It’s Monday, What are you Reading?
It’s Monday, What are you Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by J. Kaye’s Book Blog to discuss what we are reading this week, as well as books completed the previous week.
Books I Completed Last Week:
Invitation Only by Kate Brian: I started this series two weeks ago, and I can’t seem to stop. I am obsessed.
Untouchable by Kate Brian: See above.
Official Book Club Selection by Kathy Griffin: I love her, and while the book wasn’t as laugh-out loud funny as I was expecting, it was sweet and honest and fun to read.
Books I’m Reading This Week:
The Road by Cormac McCarthy: I’ve had this book forever, and I’m slowly making my way through it.
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer: Okay, yes, seeing the movie made me want to reread the series. But I’m not linking to the book. That’s me being subversive.
So what are you reading this week?
After 50,000
I hit 50,000 on Friday, which was my personal goal. While I’m super proud of that accomplishment, the story isn’t finished and I’m having trouble making it move forward.
I suppose I need to sit down and just do it, but it’s not happening organically. Which sucks.
I want to finish this thing, y’all. I really do.
Oh hai there
Did I mention that I’m at 45,000 words? Because I am.
Today, however, I am totally in procrastination mode. Refreshing The Question Club page every 45 seconds. You bet. Making lists of books that haven’t come out yet? Absolutely.
I’d really like to hit 50,000 today, but I’m not sure it’s going to happen.
NaNo Update #2
I reached 10,000 words yesterday, which was my goal. Despite being feverish and coughing up a lung, I was able to do it. The words keep coming, no matter how much I distract myself with The Question Club on LiveJournal or articles on Jezebel.
As I’ve gone through this, I’ve found that the forums on the NaNo website are in general not very interesting. Or maybe I’m looking in the wrong place? I get tired of the “ME ME ME ME ME” that tends to go on. I know that’s what this blog is about, and I recognize that I myself am guilty of it, but it’s still weird to see on the forums that have nothing to do with that.
My attainable goal for today is another 3,000. If I’m feeling particularly prolific, it would be nice to reach 15,000.
We’ll see.
NaNo Update #1
I realize that it’s only been two days, but the NaNo experience is going well. I’m at 7,251 words. Once I sit down to write, the process is pretty painless. The internet is still my biggest procrastination tool, though, and that is a problem.
I’m realizing, of course, that this story is going to be a lot longer than I had anticipated. My hope is that I’ll keep writing after I reach 50,000. For the first time, I’m confident that I’m going to reach the NaNo goal.
Tomorrow I hope to pass the 10,000 word mark. All of it is total crap, but at least I’m writing again. That feels really really good.
2009 Emmy Awards Fashion Round-Up
Welcome to the awards season, ladies and gentlemen. Without any further ado, let’s get right into it. Because I’m somewhat slow, I had to take the images from Getty. Sorry about the watermarks, y’all.
Up first we have Gossip Girls Leighton Meester and Blake Lively. I’m not in love with either dress. The Fug Girls mentioned Leighton’s dress looked like she had toilet paper scrunched up on her shoulders, and they’re kind of right. The dress looks too big for her, and it bores me quite a bit. Blake’s dress is a great color on her, and I’m even okay with the plunging neckline, but I think the slit up the front is a mistake. It’s too much. A strong wind at the right angle…

Angela Kinsey looks good in that she’s tiny again (really tiny) after having the baby, and that the fire-engine-red dress is something that her character on The Office would never wear, but I don’t know how I feel about the weird detailing cupping each breast, and now that I think about it, it kind of looks like re-used tissue paper in a gift bag (you know the kind, when you’re too lazy to actually wrap a present?). Also, it looks like it’s hard to move in.

Parks & Recreation’s Amy Poehler is also looking good after losing the baby weight. The mermaid-cut dress was popular last night. She looks good, but it doesn’t do anything for me. She’s playing it safe.

Then there’s the often-controversial Chloe Sevigny. She probably gets tired of those weird denim skirts on Big Love, so I can see why she takes fashion risks occasionally. Last night, she made a decent choice while still being a bit unusual–the polka dots add some flair, as does the tiny gold flower at her hip. Well played.

Of course, we didn’t have great ensembles all-around. I love Mad Men’s Elisabeth Moss, but this dress was so wrong in so many ways. It’s frumpy, ill-fitting, weirdly wrinkled, and the necklace thing is so chunky that it cuts off the line of the one-shoulder. Not a good choice, dearie.

Next up is Hayden Panettierre, who gets a lot of hate from the kids over at ONTD. I’ve always kind of liked Hayden, partly because I think she’s adorable and partly because she dated Milo Ventimiglia for so long. I don’t watch Heroes because I don’t hate myself that much, but if I did, it would be because of our girl Hayden here. I have to say, the dress is working for me. It’s one of my favorites of the night. It isn’t outrageous, but it isn’t completely boring, either.

I’ve loved Holly Hunter for a long time (ever since my mom took me to see Living Out Loud–I was like, 13, and I understood it, mostly). The woman doesn’t seem to age. It’s a good dress on her. It’s good enough that I don’t really have anything to say about it.

Does anyone else when Jamie Lynn Sigler was going around as Jamie Lynn Discala and no one really cared? Then she got divorced and changed it back, and still no one cared? I wish I didn’t remember shit like that. At any rate, I know very little about her (she was an exorcise bulimic and she tried–and failed spectacularly–to have a music career some odd years ago), and yet it still feels like I know too much. The dress is forgettable, but she looks really good in it.

January Jones’ character on Mad Men is absolutely fascinating to watch. I think that January has an awesome name, is absolutely beautiful, and is terrific on the show, but I cannot get behind this dress. It looks good on her (homegirl’s got some corset action going on), but I don’t really get it. I don’t like the sharp angles jutting out on the bodice and the skirt doesn’t seem to go with the top of the dress. I don’t know. Disappointment.

Jenna Fischer is one of my favorite actresses, hands down. Her blog on MySpace is genuine and adorable, and she seems very sweet and super normal. She has a terrible track record with gowns for events like this, though, so you can imagine my sigh of relief when she appeared on the red carpet wearing this. She looks really, really good. It’s not daring, but it’s perfect for her. Well-played, madame.

Dexter’s Jennifer Carpenter wore one of the most interesting dresses of the night, I think (unless you count Phoebe Price, who I don’t because she does it for attention and I don’t even know who she is outside of the realm of GoFugYourself, anyway). The beading on the dress is intricate and a bit mesmerizing, and the fact that I’m obsessed with Dexter right now probably creates a certain bias.

I think Mila Kunis is absolutely stunning. She was so beautiful in Forgetting Sarah Marshall that I completely forgot about how much I hated her character on That 70’s Show. But this dress? It reminds me of something a pseudo-alternative girl would wear to prom senior year (you know, if she came from money). I actually like it, but it doesn’t seem right for the type of event, you know?

Oh Kyra Sedgwick honey, no. Just, no. You’re too hot to be wearing something that looks like it came off the rack in the Mother of the Bride section at David’s Bridal. Bad choice.

Sarah Silverman bragged during her red carpet interview that she helped design this dress and that she loves that it has pockets. Now, pockets were all the rage a year or two ago, and they weren’t flattering then and they certainly aren’t now. It creates the most unflattering silhouette I’ve ever seen on a girl that’s really thin. It’s a great color, and I can’t fault her for that, but the cut is so fucking unflattering.

Toni Collette is so cute. She looks great in this dress, another of my favorites from the night.

There are more dresses worth posting and dissecting, but there are like a hundred blogs and sites out there doing it, and doing a better job than I am. I’ve been having wicked hard trouble getting pictures to load, so I’m calling it quits. I’ll see you at the Golden Globes, y’all.
In Door County, Wisconsin
The weather here is gloomy and overcast, which suits my mood and overall demeanor. It’s an escape from a life that I’m not particularly thrilled with these days, an escape that I felt I needed but didn’t know how to obtain.
The house I’m staying at is wood and glass, and there are trees surrounding us. The house sits on a dune, and just beyond the break in the trees is Lake Michigan, huge, gray, and wonderful. In my tower room, I can look out and watch the stillness of the water and pretend like September isn’t coming and pretend like I’m not dreading what lies ahead.
This morning on my run I saw three deer. When I came back, I watched an owl in a tree while I drank my black coffee. I want to walk on the beach, right at the tide line, and have my footsteps get washed away.
(This is pretentious and melancholic, but then again, so am I.)