Monthly Archives: January 2008

Bleeding Out the Ear Hole

1/31/2008 – 10:46 am

The narrator in an audio book makes all the difference in the world. Notable actors typically do a very good job. For instance, I just finished Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut read by Stanley Tucci, who read with the precise amount of irony, pausing at the right moments, etc. Brilliant. Ethan [...]

By Trent | Posted in Reading | Comments (3)

Americans and Aussies

1/30/2008 – 9:20 am

If someone asked me how I would stack up Australia footie vs. US footie, my knee-jerk reaction would be to give the nod to the US. After all, Australia just qualified for their first World Cup in dog’s years and their fledgling domestic league is worse than our somewhat less-fledgling domestic league.
Yet I [...]

By Trent | Posted in * Footie, - England/EPL, - US/MLS | Comments (1)

Deviations

1/29/2008 – 4:10 pm

I watched (or partially watched) a couple movies in the last week: Bloom, which was an interpretation of James Joyce’s Ulysses, and the Steven Soderbergh version of Solaris.
I didn’t get more than 30 minutes into Bloom before shutting it off. The big question I had going in was “How do you capture Ulysses on [...]

By Trent | Posted in Movies/TV, School | Comments (2)

The Hard Work of Mourning

1/28/2008 – 9:05 am

It’s been a long weekend. I think it’s natural to want to fast-forward through the grieving and just get to the consoling reflection phase already. Each day it gets a little better, but I’m often surprised by the sudden, soul-crushing waves of sadness that wash over me from time to time.
Browsing a few [...]

By Trent | Posted in General | Comments (4)

Heartbroken

1/25/2008 – 11:36 pm

In Loving Memory of Heineken
(Dec 1995- Jan 2008)

Heineken, our cat of 12 years, passed away tonight. He went from being healthy to gravely ill in a matter of a few days and was diagnosed this morning with advanced lymphoma. A battery of expensive treatments would have cost a fortune and extended his life [...]

By Trent | Posted in General | Comments (9)

Spring 2008 Classes

1/24/2008 – 11:28 am

Here’s a brief rundown of what I’m taking this semester. For those of you not in the know, I am a first-year Ph.D. student in Creative Writing at UW-Milwaukee, having finished my MA there last August.
The classes with brief descriptions and reading lists after the break:
ENG 778 – Contemporary Native American Novel
ENG 782 – [...]

By Trent | Posted in School | Comments (2)

The Good and the Bad

1/24/2008 – 10:39 am

Writing news: some good, some bad. I’ll start with the bad.
– I had a rewrite request from Asimov’s turned down. Sheila asked for me to change one central part to my story, which necessitated a cascade of other changes. The rewrite didn’t work for her which is very disappointing, but so [...]

By Trent | Posted in Writing | Comments (2)

The McCarthy Era

1/23/2008 – 10:19 am

In the last three months I’ve plowed through the last 6 of Cormac McCarthy’s 10 novels. Before I give my impressions I’d like to point out that my time for books not directly related to school is precious, so to dedicating this much time to one author should suggest how I feel about his [...]

By Trent | Posted in Reading | Comments (6)

Costa Rica, The Ride

1/22/2008 – 9:42 pm

Right, so I plan to post plenty of pictures along with a narrative after our trip to Costa Rica, but with the workload I’m looking at this semester, it might not be for awhile unless I get really ambitious this week. (My classes look awesome but with heavy workloads. More on that tomorrow.)
In short, [...]

By Trent | Posted in Travel | Comments (2)

Can I Get An AMEN!

1/22/2008 – 8:51 pm

Look, I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve been a bit down on Spurs this season, what with their poor start to the season, the idiotic handling of Martin Jol, and the club’s penchant for trying to make money on young players rather than winning things… but 5-1? 5-1? You can say [...]

By Trent | Posted in * Footie, - England/EPL | Comments (2)