PUGGY'S HILL

"My relationship with my real dad has been spotty. And, I'll never forget this: he said, ‘If something was to ever go wrong with you, if I felt that, you know, you just messed up completely, I'll make another one of you.' You know, he has five kids, so I was a complete reject."

I know I'm all grown up and I'm supposed to know that people can be like that.  But it's a shock, every time.

....that is not the debsliverlovers auction, where I've just added more cool stuff,

* The National Women's Health Network (which debsliverlovers & I are proud to support) warns, in their excellent monthly newsletter , against Rosuvastatin:  
When you see those ads encouraging you to “know your number”, just say no to the CRP test, unless you already know that you’re at increased risk of heart attack and stroke. If you’re like many women whose only risk factor is age, following sensible guidelines for a heart-healthy lifestyle will do more to improve your health than taking a test that will likely lead to being prescribed a drug that probably won’t help you — and might cause new problems.

This is of particular interest to me, as my dad is the research physician who "discovered" CRP (well, as he would say, "Aw, that's a load of cr*p" - but it's still what he has on his license plates!).  I'll ask him about this, too.

* Ben Rosenbaum has posted about economics, kids, being paid for short stories, and blogging a sequel.

* And thanks to p_zeitgeist for the link to J.K. Rowling's A Single Mother's Manifesto.  ("J. K. Rowling is a natural political/opinion essayist: lucid, witty, pointed without being shrill: a grown-up in all the best ways. I don't imagine there's any chance we could trade Maureen Dowd for her on the pages of the New York Times, but how much happier we would be if only we could.")

Here are a couple of clips from a very interesting NYTimes article on literature, the brain, and evolution:

Some scholars are turning to M.R.I.’s and evolutionary theory to explore how and why people read fiction.

English professors and graduate students . . . say they’re convinced science not only offers unexpected insights into individual texts, but that it may help to answer fundamental questions about literature’s very existence: Why do we read fiction? Why do we care so passionately about nonexistent characters? What underlying mental processes are activated when we read?

...the narrative technique known as “free indirect style,” which mingles the character’s voice with the narrator’s. ... enables readers to inhabit two or even three mind-sets at a time.... became the hallmark of the novel beginning in the 19th century with Jane Austen, because it satisfies our “intense interest in other people’s secret thoughts and motivations"...

Read the whole thing & discuss - I'll be interested to learn what the Brain Pool thinks.

[A]mid the ramshackle remains of the hospital where the country’s most infected [TB] patients used to live, Mr. Monfort runs the clinic alone . . . . unpaid and without a mask or gloves to wear, he walks to the sanatorium each day at 6 a.m.. . . .

“Why don’t you just leave us to die?” asked Clervil Orange, 39. Mr. Monfort looked offended by the notion. But he did not answer and the question seemed to stick with him.

The ancient Greek playwright Aeschylus once wrote that there was a type of suffering so intense that, even in our sleep, it bores into the heart until eventually, “in our own despair, against our will,” it taps into a terrible wisdom. --NYTimes, Ian Urbina, 2/6/10

Read the complete article here, including Monfort's answer.

This morning's haze of slightly carboned toast & melty cheese (well you can't get the cheese properly brown without risking the edges of the bread) enlivened by Delia's dramatic reading of A.O.Scott's NYTimes review of the new Holmes movie. Honest - I thought she was improvising when she said: "It seems that an evil aristocrat, executed for a series of murders, returns from the dead to mobilize an ancient secret society that he may have time-traveled into a Dan Brown novel to learn about. Doesn’t that sound fascinating? I thought not."

You have to admit it sounds like her.

And now, on to music:

sdn's FaceBook query a few weeks back re. people's most loathed Xmas song has had me brooding ever since. I realized I don't so much hate any particular song as hate certain musical styles. --OK, there are certain lyrics I really loathe - but you can also ruin a song I love by giving it an arrangement to match those other lyrics. I mean, I'd say something blanketty like: "I hate all Xmas songs written after 1895" - but in fact, there are a couple Victorian ones I could do without, and anything by Irving Berlin is fine by me - as long as it isn't sung by Frank Sinatra. I'm the wrong generation to enjoy Frank Sinatra. (And Do I contradict myself? Very well, I contradict myself: As I say, It's Complicated - and would require a lengthier and more thoughtful explication - with charts & texts & Be Specific, Give Examples - than I have time or inclination for here. And I like "The Little Drummer Boy." It's trad-friendly.) Anyhow, Arrangements: I was delighted to learn, this morning, that the right musical arrangement can redeem even the most abysmal song. This morning's edition of The Takeaway featured an interview with Twisted Sister members Dee Snider & Jay Jay French about their new album, Twisted Christmas.

When they played the opening of the original of "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire..." I wanted to curl up and die - but when it kicked into Twisted Sister's version, I knew that was the way it was meant to sound! A delightful tune, really. You just have to put some heart & guts into the roasting bit.

So you see, children, there is nothing that cannot be redeemed by art. (They also pointed out that the opening bars of "We're not Gonna Take It" are in fact "Adeste Fideles" - as poor Snider [or was it French?] kept pointing out: "Well, I am a classically trained counter-tenor with 19 years in church choir!" Bless his heart.)

Welcome to my Breakfast Table, where I am sitting and reading you amusing bits from past NYTimes Arts Sections, as I go through and throw out old papers in preparation for incoming:

BANDLEADER PETER DUCHIN: His Music Still Makes Society Whirl

Mr. Duchin’s father, Eddy Duchin, was also a bandleader and was famous for a string of Top 10 records in the 1930s. His mother, Marjorie Oelrichs Duchin, was described by newspapers at the time of her marriage as a “New York and Newport socialite,” though by marrying Eddy Duchin, a Jew and an entertainer, she was forced to relinquish her spot in the Social Register. When she died a few days after giving birth to Peter, his father was apparently so pained, and certain that his frail newborn son was also dying, that he decided to go on an extensive tour with his orchestra. Peter ended up being raised amid extraordinary wealth and privilege by his godparents, W. Averell and Marie Harriman. Mr. Harriman, in addition to having served on President Harry S. Truman’s cabinet, and governor of New York, was also one of the richest men in the country.

Croopus! Who's going to write the novel?


JUDGE RULES IN FAVOR OF 'TWILIGHT' AUTHOR

The speech in “The Nocturne,” he wrote, is “an amalgamation of largely archaic and some modern language that is likely unparalleled in either classical or modern literature.”

Don't read much slush, Judge Wright, do you? Stay as sweet as you are.

We finally watched MILK (as in "Harvey") this weekend. Very moving and well-done. It made me want to revisit - and share with you - this long & thoughtful post by libba_bray, written back in May 2009 after California's sad & terrible vote upholding Prop. 8. Libba begins:

I was raised by a gay father. My dad came of age in the 1940’s in the Deep South. Being gay was more than just not okay then; it was downright dangerous. . . . When my father came out to our family, I was fourteen, and it was explained to me that we had to keep it a secret because my father would lose his job and might be attacked physically. The message conveyed was one of fear and shame which trickled down to all of us . . . .

I haven't even finished the no doubt excellent new Salon article by Laura Miller on "the kickass young heroines of urban fantasy fiction" but this had me seeing red:

"...the term "urban fantasy" (meaning fantasies set in the contemporary world) was first applied to the work of such writers as Neil Gaiman and John Crowley, whose aspirations are more literary. . . . "

Oh, the giantness of this GIANT FAIL!!!!!

Of course it's only 2 male authors who are cited - probably the only fantasists who she can even think of with "literary aspirations" . . . . .

My Post-Apocalyptic Barter Skill - can you guess? Guess, then click on this delicious compilation by Liz Gorinsky for Tor.com (which includes a KGB report) and let her know yours.

Why isn't my website as clear & gorgeous as Michelle Shocked's?

$50,000 fourth novel prize for works published Jan 08-July 09, juried by Michael Chabon et al! Deadline July 1, so hurry up.

4 days left to listen to BBC's radio drama Darger and the Detective: "A play drawing on the writings of reclusive artist Henry Darger, imagining his inner life....Recorded in Chicago by actors from the Steppenwolf Theatre Company" by my radio pal Judith Kampfner!

MythPunk Army shirt from Zazzle by Cathrynne Valente (want! want!!)