apolitical fluff:
Busy weekend ahead. This afternoon/evening I had special vegan lady times with a friend I hadn’t seen in forever. Tomorrow the boy and I have a dinner date before the Toys on Roids opening. Saturday I’m hoping to stop by the NE Accordion Festival on the way to Art Attack and Sunday, well, Sunday I’d like to do a whole lot of nothing. But I may force my sorry ass to the gym, then play catch up on my novel. Currently I am behind, word count wise, but thankfully the story is all laid out (in my brain and in a Word doc). It just needs a little help unfolding.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
It should go without saying, but c’mon now folks, if you are eligible and haven’t already, get out there and vote.
I showed up around 7:55am and had voted by 8:00am. Absolutely no waiting whatsoever, which makes me kinda sad. This was my third presidential election there. The primaries are even more pitiful. It’s always a ghost town down in that badly lit church basement. I like to think it’s because there’s another polling place just a few blocks away, and maybe that one sees heavier turnout. But just because my polling place isn’t crackling with energy doesn’t mean I can’t get excited about an Obama win! Especially since I saw so many folks with homemade Obama signs on the freeway overpasses on the drive to my son’s school this morning. Which, I discovered, is doubling as a polling place this year. Saw lots of confused-looking voters trying to find parking (road construction is still heavy in the area) and then navigate their way around the building with its many doors. Hopefully they succeeded.
Tonight my friend Emily will be at the Obama rally (she has a ticket) in Chicago’s Grant Park. I’m excited for her! While she’s at the Obama rave I’ll be at my other friend Emily’s house for an election party. Where friends will gather to cheer (or cry, but hopefully not) together.
I love so many writers but lately A. Lee Martinez is a favorite (even if I’d misplaced his name in my brain for a bit I still remembered and loved his books). Stumbling upon his blog the other day seemed fortuitous, right at the beginning of NaNoWriMo. Reading his recent post on power creep had me cringing, thinking of my first novel. Now that I’m on my second one I don’t want to be that guy (or lady, or whatever). If I revisit that first novel it will be to rewrite it, to reign everything in and bring everyone down to earth. Not that I’d sent them off to fight Space-Cthulhu, but I had sent them down to the Paris Catacombs…to battle ultimate evil or something. I’m trying to remain mindful with my new story, to reinforce the “realism” in magical realism.
Five random things:
All day I was feeling sleep-deprived but energized after a late night out. It was just what I needed. Friends, foosball and The Tanks. That’s a winning combination. But now it’s back to the fledgling novel. I’ve got to get another 1000 words under my belt for the day. And if I manage to crank that out before bedtime, I’ll reward myself by watching the most recent episode of True Blood. Looks like a doozy.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
The verdict? Halloween 2008 was a success. Clockworkers and Halloween go hand in hand so work was good fun, as usual. Afterwards Harry Potter and I stopped to see the almost-birthday girl Sheela (Happy Birthday today!) then grabbed a quick dinner at the new Punch, on Grand Avenue. On the home front we enlisted a volunteer to hand out candy while we went trick or treating (she was dressed up as Pris from Blade Runner, which was a bonus). Upon our return we gave her all the non-vegan goodies. Naturally she walked away with 75% of the haul, but the boy was all right with that. And I was all right with staying in for the night afterwards. There seemed to be a billion and one grown-up type happenings. If I could’ve gone out it would’ve been too hard to choose which one(s) to attend.
Now that’s all behind us and it is November. All Saints Day and Day of the Dead, yes, but mostly novel writing time. I’d meant to start on the dot - at midnight - but passed out around 10 last night. So I kicked things off after coffee this morning. I briefly hit the wall, panicking when I only had 222 words under my belt, but then it started flowing. I took a break around 1500 words to take the boy to the last ever Cupcake Saturday at Letterbox, then on to a good walk through Loring Park and the Walker’s Sculpture Garden. More inspiration struck, as it always does, while I was driving around and while showering. It’s hard to take notes - other than mental ones - during either activity but I think I captured the essence of those thoughts. And this thing is shaping up nicely, even if it remains untitled.
Bonus: Oh my love, how I look forward to seeing your beautiful face, and your big chin, on the big screen again. And in person! Bruce Campbell will be in Minneapolis introducing six screenings of his new movie, My Name is Bruce on December 5th, 6th and 7th. Squeeeee!
Plus: Things that make you go buh? Latawnya, the Naughty Horse, Learns to Say No to Drugs. This is a children’s book. Allegedly. It was boing-boinged a while back but I just stumbled upon it now. Mind = blown.
And: Things that make me happy? The Flying Spaghetti Monster, on the menu.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
I was toying with goofy titles for my impending novel when I stumbled on a great op ed piece - about zombies and popular culture. Nicely done!
Five more fun things:
Tonight I have yet to decide if I’ll be attending the NaNoWriMo kickoff party, with the boy in tow. Maybe if he brings his DS to keep himself busy. But I feel like I have all sorts of Halloween prep left to do. Never mind we had a dry run this morning, with the lad’s “Book Character Day” parade at school. At least I did score a volunteer to hand out candy tomorrow night, while we trick or treat through the neighborhood.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Time for a round-up of the random:
- Ericka and I checked out the PostSecret exhibit at the Minneapolis Central Library. I hadn’t visited the PostSecret site in a while, but appreciate the concept. Seeing the postcards in person though was much more intimate. As are a lot of the secrets. A few of which hit a little too close to home.
- Got my digital TV converter coupon in the mail ages ago but haven’t yet redeemed it. Keep thinking I’ll buy a new-fangled teevee around or after the holidays, but I think that every year. And then I end up using the money for travel instead.
- The cringe-worthy yet impressive top 10 Jackie Chan stunts (via drvono).
- Wanted to see Happy-Go-Lucky today but the movie clocks in at 118 minutes. Maybe on the weekend? If not there’s the backup option of hosting a Mike Leigh film fest.
- Pushing Daisies in trouble? Say it ain’t so! Though I shouldn’t be at all surprised. Every critically acclaimed show I enjoy ends up getting the ax.
- I activated my Sling beta account but I must be missing something. The content seems to be the same as Hulu, but Hulu’s video quality is better. Huh.
- Much more exciting is MTV’s new site, which aspires to host almost all music videos ever made. I’ve gotten sucked in. Been watching videos from Nick Cave, Yo La Tengo, Sleater-Kinney, David Bowie, Robyn, Justice, Crystal Caves, Caribou and more. I haven’t had cable since high school (in the late 80s/very early 90s) so I still hold in my mind the idea of MTV as a network that actually plays music videos. This site now reinforces that skewed view.
After the lad’s intermittent crankiness and another sleepless night, for the both of us, we are staying home today. His voice is all froggy and I’ve got aching lungs with bonus cough. Wheeeeeee! We didn’t leave the house yesterday either, and would’ve taken it easy all day long, but we’d already had a small pumpkin carving party planned. Thankfully it was fun and we had a good turnout, but several guests didn’t make it due to the lousy weather, illness, and, in one case, putting their ailing cat to sleep. So sad.
There’s no smooth transition after that. Ummm. Yeah. Sigh. Anyhow, several restaurants in NE Minneapolis seem to have shut down including Bombay 2 Deli (best samosas ever!) and the Chutney Indian Grill was bulldozed before I ever got to try it. Wondering if we’ll be seeing more of that, with the economy tanking. But there are two new Thai restaurants in town. Sen Yai Sen Lek in NE and, much closer to home, Supatra’s on West 7th Street. Haven’t tried either yet but I’m planning to. When I eat out with the boy it’s either Midori’s (Japanese), Evergreen (Taiwanese) or pizza from Punch or Pizza Luce. But I like that Sen Yai Sen Lek has a kid’s menu that includes one of the boy’s favorite combos, broccoli and tofu.
Bonus: Planning to watch this later: from Joy Division to the Happy Mondays, a BBC 4 documentary about Factory Records.
Plus: My memory isn’t what it used to be. Well it’s never been all that, really. But I’ve spent days racking my brains trying to figure out either the author’s name or the name of their books I read a couple years ago, and had come up with neither. Keywords like zombie + restaurant weren’t narrowing it down until I searched my blog for witch. A Nameless Witch! By A. Lee Martinez! Phew. Now I’ve got The Automatic Detective and Too Many Curses to look forward to. Huge sigh of relief.
And: Neil Gaiman’s NaNoWriMo reminder. I’ll definitely be needing his pep talk when I’m in the thick of things.
The not-so-little man and I get along famously. Most of the time. Which is good, because we’re usually on our own, just the two of us. So when things go badly it can be baffling and painful. Like yesterday. The day started off nicely. We stopped by Cupcake Saturday on the way to The Minneapolis Institute of Arts. After a quiet dinner at home we headed to Barebones, without other people, which was probably for the best. On the drive there he brought up topics that pack a wallop, though he is unaware of their emotional content. About how our house was more “fun” when my ex-husband lived with us. And how I should still try to give him a brother or sister and if I need to go to the hospital he could just stay with my former in-laws but he wouldn’t want the babies to die this time. Ouch. I’ll be having a chat with his psychologist soon. I don’t want to discourage him from sharing his thoughts and feelings, but I can only take being sucker-punched so often. Sometimes I feel like I’ve been desensitized to it. Other times it leaves me a ragged mess. Like last night. I was already on edge by the time we got to the performance. Still, it started out well enough. Until the boy got all squirmy and whiny and was talking through it and then demanding to go home because he was tired. We left before the end - the end of the show, and the end of my patience. And then I had a sad, sleepless night.
Today I am procrastinating. Needing to get many things done but I am a glassy-eyed wreck. Daydreaming instead of focusing on the now. And somewhat fixated on planning a trip to Nantes, France. Hopefully in 2010, if I can pull it off, for the opening of the Marine Worlds Carrousel from the Les Machines de l’Ile project. Thoughts like these help get me through the day.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
I’ve been feeling particularly wistful but trying to kick myself in the pants and get over it. Channeling this raw emotion into a project like Angry Butterfly would’ve been a good way to go, but a friend pointed out this video from Kiiiiiii. There goes my artistic vision! I mean sure, there’s nothing new under the sun. Just everything repurposed again and again. From Gwen Verdon Fosse’s dance routine being done by Beyoncé and again by Dancer554/Single Male (thanks to Maria for pointing that out). So I suppose I could pay tribute to Kiiiiiii. But maybe I’ll just overextend myself by committing to NaNoWriMo instead. That way no one will have to see me jumping up and down.
Bonus: Just as flickr has been a great source of interesting items, so has twitter. Yesterday yielded kawaii not: the comic for cute not bad and I began following Stephen Fry! I love that man. And am excited about his involvement with Last Chance to See.
Plus: I’ve been making more of an effort lately to get the boy around peers regularly, which made me realize we haven’t gone to a Free First Saturday event at the Walker in ages. The November program sounds decent but December’s is far more compelling, particularly the series of world-roaming short films. We are so there.
And: I’ve blogged about the Oak Street Cinema before, but I’m still bummed out that it’s going to be demolished.
I’ve been meaning to post this important public service announcement for a while now. It’s about a subject near and dear to me. Cupcakes. Specifically cupcakes on Saturdays at Letterbox Creative in Uptown Minneapolis. Sadly the owners of Letterbox, Kimberley and Zach, have decided to close up shop at the end of the month and move back to NYC. But Sheela will be selling cupcakes there tomorrow and the flavors will be as follows:
- vegan mexican hot chocolate
- vegan chai tea
- pumpkin butterscotch with cinnamon
Also this weekend? The boy and I are headed to Barebones with friends. It’s a little funny, getting our Halloween festivities kickstarted a week ahead of time, but since Halloween is my favorite holiday I’m not complaining.
Bonus: The Flaming Lips movie, Christmas on Mars, will finally be released. But it’s a very very limited release. It’s showing in Minneapolis just once at the Uptown Theater, at midnight, on November 22nd.
Plus: One thing I love so much about my flickr contacts - besides seeing their photos as a window into their daily lives - is how they lead me to other interesting things. Yesterday it was the CoolIris add-on for Firefox. And discovering that another contact is now a MOO designer. Neat.
And: My friend Marty has come up with a list of “must watch” post-apocalypse movies. I’ve seen most, but not all.
