TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE SUCH SWEET MUSIC

I think I have come to the tail end of what turned out to be more labor-intensive for an obsessive-minded music nerd such as myself than even I anticipated.

Given the positive reaction to the Spotify playlist that I created for Bobby Pins and Mary Janes, I decided to backtrack and rebuild the playlists for all my books that had them or could have had them.

For instance, if I had a Cut My Hair mix, it was on cassette. There was no such thing as iTunes or Spotify back then. So, for that book, I just pulled out a copy and flipped through the pages, building a rather long playlist based on chapter titles and significant songs. You can access the results through this link if you have Spotify.

It's not as complete as I'd like. A couple of songs are missing. In fact, a lot of the playlists I have built are incomplete. Some of the more obscure Britpop that makes up a lot of The Everlasting's original list is just not available in the States. Neither is the Faye Wong track that should be on the Have You Seen the Horizon Lately? list, not to mention the Geneva title track. Same goes for My Life Story's "12 Reasons Why I Love Her"--in fact, 12 Reasons has such a bad batting average, I was forced to actually label the list as "incomplete."

On the other hand, almost all the songs from Love the Way You Love are there, and you can hear tracks from all three Spell Checkers books, including the one that isn't out yet.

The Spotify interface is a little weird for getting the urls for individual lists, but essentially, if you got to the Cut My Hair list or Bobby Pins and Mary Janes version, and then click on my profile name, you can see all of my public lists. The books covered are:

* 5 1/2 - the book in progress
* 12 Reasons Why I Love Her
* Cut My Hair
* The Everlasting
* Have You Seen the Horizon Lately?
* Love the Way You Love
* Spell Checkers

It should be noted that I don't actually like all the songs in Spell Checkers. I picked that Lady Gaga one for the party scene in volume 1 because the lyrics are so bad!

Current Soundtrack: take your pick!

RADIO GA GA II: WORDS & PICTURES NOW ONLINE

To follow up on the previous post, the interview Joëlle and I did on the local radio station yesterday is now online for listening. It's a pretty good half hour, covering a variety of topics, including some good questions about craft.

Listen and download here.

I have a cold so I was doing my best to talk quietly and without inflection so I wouldn't cough. I think it kind of works for me. It helps me balance the marbles in my mouth.

To go along with it, I've also uploaded the "Love the Way You Love" song to Tumblr, in case you haven't heard it.

And if you want to put faces to the voices, I quite like this photo Deborah Curtis Lipski took at Emerald City...

Current Soundtrack: Etta Jones (a.k.a. "Not Etta James") - "Don't Go to Strangers" (via Old Hollywood)

CATCHING UP...

Here are things pulled off the web while away:

* DVD Talk ran a front page news item on You Have Killed Me.



You can still see it in the July feed, go down to July 22.

* A review of You Have Killed Me was posted at the blog Sexuality in the Arts. You can read the full piece here. It's mostly favorable, definitely in Joëlle's direction.

"I would love for one day to see the world through Jones’ eyes and considerations. I would feel apprehensive if I was in a room with her because I know she could see, recognize, and differentiate visual cues about me (or anyone) that few others could discern or deduce. Like Hannibal Lecter could correctly interpret significant psychological and historical traits from only a few dialogued and visual tells, I suspect Jones’ visual acuity to be off the charts. You can pick up this book and open it to any page, and her artistry will be revealing and intelligent. Jones is one of the few artists who can create new lifeforms and worlds with the craftsmanship of her pencils, inks, and mind."

He has some problems with the story that I really don't know what to make of. I suppose the simplest way to respond is that what he hoped to get out of it was never what was intended to be in it, and that since it was Mercer's story, we get a lot more Mercer than the rest. And that I've never read those Jeph Loeb comics nor do I get the joke about them. :)

I will, however, snag this pull quote and run with it:

"...it’s a boy’s story written by a boy, primarily for boys, told through a boy narrator."

Never thought anyone would write that about one of my books! Maybe if they kept inserting the word "sissy" before boy...

* We get a nice mention in the CBR con write-up here. Includes a slightly odd candid photo of myself and Joëlle. A couple of other candids from the guy who apparently was the first to get his books signed at the show. Ugh. How did Joëlle get paired with such a hideous beast as me?

* Jesus' General reviews Portland Noir and calls our story, "Gone Doggie Gone," one of his favorites.

* Joëlle did a commission at the show featuring Lance and Sadie for from The Everlasting. Mega covet!

Current Soundtrack": various Phil Spector productions; PJ Harvey, "One Time Too Many;" The Wright Specials, "Ninety-Nine And A Half Won't Do"

THE GHOSTS YOU DRAW ON MY BACK

A couple of images to share.

First, Terry Blas drew this Love the Way You Love piece a couple of summers back, a portrait of Like A Dog. I was looking at our friend Kimball Davis' Deviant Art page earlier, and saw Kimball had colored it for his own amusement (as he often does with Joëlle drawings, like this one). I think it turned out pretty great.

Then Maryanne sent along this photo, taken on the sly in a library in San Jose, amused by the company I keep:

Current Soundtrack: Pulp, "Sunrise;" Morrissey, "When I Last Spoke To Carol (Toy Selectah Remix)"

SOCIAL COMPETENCE

All the Sad Young Literary Men by Keith Gessen

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars

When I first started reading All the Sad Young Literary Men, I thought the book was like the literary equivalent of the band Vampire Weekend--the skill is there and the artists have learned from the best, but they haven’t yet had a profound experience beyond that learning. Hence, you get shiny baubles that sparkle like there is something going on, pop songs that show off verbal dexterity and a knowledge of the rhythms of the world, but the skill is really just a distraction for cheap tales of campus life and the fall-out when the party is over.

Keith Gessen fancies himself an heir to F. Scott Fitzgerald--a conceit I wish I could declare as boldly--but Fitzgerald’s characters never had the benefit of having books like The Great Gatsby or This Side of Paradise to expose for them the fact that the American Dream is a hoax. Gessen’s children, on the other hand, have not only read Fitzgerald, but they come from families who have run on the fumes of that dream’s rotting corpse, and this new generation is content to do the same while offering the pretense that they are doing something important. When they are not. Unlike, say, Gatsby, who at least took the time to reinvent himself, or the Divers, who had the good sense to fall apart, they do nothing but procrastinate, make excuses, and demand. It’s the sense of entitlement that rankles, that they still think they deserve these things that are not there. It makes them seem, well...spoiled.

But then, thinking that through, I also wondered if I was just being too harsh. Gessen can certainly write, and maybe it’s that human failing where you judge too cruelly the thing you do yourself, because it makes you doubt your own skills. Like I don’t want to face whether or not it’s possible to argue that my characters could be just as insipid. Or, worse, that I am one of Gessen’s characters, jealous of those who are doing what I want to do and having more success. I mean, let’s face it, I always struggled with how to appropriate the All the Sad Young Men title from Fitzgerald (who took it from a jazz song, ahem) and now this guy beat me to it. (There is a reason my main character gets an edition of that 1926 Fitzgerald short story collection in The Everlasting). Typing these notes while halfway through Gessen’s book, am I just being petulant and petty?

These are all the things I was pondering halfway through All the Sad Young Literary Men, and I made these notes as an attempt to clear my mind and to read on, to try anew to connect to the three protagonists, the three sad young men. A book in three sections, each with three stories, three main characters. More a collection of short stories than an actual novel, let’s be fair, especially with the lead story having a disjointed style full of pictures and objects. Two third-person narratives (Mark and Sam), one first-person (Keith; hello, diary?), but honestly, all interchangeable, the repetition of their lives and of their plight making them seem like one personality, the way they swap interests and women and reference points like their own kind of food chain. Which could be the point, these dispassionate youth with the same problems, the same nowhere to go. Interestingly, all three of these writers choose not to write about themselves--which they could actually do were they to try, since they are so self-absorbed--but instead want to write about larger topics. Sam plans a novel about the greater Jewish experience; Mark a doctorate on a particular outsider movement in the Russian Revolution; Keith global politics. If one were to give them credit, it’s that they, in their writing, try to be a part of something that is bigger than they are, and in reality, can’t penetrate it, discover that they have been excluded from being an active participant of anything important because they are too privileged and just too aware of the importance.

Or too lazy, and so go after things they know they will never conquer rather than the old literary cliché of writing what they know, writing about themselves, and then having to declare they have nothing to say, the easy cop-out. The irony being that they are saying it right here within Gessen’s narratives, each short story ending on some kind of self-examination. They who are fictions themselves want to live out these real things as fictions. And that’s the trick really, that they are removed, that they stay removed. Write about Israel, but it’s over there, and you don’t have to risk your life. Write about the past, because it’s gone. Write about elections, but don’t run for office.

Herein lies the redemption of the book, and of the characters. In the third act, in the last three stories, the guys have to assess the reality of their surroundings, discard the illusion they have tried to maintain and actually see the world for what it is. It’s not some great concept with capital letters--American Dream--and it’s not something they can merely observe. Sam has the most profound change, going to Jewish settlements in the disputed Palestine region, discovering first-hand the sticky wicket of religious politics and that the contradictions that are within him are within everyone else. The other two don’t get as grand a closure, but that makes sense, it would be too much for them all to come crashing down on the world stage, and the book also has to reconcile its inner personal life. Gessen doesn’t spell it out, which earns him points; he ends Mark’s story, in particular, at a point of decision and only gives us a bare clue of what that is. I can’t excoriate his lazy children and then be a lazy reader myself.

In its way, then, the reading of this book was a journey equal to the one in its pages. I am not generous enough to declare this was entirely Keith Gessen’s intention--“You will hate them, and then you will not want to stop until you know what happens to them”--but I did chart a course across his narrative that was fascinating. At least to me. If Goodreads would let me, I’d give it 3 1/2 stars, not just three. Give me room to breathe in this solar system!

Odd coincidence: As I was reading the last two stories, without thinking about it, I put on the solo album of Peter Moren, him of Peter, Bjorn & John. It’s called The Last Tycoon, named for Fitzgerald’s last unfinished novel, its uncompleted state serving as a metaphor for his Irving Thalberg-like character who thought movies could reinstate the illusion of the American Dream, but alas, never could, his author cut off on the road along the way.

View all my reviews.

Current Soundtrack: Marianne Faithfull, Broken English

Current Mood: intimidated

e-mail = golightly at confessions123.com * Criterion Confessions * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * ComicSpace * Last FM * GoodReads * The Blog Roll * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

All text (c) 2008 Jamie S. Rich

TIME IS JUST THE SAME

THIS WEEK AT THE THEATRE...

* Red Road, a restrained British mystery

THIS WEEK IN DVD REVIEWS...

* Addiction, an overly complicated but interesting look at substance abuse from HBO

* Brute Force - Criterion Collection, in which Jules Dassin puts Burt Lancaster in prison with extraordinary results

* Children of Men, my chance to revisit one of the best films of 2006

* Overlord - Criterion Collection, Stuart Cooper's fascinating look inside the mind of a soldier heading for D-Day, mixing real footage and fictional filmmaking

And by way of another tribute to Kurt Vonnegut, a pertinent except from my book, The Everlasting:

I want to live in a world where time is at my disposal. Vonnegut-time. Moments linked on one long chain that I can retract or let loose as I see fit.

I envision a time-space where I can reach out, and by simply stabbing my fingers into it, the whole fabric of it ripples. Years melt away, bubbling like Caro syrup boiling in a pot. Once I’ve burned off the offending minutes, I can stick a wedge in and keep the bad things from ever occurring, stop time at the good parts. Kelley would never have broken up with me, Mandy wouldn’t marry Ken. I’d jump into Percy’s life and stop Iris from ever running that bath. I’d never stop being fifteen and the ability to feel would never slink through my grasp. I could always love in the purest sense of loving.

Current Soundtrack: Grinderman, Grinderman

Current Mood: hungry

e-mail = golightly at confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * ComicSpace * The Blog Roll * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

All text (c) 2007 Jamie S. Rich

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE ALL YOUR MONEY

Back from the Emerald City show, and working to meet a deadline to turn in all that I have for Project #3 for myself and Joëlle. I'm pretty exhausted, but that's the soldiering life for you. 55 consecutive pages of comic book script so far, and a handful of unplaced pages from the latter half of the book. It has a title, but for some reason, I don't feel like sharing that yet. It's a completely new thing and anticipated as a 2008/2009 publication.

The show went all right. Not really much to complain about. Going with Joëlle makes it fun. Any experience that you are personally sick of should almost always become interesting again when you are with someone to whom it is new. She still gets excited seeing people in costume, and though there were a few doozies this time around, it's all old hat to me. It's also interesting charting her popularity as more people are becoming aware of her work. There were fans talking to her who had only seen the Fables that came out last week and had no interest in the guy sitting next to her.

My mini book, "Chevelu," did pretty well. I purposely did a healthy print run, though, and so can offer them online now to those who want them. It's a Lance Scott short story that takes place after The Everlasting. Chynna Clugston did the cover. (Some of you may remember that there was supposed to be one short appearing in print last summer when the deleted scenes were released online; this is that short. The magazine was never published and no one ever told me what happened, so I have taken it into my own hands.)

If you would like to purchase a copy of "Chevelu," the price is $3.00 plus $1.00 postage. The way it's formatted, I'll just slap postage on the actual book and address it on the back and send it out. You can use the Paypal button below, or send me an e-mail to golightly(a)confessions123.com for where to send cash or check.

(If the button isn't working, you can just use my e-mail address to send money. I think I have it fixed now, though.)

Joëlle made far fewer of her sketchbooks and came back with hardly any. They cost $5 and had a color cover. If you are interested in getting this, as well, please inquire before making any payment. I will see what she wants to do once we know what level of demand there might be. I know she was thinking about making more before CAPE, and I will be bringing "Chevelu" with me there and to San Diego, as well.

Retailers who carry minicomics and other such things may also inquire regarding wholesale prices.

Current Soundtrack: LCD Sound System, Sound of Silver; Kaiser Chiefs, Yours Truly, Angry Mob Best Buy edition bonus tracks

Current Mood: beaten

e-mail = golightly at confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * ComicSpace * The Blog Roll * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

All text (c) 2007 Jamie S. Rich

JAMIE, ARE YOU QUEER BOY?

My pal Christopher McQuain wrote a very insightful review of The Everlasting for Portland's gay and lesbian newspaper, Just Out. It's online here at the 'mo, but not sure how long that link stays current.

A pertinent selection: " True to Northwest urban cosmopolitanism, Rich includes a parallel queer subplot: Lance’s roommate, Roger, has his own snarled love issues with a closeted rock star. The novel’s main focus is on Lance, but Rich is adept at showing both the differences and similarities of the search for love in these young men’s lives. If anything, Roger is the better-adjusted one and is eventually revealed to be better able to learn from romantic defeat, but whether the two characters’ different mindsets are a function of sexual orientation is entirely up to the reader’s interpretation; Rich presents his characters warts and all, endearing one moment and exasperating the next, very much like the people we know (and are) in life."

Though, I really like this line: "Lance is a Jan Brady among prodigies." Ha!

Current Soundtrack: Camera Obscura stuck in my head...

Current Mood: superstar

HOLLY, JOLLY MOVIES - pt. 2

Hey! Before I forget, 12 Reasons Why I Love Her was an Honorable Mention in the Top Comics of 2006 over at Publisher's Weekly. Go, 12 Reasons!

And Vroom Socko has picked The Everlasting as one of his gifts to give over at Ain't It Cool News' Christmas Guide 2006. He even suggests it as a gateway into comics, because if someone finishes The Everlasting and likes it, you can spring Love the Way You Love on 'em!

IN THE THEATRES...

Rounding out my reviews of stuff coming out in time for Chrstmas

* Chrildren of Men, a thinking-man's action movie with plenty of adrenaline, starring Clive Owen and directed by Alfonso Cuarón

* Curse of the Golden Flower, the new tragedy of royal indiscretions from Zhang Yimou, with legendary Chinese actors Chow Yun-Fat and Gong Li as Emperor and Empress

* The Good Shepherd, Robert De Niro's tale of the formation of the CIA

* Letters from Iwo Jima is Clint Eastwood's second WWII movie of the year and it is as good as you've been hearing

For those of you too lazy to scroll down for the first part, click.

Current Soundtrack: not a creature is stirring...

e-mail = golightly at confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * The Blog Roll * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

All text (c) 2006 Jamie S. Rich

MAUNDERING: QUICK UPDATE FROM THE ROAD

Read Joëlle's new interview HERE.

RE: The Washington Post - The interview with me is in today's Washington Post Express, which is their commuter version. Not sure if it's available beyond the area, as it's a daily freebie. If I discover there is a link online, I'll post it, but haven't seen the physical paper yet.

The flight here went well, though I find it ironic that the three older people sitting behind me complaining about how the world now has too much ambient noise would not shut up for the entire flight.

And this dude hates me.

OUT OF OUR IDIOT

First, my good friend and editor Maryanne Snell interviewed me for the Eclectica literary journal. Given how much we have worked together and the years we have known each other, I think Maryanne has a pretty good insight into what I do and so the interview is incisive as a result. I think, too, my comfortability with her gets me blabbing a little more openly. Read it here.

More interviews will be coming soon. I find it interesting how in depth people get with me, but no one ever asks me about my personal life. Everyone tries to draw me out on the Lance Scott question, for instance. "Is he you? Did this happen?" But no one ever says, "Well, what's your life like? Are you in a relationship?" and so on. If I was in another art form, they would, so I guess I'm saying it's odd to be doing work where I'm less a personality and it's about the work. Not that I wouldn't lie through my teeth, anyway.

Second, it's been a while since I've ranted about people at concerts, largely because my senior citizen's residency doesn't let me out for as many shows as they used to, but the ranting is back, so prepare.

Saturday night's Dirty Martini sold-out release party was a blast. The girls were in fine form, and even admitted that the previous night's concert at a larger venue had worked a lot of the jitters out. "Easy Kill" is my total live favorite, but their cover of "When Doves Cry" is also pretty exceptional. McKinley does the main vocals, and they've stripped the arrangement and made it sultry and slow. Very nice.

The concert was at the Mission Theatre & Pub, which normally hosts cheap movies and not live music. Sound-wise, it's actually not a bad place, but for actually hanging out and listening, it left a little to be desired. If they are going to sell more tickets than there are seats, then they should actually clear more areas for standing. Anyone without a chair was in the back or to the side, so no real dancing, a much more reserved atmosphere.

I ended up in a side pocket with another writer I know, Bill Cornett. For the first half of the show, we had a decent view, but we had to contend with what I liked to call the Tool Box. This was a handful of guys all wearing polo shirts tucked into their pants who stood around talking about cars and things of that nature. One of them was enthusing over the car he was going to be buying. He was going to get in the shade of "Root Beer Metallic." I swear to God, that is apparently a color. I immediately took out my moleskin and flipped to the back where I keep the list of fake band names and wrote down "Root Beer Metallic." They also had some girls with them, a couple of which could be described with some rather harsh words that rhyme with dimbulb (though, that word works on its own, too). The thing was, none of them shut up. They talked constantly, regardless of the dirty looks that myself and a guy in front of them made. I know they saw me. I made eye contact. It was clear. But no, they kept talking. Remember, kids, if the music gets louder, you don't start talking louder to be heard over it, you shut up.

I thought the Tool Box was going to be the worst of the night, but there were two guys who were a darker shade of asshole than Root Beer Metallic. They actually quieted the Tools down, as these dipshits harshed everyone's good time.

Well into Dirty Martin's set, these knuckleheads came over and stood in front of all of us. There was an empty space there, yes, but that was because there was a particularly large pole. We had all positioned ourselves so that we could see around the pole. For our inability to agree on how much talking was acceptable, we had created a balance for how we placed ourselves. These guys ruined it.

As soon as they were on the pole, they ignored our protests and our shuffling. One of them started taking pictures with his cell phone, holding it up in such a way that if I didn't move, I'd actually be staring through his fucking cell phone myself. What is that? Why do these imbeciles want to watch a concert through their phone? No one needs any more shitty phone pictures on Flickr. Honest. And we were only twenty feet away. The band looked smaller on screen than they would if he just watched with his own eyes.

The other guy kept text messaging from his Blackberry, so on either side, we had to look past their electronic glowing things. When they weren't focused on their machines, they would crack jokes to each other and laugh in such a way that can only be described as cackling. Sorority girls would be sickened by these two nimrods' giggly pillow-fight glee. And they were middle-aged men. The guy with the phone could have changed my grandfather's diapers the first time he wore them.

A couple songs into this behavior, I realized there was something I could do that would be much more delicious than telling these guys to fuck off. I moved in front of the pole, getting as far over into the path of the cell phone as I could without bugging the people sitting down. It seemed to work, because by the time I stopped pretending like I wasn't doing anything and turned around, they were gone, probably going home to take a bubble bath and text each other back and forth while looking at grainy concert photos.

Why are people such incredible douchebags?

Currently Reading: The Book of Fate by Brad Meltzer

Current Soundtrack: Gorillaz, Demon Days (they're here again)

Current Mood: irritated

I WOULD SOONER BE JUST BLINDLY LOVED

I apologize that all my posts this week are, "Look, my books are getting more reviews." Beyond my desire to share, the truth is that I've been hunkered down and writing You Have Killed Me, which looks to be on the schedule for next fall. (I heard a rumor that somewhere online I'm listed as debuting this book at the MOCCA festival in the late spring, but I haven't found where this was supposed to be; still, if you see that said, I have no idea who came up with such an idea.) It's hard to tell you exactly where I am with it, as I am not currently breaking everything down in pages and panels, a lot of it is just written as full scenes to be broken down later. I also spent a couple of hours yesterday looking at period photo books for the '30s and '40s. Writing-wise, I'll probably have at least 50% more when I open the file and start working today as I did on Monday--making me halfway there or more.

But before I get back to work...

Today we examine the double-edge of reviews. Sometimes they cut for you, sometimes against. Such is the game. I ain't mad.

The Johnny Bacardi Show has a review of 12 Reasons that is possibly as head-scratchingly "Huh?" as he accuses us of being, but in the end, I guess he liked it. Read for yourself: "There's a lot to like about this book; and a lot which just isn't my cuppa...but I was engaged all the way through against my inclinations, and that's saying something. B+"

And then over at Reader Views, Beverly Pechin has a completely awesome take on The Everlasting: "Jamie Rich somehow delves deep within the mind and soul of his main character, Lance Scott, and reveals a realistic view of man's mind and how it works. While I'm certain the book wasn't intended to open the window to a whole gender's way of thinking, it certainly happened upon it, even if only by mistake, with the end results being a quick smack to the forehead as you realize you know this guy in real life!"

Hot damn!

Current Soundtrack: Nicky Wire, I Killed the Zeitgeist

Current Mood: self-absorbed

golightly@confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * The Blog Roll * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

[to leave comments, click on the time-stamp below, then scroll down on the new page] – All text (c) 2006 Jamie S. Rich

"BECOME FRIENDS WITH THIS ZANY, FUNNY YOUNG MAN"

Curled Up With a Good Book has given The Everlasting three stars, and in addition to the above quote, they say things like, "Rich’s honest and tender prose about the complications of relationships is clever and engaging."

Read the full review here.

Thanks be also to the Comics Reporter and Journalista, both of whom linked to reviews of 12 Reasons Why I Love Her from their excellent blogs.

Current Soundtrack: The Killers, "When You Were Young" remixes

Current Mood: zany

golightly@confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * The Blog Roll * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

WHAT WOULD THE LOVED ONES SAY?

Things are gearing up for the reading tomorrow.

Dave Walker, the man behind Bad Azz Mofo and the Longbaugh Film Festival, wrote a very positive review of The Everlasting.

EXCERPT: "Using various voices and jumping around in time, The Everlasting reads like a combination personal diary, screenplay and detached narrative observation of the life and times of Lance Scott. If this were a movie, it would be shot using various media--film, digital video, maybe even puppets--with Lance often looking right into the camera to address the audience. As a work of fiction, jumping around so much is not something to be ventured into lightly. But to his credit, Rich, for the most part, is up to the task. " Read the rest here.

Regular supporter Mason West also wrote up the event over on his blog, as did Robert Fortney over on his. Thanks, guys!

I am going over what I want to read, and I can't decide what Lance selection. I've got "Toys for Boys," one of the deleted scenes from The Everlasting, as well as the printed chapters "Laughing Boy" (page 238) and "Actually It's Darkness" (page 275). I was also considering parts X & XI from "Romeo May be Bleeding, but Mercutio is Dead." Any of you Lance Scott fans out there have an opinion?

I think I am definitely going to try an experiment and read from the 12 Reasons Why I Love Her, and there is still a possibility I will give a preview of Have You Seen the Horizon Lately?.

So many decisions...

Current Soundtrack: The Orb, Okie Dokie, It's the Orb on Kompakt

Current Mood: confused