Monthly Archives: May 2015

When You’re Traumatized, You Take Everything as Scary

Posted on May 31, 2015 by Nathan

Erin McKeown, Manifestra – Beth and I first saw McKeown perform live with the now-disgraced Jian Ghomeshi. She does catchy folk-pop music with some hints of jazz and an old-fashioned sensibility. We’ve followed her career since then, but didn’t get … Continue reading →

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I Thought About YouSpace

Posted on May 28, 2015 by Nathan

In three of his more recent books, author Tom Holt turned to the idea of virtual reality. Well, not entirely virtual, as these alternate realities, as bizarre as they can be, are actually real. A new program called YouSpace allows … Continue reading →

Posted in Authors, Book Reviews, Humor, Tom Holt | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

I’ll Be a Dirty Word

Posted on May 28, 2015 by Nathan

This article that I discussed in an earlier post touches on a subject I thought might be worth another post, which is that of Penn Jillette referring to women as “cunts” on social media. I generally like Penn, but I … Continue reading →

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Grave Duggars

Posted on May 27, 2015 by Nathan

From what I understand, Mike Huckabee has taken a break from trashing Beyoncé to explain that he stands behind the Duggars after it was revealed that Joshua sexually molested several girls, including his sisters. I guess wearing revealing outfits while … Continue reading →

Posted in Celebrities, Current Events, Politics, Prejudice, Religion, Television | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Got My Kojo Working

Posted on May 27, 2015 by Nathan

King Kojo, by Ruth Plumly Thompson – Published in 1938, toward the end of Thompson’s tenure as Royal Historian of Oz, this book is an attempt at a children’s fantasy on her own terms. She had been writing Oz books … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Humor, Marcus Mebes, Oz, Oz Authors, Ruth Plumly Thompson | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Misogyny Without Mysticism

Posted on May 24, 2015 by Nathan

This BuzzFeed article addresses something I’d been wondering about recently, which is misogynistic atheists. While a logically possible position, it just seems weird in light of the fact that the major group that’s historically been discriminated against by the major … Continue reading →

Posted in Feminism, Gender, Prejudice, Religion | Tagged , | 1 Comment

What a Tangled Web We Weave

Posted on May 24, 2015 by Nathan

Thanks largely to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and SamuraiFrog’s series of blog posts on Marvel Comics, I’ve gained somewhat of an interest in reading some of the classic superhero material. It doesn’t appear that the Brooklyn library system has all … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Comics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

This Dragon Story Is Just Oki

Posted on May 23, 2015 by Nathan

In an Oz story that we were working on together, Joe Bongiorno pointed out the similarity between the character Quiberon and the Japanese legend of Yofune-Nushi. This was a sea dragon that lived in the Oki Islands in the Sea … Continue reading →

Posted in Characters, Japanese, Monsters, Mythology, Oz, Oz Authors, Ruth Plumly Thompson | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Nellie McKay Remembers the Sixties, Because She Wasn’t There

Posted on May 23, 2015 by Nathan

Nellie McKay, My Weekly Reader – Hooray, it’s Nellie’s first album in almost five years! And it’s all covers, which is kind of disappointing, because I really like her as a songwriter. That said, her voice, a mixture of cute … Continue reading →

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There and Back Again

Posted on May 21, 2015 by Nathan

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – This was Peter Jackson’s final foray into Middle-Earth, at least until he can get permission to film any of the various scraps of J.R.R. Tolkien’s notes that his son Christopher found … Continue reading →

Posted in Authors, J.R.R. Tolkien, VoVat Goes to the Movies | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments