Books, Books and More Books! 7/16/2010

Ok so last update I was reading The Alchemist which I finished in about 45 mins after I wrote that post. Then for that sleepless night I was kept company by Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five and then I was outta books to read! So I marched myself down to the library (which was a HUGE accomplishment because I spent the last week and a half getting my ass kicked by my Crohn's) and decided to go in a different direction with my reading

It was a terrible realization the other day as I went to watch Barfly and realized I had never really read any Bukowski. I know, right? I believe that I read Women when I was younger or at least started to at the insistence of someone I knew but I don't remember finishing it or anything about it. Also, I am NOT a big fan of poetry......or so I thought. After finding the Elliott Smith bio (which was shelved in the music section of non fiction and not with the biographies?) I decided to walk over to the poetry section and see if they had any of Bukowski's poetry collections and sure enough they had one (he published 50+ but one at my neighborhoods branch of the Free Philadelphia library system is HUGE - I mean they don't even have an assigned branch copy of The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas - wtf) and I took that bad boy home and started on it IMMEDIATELY and fell in LOVE. OMG could it be - poems that break every rule I knew of poetry and he writes about booze, sex and the racetrack. I was hooked. Hooked. Finished the entire book in less than 24 hours and the next day hiked to TWO branches of the library so I could pick up the books I had on hold that came in and go in search of more Bukowski.

So this is my reading stack now - the 2 Nick Hornby's are the rest of the collections of essays he wrote for The Believer on what he is reading (follow up to the Polysyllabic Spree I just read), I got a large collection of Bukowski poems that he wrote between 1951 and 1993 called "The Pleasure of the Damned", a collection of Bukowski short stories and essays published after his death called "Portions From A Wine Stained Notebook", a Bukowski novel about his years working for the USPS called "Post Office" and I still need to read that Elliott Smith bio - which I promise to get to eventually.  I am just on a major Bukowski kick.  It's how I roll.

I should mention that Alex is on his Mancation v2.5 - The Return or Dewdapalooza with the boys in Vermont til late Monday night and since I don't wanna spend too much moolah at the bar drinking alone I figured the best way to spend my boyfriend free days was to crawl into as many books as I can. And that is soooooo my plan. Any guesses on how long it will take me to read this stack?

And if you are keeping track I am up to 30 books in my 2010 50 book a year challenge. Hell yes. Go me! You can keep track of what I read here as well if you really care: My Goodreads Profile I have a shelf titled 50 book a year challenge to see what you may have missed...if you care.

But now I am off to do some reading.

Cheers!

T.R.

Stack O' Reads - 7/13/2010

So this is my most recent pile of library books.  I am just about midway through The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. OMG what an exceptional story! 

And since I just finished Cat's Cradle by Kurt V. I decided it was appropriate to give Slaughterhouse Five a re-read as well. Damn Vonnegut is such a genius storyteller. Totally trumps Salinger - which I had to drag myself through to finish Nine Stories, one of his short story collections. Every story I like just ended horribly. Hmmmm maybe Stephen Kings heaviest influence was Salinger because he can't end a story for shit either.

Cheers,

T.R.

FNM, FNM! Mike Patton is God.

OK, last FNM post for awhile I swear. But THIS is how the FNM Reunion show opened in Philly. It was so damn awesome. Especially since I was there with Alex for his first FNM show ever and after looking it up on the internet we recently discovered that this was the #1 song in USA on the day he was born.

Faith no More live - Reunited

Photo of the Day - 7/6/2010

Faith No More @ The Mann Center, originally uploaded by Tracy Ramone.

I call this - why my summer is awesome.

Faith No More @ The Mann Center

What I Am Reading Now - 6/30/10

After tackling and defeating my last stack of books it was time for a trip to the library to replenish my stack so I set off with my to be returned books including the new Sandman re-envisioning by Neil Gaiman and a few other random comic collections I had checked out (JLA, Iron Man) Monday and came home with a lot more than I planned:

The stack on the left is what I purchased from their "For Sale" cart and the stack on the right are my to read now's.

I have been reading Nick Hornby's Polysyllabic Spree since Monday.  I had it on hold for a week or so and needed to go grab it and return the Stieg Larsson I finished so someone else could read it (it had a long wait list) and I didn't wanna hold onto it until the due date to be nice. This is a great read.  It's one of three in a series of his essay collections for a San Francisco paper called "The Believer" on stuff he is reading.  He keeps track of the books he buys vs what he reads every month (awww he is like ME!) It really is like getting to sit and talk books with Nick Hornby.  It's neat having read every novel he has written to get to sneak a peek at the guy who does the writing this way.  I will always have something Nick Hornby has written on my what I am reading lists lol even if its a re-read.

Reading TPS prompted me to go to the library today to get Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger after reading Nick rave on about it for nearly 3 pages.  I am not a huge Salinger fan based on Catcher In The Rye. Yes I know I am not in the popular opinion on that book but to me at best it was just eh. I never found it great and was never moved by it in any way and I really couldn't figure out what all the fuss was about when it was a must read in school.  So I was curious what Nine Stories was all about and figured short stories may be a great way for me to better experience what Salinger had to offer.

The comics I will mostly take a peek at once Alex has read through them all first - I get those mostly for him.

TPS also reminded me that it has been 10 years since I picked up a Vonnegut book so I decided to get off my lazy behind and re-read Cat's Cradle. Vonnegut is a literary genius and I was disturbed to realize we didn't have any on our shelves before I went to the library.  Cat's Cradle is one of the best books I have ever read.  I am hoping we have something tucked in one of the still unpacked boxes of books we have in our spare room.  So I was overjoyed as I went to leave and passed the For Sale cart and found all of these gems:

I have to mention that all 6 of those bad boys cost me only $3.00 AND now I know for sure that I have two Vonnegut's on my shelves. BIG HUGE SCORE. I am constantly buying books.  The way most women buy clothes or shoes that's how I am with books. I am always reading something and sometimes, multiple somethings.  I am sure I will be reading both Vonnegut's before the month is out but the rest I just felt the need to have on my shelves.  They felt like at home library must haves and now I do!

Enough of all this typing about all the awesome books I have to read - I am going to go read them!

Cheers!

T.R.

Everything's coming up Ramone!

Awesome things happening in the life of me:

• Business is good - my calendar keeps filling up with photography gigs and that makes me uber happy. (I am going to be doing all event photography for Theatre Exile in Philadelphia! Shot their Cabaret of the Exiled last week and it was so much fun - I am super excited!)
• Got to see Gogol Bordello for the second time this year hehe - they did an acoustic set at World Live Cafe last Friday at noon for FREE. Best way to wake up ever. Pics on my flickr! I finally got Gogol pics!
• Got to see Idina Menzel at the Mann Center last week with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by  Steve Reineke - it was awesome.  I love her so very much.  And they did Lady Gaga's Poker Face.  Brilliant.
• Going to see She & Him and Delta Spirit on Friday at World Live Cafe again and again its FREE.
• Cliff gets here Friday evening and I am super excited!
• Scored awesome tickets to see Faith No More at the Mann Center Saturday.
• Getting repeat visits from some of my favorite people this month like Holly & Tiffany!
• Trip to VA Beach for 4 days to see my Erika

I dunno June was pretty rad but July is trying its hardest to be even more awesome.

Let the race begin!

Cheers!

T.R.

Let's Talk TV: True Blood

OK so I never hopped on the True Blood fanwagon.  Vampires just haven't done anything for me since high school.  But everyone watches it so TV addict that I am I decided that I needed to sit and watch it.  I watched the entire first season of the HBO OnDemand and while I really wanted to like it - I did not.  The writing just killed me and since my ultimate dream is to write for TV and win an Emmy, I am picky about it. And the dialogue just killed me.  It's like a 12 year old was putting the words into their mouths.  So I gave up.  But then a friend mine whose opinion of TV and movies and music really matters to me suggested I give season two a shot. So I did and my feelings changed immensely.  It's not that the words coming out of their mouths got much better but the story was 1,000 times better.  I started to become hooked. I finished season 2 in two days and got myself all caught up on the new season and am excited for the next installment.


So now for my list of personal favorites and not so favorites -


BEST MALE CHARACTER - Lafayette - damn he has really just been the most incredible since the beginning. I really love that man. And he is one of the only ones who has some really great lines.


BEST FEMALE CHARACTER - Pam - and no not just because I love Kristin Bauer Van Straten but because I love bad girls.  And she has had some of the best lines on the show after Lafayette. Sorry Sookie fans, she drives me kinda mad.


MOST ANNOYING MALE CHARACTER - Bill - while I appreciate him for who he is I hate the way they write his dialogue.  It's just plain bad and ruins the character.


MOST ANNOYING FEMALE CHARACTER - Tara.  Sorry I just can't get into her.


SEXIEST MALE CHARACTER - ummm Eric - duh. Alexander Skarsgard is just gorgeous - also an honorable mention goes to James Frain who just joined in Season 3 - and is uber yummy.


SEXIEST FEMALE CHARACTER - Pam - Kristin Bauer = hottness. 'Nuff said.


RECURRING CHARACTER I JUST CANT STAND - The Queen - I really just dislike Evan Rachel Wood as an actress A LOT.  Pretty or not I don't know how she gets work.  Bad casting, TB. Bad, bad casting.


BEST EPISODE SO FAR - Season Two Episode 9 - "I Will Rise Up" - I thought the after math of the explosion in Dallas was well told and it was one of the best written episodes of the show. And that is saying something. And Godric's death all be it not as explosive as I would have hoped was very poignant. 


Also, how rad is the theme song? I do love the way they use the music they use in the show.


These are just my opinions - I would love to hear your thoughts on these topics as well.  Participate! Comment!


So yes Michael, you win.  I am hooked.  Thank you.


Now run along and  DO BAD THINGS!


T.R.