Today's Wall Street Journal has an interesting Blog Watch discussion on linguistic and grammar blogs. The three blogs it notes all make good reading:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/ - With multiple posts each day, this blog covers a broad swath of linguistic issues.
MotivatedGrammar.wordpress.com - Linguistics graduate student Gabriel Doyle rails against linguistic prescription, or the notion that arbitrary but established grammar standards should be closely followed.
Spandg.blogspot.com - GrammarBlog approaches language oddities and mishaps with a lighthearted, irreverent tone. (And is headed with the tag line "Smug is good.")
Monday, June 9, 2008
Saturday, May 10, 2008
An Angel Fell Out of the Sky
Sometimes we're just so happy to see each other, and one thing is better than the other, but the list of bests for this week were:
10. Marika's first first date of the day. Not a creep! (Always good.)
9. Roxie REALLY loved her bone, so it seems worthwhile to include this on the list. We can't forget our four-legged friends.
8. The new painting of a church that Jen has mounted over her bed. This area is now known as the sanctuary. Don't you forget it.
7. The fact the Jeremy had a stack. We love it when we get actual printed manuscripts to carry home in our book bags also full of Bridget Hoida and Nami Mun novels.
6. The chocolate cake with chocolate cream cheese frosting I made for Nick's birthday. I mean, let's face it. It was pretty darn good, especially considering I had only two hours notice. A little melty, but that's to be expected when you frost before the cake has cooled...
5. Jeremy's revised second version of the first part of the first chapter. We totally pictured the gesture that the angel made when he fell out of the sky this time, and exactly what happened when the main character bolted out of the Starbucks. All sorts of good revisions just like this.
4. Marika's second first date of the day. Also not a creep.
3. The car ride. Wait! Jeremy hasn't written that yet, but we know it's going to be GREAT.
2. Nick as M.C. Happy birthday, Nick!
1. We loved the Russian heroine on heroin so much. We loved being inside of her brain.
10. Marika's first first date of the day. Not a creep! (Always good.)
9. Roxie REALLY loved her bone, so it seems worthwhile to include this on the list. We can't forget our four-legged friends.
8. The new painting of a church that Jen has mounted over her bed. This area is now known as the sanctuary. Don't you forget it.
7. The fact the Jeremy had a stack. We love it when we get actual printed manuscripts to carry home in our book bags also full of Bridget Hoida and Nami Mun novels.
6. The chocolate cake with chocolate cream cheese frosting I made for Nick's birthday. I mean, let's face it. It was pretty darn good, especially considering I had only two hours notice. A little melty, but that's to be expected when you frost before the cake has cooled...
5. Jeremy's revised second version of the first part of the first chapter. We totally pictured the gesture that the angel made when he fell out of the sky this time, and exactly what happened when the main character bolted out of the Starbucks. All sorts of good revisions just like this.
4. Marika's second first date of the day. Also not a creep.
3. The car ride. Wait! Jeremy hasn't written that yet, but we know it's going to be GREAT.
2. Nick as M.C. Happy birthday, Nick!
1. We loved the Russian heroine on heroin so much. We loved being inside of her brain.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Jen Prices Herself out of the Market
Nick's piece was up this week with Marika leading. The first pizza came out of the oven at around 8:30. We ate and gossiped about Jeremy. Marika related that though Jeremy had just trudged through an exhausting sixty hour work week, was still managing to show up. At any rate, Nick brought in the whiskey and let it drop that his newest word "Sinjin" was Indian for "Cougar." Jen quickly informed Nick that in fact Sinjin was British shorthand for "Saint John". Jen shook her head, took a deep breath and stared out the window.
After a moment she said, "You know I'd never go on a second date with a guy who made that kind of mistake."
Laura nodded and related a similar experience with a fellow she was no longer dating who had tried to impress her with his use of Deus Ex Machina. Apparently, this is Greek shorthand for "Do me". Ben then made the colossal mistake of admitting that he hadn't encountered the phrase before and was promptly and accurately branded by Laura as a gameless imbecile. Marika said after which Jeremy arrived and, after having been briefed as the only date-able man in the room, remarked that he had once used "Slunk" while in casual conversation with his un-impressed girlfriend and her mother.
The second pizza came out at around 9:15. We ate around the burned edges and started in on Nick's piece. The writing was so good that we just sat around for an hour just reading lines. The couple in the story were vividly imagined, sexy, sultry and free of literary faux pas. In fact, the writing was so good that there wasn't any point to meeting that night. Really, we all should have stayed home since we were all really tired and overworked. I mean, what was the point?
After a moment she said, "You know I'd never go on a second date with a guy who made that kind of mistake."
Laura nodded and related a similar experience with a fellow she was no longer dating who had tried to impress her with his use of Deus Ex Machina. Apparently, this is Greek shorthand for "Do me". Ben then made the colossal mistake of admitting that he hadn't encountered the phrase before and was promptly and accurately branded by Laura as a gameless imbecile. Marika said after which Jeremy arrived and, after having been briefed as the only date-able man in the room, remarked that he had once used "Slunk" while in casual conversation with his un-impressed girlfriend and her mother.
The second pizza came out at around 9:15. We ate around the burned edges and started in on Nick's piece. The writing was so good that we just sat around for an hour just reading lines. The couple in the story were vividly imagined, sexy, sultry and free of literary faux pas. In fact, the writing was so good that there wasn't any point to meeting that night. Really, we all should have stayed home since we were all really tired and overworked. I mean, what was the point?
Monday, April 7, 2008
About Character Names... a Groop meeting summary
Groop met a couple weeks ago or something like that and I took notes and here they finally are.
We are still getting used to Jen's gorgeous couches. We don't know what to do with ourselves. Sometimes someone has to fall off the couch just to feel normal again.
Marika turned in and basically our biggest concern (or so say my notes) was the name of her main character. My current vote is for Tamara. Other suggestions? We think it needs to be three syllables. Someone else remind me of the other criteria...
But names are important. Take our very own group. Marika's name means "faggot" in South America, and not referring to a bundle of twigs. Ben's mom's name, Suki, means "bitches" (that's more than one) in Russia.
Just think of the novelistic possibilities these very names present! Nick's response was: "I want Ben's mom and Marika to meet a Russian in South America." That sounds like a writing assignment to me.
Names. Pretty important.
My favorite reference for character names is Babyzone, particularly because you can look up names by ethnic and regional origin.
Jeremy admitted that he just keeps a baby name book on his shelf. We know he also has the book so as to get the girls. Now, if I had it on my shelf? See Jeremy's last post.
We are still getting used to Jen's gorgeous couches. We don't know what to do with ourselves. Sometimes someone has to fall off the couch just to feel normal again.
Marika turned in and basically our biggest concern (or so say my notes) was the name of her main character. My current vote is for Tamara. Other suggestions? We think it needs to be three syllables. Someone else remind me of the other criteria...
But names are important. Take our very own group. Marika's name means "faggot" in South America, and not referring to a bundle of twigs. Ben's mom's name, Suki, means "bitches" (that's more than one) in Russia.
Just think of the novelistic possibilities these very names present! Nick's response was: "I want Ben's mom and Marika to meet a Russian in South America." That sounds like a writing assignment to me.
Names. Pretty important.
My favorite reference for character names is Babyzone, particularly because you can look up names by ethnic and regional origin.
Jeremy admitted that he just keeps a baby name book on his shelf. We know he also has the book so as to get the girls. Now, if I had it on my shelf? See Jeremy's last post.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Essay About Love and Literature
While we're on the topic of love, this humorous essay from the New York Times is worth a chuckle or two. As it aptly points out, "Anyone who cares about books has at some point confronted the Pushkin problem: when a missed — or misguided — literary reference makes it chillingly clear that a romance is going nowhere fast."
It’s Not You, It’s Your Books
Monday, March 24, 2008
Write me a "love" story!
I remember once, many, many years ago, there was a groop assignment to write a short story about sex. And I remember that MJ very deeply and very seriously did NOT want to write a story about sex, until we reminded her that it didn't have to be about GOOD sex...Since then, I have wondered about the wisdom of having given that assignment, for as proud as we all were of MJ for taking on that challenge and running with it to wholly new and unexpected places, there is now, and forever, imprinted in my memory, an image of Chinese takeout being used for inappropriate purposes in the depths of a darkened movie theather.
So, in that spirit, or really, in any spirit, and in tribute to MJ, a new assignment:
StoryQuarterly
announces the SQ Love Story Contest
Open to fiction and nonfiction entries, the contest offers a
First Prize of $2,500, a Second Prize of $1,500, a Third Prize of $750,
and ten Finalists each will receive $100.
Deadline for entries: March 31, 2008.
For complete details, please click here.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Progressive Reading Series 3: Benefit to Save Rent Control
Those of you who live in the Bay Area might be interested in this event ...
"Maybe politics in this country would be in a better place if people drank more, read more, and had more of a good time. A simplistic argument, yes, but it was this philosophy that lifted the Progressive Reading Series off the ground. On Saturday, March 15, the literati are out in force for intellectual fun and a cause: saving rent control in California. The lineup includes local superstar Amy Tan, punk-rock poet and comedian Bucky Sinister, Lebanese writer Rabih Alameddine, and novelist Jerry Stahl — whose career-igniting memoir, Permanent Midnight (and its 1998 Ben Stiller-starring film adaptation), delves into the harsh yet hilarious realities of drug addiction and television writing." [From Flavorpill]
I'm a Stahl fan and Amy Tan's no slouch either, so I might go.
"Maybe politics in this country would be in a better place if people drank more, read more, and had more of a good time. A simplistic argument, yes, but it was this philosophy that lifted the Progressive Reading Series off the ground. On Saturday, March 15, the literati are out in force for intellectual fun and a cause: saving rent control in California. The lineup includes local superstar Amy Tan, punk-rock poet and comedian Bucky Sinister, Lebanese writer Rabih Alameddine, and novelist Jerry Stahl — whose career-igniting memoir, Permanent Midnight (and its 1998 Ben Stiller-starring film adaptation), delves into the harsh yet hilarious realities of drug addiction and television writing." [From Flavorpill]
I'm a Stahl fan and Amy Tan's no slouch either, so I might go.
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