4 posts tagged “books”

I have to get up at an early hour tomorrow morning to get on the road to Michigan for a family wedding, so I really should be getting to bed rather than reading, but I had to finish this book:

Debbie Harry Sings in French

Meagan Brothers

This is one of the most unique books I've ever found in the young adult section.  Now, I've read gay literature, straight literature, transgender literature, and just about everything in between and on either side, but this is the first book I've found about a straight guy who just happens to enjoy dressing in drag.

Basically, the premise is, the narrator is a misunderstood high school guy who is a recovring alcoholic and a music addict.  He also idolizes, and obsesses over, Debbie Harry (the lead singer of Blondie, for those who don't know).  After an accidental overdose at a club, his monther sends him to live with his uncle in another state, where he meets Maria, a kindred spirit and all-around cool girl.  Eventually, they start dating, and after hearing quite a bit about his Debbie obsession, Maria buys a thrift-store dress similar to one that Debbie wears on an album cover.  Only it turns out, she bought the dress not for herself, but for Johnny (the narrator).

To make a long story short, after being easily coerced into trying on the dress, Johnny progresses to a drag competition, in which he makes friends and wins a prize.  He gets through his family issues, which are only  somewhat relevant to the main plotline, and begins to get a real handle on his life.

I like this book because it touches on an aspect of GLBT culture that isn't very widely discussed - the heterosexual cross-dresser.  to some extent, I can identify with this guy; I mean, I'm not a cross-dresser, but I've been known to do drag shows and I certainly enjoy them, plus I feel absolutely fabulous when I'm dressed as a man at Rocky Horror.  People in the audience automatically assume that anyone who does drag must be gay; Debbie Harry Sings In French contradicts that stereotype.

Well, I finally saw Twilight last night.

I came into the movie expecting it to be in the same vein as the Harry Potter books - a disjointed plot due to the plot points that were cut out, and far too much artistic license.  I was, however, pleasantly surprised.

True, there was some artistic license taken, but that was mainly in the form of some minor switches in the sequence of events - although I wish they had done the "Bella eluding her friends to meet a vamprie" scene in the airport as it was meant to be, since what she did instead was really far too easy considering who she was working with.  Otherwise, the plot itself stuck closer to the original plot than msot book-movies I've seen.

The casting was hit and miss for me.  Not many of the characters really looked like what I saw in my head; Bella was pretty well-done, as were Alice Cullen, Renee Swan and Billy Black, but they were the only casting choices I was really happy with.  Carlisle in particular kind of creeped me out.

The filmography was very good; they made good use of lighting and had some absolutely amazing scenic shots of the Pacific Northwest - particularly the temperate forests - which made me feel right at home.  The flashback scenes were also well done; the grainy texture gave them an authentic feeling.

The soundtrack, while well-chosen, was not really used to its best advantage; the music played too loudly during dialogue sequences, and scenes that I felt should have had music had none.

I won't say it was absolutely perfect or anything like that, but Twilight impressed me by not sucking.

I really wish I had the correct clock genes to be nocturnal, and/or that I lived in a society where it was easy to be nocturnal and not miss out on most of the big stuff.

Seriously, I love nighttime.  It's quiet, and it's pretty, and all the cool creatures like owls and cats and bats come out (not that I ever see owls or bats in my neighborhood, but whatever).

I'm not sure whether I've fucked up my sleep schedule over break or whether I'm just really keyed up, but I really don't want to go to sleep right now.  Frankly, between my late-night text message conversations, the crossover fanfiction that I'm writing, and the fact that Paige just lent me her copy of Eclipse, it's a wonder I get any sleep at all.

I kind of have mixed feelings about the Twilight series.  Every article or review I read simultaneously makes me want to finish the series and makes me hate Stephenie Meyer a little more.  On the one hand, I recognize that she's a good author who's found a good audience niche and is taking advantage of it, as any sane person would.  On the other hand, I feel like I should hate the series on principle just because so many people are comparing it with Harry Potter, which, as Dr. O'Hara pointed out, is completely pointless considering that Harry Potter is an epic and Twilight is gothic.  And then, I realize that the whole love story throughout all of the books (yes, I know the ending even though I haven't read it; it's impossibly to avoid spoilers these days) kind of reads like every other fanfiction, albeit in better language, and that the reason so many women enjoy this series is that they wish they were Bella.  Of course, I don't really feel like I'm in any position to criticize that, because quite frankly, some of the dialogue seems very familiar, as well as many of the emotional descriptions.

As of right now, my stand on Twilight is:  I like it, but reluctantly.

I would consider today a most satisfactory one, despite the fact that I unintentionally dozed off mid-morning and didn't wake up until after one.

See, I met Jason for dinner around five, after which we decided to go get a coffee at the MT Cup, the local college-town beanery.  I've always gotten a great vibe from the MT Cup - counter with chalkboard menu, separate dining area with mini-fireplace, squishy couches and board games free for the using.  Plus, in the evenings, there's usually some jazz band playing at the bar upstairs, and there are always theatre people around.  So there was that.

However, we took a different, quicker route to the MT Cup this time and passed by "Village Green Records" on the way.  I had known of this place's existence before, but had never gone in, mostly because it's out of the way, so I kept forgetting it was there.  It looked like the kind of place that would have pretty obscure merchandise, which I love - the place was basically a duplex converted into a record store - and it was open, so we went in.  I wasn't disappointed.  VG only has two or three shelves of CDs, but the selection ranges from groups I had never heard of to groups I had just discovered on Pandora to people that everyone who knows music has heard of, like the Beach Boys and Bowie (old-school Bowie, too - they had an album of his from 1966).  I didn't have any cash on me at the time, but I intend to go back very soon.  Oh, and also to their credit, the record store also has a resident, very friendly longhaired tabby named Elliot.

To top off everything, we also discovered a used bookstore next to the MT Cup that, judging from the books displayed in the window, will definitely be worth going back to; unfortunately, it was closed by the time we got there.  Never fear, White Rabbit; I shall return.

I hadn't completely discovered the college-town vibe of the Village until now.  Thank you, serendipity.