Gone to America

Tuesday 29th 2004f June 2004

Watch Flip

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, posted by Anthony around mid-afternoon.

I’ll do a long, long post very soon, I promise. Lots to blog about, what with parents visiting, working on shorts, meeting people and such. But later.

For now, I just want to reassure everybody that I did manage to read the end of “Single and Single”, so you can all relax. I actually went back to the Strand, and read one of their other copies while lurking in the aisle.

Also, I’ve added an email notification feature, so I want to see if that works. I’ve taken the liberty of re-signing up the people who were on the list before. Sorry if that’s not your wish – it should be fairly easy to unsubscribe.

But the most momentous thing involves a watch that my parents bought for me in Century 21. Not the watch itself, although it’s very nice, but rather my decision to start wearing it on my left wrist.

All my life, I’ve worn my watches on the right wrist, which is apparently very wrong and unusual. I believe this to be my parents’ fault, as my sister does the same thing. But now I’m switching over. It feels really weird, but I firmly believe that this will turn my luck around – that everything will be different from this day forward.

Do you doubt me? Ha! We shall see. Or I’ll see, and tell you.

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Comment ID: 1537
At 7:18 pm on Tuesday 29th 2004f June 2004, Nigel was compelled to share

You see Anthony, you’re slowly becoming normal. Before you know it you’ll be a Mac person!

Oh wait, I got that the wrong way round.
Comment ID: 1538
At 5:26 pm on Wednesday 30th 2004f June 2004, eleanor typed

Actually, for your information, I have been wearing my watch on the left wrist for some years now.
Where is all the information about The Visit? Get Dad to write a blog entry!!!
By the way, you all need to keep your fingers crossed for us this weekend. Jim is entering a competition in this year’s bottle show this weekend. It’s called ’12 Bottles of Beer on the Wall’ and it is a display of Wallsend bottles complete with wall and the river Tyne, not to mention a bit of coal sprinkled about.So wish us luck!
Comment ID: 1539
At 11:44 pm on Thursday 01st 2004f July 2004, Nigel was compelled to share

I’ve been posting whilst drunk again. Quick! Get over to my site and check it out before it’s too late!

Broccoli!
Comment ID: 1540
At 10:37 am on Friday 02nd 2004f July 2004, BF attested

Are you right-handed then, Anthony? I wear mine on the right side for tennis as there’s no chance of bashing my watch with my my racket that way.
Comment ID: 1541
At 6:08 pm on Friday 02nd 2004f July 2004, Nigel channelled

Not enough blogging Anthony. I’m very disappointed.
Comment ID: 1542
At 11:57 pm on Friday 02nd 2004f July 2004, Babs started typing, with this result

See?? He’s a fascist about other people posting, too!!

Beat him up Anthony!!
Comment ID: 1543
At 11:57 pm on Friday 02nd 2004f July 2004, Babs blurted

I don’t get the broccoli bit, mind ya.
Comment ID: 1544
At 1:05 pm on Saturday 03rd 2004f July 2004, Nigel started typing, with this result

Anthony has frequently chastised me for not posting enough. He’s now doing the opposite though.

Why am I a fascist all of a sudden?
Comment ID: 1547
At 12:54 am on Sunday 04th 2004f July 2004, Babs opined

(Because it’s funny, ya nit)
Comment ID: 1548
At 11:04 am on Sunday 04th 2004f July 2004, Nigel asserted

Ah. Now I get ya!
Comment ID: 1554
At 7:37 pm on Tuesday 06th 2004f July 2004, Anthony stated

Yeah, I’m right handed. And Nigel is a fascist – he’s got the moustache and everything!

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Tuesday 22nd 2004f June 2004

I Hate Secondhand Books

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, posted by Anthony in the evening.

Surprisingly busy week, what with two last minute shorts, a parental visit and a very definite sense of ennui, but I’ll blog about all that at a later date. This is an appeal. I visited the Strand bookshop the other day, and purchased a used copy …

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Friday 18th 2004f June 2004

Book Meme

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, posted by Anthony in the evening.

Ooh, two posts in as many hours! But why?
OK, this came via Nigel. It’s waaayyy too long, so I’m going to use it as an experiment – I want to see if the famed Wordpress “nextpage” link works on my site, and see how it looks. Anyway, you’re …

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Ooh, two posts in as many hours! But why?
OK, this came via Nigel. It’s waaayyy too long, so I’m going to use it as an experiment – I want to see if the famed Wordpress “nextpage” link works on my site, and see how it looks.

Anyway, you’re supposed to highlight the ones you’ve read, and then add three more at the end. It’s kind of like the IMDb Top 100 meme, except I’m sure much more shaming for me.

Here goes…
1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. 1984, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
11. Catch 22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corellis Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The DUrbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alices Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Susskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones’ Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer [yes, I know, I’m sorry]
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnights Children, Salman Rushdie
101. Three Men In A Boat, Jerome K. Jerome
102. Small Gods, Terry Pratchett
103. The Beach, Alex Garland
104. Dracula, Bram Stoker
105. Point Blanc, Anthony Horowitz
106. The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens
107. Stormbreaker, Anthony Horowitz
108. The Wasp Factory, Iain Banks
109. The Day Of The Jackal, Frederick Forsyth
110. The Illustrated Mum, Jacqueline Wilson
111. Jude The Obscure, Thomas Hardy
112. The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13 1/2, Sue Townsend
113. The Cruel Sea, Nicholas Monsarrat
114. Les Miserables, Victor Hugo
115. The Mayor Of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy
116. The Dare Game, Jacqueline Wilson
117. Bad Girls, Jacqueline Wilson
118. The Picture Of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
119. Shogun, James Clavell
120. The Day Of The Triffids, John Wyndham
121. Lola Rose, Jacqueline Wilson
122. Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray
123. The Forsyte Saga, John Galsworthy
124. House Of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski
125. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
126. Reaper Man, Terry Pratchett
127. Angus, Thongs And Full-Frontal Snogging, Louise Rennison
128. The Hound Of The Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle
129. Possession, A. S. Byatt
130. The Master And Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov
131. The Handmaids Tale, Margaret Atwood
132. Danny The Champion Of The World, Roald Dahl
133. East Of Eden, John Steinbeck
134. Georges Marvellous Medicine, Roald Dahl
135. Wyrd Sisters, Terry Pratchett
136. The Color Purple, Alice Walker
137. Hogfather, Terry Pratchett
138. The Thirty-Nine Steps, John Buchan
139. Girls In Tears, Jacqueline Wilson
140. Sleepovers, Jacqueline Wilson
141. All Quiet On The Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque
142. Behind The Scenes At The Museum, Kate Atkinson
143. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby
144. It, Stephen King
145. James And The Giant Peach, Roald Dahl
146. The Green Mile, Stephen King
147. Papillon, Henri Charriere
148. Men At Arms, Terry Pratchett
149. Master And Commander, Patrick OBrian
150. Skeleton Key, Anthony Horowitz
151. Soul Music, Terry Pratchett
152. Thief Of Time, Terry Pratchett
153. The Fifth Elephant, Terry Pratchett
154. Atonement, Ian McEwan
155. Secrets, Jacqueline Wilson
156. The Silver Sword, Ian Serraillier
157. One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest, Ken Kesey
158. Heart Of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
159. Kim, Rudyard Kipling
160. Cross Stitch, Diana Gabaldon
161. Moby Dick, Herman Melville
162. River God, Wilbur Smith
163. Sunset Song, Lewis Grassic Gibbon
164. The Shipping News, Annie Proulx
165. The World According To Garp, John Irving
166. Lorna Doone, R. D. Blackmore
167. Girls Out Late, Jacqueline Wilson
168. The Far Pavilions, M. M. Kaye
169. The Witches, Roald Dahl
170. Charlottes Web, E. B. White
171. Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
172. They Used To Play On Grass, Terry Venables and Gordon Williams
173. The Old Man And The Sea, Ernest Hemingway
174. The Name Of The Rose, Umberto Eco
175. Sophies World, Jostein Gaarder
176. Dustbin Baby, Jacqueline Wilson
177. Fantastic Mr. Fox, Roald Dahl
178. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
179. Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, Richard Bach
180. The Little Prince, Antoine De Saint-Exupery
181. The Suitcase Kid, Jacqueline Wilson
182. Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens
183. The Power Of One, Bryce Courtenay
184. Silas Marner, George Eliot
185. American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis
186. The Diary Of A Nobody, George and Weedon Gross-mith
187. Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh
188. Goosebumps, R. L. Stine
189. Heidi, Johanna Spyri
190. Sons And Lovers, D. H. Lawrence
191. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera
192. Man And Boy, Tony Parsons
193. The Truth, Terry Pratchett
194. The War Of The Worlds, H. G. Wells
195. The Horse Whisperer, Nicholas Evans (This one, I regret)
196. A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry
197. Witches Abroad, Terry Pratchett
198. The Once And Future King, T. H. White
199. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle
200. Flowers In The Attic, Virginia Andrews
201. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
202. The Eye of the World, Robert Jordan
203. The Great Hunt, Robert Jordan
204. The Dragon Reborn, Robert Jordan
205. Fires of Heaven, Robert Jordan
206. Lord of Chaos, Robert Jordan
207. Winters Heart, Robert Jordan
208. A Crown of Swords, Robert Jordan
209. Crossroads of Twilight, Robert Jordan
210. A Path of Daggers, Robert Jordan
211. As Nature Made Him, John Colapinto
212. Microserfs, Douglas Coupland
213. The Married Man, Edmund White
214. Winters Tale, Mark Helprin
215. The History of Sexuality, Michel Foucault
216. Cry to Heaven, Anne Rice
217. Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe, John Boswell
218. Equus, Peter Shaffer
219. The Man Who Ate Everything, Jeffrey Steingarten
220. Letters To A Young Poet, Rainer Maria Rilke
221. Ella Minnow Pea, Mark Dunn
222. The Vampire Lestat, Anne Rice
223. Anthem, Ayn Rand
224. The Bridge To Terabithia, Katherine Paterson
225. Tartuffe, Moliere
226. The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka
227. The Crucible, Arthur Miller
228. The Trial, Franz Kafka
229. Oedipus Rex, Sophocles
230. Oedipus at Colonus, Sophocles
231. Death Be Not Proud, John Gunther
232. A Dolls House, Henrik Ibsen
233. Hedda Gabler, Henrik Ibsen
234. Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton
235. A Raisin In The Sun, Lorraine Hansberry
236. ALIVE!, Piers Paul Read
237. Grapefruit, Yoko Ono
238. Trickster Makes This World, Lewis Hyde
240. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
241. Chronicles of Thomas Convenant, Unbeliever, Stephen Donaldson
242. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
242. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon
243. Summerland, Michael Chabon
244. A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole
245. Candide, Voltaire
246. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More, Roald Dahl
247. Ringworld, Larry Niven
248. The King Must Die, Mary Renault
249. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert Heinlein
250. A Wrinkle in Time, Madeline LEngle
251. The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde
252. The House Of The Seven Gables, Nathaniel Hawthorne
253. The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne
254. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan
255. The Great Gilly Hopkins, Katherine Paterson
256. Chocolate Fever, Robert Kimmel Smith
257. Xanth: The Quest for Magic, Piers Anthony
258. The Lost Princess of Oz, L. Frank Baum
259. Wonder Boys, Michael Chabon
260. Lost In A Good Book, Jasper Fforde
261. Well Of Lost Plots, Jasper Fforde
262. Life Of Pi, Yann Martel
263. The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver
264. A Yellow Rraft In Blue Water, Michael Dorris
265. Little House on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder
267. Where The Red Fern Grows, Wilson Rawls
268. Griffin & Sabine, Nick Bantock
269. Witch of Blackbird Pond, Joyce Friedland
270. Mrs. Frisby And The Rats Of NIMH, Robert C. OBrien
271. Tuck Everlasting, Natalie Babbitt
272. The Cay, Theodore Taylor
273. From The Mixed-Up Files Of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, E.L. Konigsburg
274. The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Juster
275. The Westing Game, Ellen Raskin
276. The Kitchen Gods Wife, Amy Tan
277. The Bone Setters Daughter, Amy Tan
278. Relic, Duglas Preston & Lincolon Child
279. Wicked, Gregory Maguire
280. American Gods, Neil Gaiman
281. Misty of Chincoteague, Marguerite Henry
282. The Girl Next Door, Jack Ketchum
283. Haunted, Judith St. George
284. Singularity, William Sleator
285. A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson
286. Different Seasons, Stephen King
287. Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk
288. About a Boy, Nick Hornby
289. The Bookmans Wake, John Dunning
290. The Church of Dead Girls, Stephen Dobyns
291. Illusions, Richard Bach
292. Magics Pawn, Mercedes Lackey
293. Magics Promise, Mercedes Lackey
294. Magics Price, Mercedes Lackey
295. The Dancing Wu Li Masters, Gary Zukav
296. Spirits of Flux and Anchor, Jack L. Chalker
297. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
298. The Encyclopedia of Unusual Sex Practices, Brenda Love
299. Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace.
300. The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison.
301. The Cider House Rules, John Irving.
302. Enders Game, Orson Scott Card
303. Girlfriend in a Coma, Douglas Coupland
304. The Lions Game, Nelson Demille
305. The Sun, The Moon, and the Stars, Stephen Brust
306. Cyteen, C. J. Cherryh
307. Foucaults Pendulum, Umberto Eco
308. Cryptonomicon, Neal Stephenson
309. Invisible Monsters, Chuck Palahniuk
310. Camber of Culdi, Kathryn Kurtz
311. The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand
312. War and Rememberance, Herman Wouk
313. The Art of War, Sun Tzu
314. The Giver, Lois Lowry
315. The Telling, Ursula Le Guin
316. Xenogenesis (or Liliths Brood), Octavia Butler
317. A Civil Campaign, Lois McMaster Bujold
318. The Curse of Chalion, Lois McMaster Bujold
319. The Aeneid, Publius Vergilius Maro (Vergil)
320. Hanta Yo, Ruth Beebe Hill
321. The Princess Bride, S. Morganstern (or William Goldman)
322. Beowulf, Anonymous
323. The Sparrow, Maria Doria Russell
324. Deerskin, Robin McKinley
325. Dragonsong, Anne McCaffrey
326. Passage, Connie Willis
327. Otherland, Tad Williams
328. Tigana, Guy Gavriel Kay
329. Number the Stars, Lois Lowry
330. Beloved, Toni Morrison
331. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christs Childhood Pal, Christopher Moore
332. The mysterious disappearance of Leon, I mean Noel, Ellen Raskin
333. Summer Sisters, Judy Blume
334. The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Victor Hugo
335. The Island on Bird Street, Uri Orlev
336. Midnight in the Dollhouse, Marjorie Filley Stover
337. The Miracle Worker, William Gibson
338. The Genesis Code, John Case
339. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevensen
340. Paradise Lost, John Milton
341. Phantom, Susan Kay
342. The Mummy or Ramses the Damned, Anne Rice
343. Anno Dracula, Kim Newman
344: The Dresden Files: Grave Peril, Jim Butcher
345: Tokyo Suckerpunch, Issac Adamson
346: The Winter of Magics Return, Pamela Service
347: The Oddkins, Dean R. Koontz
348. My Name is Asher Lev, Chaim Potok
349. The Last Goodbye, Raymond Chandler Shouldn’t this be the “Long” Goodbye?
350. At Swim, Two Boys, Jaime ONeill
351. Othello, by William Shakespeare
352. The Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas
353. The Collected Poems of William Butler Yeats
354. Sati, Christopher Pike
355. The Inferno, Dante
356. The Apology, Plato
357. The Small Rain, Madeline LEngle
358. The Man Who Tasted Shapes, Richard E Cytowick
359. 5 Novels, Daniel Pinkwater
360. The Sevenwaters Trilogy, Juliet Marillier
361. Girl with a Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier
362. To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
363. Our Town, Thornton Wilder
364. Green Grass Running Water, Thomas King
335. The Interpreter, Suzanne Glass
336. The Moors Last Sigh, Salman Rushdie
337. The Mother Tongue, Bill Bryson
338. A Passage to India, E.M. Forster
339. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky
340. The Phantom of the Opera, Gaston Leroux
341. Pages for You, Sylvia Brownrigg
342. The Changeover, Margaret Mahy
343. Howls Moving Castle, Diana Wynne Jones
344. Angels and Demons, Dan Brown
345. Johnny Got His Gun, Dalton Trumbo
346. Shosha, Isaac Bashevis Singer
347. Travels With Charley, John Steinbeck
348. The Diving-bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
349. The Lunatic at Large by J. Storer Clouston
350. Time for Bed by David Baddiel
351. Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold
352. Quite Ugly One Morning by Christopher Brookmyre
353. The Bloody Sun by Marion Zimmer Bradley
354. Sewer, Gas, and Eletric by Matt Ruff
355. Jhereg by Steven Brust
356. So You Want To Be A Wizard by Diane Duane
357. Perdido Street Station, China Mieville
358. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Anne Bronte
359. Road-side Dog, Czeslaw Milosz
360. The English Patient, Michael Ondaatje
361. Neuromancer, William Gibson
362. The Epistemology of the Closet, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick
363. A Canticle for Liebowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr
364. The Mask of Apollo, Mary Renault
365. The Gunslinger, Stephen King
366. Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare
367. Childhoods End, Arthur C. Clarke
368. A Season of Mists, Neil Gaiman Ooh, a graphic novel
369. Ivanhoe, Walter Scott
370. The God Boy, Ian Cross
371. The Beekeepers Apprentice, Laurie R. King
372. Finn Family Moomintroll, Tove Jansson
373. Misery, Stephen King
374. Tipping the Velvet, Sarah Waters
375. Hood, Emma Donoghue
376. The Land of Spices, Kate OBrien
377. The Diary of Anne Frank
378. Regeneration, Pat Barker
379. Tender is the Night, F. Scott Fitzgerald
380. Dreaming in Cuban, Cristina Garcia
381. A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway
382. The View from Saturday, E.L. Konigsburg
383. Dealing with Dragons, Patricia Wrede
384. Eats, Shoots & Leaves, Lynne Truss
385. A Severed Wasp – Madeleine LEngle
386. Here Be Dragons – Sharon Kay Penman
387. The Mabinogion (Ancient Welsh Tales) – translated by Lady Charlotte E. Guest
388. The DaVinci Code – Dan Brown
389. Desire of the Everlasting Hills – Thomas Cahill
390. The Cloister Walk – Kathleen Norris
391. The Things We Carried, Tim OBrien
392. I Know This Much Is True, Wally Lamb
393. Choke, Chuck Palahniuk
394. Enders Shadow, Orson Scott Card
395. The Memory of Earth, Orson Scott Card
396. The Iron Tower, Dennis L. McKiernen
397. Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand
398. A Ring of Endless Light, Madeline L’Engle
399. Lords of Discipline, Pat Conroy
400. Hyperion, Dan Simmons
401. If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things, Jon McGregor
402. The Bridge, Iain Banks
403. Practical Demonkeeping, Christopher Moore
404. Promethea, Alan Moore
405. the curious incident of the dog in the night-time, Mark Haddon
406. archangel – robert harris
407. vernon god little – dbc pierre
408. Ultimate spiderman – brian michael bendis
409. The Glamour, Christopher Priest
410. The Portrait of Mrs Charbuque, Jeffrey Ford
411. The Third Person, Steve Mosby
412. Psychoville, Christopher Fowler
413. The Street of Crocodiles, Bruno Schulz
414. Cocaine Nights, J. G. Ballard
415. Hey Nostradumus!, Douglas Coupland
416. Faust, Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
417. If He Hollers, Let Him Go, Chester Himes
418. And You Shall Know Our Velocity, Dave Eggers
419. Brighton Rock, Graham Greene

Well, I didn’t do so bad, I guess. Distinct lack of Austen on my part, but what are you gonna do?

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Room

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, posted by Anthony in the early evening.

I haven’t posted much, because I haven’t been doing much. Well, I’ve done some things. It feels like I’ve basically just been sitting around in my room enjoying my air conditioning and trying to get used to the idea of returning home, but I did accomplish a little. I saw and …

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Saturday 12th 2004f June 2004

Plans, Plans, Plans…

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, posted by Anthony during lunch time.

I had a meeting with an audiobook publisher yesterday. They may have some work for me, but the pay is very poor. I had been led to believe that it would be much higher – and it is, if you work for an independent publisher. But this company is …

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I had a meeting with an audiobook publisher yesterday. They may have some work for me, but the pay is very poor. I had been led to believe that it would be much higher – and it is, if you work for an independent publisher. But this company is very large, and basically relies on not very skilled sound editors with a minimum of training. Oh, well. I may make some money from them, but it’s a long way from being the silver bullet I was hoping for.
That’s the problem with trying to break into an entirely new industry – I have no idea what the different jobs are, the different companies, the different rates of pay. I’m learning. But I don’t have much time.

So, onto plan B – well, I must be at least at plan W by now. Anita at the Scratcher suggested to me that I could run a workshop in sound design – just rent a room for a weekend in July and advertise. Apparently people do this all the time. I could charge maybe $250 per person, and give them an in depth tutorial – show them how to use Pro Tools, show them some clips, talk about movies and stuff. I have the makings of a curriculum from the NYFA classes. If I get five or six people I could stay for another month, even after paying for the room and such.
This is a good idea, but it terrifies me. I don’t fear the actual teaching, but the whole student recruitment-room finding thing is alien to me. But fear is there to be overcome, right? Right? I’ve spoken to a few people about it, and they all seem to think it would work, and be worthwhile. People have even been giving me phone numbers and suggesting places I could rent. I’d need to get the ball rolling fairly soon – I’d need to do it mid to late July for it to be any use to me, so I’d want to start advertising in the next week or two. OK – overcome fear… Go! Go!
Plan X was suggested to me by Drew Bellware. There’s a company called The Asylum in LA that’s looking for an in-house sound designer. I’ve applied, but they don’t pay so great either – plus they regard the job as an “Entry Level” position. I don’t really want to live in LA, and I don’t really want to be a sound designer any more, but the idea of working really quickly on a bunch of horror movies is quite appealing.
Plan Y also involves The Asylum. They’re seeking scripts for low budget horror movies – they need twenty. I’m not going to give them my Opus, mainly because they only pay $1500 per script, and I worked for months on that. Months!
I reckon $1500 pays for about two weeks of work, so I want to see if I can write a feature length horror screenplay in two weeks that they’ll buy. I’ll try and write something that hits all the genre buttons and could be made very cheaply. Even if I don’t manage it it’ll be a good, fun exercise. Just need to start… Man, starting things is hard.

I’m still waiting for some people to get back to me about the other script. Hey guys, I’m no believer in the “If you can’t say anything nice…” school of script analysis. Get back to me with something! And thanks to those who have already. It’s much appreciated.

During the week Julian go me a ticket for a great gig at the Museum of Jewish Heritage where he’s working, in their new resource center. It was a band called One Ring Zero, and very entertaining. There a very literary band, with lots of special guests. Rick Moody read, but he also played the piano, and Myla Goldberg just played the flute. Paul Auster also did a reading and his daughter Sophie sang one of the songs. I would say she was really hot, but she’s only sixteen so I can’t. Sings well, though.

So thanks, Julian! He’s heading off to Europea today for his sister’s wedding, with Lisa following on Thursday. Say “hi” to the old country for me!

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Wednesday 09th 2004f June 2004

The Leaving

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, posted by Anthony around mid-afternoon.

No, I’m not leaving yet. I refer to the “Leaving Certificate”, or “Leaving Cert.” This is the final exam taken by Irish students before they leave school forever. As far as I remember, you do one or two three hour exams per subject, for at least six subjects. You …

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No, I’m not leaving yet. I refer to the “Leaving Certificate”, or “Leaving Cert.” This is the final exam taken by Irish students before they leave school forever. As far as I remember, you do one or two three hour exams per subject, for at least six subjects. You can do more than six. I think you’re awarded points for your top eight. Is that right?
Anyway, you’re awarded points for each subject, depending on your grade. There are different levels for each subject, too – “honours” or “pass”. Honours grades are worth more than pass grades. Typically, you you pick what level you study at long before the exam – the honours curriculum can differ quite substantially from the pass curriculum – although it is possible to change your mind at the last minute. I switched from honours Applied Maths to pass the morning of the exam. I actually studied “fail” Irish.
My God, that brings it all back… Anyway, the points are then used to decide who gets into what college course. You apply for as many courses as you want, in order of preference, and once all the results are in, the colleges give the places to the applicants with the highest points. The points required for successful entry to each course are published in the paper, so everybody can see how many points they need to aim for next year.
It’s huge. Every year. It’s all over the TV, all over the papers. Every day the previous days exam is analysed and taken apart. Learned articles are written about how much study is appropriate (about three hours a night!) and how parents should ensure that their children are studying sufficiently.
It’s surely the death of education – everybody knows that the best way to do well in the exams is to learn off reams of facts, and just take intensive grinds. The study of the previous years’ papers is far more important than the study of the subject. Regurgitation is more important than understanding.
But that’s nothing special – almost all exams work that way. And as far as college places go (speaking as someone who got a D3 in honours economics) demand far outstrips supply, so there has to be some way of deciding who gets in and who doesn’t. Surely notional academic achivement as measured in an exam is a reasonable way to go. What’s the alternative?
I don’t know – I guess there isn’t one. How about third level education for everybody who wants it? OK, that’s never going to happen. But the lunacy of asessing somebody’s suitability for a college course based on a single three week set of exams, very few if any of which are actually going to be even slightly related to the proposed course of study, is actually not the real problem.

It’s the lies! The lies the lies the lies! The lies! All the lies!

So what are these lies, propogated by the media, the teachers, the parents, and even ones fellow students? Well, here’s a short list, from the top of my head, of the lies I remember being exposed to eleven years ago, explicitly and implicitly.

This is the most imprtant exam you will ever do in your life.
OK, this is maybe true, but bear in mind that this statement carries within it the implication that exams are in themselves important. They are not. To call something “The Most Important Exam of Your Life” is like calling it “The Most Significant Paper Cut of Your Life”. Passing an exam will never be an accomplishment in itself – the mastery of the subject that allows you to pass the exam is the accomplishment. The abstraction of the test from the knowledge of the thing being tested is ridiculous.

College is your only hope – for anything. If you don’t go to college right after school, you might as well just stick your head in an oven.
OK. Just no. What do you want to go to college for anyway? You probably just want to do “arts”, which is basically a way of avoiding the real world until you decide what you want to do. This is not a bad thing, but your life isn’t over if you don’t manage it – it’s a luxury, not a necessity. Here’s an interesting article from Forbes Magazine. It’s mainly applicable to the US, but contains some points worth considering. Once you know what you want to do, then you can form a plan on how to go about it. This may or may not involve college. You may or may not need some leaving points. Worry about it then, on your own terms. You’ll have some perspective, you’ll have a well-defined reason for your anxiety (which is always better than random, inherited, free-form anxiety), and you may even have come to realise the truth of the next point.

The Leaving Certificate is really, really hard.
No it isn’t – it just isn’t. I did no study whatsoever for the Leaving, and I passed. That’s right – I passed the Leaving Certificate on general knowledge. I didn’t do really well, but I did well enough to do what I wanted. The hardest part of the whole thing was the distress – how worried my parents were about me, how angry my teachers were with me, how sad my fellow students were about me, how depressed I was at my inability to give a damn about it. And it was all completely unneccesary. This is the most damaging lie of all. Relax, you’ll do OK anyway. There’s no point getting in a knot over it.

There’s no point in cheating – you’re only fooling yourself.
This is patently false – you’re fooling a whole host of people, if you get away with it. The idea that the only person you’re harming is yourself is based on the premise that if you can’t do so well in the exams then you wouldn’t do so well in college anyway, and you’ll be miserable. Bollocks. There’s absolutely no correlation. School is school, college is college, and the Leaving Cert has sod all to do with either of them. I’m not saying you should cheat, but not because your Leaving Cert result is an accurate reflection of anything beyond your ability to do well in the Leaving Cert.

It’s just good to have.
No it isn’t. If you need it to get in to college you need it to get in to college, but nobody else will ever, ever ask you for it. Any job where they need to know your Leaving Cert results is not a job you want. Trust me.

The reason I bring all this up is that I have a cousin doing the Leaving Cert at the moment, and I’m led to believe that this is causing all sorts of stress for all sorts of people. Just chill, Max. Whatever happens, happens. The worst case scenario really isn’t that bad. Alea Jacta Est. Enjoy it – peoplewatch, or something. Rise above the stress. Everybody is telling you it’s important, and everybody is wrong. I am right. I am always right about everything. Remember this. There is world enough and time.

And Lucy, all the above points apply to the Junior Cert too, but even more so. You don’t even need to think about college yet. The Junior Cert is just so insignificant in the scheme of things I just can’t even think about it. Have a good summer!

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Monday 07th 2004f June 2004

So, July

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, posted by Anthony during lunch time.

I’ve been keeping myself pretty quiet recently, in an attempt to conserve precious money. I’ve set various arbitrary surrender dates for myself while I’ve been here – “if I haven’t got a job in three months, I’ll go home” “OK, six months” “OK, well, June”. I’ve been treating these as …

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I’ve been keeping myself pretty quiet recently, in an attempt to conserve precious money. I’ve set various arbitrary surrender dates for myself while I’ve been here – “if I haven’t got a job in three months, I’ll go home” “OK, six months” “OK, well, June”. I’ve been treating these as I feel my literary hero Douglas Adams would wish – he once famously wrote “I love deadlines. I especially like the whooshing sound they make as they go flying by”.
But this is for real. The end of July is finally it – I can sense it, I know it in my bones, I actually believe it for the first time. I’ve been granted an extra month through the dangerous largesse of a foolish credit card company, but that’s as far as I can stretch without something finally breaking. I was in a lot of debt when I left Ireland, and ten months in New York barely earning has not exactly lessened it.

But New York has been good for me. I…

No, no retrospective summaries yet. I’ve always been very lucky when it comes to career. Something always seems to happen, just when I’ve given up. Just when I’ve been at my most rudderless, my most despairing, something has always come through. And it was usually something I wanted, no matter how unlikely. Getting into DLCAD was a bit of a stretch – 18 places, nearly a thousand applicants. It was unrealistic of me to expect to get in, but I really had no backup plan at all- that was all I could see for myself. And I got in, just like I had assumed I would, but not before I had a fairly lost year floundering in Clay Animation Production in Ballyfermot Senior College. Even there I made some good friends.
And again, ending up as a sound trainee on Screen Training Ireland’s first course. Nobody knew what that was going to be like – again, about 18 places, a bunch of applicants. And I got to meet some great people and sent to work in a real Hollywood studio for three months. That was incredible – and I got a career out of it, just like I assumed I would, even if that isn’t really what I want to do anymore.

I’ve had dips, but always been rescued. I remember my first sound editing job – I was going to be the dialogue editor on a movie called The White Pony. I showed up on the first morning to start work, and after lunch I was told that the job wasn’t happening – we’d been underbid by some firm in LA. I remember the first time I lived off my credit card, having stopped accepting pocket money for my parents, but had no work for a while. I reached my limit, and had no money to pay any of it off. I was just about to skip a payment, when I got a call – a job. Just in time, I was able to put my paycheck in the bank and avoid a penalty. Just like I had assumed I would, with no evidence.

I have no evidence now that anything will change in the next six weeks, but I have hope. Maybe I should learn to drive and head out to LA. But I want to stay in NYC – I really do. And if I go I don’t know if I’ll ever come back. Trusting to my luck is a very risky proposition. It’s always served me well so far, but past performance is no guarantee of future profit, as they say.

Well, I guess we’ll see. Or I’ll see, and let you know.

Oh, and I’ve reviewed Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

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