Lately, books have been on my mind as I edited my Top Ten Books list on Marshmallow Fight. A few days after I posted it, I realized that on the fiction side I had included only novels on my list. That was an oversight because I do enjoy reading short stories as well. A lot of people I talk to about this don't really like short stories. They like the idea of being immersed in a fully formed universe, with lots of characters fleshed out and a good ending that ties everything together. I enjoy that, too, as you can see by the number of 3- or 4-book series that are on my list. But I do enjoy an author that can make me look at things differently in 3000 or 4000 words instead of 75,000 or 100,000.
The short story, by contrast, acknowledges the vastness and diversity of
life by the very act of focusing on one small moment or aspect of it.
The story is small precisely because life is so big. Novelists are
expected to tie up loose ends, whereas the short story writer can make a
virtue of ambiguity.
I especially enjoy reading the modern short story collections in the Best American series by Houghton Mifflin. I routinely buy the Best American Short Stories, Best American Science and Nature Writing, and Best American Nonrequired Reading collections. In the past the editors of the short story collections have been a Who's Who of modern literature: Geraldine Brooks, Michael Chabon, Salman Rushdie, John Updike, and Alice Sebold.
Flavorwire has a
page on its website devoted to ten wonderful short stories that you can
read online for free. Starting off the collection is the short story many consider the best ever written, "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" by Flannery
O'Connor.
The collection also includes stories by: three Russians: Vladimir Nabokov, Nikolai Gogol, and Anton Chekov two "science fiction" authors: Ursula LeGuin and Ray Bradbury, and one story (by George Saunders) that involves a zombie.
You can get to the listing and read all ten stories here. Enjoy yourself.
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a
new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men
are created equal,except vampires.
Luckily, because of Abraham Lincoln, that last part has been omitted from the history books as time passed. But, this summer you finally get a chance to see a forgotten part of history in the classic movie, Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter. Watch the trailer below to get a sense of the full scope of this documentary.
It opens June 22nd and is produced by (who else?) Tim Burton. Included in the cast of characters are Stephen Douglas, Harriet Tubman, and Jefferson Davis, so it looks like we're getting the whole history workout. On a sad note, Benjamin Walker won the role of Abraham Lincoln over Nicholas Cage. We also get the tagline "Are you a patriot or a vampire?" Based on Seth Grahame-Smith's Pulitzer Prize winning (well, it should have) novel of the same name, this blockbuster will be followed next summer by Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Now if we can get Mr. Lincoln to take out Edward, Bella, and Jacob, the world would be a much better place.
With the release of Hunger Games this weekend (I just finished re-reading the books to get ready) and the release of the DVD for The Muppet Movie this week, you probably haven't been thinking about what other movies are coming up that are sufficiently geeky to merit our attention. That's why we're here. So, over the next few days, we'll give you a short list of what the summer holds for the cinematic nerd in you.
First and foremost, the long lineup of Marvel intro movies (Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, Captain America, Daredevil (yay, Ben Affleck) and Thor) finally comes together in The Avengers, due out May 4. With an estimated budget of $220 million dollars and directed and co-written by Joss Whedon of Buffy and Firefly fame, it should be the blockbuster hit of the summer. When global security is threatened by Loki and his cohorts, Nick
Fury and his team (Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye and Black
Widow) will need all their powers to save the world from
disaster. Best tidbit from the movie: when Bruce Banner Hulks out, the voice of the Hulk is Lou Ferrigno, who played the Hulk in the TV series from 1978 which starred one of my favorite actors, Bill Bixby, as Banner.
Here's a trailer from The Avengers"
Coming up next, the classiest movie of the summer: Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter.
Way back in September, I described an incident that occurred on Route 30 eastbound in Indiana involving a giant elephant statue being towed by a truck. Well, the westbound companion to that incident occurred last week as we were driving back from Ohio and the 8th annual Armstrong family fantasy baseball draft. We happened to overtake a limousine that had everything you would want in a limousine. If what you want in a limousine is cows. Now you may think that this a very good limo to take to a wedding or to prom or to watch the Bulls vs. the Thunder in the final round of the NBA playoffs.
But you will notice that nowhere on this limo is there a cow. That's why when the Bulls make it to the finals, this is the limo we are renting to go to the United Center:
Yes! It's the Cow Limo! And here is the phone number to call if you are a wedding planner. Because this would be the wedding that everybody talked about for the next year.
On the first picture, you can't see it clearly, but in front of the cow, there is a pig and a chicken.
Too bad we didn't know about this last fall for Scott and Lori's wedding in Schaumburg. As the Cow Limo says (in big letters right on the door), "Udderly Amazing!"
By the way, Fantasy Baseball Draft Day was a success. Randi had sloppy joes and loaded baked potatoes and we all ate enough to feel like Prince Fielder. I'll let you know in October how it all turns out.
After a rousing afternoon chasing (and being chased by) other puppies at the off-leash dog park, Whimzy has decided that she is not in favor of Daylight Savings Time. And she made that apparent by sleeping the rest of the afternoon and evening (except for the trip to Dairy Queen after dinner - yea! spring!). The alarm rang awfully early this morning to go usher at church and it will probably be a few days before we recover from last night's loss of an hour of sleep.
"The Monday and Tuesday after moving the clocks ahead one hour in
March is associated with a 10 percent increase in the risk of having a
heart attack," says UAB Associate Professor Martin Young, Ph.D., in the
Division of Cardiovascular Disease. "The opposite is true when falling
back in October. This risk decreases by about 10 percent."
Sleep deprivation, the body's circadian rhythms, and immune response systems are all considered possible causes of this effect. All I know is Whimzy and I are taking things especially easy Monday and Tuesday until we adjust to Daylight Savings Time.
I hope you noted the nice green dog bed that Whimzy is enjoying. We were the high bidder Friday night for the package from Tanner's Bed and Biscuit in Lakemoor just north of us. The occasion was the first fundraiser dinner - dance (I went for the dinner) for the new Wauconda High School Bulldog Nation Foundation, which gives grants to teachers to try innovative activities in their classrooms that aren't covered by the usual school budget. We're all for that. Unfortunately we were outbid for the cruise for 8 people aboard the 40 foot sailboat out on Lake Michigan. That sounded like a lot of fun, but got too expensive pretty quickly. We retired teachers don't have very deep pockets. If you do, I'll call you when the next fundraiser occurs. We can go together.
Go on over to Marshmallow Fight to see my top ten book list. Next week you can go to Marshmallow Fight to see your top ten book list - if you send it to me here in the next week! Everyone is welcome to contribute - the more the merrier. Let's go, folks. I can hear the Taser humming in the next room as it charges up.
Robert Sherman passed away Monday in London at the age of 86. He and his brother, Richard, composed the songs for Disney favorites like The Aristocats, Mary Poppins, Jungle Book, and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. They learned the business from their father, Jay Sherman, a Tin Pan Alley composer who wrote "You've Got To Be a Football Hero". Born in New York City and raised in California, Robert developed a fondness for British characters while recuperating in a hospital in England near the end of World War 2. He also wrote this theme song:
On the bad side, he wrote what would undoubtedly be considered by my friend Mary as the most EVIL song ever written. This clip runs almost ten minutes. It's a forty second song played over and over just like they do at Disney World. If you listen to the whole ten minutes without having a stroke, I'd say you will probably live forever. The words are here in case you've forgotten (like that's possible). When I call you tomorrow, you're going to yell at me that you can't get this song out of your head. You're welcome.
