Just finished reading this novel by Emma Donoghue. (Hood, that is.) It's quite the interesting read, all told from the point of view of Penelope (PenUmbra, PenUltimate, Just Pen), who just lost her lover of 13 years (Claire), who while riding on the back of a cab on her way back from the airport was in a car accident and died. The worst part? Though Claire and Pen lived together (with Claire's dad) they were not out, so she's forced to go through an almost secret widowhood.
The novel is set in Dublin, and I related while reading it for a myriad of reasons. Funnily enough I very quickly put myself in the place of the person that had passed away - Claire was this woman who traveled a lot, asked crazy "what if" questions. But our similarities ended there, and yet, I kinda related to her the most. The Novel follows Pen through a week - from the moment she finds out Claire's dead until exactly a week later when she gathers enough courage to sit in her own mother's kitchen with the intention of coming out. In the meantime, Pen treats us to her memories of Claire, we get to see how they met, how their love was such a coincidence in a way, the back and forth of their relationship, the on and off of those 13 years. Sad as it is, by the end of the novel everyone's with Pen - even I, a Claire person, and I love that Donoghoue doesn't go for the obvious when it comes to Pen "starting a new life without Claire," that she doesn't shy away from uncomfortable conversations with well meaning but misguided people.
I think, though that the main reason why I related to Claire, is because despite all of my "what if-fing," I have no desire to ever entertain the idea of my love dying... I didn't want to be in Pen's shoes, so I put myself as Claire, creating a distance between me and that pain so that I could look at it from afar and call it beautiful and talk about how amazing it is. I hope this is as close to that kind of pain I have to get to. I still recommend the book to others, though, because the pain and the writing ARE beautiful, and I think it makes you look within yourself, and within your relationship if you have one, in an intricate way that you may not have done so before.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Brotherly Love
After a lovely week that involved watching two Harry Potter movies a day, a night Latin dancing at Henrietta's, and a day at Six Flags Great Adventure the girls, Mi Cariño and I got on the road to Philadelphia. Like last year, there were Queer movies to enjoy, and good food to be had.
First stop, a repeat, with Cafe Estelle. This time I had the corn and black bean omelette. I forgot to take a picture of pancakes, but believe me, we had them this time too. They were as good as we remembered.
Afterwards we made our way through Old City in Philadelphia, taking it easy and seeing the Liberty Bell from the outside once more, Christ Church, Old Pubs, and just generally enjoying the very hot day. In the afternoon we saw "Jessie and Jamie are Not Together," which was this hybrid of a romantic comedy with musical numbers thrown in. I'm not sure how I feel about it. Parts of it were really funny, while other parts, not so much. The musical numbers? Unnecessary, all of them. None of the songs were catchy or were saying things that were truly advancing the story (since most feelings expressed through song were said outloud before hand anyway), plus, the actors weren't really good singers anyway. That just takes away from that kind of thing. However, there were tons of nice sex scenes, funny date scenes, and the ever present gratuitous sex between best friends that doesn't really get addressed at the end. I'd give it a 3 out of 5 - much better than the disaster we saw last year, but not quite "Kissing Jessica Stein/Saving Grace."
After we followed Cariño's brother recommendation to find some cheesesteaks. We decided for Pat's.
After, the girls dropped us off at the hotel before they set on the road back to New York. Picture of my hotel key, which I thought very clever and cute.
Phila, or at least Old City Phila, is chock full of these informative blue plaques. This one is right outside City Hall, by our hotel, and I enjoyed having the knowledge. I took the picture on my way to the bus stop so that I could go to NY.
Monday morning, after arriving in NY at 9:30, I watered plans and changed clothes to then go to work so that I could travel to... Philadelphia. Don't ask me. My co-workers and I drove down and arrived in the afternoon in time to record an interview and then be sent to a cocktail party at this boat/restaurant.
Very cute. Once work was over, Mi Cariño and I went for dinner to Cuba Libre. Very expensive, appetizers not really needed kinda place. Which we didn't realize until after we had the aforementioned appetizers.
The bread was great, though! Not Cuban bread, but close enough, and toasted, which makes a difference. Plus, it came with an amazing Mango Butter.
I had me a Mango Mojito to relax a bit. Once I took out all the extra mint they put on them things, it was not bad at all.
Main entree: Vaca Frita
con arroz blanco y habichuelas negras.
For dessert, Mi Cariño had a coffee and shot of liquor with soy milk concoction whose name I don't remember. Tasty but I wouldn't have been able to drink that whole cup.
The bill came in a very cute cigars box.
Another blue plaque, this one on the way to the place where we recorded. I find it lovely and hilarious that a branch of the U.S.A. Military Services was born in a bar.
View of Philadelphia from the Suite I was working at. Plenty of Memorials in that part of town.
We returned to NY Wednesday night after having had a great time. I wouldn't mind making this trip an annual thing, it was a lot of fun, and the lovely thing is that Phila still has many other things to go see. (Next year the Rodin Museum, for sure.)
First stop, a repeat, with Cafe Estelle. This time I had the corn and black bean omelette. I forgot to take a picture of pancakes, but believe me, we had them this time too. They were as good as we remembered.
Afterwards we made our way through Old City in Philadelphia, taking it easy and seeing the Liberty Bell from the outside once more, Christ Church, Old Pubs, and just generally enjoying the very hot day. In the afternoon we saw "Jessie and Jamie are Not Together," which was this hybrid of a romantic comedy with musical numbers thrown in. I'm not sure how I feel about it. Parts of it were really funny, while other parts, not so much. The musical numbers? Unnecessary, all of them. None of the songs were catchy or were saying things that were truly advancing the story (since most feelings expressed through song were said outloud before hand anyway), plus, the actors weren't really good singers anyway. That just takes away from that kind of thing. However, there were tons of nice sex scenes, funny date scenes, and the ever present gratuitous sex between best friends that doesn't really get addressed at the end. I'd give it a 3 out of 5 - much better than the disaster we saw last year, but not quite "Kissing Jessica Stein/Saving Grace."
After we followed Cariño's brother recommendation to find some cheesesteaks. We decided for Pat's.
I had me one with onions, peppers and mushrooms, and cheese. It was extremely tasty, but I didn't go crazy for it. It WAS a far better choice than the steaks we had last year.
After, the girls dropped us off at the hotel before they set on the road back to New York. Picture of my hotel key, which I thought very clever and cute.
Phila, or at least Old City Phila, is chock full of these informative blue plaques. This one is right outside City Hall, by our hotel, and I enjoyed having the knowledge. I took the picture on my way to the bus stop so that I could go to NY.
Monday morning, after arriving in NY at 9:30, I watered plans and changed clothes to then go to work so that I could travel to... Philadelphia. Don't ask me. My co-workers and I drove down and arrived in the afternoon in time to record an interview and then be sent to a cocktail party at this boat/restaurant.
Very cute. Once work was over, Mi Cariño and I went for dinner to Cuba Libre. Very expensive, appetizers not really needed kinda place. Which we didn't realize until after we had the aforementioned appetizers.
The bread was great, though! Not Cuban bread, but close enough, and toasted, which makes a difference. Plus, it came with an amazing Mango Butter.
I had me a Mango Mojito to relax a bit. Once I took out all the extra mint they put on them things, it was not bad at all.
Main entree: Vaca Frita
con arroz blanco y habichuelas negras.
For dessert, Mi Cariño had a coffee and shot of liquor with soy milk concoction whose name I don't remember. Tasty but I wouldn't have been able to drink that whole cup.
The bill came in a very cute cigars box.
Another blue plaque, this one on the way to the place where we recorded. I find it lovely and hilarious that a branch of the U.S.A. Military Services was born in a bar.
View of Philadelphia from the Suite I was working at. Plenty of Memorials in that part of town.
We returned to NY Wednesday night after having had a great time. I wouldn't mind making this trip an annual thing, it was a lot of fun, and the lovely thing is that Phila still has many other things to go see. (Next year the Rodin Museum, for sure.)
Friday, July 22, 2011
July 22nd
Make your heart stop, stop
It could happen across the world without one knowing
because what's relevant and important is measured by
different rules. Nowadays a Status Feed is a news ticker
and today the news were all about feeling hot, hot, hot,
and less about lives lost in lands faraway
but slowly the word terror sneaks in
terror
terrorist
terrorist attack
but later, with more details its
madman
madman
because that's the difference
a religion makes.
Explosives, inhabited buildings
the everyday disrupted,
young lives, parents running,
Mad Terror.
We relate more to the known,
this I know. And all I know is
dates, like April 19th,
September 11th,
April 20th,
March 11th,
July 7th,
and all I know is that at some point someone thought
this would be the answer and all I know is
endless sun, and "my heart was left in..."
Oh Oslo.
© Yazcaminante, 2011
It could happen across the world without one knowing
because what's relevant and important is measured by
different rules. Nowadays a Status Feed is a news ticker
and today the news were all about feeling hot, hot, hot,
and less about lives lost in lands faraway
but slowly the word terror sneaks in
terror
terrorist
terrorist attack
but later, with more details its
madman
madman
because that's the difference
a religion makes.
Explosives, inhabited buildings
the everyday disrupted,
young lives, parents running,
Mad Terror.
We relate more to the known,
this I know. And all I know is
dates, like April 19th,
September 11th,
April 20th,
March 11th,
July 7th,
and all I know is that at some point someone thought
this would be the answer and all I know is
endless sun, and "my heart was left in..."
Oh Oslo.
© Yazcaminante, 2011
Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows
This will be my shortest "review." I love Deathly Hallows - it reads so quickly! Which I kind of wish it didn't, because I want it to go on and on! but alas, it doesn't. The best part of it all, I think, is that at the end of the book I don't feel like "Oh, but they didn't address this."
Let's start from the beginning. Harry, Ron and Hermione drop out of school and go off in search of Horcruxes - pieces of Voldermort's soul, in order to be able to destroy him. Gone is the safety of Hogwarts, the warmth of their beds at night. Teachers can't fix it all. (Not that they ever could, really) Harry follows-through on the progress he made on Half Blood Prince and is more decisive and sure of himself. Ron and Hermione grow as individuals, and grow together. In the meantime, we get an amazing adventure with enough angst, insight and love to fulfill any HP fan. It's just delicious.
The most satisfying part, at least for me, is Snape's redemption. Getting to hear his back story, seeing his love for Lily, how everything was planned between him and Dumbledore. And that even through the romance, the getting together, the book remains about this guy, and his two best friends (who are above all, his family.)
Let's start from the beginning. Harry, Ron and Hermione drop out of school and go off in search of Horcruxes - pieces of Voldermort's soul, in order to be able to destroy him. Gone is the safety of Hogwarts, the warmth of their beds at night. Teachers can't fix it all. (Not that they ever could, really) Harry follows-through on the progress he made on Half Blood Prince and is more decisive and sure of himself. Ron and Hermione grow as individuals, and grow together. In the meantime, we get an amazing adventure with enough angst, insight and love to fulfill any HP fan. It's just delicious.
The most satisfying part, at least for me, is Snape's redemption. Getting to hear his back story, seeing his love for Lily, how everything was planned between him and Dumbledore. And that even through the romance, the getting together, the book remains about this guy, and his two best friends (who are above all, his family.)
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
This is a tough one - it's my favorite book of the bunch. But after seeing the movie adaption I'm kinda in love with the next one, which is a funny thing to say because the books are not the movies, but whatever y'all!
I love this book the most because it's the book when I feel Harry comes of age. Let me explain - Harry, at 15, was a total pain in the butt, as most 15 year-olds are. He deserves to be annoying. But then he experiences the death of the closest thing he has to a parent, and feels guilty of his death, and reaches a point where Dumbledore is ready to trust him more. And so, he calms down and becomes the guy that attempts to think things through and to help right away instead of sulk. He is, in fact, becoming the savior the boy who lived needs to become in order to beat Voldermort.
Of course, when people talk of this book they go crazy over the romance - Harry and Ginny, Ron and Lavender, Ron and Hermione! I just like that the book is obviously the little breather before the awesome epic finale, that Harry gets to be happy and we get to see it - too often, that piece of joy gets saved for the last paragraph of the series/books. I did have to finally accept the Harry and Ginny romance, although I'll admit that there's still that tiny bit of me that wants Harry and Hermione together.
The big question in Half Blood Prince is of course, Snape and Dumbledore. Dumbledore's death, after I finished reading the book, felt very unnecessary, and that it had been Snape, whom I secretly always liked, was tough. Rowling did a great work at always making Harry and Snape hate each other - but did a great job at including little clues to let us know there was something going on under that curtain of black hair. Oh, Snape.
I love this book the most because it's the book when I feel Harry comes of age. Let me explain - Harry, at 15, was a total pain in the butt, as most 15 year-olds are. He deserves to be annoying. But then he experiences the death of the closest thing he has to a parent, and feels guilty of his death, and reaches a point where Dumbledore is ready to trust him more. And so, he calms down and becomes the guy that attempts to think things through and to help right away instead of sulk. He is, in fact, becoming the savior the boy who lived needs to become in order to beat Voldermort.
Of course, when people talk of this book they go crazy over the romance - Harry and Ginny, Ron and Lavender, Ron and Hermione! I just like that the book is obviously the little breather before the awesome epic finale, that Harry gets to be happy and we get to see it - too often, that piece of joy gets saved for the last paragraph of the series/books. I did have to finally accept the Harry and Ginny romance, although I'll admit that there's still that tiny bit of me that wants Harry and Hermione together.
The big question in Half Blood Prince is of course, Snape and Dumbledore. Dumbledore's death, after I finished reading the book, felt very unnecessary, and that it had been Snape, whom I secretly always liked, was tough. Rowling did a great work at always making Harry and Snape hate each other - but did a great job at including little clues to let us know there was something going on under that curtain of black hair. Oh, Snape.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix
I can't believe months have passed since I last posted. May and June flew by, for sure, and here I am in the wee hours of July 3rd, not able to sleep. Since I just lent my niece Abigail my copy of The Half Blood Prince, I figured I might as well come here and talk about its predecessor, Order of the Phoenix.
A lot of people don't like that book. I love it, because it's exactly what Harry at 15 should be - an unlikeable little git. He's moody, thinks he knows it all, yells at people for no reason, is impulsive and severely unhappy when things don't go his way. He also has his eyes opened to the fact that there's more to life than just Hogwarts, and it enters the book into new territory.
This book is humongous, which is hella nice, as it lets you really submerge yourself in the Potter world. Also, since a lot of the book is just being in Harry's feelings and thoughts, it reads slower, but I like and enjoy that part. I like the ominous feeling all throughout the book that danger is coming, that it is imminent, that things will happen that will hurt Harry's world.
I was thinking a lot about this book today I guess mostly because I spent a lot of today remembering what it was like to be 15. How funny it is that a lot of the little things that I know I've left behind can resurface quickly, but also, to realize that something that I cared about so much then (God) still has such a presence in my life. I kept wondering about Harry himself and how in his selfishness and self-centered he was able to learn to be the calm and more likable Harry from the next books. I was amazed to realize during today's Sermon that I would not be the person that I am today if I hadn't been the little Jesus Freak I was at 15. I hope that I am giving, and loving, and accepting of others - something I learned to be during those years at that Church. And although by the end of the Sermon I was also arguing in my head (it was the "The Lord loved you so much, lost lamb, that He left behind 99 lambs to go get you, and the angels rejoice more over that found lost lamb than over the 99 that do not need finding" Sermon. I get it, God loves the lambs, but I always wonder about the 99 well behaved one's that are left without someone taking care of them,) I was also aware of how present He is in my life, how entrenched this is in my family. It's like part of our culture, almost, in a way even a family tradition. I've written poems about this, but never have been able to properly portray how... hurt I can be, when explaining this to friends and their eyes glaze over, because I'm talking God and Family, and all they're thinking is hate-mongering religion, and don't realize that this is as much a part of my personal culture as listening to Merengue and speaking Spanish is.
But I've veered off. I meant to talk about how Harry's belief system is developed in Book 5, how he slowly becomes the man that will only have himself (and Ron and Hermione) to depend on, because he's been stripped away of those that are authority figures for him. And most importantly, this book, starts the race to the end.
A lot of people don't like that book. I love it, because it's exactly what Harry at 15 should be - an unlikeable little git. He's moody, thinks he knows it all, yells at people for no reason, is impulsive and severely unhappy when things don't go his way. He also has his eyes opened to the fact that there's more to life than just Hogwarts, and it enters the book into new territory.
This book is humongous, which is hella nice, as it lets you really submerge yourself in the Potter world. Also, since a lot of the book is just being in Harry's feelings and thoughts, it reads slower, but I like and enjoy that part. I like the ominous feeling all throughout the book that danger is coming, that it is imminent, that things will happen that will hurt Harry's world.
I was thinking a lot about this book today I guess mostly because I spent a lot of today remembering what it was like to be 15. How funny it is that a lot of the little things that I know I've left behind can resurface quickly, but also, to realize that something that I cared about so much then (God) still has such a presence in my life. I kept wondering about Harry himself and how in his selfishness and self-centered he was able to learn to be the calm and more likable Harry from the next books. I was amazed to realize during today's Sermon that I would not be the person that I am today if I hadn't been the little Jesus Freak I was at 15. I hope that I am giving, and loving, and accepting of others - something I learned to be during those years at that Church. And although by the end of the Sermon I was also arguing in my head (it was the "The Lord loved you so much, lost lamb, that He left behind 99 lambs to go get you, and the angels rejoice more over that found lost lamb than over the 99 that do not need finding" Sermon. I get it, God loves the lambs, but I always wonder about the 99 well behaved one's that are left without someone taking care of them,) I was also aware of how present He is in my life, how entrenched this is in my family. It's like part of our culture, almost, in a way even a family tradition. I've written poems about this, but never have been able to properly portray how... hurt I can be, when explaining this to friends and their eyes glaze over, because I'm talking God and Family, and all they're thinking is hate-mongering religion, and don't realize that this is as much a part of my personal culture as listening to Merengue and speaking Spanish is.
But I've veered off. I meant to talk about how Harry's belief system is developed in Book 5, how he slowly becomes the man that will only have himself (and Ron and Hermione) to depend on, because he's been stripped away of those that are authority figures for him. And most importantly, this book, starts the race to the end.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)