Sunday, April 25, 2010

Books, Libros, Leabhair, llyfrau, Knihy, Kirjat, and all the rest

Sooooo I know know how to say "books" in English, Spanish, Irish, Welsh, Czeck, and Finnish.  Pronunciation, though . . . let's not go there! :P

Anyway, as you might've guessed, I spent my weekend (half of it, at least) at the LA Times/UCLA Festival of Books.  I went with my aunt, mystery/noir writer Denise Hamilton (who is totally awesome, by the way . . . you should check out her books!) and as such, I divided my time between the booths on the fairway, the requisite panels for English class extra credit, and the Green Room.

I went to two panels.  One, that my aunt moderated, was with two young adult fiction writers, who were a lot of fun to watch.  The second panel was about the art of literary criticism, and featured critics from Salon, the LA Times, and others.

The first panel was interesting because it was geared toward young adult readers, or writers who were interested in writing YA fiction.  The two authors, David Levithan and John Green, were discussing their latest book, Will Grayson, Will Grayson.  I really liked this panel because the authors were fun and relatable, and  very engaging.  I also very much enjoyed getting to hear them talk about how they wrote the book (each one wrote alternate chapters).  Although I have not read the book, and probably won’t (it’s a highschool drama/comedy, and that’s not the type of books I usually read), the panel also provided some insights into how adult authors viewed the teenage world, and how those views help shape their novels.

The second panel, about literary criticism, was drier, but I still enjoyed it.  It was more formal and structured, and all about how the critics went about reviewing their books.  Most of the critics were self-assigning, meaning they picked their own books to review, and that, they said, was the best part of their job.  As someone who writes her own, fun reviews of TV shows, movies, and books, I enjoyed seeing the perspective of those who wrote reviews for a living.  A lot of what they talked about was not supremely interesting to me, but it was informative nonetheless.  I particularly enjoyed hearing the panelists talk about what they do when they have to write a bad review, and what happens when they end up changing their minds about a book.  I also came away from that session with several book recommendations.

Walking around the booths was amazing.  I am never one to say no to a book, but I am forced to (repeatedly) here, since I usually end up wanting to buy one of everything.  Nevertheless, I got to meet Nicholas Meyer (who directed several Star Trek movies) and have him sign his autobiography for me, and I bought a copy of one of Cara Black’s murder mysteries (she’s a really good friend of Denise’s, and her books are awesome!).  I also rather inadvertently discovered the religion/spirituality section, and am the proud but somewhat confused owner of a Quran, six pamphlets about Islam, and two DVDs on interfaith cooperation. 

But by far the best part of the day was the opportunity to meet all the other authors informally.  I often found myself wondering why I had never gone to the book fair with Aunt Denise before . . . every twenty seconds, it seemed, she was pulling over Patt Morrison or Janet Fitch or someone equally as impressive.  We had breakfast with Amy Alkon, the advice columnist, and I don’t think I’ll soon forget the thirtysomething writer giggling like a little girl as she related how she had told off one of her fellow authors for being on his cell phone.   I also got to re-connect with one of Denise’s old friends, Naomi Hirahara (I had previously met her at a book reading/signing event for LA Noir 2), and spend some time chatting about college and writing with Cara, who writes a series of murder mysteries set in France that I love.  While I loved listening to her stories about her trips to Paris, her efforts to improve my paltry French were somewhat futile :).

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Between the Darkness & the Light

Yes, I have been watching too much Babylon 5, as the title clearly shows.  But it's also related to where I am in my life right now: pretty much done with high school, but not even sure where I'm going to college.  I just want May 2nd to come.  And there's the other set, the darkness of senioritis and the light of schoolwork.  I think, to deal with being rejected by my top two choices, I wrapped myself in a cloak of don't-care, and sat around watching DVDs and blogging about politics.  With the exception of a few classes that I genuinely care about, I have a hard time doing any work anymore . . . . but I'm starting to kick that habit now, thankfully.

But guess what!  Over spring break, my family and I went on a ski trip, and I went down black diamond runs!  We also got caught at the top of the mountain in a blizzard, and got to ride down in a snow cat . . . I was freaking out to no end at the time, but all I have now is a good story.  So all is well :)

Also over spring break, I (rather stupidly) left my nice digital camera at school, so I went hunting for other cameras around the house.  I found two: A Canon Elph LT 270, and a Minolta Freedom AF 35.  The Elph uses APS (Advanced Photo System) film, which almost no one sells anymore, but is totally awesome, not least because it offers three different sets of dimensions.  Awesome, yes, but hard to find, since the film Elphs were discontinued in the early 2000s and APS never really caught on.  BUT Amazon sells anything and everything, so I found some Fuji film, ISO 400, 3 rolls of 25 exposures each.  I can't wait to start taking pictures!  Film for the Minolta is upcoming, I need to go to Samy's this week.  I'll tell you all about the pictures, and maybe bully my scanner into working so you can see them.

Hm.  I got a twitter account, if anyone cares.  @AnyaPrynn  . . . not that hard to find :)  Mostly I use it to promote my politics blog and talk to Senators haha.

Babylon 5 is one of the best TV shows.  Ever.  I say that about every show I watch, but this is different.  It's . . . devastatingly real.  Everything is so perfectly imagined.  I see parts of myself in every character.  I laugh with them and cry with them and use them as examples on my religion tests (I got a 100%, so I'm not complaining!).  It's so philosophical and adventurous and everything I could ever want in a TV show.  So . . . go watch!  I have 2 episodes left in the second season and all I can say is that it's getting better and better!  I did a wallpaper . . . not the greatest, I don't think, or at least, it's not what I wanted, but it's nice.  Oh, whatever, you decide :P
Full-size image & description on my website as usual.

Current Music:
Capercaillie
Battlestar Galactica soundtrack
Avatar soundtrack
Loreena McKennitt
Nightwish

Current Books:
"The People v. Bush", by Charlotte Dennett
"Iranophobia", by Haggi Ram
"Destiny: Child of the Sky", by Elizabeth Haydon
"Rapture of the Deep", by L.A. Meyer
"Sharp Teeth", by Toby Barlow
"Mrs. Dalloway", by Virginia Woolf
"The Wizard of London", by Mercedes Lackey

Current TV Shows:
Babylon 5 Season 2
Law & Order: SVU Season 2

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Double Depression

Columbia rejected me.
So did Harvard.
I really don't know what to think now.
I was so convinced I'd get into one of those schools.
And I was waitlisted at my other top choice.
So.
I cried, threw stuff around, watched some Babylon 5, went for a 2 and a half mile run, and made a depressing (but pretty wallpaper).
I feel a bit better now.  The only thing I can keep telling myself is "You couldn't have done anything different, or anything better."  If those schools don't want me, I guess I don't belong there.  It just makes me so mad that they love talking about "fit" and whatnot, and I'm obviously such a good fit!  I guess there's six thousand equally as qualified people out there who are good fits too.
It's not like I don't have choices.  I've gotten into colleges most people only dream of.  But I'm still really upset.

Anyway, enough with my whining.  Here's the wallpaper I made.  It's Margaret "Racetrack" Edmondson from Battlestar Galactica, aka my new favorite person.  Made to celebrate me (finally!) finishing BSG Season 3 and because I wanted to do something with my loads of new screencaps (oh, and for the BSG-literate out here: Didi Cassidy?  She is so the future me.)

Hm, so, in other news, the lineup for this year's Ballyshannon Folk Festival is up.  Fidil, Eilidh Patterson, Lunasa, Eleanor McEvoy, The Dave Matthews Band, Andy Irvine, and Solas.  Not the best it's been in recent years . . . I might end up at a different festival if I do go to Ireland this summer.  Although, I have possible plans to meet up with some friends in Hong Kong, so that may happen instead.

I suppose I just have to remember that things happen for a reason.  No matter where I end up -- for this summer, for college, for life -- I just have to remember to take every moment and make the best of it.