Jack Black, the stars of "Kung Fu Panda 2, and megastar mom Angelina Jolie, speaks in a U.S. TV show "Extra" at the 64th Annual Cannes Film Festival about the film, tattoos and having more children.
The other tattoos you see all logged the longitude and latitude of where her adopted kids were born – and when she had another set of mysterious tattoos; people immediately assumed it was because she was about to adopt again.
But now Angie has set the record straight, in her latest Extra interview, about the inking saying that the latest coordinates simply log Brad Pitt’s place of birth.
My mom gave me a lot of lectures about Teflon pans growing up. It seems like every time she picks up a frying pan she reminds me to never buy a Teflon pan. As it turns out, my mom was right to warn me about them. She was smart and realized very quickly how dangerous it was to have a pan coated with a manufactured chemical.
Unfortunately Teflon is present in more than just pans. It's actually all over the place, in spots we wouldn't even think about. And Teflon isn't the only thing to worry about. Slow Death by Rubber Duck has made me confront the synthetic world I live in, and I have to say that it absolute terrifies me.
Aths has a great post on Reading on a Rainy Day today about Teflon and Mercury. She shares some great quotes and information from the book. I really encourage you all to read her post, and I encourage you to seek out Slow Death. It's an eye opener.
On a happier note, this man is an inspiration:
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Instead of talking about an essay today I want to share a video from the nonfiction blog Brevity that somehow manages to sum up my entire education on essays in a two minute xtranormal video. That is, how important is "truth" in creative nonfiction. Obviously when an author labels something as nonfiction he or she is implying that there is some truthiness to what he or she is saying, but there is also an understanding that in its creativity it is shaped by an author to appear a certain way. I know I emphasize certain parts of myself depending on what I am try to show in an essay-- the person I am on the page is a version of who I am in real life, but not my entire self. This is true for characters in fiction too, we're only getting a part of who that person is and we can never get a completely whole picture of a character because no narrator can be entirely objective.
How important is truth to you in nonfiction? For those of you who don't read a lot of nonfiction, are these things that you think about when you do encounter it?
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I've decided to celebrate the close of finals week (Friday morning is the end for me) by reading The Cat in the Hat
to everyone. I know I've felt all semester like I'm juggling one hundred things and every once and awhile they would all come crashing down, just like the Cat in the Hat. Now I can breathe for a little while and know that I can just focus on what I want to. Sit back, relax, enjoy the Dr. Seussiness.
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Yay vlogs! I'm talking about a really awesome children's book today that makes us think about how we see text in today's world. Definitely check it out.
Also, Green Reads has a new podcast up! Go listen to us talk about Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet
and Into the Wild
.
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A couple of weeks ago we watched a film called Chekhov For Children in my essay film class. Out of everything we've watched so far this semester it is probably my favorite film. The actual film is 74 minutes long and difficult to get ahold of because it's an essay film and not something you would see in a movie theater. If you're at the University of Iowa or in the area you should go see it at the Bijou Theater between December 10 and 14. Visit their website for more details on that screening. The film is about the director, Sasha Waters Freyer, and her experience in a New York public school where her class worked with Phillip Lopate (a god of essays) on a production of Anton Chekhov's play Uncle Vanya. Anyone who knows anything about Anton Chekhov realizes that a play by him is probably incredibly difficult for students in the fifth grade to put on. Lopate wrote an essay about this experience as well with the same title as the film.
While the film is about Sasha Waters Freyer, it is also not. She is rarely present in front of the camera and the majority of the film is interviews with other students who were involved with the production, interviews with Phillip Lopate, and video footage Freyer took in elementary school when she filmed the play. There are also videos the children made in elementary school during that time Lopate was present. It's amazing in the video to see these children working with really complex ideas and it shows just how aware kids really are of the world around them. There is also a sense of nostalgia for the time Freyer grew up but also a sense of pride for the people who came out of that production.
Since I obviously can't show you the entire film I thought I'd show you the trailer and a section of the film I find particularly essayistic, even though Freyer isn't speaking in it.
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When I'm stuck writing one of the first essaysists I look to for inspiration is Joan Didion. I reviewed her collection Slouching Towards Bethlehem recently, and while I only gave it a B I really loved it. As a collection I just thought it moved rather slowly. While reading that collection I found another essay by her called In Bed. The version I'm linking to is a little different from the version I read in The Art of the Personal Essay: An Anthology from the Classical Era to the Present
, but you'll get the idea. It's very short-- just about four pages. I was drawn to this essay because I've been experiencing some medical issues recently that are outside of my control. I could really relate to Didion's story about migraine, an illness she has struggled with her entire life and has absolutely no control over.
This essay is really more personal than most of Didion's other work-- The Year of Magical Thinking
removed from that statement. She does very little "journalism" in this piece, although she does have a good paragraph of research about migraine and what causes them. Research is something I really admire about Joan Didion's writing, and it's something I wish I could incorporate into my writing more. Through research Didion is able to give us a whole new understanding of what a migraine is, and then when we have the scientific understanding of it that makes our understanding of her personal experience that much stronger. I also love that she includes others outside herself who experience migraine. She doesn't describe anyone directly, but lists off other kinds of people who are challenged by migraine, including "unfortunate children as young as two years old." She weaves herself into these people as well though; directly after the previous quotation she mentions her first migraine happened when she was eight.
And of course this essay is about migraine-- but it's also about having no understand of something that effects you every day. It's a universal problem, and it transcends the "simple human experience" and moves to our experience as a nation. War effects some people every day, they cannot even begin to understand it or control it, but it comes. This is an extreme example, but when Didion says, "We do not escape heredity. I have tried in most of the available ways to escape my own migrainous heredity... but I still have migraine" --- I'm led to think that it's more than just medical history we try to escape, it's our connections with anything we'd rather not be a part of.
This video is really interesting in regards to Joan Didion. She kind of describes her love of writing in this short interview.
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What a hard list to make! I feel like I haven't been that interested in bookish couples to keep up with who I like. So here goes.
1. Jane Eyre and Rochester. I find them less romantic every time I read the book, but as a senior in high school I thought Jane hearing Rochester calling her name at a great distance was the most romantic thing ever. 2. Diana and Henry from The Luxe. Their kind of not exactly a couple all the time, but I get so into their storyline every time I pick up the books. 3. Dick and Anna Moss from High Fidelity. Best movie couple, best book couple, just best couple ever. Killer taste in music and just too cute together. If you don't believe me go watch this video. They appear thirty seconds in and are just too great. 4. Katniss and Peeta from The Hunger Games. I suppose I was always kind of rooting for Peeta. 5. Rob and Laura from High Fidelity. Apparently High Fidelity is just the winning couples book for me.
I just can't think of other couples I love as much as Dick and Anna and Rob and Laura, so instead of listing off five more couples I'm going to force you to watch this video so you can see why they're so great.
Join in at The Broke and the Bookish!
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Today's post is something really different and I'm very excited about it. About a week ago I was alerted about this video project called Far, a series of eight short films set to music. These films were created by seven students USC's School of Cinematic Arts and another film student from DePaul. The music in the video is from indie rock band Filligar (college kids out of Dartmouth and Hamilton College!), and they were actually the people who connected me to this video. The video they sent to me has six literary references and it is extremely well made. Also, the music is great, I've been watching these videos for a week so I can hear the songs!
They kind of remind of Margot and the Nuclear So and So's. The guys from Filligar have also been nice enough to offer a t-shirt to the first five people who email them five of the six literary references made in this video. I got five of the six so I'm sure all you can too. If you would like to enter this competition please don't leave a comment with the five literary references here, instead email the list to filligar AT gmail DOT com. This should be open until I update the post saying it is closed. You can check out their t-shirts in the Filligar store and if you like Filligar's music then you should check out their Facebook fan page.
I was fairly lukewarm on Maya Angelou before I read I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings so when I was assigned to read the book for my American History class I was sort of "Eh." Amazingly, as soon as I picked up the book I could not put it down. Angelou's voice bleeds through the pages and it is beautiful. This is Angelou's coming-of-age story, which takes place all over Southern America. She lives with her brother, Bailey, and her grandmother, Momma, who is a store owner in the main town the story takes place, Stamps, Arkansas. Through the book Angelou describes her experiences as an African-American female and the obstacles she is forced to overcome.
My favorite aspect of this novel is probably Maya's love for Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, my favorite book. I could see how this would be an important book for her since Jane is forced to overcome obstacles because she is an orphan and she is a female. What saves Jane is really her education, which allows her to work as a woman. Maya knew she needed an education as well, but that is easier said than done. I felt like this book showed the many ways a person can get an education. At one point Maya says most of the kids in her side of town didn't know what white people looked like because they'd never seen any before. That is how segregated her town was. And of course it is easy to hate people who you have never seen before, that goes either way. Education can come through integration, and that is true for more than just race.
It's not all about overcoming gender and racial boundaries though, many of the obstacles Maya faces are simply adolescent obstacles. Or not so simply for those of us who remember our teens. I'm still overcoming those obstacles. Things like understanding love (which most of us never do), our bodies, sexuality, confidence, and what is important in life. That is why this story works, I think. It's not just about Maya's struggle, it's about a combined struggle for peace in the world and within ourselves. A combined struggle to live. "Few, if any, survive their teens. Most surrender to that vague but murderous pressure of adult conformity" (271). If that didn't sum up my teens, then I don't know what else does.
This novel earned an A.
If you want a taste of Angelou's voice check out this video of her poem Still I Rise.
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Dawn of the Dreadfuls, the prequel to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, was a book that I kind of got some flack for reading. It really reminded me of why I started this blog and I wondered if I should feel embarrassed to be reading this mash-up, especially since mash-ups have been getting oh so much criticism lately. Once I got past this question, however, I found I was really interested in the story. Here is a quick bit from the back of the book to introduce you to the topic: "Readers will witness the birth of a heroine in Dawn of the Dreadfuls-a thrilling prequel set four years before the horrific events of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. As out story opens, the Bennet sisters are enjoying a peaceful life in the English countryside. They idle away the days reading, gardening, and daydreaming about future husbands-until a funeral at the local parish goes strangely and horribly awry."
The story was engrossing, and I felt like the use of zombies became a bit of a commentary on the colonization happening during the Victorian era. Maybe I'm overreaching with that, but that is how I saw it. It was almost like Frankenstein with the character Dr. Keckilpenny, a love interest of Lizzie's who tries to understand that Zombies and turn them back into gentlemen. Everyone in this story is basically stripped of their desires and given a set of instincts that they feel they must follow. It was truly creepy, and I felt like it was more than just another mash-up of Pride and Prejudice.
Which leads me to my main qualm... why did it have to be? Obviously the author, Steve Hockensmith, used characters from Pride and Prejudice and ideas from Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, but I feel like the book would have been way better if it was just a novel about zombies in Victorian England. I also feel like this would have allowed Hockensmith to explore the politics of this idea more. It's unfortunate that so many people won't read this book because they feel it rips off Pride and Prejudice, because there are some good ideas. In this case, I think the mash-up kind of killed the book.
Still, this novel earned a B.
Watch the book trailer! It gives a really good sense of the novel!
This book counts for the Jane Austen Book Challenge.
I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you make a purchase using one of my links I will earn a small percentage which will then go back into this blog. This novel was provided to me by the publisher.
This upcoming week is going to be pretty crazy for me. As I mentioned yesterday I have Midterms all week and I actually have tests this time around. I'm not so used to having a lot of tests, but I don't think it's going to be as bad as I originally planned. When Thursday comes I will finally be free! And then I get to go to New York!
I read a post at Books and Movies about Bedtime Reading Rituals. What I love about her schedule is that she incorporates so many different genres, genres that I haven't been paying enough attention to. This post got me thinking about my own bedtime reading, which is pretty much nonexistent. I usually just read what ever book I'm reading at the time and that is it. I wish that I could get some sort of reading regimen going on before bed but I just don't know if I have time for it. I love essays though, and I haven't read nearly enough this year. Over Spring Break I think I might try to get into a bedtime reading schedule and we'll see if I can keep it up through the rest of the semester.
This week I participated in the Thaw Blogsplash and posted a review of Ophelia Joined the Group Maidens Who Don't Float: Classic Lit Signs on to Facebook. I sent you all to check out the article about in The Daily Iowan, University of Iowa's newspaper. This article actually got my parents looking at my blog (hi mom and dad!). Finally, I posted a video about my name crisis experience and the Kevin Henkes' book Chrysanthemum.
And now I have to talk about something amazing. I know my blog is about reading, but one of my other passions is music. Since I've come to college I haven't been as interested in new music as I was when I was in high school. I don't know what it is, but I just don't see the point of buying new music when all I ever want to listen to is listen to Belle and Sebastian. Amazingly enough I made a mixed CD on Friday night! Making mixes was my absolute favorite thing to do in high school and I was so happy to be in the mood for it again. I'll admit, the songs I picked were songs I always listen to. So here is the last song from my mix- enjoy!
Well in the video I said I would include a list of Eric Carle books but I found an awesome video of Eric Carle talking about The Very Hungry Caterpillar so instead I will include a link to that. Go check out the Eric Carle video for the 40th Anniversary of The Very Hungry Caterpillar!
Sorry about the clicking, that was the camera in the background. Why am I getting my picture taken during my blog you might ask? You will have to wait and see my friends!
