Friday, January 29, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
REVIEW: SOME GIRLS ARE
by Courtney Summers
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
SOME GIRLS ARE came out just in time for it to be my travel book during a trip to Boston. I love picking out a certain book for a trip even if I'm in the middle of something else. The trip will always remind me of the book and the other way around also. It's a way of memory gifting to yourself.
I'm going to try and keep this review short because when I really enjoy something I have a lot to talk about and I tend to go on and on and I did very much enjoy SOME GIRLS ARE. I will keep it short but it is really going to be hard.
When I speak of this story about high school bullying I can not help but start off by talking about how much it brought back some very bad memories from my time as a high school prisoner. I've seen some people write about this book as a "mean girl" book or call it an "issue" book. Nope, sorry, you are wrong there people.
The one thing Courtney Summers did in her first book and accomplished here is that this is not an issue book. A lot of YA books are "issue" books and when someone recommends those books to me once I find out about what the "issue" is then there isn't much book really left. Courtney has the talent to take an issue, use it, but not make it the meat of the story. Or in other ways of stating it, she writes about people and emotions and does not just live on cute harsh cutter "issues" for the meat of her story. She writes. I truly believe you find more creativity and courage in YA literature than anywhere else right now in publishing but you also find some of the most cut and paste writing there is also. You find the great with the bland.
SOME GIRLS ARE is a three level step up from the writers first book and I enjoyed that read also. At this level of growth she may find herself in that double edged situation of people unfairly expecting her to up the level of quality with each story she releases. Though to be honest with the talent here I don't think she will have that many problems doing that. And we are all in wait for the zombie novel she just has to write some day, if you are a regular reader of the writers blog you will know why.
This is also no "mean girl" book. Yes, it has young women in it who are mean to each other and in "mean" I speak of treating each other like total shit here but this book is about a much bigger issue. This book explores the torture, yes I said torture, that goes on and is allowed to go on in schools just about everywhere. No matter it a public or private school or anything in-between the pain is there in those gatherings between all of those walled off in the battlegrounds.
SGA starts and you could think "here is how its going" as you are reading but the pain is just getting started and you will learn it has been going on for so long already. The back story is used here really well. The author could make two prequels out of the material discussed that has happen in the past. There is one situation in this story that is painfully similar to something that happen to me in high school. After reading that section I had to put the book down for while. That is putting your reader into the story.
This book may hurt to read if high school was Hell for you but I still say read because even though I don't believe in entertainment as therapy, I do think it can help you revisit something good or bad that has happen to you in your life and maybe help you come up with new thoughts about those moments that effected you greatly. You also should be forced to read this book if high school was not Hell in any way for you. Maybe you will rethink some action or inaction you took in your life be you a student at that time or teacher. This book brings right into your face why so many never recover from those times as a prisoner. I believe the early years of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYERS did this and so does SOME GIRLS ARE.
And on a final note, am I the only one who thinks the red locker is a modern "The Scarlet Letter" thought? Wonder if the writer was thinking along those lines?
This review was step one in my goal of reading at least one book a month from which I will write a review of. And this also will be another way to keep my blog active and stretch writing muscles I do not usually use. I also have planned several other blog related things projects for 2010.
C.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
A BOOKS YOU SHOULD BUY
In an attempt to update here at least one more time than I did last year today I point you to a book you should buy. Count your pennies! Count your lonnies! Sale those sucktastic vampire and wolf books that your mom likes in a way too creepy way and go buy Courtney Summers new book.
SOME GIRLS ARE
Now I'm off to sale a toe to a toe troll so I can get my copy.
C.
Now I'm off to sale a toe to a toe troll so I can get my copy.
C.
Monday, January 4, 2010
FIRST FOR 10
Wrote this poem after finishing the final draft of a short story.
I can’t say I’m perfect,
All I can say is I try,
You are so beautiful world,
And I’ve let so much wasted time pass me by,
I’m a gentle mess,
Sweet dropping off my dreams,
Too tired to die,
I walk down the street to find a place to cry,
I roll up my sleeves to beat down the lie,
But the demons just will not go away,
Please try to hold out your hand,
They are trying to be all they can be,
Fighting the fight to have enough to eat,
Is that really so wrong to seek,
To bear all the pain that we all have to bare,
Hope and pray you never have to sit in that seat,
I’m a gentle mess,
Sweet dropping off my dreams,
Too tired to die,
I walk down the street to find a place to cry,
I roll up my sleeves to beat down the lie,
But the demons just will not go away,
Hello Canada,
Do you remember that dream I had?
My sisters and my brothers have all passed me by,
I’m a gentle mess,
Sweet dropping off my dreams,
Too tired to die,
I walk down the street to find a place to cry,
I roll up my sleeves to beat down the lie,
But the demons just will not go away,
In the pitch of night I shake and scratch sometimes at my skin,
The places I have seen and been,
You would think I’d have the education to come up with a win,
To be the man I’ve always wanted to be,
Instead of weak and on my knees,
I’m a gentle mess,
Sweet dropping off my dreams,
Too tired to die on my knees,
I can’t say I’m perfect,
All I can say is I try,
You are so beautiful world,
And I’ve let so much wasted time pass me by,
I’m a gentle mess,
Sweet dropping off my dreams,
Too tired to die,
I walk down the street to find a place to cry,
I roll up my sleeves to beat down the lie,
But the demons just will not go away,
Please try to hold out your hand,
They are trying to be all they can be,
Fighting the fight to have enough to eat,
Is that really so wrong to seek,
To bear all the pain that we all have to bare,
Hope and pray you never have to sit in that seat,
I’m a gentle mess,
Sweet dropping off my dreams,
Too tired to die,
I walk down the street to find a place to cry,
I roll up my sleeves to beat down the lie,
But the demons just will not go away,
Hello Canada,
Do you remember that dream I had?
My sisters and my brothers have all passed me by,
I’m a gentle mess,
Sweet dropping off my dreams,
Too tired to die,
I walk down the street to find a place to cry,
I roll up my sleeves to beat down the lie,
But the demons just will not go away,
In the pitch of night I shake and scratch sometimes at my skin,
The places I have seen and been,
You would think I’d have the education to come up with a win,
To be the man I’ve always wanted to be,
Instead of weak and on my knees,
I’m a gentle mess,
Sweet dropping off my dreams,
Too tired to die on my knees,
Friday, December 25, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
WAITING FOR TIME TO READ...WAITING FOR TIME TO DIE
I actually got the chance to read a few things this week and watched a couple of DVDs also. I'll start with some graphic novels and then go into a few DVDs. All of these materials came from the library. Remember to support your local library even if you do not use it at all or not often. Never know, one day you might find yourself in need of a great place like a free public library but if we don't support them they will go away.
Tom Strong: Book 1 was part of Alan Moore's Americas Best Comics line of books. Not my favorite books of the line, that would be Top-Ten, but I still have enjoyed the Tom Strong stories when I've gotten the chance to read them. They remind me very much of reading old Superman stories, though with a high sci-fi bend to them and more modern storytelling strengths.
Fantastic Four Visionaries John Byrne collects the first issues in John Byrne's great run on the first family of comics. My favorite comic run ever was Byrne's run on Uncanny X-Men for those were the books that gave me my love for the art form in the first place. I know these days a lot of people only think things of John Byrne for stuff he has said online and he is not looked at as much for the talent he has always hand in his hands but for him personally. Not the artist and writer but the man. From Next Men to Superman but not in that order historically, I have enjoyed the works of John Byrne. In my eyes his run on Fantastic Four was the best ever on that series and yes I'm going to go as far to say even better than Lee and Kirby.
Uncanny X-Men: Sisterhood was a nice way to end my weeks graphic novel reading in that I was getting to know again what has been happening latly with my all time favorite comic. I have enjoyed a lot of what they have done with the X book line since House Of M. You can say what you will but what they have done is inject much needed life into a line of books that almost drove away, and in some cases did drive away, a lot of long time readers.
Away We Go was one of those simple little films that breathed along at a nice run and at the end it left me saying, "That was pretty cool." And sometimes that is actually what I want from a movie.
Paper Heart was a film I had wanted to see since it was in theatres. It is funny, sad, real, maneuvered, and then sad and funny again.
Waiting For God: Series 2 A little British Tv for background viewing for a night of writing. I really enjoy this series that when I come to think about it looks like me and Wave in the future. One crazy mean bitch and one crazy nutter old fart raging against the world. It is one of the most rebelish television shows ever produced if you ask me.
Tom Strong: Book 1 was part of Alan Moore's Americas Best Comics line of books. Not my favorite books of the line, that would be Top-Ten, but I still have enjoyed the Tom Strong stories when I've gotten the chance to read them. They remind me very much of reading old Superman stories, though with a high sci-fi bend to them and more modern storytelling strengths.
Fantastic Four Visionaries John Byrne collects the first issues in John Byrne's great run on the first family of comics. My favorite comic run ever was Byrne's run on Uncanny X-Men for those were the books that gave me my love for the art form in the first place. I know these days a lot of people only think things of John Byrne for stuff he has said online and he is not looked at as much for the talent he has always hand in his hands but for him personally. Not the artist and writer but the man. From Next Men to Superman but not in that order historically, I have enjoyed the works of John Byrne. In my eyes his run on Fantastic Four was the best ever on that series and yes I'm going to go as far to say even better than Lee and Kirby.
Uncanny X-Men: Sisterhood was a nice way to end my weeks graphic novel reading in that I was getting to know again what has been happening latly with my all time favorite comic. I have enjoyed a lot of what they have done with the X book line since House Of M. You can say what you will but what they have done is inject much needed life into a line of books that almost drove away, and in some cases did drive away, a lot of long time readers.
Away We Go was one of those simple little films that breathed along at a nice run and at the end it left me saying, "That was pretty cool." And sometimes that is actually what I want from a movie.
Paper Heart was a film I had wanted to see since it was in theatres. It is funny, sad, real, maneuvered, and then sad and funny again.
Waiting For God: Series 2 A little British Tv for background viewing for a night of writing. I really enjoy this series that when I come to think about it looks like me and Wave in the future. One crazy mean bitch and one crazy nutter old fart raging against the world. It is one of the most rebelish television shows ever produced if you ask me.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
LINKS LIKE A GARDEN
I fell asleep in the living room watching Big Bang Theory but was shocked awake by a cat going nuts in the kitchen. I just thought it was Salem going nuts playing as he does sometimes but I got up to tell him to, "Stop It!" and found him standing over what looked liked in the bad lighting of our apartment to be a cricket, do they even have crickets in Florida? but instead I found it to be a huge spider, a spider the size of a silver dollar. I hate spiders, Wave doesn't care for them much either, but the spider motif pops up over and over again in my writing, which people will see as soon as I get more fiction out into the world. Here is hoping 2010 is better than 2009 was. Though 2009 was not that bad with all the poetry collections I released but I'm moving on to the links portion of this blog entry. As I always do when I do long entries I apologize to those on my Live Journal feed because of the length of this entry but I post in several places at once and thus the "live journal cut" is not used by this hack. Sorry for violating protocol.
I should tell my own border stories at some point as I always get stopped crossing the border between the U.S. and Canada but for now because those stories are really long here are some links to recent stoppages that have crossed my view of knowing. Amy Goodman of Democracy Now was stopped and mostly questioned about what she was planning to say about the upcoming Vancouver Olympics. When I read about this I first thought, if you were going to stop Amy Goodman and question her about her activities, her talking about the Olympics wouldn't be my first thought to ask her about? That part of the story just seemed strange to me. More on the story with a little from Keith Olbermann. Though to be honest he gets on my nerves the same way Glenn Beck does but from the liberal side of things. I didn't care for him when he was on ESPN either, all look at me I'm a sportscaster...made my ears hurt at times.
Then you have writerPeter Watts. Here are more links here and here on what happen to him while trying to go home to Canada.
I will finish the border talk to tell you being stopped, singled out, is frightening and nerve wrecking. My experiences with border officers are that they are pushing for you to push back and it takes a lot to keep from either mouthing off or just asking why, both will be considered aggressive by them by the way. I don't know all the details of what happen to Amy Goodman or Peter Watts, my experiences were my own as is both of theirs, but this is not new. The actions of border agents is almost without approach as to their actions unless you are a "name." Lets hope these two cases shine some light on how a lot of people are treated by border officials from both countries.
Is it difficult to write well about sex?
I really don't have problems writing sex scenes but when I make revisions and cuts I tend to cut those. I don't think I'm censoring myself as much as I want the scenes to be titillating to the reader but find my writing of sex boring and only good in a way because I go places I think some writers wouldn't go outside of erotica. And no I don't think wishing to make sex scenes titillating means I'm trying to write porn. Nothing wrong with porn in idea though but that is a large topic in and of itself.
A few links on online privacy:
My view has been. I'm for the most part public online but even if you have private things online you should go in thinking they may become public at any time because thinking any other way is stupid.
EFF Sues DOJ For Sleuthing Practices on Facebook, Twitter
Facebook's New Privacy Changes: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
Google CEO Eric Schmidt Dismisses the Importance of Privacy
Surveillance Shocker: Sprint Received 8 MILLION Law Enforcement Requests for GPS Location Data in the Past Year Remember it is not paranoia if people are watching you.
Here are some links to some stuff I don't have much to say about at the moment but found interesting:
Polish zoo lets visitors meet the Flintstones
Things I Do Not Want For Xmas
College's too-fat-to-graduate rule under fire
Top 100 Comic Book Storylines
Cannibals nabbed selling corpse to kebab house
Dear God, please confirm what I already believe
Books and DVDs I'm taken in of late:
Half Minute Horrors
Thor:Volume Two
Bones:Seasons 1-3
Star Trek: The Animated Series
I should tell my own border stories at some point as I always get stopped crossing the border between the U.S. and Canada but for now because those stories are really long here are some links to recent stoppages that have crossed my view of knowing. Amy Goodman of Democracy Now was stopped and mostly questioned about what she was planning to say about the upcoming Vancouver Olympics. When I read about this I first thought, if you were going to stop Amy Goodman and question her about her activities, her talking about the Olympics wouldn't be my first thought to ask her about? That part of the story just seemed strange to me. More on the story with a little from Keith Olbermann. Though to be honest he gets on my nerves the same way Glenn Beck does but from the liberal side of things. I didn't care for him when he was on ESPN either, all look at me I'm a sportscaster...made my ears hurt at times.
Then you have writerPeter Watts. Here are more links here and here on what happen to him while trying to go home to Canada.
I will finish the border talk to tell you being stopped, singled out, is frightening and nerve wrecking. My experiences with border officers are that they are pushing for you to push back and it takes a lot to keep from either mouthing off or just asking why, both will be considered aggressive by them by the way. I don't know all the details of what happen to Amy Goodman or Peter Watts, my experiences were my own as is both of theirs, but this is not new. The actions of border agents is almost without approach as to their actions unless you are a "name." Lets hope these two cases shine some light on how a lot of people are treated by border officials from both countries.
Is it difficult to write well about sex?
I really don't have problems writing sex scenes but when I make revisions and cuts I tend to cut those. I don't think I'm censoring myself as much as I want the scenes to be titillating to the reader but find my writing of sex boring and only good in a way because I go places I think some writers wouldn't go outside of erotica. And no I don't think wishing to make sex scenes titillating means I'm trying to write porn. Nothing wrong with porn in idea though but that is a large topic in and of itself.
A few links on online privacy:
My view has been. I'm for the most part public online but even if you have private things online you should go in thinking they may become public at any time because thinking any other way is stupid.
EFF Sues DOJ For Sleuthing Practices on Facebook, Twitter
Facebook's New Privacy Changes: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
Google CEO Eric Schmidt Dismisses the Importance of Privacy
Surveillance Shocker: Sprint Received 8 MILLION Law Enforcement Requests for GPS Location Data in the Past Year Remember it is not paranoia if people are watching you.
Here are some links to some stuff I don't have much to say about at the moment but found interesting:
Polish zoo lets visitors meet the Flintstones
Things I Do Not Want For Xmas
College's too-fat-to-graduate rule under fire
Top 100 Comic Book Storylines
Cannibals nabbed selling corpse to kebab house
Dear God, please confirm what I already believe
Books and DVDs I'm taken in of late:
Half Minute Horrors
Thor:Volume Two
Bones:Seasons 1-3
Star Trek: The Animated Series
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