Why I gave up consuming "Something to Tell You: A Novel"

Something to Tell You: A Novel

by Hanif Kureishi

I just couldn’t get interesting in this book. I read up to page 60-something and still felt it was going nowhere, just a bunch of flashback-like storytelling that didn’t seem to connect with each other in any way except that they were all part of the narrator’s life. I also didn’t care much for the narrator’s character himself nor his style of storytelling.

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On Magazines

Fact: Magazines are expensive. Solution: Don't pay for them.
No, I'm not encouraging thievery of magazines, or to give them up. Actually, we should all be reading more of them. The answer is the public library. Not nearly enough people take advantage of the magazine rack at the library—not nearly enough people take advantage of the library at all for that matter.

A while back I read a post on Russell Davies' blog on "How to be Interesting," one of the tips was to read a new magazine every week. At first this sounded a bit ridiculous to me, I mean magazines are expensive. The Life magazine I posted about, for example, $11.99, that's a bit above average, but still magazines are not cheap. Being a full-time student with just a part-time job, I can't refuse to spend $7 each week on a magazine, not matter how interesting it will make me. But then I got to thinking, every time I have some extra time between classes why not go to the library and read a magazine.

So I started doing just that. Last week I read an issue of Time which had a great article about the Dali Lama, and whether it made me more interesting or not, I definitely have knowledge now that I lacked before, and I found interest in something I would have passed over normally. Another good thing about reading magazines in the library is that they also have back issues so you can even catch-up on events or topics that you've missed.

While it's good to read a variety of different magazines (sure, I may be female but I can still expand my personal bank of information and be entertained by Esquire), news magazines are about the best for this. They have current events, culture, politics, editorials, and entertainment all in one magazine. Sure the stories may be brief and not give a full picture of the topic, but there's 20 more magazines right there to give you the other side, and maybe even a specialty magazine with an in-depth look.

Knowing a lot about a few things is always good, but also knowing at least a little about everything else is even better. I think that is how this should work, it makes you interesting by increasing your knowledge and widening the scope of topics you know about. Perhaps the best part of reading more magazines is that it increases your ability to have something to talk about with just about anyone, which means a lot less of those awkward, silent moments when you can't find any topic you and the other party (or parties) are interested in talking about.

Lovin'

This is the issue of Life's Great Photographers Series that's on shelves right now, the subject: Audrey Hepburn, "Remembering Audrey 15 Years Later". I'm a huge Audrey Hepburn fan if you didn't already know, and if you read much about her you'll love her too, not just as an actress, but as an altruistic humanitarian. My mom saw this issue of Life at Target today and picked it up for me, rarely I never spend this much on a magazine, but to me this is definitely worth it. It's filled with wonderful pictures, and what I've read in it so far is great as well. It won't be on shelves much longer, so if you want a copy you best get it now or ebay. I now have a great desire to collect every issue Audrey Hepburn has been on the cover of (I'm finding 7 others so far), and to get a pet fawn.

I also just finished reading How to be Lovely: The Audrey Hepburn Way of Life, which is full of quotes and stories that are very inspirational.

And now for some music I'm lovin'
I just started my Best Albums of 2008 list with these two albums:
The Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely: While I loved Broken Boy Soldiers, I'm glad this album isn't just a repeat of that. It's different, just as great, if not better.

Unwed Sailor - Little Wars: I will venture to say that this is the best Unwed Sailor album to date! It is brilliance to my ears. It's a more melodic sound closer to Unwed Sailor's older releases, but it's more than that, I don't know how to explain it but it makes me feel nice and I'm in love with it. The LP version has 2 bonus tracks, and I usually hate it when bonus tracks are only available on the vinyl because I like to listen to it on my iPod and in my car, but this LP release comes with a coupon for free digital download of the entire album plus bonus tracks. How awesome is that!

What other albums should make it onto my Best Albums of 2008 list?

What are you lovin' right now?

"New Look!" or "New, Look"

New WordPress theme here, come check it out and let me know what you think. I'm not settled on the header image and the colors just yet, I still have a few things going through my head.

I also added content to the articles page that had been sitting there all blank and lonely. It now has the 2 most recent issues of my college's newspaper that can be read in full.

Speaking of articles, I finished reading Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography and even already wrote my review of it. Unfortunately, it's way too long and I'm going to have to cut it down a bit.

I'm proud of myself for keeping to my goal of not procrastinating (at least for the most part, I should be studying right now though), but I'm really not doing so good on my goal of taking a photo every day.

How are your goals going?

How...original

This coming Thursday, March 20, would have been Mister Rogers' 80th birthday, and in honor of the best neighbor ever it is Sweater Day. Weather permitting, I will be wearing a sweater, how about you?

Next time you need to promote something, think of Christvertising it. Hilarious. (via Joshua Blankenship).

At this moment I am drinking my coffee with granulated sugar. I am not a happy camper. While I only have a few snobberies about my coffee, this is one of them. It reminds me from part of the movie Le Divorce, where Naomi Watts' character feels insulted by her mother-in-law calling her use of sugar grains "original."

"Sugar grains. Original."
Meaning how bizarre.

Meaning, "Why don't you have sugar cubes
like a proper French girl?"

I'm also listening to the music you guys recommended right now and will make a post about it shortly. Though I should be finishing up this book I'm writing a review of for the school paper, and doing my other school-related reading.

A story about "Things Fall Apart"

Things Fall Apart

by Chinua Achebe

There is an error on page 93 of Anchor Books’ 1994 edition. On line 21 the name “Odukwe” is misspelled as “Okukwe.”

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My Day

A cool 73°, a nice breeze. Windows open and the AC off. A good book.
A nice relaxing day.



My Day 01-08-08 from Reese on Vimeo.

Goals

Here's what I've come up with for my goals for 2008 so far:

Create more goals

Think without distractions. Don't let things hold back creativeness.

Write more (often). This ties in heavily with "Think." I need to do more creative writing outside of school work.

Get over photographer's fear. So many times I want to take a picture of something but I don't because I'm thinking about how people will think I'm weird for taking a picture of something seemingly mundane; I should just let them be jealous of my awesome picture.

Listen to more music, really hear it, not just the words, each note, each instrument. Feel the depth and beauty of it.

Read the Bible, or finish reading the Bible, or re-read the parts I've already read. For a while I was reading the Bible every day, but I'd say that was about 2 years ago; I'll be honest, I don't think I opened my (non-internet) Bible at all in 2007 and I don't feel good about that.

Take a photo every day. It doesn't have to be a masterpiece.

Increase reading speed. I've always been a pretty fast reader, compared to say other in my class in school, but I don't read as fast as I'd like to. Now, I don't want to speed read or anything, I think that's silly, but if I ever want to be a book editor I need to be able to read a bit faster, without losing any comprehension.

I guess that's it for goals. Now if I were to make a resolution, and I usually don't, it would be the same as a couple years ago: a never-ending quest to find beauty in everything, aka find God's love in everything.

A story about "When the Emperor Was Divine"

When the Emperor Was Divine

by Julie Otsuka

There is an end quotation mark missing from line 9 on page 35. I am now on page 92 and am still unable to put it out of my mind.

Grammar Nazis Unite!

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