Novel Eye

Episode 8 - Young Adult Lit and Conservative Comedy Episode 8 - Young Adult Lit and Conservative Comedy Loann and Art, in true young boy and girl detective spirit, track down the arguments for and against grown-ups reading Young Adult literature. And, where are all the conservative comedians? Is the comedy industry a liberal stronghold? We also discuss our cultural consumption over the past few weeks. ( Now available on iTunes ) 009 - Tom Cruise & Dragons Underperform and 70's Political Paranoia Today How to Train Your Dragon 2 and Edge of Tomorrow are getting great reviews, (and Loann and Art have each seen one of them.) However, they are not meeting box office projections, so what does that mean for the studios and the stars.   And, 70's movies like The Conversation made audiences feel creeped out about the surveillance state, but where are those stories being told today?

And I have begun, rebegun "Remembrance of Things Past," (ou "A la recherche du temps perdu.") I started it in high school and had to return it to the library (like I thought I could read it in a month). Started it when I was taking time from college, but the edition that I had was falling apart so carrying it was difficult. I threw out the set when we moved and resolved to buy a new one. I love Proust. That's my problem. I want to sit and ponder each sentence for awhile. I always said I would take some vacation and just read him, but when is that going to happen??? So I have begun it again. A few pages each night or lunch, pencil in hand. A few posts ago I documented my bruise. Now, the point of that wasn't really because I think all of you, my dear readers needed to know my intimate details, but to get myself writing again. At work I have to strip writing down to simple, short sentences. I get caught up in the grammar and whether idiots can understand it. ...

After busily underlining things in Moby Dick, finishing it, tucking it away and then pulling out the Eco, and beginning to busily underline things, the gentleman next to me on the plane asked me how many book reports I had to do. Oh, none, I said. I annotate for pleasure, solely for myself.

I had an odd moment a few weeks ago. I was thumbing through an independent comic and I came across a couple of panels that disturbed me deeply. It's too complicated to go into what the comic was about--a short summary is that it was a satire on both the early studio system and it's abuse of actors (many actors were permanently maimed undergoing experimental cosmetic surgery) and the communist witch hunts (a Bugs Bunny type figure is shown embracing Ron and Nancy). I guess that didn't end up being that short. Anyway, the image was so disturbing that I went back a week later to read the whole thing, because it haunted me--I know that sounds contradictory, but I needed to lay it to rest. But the strange thing is that reading it gave me a strange sensation, almost out of body--I could picture a desert city, with hot Santa Anna winds blowing across 1930's cars. I've gotten this same feeling from books by Tim Powers--but this is because Tim describes LA of the 30...