We Others: New & Selected Stories 

Steven Millhauser

This is an absolutely stunning collection of stories, especially "Tales of Darkness and The Unknown: Vol. XIV: The White Glove" (or more simply, "The White Glove.") It's not just the impressive, understated style but the underlying emotions and the beauty of what Steven Millhauser has to say.

"The White Glove" is a perfect example of Millhauser's wonderful writing and the story pulled me in right from the start:

"In senior year of high school I became friends with Emily Hohn. It happened quickly: one day she was that quiet girl in English class, the next we were friends. She passed in and out of my attention over the last year or so, and it was if I suddenly turned my head in her direction. I liked her calmness, her unruffled sense of herself, her way of standing as if she could feel the ground under her feet."

When I first read the opening pages of "The White Glove" I felt a little shaken and not just because of Steven Millhauser's awesome talent. 

I was struck by a few eerie similarities between his story and an experience (minus the depth of the friendship in this story) I had in high school and it reminded me of the main reason I love books so much: no matter how isolated and unique you feel the things that have happened to you are, there is always someone else who has experienced the same emotions, if not the same situation...

The Walking Dead

Last night's episode (as with almost every one) was amazing, but little did I know that Lori (whom I normally find very irritating) would be so  magnetic and comforting. The actress who plays her (Sarah Wayne Callies) is as thin as a rail and her personality as sharp as a blade, but last night she was...almost, well, almost kind.

In keeping with the ever present theme of survival in a post-apocalyptic world, "18 Miles Out" attacked Beth's problem with vigor and raw honesty. Having witnessed her mother's zombie "death," long after her actual death offscreen, Beth slips into a catatonic state and doesn't talk to anyone for days. When she's finally ready to speak, all she can talk about is suicide.

"I can't promise that everything will get better but we can make what we have now alright." Lori, desperate to reassure her, to prevent Beth from hurting herself, speaks with a quiet passion she's not often known for and though other characters also rush to try and help Beth (her sister Maggie and the lone gunwoman Andrea who lost her own sister to zombies) ultimately Beth herself takes matters into her own hands when it comes to her fate.

It is a magnificent episode and that line ("I can't promise that everything will get better but we can make what we have now alright.") still haunts me. It's probably one of the most hopeful sentences ever uttered by anyone on The Walking Dead from the last person you'd expect to say it...

Music For Your Liposuction

"The opening track "Lipostudio....and so on" is a quirky little track that lopes along with a loping beat and clarinet, as well as lots of pretty sucking noises from a real life liposuction procedure."--from Almost Cool Music Reviews

The album A Chance To Cut Is A Chance To Cure is definitely one of the weirdest iTunes purchases I've made in ages. But I don't regret it, no matter how bizarre the choice to integrate surgical procedure sounds into musical pieces. The concept sounds off-putting (especially the liposuction one) but it really works and is actually quite haunting.

Here's more info on it:

read here

Oh my gosh! Last night I rediscovered the dreaminess that is The Psychedelic Furs! Sure "Love My Way," "Pretty In Pink" and "The Ghost In You" are all classic P.F. 80s and sound just as good to me today as yesterday, but it is their "Sister Europe" and its druggy goodness that has me all trippy inside.

I have no memory of "Sister Europe" when it originally came out, but I'm making up for lost time but hitting 'repeat' on my iPod a lot this afternoon. What a song!!

Listening to an 80s New Wave station online last evening I got chills hearing "Sister Europe." It sounds so weird and mystical that I can't help but love it...

Here it is:

Sister Europe


And The Foo Fighters have done a very decent job of covering it:

Foo Fighters do it, too!:)

"How Will I Know?"

I feel kind of phony posting about Whitney Houston since I was never a huge fan, though I never disliked her either.

It's pretty much impossible to deny she had an amazing voice and that whenever someone who seems nice and has incredible talent dies young it is so so sad, especially when they struggled so much with problems like addiction and a rocky, rocky marriage.

I have to say that if I did like any of her songs it would be a tie between "How Will I Know?" (something a lot of us ask ourselves in love) and "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)." I love the way 'who loves me' is emphasized...'cause you could dance with anyone, I suppose, but dancing with somebody who loves you really is kind of special.

Seeing the video on MTV last night (while they were remembering her in tribute) I couldn't help but recall the best of the 80s and how cute and sweet this video is:

watch here



This image of Nelson Mandela and Whitney, which just flashed on CNN a few minutes ago, is very touching: