RIP: Nyac
Nyac the sea otter passed away on Tuesday. Nyac and Milo were a YouTube sensation, but I got to experience them first hand when we visited Vancouver this weekend. My husband can vouch for the mesmerizing cuteness of these critters. We could not walk past their pool without stopping over and over and over again.
The Vancouver Aquarium has posted a tribute to Nyac here.
. . . And One More Thing
Just in case the Large Hadron Collider does not manage to suck the Earth into a micro black hole in the next month and we still need to pay attention to the election, I encourage you all to bookmark Factcheck.org. With this election being as heated as it is and all the spin coming off the campaigns, I find sites like this very useful. Please go forth and check facts.
This concludes any political speak on this blog. Writing talk will resume shortly.
‘Fess Up Friday: Distracted
Writing/Revising: I’m officially combining these categories for the remainder of my current project. The novel I’m working on was born out of a story, so I’d doing equal parts writing and revising. It’s only going okay this week. I’ve been distracted and most of my concentration has gone right out the window. I’m taking drastic steps to fix that this week. For instance, I’m kissing LJ reading and Twittering good-bye. I’m even cutting back on a lot of blog reading. My internet activity will mostly be reduced to this blog and my email.
The reason for this forced isolation is because I’ve spent a lot of last week and this week angry, sad, and upset. The fact that this coincides with the DNC and the GOP conventions is no surprise. Simply put, I can no longer tolerate the mean-spirited snark and trash talk that both sides seem to spew forth daily. There’s a lot of “we’re right, you’re wrong” out there. It’s odd, I thought the reason we were all so disillusioned with the current administration was because of this kind of black and white thinking. Shouldn’t the answer to it be to try to be open-minded? Isn’t unity about reaching out to others instead of alienating them? I whole heartedly believe that this is the intent of both Obama and McCain, I’m just not seeing it from either of their supporters.
Ugh. Okay, so political rant through. Point being, I’m closing down part of my internet access until November 6. (Yes, I’m aware that the election is Nov. 4 and this should all be over on Nov. 5, but with things as divisive as they are now, I expect the day-after commentary to be worse.) I will not be talking politics on this blog. PERIOD. Exclamation point.
I will, however, be talking about how much I am loving YA right now and how reluctant I am to return to literary fiction (though I really do want to read Joshua Henkin’s Matrimony and Andrew Sean Greer’s Story of a Marriage). And how adding a shitzu (no matter how temporarily) to a two-cat household is nothing short of chaos. And how our house hunt continues, though with less force than before. Oh, and writing. Hopefully, lots and lots of writing.
Happy weekend!
Linkage: A Novel Take On An Ending
Another of my favorite writers, Richard Russo, wrote an editorial for The Washington Post about the Eliot Spitzer issue. It’s a great read for writers and non-writers. In a time when the news media gets away with drawing caricatures of their subjects, Russo reminds us that it’s the fiction writer’s job to get beyond the surface and examine the complexities of character. It doesn’t escape me that the fiction writer may be closer to portraying the truth than the CNN reporter. Just something to think about.
(via The Millions)
Politics Politics Politics
Granted, most of my political know how comes only from Aaron Sorkin or my reactions to my Christian Conservative family rants, neither of which are really very informative. But on one point, I may have been kinda sorta right.
From the Pink Lady, who knows a heck of a lot more about politics than I do:
Brace yourselves. According to a new LA Times/Bloomberg poll, in the general election, McCain leads Clinton by six percentage points (46% to 40%) and Obama by two points (44% to 42%). McCain is viewed favorably by 61 percent of all registered voters, including Democrats. This all happened while we were screeching.
And on top of that, Ralph Nader has decided to run again. . . . Cause, you know what a help he has been in the past.
I have a big bottle of gin just waiting for November 4. Who’s with me?
Wake Me When It’s January
This is how voter apathy is born.
As a Democrat who, for the first time in her voting career may vote in a primary that may actually matter, I’ve been trying to weigh the options between both candidates by visiting web sites, blogs, forums, and otherwise gathering information. I’ve found about 20% of the material is really good stick-to-the-issues debate that really makes me think about what each candidate has to offer. The remaining 80% of material is pathetic name calling, personal attacks, and general snarkiness about “the other side.”
I may be done with the Democrats. It’s nothing personal. Love the social policy, will agree to disagree on some of the fiscal policy, but for the love of all things holy, I cannot take another minute of political sniping among the party. The division seems so heated, that I’m concerned one side or the other will defect. McCain is moderate enough (a “damn Liberal” if you ask my father) that some Democrats might vote for him rather than their party.
I’d like to be wrong on that. I’d like to think that in a couple of months both Clinton and Obama supporters can sit peacefully at fundraisers for whomever wins the nomination. Maybe when all the dust clears they can, but until then, I’m going to worry. . . and research McCain.
Super Tuesday
My browser crashed not once, but twice after I’d completed the Select a Candidate quiz from WREG-TV. Hmm, do you think it’s trying to tell me something?
I’m not feeling the excitement of this election year like (apparently) the rest of the country is. I think I’m still worn out from all the madness and disappointment over the 2004 elections. And from the 2000 elections before that. Needless to say, the last eight years have not been good years to be a Democrat.
But the good news is that I’ve been hearing more election buzz this year over any other. Talk of the primaries and the national election has spilled over to the few knitting and lifestyle message boards I read and to other (usually) nonpartisan blogs. I don’t recall this happening as much last election, but I’d like to be wrong about that.
Politico junkie that he is, Hubs is reloading CNN.com. I’m. . . well, I’m probably going to skip the returns and retire to the sofa with an O.Henry collection of short stories. I can’t see any definite winners coming out of tonight, can you?
Quiz update: Finally got it to work! According to this quiz, it’s a 50-50 split between Clinton and Obama. However, this somewhat similar quiz suggests that I’m much more in line with Clinton’s platform. Interesting. . .
Strike? What strike?
I am probably the last person who should be blogging about the WGA strike. I’ll admit that my only vested interest in the Writer’s Guild of America strike is simply that I don’t want Friday Night Lights to go off the air. I’m selfish that way.
On the other hand, I want writers to get paid for their work and to be compensated for the many ways that I watch their (usually good) television shows. So while I’m still trying to sort out my feelings on the issue, here are some useful links for understanding exactly what’s going on in Hollywood and why reality may once again rule in 2008:
- Alan Sepinwall’s Everything You Wanted to Know About the WGA Strike, But Were Afraid to Ask (Parts 1 and 2).
- The LA Times TV Grid. Find out how many episodes your favorite show has completed.
- Variety WGA strike updates.
- The Artful Writer’s thoughts on the strike. (Which are fascinating in my opinion.)
Obviously, there’s a lot more than that out there, but if you’re just now hearing about the strike or beginning to worry about your favorite shows, the above links are a great place to start your research.
