Personal defection from bombardment

I have been talking to my friend Beth about this recently.  Over a month ago I warned everyone that I was no longer going to hold back when someone asked my opinion.  But I had this epiphany this morning.  That not holding back has nothing to do with them and everything to do with getting things off my chest not helping them out per say.  So I take back what I said.  And go the other way.... I am finished offering advice.  I don't have the energy to keep trying to hold the hands after they ignore the advice or say "well I kept asking for advice and no one gave me any" after I talked to them for hours.  I know I have been busy.  I know that I have been so bogged down with my own ick that it is hard to climb out of it --- but when I am there repeatedly for so many no matter what time of the day and night but I can count on one hand the ones that truly know what is going on with my life.... I am out of balance and it ends for me now.

Re-Posting: How the American University was Killed in Five Easy Steps

This is a re-posting of an article that someone blogged about how American Colleges are being destroyed.

How the American University was Killed in Five Easy Steps

Reviews about Ruhl's "The Clean House"

“One of my favorite moments in the play is when Lane, the woman who wants her house cleaned, is imagining her husband with his soul mate (hint: it’s not Lane) and the maid walks in, sees the people Lane is imagining and asks “Who are they?” It’s such a great, theatrical moment, the acknowledgement that we are not looking through a window into the ”real” world, but instead, viewing the realities of our world with new eyes.”

“One of my favorite things about the costuming is the subtle shift in the second half of the play when everyone’s color palette begins to move from the extreme color/lack thereof, to a more moderate and similar place on the scale…except Matilde, who may be the protagonist, but who also seems to facilitate a journey for the other characters rather than taking one of her own.”

Works Cited

dramachicks. "Views and Reviews: THE CLEAN HOUSE by Sarah Ruhl." dramachicks. August 2, 2012 2012.Web. <http://dramachicks.wordpress.com/2011/11/08/views-and-reviews-the-clean-house-by-sarah-ruhl/>.

On a personal note, I really understood this play.  I read it and picked up the nuances and the subtle pieces that Ruhl was trying to point us towards.  So, when I read the reviews I was looking to see if the reviewer was looking at the surface of the play and ignoring all of the rest.  I wanted to know whether or not they were just tossing something onto the page (print or web) because they had to or were told to. 

            With my first pick I read the wordpress blog by dramachicks.  I was not disappointed.  I immediately knew that she “got” what Ruhl was trying to accomplish.  Admittedly, the author of the blog is a huge Ruhl fan, but that does not take away from her deep understanding of what Ruhl wanted with “The Clean House”.  The two quotes from the review above speak to the deep meaning of the play and the deeper understanding of the blog author.  She didn’t just see a funny play, she saw a play with a story with a fable and allegory and the romances of the heart, life, and spirit mixed in.  I agree with the thoughts of the author and I applaud her understanding and critique of the play.

“And yet thanks to the alchemical imagination of Sarah Ruhl, the gifted author of “The Clean House,” this strange grab bag of ideas and images, together with some more exotic ingredients, magically coheres to form one of the finest and funniest new plays you’re likely to see in New York this season.”

“But this peculiarity epitomizes a fundamental message of Ms. Ruhl’s odd and enchanting play: We may never come to a full understanding of the jokes life plays, but the wisest and possibly noblest response is to have a good laugh anyway.”

Works Cited

Isherwood, Charles. "Always Ready with a Joke, if Not a Feather Duster." The New York Times, sec. Arts: Theater: 31 Oct 2006. Print.

            However, when I saw the New York Times listed as one of the potential review sites I was intrigued because I wanted to see what a “well respected” and “highly esteemed” newspaper thought of the play.  I was really disappointed. 

            If I read this review and never read the play or saw the play I would think it was merely a fluffy comedy without substance.  In a time period in my life where I am pinching pennies and my entertainment budget is very small I have to be choosy with what I am spending it on.  I would not have gone to see this play based on this review.

            This reviewer does nothing for Ruhl’s writing or this particular play.  His comments about Ruhl are flippant at best; his words about her writing are the equivalent of patting her on the head and saying, “oh nice play sweetie now go play with your toys while the adults really write plays”.  I was insulted on Ruhl’s behalf.  He didn’t review the play either.  He glossed over it, he failed to convey that there was something deeper, something more in this play.  He failed to share with his readers that this play will leave you with conversation starters and mental self-awareness conversations. 

            His use of “strange” “grab bag” “magically” “odd” seem especially out of place in a serious review.  His last few lines are his attempt at making some far reaching message that the rest of his review fail to live up to. 

            He spends more time praising the actors of the play then actually telling anyone about the play.  If I was going to New York City as a tourist and wanted to find a show or two to catch, after reading this review I would not pick “The Clean House” and I would be missing something great, just like Mr. Isherwood has.

The Book Cave

Hey yall when I am sneaking around on Facebook (ya know when I should be doing homework) you can find me and the rest of the ladies over at The Book Cave... come and join us.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Book-Cave/243978118975177

Kiss the Dead by Laurell K Hamilton - Review

Kiss the Dead is book 21 in the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series by author Laurell K Hamilton.  This book is a step forward in the life of Anita and a definite step in the right direction for the fans of the series.  For the past several years there was loud discontent with the series; it had changed so much and become something loyal fans couldn’t understand.  The change in the direction of the series began to flare up in the legions of fans of the series.  Where was the Anita Blake the fans loved?  Where was the woman who looked into the face of Death and merely smiled?  Where was the Executioner?

There was a moment in the series where the books wandered away from the Anita the readers met back at the beginning.  She became something the ardeur controlled and that is the moment that some of the fans got upset.  She wasn't this hardcore, no nonsense, powerful woman - she had turned into this woman controlled completely by her libido.  That was when it was hard to read.  I am a die-hard fan of this series.  I have bought each book in hardcover. I stuck with it through the time where even I was shaking my head wondering what was happening.  BUT ever since the end of The Harlequin I began to hope again.  

The next three were iffy but Bullet had me again.  It was then I saw Anita back again.  And in Bullet, she truly started questioning who she was, what she was, and ultimately at the end of the day who she wanted to be to those around her.  That is when I began to smile again reading the series.  She was growing up, she was changing, and it was only the changes that could come from growing, maturing, and full self-actualization as a person and a woman.  

Kiss the Dead is far away from the books in the middle of the series, the ones which had fans questioning their loyalty to the series.  Kiss the Dead is the book Hamilton needed to write for Anita, for the fans, and maybe even for herself.  There comes a time in a long series where the main character (the protagonist for you literary folks) MUST grow and change.  If they don't the series becomes stale, tired, and ultimately conversations ensue beginning with "...well I loved the series until book number [insert number] and then it went so far off the rails and it was the same stuff over and over and they didn't change or learn anything from all of the other books, it's too bad, it used to be amazing..."

An author never wants their books not evolve.  The readers grow up, they grow with the series, and if the storyline remains the same, the readers will grow AWAY from the series.

Hamilton "returns" to the kick ass woman readers met in Circus of the Damned, but this is the older, smarter, and more self-aware version of Anita Blake.  This is the Anita her fans have been waiting for:  the Matriarch of St. Louis - the role she has been gearing up for from the very first book