According to William at Popcrunch.
10. Blindness
by Jose Saramago
A city is hit by an epidemic of 'white blindness.' The blindness spreads, sparing no one. Authorities confine the blind to a vacant mental hospital secured by armed guards. Inside, the criminal element among the blind hold the rest captive: food rations are stolen, women are raped. There is one eyewitness to this nightmare who guides seven strangers through the barren streets. The developments within this oddly anonymous group -- the first blind man, the old man with the black eye patch, the girl with dark glasses, the boy with no mother, and the dog of tears -- are as uncanny as the surrounding chaos is harrowing.
A parable of loss and disorientation, of man's worst appetities and hopeless weaknesses, Blindness is one of the most challenging, thought-provoking, and ultimately exhilarating novels published in any language in recent years.
9. Requiem for a Dream: A Novel
by Hubert Selby
Two young hoods, Harry and Tyrone, and a girlfriend fantasize about scoring a pound of heroin and getting rich. But their heroin habit gets the better of them, and Harry's mother's addiction to diet pills lands her in a state mental hospital.
8. Naked Lunch
by William S. Burroughs
Burroughs's literary experiment--the much-touted "cut-up" technique--mirrored the workings of a junkie's brain. But it was junk coupled with vision: Burroughs makes teeming amalgam of allegory, sci-fi, and non-linear narration, all wrapped in a blend of humor--slapstick, Swiftian, slang-infested humor. What is Naked Lunch about? People turn into blobs amidst the sort of evil that R. Crumb, in the decades to come, would inimitably flesh out with his dark and creepy cartoon images. Perhaps the most easily grasped part of Naked Lunch is its America-bashing, replete with slang and vitriol. Read it and see for yourself.
7. We Need to Talk About Kevin: A Novel (P.S.)
by Lionel Shriver
In a series of brutally introspective missives to her husband, Franklin, from whom she is separated, Eva tries to come to grips with the fact that their 17-year-old son, Kevin, has killed seven students and two adults with his crossbow. Guiltily she recalls how, as a successful writer, she was terrified of having a child. Was it for revenge, then, that from the moment of his birth Kevin was the archetypal difficult child, screaming for hours, refusing to nurse, driving away countless nannies, and intuitively learning to "divide and conquer" his parents? When their daughter, loving and patient Celia, is born, Eva feels vindicated; but as the gap between her view of Kevin as a "Machiavellian miscreant" and Franklin's efforts to explain away their son's aberrant behavior grows wider, they find themselves facing divorce. In crisply crafted sentences that cut to the bone of her feelings about motherhood, career, family, and what it is about American culture that produces child killers, Shriver yanks the reader back and forth between blame and empathy, retribution and forgiveness. Never letting up on the tension, Shriver ensures that, like Eva, the reader grapples with unhealed wounds.
6. The Road
by Cormac McCarthy
A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food—and each other.
The Road is the profoundly moving story of a journey. It boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his son, "each the other's world entire," are sustained by love. Awesome in the totality of its vision, it is an unflinching meditation on the worst and the best that we are capable of: ultimate destructiveness, desperate tenacity, and the tenderness that keeps two people alive in the face of total devastation.
5. American Psycho
by Bret Easton Ellis
American Psycho really leaves you wondering a little bit about Bret Easton Ellis’ sanity. Many people are probably familiar with the movie starring Christian Bale, but the movie pales in comparison to the book when it comes to levels of depraved insanity. The book follows investment banker, and serial killer, Patrick Bateman over a few years of his life. As the book moves on his killings becomes more and more sadistic, leading to quite a few scenes that will never, ever completely leave your mind, including a particularly repugnant sequence involving a starved rat, some cheese, and a tube. You are guaranteed to feel a little filthy, at the least, after reading this book.
4. Johnny Got His Gun
by Dalton Trumbo
This work continues to rivet readers with its story of an American youth who survives World War I as an armless, legless, and faceless basket case with his mind intact.
3. The 120 Days of Sodom
by Marquis De Sade
The 120 Days of Sodom was a work by Marquis de Sade, who had to have at least one work on this list. The book deals with four wealthy men who want to have the ultimate orgy. To accomplish this they seal themselves away with a bunch of young men and women. The sex quickly turns sadistic and matters quickly turns to humiliation, pain, and killing. Pretty much every debased and bizarre sexual fetish is explored in detail in the book, with much of the work crossing lines that even today would be declared obscene in many parts of the US. It is amazing to me that the book was written in 1785. The 120 Days of Sodom was turned into a film called Sado, widely considered to be one of the most unpleasant and disturbing films of all time.
2. The Turner Diaries
by Andrew MacDonald
The Turner Diaries is a racist, antisemitic novel written by William Luther Pierce, the crazy former leader of the white Nationalist organization “National Alliance”. It depicts a racist’s wet dream consisting of a violent revolution in the United States that leads to the overthrow of the US government and the extermination of all non-whites and Jewish people. To Pierce, Hitler’s problem was clearly that he didn’t go far enough. The rest of the plot is too crazy to even go into (let’s just say it’s about as well written and realistic as you’d expect a book like this to be), but the book gets bumped up a few notches on our list due to the fact that Timothy McVeigh was a big promoter of the book, and may have used a scene in the book as inspiration for the Oklahoma City bombing.
And the not at all scary thing is that this is still being sold at gun shows all over the US. Sleep tight!
1. The Girl Next Door
by Jack Ketchum
A teenage girl is held captive and brutally tortured by neighborhood children. Based on a true story, this shocking novel reveals the depravity of which we are all capable. [the movie was horrible, just sayin]
Friday, May 29, 2009
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Top 10: Subtle Ways To Tell Her She's Getting Fat
Another gem from AskMen.com.
As every man knows, there are some things you just can’t come right out and say to your girlfriend. For obvious reasons, “You’ve put on weight, and I find you less attractive” is one of them. Even if it does have the desired effect and she goes on to drop a few pounds, she’ll never forgive you for pointing it out so bluntly and making her feel like sh*t in the process. For that reason, you need to consider some alternative methods of letting her know that you’re displeased with her recent weight gain. Here are the top 10 subtle ways to tell her she's getting fat -- plain and simple.
No.10 - Buy her clothes that are too small
If you buy her clothes that are obviously too small for her, not only will she finally have to admit that she’s putting on weight, but she can easily return them for her correct size. First, she’ll have to reveal to you that the clothes are too small. “Oh,” you might say, “I thought you were a size 8. Isn’t that what you were last summer?” The onus is now on her to do something about it.
No.9 - Sign her up for yoga under the pretence of "stress relief"
This works particularly well if your girlfriend still hasn’t worked out the link between an active lifestyle and emotional well-being. Tell her you have found exactly what she needs to help her relax, a regular spiritual cleanse in the form of a yoga class. Make sure you choose an intense, calorie-burning form (power yoga or ashtanga yoga), otherwise she may end up rolling around on the floor a couple times a week with no real benefits. The beauty of yoga is that if you dress it up as a way to relieve stress, she may not realize that she’s being tricked into shedding a few pounds, and even if she does, you’ll end up with a happier, more self-confident girlfriend rather than a grumpy lard-ass.
No.8 - Set out on your own weight loss plan
Here’s an interesting experiment for you using reverse psychology. A subtle way to tell her she's getting fat is to tell her you’re not happy with your own level of fitness and she may begin to open her eyes to the wider picture. By referencing yourself in any plans to lose weight, you’re also subtly telling her that you’re not the only one who might benefit from a diet. And even if she does see through your ploy, she’ll at least appreciate the tact you have shown and will hopefully take the message on board.
No.7 - Serve her unsatisfactory portions
When dishing up meals for the two of you, try giving her smaller-than-usual amounts. By making her ask for more food, you might succeed in shaming her into an acknowledgment of her recent weight gain, and hopefully to instigate a conversation about what she’s going to do about it. If you feel as though you’re starving yourself in the process, remember you can always go back for more when she’s not looking.
No.6 - Improve your own diet
It’s very easy for the two of you to fall into the downward spiral in which many couples begin to replace sexual intimacy with ice cream and cake. Don’t let this happen by focusing on your own health requirements and staking your right to a junk-food-free home. It might even be the only way of separating her from the fatty foods which have led to the current problem.
No.5 - Playfully grab her love handles
Ask any man and he’ll tell you that he instinctively flexes his biceps whenever a woman touches them. The same thing goes for a woman when you make contact with any unwanted flab: She recoils and feels embarrassment. Use this reaction to your advantage. Even if she thinks that you’re too busy at work to have noticed a few extra pounds, if you continually rest your hand on her love handles (or even lightly pinch them), she’ll soon realize that you’re becoming increasingly aware of something that never used to be there before.
No.4 - Ask her to wear an old dress
Plan a romantic night out for the two of you and insist that she wears something from when you first got together; particularly something that you know doesn’t fit her anymore. This way she’ll have to admit to you that she’s put on too much weight and can no longer get into many of her old clothes. Follow it up by telling her how good she looked in those days, and maybe she’ll make it her mission to get back to that size.
No.3 - Sabotage her chair
Sometimes as men we have to get downright nefarious to get what we want. You might not be proud of stooping to this level, but nothing says “better lose some weight” like a broken chair. After you loosen a few screws or remove some important slats of a chair in which you know she’ll sit and subsequently break, sit back and watch the guaranteed dietary transformation that ensues. It will profoundly amaze you.
No.2 - Leave "now" and "then" photos lying around
This is a highly effective way to draw attention to the explicit changes to her body as you see them. By consistently reminding her of how she used to look, she’ll inevitably be more inclined to do something about her excess flab. Appropriately chosen and strategically placed photos should accomplish this quite nicely. Keep in mind, if she confronts you about trying to shame her into losing weight, the key approach here is denial, as you reply: “Do you actually think I would be that manipulative?” Of course you would, but she doesn’t need to know that.
No.1 - Take her to places where she has to wear a swimsuit
If she seems content staying at home eating donuts in her track pants, why not start taking her to places where she has no choice but to where a swimsuit? As she awkwardly looks around at all the slender bodies having a great time, she’ll more than likely vow to do something about her recent weight gain, especially if she knows she’ll be back there in the not-so-distant future.
As every man knows, there are some things you just can’t come right out and say to your girlfriend. For obvious reasons, “You’ve put on weight, and I find you less attractive” is one of them. Even if it does have the desired effect and she goes on to drop a few pounds, she’ll never forgive you for pointing it out so bluntly and making her feel like sh*t in the process. For that reason, you need to consider some alternative methods of letting her know that you’re displeased with her recent weight gain. Here are the top 10 subtle ways to tell her she's getting fat -- plain and simple.
No.10 - Buy her clothes that are too small
If you buy her clothes that are obviously too small for her, not only will she finally have to admit that she’s putting on weight, but she can easily return them for her correct size. First, she’ll have to reveal to you that the clothes are too small. “Oh,” you might say, “I thought you were a size 8. Isn’t that what you were last summer?” The onus is now on her to do something about it.
No.9 - Sign her up for yoga under the pretence of "stress relief"
This works particularly well if your girlfriend still hasn’t worked out the link between an active lifestyle and emotional well-being. Tell her you have found exactly what she needs to help her relax, a regular spiritual cleanse in the form of a yoga class. Make sure you choose an intense, calorie-burning form (power yoga or ashtanga yoga), otherwise she may end up rolling around on the floor a couple times a week with no real benefits. The beauty of yoga is that if you dress it up as a way to relieve stress, she may not realize that she’s being tricked into shedding a few pounds, and even if she does, you’ll end up with a happier, more self-confident girlfriend rather than a grumpy lard-ass.
No.8 - Set out on your own weight loss plan
Here’s an interesting experiment for you using reverse psychology. A subtle way to tell her she's getting fat is to tell her you’re not happy with your own level of fitness and she may begin to open her eyes to the wider picture. By referencing yourself in any plans to lose weight, you’re also subtly telling her that you’re not the only one who might benefit from a diet. And even if she does see through your ploy, she’ll at least appreciate the tact you have shown and will hopefully take the message on board.
No.7 - Serve her unsatisfactory portions
When dishing up meals for the two of you, try giving her smaller-than-usual amounts. By making her ask for more food, you might succeed in shaming her into an acknowledgment of her recent weight gain, and hopefully to instigate a conversation about what she’s going to do about it. If you feel as though you’re starving yourself in the process, remember you can always go back for more when she’s not looking.
No.6 - Improve your own diet
It’s very easy for the two of you to fall into the downward spiral in which many couples begin to replace sexual intimacy with ice cream and cake. Don’t let this happen by focusing on your own health requirements and staking your right to a junk-food-free home. It might even be the only way of separating her from the fatty foods which have led to the current problem.
No.5 - Playfully grab her love handles
Ask any man and he’ll tell you that he instinctively flexes his biceps whenever a woman touches them. The same thing goes for a woman when you make contact with any unwanted flab: She recoils and feels embarrassment. Use this reaction to your advantage. Even if she thinks that you’re too busy at work to have noticed a few extra pounds, if you continually rest your hand on her love handles (or even lightly pinch them), she’ll soon realize that you’re becoming increasingly aware of something that never used to be there before.
No.4 - Ask her to wear an old dress
Plan a romantic night out for the two of you and insist that she wears something from when you first got together; particularly something that you know doesn’t fit her anymore. This way she’ll have to admit to you that she’s put on too much weight and can no longer get into many of her old clothes. Follow it up by telling her how good she looked in those days, and maybe she’ll make it her mission to get back to that size.
No.3 - Sabotage her chair
Sometimes as men we have to get downright nefarious to get what we want. You might not be proud of stooping to this level, but nothing says “better lose some weight” like a broken chair. After you loosen a few screws or remove some important slats of a chair in which you know she’ll sit and subsequently break, sit back and watch the guaranteed dietary transformation that ensues. It will profoundly amaze you.
No.2 - Leave "now" and "then" photos lying around
This is a highly effective way to draw attention to the explicit changes to her body as you see them. By consistently reminding her of how she used to look, she’ll inevitably be more inclined to do something about her excess flab. Appropriately chosen and strategically placed photos should accomplish this quite nicely. Keep in mind, if she confronts you about trying to shame her into losing weight, the key approach here is denial, as you reply: “Do you actually think I would be that manipulative?” Of course you would, but she doesn’t need to know that.
No.1 - Take her to places where she has to wear a swimsuit
If she seems content staying at home eating donuts in her track pants, why not start taking her to places where she has no choice but to where a swimsuit? As she awkwardly looks around at all the slender bodies having a great time, she’ll more than likely vow to do something about her recent weight gain, especially if she knows she’ll be back there in the not-so-distant future.
Top 10 Summer Date ideas [fellas hint, hint]
link to original article from Askmen.
Unofficially, summer is dating season and your chances of scoring a phone number rises with the mercury. April showers pass, and with them, our tolerance for the indoors. At work, an eagerness to break out of the office sweeps through every cubicle. Neighborhood jogs replace the dull agony of the treadmill. To preserve the feeling of being outside, even the time it takes to do yard work and landscaping extends a bit longer than necessary. Women can’t seem to get enough sunshine and will have a hard time saying no to the right outdoorsy offer. In short, Mother Nature is handing you a three-month romantic advantage on a silver platter with plenty of summer date ideas to choose from.
This means it’s time to ask out that girl you want to have in your life -- and not to the dark recesses of windowless bar. Let the improved weather guide your plans. The possibilities are endless, but here are 10 summer date ideas ranked from most unconventional to most traditional that are sure to make her melt.
No.10 - Wash her car
This summer date idea gets both of you into a bathing suit and comes across as a generous act of service on your part. Remember, it’s only a chore if you make it into one, so have fun. After you’ve sprayed the car and soaped it down, rinse it until your “pathetic” aim makes her glisten like a Hawaiian Tropic model. She’ll know a water fight was pretty much inevitable and, honestly, she’ll think it’s flirty. Don’t go overboard though, and grant her plea for mercy. Otherwise, the fulfillment of this sexual fantasy will draw to an early and perhaps violent close.
No.9 - Garage sale hop
In the same way that you would hop from bar to bar, spend a morning with your girl visiting the garage sales and flea markets in your area (consult your local newspaper and signs around town for time and location). The eclectic items at each colorful scene lend themselves to lively conversation, humor and affordable entertainment. Don’t be afraid to poke around either. Try on garments, hand her things you think she’ll like and ask the vendors questions. As you do, you’ll definitely make a few tickling discoveries about each other, and with so many bargains, one of you will undoubtedly come away with a sweet deal.
No.8 - Fly a kite
This date sounds like it’s for kids, and that’s precisely what she’ll love about it. Invest in a decent kite, one you can count on to soar reliably without snapping or nosediving. Then, on a breezy day, find a large open field and prepare for liftoff. Successful launch and steady flight require communication, coordination and collaboration. Essentially, it takes teamwork, which is the groundwork for a good relationship. Once the kite is airborne, you and your date have the freedom to relax, take turns as pilot and roll in the grass.
No.7 - Play in the water
Depending on the weather and water temperature, strip down or suit up for maritime activities like windsurfing and boogie boarding. Or, if you have access to a boat, request your girl’s company for a day on the water. Don’t forget the fact that water sports like wakeboarding really get the adrenaline pumping, which is a bonus for flirting and sexual innuendo. Some girls prefer man power to motors, in which case kayaking and canoeing can be a quiet, intimate alternative. Since your extremities remain safely in the boat, risk of shark attack (or any other oceanic dangers) plummets. Whichever you decide, equipment is fairly easy to rent and reasonably priced.
No.6 - Go to a drive-in movie
Drive-ins aren’t as common as they once were, but they're as fun as ever. A classic summertime favorite, this amped-up approach to the typical, yet unoriginal, theater outing prevents her from asking herself, “Is he boring?” The privacy of your vehicle creates wonderful opportunities as well: You can bring your own candy and popcorn, no one will shush you as you giggle and banter aloud, and PDA becomes a non-issue should the mood strike.
No.5 - Go for a stroll
Exploring your town or city together gives fresh perspective to the old experience of “been there, done that.” Start by taking each other to your personal points of interest -- favorite coffee shops, secret hangouts, dream houses, and so on. Along the way, dive into summer’s natural beauty by admiring the flora and fauna. If your girl has a dog, bring it -- pet owners love to talk about their animals and showing “Rover” some affection with a game of fetch demonstrates your respect for the things that are important to her. Finish up with a visit to an ice-cream parlor, where you can taste samples, recommend flavors and trade licks.
No.4 - Take a drive
There’s no need to steal a Ferrari, but get your hands on a decent set of wheels and invite your date for a ride. Be sure you have fuel in the tank and a scenic route selected before you pick her up. With babe on board, roll down the windows, pop open the sunroof or drop the top if you have a convertible to let her catch some rays and feel the breeze in her hair. Conversation will emerge from your choice of destination, the road trip playlist and fond highway memories. Pull over at the rest stops that only RVs bother with so that you can snap a few pictures of the vistas.
No.3 - See an outdoor concert
Some of the best music venues keep their doors shut until summertime when a captive audience can enjoy songs in the warmth of a pleasant evening. Find out when a rockin’ band will be playing and grab tickets. You and your date can dance, mingle with those around you, sing along, peruse the merch, and wrap yourselves in the same blanket as the night cools off.
No.2 - Go to an amusement park
It’s all in the name. Few dates wring out more raw, undiluted fun than a trip to Six Flags, Disneyland or one of their rollercoaster-loving competitors. The walks between rides and (hopefully brief) waits in line allow for plenty of get-to-know-you time. Before hopping on any ride with a flip or corkscrew, tease her about the outrageous height, number of Gs pulled or questionable safety. Instilling a little fear will have her reaching for your hand on every descent, mild or wild. Win her an over-size teddy bear (or her sympathies for trying) and there may be a kiss waiting for you at the top of the Ferris wheel.
No.1 - Take her on a picnic
Tried and true, here’s a summer date idea that can’t miss. If you’re a competent chef, prepare a sensuous and simple meal with in-season ingredients. On the other hand, if you’re a liability in the kitchen, the supermarket deli section will be your new best friend. Either way, go the extra mile by using real utensils, dishes, napkins, and glasses as opposed to the cheap paper and plastic. Top off the setup with a nice bottle of wine and a clean blanket to rest on, but leave the book of sonnets at home.
Unofficially, summer is dating season and your chances of scoring a phone number rises with the mercury. April showers pass, and with them, our tolerance for the indoors. At work, an eagerness to break out of the office sweeps through every cubicle. Neighborhood jogs replace the dull agony of the treadmill. To preserve the feeling of being outside, even the time it takes to do yard work and landscaping extends a bit longer than necessary. Women can’t seem to get enough sunshine and will have a hard time saying no to the right outdoorsy offer. In short, Mother Nature is handing you a three-month romantic advantage on a silver platter with plenty of summer date ideas to choose from.
This means it’s time to ask out that girl you want to have in your life -- and not to the dark recesses of windowless bar. Let the improved weather guide your plans. The possibilities are endless, but here are 10 summer date ideas ranked from most unconventional to most traditional that are sure to make her melt.
No.10 - Wash her car
This summer date idea gets both of you into a bathing suit and comes across as a generous act of service on your part. Remember, it’s only a chore if you make it into one, so have fun. After you’ve sprayed the car and soaped it down, rinse it until your “pathetic” aim makes her glisten like a Hawaiian Tropic model. She’ll know a water fight was pretty much inevitable and, honestly, she’ll think it’s flirty. Don’t go overboard though, and grant her plea for mercy. Otherwise, the fulfillment of this sexual fantasy will draw to an early and perhaps violent close.
No.9 - Garage sale hop
In the same way that you would hop from bar to bar, spend a morning with your girl visiting the garage sales and flea markets in your area (consult your local newspaper and signs around town for time and location). The eclectic items at each colorful scene lend themselves to lively conversation, humor and affordable entertainment. Don’t be afraid to poke around either. Try on garments, hand her things you think she’ll like and ask the vendors questions. As you do, you’ll definitely make a few tickling discoveries about each other, and with so many bargains, one of you will undoubtedly come away with a sweet deal.
No.8 - Fly a kite
This date sounds like it’s for kids, and that’s precisely what she’ll love about it. Invest in a decent kite, one you can count on to soar reliably without snapping or nosediving. Then, on a breezy day, find a large open field and prepare for liftoff. Successful launch and steady flight require communication, coordination and collaboration. Essentially, it takes teamwork, which is the groundwork for a good relationship. Once the kite is airborne, you and your date have the freedom to relax, take turns as pilot and roll in the grass.
No.7 - Play in the water
Depending on the weather and water temperature, strip down or suit up for maritime activities like windsurfing and boogie boarding. Or, if you have access to a boat, request your girl’s company for a day on the water. Don’t forget the fact that water sports like wakeboarding really get the adrenaline pumping, which is a bonus for flirting and sexual innuendo. Some girls prefer man power to motors, in which case kayaking and canoeing can be a quiet, intimate alternative. Since your extremities remain safely in the boat, risk of shark attack (or any other oceanic dangers) plummets. Whichever you decide, equipment is fairly easy to rent and reasonably priced.
No.6 - Go to a drive-in movie
Drive-ins aren’t as common as they once were, but they're as fun as ever. A classic summertime favorite, this amped-up approach to the typical, yet unoriginal, theater outing prevents her from asking herself, “Is he boring?” The privacy of your vehicle creates wonderful opportunities as well: You can bring your own candy and popcorn, no one will shush you as you giggle and banter aloud, and PDA becomes a non-issue should the mood strike.
No.5 - Go for a stroll
Exploring your town or city together gives fresh perspective to the old experience of “been there, done that.” Start by taking each other to your personal points of interest -- favorite coffee shops, secret hangouts, dream houses, and so on. Along the way, dive into summer’s natural beauty by admiring the flora and fauna. If your girl has a dog, bring it -- pet owners love to talk about their animals and showing “Rover” some affection with a game of fetch demonstrates your respect for the things that are important to her. Finish up with a visit to an ice-cream parlor, where you can taste samples, recommend flavors and trade licks.
No.4 - Take a drive
There’s no need to steal a Ferrari, but get your hands on a decent set of wheels and invite your date for a ride. Be sure you have fuel in the tank and a scenic route selected before you pick her up. With babe on board, roll down the windows, pop open the sunroof or drop the top if you have a convertible to let her catch some rays and feel the breeze in her hair. Conversation will emerge from your choice of destination, the road trip playlist and fond highway memories. Pull over at the rest stops that only RVs bother with so that you can snap a few pictures of the vistas.
No.3 - See an outdoor concert
Some of the best music venues keep their doors shut until summertime when a captive audience can enjoy songs in the warmth of a pleasant evening. Find out when a rockin’ band will be playing and grab tickets. You and your date can dance, mingle with those around you, sing along, peruse the merch, and wrap yourselves in the same blanket as the night cools off.
No.2 - Go to an amusement park
It’s all in the name. Few dates wring out more raw, undiluted fun than a trip to Six Flags, Disneyland or one of their rollercoaster-loving competitors. The walks between rides and (hopefully brief) waits in line allow for plenty of get-to-know-you time. Before hopping on any ride with a flip or corkscrew, tease her about the outrageous height, number of Gs pulled or questionable safety. Instilling a little fear will have her reaching for your hand on every descent, mild or wild. Win her an over-size teddy bear (or her sympathies for trying) and there may be a kiss waiting for you at the top of the Ferris wheel.
No.1 - Take her on a picnic
Tried and true, here’s a summer date idea that can’t miss. If you’re a competent chef, prepare a sensuous and simple meal with in-season ingredients. On the other hand, if you’re a liability in the kitchen, the supermarket deli section will be your new best friend. Either way, go the extra mile by using real utensils, dishes, napkins, and glasses as opposed to the cheap paper and plastic. Top off the setup with a nice bottle of wine and a clean blanket to rest on, but leave the book of sonnets at home.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
10 Best Books of 2008 (according to NYTimes)
FICTION
1. DANGEROUS LAUGHTER: Thirteen Stories
By Steven Millhauser.
In his first collection in five years, a master fabulist in the tradition of Poe and Nabokov invents spookily plausible parallel universes in which the deepest human emotions and yearnings are transformed into their monstrous opposites. Millhauser is especially attuned to the purgatory of adolescence. In the title story, teenagers attend sinister “laugh parties”; in another, a mysteriously afflicted girl hides in the darkness of her attic bedroom. Time and again these parables revive the possibility that “under this world there is another, waiting to be born.” (Excerpt)
2. A MERCY
By Toni Morrison.
The fate of a slave child abandoned by her mother animates this allusive novel — part Faulknerian puzzle, part dream-song — about orphaned women who form an eccentric household in late-17th-century America. Morrison’s farmers and rum traders, masters and slaves, indentured whites and captive Native Americans live side by side, often in violent conflict, in a lawless, ripe American Eden that is both a haven and a prison — an emerging nation whose identity is rooted equally in Old World superstitions and New World appetites and fears. (First Chapter)
3. NETHERLAND
By Joseph O’Neill.
O’Neill’s seductive ode to New York — a city that even in bad times stubbornly clings to its belief “in its salvific worth” — is narrated by a Dutch financier whose privileged Manhattan existence is upended by the events of Sept. 11, 2001. When his wife departs for London with their small son, he stays behind, finding camaraderie in the unexpectedly buoyant world of immigrant cricket players, most of them West Indians and South Asians, including an entrepreneur with Gatsby-size aspirations. (First Chapter)
4. 2666
By Roberto Bolaño. Translated by Natasha Wimmer.
Bolaño, the prodigious Chilean writer who died at age 50 in 2003, has posthumously risen, like a figure in one of his own splendid creations, to the summit of modern fiction. This latest work, first published in Spanish in 2004, is a mega- and meta-detective novel with strong hints of apocalyptic foreboding. It contains five separate narratives, each pursuing a different story with a cast of beguiling characters — European literary scholars, an African-American journalist and more — whose lives converge in a Mexican border town where hundreds of young women have been brutally murdered. (Excerpt)
5. UNACCUSTOMED EARTH
By Jhumpa Lahiri.
There is much cultural news in these precisely observed studies of modern-day Bengali-Americans — many of them Ivy-league strivers ensconced in prosperous suburbs who can’t quite overcome the tug of traditions nurtured in Calcutta. With quiet artistry and tender sympathy, Lahiri creates an impressive range of vivid characters — young and old, male and female, self-knowing and self-deluding — in engrossing stories that replenish the classic themes of domestic realism: loneliness, estrangement and family discord. (Excerpt)
NONFICTION
6. THE DARK SIDE: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals
By Jane Mayer.
Mayer’s meticulously reported descent into the depths of President Bush’s antiterrorist policies peels away the layers of legal and bureaucratic maneuvering that gave us Guantánamo Bay, “extraordinary rendition,” “enhanced” interrogation methods, “black sites,” warrantless domestic surveillance and all the rest. But Mayer also describes the efforts ofunsung heroes, tucked deep inside the administration, who risked their careers in the struggle to balance the rule of law against the need to meet a threat unlike any other in the nation’s history.
7. THE FOREVER WAR
By Dexter Filkins.
The New York Times correspondent, whose tours of duty have taken him from Afghanistan in 1998 to Iraq during the American intervention, captures a decade of armed struggle in harrowingly detailed vignettes. Whether interviewing jihadists in Kabul, accompanying marines on risky patrols in Falluja or visiting grieving families in Baghdad, Filkins makes us see, with almost hallucinogenic immediacy, the true human meaning and consequences of the “war on terror.” (First Chapter)
8. NOTHING TO BE FRIGHTENED OF
By Julian Barnes.
This absorbing memoir traces Barnes’s progress from atheism (at age 20) to agnosticism (at 60) and examines the problem of religion not by rehashing the familiar quarrel between science and mystery, but rather by weighing the timeless questions of mortality and aging. Barnes distills his own experiences — and those of his parents and brother — in polished and wise sentences that recall the writing of Montaigne, Flaubert and the other French masters he includes in his discussion. (First Chapter)
9. THIS REPUBLIC OF SUFFERING: Death and the American Civil War
By Drew Gilpin Faust.
In this powerful book, Faust, the president of Harvard, explores the legacy, or legacies, of the “harvest of death” sown and reaped by the Civil War. In the space of four years, 620,000 Americans died in uniform, roughly the same number as those lost in all the nation’s combined wars from the Revolution through Korea. This doesn’t include the thousands of civilians killed in epidemics, guerrilla raids and draft riots. The collective trauma created “a newly centralized nation-state,” Faust writes, but it also established “sacrifice and its memorialization as the ground on which North and South would ultimately reunite.” (First Chapter)
10. THE WORLD IS WHAT IT IS: The Authorized Biography of V. S. Naipaul
By Patrick French.
The most surprising word in this biography is “authorized.” Naipaul, the greatest of all postcolonial authors, cooperated fully with French, opening up a huge cache of private letters and diaries and supplementing the revelations they disclosed with remarkably candid interviews. It was a brave, and wise, decision. French, a first-rate biographer, has a novelist’s command of story and character, and he patiently connects his subject’s brilliant oeuvre with the disturbing facts of an unruly life. (First Chapter)
Here is the link to the original NYTimes article.
1. DANGEROUS LAUGHTER: Thirteen Stories
By Steven Millhauser.
In his first collection in five years, a master fabulist in the tradition of Poe and Nabokov invents spookily plausible parallel universes in which the deepest human emotions and yearnings are transformed into their monstrous opposites. Millhauser is especially attuned to the purgatory of adolescence. In the title story, teenagers attend sinister “laugh parties”; in another, a mysteriously afflicted girl hides in the darkness of her attic bedroom. Time and again these parables revive the possibility that “under this world there is another, waiting to be born.” (Excerpt)
2. A MERCY
By Toni Morrison.
The fate of a slave child abandoned by her mother animates this allusive novel — part Faulknerian puzzle, part dream-song — about orphaned women who form an eccentric household in late-17th-century America. Morrison’s farmers and rum traders, masters and slaves, indentured whites and captive Native Americans live side by side, often in violent conflict, in a lawless, ripe American Eden that is both a haven and a prison — an emerging nation whose identity is rooted equally in Old World superstitions and New World appetites and fears. (First Chapter)
3. NETHERLAND
By Joseph O’Neill.
O’Neill’s seductive ode to New York — a city that even in bad times stubbornly clings to its belief “in its salvific worth” — is narrated by a Dutch financier whose privileged Manhattan existence is upended by the events of Sept. 11, 2001. When his wife departs for London with their small son, he stays behind, finding camaraderie in the unexpectedly buoyant world of immigrant cricket players, most of them West Indians and South Asians, including an entrepreneur with Gatsby-size aspirations. (First Chapter)
4. 2666
By Roberto Bolaño. Translated by Natasha Wimmer.
Bolaño, the prodigious Chilean writer who died at age 50 in 2003, has posthumously risen, like a figure in one of his own splendid creations, to the summit of modern fiction. This latest work, first published in Spanish in 2004, is a mega- and meta-detective novel with strong hints of apocalyptic foreboding. It contains five separate narratives, each pursuing a different story with a cast of beguiling characters — European literary scholars, an African-American journalist and more — whose lives converge in a Mexican border town where hundreds of young women have been brutally murdered. (Excerpt)
5. UNACCUSTOMED EARTH
By Jhumpa Lahiri.
There is much cultural news in these precisely observed studies of modern-day Bengali-Americans — many of them Ivy-league strivers ensconced in prosperous suburbs who can’t quite overcome the tug of traditions nurtured in Calcutta. With quiet artistry and tender sympathy, Lahiri creates an impressive range of vivid characters — young and old, male and female, self-knowing and self-deluding — in engrossing stories that replenish the classic themes of domestic realism: loneliness, estrangement and family discord. (Excerpt)
NONFICTION
6. THE DARK SIDE: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals
By Jane Mayer.
Mayer’s meticulously reported descent into the depths of President Bush’s antiterrorist policies peels away the layers of legal and bureaucratic maneuvering that gave us Guantánamo Bay, “extraordinary rendition,” “enhanced” interrogation methods, “black sites,” warrantless domestic surveillance and all the rest. But Mayer also describes the efforts ofunsung heroes, tucked deep inside the administration, who risked their careers in the struggle to balance the rule of law against the need to meet a threat unlike any other in the nation’s history.
7. THE FOREVER WAR
By Dexter Filkins.
The New York Times correspondent, whose tours of duty have taken him from Afghanistan in 1998 to Iraq during the American intervention, captures a decade of armed struggle in harrowingly detailed vignettes. Whether interviewing jihadists in Kabul, accompanying marines on risky patrols in Falluja or visiting grieving families in Baghdad, Filkins makes us see, with almost hallucinogenic immediacy, the true human meaning and consequences of the “war on terror.” (First Chapter)
8. NOTHING TO BE FRIGHTENED OF
By Julian Barnes.
This absorbing memoir traces Barnes’s progress from atheism (at age 20) to agnosticism (at 60) and examines the problem of religion not by rehashing the familiar quarrel between science and mystery, but rather by weighing the timeless questions of mortality and aging. Barnes distills his own experiences — and those of his parents and brother — in polished and wise sentences that recall the writing of Montaigne, Flaubert and the other French masters he includes in his discussion. (First Chapter)
9. THIS REPUBLIC OF SUFFERING: Death and the American Civil War
By Drew Gilpin Faust.
In this powerful book, Faust, the president of Harvard, explores the legacy, or legacies, of the “harvest of death” sown and reaped by the Civil War. In the space of four years, 620,000 Americans died in uniform, roughly the same number as those lost in all the nation’s combined wars from the Revolution through Korea. This doesn’t include the thousands of civilians killed in epidemics, guerrilla raids and draft riots. The collective trauma created “a newly centralized nation-state,” Faust writes, but it also established “sacrifice and its memorialization as the ground on which North and South would ultimately reunite.” (First Chapter)
10. THE WORLD IS WHAT IT IS: The Authorized Biography of V. S. Naipaul
By Patrick French.
The most surprising word in this biography is “authorized.” Naipaul, the greatest of all postcolonial authors, cooperated fully with French, opening up a huge cache of private letters and diaries and supplementing the revelations they disclosed with remarkably candid interviews. It was a brave, and wise, decision. French, a first-rate biographer, has a novelist’s command of story and character, and he patiently connects his subject’s brilliant oeuvre with the disturbing facts of an unruly life. (First Chapter)
Here is the link to the original NYTimes article.
BOOK: Kawaii Not: Cute Gone Bad
Attention all Happy Bunny lovers, there is something new out on the market! Not quite as "cruel" as Happy Bunny, Kawaii Not [amazon link] is full of fun, innocently spiteful messages.
Here is an excerpt page ...
and my personal favorite ...
Here is a link to the website with many more cutecruel pictures.
The book is mainly modeled after the pictures I posted above. In addition, there is a Kawaii Quiz with a few pages of quesitons. One of the questions asks "What description best fits your nose?" ... one of the answers being, "With it I smell all the decay and decadence of this wicked world". Cute, no! Two pages of stickers close out this spiral bound masterpiece. The spiral bound book has a sturdy back to prop up and showcase on your desk or dresser. Most of the pictures are fine for a laid back workplace (there might be a few NSFW ones, I think I posted an example - "loneliest testicle" - you be the judge). The cover can be bothersome since it is a little too long for the propping up purposes.
Enjoy!
Here is an excerpt page ...
and my personal favorite ...
Here is a link to the website with many more cutecruel pictures.
The book is mainly modeled after the pictures I posted above. In addition, there is a Kawaii Quiz with a few pages of quesitons. One of the questions asks "What description best fits your nose?" ... one of the answers being, "With it I smell all the decay and decadence of this wicked world". Cute, no! Two pages of stickers close out this spiral bound masterpiece. The spiral bound book has a sturdy back to prop up and showcase on your desk or dresser. Most of the pictures are fine for a laid back workplace (there might be a few NSFW ones, I think I posted an example - "loneliest testicle" - you be the judge). The cover can be bothersome since it is a little too long for the propping up purposes.
Enjoy!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
