Gwenda, Author at Gwenda Bond

Good News & Bad

5 Comments / Nattering / By Gwenda / October 4, 2005

Well, besides the good news that my mom’s taking us to see Loretta Lynn later in the fall (if she does "Fist City," I’ll be in heaven — "But the man I love, when he picks up trash, he puts it in a garbage caaaaan"), my contact lenses finally came in.

In lesser news, we will not be at World Fantasy after all (unless, of course, a wealthy benefactor steps forward; anyone?) due to an unexpected and HUGE auto repair bill. This makes me very sad. (Come for Thanksgiving!)

I also got an email today about a distantly related stranger’s unfortunate accident, which I will quote from here because I’m a really bad person: He will be buried on his birthday, Friday, would have been nineteen. Tragic. Lived in New Jersey.

So, see, it could be much, much worse than $900 for a fuel pump and some brake stuff.

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GilmoreGossipCircle

7 Comments / TV Goodness / By Gwenda / October 4, 2005

Flawed episodes seem to give us more discussion fodder, but maybe this will be the week of perfect and fireworksy. The WB sez:

Always a Godmother, Never a God. Missing Rory (Alexis Bledel), Lorelai (Lauren Graham) tries to call her and is upset to find that Rory’s cell phone is no longer in service. Sookie (Melissa McCarthy) asks Lorelai and Rory to be the godparents to her two children in the hope that they will reconcile when they see each other at the ceremony. However, mother and daughter end up fighting when Lorelai realizes that Rory gave her new cell number to Sookie but not to her. Logan (Matt Czuchry) learns that his father expects him to graduate this year and enter the family business. Wanting to break free from family pressures, Logan whisks Rory off to a weekend in New York.

Scott Patterson, Kelly Bishop, Keiko Agena, Yanic Truesdale and Sean Gunn also star. Robert Berlinger directed the episode written by Rebecca Rand Kirshner.

I believe they are giving more solo writing credits without a Sherman or a Palladino or a Sherman-Palladino this season, but it’d be hard for me to believe ASP is not still giving it all a polish. See you later, alligators.

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To Planet or Not a Planet

2 Comments / Science Project / By Gwenda / October 4, 2005

From a story in today’s NYT on evolving definitions of planethood:

Not only did the panel members disagree on the definition of a planet, at last report they could not even agree, it seemed, on whether they were making progress. Within the space of a few minutes the other week, I received one e-mail message from Dr. Marsden saying he was optimistic and another from Alan Boss of the Carnegie Institution of Washington complaining that his morning e-mail gave him no sense that they were close to bringing the issue to a close.

In another e-mail message, Dr. Boss described the process as "like trying to shovel frogs into a wheelbarrow – they keep jumping out again."

Scientists are so cute when they bicker.

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She Got Game: Twins

5 Comments / Books / By Gwenda / October 4, 2005

Marcy Dermansky‘s Twins is never quite what you think. At first, I worried that I was reading the literary equivalent of Thirteen. There is a voyeuristic feeling that pervades much of the book, something which almost but not quite makes for an uncomfortable sensation while reading (do I even like this? I thought at first, riveted anyway). Once the Thirteen fears had passed, I worried that that uncomfortable sensation was too similar to the one brought about by the disturbingly close first person POV in a book I’d read earlier in the year (and ultimately felt ambivalent about). I’d just finished Jeff Ford’s The Girl in the Glass, which I adored, and worried that any book I tried next would not measure up.

But then as I kept reading and kept reading and could not put the fucking book down, I stopped worrying and learned to love that odd, visceral quality, to revel in it.

…

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Monday Hangovers

7 Comments / Hangovers / By Gwenda / October 3, 2005

A Hallmark card erodes, but spiders in amber last forever.
Emma Garman and Lauren Cerand (aka Le Cineclub) discuss Going Shopping. (Sometimes, I think reading their back and forths would actually turn out to be better than seeing the movie.)
To celebrate the giant squid find, fabulous poetess Erin Keane posts her "The Giant Squid Mourns the Loss of His Privacy," which is also in the latest issue of Full Unit Hookup.
Matthew Brooke, 26, was charged Friday with felony theft of library materials and criminal damage to property. He went to the Historical Society on Thursday, according to a criminal complaint, and smashed the window on a second-floor antique display case with his elbow. He allegedly swiped the "Pennsylvania Evening Post" from inside the case. And later in the story: Brooke told detectives he took the book because he wanted to read a story on page 106 about a historical figure named William Hill. Dan Brown and Nic Cage: call your agents.
Is this The Jet Li?
Dr. Shrinker: who knew?
Bizarre little NYT story about Threshold, which looks down its nose at SF the entire time. (Yeah, it must not be science fiction if it’s good, right? This is STILL happening?!)
Rebecca Skloot on the truth about quicksand and how to get out of it.

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Auctorial Doppelgangers (7a)

Silly Games / By Gwenda / October 1, 2005

Because I can’t resist. (Do go see the originals!)

PICTURED LEFT: Allen Ginsberg, author of Howl and many other poems.

PICTURED RIGHT: Jim Henson, Kermit’s bitch. Kidding, people, let’s try again: genius behind The Muppet Show and several other classic films and television series.

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Saturday Hangovers

9 Comments / Hangovers / By Gwenda / October 1, 2005

Feeling slightly better, good enough to spend the day writing/editing and things. Everyone who goes to see Firefly start saying what you think; I want to talk about it. (But I’m going to see it again before I post about it.) The only review I’ve read so far is Salon’s, which is right on target. If you read any other reviews worth taking a look at, drop a note in the comments.

Sources have informed me that the awesome Colleen Mondor has a new blog, and if the first couple of posts are any indication: it’s about time. Go chase Ray (Bradbury) with her.
Ed Champion is cracking me up, as he frequently does, with a series of Auctorial Doppelgangers that starts here. My favorite so far is number two: Michael Chabon and Gaius Baltar from Battlestar Gallactica. (And Tito joins the fun as well.)
SuperLibrarian Nancy Pearl recommends her favorite short story collections. Anyone read A Werewolf Problem in Central Russia and Other Stories by Victor Pelevin (translated by Andrew Bromfield)? That sounds fab.
Over at the LBC, which I hope you agree is way more interesting this time around, Steve Stern responds to the dialogue and Paul Slovak, uber-editor (and the book’s publicist), gives his thoughts on the process of editing Stern.
Scientists think they’ve found Homer’s Ithaca.
Congratulations to you crazy kids. Much happiness!

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Under The Weather

Excuses, Excuses / By Gwenda / September 30, 2005

On the heels of the desperate nap need, comes a little bit of bleh. (I’m hoping it’s just a little bit, anyway. I resent the very idea of a virus snatching away my weekend.)

So now, another nap, and reading Oh Pure and Radiant Heart and trying to bypass this weather I’m under. I suggest you check out those down and to the right, and do drop in on The Elegant Variation where writer Christian Bauman (whose Voodoo Lounge is very close to the top of my TBR pile) is holding court today.

Have a good Friday.

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Ways to Amuse When You Are Getting Sleepy, Very Sleepy

1 Comment / Nattering / By Gwenda / September 29, 2005

Wikipedia sayeth about the nap (o, longed-for nap):

Nap or nap can refer to:

a short sleep. See also: Power nap, Siesta
a betting term for the best bet on a particular day.
an acronym for the Normaal Amsterdams Peil.
a TLA for Network access point.
a measure of the thickness of a paint roller.
a noun meaning day and sun in Hungarian.
Neapolitan language (ISO 639 alpha-3)
a sewing term for the raised surface of certain cloth, such as flannel.
an abbreviation of "Not Applicable", which is used in banking.

And none of it makes me less sleeeeepy. But this sleepy poem at least makes me happy.

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THEY ARE COMING FOR YOU, Pt. 2 (updated)

4 Comments / Science Project / By Gwenda / September 29, 2005

First giant squids, now zombies:

There has been a small outbreak of “zombism” in a small town near the border of Laos in North-Eastern Cambodia.

The culprit was discovered to be mosquitoes native to that region carrying a new strain of Malaria which thus far has a 100 percent mortality rate and kills victims in fewer than 2 days.

After death, this parasite is able to restart the heart of its victim for up to two hours after the initial demise of the person where the individual behaves in extremely violent ways from what is believed to be a combination of brain damage and a chemical released into blood during “resurrection.”

(Thanks, Melissa!)

Updated: By the way, April Fool’s! I got you early this year. (Actually, I’m completely gullible and believe anything that looks vaguely like a news story that is emailed to me. But I still love this story.)

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