I’m back from Florida. Woo-hoo! I’ll have pictures to share in the not too distant future, but in the meantime I’ll just say I had an incredible time. It was hot, it was sunny, and I didn’t even get burned. I stayed in the Keys town of Islamorada for the whole time, but managed to visit Key West among other locales.
Bye bye for now. I’ll check back in tomorrow. Or earlier.
I’ve said it until I’ve turned blue in the face…Stephen King is a good writer. Some people (often ones not at all acquainted with his writing) think him to be a two-bit hack. He’s just “too prolific” to be good and he writes horror. My friends, writing horror is not an indication of one’s talent. There are a host of amazing horror writers–King, Clive Barker, Robert McCammon, and F. Paul Wilson have all in the past ten or twenty years proven their immense worth to the world of literature (yes, I used the “L” word).
Anyway, now folks at the National Book Award agree with me (and the rest of King’s fans). He can write. And he earned beyond any doubt this honorary award. King had this to say:
And with that I have to agree. The CNN story can be found here. King didn’t just win an award…he won “Distinguished Contribution to American Letters” which has in the past been awarded to Ray Bradbury, Toni Morrison, Eudora Welty, John Updike, and Arthur Miller Among others. Indeed, now King officially enters these rankings.
Give him some love. Stephen King’s Official Site
You are a White Mage! Kind and sympathetic, you can
be meek yet strong-willed.
What Final Fantasy X2 Dress Sphere suits you?
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Yes. I’m a geek.
My friend Amy just sent MORE pictures of her new addition, Braden. I do believe that he’s the most adorable baby I’ve ever seen. Of course, this is excluding any children I’m particularly biased to because of their blood relation. Anyway, he’s nearly four weeks old. I can’t wait to meet him. Babies are so very cool. Then again “cool” might seem a trite word to describe a new life…but just go with me here, folks.
Also I just discovered a recent Detroit Free Press story about Lake Superior State University–my dearest alma mater. I love that place in its uniqueness and specific care for students. Unfortunately, this story only speaks to the “unique” aspect:
And believe it or not, the school isn’t quite as backwoods as the story would have you believe…but it’s pretty darned close.
Damn I’m lazy. I haven’t updated this thing since Saturday. Then again, I’m pretty certain that nothing new has happened. I did manage to go to a used music store in Brighton. Usually, I don’t find much of anything there–but some dip traded in all his or her Smashing Pumpkins singles and REM albums. I just don’t get it. Who trades in either of those? In any case, their loss was my distinct gain. I got some other albums–Rufus Wainwright [Poses], Talk Show [Talk Show], Robert Bradley’s Blackwater Surprise, and more…but overall I’m just excited for all the keen finds.
What else…hmmm…well, I do believe I’m ready for my vacation starting Saturday. I’m not even at all unhappy about probably having to wake up at 4:30am. That doesn’t bother me…it just gets me to Florida that much quicker. And boy do I need a break.
So there are fewer than four days left. I wonder. How many minutes is that? Hours? Seconds? Eh. In any case, it’s not far.
I’ve been reviewing music now for going on three years. My skills have continually gotten better. But it’s not often I get really positive feedback from artists and agents alike. But this time around I have…
I wrote a review of Professor and Maryann’s Runaway Favorite on Thursday. It was based on a promo disc that publicity sent to me. I really, really, really liked it and called it one of the best albums of the year. It really is better than you could possibly imagine.
Anyway…they were excited and gave me a place atop the band’s page and on the press page. My quotes can all be found here:
http://professorandmaryann.com/
Call me excited.
This is just so nasty:
Take a look. I mean I complain about a lot of stuff, but this takes the cake.
I’m so cold it’s not even funny. The wind has been pretty much awful in Michigan all night. Basically a front went through leaving sub-freezing temps and nasty wind in its wake. My office, as happy as I am to have it, isn’t properly sealed. I’ve got the thermostat set at 85 and the temp reads 65. It’s horrible, horrible, horrible.
In other news not at all related to me, the morning show I listen to out of Detroit has just inked a major financial deal. SERIOUSLY FINANCIAL. Keep in mind they are not syndicated, but after 11 years at the top of the heap WRIF is rewarding them with an annual split between click here.
It is my best friend Kristin’s birthday. We’ve known one another for virtually our whole lives…I guess it is somewhere around 20 years now. Anyway, today is her 26th birthday.
I just wish I could see her more often.
Once again, I just finished up another busy ass weekend. All I want to do is relax. Is that so hard? Apparently…
JT and I did manage to spend most of Friday relaxing and alone. We did go get pizza, but basically just did nothing. At least I did nothing…he worked on his classes. Saturday, my parents arrived for an evening with their friends from years ago.
One of them turned sixty, and for his birthday there was a surprise party in which a whole bunch of the couples that hung out “on the river” in the 1970’s were there. It had been twenty years in many cases since my parents had last seen them. It was nice, but weird. I didn’t remember anybody and the last time they saw me I was at most five years old. Now I’m 26 and 5′10″…or 6″1″ with my big ol’ boots. I’m sure that came as a shock.
Mom and Dad left on Sunday morning after dad watched all of 28 Days Later. I guess he liked the movie. I got it out for them to see the London scenes early on where everything was empty. But my dad is a gore-hound in some ways. I guess I know where I came from.
Sunday evening JT and I went bowling. Actually we were supposed to meet his old college roommate and his girlfriend there, but they arrived to late to bowl as leagues were to start at 7pm. We just went out to eat at Chili’s instead. It was nice to meet up with them. We’ve really got to do it more often.
How indie are you? test by ridethefader
You’re really enthusiastic about the music that you like. You attempt to discover your new favourite
band every week. You continually try to get your friends into the music you like, which annoys the fuck
out of them, but you don’t know it. At least you’re not arrogant about it.
I love, love, love my books. More so even than movies or–gasp!–music. That’s the precise reason why I get so excited when I find a new author I like. I’ve recently discovered Octavia Butler. Of course, I’ve only read Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents but I can already tell I adore her writing style. I guess I’m going to have to buy some of her others. I’m thinking of getting: Kindred, Lilith’s Brood, and delving into the Patternmaster series. I’m a glutton for punishment. But I have to (unfortunately) wait for Butler to release a third in her Earthseed (aka Parable) series.
And for what it’s worth, the books may sound like major science fiction. However they are not.
Also, I got Wolves of the Calla from Stephen King in the mail yesterday (picked it up from the PO this morning). I’m so very happy. Work is going to hate me. But what else is a SK fan supposed to to? I mean, it is the Dark Tower…