“This Piece of Poetry Is Meant to Do Harm” by the Ark
Month: December 2010
Random 10 12-3
Last week…well, not so much. I’ll assume it was all the turkey and whatnot. But this week, surely you can guess these lyrics?
- “Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometimes” by Beck
Change your heart, it will astound you - “Skinny Love” by Bon Iver
Cut out all the ropes and let me fall - “Turn the Page” by Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band, guessed by Clayton
You don’t dare make a stand - “Hungry Heart” by Bruce Springsteen
We took what we had and we ripped it apart - “Whenever, Wherever” by Shakira
So you don’t confuse them with mountains - “This Street, That Man, This Life” by Cowboy Junkies
Lord, you play a hard game, you know we follow every rule - “Make it With You” by Dusty Springfield (orig. Bread), guessed by Occupant
I may be climbing up rainbows - “Runaway” by Del Shannon, guessed by Kim
I’m a-walkin’ in the rain - “She’s Got a Reason” by the Coral
She’ll watch the sky as it fades into black - “Der Fuehrer’s Face” by Spike Jones & His City Slickers
We would leave it if we could
Good luck!
‘Tis the season
No big presentations to attend today, though we did have a quick team meeting — ostensibly to review the titles under contract and in production, but mostly just to plan the date for our group’s holiday lunch and photo.
Every year we go out to lunch as a group, separate from the office-wide holiday party, and every year we take a group photo that we send as a holiday card to our authors. It’s interesting to look back at those photos and see just how much our lineup has changed since I came on board in 2006, with people leaving for other jobs, going back to school, moving across country, et cetera. Last year, we branched out beyond the Christmas tree in reception and took the photo in front of the New York Public Library. This year, we’re going all-out New Yorker and heading to Rockefeller Center for the photo. That’s not exactly far, though it’s not one block away like the Library, and I wonder if we’re not underestimating the distance in what’s very quickly become a very cold city. (Sure, low 30’s and 40’s are nothing to some of you, but I really sort of wished I’d worn a hat to work today.) And while there was maybe some concern that taking a holiday photo on December 13th was too soon, considering how early Hanukkah is this year — tonight’s the second night — we’re probably safely splitting the difference between that and Christmas, Kwanzaa, et al. And considering that most of us are going to be out the entire last week of December — and a couple, myself included, the entire last two weeks — we didn’t have a lot of other days to choose from.
I have to admit, I skipped the tree lighting in the reception area, despite the lure of eggnog and homemade cookies, and despite the fact that our team meeting ended in plenty of time to attend. I’m not a grinch, not by any means. I’ve gone on record to say I think it’s way too soon for houses decked out in lights and nothing but an endless cycle of carols on the radio — to say nothing of the electrical cost of the former, or the real mediocrity of a lot of the latter. And I definitely think it was too early right after — or before Thanksgiving. But I like Christmas decorations, and Christmas songs, and I like holidays in general. I just like celebrating them, you know, around the holiday season. But I mostly didn’t attend the tree lighting (or, rather, switching-on) because it crams about a hundred or more people into a space that maybe comfortably holds ten.
Maybe next year, when we’ve moved into our shiny new offices. I hear the cookies were really quite good.
Song of the day
“Both Sides Now” by Joni Mitchell
I’m probably not the biggest Joni Mitchell fan. Her phenomenal talent and importance as a songwriter can’t be overstated, but her voice is something of an acquired taste. Take, for example, this earlier recording of “Both Sides Now,” one of her signature songs: I think it absolutely benefits from what’s arguably now a more limited range, and certainly is a huskier voice. (It’s hard not to hear the years of cigarette smoke with every note.) It’s also a song that hugely benefits from perspective and time: there’s a lot more resonance to lyrics like “I’ve looked at love from both sides now” or “so many things I would have done” when they’re sung by a fifty-seven-year-old instead of a twenty-seven-year-old.
And while I’m sharing covers of the song, I also really like Rachael Yamagata’s version, but mostly just because I really like Rachael Yamagata.
It can’t be December yet, can it?
It rained almost all day here and in Manhattan, which is probably just as well. Thanks to a pair of presentations that I’d signed up for but had entirely forgotten until about an hour before they started — and can I just say, it’s already December 1? — I wound up with maybe half an hour for lunch. Which translated into about fifteen minutes, after I had to double-back for my wallet, and after the new guy at the place on the corner screwed up my initial pizza order. (I think he maybe gave my slice to someone else. Then again, he may have also under-charged me, so I guess we’re all good.) The rest of the day, when I wasn’t learning about e-books and library sales and customer service — and both presentations were reasonably informative — I spent locked in some kind of horrible death-match with the system we use to create book records, among other things. I don’t have cause to use it as much as I used to, back when I was an editorial assistant and created new records all the time, and every time I go into it, something’s changed, or there’s some weird new error message. I think it’s just angry I don’t spend much time with it anymore, and it’s acting out in spite. I’m hopeful we can get the problem I’m having with it now resolved, and soon, since there are three books I’d like to move ahead with before the end of the year.
And, for me, the year more or less ends on December 17. (Which is itself like a half-day, thanks to our company holiday party.)
So, y’know, fingers crossed.