- Rachel Maddow takes on the “Scare White People” tactics of the right. That this is a tried and tested method for securing votes is only slightly less disheartening than the fact that it seems to be working even today. [via]
- Rochita Loenen-Ruiz, whose story “Mouse and I” appears in the April 2010 issue of Kaleidotrope, writes about finding her voice as a Filipino science fiction writer:
I found myself thinking, yet again, on what kind of science fiction a Filipino would write, and how a writer can break free from being someone who emulates the works of writers he or she has admired to become a person who writes with a voice and with a story that comes from the writer’s own soul.
What things influence the Filipino writer then? What’s our backstory? How can I as a writer coming from a country that has been so colonialized and that is still trapped in a colonial mindset free myself so I can write the fictions that only I can write?
- She also shares a really terrific talk on “The Danger of a Single Story” by Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
- Apparently there is no gravity [via] and time is disappearing from the universe. [via] Or at least, those are some theories.
- And finally, I don’t know if this story, about a Bosnian man who claims to have been hit by meteorites six times, is made more or less strange by the possibility that it’s all a hoax.
kaleidotrope
“We gotta get off this rock, Chuck.”
This morning, I mailed out copies of Kaleidotrope to contributors and subscribers, which is a fun way to kill an hour and spend a couple hundred bucks. While I was at the post office, I picked up my thank-you gift from this year’s MaxFunDrive, which had arrived in the mail. It’s a flash drive, signed by Jonathan Coulton, containing his complete discography, which is really cool. I also got a Jordan, Jesse, Go! T-shirt and some cute stickers.
Then this evening, I watched Shutter Island, which isn’t a perfect movie, or even too surprising in its revelations, but it works really well. And it’s great too see Martin Scorcese, who at this point in his directing career has nothing to prove, continually trying new things. For all its excess, it’s clearly the product of man still in love with making movies and the possibilities the medium affords him. Scott Tobias describes the movie like this:
Shutter Island may initially seem like a nerve-jangling genre piece in the Cape Fear mold, but it’s more like Scorsese’s The Shining, a horror show where it’s sometimes hard to tell the haunted from those doing the haunting.
I’m sure I must have done something in between those two things — post office and movie — but it seems like mostly a blur of sitting around, watching some TV, reading, playing with the dog, and the usual Saturday stuff.
This must be a Thursday.
Not much to report. The first week of summer hours, arriving early and working late, is at an end, with the half-day reward tomorrow. Already, I’m not entirely sure that it’s been worth it.
Meanwhile, I’ve been getting issues of Kaleidotrope ready for mail over the weekend — and, as I periodically do, thinking about going the online route with the zine. I love the process of layout and the physicality of a print zine, but going digital would open up some interesting possibilities — and, moreover, would free up some money that currently goes to printing and postage. It’s just a thought.
And, also meanwhile…well, my back hasn’t been so great lately, with the return of pain that had been pretty manageable (if not negligible) for quite some time. The pain is pretty minor, as these things go; I have friends who’ve been bed-ridden or had to visit the hospital because of back pain. I don’t have any trouble walking, or moving, or even bending — just increased discomfort when I do so. The most worrying has been some minor numbness and weakness in my right leg today. I’ve been starting up with the stretches again, which I’d been too lax about, and trying to lose some weight anyway. But if the pain and numbness keep up, I may have to revisit my spinal doctor and talk about options. It’s hard to tell if the steroid injections helped much the first time, though I think they did a little. I don’t even know if that’s something we can discuss trying again.
Something tells me I’d have to get another MRI, and man, I do not enjoy those.
Anyway, time for bed. I need to rest up so me and my back can get to work tomorrow. We’re not allowed to take vacation days and use the summer hours — if you’re off a day, you work a regular week the rest of it — but nobody’s said what happens if you’re unfortunately sick, especially at the end of the week. It would suck mightily to work those extra three hours all for naught. So, bed.
Wednesday, or so they tell me
The summer hours thing sure aren’t making this week go any faster, I can tell you that much. I have this weird fear that on Friday morning they’re going to tell us that it was all a hoax, or that they’ve decided to call it off, and we’ll have worked nine extra hours for nothing. Of course, our e-mail server has been pretty unreliable the past couple of days, so I guess I could always claim that I didn’t get that announcement. Either way, I’m looking forward to leaving early on Friday, but I’m definitely already feeling those extra forty-five minutes each day.
With the exception of conferences, I haven’t really worked any “overtime” in years. (And even conferences include a free trip somewhere.)
This evening, I took a different train out of Manhattan, to meet my parents at the eye doctor and drive them home. Which is about the extent of the excitement here for this Wednesday.
I did, however, finally decide to close Kaleidotrope down to submissions starting August 15. I’ll re-open on January 1. This will hopefully ease some of the pressure at my end, since I’m already at least two or three issues ahead; while the slush pile is pretty manageable, a break is always nice, as is being able to publish stories less than two or three years after acceptance.
Weekend with the dragon tattoo
Saturday went by much, much too quickly.
It rained for most of the afternoon, and I spent it mostly playing with the dog and watching TV or reading. I feel bad that I wasn’t able to mail out issues of Kaleidotrope this weekend, though I did finally mail a copy of issue #8 that I’ve been neglecting to for a little while now. (A very little while. I’m usually good about that sort of thing.) I just wasn’t going to be able to have all them printed, folded, stapled, enveloped, and mailed. Next Saturday, fingers crossed!
Last night, I watched The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (on Netflix Watch Instantly), which I think I liked about as much as I did the book. Which is to say that I liked some of it quite a lot, particularly Noomi Rapace’s fearless portrayal of Lisbeth Salander, but found the rest of it a weird mix of padded tedium and gripping (if inelegantly structured) whodunit.
It’s also funny that so much has been made of how the translated title, Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, is inaccurate, that Laarson’s original, Män som hatar kvinnor (or Men Who Hate Women), is more apt. And it’s true, the book is more about misogyny (and family secrets) than about Lisbeth. Her tattoo gets mentioned, briefly, but it’s hardly important, and she’s hardly the main focus of the story. And yet if you take her character out of the book — and out of the movie — you’re not left with much else that works. Certainly nothing that’s half as intriguing. Rapace is riveting every time she’s on screen; but every time she’s off, you notice. And while the movie streamlines a lot of the book — for better and for worse — it’s still two and a half hours long. Laarson’s title is more accurate, but it’s boring and underlines what doesn’t work; the English title is misleading, but it focuses in on what’s best about the book.
The movie also had what I think is a pretty big spoiler for the next two books. I say think, because I haven’t read them yet. (I may at some point, but it won’t be immediately, even with the second movie now playing in the US.)
Apparently, there’s also a TV show (starring Rapace) in Sweden. I’m a little dumbfounded by the mass appeal of the books, but there’s something there.