I have been on a reading binge lately, mostly fueled by a learning binge as I have mostly been nonfictioning it.
Most recently I have been reading a book about monsters around the world. It's interesting to learn about cultures' monsters and not just the differences, but the similarities - pretty much everywhere there are legends of monsters that will eat you. I'm reading for the anthropological stuff and skimming past the boring parts about Freudian psychoanalysis.
Also reading: THE CELTS. And I want to find a great book about the African history, particularly about medieval-aged African empires. They are fascinating! But I want to read something well-written that's neither Afrocentric pseudohistory or patronizing whitey stuff. I will find one!
Evan has persuaded me to read Transmetropolitan. It is often funny, entertaining, very cyberpunk, and cool. Self-consciously cool, I have to say the transparent rock and roll posturing puts me off a bit. That last point I've picked up in a lot of Evan's comics I've skimmed through so I probably just have to take it for granted in a lot of popular comics. Another thing I've noticed is that many comics writers seem to be history buffs: Evan has comics about Vikings (Northlanders), the American Indian Movement (Scalped), and every damn war - The Other Side, Crecy, etc. These read as a genuine interest in the time period and cultural context, not counting the other great comic works I've read where the history is obviously personal to the author (MAUS, Incognegro). As for Vikings, in particular I have to commend Brian Wood of Northlanders, who really knows how to write women well.
Next I want to read flowery, 19th-century romantic fiction. Portrait of a Lady. Then something by Jane Austen. Then one of these?
I want to write a story. I want Evan to write a story (he has ideas, and I bug him to write them down). I want to write a story with Evan. I'll see what he thinks about it.
I just had to remove someone from my Facebook friends list because I got too annoyed with them always talking about how they don't believe in global warming. I hesitated at first because the remove button just said I'd be removing my "connection" with them and I didn't know what that meant (would it keep us as friends, but no longer say we went to high school together??). It also denied me the satisfaction of clicking anything that said "Remove Friend" and then getting the message "You have removed **** **** as a friend."
I wish it would have said "You have removed **** **** as a friend. Screw them, amirite?!" Perhaps I should contact the Facebook staff with this suggestion.
Currently reading a book on the history of the English language and it's kind of blowing my mind. It's interesting to think that if something had happened differently, if people had translated something differently or if King Alfred's scribes had been from another part of England, or if different words found popular usage and ones I use now had instead fell into obscurity (invigilate?), I'd be speaking differently. It makes me wonder how the connections in my brain would be different if I'd grown up speaking another language or writing it if it were a logography and not an alphabet, and how it would feel totally natural to be speaking phonemes that I couldn't distinguish now because they're not in English. How it would feel to tell someone "Je t'aime" or "Te amo" everyday instead of "I love you." Evan is busy playing Mass Effect so I can't test it out on him right now. Sometime I will tell him "te amo" and see how it goes.
I'm listening to sentences one word at a time.
I love the word "bullshit." I kind of hope "bogus" comes back. That's so bogus!!
I asked Janani what Henry James novel I should read and she recommended Portrait of a Lady.
I signed up to take a tour of the Iowa City Public Library this Thursday.
Names I would give a cat:
Capture Scratch
Tumbles
Gobstopper
Æ ("Ash")
Cramps
Bushel
Stomps
Florian
Vulgaris
Gay sex - yeah, not marriage or wimpy civil unions, but plain old gay sex - is legal in India. Step in the right direction, though! And I love the caveat in this article:
"Any homosexual act without the consent of either partner remains a criminal offense, however, Indira Jaisingh, counsel for the nonprofit Naz Foundation which had challenged the law, told CNN."
Just in case you thought we were legalizing sexual assault!
The rep from the Naz Foundation is only talking about gay Indian men, though...finally, a reason to Google "lesbianism in India."
and it turns out I'm FUCKING AWESOME at rotating 3D objects in my head.
I just have to brag about this because I got 11 out of 12 when the average for women was 7 and the average for men was 8.
I AM THE BEST
