30 Day Writing Challenge: Write A Fanfiction

I haven't written creatively in years, not thoughtfully since I taught a creative writing class about 10 years ago and it wasn't until NaNoWriMo 2012 that I realized that I still had it in me. While the book that I wrote in a month is not anywhere near ready for publication (it doesn't really have an ending or a beginning per se) it did make me realize I want to write more. At My Creative Writing Challenge and Yellow Brick Road Fiction) I found creative writing challenges, I've messed them together and here's what I've come up with for my next challenge. I'm combining the best of these two challenges to let the creative juices flow.


Write a Fanfiction

I've been reading fanfiction trying to figure out how to pull it off. I've found that there are two types of fanfic writers (although sometimes they blend) those that just want all the characters to get it on with one another, even if that's not remotely possible (cue all that "Sherlock" fanfic-don't click unless you really, really, really want to, and don't even get me started on "My Little Pony"), or they know the canon so well that they bark at any fiction that deviates from this canon, so the fanfiction is meant to enhance, even if it blends all of these different stories together, (cue most X-Files fanfic) the story or creates the ending that everyone wanted, but the author didn't give. I am intimidated by Fanfiction. If I were to write it I will be showing you, the audience, how much I love a given show or movie or book and it may show me that I'm a little more obsessed than I thought. I'm afraid I might like it, it also feels a little bit like stealing while writing a very possessive love letter and I don't know where to begin as there are so many things (you've read the blog, you know) that I can get just fanatical about.

And, there's fan fiction for EVERYTHING!

Julia Child Doesn't Make House Calls
Ernest Hemingway Parody

And, here's a cite where you can find 46 more!

Want to know more? Click here or here.

Wikipedia Definition (totally intimidating!!!)

Fan fiction, or fanfiction (often abbreviated as fan fic, fanfic, or simply fic), is a broadly defined fan labor term for stories about characters or settings written by fans of the original work, rather than by the original creator. Works of fan fiction are rarely commissioned or authorized by the original work's owner, creator, or publisher; also, they are almost never professionally published. Due to these works' not being published, stories often contain a disclaimer stating that the creator of the work owns none of the original characters. Fan fiction is defined by being both related to its subject's canonical fictional universe and simultaneously existing outside the canon of that universe. Most fan fiction writers assume that their work is read primarily by other fans, and therefore tend to presume that their readers have knowledge of the canon universe (created by a professional writer) in which their works are based.

Fan fiction is what literature might look like if it were reinvented from scratch after a nuclear apocalypse by a band of brilliant pop-culture junkies trapped in a sealed bunker. They don't do it for money. That's not what it's about. The writers write it and put it up online just for the satisfaction. They're fans, but they're not silent, couch-bound consumers of media. The culture talks to them, and they talk back to the culture in its own language.

—Lev Grossman, TIME, July 18, 2011

Here's my story (Ok, so for real this isn't my favorite part of the challenge):

Type: Drabble...although it's more like 150 words...
Genre: Cross-over
Topic: "Psych" meets "The Moonspinners"

I may like this...

"The Moon Spinners of...Death"

Gus saw the two on the beach first, but it was Sean who decided to go over.

"I'm Sean and this is my partner Aristotle Onassis Jones. I'm sensing that this hotel isn't just your regular Crete bed and breakfast, although the boygotsyou is quite good."

"Bougastsa," Gus corrected.

"I've heard it both ways." Sean continued, "The innkeeper's brother is lying and there is treasure to be found!"

Nikki looked up from the obviously injured Mark, "How did you...?"

"It doesn't matter," Sean continued, "It would seem that we're staying at The Moon-Spinners of...". He paused for dramatics, "...Death?"

Mark nervously laughed and held his hurt arm. Gus began to protest, "I said I wanted to go on vacation Sean, not solve a hotel mystery."

"Oh, Gus don't be the left-over milk in someone else's cereal bowl. Of course, we're going to help investigate!" He dashed off leaving the others to follow, baffled.

The prompts are:

Day 1: Re-write a classic fairy tale
Day 2: Write a fanfiction
Day 3: A story that takes place pre-1950
Day 4:  An important conversation, in the style of a movie script.
Day 5: A story revolving around an object in your room
Day 6: Start your story with: “He glanced at his watch impatiently…”
Day 7: Create a superhero. Have he/she save the day.
Day 8: Write a prequel to that Superhero. Pre-Superhero life. Maybe their childhood.
Day 9: A story in 250 words or less about your favorite city
Day 10: Start story with: “She touched the little box in her pocket and smiled…”
Day 11: A story where the characters go without power for a day.
Day 12: Describe a significant place, allowing the details to reveal why the place matters. Describe it from a tree or rooftop or from a hawk’s point of view. Describe it from the height of a dog or a turtle.
Day 13: Begin with “I thought I saw…”
Day 14: Choose a photograph from a published collection of black-and-whites, of humans in uncertain conditions. Write the story of one of the individuals or one of the groupings.
Day 15: Write about a stranger you see. Either their back-story or what they are thinking in the moment you see them.
Day 16: Go to iTunes, put your music on random. Write a story about the first song that comes up. (250 words or less)
Day 17: Use time travel in a story
Day 18: A story set in a ghost town.
Day 19: Describe a “first” (first apartment, first kiss, first time driving a car, first lie, first big success, first roller coaster ride, first time in this setting).
Day 20: Use these words in a story: grandfather, photo album, post office, and folder
Day 21: Write about your early memories of faith, religion, or spirituality; yours or someone else’s.
Day 22: Write a story based on a dream you had
Day 23: Describe/fictionalize a childhood memory
Day 24: Write a story that takes place 100 years in the future
Day 25: Write a story about a mythical creature.
Day 26: Write about the 30th picture on your phone or computer. Write about the story behind it, or make up the story behind it.
Day 27: Story taking place during a sporting event (any sport)
Day 28: Story on a ship. Past, present, or future. 
Day 29: Story about space
Day 30: Story or poem about ice

"Felicity" Spring Break 2013

I found another show to obsess to/about and watched most of it during Spring Break...we had a staycation and Lila went to daycare a few of the days, she spent the night with her aunts, and I spent those days watching 'Felicity'.

OK, so I immediately saw myself in Felicity. Ugh. It was/is embarrassing. I think the only difference between the two of us (besides the obvious physical appearance) was that I haven't followed 'the boy' across country, rocking my whole world, and changing my life...um...although, I...

Anyway, whatever.

The week before Spring Break I started watching 'Felicity', I'd never seen it before. I wasn't sure I'd be into it. I'd heard that the show was sillier than 'Dawson's Creek' (such a vicious untrue statement) and I'd heard that it was pretty intense. So, I started the show and in the three hours of free time I had, I graded absolutely nothing and watched those first few intense, deeply emotional episodes of 'Felicity'. I laughed, I felt a little nostalgic for a time in my life that is no longer, and when the family came home I was in the middle of that mortifying tape scene in "Hot Objects" got a little weepy (I was there once, it was a letter to a friend about a boy...it was, I don't want to talk about it) and realized that I was 'hooked'.

I tell you right now I couldn't have watched this show while it was on the air. It's this emotional roller-coaster love triangle of girl angst with great hair and music (although I hear the music is different than it was when it originally aired) as a background. Three of the four seasons end in overwhelmingly awful cliffhangers that would have ruined my summer and unlike 'Beverly Hills 90210', a show that turned into a sexy soap-opera after it's first four years, and 'Dawson's Creek', a show that's just so sappy and ridiculous by the end, it has real feelings and real emotions acted by real people (albeit beautiful people); Felicity doesn't feel like one long music video.

So, before we spend some quality time digging in to what made this show possess a place in my heart and mind, let's get a few of the big things out of the way:

'Felicity' has a whole fandom of shippers...most of them are in their late 20s and early 30s; honestly after four years of Ben and Felicity and Noel I can understand. I am not a FAN. I am a hardcore FAB. Keri Russell and Scott Speedman make sure that you are...I mean seriously there's some too hot moments between the two of them that are...whew...cold shower, moving on. This starts in the opening scene. It does not stop until the final scene of the show.

I think I may have seen an episode or two of this show a long time ago. There were some things in season four that seemed familiar and hazy like a dream.

I miss the 90s. This show made me actually admit that. I loved the 90s. I feel sorry for any person who wasn't in high school or college in the 90s. I was in high school in the early 90s and college in the late 90s...there isn't a better decade to be nostalgic about...the music, the clothes, the end of the millennium, the movies, the shows, my life, the economy...sigh, good times. I love where and who I am now, but I miss that pretty awesome decade. And, while this show ended in 2002, everybody knows that the first few years of any decade look like the preceding decade.

I am a fan of the haircut. I am a fan of the reasons for the haircut. Girls could learn on to be so brave.

I am a fan of Felicity. Sure, she's selfish and self-centered (what girl, what person isn't???) and sometimes just plain 'girl' dumb and she makes horribly wrong choices and has to be forced to recognize the right ones, but she's real people and she makes me laugh and blush with embarrassment and, wow, such a nicely flawed character.

JJ Abrams is a bully. The WB is/was also a bully.

On the other hand the last five episodes of the show are pretty darned good. I am glad I was told about them first (thanks Jen!) otherwise I may have thrown the remote and punched a kitten. *SPOILER* I'm glad I watched them. I think it's important for all the shippers and the other fans that we see what 'Felicity and Noel' looks like so there are no regrets about 'Felicity and Ben'. These episodes give us a chance to reexamine our own choices/what-ifs. Plus, they give us a chance to see the hot cocky Ben that we haven't seen since the first season.

I watched the show with two brains. Brain One: 36 year-old grown-up Stephanie; Brain Two: college Stephanie...thank goodness they're both quite schmoopy and nostalgic.

I didn't watch this show in order. I am muy impatient. If this show had not ended the way I wanted it to, I would have felt like I wasted 84 hours of my time. I'd also watched the end of an arch (ie. like the whole Lauren thing--wth, was that anyway???!) before watching the beginning of an arch as I also hate surprises. After watching the show this way I realized that's the reason I can't watch 'Hart of Dixie' right now...ugh. Wade and Zoe and George...tell me what happens so I can watch in comfort...still gasping and crying like somebody killed my favorite pet.

Here's my list:
1] S1 E1-11 in order
2] S4 E1-7
3] the last two of Season one; the first two of Season two
4] S2 E11
5] S3 E14-end; S4 E1-2
6] S4 E17; S4 the finale and E21
7] S4 E5-7; S4 3-4
8] the last two of Season two; S2 E20-21; S3 E1 and E3
9] S1 E12-14
10] S4 E10-11, E8-9; S1 E15
11] S1 E16-18; S4 E14-15
12] S2 E3-9; S3 E2
13] S3 E10-13
14] S3 E4-9; S2 E10
15] S2 E12-15, E18-19
16] S2 E16-17
and, then I watched the series finale again...and, some scenes I found on YouTube...you know...for closer.

 More later...

30 Day Book Challenge: Day 28

Last year I found this book challenge (since then I have seen many variations of it, but I like this one best!), and have been intrigued about how I would answer the questions posed. Feel free to comment with your own answer or post the challenge to your own blog.

First favorite book or series obsession

At first I thought this one was going to be like all of those others where I put the same answer that I put for Day 01...but, it's not, it's first favorite book or series obsession! First, changes everything!

First favorite book

From Goodreads:
Sheldon has more than enough pancakes for his own lunch but not enough for his friends, so they proceed to make more.

Of course, ask me tomorrow and I might have a different book, as about 10 are floating in my head and there are about 10 more who's names I can't remember, but whose pictures and words (in my mother's voice) are always floating around in my head.

Series obsession

I got about 80 books in and matured to Sweet Valley High books, I think I read about 40 of those and then some University books...not very many. I was getting tired and, well, these books NEVER stop, NEVER! I hear the new book Sweet Valley Confidential isn't really how I want to remember my girls, so I haven't read it. My obsession with these books easily transferred to The Hardy Boy and Nancy Drew Super Mysteries, of which I read and own 25 of the original 36...wow! I really need to find and buy the rest of those! As for SV...I'm good with what I have...of course, there's whole e-series I can purchase for $1.99 each...hmmm!?

Day 01 – A book series you wish had gone on longer OR a book series you wish would just freaking end already (or both!)

Day 02 – A book or series you wish more people were reading and talking about
Day 03 – The best book you've read in the last 12 months
Day 04 – Your favorite book or series ever
Day 05 – A book or series you hate
Day 06 – Favorite book of your favorite series
Day 07 – Least favorite plot device employed by way too many books you actually enjoyed otherwise
Day 08 – A book everyone should read at least once
Day 09 – Best scene ever
Day 10 – A book you thought you wouldn't like but ended up loving
Day 11– A book that disappointed you
Day 12 – A book or series of books you’ve read more than five times
Day 13 – Favorite childhood book OR current favorite YA book (or both!)
Day 14 – Favorite character in a book
Day 15 – Your “comfort” book
Day 16 – Favorite poem or collection of poetry
Day 17 – Favorite story or collection of stories (short stories, novellas, novelettes, etc.)
Day 18 – Favorite beginning scene in a book 
Day 19 – Favorite book cover (bonus points for posting an image!)
Day 20 – Favorite kiss
Day 21 – Favorite romantic/sexual relationship (including asexual romantic relationships)
Day 22 – Favorite non-sexual relationship (including asexual romantic relationships)
Day 23 – Most annoying character ever 
Day 24 – Best Quote from a Novel 
Day 25 – Any five books from your "to be read" stack 
Day 26 – OMG WTF? OR most irritating/awful/annoying book ending
Day 27 – If a book contains ______, you will always read it (and a book or books that contain it)!
Day 28 – First favorite book or series obsession
Day 29 – Saddest character death OR best/most satisfying character death (or both!)
Day 30 – What book are you reading right now?

30 Book Challenge: Day 27

Last year I found this book challenge (since then I have seen many variations of it, but I like this one best!), and have been intrigued about how I would answer the questions posed. Feel free to comment with your own answer or post the challenge to your own blog.

[Source]

If a book contains __________, you will always read it (and a book or books that contain it)!

If a book contains SCIENCE FICTION/FANTASY, I will always read it (and a book or books that contain it)!

This includes all of the subgenres...fantasy, epic fantasy, court intrigue, speculative fiction, dystopian, cyperpunk, steampunk, paranormal, urban, historical, contemporary, hard, space opera, parallel/alternate universe, apocalyptic, comic, colonization, alternate timeline, near-future, ESP, exploration, ET, other world, political, post-apocalyptic, SpyFy, time travel, soft, romance, fairy tale, superhero...click here, just in case I missed one or two!

I like my SF to have aliens or parallel Earths or robots or unicorns or mermaids or vampires and battles for good and life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I like time travel and Victorian England and the Wild, Wild West. I like animals that talks and houses that talk and people who only talk with their minds. I like relics and history and space.

I love Star Trek and Star Wars and The Last Starfighter.

I love science fiction.

Day 01 – A book series you wish had gone on longer OR a book series you wish would just freaking end already (or both!)

Day 02 – A book or series you wish more people were reading and talking about
Day 03 – The best book you've read in the last 12 months
Day 04 – Your favorite book or series ever
Day 05 – A book or series you hate
Day 06 – Favorite book of your favorite series
Day 07 – Least favorite plot device employed by way too many books you actually enjoyed otherwise
Day 08 – A book everyone should read at least once
Day 09 – Best scene ever
Day 10 – A book you thought you wouldn't like but ended up loving
Day 11– A book that disappointed you
Day 12 – A book or series of books you’ve read more than five times
Day 13 – Favorite childhood book OR current favorite YA book (or both!)
Day 14 – Favorite character in a book
Day 15 – Your “comfort” book
Day 16 – Favorite poem or collection of poetry
Day 17 – Favorite story or collection of stories (short stories, novellas, novelettes, etc.)
Day 18 – Favorite beginning scene in a book 
Day 19 – Favorite book cover (bonus points for posting an image!)
Day 20 – Favorite kiss
Day 21 – Favorite romantic/sexual relationship (including asexual romantic relationships)
Day 22 – Favorite non-sexual relationship (including asexual romantic relationships)
Day 23 – Most annoying character ever 
Day 24 – Best Quote from a Novel 
Day 25 – Any five books from your "to be read" stack 
Day 26 – OMG WTF? OR most irritating/awful/annoying book ending
Day 27 – If a book contains ______, you will always read it (and a book or books that contain it)!
Day 28 – First favorite book or series obsession
Day 29 – Saddest character death OR best/most satisfying character death (or both!)
Day 30 – What book are you reading right now?

Infinite Jest #7: Metropolis, The Dark Knight Rises and Infinite Jest

Think of these Sunday posts as jumping off places...discuss what I've posted, post something yourself, answer questions, ask questions, add links...do whatever it takes to make this experience enjoyable and understandable for you!

These post will be CHOCK FULL OF SPOILERS for the reading for that week (Just in case you didn't already know that!). I think knowing this will stop those of us that aren't at a certain place from reading on and will enable those of us who are writing to do so without worrying if someone knows that fact or not. If you are reading ahead and want to post about the pages ahead please wait and if you want to talk about other books, not Infinite Jest and are giving spoilers please indicate that in some fashion...even a *spoiler* before the comment would be nice.

And, finally, if there is anything I can do to make this run more smoothly please don't hesitate to message me on here, on twitter or on Goodreads and I'll see what I can do.

Let's begin the discussion...
Ok, so last weekend was our 3rd year anniversary and in true Gen X meets Millennial fashion we celebrated with a movie, but not just any movie though...we celebrated with The Dark Knight Rises. Without giving anything away, hopefully, I got a little misty-eyed at the ending. OK, actually, I may have had real tears. Then I had to research the whole lot and in doing so I stumbled upon an interesting sub-point. Although Nolan claims no political affiliation, many believe that this movie has a fascist agenda. Heck, many believe that all comic book tales lean toward fascism. From The Dark Knight Rises is a Pro-Fascist Movie:

A note for clarity: I’m going to be using the words fascism and fascist a lot in this review. Since, as Orwell warned us, those terms have come to be used as synonyms for “stuff I don’t like”, I should pin down the sense in which I use them here. Fascism is a political ideology fixated on authoritarianism, militaristic imagery and action, and the use of authoritarian force against internal and external Others who are defined as threats to the continued existence of society. Fixations on nationalism and national or racial purity and unity are also common. Fascism is a phenomenon of the political right, and has always been fanatically anti-communist, communism being what happens when the political left gets equally douchey. 

That said, there has always been an intrinsically fascist subtext to all superhero mythology. These stories, which I have grown up on and still love, are predicated on creating a situation of such exaggerated threat that fascist solutions, i.e. strongmen acting outside due process to restore order by violent force, become not only plausible but desirable. To put it another way, citizens of Metropolis might be uncomfortable with having a nearly-omnipotent alien living in their city, answerable to no authority but himself, but when a week can’t go by without a giant robot trying to level the city, you’ll accept the alien as preferable to the robots.

I read the whole article and thought about it and wanted to talk about it, but couldn't. If you read the whole article be warned that it contains MAJOR spoilers for the movie. I watched it again with a friend a couple of days later and had the same reaction (only this time I was anticipating the ending). We talked about whether it was fascist or not. I'm still on the fence, she says 'No.'. And, there was still something at the back of my mind, right out of sight, but I knew it existed.

I started thinking about Metropolis (from Wikipedia):

Metropolis is a 1927 German expressionist science-fiction film directed by Fritz Lang. The film was written by Lang and his wife Thea Von Harbou, and starred Brigitte Helm, Gustav Fröhlich, Alfred Abel and Rudolf Klein-Rogge. A silent film, it was produced in the Babelsberg Studios by UFA. 

Made in Germany during the Weimar Period, Metropolis is set in a futuristic urban dystopia, and follows the attempts of Freder, the son of a wealthy intellectual, and Maria, whose background is not fully explained in the film, to overcome the vast gulf separating the classist nature of their city.Metropolis was filmed in 1925, at a cost of approximately four million Reichsmarks.^[2] The film was met with a mixed response upon its initial release, with many critics praising its technical achievements while deriding its simplistic and naïve storyline. Due both to its long running-time and footage censors found questionable, Metropolis was cut substantially after its German premiere; large portions of the film were lost over the subsequent decades.

So, finally, this morning I googled 'Dark Knight Rises and Metropolis'...who knew?

How Fritz Lang's 'Metropolis' Inspired Christopher Nolan's 'The Dark Knight Rises'
The Dark Knight Rises, A Tale of Two Cities, and Fritz Lang?

And, this post from the LiveBlog has tied it all together.

Blue

And, the connections just keep on coming...

What would DFW think about all that?!

House-keeping:
1] Many of you have messaged me about needing time to catch up. Do I need to add another week onto our schedule? Do I need to exempt a Sunday convo day?

2] If you haven't signed up officially, please do so here.

3] Catch up on all of our IJ stuff and things here.
4] Come join in on the convo even if you haven't caught up with the reading. Just comment on the post for the weeks you have read. I miss the conversation.

Infinite Summer #2: Obsession and Love and the wheelchair assassins

Think of these Sunday posts as jumping off places...discuss what I've posted, post something yourself, answer questions, ask questions, add links...do whatever it takes to make this experience enjoyable and understandable for you!

These post will be CHOCK FULL OF SPOILERS for the reading for that week (Just in case you didn't already know that!). I think knowing this will stop those of us that aren't at a certain place from reading on and will enable those of us who are writing to do so without worrying if someone knows that fact or not. If you are reading ahead and want to post about the pages ahead please wait and if you want to talk about other books, not Infinite Jest and are giving spoilers please indicate that in some fashion...even a *spoiler* before the comment would be nice.

And, finally, if there is anything I can do to make this run more smoothly please don't hesitate to message me on here, on twitter or on Goodreads and I'll see what I can do.

Let's begin the discussion...

When I first read Bridget Jone's Diary (um, yeah, I just connected Bridget Jones to this book...I'm such a girl sometimes) I read it in it's original setting, London, England. It was the coolest experience, she'd talk about something and I'd look out the window and see it, or go down on the sidewalk and walk to it, I could smell what she smelled and taste was she tasted, it made the whole experience of reading about her surreal and marvelous. There's something so cool about reading a book immersed in the world in which the book was created. I love it when a fictitious world collides with a real one.

I also love people who are obsessed with something and need for it to be fleshed out to the fullest. I can get obsessed and must know every bit about a thing (think The X-Files for those who even slightly know me) until I am fully satiated. I'm not going to lie I feel this way about IJ and I am so glad that there are others out there who are compelled to write about, sing about ("Calamity Song"), draw about, talk about it until my heart and mind are over-flowing. I only vaguely knew about this book before Nicole talked to Amanda and I about it one evening and I am excited to see that there are whole communities and groups of people who feel this book is mind-altering. My favorite so far is the Poor Yorick Entertainment Tumblr (going to the Tumblr directly may contain spoilers. I first found it here).


As its creator, Chris Ayers, states:

Only a few of the films in Incandenza's body of work have any real substantive relation to the central plot. Some are described in detail while others are only mentioned in passing. 

This project is an attempt to bring some kind of visual life to the fictional filmmaker's body of work, as well as the world of Infinite Jest.

There really are some priceless gems (he's created a film poster for the films I was most curious about, a lovely poster of subsidized time and he found ETA school t-shirt logos) and you can download them all for free here. Some fun things to laminate for my classroom, no!?

Favorite quotes from this section

"'Our attachments are our temple, what we worship, no? What we give ourselves to, what we invest with faith.'"

"'What if you just love? without deciding? You just do: you see her and in that instant are lost to sober account-keeping and cannot choose but to love'"

"'Welcome to the meaning individual. We're each deeply alone here. It's what we all have in common, this aloneness.'" [sure, he's talking about tennis as a sport, but...]

"'Nothing brings you together like a common enemy.'"

Thoughts...

I need to share something with you all...it's pretty important. I am not skimming. I have not skimmed one word of this book. This is rare for me as I am truly one of the most impatient people you will ever meet, and, yet here I am reading every footnote and every word...the words are just that good, even the part about the feral hamsters.

The part about Marathe quadrupling because his wife needs medical attention probably wouldn't have been so pointed had it not been for our current Healthcare situation in The States.

I also love the conversation with the boys post school and work-out on the floor of the locker room. I was there. How?/Why? Because DFW gives us so much to see (this may be my favorite part from this section...maybe).

Then, of course, there's Schtitt and 'urine luck'...it's nice to know that really smart make me gasp with their word-smithing writers can still have low-brow boy humor. *chuckle*

Oh, and if you want to truly understand solipsism...here's a great essay by Ander Monson titled, well, Solipsism. It reads much better in The Best American Essay 2008. After reading this essay again and clicking on all the links again...it would seem I've been preparing myself to read DFW for a long while now...'curiousier and curiouser'...

And, finally, a little house-keeping:

1] I will be out of town next weekend, but, if you are in the area, please feel free to come over and chat today. My family is in town for the 4th, but I'm sure I can spare an hour.
2] If you haven't signed up officially, please do so here.
3] Catch up on all of our IJ stuff and things here.
4] All of the books on this list are $3.99 on the Nook, including A Supposedly Funny Thing I'll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments ...go snag it while it's there to be snagged!
5] And, keep the convo coming, I am loving it and it helps me to understand the book and my viewpoints so much more.

What would you like to talk about?

The Automat

Ok, so I need to tell you an interesting story about my search for Americana.

During April's A-Z challenge I wrote about paintings I want to take my kid to see and then asked if there were any others out there that I should try to visit, FBT of Kill Me If I Stop suggested two paintings, one by Pollock and I love Pollock and one I'd never heard of (and, I thought I'd looked at all the Hopper's), a painting titled Automat.

Here's what she said:

"...I would love to see Automat by Edward Hopper because there are so many stories to be told from that one instant in time. That's what I particularly like about Hopper; he makes my imagination expand. Is she waiting for someone who never came? Is she just on her own drinking coffee? Does she look sad, pensive, maybe just weary? All of his works are just so suggestive."

Of course, I had to find the painting immediately and when I did something puzzled me. First, of all if you don't have "Diamonds Are A Girls' Best Friend" immediately in your head at the mention of the word 'automat' let me put it there now and second, um, I realized that an 'automat' is not in any way a laundromat with food, as I had previously thought.

This painting does invoke all that FTB mentions and it also had me puzzled...what in the dickens was/is an automat? And, how could I be missing this important piece of America? The answer, of course, is that I've never seen "That Touch of Mink" (when I asked my mother what an automat was she said she didn't have a clue, but when I describe them to her, she said "Oh, like that cafeteria in that scene with that movie starring Doris Day, where the guy keeps trying to get the food, but every time one is set down, someone else takes it and then there's a ruckus in the back with the food service." I said, "Sure."--I really need to see that movie!)


My friends had a few suggestions, as you can see. And, all the things I found suggest that automats (especially those of the Horn and Hardart variety) are no longer in existence. I even checked the Smithsonian as I'd read this lovely article about them from Smithsonian.com and, well, I was in the DC when I found out all of this information. I made my family go all over the National Museum of American History. GUESS WHAT!? The pop culture section is closed for renovations and, according to the lovely older gentleman at the information desk there used to be one to use (can you believe it?...actually my sister and I think we may have eaten at it one time when we were there...but, it was before I knew what it was and I didn't take a picture!), but they closed it and then he told me to search on Google if I wanted to find one. The horror!

Then BAMN closed, well actually it closed several years ago and I'm left with my itch to eat at an automat...and, boy, I want to, perhaps alone on a dark night wearing only one glove.

Do you know where I can find one? I would really like to eat some processed food or the like or fresh food, I suppose, from a big metal box.

Guess what I'm listening to as I type this...I'll leave you with it.

Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend!

"Oh, thanks ever so."

I love diamonds. Those of you that know me are either shaking your head in furious affirmation or you've got your head cocked to one side thinking, "Hmm...she doesn't seem like the diamond type as she will wear the same pair of jeans all week without washing them and will eat food that's been sitting out for hours like she's a college student, I've seen her do it!" I suppose stereotypically I'm really not the diamond type. To that I would say that there really shouldn't be a type...everyone should love diamonds. I don't think this makes me, or anyone who feels this way, shallow.

I realized that I loved diamonds when I was a little kid. I would say it started with those fake jewelry pieces that you could get in plastic from Wal-Mart. My favorite set came from like my 4th birthday party...it had a red wallet with a diamond clasp, a bracelet, earrings and a lovely ring. I had that set for years. The bracelet was my favorite part. I loved the weight of it on my wrist and the way it sparkled when I would hold it underneath the lamplight. My love of this gem progressed further after watching Marilyn Monroe, as a 10 year old I remember thinking that she, with her curvy body and sensual grace, was the most exquisite of all human beings. Her characters aren't flawless, they dress to kill and they, especially to my younger self, are independent and feminine. My favorite combination in any female. She makes women in the limelight nowadays look cheap or like little girls...don't believe me, just put her next to the likes of Kim K., Kiera Knightly and Natalie Portman. Why do people think Angelina Jolie is so amazing? It's because she exudes all the awesomeness of Marilyn.

"The Sparkling Diamond" ~ Moulin Rouge! [Source]

Here's how I picture the two extremes of the 'diamond lover'...either you're a Lady Beekman or you're a Lorelei Lee. If you don't know who these people are go watch Gentlemen Prefer Blondes...then come back...I'll wait.

Lady Beekman
Rich enough to buy all the diamonds that you see/want/need. The Lady Beekman types are covered in diamonds even when they are wearing jeans and gardening (I have an actual story about a woman who lost her diamond tennis bracelet while gardening).
Positives: sparkles...literally, knows her diamonds inside and out, generous to a point.
Not So Positives: May actually be wearing conflict diamonds...may not care that they are conflict diamonds, will take that diamond tiara right off your head, even if she knows that her husband gave it to you.

Lorelei Lee
Yearn for diamonds, but can't afford them on her own.
Positives: sweet and cheerful, how could she not be when there are so many diamonds in the world, the life of the party...if you are friend to or married to or dating a Lorelei there is NEVER a dull moment.
Negatives: May marry for money first, love second...is blinded by the sparkle.

And, where do I see myself...as a Lorelei Beekman; somewhere in the middle of course.

Lorelei Beekman
Has diamonds, ask for diamonds on special occasions, loves diamonds...will wait years to get the one she wants.
Positives: researches her diamonds before she buys them, doesn't wear her diamonds around (you will never see me gardening in my diamond tennis bracelet), understands that diamonds are more than just the sparkle. They are commitment (normal people have to save to buy diamonds) which means you should think about who you are giving them to and why you are doing that, and they symbolized solidarity (diamonds can cut glass) and trust; a diamond on your finger says that you trust that the person who gave it to you is yours forever.
Negatives: Knows just enough about diamonds to be deadly...just ask Chris to tell you all about looking for an engagement ring.

Of the 4Cs (clarity, cut, color and carat) I'm all about the cut. The proper cut can hide the biggest flaw and can give the most sparkle. Favorite cut; princess. Favorite diamonds, please look below...

And, frankly, it's the stories of the above diamonds that interest me far more than their beauty. Feel free to look them up...the most interesting...The Hope Diamond.

The stories in a nutshell...

The Hope Diamond

Those that have owned it have been cursed and died horrible deaths having been thrown from cliffs or eaten by wild dogs or killed by their own hand, usually with a knife.

Tiffany's Bird On A Rock

A 287 karat yellow diamond that was studied a year before it was cut down to a little under 150 karats. It has 90 facets and was worn by Audrey Hepburn.

Great Star of Africa

Part of the Sceptre with the Cross, which holds all the British crowned jewels.

Why all this talk about diamonds?

It all started on our one and only (so far) snow day and we were at the truck stop. We'd already spent a couple of hours eating breakfast and rehashing snow days of old and, as usually happens when there's a large amount of girls and only one boy, we began talking about girlie things. Cat fights and clothes gave way to Bath and Body Works lotion (another topic I can talk about for hours) which always leads to diamonds. The only guy said, "I don't understand the big deal about diamonds." And, here we are...

How does my love of diamonds play into my everyday life?

I suppose my attitude about diamonds plays into my every day life in the sense that I don't really settle for less than what I know to be perfect, exemplary and perfectly shiny. Everything in my life sparkles.

So, I ask, do you have a love of diamonds or something similar? What's the history of your glittery love?