Last Saturday, I attended the sold out Lenny Kravitz concert at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Featuring opening act Raphael Saadiq, the concert was a total blast.
If you didn’t make it, though, never fear. I got you. Head on over to soulhead.com and read my concert recap. As always, Ron Worthy came through on the assist with photos and video. It’s the next best thing to actually being at the concert yourself.
My disdain for e-books and e-readers is well known. As a writer, I recognize that this is the direction publishing is leaning toward, I get that, but I still don’t like them shits. Give me a good old fashioned paper book anytime. Word to Jonathan Franzen.
That’s why I was highly amused by this parody of Amazon Kindle commercials, which touts the benefits of actual, physical, normal books.
You know what I miss? Letters. I mean, actual handwritten, sealed in an envelope, and mailed off to someone letters. Before the advent of email and social media, letters were a big deal for me. I’d meet people from all over the country and we’d exchange addresses and become pen pals. Yeah, I know, it sounds hokey, but you know what? The shit was cool.
I kept in touch with a lot of people that way, and being the sentimental fool that I am, I’ve even kept a lot of those letters. Some are stashed away at Mama Fingers’ house, but others are right here with me in Brooklyn. I’m not a hoarder, I’m just supremely nostalgic. Don’t judge me.
Well, in February, author Mary Robinette Kowal will launch The Month of Letters Challenge. The idea is that one should write and mail a letter a day. To wit:
I have a simple challenge for you. In the month of February, mail at least one item through the post every day it runs. Write a postcard, a letter, send a picture, or a cutting from a newspaper, or a fabric swatch. Write back to everyone who writes to you. This can count as one of your mailed items. All you are committing to is to mail 24 items. Why 24? There are four Sundays and one US holiday. In fact, you might send more than 24 items. You might develop a correspondence that extends beyond the month. You might enjoy going to the mail box again.
Guerrilla Mom is my favorite new blog—and I’m not even a parent. If you have children, or even if you don’t but you’re looking for a good laugh, you should definitely check it out.
Created by my friend Maria Guido, who describes herself as a “former free-wheeling, joke-telling, drink slinging artist” turned “obsessive compulsive mommy,” Guerrilla Mom chronicles the joys and pains of parenthood. That’s an apt description.
Be warned, this is not your typical mommy blog, with Maria gushing over every little thing her son does. No, no. It is, however, refreshingly honest and awfully funny. Covering a variety of topics, from idiot parents who want to bring their infants into bars to doctors using Google to diagnose her son’s rash, Guerrilla Mom is a riot. Here’s one of my favorite passages:
A couple of days after the birth, the obligatory congratulations started pouring in. From my friends without kids, the responses were benign enough. “Congratulations!” “Good job Momma!” “Way to go!”
The responses from my friends with kids went something like this:
“Did you ever think you could love something so much?”
“You’ll never believe this love you are experiencing will just continue to grow and grow!”
“Welcome to the most incredible ride of your life!”Huh?
Why didn’t I feel this way? What was wrong with me? Was I like one of those animals in the wild who eats their young? After years of trying to become pregnant, was I actually not maternal? Looking into Luciens’s eyes, all I saw was a little creature who I wasn’t sure liked me, who I couldn’t seem to satisfy, and who I was going to be responsible for keeping happy for a loooong time. And, he was ruining my boobs. What the hell?
This morning, when I checked my Twitter @replies, I saw that my friend, the cereal loving DJ Heat, had tweeted she was reading my debut novel GUESTLIST. Of course I was happy that she was reading my novel, but I wasn’t surprised. After all, DJ Heat lives in America’s Most Literate City.
Washington, D.C., has been named America’s most literate city for the second year in a row by Central Connecticut State University. The distinction is made thanks to an ongoing study, one which began in 2003:
Drawing from a variety of available data resources, the America’s Most Literate Cities study ranks the largest cities (population 250,000 and above) in the United States. This study focuses on six key indicators of literacy: newspaper circulation, number of bookstores, library resources, periodical publishing resources, educational attainment, and Internet resources.
The list of America’s top ten most literate cities are below.
Literary magazine The Missouri Review found and posted this instructional video on how to read a book you don’t want to read. Hey, it’s exactly what it says on the tin, folks.
Reading a book you don’t want to read is like cutting down a large tree tucked between three houses; it’s best done piece-by-piece, chapter-by-chapter. Here’s how to do it, from Jim Trelease, author of The Read-Aloud Handbook.
Author, relationship guru, small business owner, and reality TV personality Tionna Tee Smalls has released a new book entitled Men Love Abuse. While the book has been available as an e-book since the beginning of the month, yesterday (Friday, January 28) was the official release date for the paperback version.
Though Men Love Abuse is the first in what Tionna is calling The Pocketbook Series, it is not her first book. She’d previously written Girl, Get Your Mind Right, which was published by HarperCollins Publishers.
From Amazon:
Men Love Abuse is the hot new book from TV Personality/Author Tionna Tee Smalls. Smalls appeared on the VH1 hit series, What Chilli Wants (Season 1 & 2 in 2010 and 2011) as the Relationship Advisor for TLC’s pop star, Rozonda Chilli Thomas. In 2011, Tionna Tee Smalls released the award winning book, Girl, Get Your Mind Right! (HarperCollins Publishers). Book Description: Are you tired of being the nice girl? Do you believe that nice girls finish last? If you do then Men Love Abuse is the book for you. This honest book help women lose the nice girl image and get the man they want by following the rules. Smalls tell the readers her simple rules to dating a man and getting the things they want in a relationship.
It appears that Matthew Broderick is reprising his iconic Ferris Bueller character for a commercial of some sort that will air during Super Bowl XLVI. This is all speculation based on the above ten-second teaser unearthed by Vulture. As they state:
It’s not so shocking that an advertiser would bank on Broderick/Bueller’s enduring legacy as a righteous dude, but one does wonder what exactly Bueller would be up to or endorsing these days, given that he’d now be about 44.
Yesterday, I visited one of my favorite places in New York City, The Strand Bookstore. Located a stone’s throw away from Union Square, The Strand houses over 18 miles of books—new, used, rare, and even out-of-print. As its website states, it is a book lovers’ treasure trove.
One of the unexpected treasures I came across yesterday were a series of garments boasting artwork from classic novels. They included Capote’s In Cold Blood and Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (as seen above) as well as Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, among others. Featured items included men’s and women’s T-shirts and sweatshirts. Very cool.
On Saturday, January 28, Miami nightspot Eve plays host to the listening party for #FML, the latest project from hip-hop duo The Vagabonds. The event is hosted by the duo of Baysiqly and E.R. as well as Vice City Cypher.
There will be live performances by The Vagabonds, plus School Bus, Dashius Clay, Shottie (of IDEE4), Vurn, and Serum & Manifesto. The side stage will host an open mic competition, plus have additional performances by Rolls Royce, Yung Spec, Tay G, Lil Gunna, Roc Sol & DJ Cheo, Straight No Chase, and Blokaholics. DJ Twin will be holding it down on the 1s & 2s.
