October 27th, 2006
The Pull Of The Girlie Movie And Other Random Links
1. As discussed by Tara, as relating to Kirsten Dunst, on Fametracker. I giggled so loudly at work yesterday that one of my coworkers said, “Are you okay?” I have one thing and one thing only to say: “Cuba!”
2. Even though it’s not stated explicitly, but it was me who actually sent this package to George at Bookninja, and this post makes me feel good. I know, I’m not supposed to blog about work but how often do you get a shout out on Bookninja?
3. So Misguided also links to Heat, which I’m reading right now too. And she even adds to the awesomeness of the post by linking off to the WWF’s current Living Planet report. I heart this blog very much.
Does the "A" Stand For Awesome?
The true title of this post should be “IFOA IV – Thursday” but that’s so boring when last night was probably the best evening of readings I’ve ever had the pleasure of attending (with the exception of John Irving, which shall stand alone as the single most literary inspiring event I’ve seen; oh wait, and I saw Michael Ondaatje once, and he inspired me to write this, oh, nevermind).
Like the all-girls event Zesty and I went to last year, last night four inspiring, talented and lovely women read from their latest books of fiction: Madeleine Thien, Claire Messud, Jane Hamilton and Janet Fitch. All four of the readings were complimentary, three of which had more traditional themes of war (Second World War, Terrorism, War on Terror, respectively), and the forth, set in the heyday of the punk rock scene in LA, is perhaps war of a different kind (mosh-pit inspired), and all four women were great readers.
More often than not, I’ve read the book when I’ve gone to see an author at the IFOA. I’m thinking that maybe next year I’ll do the opposite and go and see people where I haven’t read their work. It’s a fresh perspective, so inspiring to hear what books actually make the leap from the page into your imagination as told by the author herself. It’s impressive, and I would absolutely read every single one of the books from last night.
And I really like how the IFOA balances the commercial-type fiction, like Fitch’s, with the more literary fiction, like Thien’s, showing that as diverse as the subject matter and styles actually are, the books fit together on that imaginary shelf like peas in a pod. And hell, going and supporting authors at the IFOA makes me feel good, like they deserve the giant round of applause at the end just for sitting in a room for hours, weeks, months, days, years, with their thoughts and a pen, maybe a keyboard, just toiling away to create something that matters.
Tonight, it’s Margaret Atwood, one of my own personal literary icons, which should also be inspiring and all that other touchy-feely stuff I mentioned above.
October 24th, 2006
You Want Me To Do What?
I have caught the cold. I’m running a fever, have a sore throat, and my chest feels weighted down by lead balloons. What can you do? It was bound to happen. I’ve been hyper-lucky with colds this year (read: I haven’t really had any) so I suppose I was due.
But, of course, it comes on the heels of other more pressing issues. I can tell you shuffling around the house in my pajamas is one of my favourite things to do. Shuffling around the house while having a cold in my pajamas, not so much. You can’t enjoy anything when you have a cold: not TV, not a book, not the internet, nothing.
You really can’t enjoy peeing in a jug for 24 hours when you have a cold. Yes, you read that right, I’m peeing in a jug. It’s the most hated of all the clinical tests I have to do for my damn kidneys: the 24-hour urine test. While I understand that they need to see how much protein is being leaked from my poor, beleaguered organ, I absolutely hate this test. I mean, who wants a jug of their pee in their fridge for 24 hours? Who?
Wait, don’t answer that.
October 22nd, 2006
IFOA – Sunday III
Aw, Sarah Waters is brilliant, in that top-notch sort of British way. She’s very open and down to earth, and had a lot of really wonderful things to say about The Night Watch and her other novels. It makes all the difference when there’s an interviewer who can penetrate the subject and then let the question stand for itself, then realize that it’s not about them and just let the author answer. There’s patience and authority in that kind of a voice, and that’s what Susan G. Cole brought to the table.
After hearing Waters talk about the agenda, if I should use such a loaded word, behind Tipping the Velvet, maybe I could have been a bit more forgiving in my original impressions of the novel.
Today was inspiring, as I usually find the IFOA, urges me toward working even harder to get something finished.
IFOA – Sunday I
The first two readings Ami McKay (The Birth House) and Bernice Eisenstein (I Was The Child of Holocaust Survivors) did not dissapoint. Both women told incredible and sincere stories, Ami about women, childbirth and the Halifax Explosion; Bernice about her father, as introductions to their readings. It gives the material another dimension, hearing the stories in the voices that must at least be close to how they sound in their heads.
I’ve read both books (links will be added later), and hearing them now, makes me think back with a different opinion of both. It’s a pretty full crowd too, which is positive as well.
Next up, Rosemary Sullivan and the star power of Sarah Waters…
IFOA Sunday II
We’re sitting in a roundtable at the moment with Nicole Krauss, Colson Whitehead, Deborah Eisenberg and the “moderator” David Eddie. I’m a little disappointed with the benign nature of the questions and the conversation, billed as a investigation of the lines between fiction and non-fiction, and they are stumbling in the mire of such over-discussed issues in the publishing world like James freaking Frey.
I do applaud the authors, especially Nicole Krauss, who had some very enlightening things to say around the idea that the novel is an exchange between the reader and the writer that should be authentic, which is an interesting way to look at a book in terms of both the writer and the reader. And as Zesty put it so eloquently, would her husband really be getting the questions about what’s it’s like to live with her great talent, somehow, I think not. She’s pretty astute, that Zesty. Enough of who Krauss is married to, how about you let her work stand for itself?
But man, after the glowing brilliance of Sarah Waters and Rosemarie Sullivan, the ineptitude of this poor moderator is painful.
IFOA = CMJ
My RRHB over the past couple years has gone down to NYC for the big music festival. But to me, the week that the authors are in town, for me, kind of represents that sort of a week. Tomorrow we’ll be seeing an entire day of authors events and I am going to live blog via my crackberry throughout the day. So, forgive typos, forgive the small screen grammar, but love the words.
Oh, and if anyone else is heading out there tomorrow – please say hello. I’ll be the girl in the giant knitted scarf.
October 21st, 2006
Today
My application was accepted by the Humber School for Writers. I will be doing their 2007 correspondence course. Fingers crossed I work hard enough to get the value from the experience. But, yay!
Once I start expect me to resurface in about six months…
October 20th, 2006
TRH Movie – Marie Antoinette Redux
The “real” review is up on Chart. See, I can’t make up my mind. Jesse Wente said that it was Coppola’s first bad movie this morning on the radio. I wouldn’t go that far but man, it’s getting some mixed reviews.
October 18th, 2006
TRH Movie – Marie Antoinette
Last week while I was in my abridging hell, I went to see a screening of Marie Antoinette for Chart (review will be up this Friday). Sometimes, I kind of wish I did more freelance, because the idea of seeing a movie first-thing in the morning with no one but other writers in the room, kind of appeals to me. It’s funny, we’re all the same with our little notebooks and pens sitting on our laps, scrawling in giant, illegible writing because it’s hard to see in the dark, obviously.
So, Marie Antoinette. Yeah, I can’t make up my mind about this film, whether I liked it or hated it, whether its genius or ridiculous, which doesn’t bode well for a coherent review. It’s pop culture history stripped of the more juicy bits (we don’t even get a beheading) leaving behind a music video that tries to recreate the social and emotional journey of the movie’s main character.
But I really like Sofia Coppola. I’ve seen The Virgin Suicides more times than I can count on my fingers and toes, and love, love, loved Lost in Translation. She has a way of pulling out great performances from actresses who, for the most part, get by on being gorgeous rather than insanely talented. She does the same with Kirsten Dunst in this picture: she’s good.
But parts of me just can’t get over the non-historical aspects of the film. I’m aching for a British accent and a good bit of Elizabeth. I’m dying to see inside Antoinette in terms of looking beyond her wardrobe and flirty fashion sequences. I’m wanting to be more engaged, I guess, with the subject matter, wanting more BBC and PBS, and, goodness help me, maybe even a dose of Keira Knightley inspired Jane Austen.
I know Coppola was trying to bring the relevance of Marie Antoinette’s life to audiences of this centry, to boldly re-tell her story in her own particular way, but I’m not quite there with her. Who knows? I can’t make up my mind. Maybe tomorrow I’ll feel differently.