Friday Things: 03/30

[It's the end of March! Hurray! Another week goes by and I've got another list of stuff I found interesting this week. A few things had the Internet a-buzz recently, including a questionable blog post on Forbes about Geek Girls. Check out my time wasters below:]

On Photography:

Amazing Photography shared some images taken at Japan's abandoned amusement park Nara Dreamland. The park is basically a bootleg, and the images are illegally taken. Enjoy! There are lots of incredible images here.

J-List's Peter Payne shared a link to a list of 25 fantastically lucky photographs featuring animals. He's right: they are rare photos indeed! Some of them are hilarious. A must-click.

On Books and Reading:

Pottermore opened up this week! Hurray! This is where you go for all your Harry Potter e-book needs. You don't have long to wait for the full Pottermore site to open up to the public, either.

Back to the e-books, though. Pottermore broke some ground by running sales and all that on their own shop. The problem, though, is they pretty much broke Amazon with all the re-directs and it shut down their US Kindle store for a little while. At least, that's what a lot of folks are assuming. Either way, yikes.

Steven Lloyd Wilson writes on why we need bad fiction in order to appreciate the real good stuff in this post titled Pick Your Poison: Sturgeon's Law and Why We Love Bad Fiction.

It looks like Young Adult fiction continues to be a strong theme on my Twitter feed, as Sharayah Pranger tweets about this discourse on the subject on Room for Debate: The Power of Young Adult Fiction. There are some interesting points listed here and it's worth the read for sure.

Here's a link to 11 Writing Tips from Childrens Books. Some of this is fun and could be applied to any sort of writing.

On Geek issues:

Earlier I mentioned a particular article that had gone up on Forbes about Geek Girls ("Dear Fake Geek Girls: Please Go Away"). When I read it, I'll admit I felt a bit bothered by the angle, but I didn't jump in the debate because in reality there is no winning. There'll always be folks out there that pretend to like things for attention, as well as folks who will be criticized by "real" geeks for not being hardcore enough fans of whatever. In the end, my opinion is to just like what you like, even if it means dealing with unfair and stupid "geek cred tests" at every other corner.

That being said, there is some good reading material on the debate if you're interested in seeing how some other females on the internet feel about the matter. Leigh Alexander produced a great rebuttal on her personal blog, and Lauren Orsini another on hers titled "'Fake Geek Girls' aren't the problem." They're both worth a look.

On Geek Stuff I Want to Buy:
This is a TARDIS iPhone case. There are lots of cases of its kind for sale on Etsy and I'm very tempted to purchase one. It's pretty much perfect, and it works well with the downloadable iPhone wallpaper to make the screen match. (image via first link)

That's it for my links this week! They're actually pretty loaded, so I hope you find something interesting there. As usual, I welcome all sorts of stuff and you could totally recommend stuff for me to share at any time. Have a good one!

You learn new things every day

Yesterday and the night before, I started asking folks on twitter for their recommendations on Young Adult novels and series which feature a strong female lead. It was sparked by a discussion I had with my boyfriend on recent debates over Hunger Games vs Twilight and somehow even vs Harry Potter as series with strong female leads (Katniss vs Bella vs Hermione). Why are only these "big ones" in the heat of debate?

While I was able to immediately count off various stories which feature a strong main heroine or a heroine in a team of heroes, my boyfriend could only name one (Matilda). It got me curious as to why that is. When he was at the age I was reading the likes of Babysitters Club, Ramona, Island of the Blue Dolphins, A Series of Unfortunate Events, A Wrinkle in Time and others, while he'd already jumped into sci-fi. Is this the assumption for all boys around that age?

Apparently, it kind of, sort of is. My friend Melissa shed some light on the issue, saying this has been a hot topic in publishing because it is already assumed that the authors and audience are going to be predominantly female. Boys apparently have better things to do when they're 12, like playing soccer or learning karate. Then again, if you read stuff like this well-written debate on The Mary Sue, you'll quickly realize that things just kind of went in this direction because it's the only way that many women broke into published literature.

Needless to say, and back to my original story of thinking I was breaking some sort of ground with this whole issue, the response from Twitter I got was overwhelmingly female, with just three boys who had input (good input, actually, in mentioning Coraline and Ramona among others), and only one mention overall of one of the “big" titles (Hunger Games series). They mentioned all kinds of stories, some of which they harked were “classics" even, that I had never heard of. You could run a search on my Twitter feed to see all the recommendations as well as clicking here for another list of titles if you're looking for ideas.

It made me realize that I don't really lean one way or another with my reading. I read memoirs if I admire the person, I read a lot of any genre except romance despite the hero's gender, and most of all I've found I enjoy stories with a team of heroes involved, or the kind that the perspective varies from chapter to chapter as in my current reading 1Q84. This exercise helped me come to this conclusion; the personal realization about my reading trends.

That being said, now I'm interested in learning about the reading trends of other people I know. Some of my local buds have already come back to me with all kinds of feedback based on the activity on Twitter and I'm eager to hear more! Thanks to everyone who has participated so far, especially to Melissa Dominic who educated me on the debate and to all of you who came here to read about it, too.

[image of Hermione via]

Friday Things: 03/23

[Welcome to Friday Things! This week it'll be a little shorter than usual because I've been a busy bee. I actually have passed my first interview for the ALT job, and now I'll be preparing for the second interview and seminar which takes place in three weeks. Wish me luck?]

On Photography:

This guy likes to blend in. Check out the "Invisible Man" in Beijing.

Federico Chiesa has a horror photo project going called Horror Vacui which entails imagining villains from the 80s or so as they might look today. The picture of Freddy was the eye-catcher for me, but they're all great.

On Books and stuff:

Book Riot has been publishing cool galleries in a series called "Libraries of the Rich and Famous." Some of these are freekin' gorgeous! I hope someday I can have a beautiful personal library like any of the pictures. (Part 1) (Part 2)

I seriously love Lemony Snicket, and so does my fellow contender for Emlyn's "Books that made me <3 reading" challenge Emily Moir. Here's her post on why.

On Gaming:

Did you ever play more than 1 Kingdom Hearts game? How about like 4 or 5 Kingdom Hearts games? Here's an amusing explanation of how the cast and time line work.

On Science:

My friend Romney Manassa on the issue of resurrecting/cloning Woolly Mammoths.

Other funny stuff:



I love Ellen DeGeneres and her pranks and stuff. Here's a fun video where she sends someone in to a JCPenny photo studio.

That's all for this week. I hope you enjoyed the fun stuff!

On '1Q84': Part 1 of 3

I recently started reading 1Q84, and I intend to get through it as efficiently as possible. It took me a couple of months to get through Moby-Duck (my review here), and it was probably silly of me to take on another large title so soon after, but this book has been on my reading list since, well, last year. A friend gave it to me for Christmas.

I wasn't sure what to expect. I've never read a book that has been translated from Japanese to English, so this is my introduction to Haruki Murakami's style. It's also my introduction to what I assume is a more "Japanese style" of writing opposed to the kind of stories I'm used to. The reason I say this is because by chapter 5, you still have no clue what is going on.

Every chapter feels like an eternity, but I don't mean it in a bad way. Murakami has a way of narrating the story that feels like he has all the time in the world to set it up and give us backgrounds for the characters, and slowly build up to what will eventually be the meat of the story. Then again, maybe he intends the build up to be meatier than the actual "plot." Either way, even with the "slow pacing," I haven't been bored in the least. I love the characters.

Instead, I've been relaxed. When I initially sat down to read the book, I tried to rush because I wanted to move on and read what comes next, but the book forced me to slow down. I don't even know how that works, but it's so eloquently written, so perfectly translated and the word choices feel so precise that I feel like it'd be a disservice to the book to try and read it quickly. Instead, I find myself taking my time.

The way the book is put together, each chapter alternates between two different main characters, Aomame and Tengo. Throughout most of the first "book," that is the section which covers January through June of the storyline (the entire thing spans a year), I wonder what the connection is between the two. They don't intersect, and up until almost the end of that first section there was nothing similar about their story lines. They were just going about their lives as things happened to them. I was able to take day-long breaks from reading the book because "nothing was happening anyway."

The author is a clever one, though. I stayed up much too late last night finishing up the last four chapters because I was given a detail that made every difference. The one detail that I can see will connect their stories, though probably much later in the book. Now, I'm itching to read it. While I'm at work, I think about the location of my car relative to my desk and picture the book sitting on the passenger seat with my Sorting Hat metal book mark at the spot where I left off, the first page of the second section (July through September).

[Buy 1Q84 on Amazon]
[book cover image via - read also for more information about the book]

Friday Things: 03/16

[Another week, another Friday Things! Check out the links below and waste some time on the Internet.]

On Books and Writing:

My buddy Sharayah Pranger does her own weekly link column called Weekly Bookmarks, and this week she featured this story about whether meeting a jerk author makes you less inclined to enjoy their work. I personally think it's true: this applies to me with artists and their artwork, so why not writing?

Friend and storyteller Counterpunch has debut his new website! You could read his introduction right here.

Apparently, it isn't possible for a young person reading something from medieval times like Dante's Divine Comedy to understand the context of racism or other non-PC themes within the title. Thankfully, in this case common sense reigns and the books won't be removed from curriculum.

This is "yet another" well-written post about how to deal with writers effectively (basically, on the issue of actually paying writers for work).

A clever post about fanfiction, or basically prequels/spin-offs/etc. of classic stories, with a short list of some of the better ones worth looking at.

On Photography:


Your photography gear should be as fun and interesting as your pictures. Thanks to Borrow Lenses I now know about all these awesome bags! (image via linked post)

More updates on what you should know about Pinterest if you are also a photographer. (Part 1) (Part 2)

On Disney:

Sometime soon, we may start seeing Marvel superheros wandering the Disney Parks alongside the other classic Disney characters. It's just a maybe, but hey.

On Gaming:



This video is very silly. If you're as much of a fan of the Monkey Island series as I am, you'll find it doubly silly. It's a guy on a unicycle playing a trumpet and bagpipes. Come on!

Other:

Relevant to my interests right now, since I've got my big interview on Wednesday, there are some tips on what to do during your interview right over at Forbes. Namely, be enthusiastic!

That's all for this week. See you next time!

Elton John: Not slowing down

In a display of his total rock star status, Elton John performed a fantastic concert at the Bank Atlantic Center this past weekend in Sunrise, Florida.

Hitting up this show was a rather last-minute deal for me, as I hadn't bought the tickets too far in advance (actually, only about three days prior). I had seen him before together with Billy Joel on their Face2Face tour a few years back, but never Elton solo.

I'm glad I got those tickets. The show was incredible, and being a "greatest hits" tour it was the kind of performance that made everyone feel good. He played all those hits that everyone wanted to sing along to, wore an awesome purple suit and coat that shone like a disco ball and was accompanied by a smashing band, including mister Nigel Olsson who has been with him since the beginning. That's a damn long time.

(click through to read more)

Book Review: 'Doxology' by Brian Holers

More than anything else, Doxology is a book about reconnecting and coming home after straying from the right path. Vernon Davidson, 61 years old, isolated, driven to drinking to ease the pain, is now faced with a new hurdle in his life: his brother is on his death bed.

His brother's request is for Vernon to find his sons Jody and Scooter. And this is where the book begins. We don't know much about Vernon or the Davidson family in general, how much they've abused and isolated each other at the beginning of the book. We just know that Vernon is an angry guy that looks forward to Easter Sunday when he can strut around his backyard (facing the church) naked doing his laundry.

In reuniting with his nephew Jody, things start to come apart. Everything comes out: Vernon's son's death, the family history, the memories, what he thinks about the future, his reasoning for leaving the church, everything. And with it came the healing. Doxology follows the course of Vernon's path to "going home," of figuring out what he needed in order to let go and be a happy man.

(click through to read more)

Friday Things: 03/09

[Welcome to Friday Things! I missed it last week due to some complications and just being plain ol' busy - in addition to recovering from the whole wrist issue, which is going well by the way, I now had some preventative surgery last Thursday and have stitches in. They're less of a bother now, so I'm back up to speed. Enough about me though, enjoy this week's reads!]

On Books, Reading, Authors:



James Rollins has this video where he talks about what he does when he's not writing. It's always cool to see what an author's into and what is incorporated into their books.

Pottermore is finally set to be opened to the general public online starting April! They ran into a few hitches along the way, but it looks like things are working now. Yay!

Letters of Note published a fantastic letter written by a very angry J.R.R. Tolkien after he was asked for proof of Aryan descent by a German publisher, which may or may not have been the actual response sent over to them.

For further reading on the issue of Barnes and Nobles (or other book stores) not selling Amazon published products: another insightful read. This whole situation is just silly, and everyone needs to stop.

On Photography:

These are clouds. Indoors. They're awesome. Look at them!

Have an iPad and want to learn about lighting? This App for Scott Kelby is free and full of tutorials.

The New York Institute of Photography is running a photo contest based around the color Green. Enter before April 10!

On Gaming:

A bud has turned me on to a newish gaming lit site called medium difficulty - give it a read sometime! Here's the About page.

Other:

I'm really, seriously looking forward to ParaNorman! Most of the reason why is because the film is in the capable hands of LAIKA and Focus Features, who brought us the 3-D stop motion film Coraline (based on a book by Neil Gaiman). You can watch the trailers here.

That's all I've got for today. Pretty light compared with some past editions, but nonetheless plenty to take a look at. As usual, be sure to leave feedback or more links you think I should include! Have a fab Friday~

Nifty things

I like nifty things.

For example, I had a dimmer pack installed for the lights in my room so that I could control the level of lighting throughout the day. I'm not really into super bright lights, and I also wanted to have wall sconces to serve as bedtime reading lights, or just mood lights whenever I'm in there but not on the computer.

What's nifty about the deal is the dimmer pack came with a little remote. It's a simple deal with just two little buttons that I can press and hold to adjust the light levels, but it's something that I love having.

Yesterday night, I was thinking about how I'll miss it if/when I get out of here.

Lately, I've been thinking of a lot of things in terms of, "well, if I get hired and take off to Japan in 5 months..."

It feels a little soon, but then again, the time will fly just like that. I applied to the job with Interac just a few weeks ago, and in a couple weeks I've got my interview, and a few weeks after that I'll be at Orlando all dolled up in a business suit and meeting people that will be interviewing me again, except face-to-face. If all goes well, I'm out of here in August.

There are a lot of things I'll have to get used to. Not just getting used to the way of living in Japan, but getting used to being without some things that have become pretty standard here in the States and in my own life. Even something as simple as a dimmer pack on my lights will be something missed. I'm not sure how I'll be able to compensate for it. Perhaps I'll end up buying a few lamps instead of using big lights.

I think I'll miss Cuban food, too. The food in Japan is pretty delicious though, and I didn't miss it the last time (that was a 2 month trip). One of the first things I did when I got back was hit up a Cuban restaurant and eat all my favorite foods, and then I drove to the movie theater to see the midnight premiere of that year's Harry Potter movie. I probably won't go to the movie theater much while I'm over there. I heard there's a Cuban place in Tokyo, too. I might have to make a trip.

Of course, I'll also miss some of the folks "back home." You know, just texting or calling someone up at any random time, getting together with a bud for lunch, seeing friends on the weekend, hugging my boyfriend. I'll be gone for months at a time, so I'll have to get used to Skype dates whenever we can both accommodate it with the time difference.

On the other hand, I'll be spending as much time as I can seeing new places and learning new things. Part of the reason I applied to this teaching job is so I can see more of the country. I get weekends and holidays off as well as observed festivals, so there's plenty of fun to be had as long as I am relatively frugal with my money.

I'm excited. Nervous, but nonetheless.