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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
zmarlowe's LiveJournal:
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| Friday, May 23rd, 2008 | | 1:10 pm |
I got some so-called friends
Goddammit, I don't want to work a double today. I don't even want to be here right now.
I'm listening to Paul Simon's first solo album, and I dunno. I adore Graceland and Still Crazy After All These Years, and this one has at least a couple great songs, but it's incredibly mellow. To the point where I'm not always sure there are melodies in the songs.
Maybe it'll grow on me.
Oh, and whoever had Five Million Pieces checked out of the library returned it, so I can read that before Frey's new novel. Good christ, they look exactly the same. Hmmm...
Current Music: "Paranoia Blues," by Paul Simon | | Thursday, May 22nd, 2008 | | 2:03 pm |
bright shiny crap
Got the new James Frey novel in the mail today. I volunteered to review it because I was curious; looks like that curiousity is going to cost me, since the book is 500 pages long (close type), and it appears to be written in a kind of faux-Palahniuk, I don't need your punctuation marks or grammar, literary bullshit style that's going to make an incredible slog unless it's pure genius throughout. Which, I'm guessing, it won't be.
Plus, I really need to read his "memoir" first, to be well informed. Curses! | | Monday, May 19th, 2008 | | 4:28 pm |
New gig The new gig at the AV Club started this week--here's the first Adult Swim coverage: http://www.avclub.com/content/tvclub/adult_swim/may_17_18_2008Felt pretty cool getting that posted. Got a ton of comments, of course, most of which had nothing to do with what I wrote. The comment section is a St. Elmo's Fire type deal, really--it looks brilliant, and it gives you the illusion of warmth, but it generally doesn't mean anything. Writing, even non-fiction stuff like this, can be pretty lonely, and even when I'm satisfied with something when I send it in, I still fall for the potential of good feedback. Every. Damn. Time. In my defense, I haven't had any criticism from the AV Club editors since my first abortive book review attempt. Obviously, it's a good sign that they keep publishing the reviews I send, and they took me on for additional work--really, that's enough. It's that little kid in me that gets greedy, and takes every stupid troll swipe like it was gospel truth. I'll get over that, though. Because I'm getting paid to write by the best critical group on the web, and that is fucking awesome. | | Saturday, May 10th, 2008 | | 1:57 pm |
Just a blank space
Haven't done a serious post in a while--it's just so much more fun writing with the clown shoes on--but here's what's been going on in the World of Me lately:
1. Minor foot related issues aside, the jogging has been going well. This morning, I just finished my seventh week of interval training; starting Monday, I'll be able to go for thirty minutes straight. This is always a scary time, because the eleven year-old in me who used to have an asthma attack every time he did so much as a brisk walk kind of freaks out at thinking I could actually go for a whole half hour and not die. But I've done this before, and considering how well the interval schedule went--I didn't have to repeat a week, and aside from last Monday (when I'd had to take an extra day off 'cause of My Left Foot), I've never felt like I was pushing too hard--I don't really have anything to worry about.
Plus, today was actually pretty fun. Or as fun as jogging gets, anyway.
1a. I might be lying a little on the "pushing too hard" thing. Not so much with the actual exercise, but I've been eating less lately too; I've gotten in the habit of having a sandwich, chips and cookie for lunch, and then a couple yogurts and some pretzels for supper. Which was fine at first, but last week I had a series of kind of scary dizzy spells. I can't say for sure what caused them, but I suspect it was not eating enough for the amount of effort I was putting out. So I bumped the yogurts up to Healthy Choice entrees, and that seems to have done the trick. Worry about not eating enough is a new experience for me.
2. I have a new AV Club gig! A couple weeks ago, I got the idea of seeing if they'd be interested in someone covering the original "Star Trek" for the TV Club section, like Keith Phipps did for the run of "Twin Peaks." I asked Tasha, who said it was Keith's section so I'd have to talk to him about it; she also suggested I propose something that's currently airing to cover, so I mentioned Venture Bros, and offered to do the whole Adult Swim line-up.
Well, last Wednesday, everybody got back from various vacations, Keith e-mailed me, and we worked it out. Starting next weekend, I'll be doing a sum up of Saturday and Sunday nights to be posted Monday morning.
This meant I had to get cable again, which I'm neutral about (my gut says "maybe"), but I'll admit, it is nice to be able to watch terrible movies on the Sci-Fi channel again. Also, since I generally e-mail my book reviews to Tasha Monday mornings, I'm going to have to figure out the best way to handle things--I'm definitely dropping back to two shifts at the theater, anyway.
The biggest problem right now is that I'm going up to camp with my dad next week, and we'll be gone until Sunday afternoon. Which means I'll have to figure out a way to tape the Saturday night line-up. I've decided to get Tivo, but I doubt I can get the box before I leave (I could buy one at Best Buy, but that means missing the $150 instant rebate, and I'm not that rich). I still have my VCR, although the remote is busted, so maybe I can set that up--if not, I'll have to see if anyone around here is willing to record it for me. (This is where not having any local meatspace friends stings.) Worse comes to worst, I'll just come home early on Saturday, but I'd really rather not have to do that, especially since my friend Dave (who used to have a fake name here, but, y'know, fuck it) is flying in from Maryland to be there for the weekend.
Complaining aside, I'm really, really stoked about this. The book reviewing thing has been a thrill, but I'd say maybe a quarter of the people who visit the site ever bother to read the Words section. TV Club is a heckuva lot more popular, which means more readers. Also, probably more asshole comments ("You fucktard! You know nothing of the genius of 'Assy McGee'!")(for those out of the loop, yes, 'Assy McGee' is a real show, and yes, I have to cover it), but I'll live.
3. The first two are enough. Yay!
Current Music: "Growing Up" - Superman: the original score | | Saturday, May 3rd, 2008 | | 1:21 pm |
Still this house is empty now
I tried jogging this morning, but it started drizzling rain and my foot still hurt, so I decided to wait. It's always scary, missing a session; I get worried I'm going to just drop it completely, because I have in the past. But it's better to make sure my foot is fine.
Realized this morning I could sell my CDs to the local CD/DVD place, since I've got all of them stored on my iPod, and most of them on my computer at work. I got almost a hundred bucks in store credit, which let me pick up a new video game (Okami) and the Criterion release of Blast Of Silence, which looks very cool. Oh, and there was a new clerk who handled my used CDs who's cute as hell, so that's okay. | | Thursday, May 1st, 2008 | | 9:43 pm |
Have to get used to it
Gross personal confession: I have athlete's foot. In fact, I've had it off an on, on the same foot, even between the same fucking toes, for a couple years now. I think it has something to do with my shower not draining fast enough (I've de-clogged it half a dozen times, I think it's something to do with the pipes) and that I don't change my bedsheets often enough. Or maybe it's 'cause I'm jogging and my sneakers are a year old.
Whatever the reason, the clog or the shoes, the toes on my left foot are full of bad news. I could hardly walk this morning; made a quick run to the pharmacy for some foot spray, which I applied as best I could in a school bathroom, and then spent most of the day with my sneaker off. I was okay to jog (whew), and it actually felt better right after my run, but now it's all puffy and junk. So I just soaked it for a while, and sprayed it again. Hopefully it's better tomorrow--if it isn't, I'm calling out sick, because I really have no interest in gimping around the office all day.
Not much else going on. Got a new review up (Hubert's Freaks), but while I think the review is fine, it got all of three comments, one of which is me responding to someone, and none of which are about the actually reviewed book. Bleah.
Current Music: "Like A Rolling Stone," by Bob Dylan | | Monday, April 28th, 2008 | | 9:03 pm |
Apparently, I'm a shill?
I splurged and bought an iPod last week--I've been doing interval training for jogging, and I'm at the point where I'm jogging for at least eight minutes a stretch (this week is 12 minutes, provided the weather clears up), and that gets real fucking boring when you don't have anything to listen to.
So I figured an iPod would be useful for that. Plus, I've managed to convert some DVDs to video files and download them, which means I can watch Back To The Future and Ghostbusters while I'm at the theater. Which is pretty fucking sweet.
But what I didn't realize was that I could hook the iPod up to my computer speakers at home. I've been without a stereo for a while now, and while I can use the DVD player or my computer CD player to run music, there's something really awesome about being able to randomly shuffle every song I own and let it run while I'm writing or surfing the web.
I've managed to get nearly all my CDs on the Pod, and even with that, plus some random TV show episodes and five or six movies, I've got over 60 gigs of space left over. That is so goddamn hot. | | Thursday, April 24th, 2008 | | 2:59 pm |
Whoa
There's something awesomely surreal about wearing headphones and listening to the cacophonous climax of Velvet Underground's "European Son" while people work and move around you. It's like one of those videos where one person is still while the whole world goes hyper-speed.
...Holy shit. Did you just see how my hand looks when I do that? I could do that all day. | | Monday, April 21st, 2008 | | 2:53 pm |
Random
Just got a new computer at work. It's pretty goddamn sweet. For the first time, I'm feeling a little inadequate about the machine I have at home. (That I've had for six years now. It's not a bad computer, but it's getting old, and it's slow, and it definitely doesn't have a DVD burner...)
Also, I went online to buy new Converse sneakers, and holy shit! I knew they were expensive, but the cheapest I could find were around fifty bucks! Man, either they last a lot longer than they used to, or people really suck. | | Thursday, April 17th, 2008 | | 11:24 am |
Cool beans
So, in the next couple months I'll be reviewing the new Salman Rushdie novel, the new Ursula K. Leguin novel (that came out this week, actually, and I totally didn't realize it till yesterday), and James Frey's first novel. Frey is the guy who wrote a couple of memoirs that did huge business until people found out he was lying. (Actually, I think the books still did big business even after that.) Mr. Bent loathes him, and I gotta be honest, I was intrigued enough to volunteer to do his next book.
Anyway. There's some other stuff in there too, and I'm pretty psyched. Man I love this job. | | Wednesday, April 16th, 2008 | | 12:21 pm |
The Truth Is In Maine
So, I'm thinking--after the success of Bun's visit, I'd really like to host some more get togethers. There's an X-Files movie coming out this July, and I was wondering, would anybody be interested in coming up to Maine and hanging at my apartment for the weekend? I've got more than enough space, and we could watch a bunch of classic eps to prep ourselves. Plus, I've got a Wii, and there's always (gasp!) the outdoors.
This would be, I think, 7/26-7/27. Any takers? | | Monday, April 7th, 2008 | | 1:35 pm |
AAUUUGGGGGH!!!!
Got in today, found out things were worse than I was expecting--there's a hundred article request backlog on one system that I'm slowly grinding through, and I just found out that, due to a glitch in the system, all the requests we filled over a certain period of days two weeks ago have to be re-sent. (The guy on the phone said, "I wanted to warn you, it's not a short list.")
If I was ever going to go on a killing spree, today would be the day. Motherfuck.
I'm leaving at four, though. I'm working at the theater tonight, and god help me, I'm actually looking forward to it. | | 12:21 am |
Swing your razor high Had a lovely weekend. All the cleaning finally paid off; the apartment looks quite nice, and when ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) happybluebunny came for her visit on Saturday, she didn't run away screaming, which is probably what any sane person would've done had they stoppped by a month ago. We had a good time--saw The Ruins (so-so), had dinner in Portland, and then got drunk and watched Friday the 13th parts 2 and 4. After Bun left today, I puttered around, chatted for a bit with preacherquint; we watched Darkman, then I had to duck out for a bit. I watched Sweeney Todd tonight, and started watching Brazil, plus had some big mugs of coffee to get through a bit of review writing. The review is still rough, but I should have time to finish it tomorrow. (Already sort of regretting the coffee, but I expected I would.) But now I feel kind of weird. Sort of hollowed out. I've paid a lot of lip service lately about how happy I am with where my life is, and I can't deny that a lot of things are going well; but there's still that emptiness in me that I can never really be safe from. It's not like I'm always depressed or anything. But it's unnerving to think life is going well, only to look behind you and see your shadow on the wall--always following, always there, and the brighter the light, the darker it gets. Ah yes, very emo. I've got a three double week ahead of me, and that tends to bring out my mopey side. | | Friday, March 28th, 2008 | | 1:38 pm |
Now this is a version of Watchmen I'd like to see This is sorta genius:  Found it here. | | 10:49 am |
Winter wondersuck
Get up this morning, and it's like last month never happened--there's snow everywhere. Forecast-wise, things aren't so bad; it's only 2-4 inches, and it's supposed to turn into rain this afternoon. Plus, the weekend should be really nice. But looking out the window here at work, all you see is white.
Nevertheless, I soldier on! The weekend is coming; doing the usually Saturday thing (we're watching Southland Tales, pray for us), and on Sunday I'm driving up to see my parents. Busy, but not annoyingly so.
I still need to finish Wolf Totem. It's my next review, and I'm not even halfway done. I am a lazy, lazy man. | | Thursday, March 27th, 2008 | | 2:52 pm |
Waste my days
Man, the tech stuff at work is cracking up. The computers all sound like asthmatics after a mile run, the scanner we use for articles keeps getting jammed so I have to resend everything I put through it, and my e-mail system is getting all capricious about sending out and receiving stuff. Sometimes I think the War of the Machines is going to be more about irritation than nuke attacks.
With that said, have some Weezer and Muppets:
| | 9:42 am |
I don't even like cheese dip The A.V. Club has a New Cult Canon entry on They Live. Check it out: http://www.avclub.com/content/feature/the_new_cult_canon_they_liveOh, and I've got a new review up: http://www.avclub.com/content/words/animals_peopleSo, it's Thursday and I'm all for that. Work at the theater was damn quiet yesterday; talking with the manager, it sounds like the company is dumping all its money into our sister theater over in Auburn, which makes me wonder just how long the Lewiston branch is going to be open. It'd suck if we closed, as it really is the perfect part-time job. I think I'm making the most I can out of the book reviews right now, which means if the theater did fold, I'd have to scramble for another part-time thing. But I'll deal with it if or when it happens. Weather's getting nicer. I liked being able to go outside in just a fleece jacket now. | | Wednesday, March 26th, 2008 | | 2:33 pm |
I am so blanking bored right now.
Seriously. I've got an hour and a half left before I can go home, and apart from some minor packing, there's nothing to do. I never thought being effecient at my job could be a bad thing.
Ah well. Off to check e-mail for the hundredth time today. | | 10:01 am |
Debt on my head
Wednesday are weird. On the plus side, it's the midway point in the week, which means two days to the weekend, and that is good. On the down side, it's my first double shift of the week, and while it's not like either of my jobs is particularly difficult, getting up at 7:30 am and going to bed around one am the following morning, only to get up for 7:30/8:00 am--it kinda sucks.
Watched Real Genius last night. It's a swell flick. I think this might actually be the first time I've sat down and watched it from beginning to end; most times when it was on TV, I'd come in late and just have to watch it through. Seeing the whole thing made me appreciate how solid a screenplay it is. A couple of things don't work (mostly the blonde woman who just really wants to hook up with the smartest person around--she shows up late, and doesn't make a whole lot of sense), but by and large it's nicely plotted, and really well-paced. Lots of montages, but who doesn't love a good montage?
I'm really irritable this morning. Need to wake up. | | Tuesday, March 25th, 2008 | | 3:06 pm |
Sweet sweet completion
Finally finished the Vonnegut review!
Sure, it sucked, and it's probably late, but that fucker is done.
I ended up giving the book a B-. I dunno, maybe I should've been harsher, but it's Vonnegut. It'd be like punching an uncle in the face. (An uncle I like, mind you.) |
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