June 12th, 2009
Saving you from boredom, one link at a time
Did you know that AMT has a blog? And that’s it’s fabulous, and contains regular updates about dogs, the Weather Network, and all the other various ways life is amusing? I have been dreaming of (and campaigning for) this for *years*, and now I am happy. You go read and be happy, too.
Another thing I’ve been wanting for a while is the re-emergence of rob mclennan’s fascinating series of author interviews, 12 or 20 Questions. And now it’s back, and being posted regularly on rob’s clever blog. Hooray! (Am I now going to get everything I’ve wished for? That would be odd. Maybe only blog-related things I’ve wished for.)
Finally, Penelope Trunk has a good post on prioritizing. Actually, it’s a slightly snarky post about how people who don’t read blogs are dumb and slow (I don’t agree with that; much as I like blogs, they are a personal choice, like a New Yorker subscription. Or heroin.) But she makes some really good points about how we have time for what we care about, and less time for what we, consciously or not, regard as unimportant. This is a good truth to acknowledge for me, and it’s stuff like this that keeps me reading PT although she a) is mean and b) talks a lot about her sex life for no reason. But actually, neither of those things are boring either!
Happy reading!
Thank you stranger for your therapeutic smile
RR
January 24th, 2009
All Over the Place
Some of my favourite bloggers have been sneaking off to other places and being brilliant all over again, and I’ve gotten a bit behind.
Kerry usually writes about books at Pickle Me This but this month she also wrote about books that are a little or a lot ripped from the headlines in This Magazine.
Julie usually writes about readers on Seen Reading, but last weekend she wrote about readers experiencing the miracle of text in transit in the Globe and Mail.
And Dani usually photographs animal effigies around town for Animal Effigy, but today her office banana chicken is on Cute with Chris.
Anything else I’ve missed?
Oliver James / washed in the rain / no longer
RR
January 23rd, 2009
Recs
Yes Man is a B-minus movie, but for some reason the music in the film is A++. The actual soundtrack album of the music that plays in the background of the film includes *nine* Eels songs, (including very annoyingly, *one* I don’t have). In addition, there’s tonnes of diagetic music that is way more fun to watch/listen to than the rest of the film. Go fig. But PS–are we offended that there is a band out there called Munchausen By Proxy? I think I am. If a band was named “Child Abuse,” that wouldn’t go over too well, and how is this any different? Their songs are so darn neat, though.
Desk Space is always awesome, but as a literary voyeur herself, Julie Wilson, gives particularly good desk-details.
You wouldn’t think I’d like a blog called Brazen Careerist. In fact, I almost never care about the actual advice being offered, but the woman who writes it, Penelope Trunk, is a very good writer, very funny and generous and *fascinating* on the topic of her own life history, and also quite possibly the woman least like me on the planet. I *love* reading her blog.
I’m going to stop pretending I didn’t break your heart
RR
January 9th, 2009
The YouTube Revolution…
is something that I’ve by and large missed. Mainly, I work on two computers: one on which I can’t stream video, and one on which I’ve gotten accidentally locked into a restrictive bandwidth contract (ah, me and the phone company: good times). So even if I actually remember to forward the cool link someone sent me to the computer that will allow me to watch it, I often forgo it if I’m close to my limit for the month and living in fear of incurring massive evil fines.
Such is my life.
*Anyway*, there a few things I do rely on YouTube for (isn’t it funny, by the way, that the name is based on the old picture tube, which is nearly archaic now in televisions, and certainly is in the computer-world). So I do know watching videos on the internet is great, although I only remember ever six months or so. It is great for the following things especially:
1) That thing everyone’s talking about! I can’t believe you missed it. No conversation will make any sense until you see this.
2) Overanalyzing music videos I saw incompletely at the gym and thought might have some hidden meaning. Also, occasionally, just videos I really like.
4) Happy Slip! A Filipino girl who lives in California who makes little mini-movies about her crazy family. She makes vids about other things too, soap opera parodies that I don’t get because I don’t watch soaps, and maybe other stuff too. I am content to watch the same three or four thingies over every six months, they’re that funny. I actually think she’s quite famous now, but I don’t know much about that because…I don’t really do YouTube. Really.
Take me with you / I start to miss you
RR
October 21st, 2008
Weetzie Bat
I can be heard reading one of my favourite favourite books over at Julie Wilson’s lovely site, Seen Reading. Doesn’t that first page make you want to read the whole thing? In my case, for the 40th time!!
You got to fight to stay in control of the situation
RR
September 9th, 2008
Desk space
Everybody cool is already on this, but let me also add that I adore Desk Space, a blog showcasing writers’ writing spaces. I am always dying to know what’s under writers’ desks, on their mousepads, on their shelves. The very fact that this blog exists makes me feel somewhat better about myself, since other people want to know too, so I’m not *that* weird.
I’m of a less oracular bent
RR
September 1st, 2008
Awesomeness
from so many sources, most of them helpfully catalogued on the interweb!
Listen: Kerry Clare reads Carol Shields’s Unless at Seen Reading (and accidentally matches her dress to the cover).
Look: Exile Quarterly‘s website got a redesign.
Marvel: Steven W. Beattie wrote 31 short story reviews in August (good ones; I guess it’d be a less impressive feat if they sucked).
Read: I got interviewed by Deanna McFadden at Experience Toronto.
Dream: Fred tells me maybe we *can* someday retire to the moon.
Expect: Coming Attractions 08 (that link is to last year’s model, but you get the idea) to be on shelves in the next couple months, containing three stories each by three new authors, one of which is me! (And the stories are “ContEd,” “The House on Elsbeth” and “Tech Support,” if you are curious.)
Oh my goodness, tomorrow is back-to-school! Not for me, though. Sigh.
I don’t wanna choose black or blue / I don’t wanna see what they done to you
RR
August 27th, 2008
Everybody blog!
At That Shakespeherian Rag, Nigel Beale refuses the Salon de Refuses, and at Thirsty, Dan Wells refuses back. Intersection is blogging again, but I just found out. My Tragic Right Hip has been blogging for a while, but I just discovered her existence and coolness.
My friend C. has no personal internet presence sadly, but does have a very cool iPhone. I have nothing new to say about anything, but I was happier about being photographed with an iPhone than this photograph would lead you to believe. On the positive side, I no longer hate my hair. On the negative side, my horoscope continues to advise patience. Hence the eye-roll?
Does he get lost / hey what are you reading?
RR
August 26th, 2008
There was a Bill Murray movie like this
My email homepage provides a horoscope, so while I’m not wildly into astrology, I’ve taken to checking it every day with mild curiosity. Even though these things are just vague enough to suit everybody, they are also filled with very vague good advice that it would do no one any harm to follow. Like this:
Gemini
You’ll be working with a lot more energy than the people around you will have today, so you need to be prepared to wait for them — a lot. This is not good news if you’re dependent on others for your own progress, but you won’t be able to speed anyone up — so don’t waste your time trying. Even though patience doesn’t always come easy for you, you’ll find that as the day goes on, you’ll get more and more comfortable cooling your heels while other people try to catch up.
Be patient–sure, why not? It’s usually something cheerful and zen like that, something that makes me feel better heading into the day. Unforutnately, the system at the website use seems to have broken down, and the above has been my horoscope for the past week now. I’m beginning to feel that this is affecting reality, thatI am in fact living the same day over and over again. I’m TIRED of being patient. I want to move ON. Is that too much to ask??
Um, there may have been other problems recently that the random zodiac machine at excite.com had nothing to do with. Either way, this is bad for morale.
Love love love
RR
August 25th, 2008
Too Far to Go
I can be heard reading part of John Updike story today. I very rarely hear my own voice without the reverberation of my skull, so I find listening to this an odd experience. If you are more used to not living inside my skull, you might find this recording less troubling. It’s a beautiful passage, in any event.
Your boots frozen in the soil of Spain
RR
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