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Buccaneers Spirit

Have been enjoying the 1995 miniseries The Buccaneers, based on Edith Wharton's unfinished last novel. I am fascinated that Wharton based some of her characterizations on the (spoilers!) ill-fated marriage of Consuelo Vanderbilt, Duchess of Marlborough. On the Wiki there is a copy of one famous family portrait of the great beauty and her family.

I've seen that enormous painting, in November, 2005, when we visited Blenheim Palace. At the time, Jon said:

"[The princely dwelling] seems a little thin justification for a World Heritage Site. It's a very nice house. The most exciting thing that every happened there was Winston Churchill's birth. (His grandfather was the 7th Duke.)"

As I recall, I was also excited by the portrait, which is by one of my favorite painters, John Singer Sargeant; his portrayal of Consuelo is aloof and surreal, as is the connection between Wharton and her roman à clef characters, the permanent residents of Blenheim.
posted by christina at Saturday, December 31, 2011

Is AWP Worth the price of admission?

I attended day one of the AWP conference today, and it left me wondering if I was wasting my time and money. Of course, it made me feel better to know that 400 people wanted to be here, but couldn't. Forfeiting the price of a ticket is definitely a waste.

Today I saw only two talks: What does a writer do all day? and What is normal in non-fiction?

Writers love to title talks as questions.

The former seemed like it would be an instructive tour through a writer's daily life, which is something I've been trying to grasp for decades. I had hoped it would answer my perennial question: "How do I get the seat of my pants into the seat of my chair, and stay there long enough to produce a novel?"

Instead, I was treated to an academe's view of how to stay afloat so one has the financing, support system, and health insurance to survive as a modern writer. Gone, apparently, are the days of wine bottles and selling roses to support one's art. Now it's all grants writing and writer-in-residence jobs that keep an author -- or an aspiring author-- busy all day. I was disappointed in the academic turn of the talk, but did glean some useful tidbits, mostly from quotes and just being in the room with a bunch of writers who would, like me, rather be on the other side of the bunting.

Perhaps I am a literalist in the truest sense, expecting someone published to hand me a winning writing schedule. Perhaps, too, a bit naive.

"What is normal in non-fiction" was more entertaining, if not more on topic. Mostly the authors spoke of their own writing life, a topic which might have been more suited to the first talk I attended. Still Bob Sachacosis was hysterical, and the authors did meander around the titular topic as they discussed their own successes. Not a plan to follow, but at least I gained a sense of what is possible, and the praise that might await me in blurb form should I get a book in print, ever.

To answer the question posed by this piece, I must answer yes. After all, what is AWP for me but an opportunity to get back in the swing, to find some motivating blurbs among all those books and authors. The sheer number of writers and books gives one hope, a paper sea of hope.
posted by christina at Thursday, February 03, 2011

Popular Excuses

It's hard to be a lone pamphleteer with a house full of babies. Because I spent all of 2010 either pregnant or mothering twins, I have slacked off on my blogging. If ever there was a good excuse for abandoning a fun but fruitless activity like blogging, it's twins.

Having twins, in fact, are a good excuse for many human failings.

"Oh, yes, you need to get me into the OR right now. I'm having twins."

"Excuse me, can I slip by you? I know this stroller's huge but I have twins."

"Sorry we're so late. Twins!"

In the future I see them being blamed for lots more failings ("Who has time for makeup with twins?") but I'd like to keep the scapegoating to a minimum. After all, I wouldn't want them to get a complex or something. Twins are complex enough. Though I am likely to continue using my favorite line on parents of singletons:

"So what do you do with all your free time?"
posted by christina at Sunday, January 02, 2011

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posted by christina at Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Blogging the Snowpocalypse

Today's Lesson: What to do when you're likely to be stuck at home for several days in the worst snowstorm since 1922.

If you're buried under the accumulated snow and wondering what to do with yourself, don't leave the house! If you're like me, cleaning is a priority. So is calling the oil company twice to request an oil drop so your heat doesn't go out, and cooking some serious comfort food (Chez Grantham is making chicken 'n' dumplings and shortbread Christmas cookies). Consider digging out all those unread books, crocheting or knitting some new longjohns to keep you busy. Finish wrapping and decorating for the holidays. (Got your New Year's Eve groove on?) Even consider holding Christmas a week early, so everyone can keep busy with their toys. After all, isn't avoiding boredom more important than holding to the calendar date?

But if you're a techie like Jon, it just makes sense to start a new website. SnowPanic.com has been up and running since the flakes started falling last night. If you're panicking in the Mid-atlantic, or are enjoying watching others panic, consider becoming a stringer; send your story, photos, news clips or transcripts, or funny stories and if you are chosen we'll credit you!

(This is a non-paying gig.)
posted by christina at Saturday, December 19, 2009

Hark! The SNL Freebie Song

I'm Catholic. I'm not much of one; I gave up even palms and poinsettias a while back. Somewhere deep down, though, I still harbor the respect drilled into me by nuns for Catholic dogma and Christian icons. For example, I cannot write "Xmas", but must write the whole, cumbersome, 9-letter word, because I still respond to the idea that "Xmas" is like "Crossing the Christ out of Christmas," as one nun told me.

After all, no matter what your upbringing, if you celebrate Christmas you must at a minimum acknowledge it's source in Christ's birthday, and the result: Christianity. Christmas is NOT a secular holiday, though it seems used by secularists as often as it's forbidden; for every atheist that puts up a tree, somewhere a government employee is forced to disassemble their tabletop display. For every secular song played on the radio, somewhere a church is overflowing with snowy-weather faithful singing traditional hymns.

I know I should be more jaded, more able to acknowledge the increasing secularization of Christmas. But I was shocked this morning when I rewatched the opening for last week's SNL. Now, I love SNL, and have watched it since I was an under-supervised nine-year-old. And I really liked the opening with Blake Lively (SPOILERS AHEAD) and an assortment of Muppet characters from Animal (Bill Hader) to Beaker (Kristen Wiig, I think); Gonzo, Fozzie, and others were well-represented by the cast. The Swedish chef (Andy Sandberg) started off by "smorgy-ing" with the hostess, and soon the ensemble of man-muppets began clamoring for a song

Gonzo: (Bobby Moinihan): Why don't we kick off the holiday season with a holiday song?
Blake: I don't know if we have time guys.
Chef: Smorg, smorgy, smorgy smorg, smorgy (to the tune of "White Christmas")
Blake: No, stop please.
Fozzy (Jason Sudeikis): Yea, she's right. We can't get the rights to that.
Beaker: Meme mi mi mimimi mimi
Blake: Maybe we should just skip the song and get on with the show

A few jokes later...

Gonzo: C'mon guys, she doesn't like us...
Blake: No guys, wait. I'm sorry. In fact, I know one we can sing
snow falls....
and the group sings the first verse of "Hark the Herald Angels Sing."

Now, HtHAS is a very religious song, probably most popular for ending the movie It's a Wonderful Life. Here are the original lyrics from the first verse:

Hark the herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"
Peace on earth and mercy mild
God and sinners reconciled"
Joyful, all ye nations rise
Join the triumph of the skies
With angelic host proclaim:
"Christ is born in Bethlehem"
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"

But when SNL's motley group of man-muppets sang it with Blake, they used Animal, Chef, and Beaker (who normally don't speak) to voice some of the lines. What I noticed this morning on my second viewing was that the wordless muppets sang the lines of religious fervor which make the song a very, very Christian hymn.

Hark the herald angels sing
(Animal) Da ya ya da ya ya ya ya
Peace on earth and mercy mild
(Chef) Smorgy borgy, di borgy smorg
(Beaker, surprisingly coherent)Joyful, all ye nations rise
Join the triumph of the skies
With the angelic host proclaim:
"Mi mi mimi, mi mi mi mi"
(Chef) Smorgy, borg.....
(All) Smorg smorgy.... smorg.

Why sing a Christian song, then take all Christian references out? Why choose a religious song and butcher it to secularize it?

Why not get the rights to a secular song, or invent a new one (as Adam Sandler famously did)? Or use a secular song in the public domain such as "Jingle Bells"?

The little Catholic girl in me was offended by this misappropriation of a beautiful religious hymn.
posted by christina at Friday, December 11, 2009

Witches' Brew

Here are Aunt Sally and I, in front of Chez Grantham East.

From Drop Box

posted by christina at Sunday, November 01, 2009