The New York Times continues to think that the trend towards dressing up is their hot new over the last couple of years. The New York Times is increasingly the last to know about anything, but I'll take what I can get. This one is very much an outgrowth of the Mad Men phenomenon, but it pretty high on my "mmmm, yes, but no" list.
Get ready for the sound of me screaming. I haven't read it yet, but nothing titled, "Can Anybody Make a Movie for Women?" is gong to result in anything but my fury.
I feel like a bit of an asshole linking this one as it's unavoidably full of "look at those wacky Japanese" and "geeks are losers" tropes, but Tokyo man weds video game character.
Jude Law 'in love' with 'Sherlock Holmes' co-star Robert Downey Jr. That's the headline exactly as CNN gives it to you, and I'm interested in it both as marketing strategy in terms of sound-bites on Sherlock Holmes and also because of the whole implied giggly/awkwardness of the headline in the rest of the article. I find this shit amusing on the surface and then quaint and irritating when I think about it, to be frank. Because CNN would _never_ use that headline in reference to men who were, you know, actually romantically/sexually in love with each other. That's the problem.
Speaking of Holmes: originally the two bits of Holmes hilarity coming out in the next couple of months (the one mentioned above and the sucktacular thing GDL is in) were just going to be odd campy amusements to me. But now I'm having to read all the Holmes stuff for my Bristol paper, so hey... I might be informed on the OMGWTFBBQ factor of these projects.
An origami crane folded by Sadako Sasaki is part of 9/11 memorial. My fellow children of the 80s, were you traumatized by 1,001 Cranes along with me? I can't believe that there used to be a whole genre of children's books, both fiction and non-, about nuclear war. Ah, the Regan years.
Patty has been keeping me up to date on the epically weird demise of the Washington Times, DC's bizarreo-land Moonie-run paper. If you haven't been following it, you can catch up here.
The odds of my book being in-stock again from a major e-tailer before the deadline for Christmas shipping delivery is pretty low. I'm making a post office run on Saturday. If you want one $14 to me via paypal and I'll get it out then. Books will be in stock again soon, just not in time for Christmas delivery.
I live between a very small town (about 6000 people) and a largish town (about 80,000) people. The large town has one big chain bookstore, a couple of small independent bookstores, and 4 (that I can think of) used bookstores of which one is a real collector's store. The small town also has an independent bookstore which offers new and used books. We read more in Canada?
Oh yes, I remember 1001 Cranes. I didn't really get why she died, though, at the time, and it didn't traumatize me much. The trauma didn't hit me until I read Hiroshima as a freshman in high school.
One thing that puzzles me about abstinence education, and no doubt I'm missing something obvious: whatever happened to education lasting for a lifetime? You're not supposed to forget all your math skills once you graduate, even if you're no longer taking graded classes. Surely even married couples would want to know how to control their fertility after the wedding? (Ah, silly me. We're all supposed to be Quiverfull families. Of course.)
There's a statue of Sadako about a mile from my house. It is almost always draped with swags of cranes. Despite being traumatized as a kid, I love it so much. One day I will learn to make the cranes. It's like crocheting, it just doesn't take.
My fellow children of the 80s, were you traumatized by 1,001 Cranes along with me?
Oh, hell yes. That, and this explanation of how war worked in these modern days, from a teacher: "Well, you'll just be going about your daily business, and someone in another country will just press a button and BLAM! You'll be dead." When I was in first grade, I spent weeks worrying we were all going to explode at any moment. Actually, looking at what I typed, it seems funny now, but at the time it was pants-wetttingly scary. I cried a lot.
Laredo, TX has 250,000 people but no bookstores.
That's very scary. And they wanted to put up an indoor snowboarding facility? Way to foster a love of learning, people.
Our tiny town is putting up a new library right now. It's the most awesome thing. There's less than 1000 of us out here. And we may have to drive forty minutes to find a bookstore, but when we get there, we have the choice of three, plus a library and two book-exchanges. Population 30K.
I want a functional teleportation device stat. Just for a few hours wandering that sale.
And yes, I remember those drills and signs and discussions about nuclear fallout, although I don't recall that particular book. I remember vividly grabbing my mothers? copy of Hiroshima of a shelf at grandma's one summer and being horrified and frightened, but reading it anyway (the pictures especially). Then starting second grade, and something big must have happened because the teachers were taking drills very seriously all of a sudden. Do you know if this happened in rural areas too? Or was it mostly us city kids who got traumatized?
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no subject
Date: 2009-12-18 01:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-18 02:39 am (UTC)One thing that puzzles me about abstinence education, and no doubt I'm missing something obvious: whatever happened to education lasting for a lifetime? You're not supposed to forget all your math skills once you graduate, even if you're no longer taking graded classes. Surely even married couples would want to know how to control their fertility after the wedding? (Ah, silly me. We're all supposed to be Quiverfull families. Of course.)
no subject
Date: 2009-12-18 03:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-18 04:31 am (UTC)Oh, hell yes. That, and this explanation of how war worked in these modern days, from a teacher: "Well, you'll just be going about your daily business, and someone in another country will just press a button and BLAM! You'll be dead." When I was in first grade, I spent weeks worrying we were all going to explode at any moment. Actually, looking at what I typed, it seems funny now, but at the time it was pants-wetttingly scary. I cried a lot.
Laredo, TX has 250,000 people but no bookstores.
That's very scary. And they wanted to put up an indoor snowboarding facility? Way to foster a love of learning, people.
Our tiny town is putting up a new library right now. It's the most awesome thing. There's less than 1000 of us out here. And we may have to drive forty minutes to find a bookstore, but when we get there, we have the choice of three, plus a library and two book-exchanges. Population 30K.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-18 08:24 am (UTC)And yes, I remember those drills and signs and discussions about nuclear fallout, although I don't recall that particular book. I remember vividly grabbing my mothers? copy of Hiroshima of a shelf at grandma's one summer and being horrified and frightened, but reading it anyway (the pictures especially). Then starting second grade, and something big must have happened because the teachers were taking drills very seriously all of a sudden. Do you know if this happened in rural areas too? Or was it mostly us city kids who got traumatized?
no subject
Date: 2009-12-18 01:58 pm (UTC)