Wild, Futuristic Stuff …

Have you guys seen this? It’s a clip of Hatsune Miko, a former anime cartoon character in Japan, whose popularity has launched her on stage as a singing hologram to glow-stick-waving, sold-out crowds in theaters. A hologram! Performing live! And yes, that’s a real drummer behind her; and yes, those are thousands of real fans waving their glow sticks for her. … Wild. … 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTXO7KGHtjI

A Funny For You…

I haven’t mentioned my funny blogger friend Tracy Kunzler in awhile, have I? She’s still cracking me up with her posts that she writes for us at Health Bistro.

Here’s the last one she did, filled with her cleverly conjured horror-movie ads for people we all know and (… ahem…) still love…

A sampling:

SEE: Food & lingerie catalogs mysteriously vanish!
HEAR: The cracking voice change and squeak!
SMELL: Body odor and things too horrid to mention!
Run for the Lysol, it’s the…
PLAGUE OF THE ADOLESCENT SON!

You wake up, it’s there.  You make a call, it’s there.
You go to the market, it follows you.
It sticks to you like a horrible rash.
There’s no escaping the…
NEW RETIREE!
He’s cute and he’s sweet, but he sure can put the “hell” in helpful!

Read the rest here! (There’s the “Man Who Refuses To Call a Professional Contractor,” “The Newly Successful Dieter,” “The Guilt-Inducing Mother” and more…) And if you like them, be sure to leave her a comment over at Health Bistro!

Here’s Tracy’s own blog: Ungirdled Passion. Swing by and say hi!

Updates on the boy …

University of Montana in the fall -- Photo by R. Sanchez

So he’s having his first “real fall” (with actual changing leaves, and weather that’s less than 80 degrees). He’s made lots of friends, given his first public speech for a class, gone to every home football game with new buddies from the Journalism school, sat on the banks of the Clark Fork River, trekked to downtown Missoula for meals with the dorm kids, done some laundry, worn a toga, gone to the campus doctor and had a splint put on his arm (!), dealt with his first away-from-home cold, bought some basic groceries to supplement his meal plan when hunger strikes at night (groceries usually consist of Oreos and Ramen, I hear), and won two raffles at the student store. I hear he’s even found some time for studying!

This week is rumored to be the first week it might snow (supposedly today!). His best friend from home is arriving in Missoula tonight for a four-day visit (and a home football game). I’m sure they’re going to have a ball. …

I’m so happy he’s having fun! He worked hard to make his college dream come true, and I’m so happy he’s now reaping the rewards.

It’s That Time of Year Again: NaNoWriMo!

I don’t know why I’m reporting on this, because I never participate, but I love the concept of this event, and I find it fun to follow along with friends who are participating.

NaNoWriMo (or “NaNo” for short) is National Novel Writing Month. Writers all over the country sign up to commit themselves to writing 50,000 words in one month — Nov. 1-30 — and encourage each  other along. Those who complete their 50,000 get a NaNo writer’s badge for their blogs, bragging rights for an entire year, plus … well, maybe the beginnings of a beautiful new story. (I read on Nathan Bransford’s blog that the book Water for Elephants was a NaNoWriMo effort. Pretty cool. …)

I’d love to do this — writing with such abandon for 30 days seems like bliss to me — but … well, I have a job. And I don’t have enough hours in four weekends to dash off 50,000 words. Plus I do love my Novembers. I can’t quite imagine giving up my November weekends. (Who picked that month, anyway? Someone should have picked boring January!) But anyway, maybe someday, someday, someday …

Fellow writer friends — are you participating this year?

My critique partner sent me this link to Galley Cat with 30 great quick-to-read tips: Galley Cat’s NaNoWriMo Tips

Also, Nathan Bransford has a great NaNo boot camp on his blog: Nathan Bransford’s NaNoWriMo Boot Camp

 

 

 

Mona Simpson’s Eulogy for Steve Jobs

I didn’t know until Steve Jobs’ death that he was the brother of writer Mona Simpson. (How did I miss this?)

I love Mona Simpson’s writing. She was featured in Reasons to Believe: New Voices in American Fiction, a book about fresh, young authors back in the ’80s that I read cover to cover, devouring all their words of advice and believing in the dream they set forth. She was part of that crowd we were all reading in college — Lorrie Moore, Jay McInerney, Bret Easton Ellis, Amy Hempel — who we all loved and admired because they were so young and making it so big in the writing world. I loved her first fiction book Anywhere But Here, and it was one of the few books I’ve read twice. The mother really resonated with me, since she reminds me so much of someone in my own life, and I thought the story was beautifully told.

And now I just learned she was the birth sister to Steve Jobs. And then I saw her eulogy for him in The New York Times — also beautifully written. It’s amazing that two people so brilliant could be born into one family, although they never lived together as a family, and even more amazing that they didn’t know each other existed until she was 25. But the story she tells about  how she learned he was her brother, and how close they eventually became, is lovely.

I know I’ve said before that I agree that sometimes truth really is stranger than fiction. But sometimes it’s also more romantic and more loving as well. …

Here’s her eulogy: A Sister’s Eulogy for Steve Jobs.

 

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...