You can check out some of my photos from my favorite season in the new issue of Twist Collective.
(You might also check out the awesome patterns. I want this and this and this, among others.)
I Heart Winter the Best.
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Author Archives: Duff
À la Nick Hornby, books in/books out for October.
Bought:
- The five books I bought in Iowa!
- The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, by Stieg Larsson (book 3!!!)
- Toast, by Nigel Slater
Read:
- Sweep 12: Eclipse, by Cate Tiernan (cathy’s)
- Sweep 13: Reckoning, by Cate Tiernan (library)
- Sweep 14: Full Circle, by Cate Tiernan (cathy’s)
- Midnighters 2: Touching Darkness, by Scott Westerfeld (library)
- Sweep 15: Night’s Child, by Cate Tiernan (library)
- The White Darkness, by Geraldine McCaughrean
- Midnighters 3: Blue Noon, by Scott Westerfeld (library)
- Liar, by Justine Larbalestier
- Even Money, by Dick Francis (and Felix Francis) (iphone/kindle)
- Ravens, by George Dawes Green (library)
- Mother of Storms, by John Barnes (anne’s)
- The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, by Stieg Larsson
Big Screen: Ponyo
I am really not a fan of animation in general, but wow I loved this movie. The art was soooo pretty, the story was sooooo sweet, the music was fun. It was happy making.
PONYO LOVES SUSOKE!!! (Susoke sounds like “Sose-kay”)
Best of July
The best movie I saw in July was Hurt Locker. I’ve seen it three times so far. I would love to see it again.
The best book I read in July was “The Death of Sweet Mister” by Daniel Woodrell. It really took my breath away.
The best gig I went to in July was EMPTY ORCHESTRA. They are great and I highly recommend you buy tickets if they come through your town.
My favorite tunes in July were (you guessed it) all from Empty Orchestra. And Ryan Auffenberg singing “Sellout” live. I would like to see him live.
July Album Reviews
I was about one thing, and one thing just about only, in July tune-wise: EMPTY ORCHESTRA!!
Absolutely Love & Adore:
Empty Orchestra “Here Lies Empty Orchestra” – My friend Pam’s band swung through Chicago in July and it was honestly the highlight of my summer! I would have gone to support her at the show regardless of how they sounded: so SUPER BONUS for me when it turned out they’re great!! Totally rockin’. I saw a reviewer call them “Americana” and I guess I can go along with that. It’s that space between pop, rock and country: where there’s some twang and some beats and some great guitar playing and woah Stephen’s vocals are great!! I mean really, I can’t see why you wouldn’t love this album unless you’re a total musical noob. Faves: “Always Already” (I can hear Pammie in the background!); “Words and Music” (oh the intro to this song slays me); “It Gets Better”.
Favorite Singles (not on any of the above albums):
- “Closer Than You Think” Evertyhing Absent or Distorted
- “Beneath Your Tree” Bowerbirds
- “Earthly Bodies” J. Tillman – A Fleet Fox on his own. Nice.
- “El Paso” Jason Anderson
- “Sellout” (Live) Ryan Auffenberg (LOVE!)
Other Albums I Liked:
- Empty Orchestra “Get Well Soon” – Six earlier (? I think) songs. Fave song “Civil War”.
Seduced by Prairie Lights.
You may have heard about a wee lil roadtrip to Iowa we took on Friday. One of just several reasons (PIE SHAKES. PIE. IN A SHAKE.) to go to Iowa City was to hit up this great bookstore, Prairie Lights, recommended by one of my professors. I haven’t been buying books at all in my unemployed state (borrowing! from various friends AND the library!) so I had given myself a $100 budget for the event. (I actually came out $10 under! Yay me! Aren’t you proud of me for being so restrained?!?!)
- “The Flying Troutmans”, by Miriam Toews – the first cople pages sucked me in. You may remember me reading another book by her a couple years ago.
- “The Turtle Catcher” by Nicole Helget – another writer I’ve read before (you can search for Helget on this old page) and a Minnesotan. I’m interested to see what her fiction is like.
- “Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson – a YA selection. First few pages seem very intense. On a side note: I don’t think it’s a great decision to house the YA downstairs in what primarily looks like a (tiny, little wee) kids’ playroom. I would have liked to see this section upstairs, maybe near the fantasy/sci fi section would be a good spot.
- “Normal People Don’t Live Like This” Dylan Landis – a short story collection about young girls. Thanks again to Betsy Crane for getting me on the short story bandwagon these last few years. So pleasing sometimes to just be able to read a story and not have to set your book down and come back to it.
- “College Girl” by Patricia Weitz – Read a few pages. Seems a bit like Frankie Landau-Banks and a bit chic-lit-y and I really think I’m going to like it.
I can’t wait to get readin’! After I finish some homework, that is…
Mystery/Fantasy: Mark of the Demon, by Diana Rowland
An iphone/kindle impulse buy.
A policewoman who is also a summoner of demons. A sexy powerful demon lord struggling to free his bonds. Some evil.
Entertaining.
Romance/Fantasy: “Sea Witch”, “Sea Fever” and “Sea Lord”, all by Virginia Kantra
A trilogy about “selkies” / shapechangers who are seals in the water and humans on land / with some demons and intrigue thrown in for good measure.
Sexy, sexy fantasy. Mmmmm.
Perfect for some bedtime readin’ on the iphone/Kindle.
Big Screen: Paper Heart
An odd little half fake / half true indie piece. One of several sweet lil romances of this summer in film. I guess the fact that I knew all along (before seeing it) which bits were faked made me never really fall for some of it. If you really love the whole awkward geek thing, this may be the ultimate film for you. Jenni and I have a whole routine of us walking around with our sleeves pulled way down and our shoulders hunched and letting out just a funny giggle every once in a while…
Charlyne Yi (writer, star) was there taking questions and it was really funny. I liked her more there in her real self than the self of her that was in this film.
Funny and worth seeing, and some good tunes, and a Michael Cera performance, but ultimately I liked both 500 Days and Away We Go better. (But maybe that’s because I am looking for fantasy, and not reality, on the movie screen.)
Big Screen: Hurt Locker
Wow. Just…WOW. If you only go to one movie this year, make it this one. (If you go to two movies, make it this one and District 9.)
Really breathtaking filming in how much it puts you right into the minds and hearts of these soldiers and into the insane tense unknown world that is this war right now. There were so many scenes where I was on the edge of my seat…and the choice NOT to explain everything, and NOT to tell you whether something that appeared dangerous really was as dangerous because they went away and never saw the resolution of it… So good.
Well-acted, well-directed. Tour de force. This is brilliant filmmaking. And some other piece of crap is going to win the Oscar for Best Picture and I’m going to keep telling you: Hurt Locker is the movie that should win and that you should be watching and talking about and watching.
If I was going to send out my Christmas packages this year (which most likely I won’t be due to lack of any income), this is the movie I would choose.
You may be a little paranoid after seeing it the first time. And the second. You may be noticing every car that’s weaving on the streets, and every passerby who looks at you and then seems to signal to someone else across the road, and every window that suddenly closes right as you walk by it…
But it’s so worth it.
[I liked it so much…I accidentally reviewed it twice! Turns out I told you about it months ago already!