Chattering Classes & End Times
I started the reading list at the beginning of 2011 ostensibly to keep track of what books I read throughout the year and as reference when people asked me for recommendations, but I really just wanted to see if I could read 50 books in one year. I did. Ok, A Chef’s Christmas is probably cheating because it’s really an extended short story and the audio version is all of an hour. However, not only is this my list, but I spent the ENTIRE SUMMER reading those G. R. R. Martin books – including Feast for Crows which was just like slogging through The Silmarillion and made about as much sense – so if I want to include a lightweight like Bourdain’s raunchy holiday tale or the newest Stephanie Plum novel to reach 50 books for 2011, I...
Yarns
I saw this concept on another blog and thought it was a creative way to share what I’m reading along with what I’m knitting (my two favorite hobbies). Two yarns: a book and a project. My daughter gave me 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami for Christmas. His book The Windup Bird Chronicles is definitely on my top 10 list of best books read ever. Murakami’s books are like Roberto Bolano’s books in that while I’m reading them I have no clue what’s going on, can’t really describe the story to anyone who asks, and when I’m finished with the book I’m still not sure I understood everything that occurred within it pages but love the book all the more for that. In one of the early chapters of 1Q84, a character describes a...
Vegan Vampires
Episode 2 – Vegan Vampires is up! I have to say, making a podcast is technically easier than I thought but much harder in terms of content and editing. Trying to hit 30 minutes with each episode, and I did better this time around. Conscious of all my “ums” and “ahs” last time, I think I’m less scattered but still need to work on spontaniety. Like @caithnesscraft said, it’ll come with time! Thanks for listening, and here’s all the info I promised in the show notes: Apology to HoxtonHandmade: I offer up Kate’s mustache themed website portal as this episode’s apology to @hoxtonhandmade. Make sure you roll over each logo as well as the heading at the top to see the facial hair and nifty mustache...
Network
Netflix inspired some customer ire recently when the movie delivery service raised the membership fee for accounts renting DVDs. When I heard about this, my first thought was, “People still rent DVDs from Netflix?” Well, my parents are still on AOL so I guess anything is possible. I signed up for Netflix in the summer of 2004 when even @NJFilm2011 thought DVDs in the mail was a bit sketchy (he’s come round since then), but switched over to the streaming only service option 2 years ago. I admit, there are few new releases on demand but most aren’t available from Netflix in DVD format in the first month after release, and after all, I do live less than 2 miles from my library where movies can be reserved and rented for free. The hours of...
Summer Reading
Reading through the triple-H summer months always appeals to me. Curling up with a good book on a snowy winter night with the fireplace going is a wonderful treat, but knowing you’ll wake up to everyone bemoaning the snowpacolypse the next day takes some of the joy out of it. During the summer between 4th an 5th grade, I set out to read one Nancy Drew book a day. I don’t remember if I read one book everyday, but I do know that by Labor Day, I’d read every book in the series available at the local library. When the Harry Potter phenomenon got rolling and my kids were younger, I’d buy 3 copies of the newest tome each summer, and we’d read about Harry and friends together. My son always made it to the end first and had a hard...
WordPress
I really wanted to call this post “WordPress: the One Your Mother Warned You About”, but after this yesterday’s discussion regarding the need for brevity in titles, I removed the clarification. However, it is what this blog post is all about. Until this past weekend, my current blog lived at wordpress.com. I created a few blogs on that platform in the last couple of years; it’s easy to set up, if you write a post about being “this close” to Martha Stewart you might be featured on Freshly Pressed, and let’s face it, blogging should be about content not design so modifying one of the standard themes offered wasn’t a deal breaker. As I began not only to blog regularly last fall but also consume a steady writing...
Podcast Feeds
Supporters
