denise

Daily Dose of Music – Pandora

Sights & Sounds /

Thanks to Apophenia I’ve been playing with Pandora aka the Music Genome Project. Right now it is only for invite and if you’d like an invite just let me know and I can send you one!

Pandora runs on your browser so you don’t have to download or install special software and it doesn’t run on Real Player or anything like that. You can have it open in a full browser or in a small “player browser”.

You create your own stations by entering the name of a particular artist or song and it creates a station made up of music that are “similar”. Some of the stations are right on and others are a little odd. They have a lot of Indie musicians, but no Melissa Ferrick. Oddly enough, they have Suzanne Buirgy.

There are no commercials at all and you can skip songs. There’s a menu for each song that is playing where you can find out why they’ve chosen a particular song for that station. You can also say “I really like this song” or “I don’t really like this song”. If you indicate you don’t like something, they won’t play it on your station again.

I like it better than the Yahoo Launchcast but am still not sure I’ll be willing to pay for it when it becomes a paid service.

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MuggleCast

Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Favorites, Fiction, Harry Potter /


The folks at MuggleNet are bringing us MuggleCasts!

We’re enjoying episode one at the moment. The guys are pretty good at sharing their thoughts and ideas about all things HP. If you’re interested in speculating about what happens next and what clues have been given thus far then I think you’ll enjoying giving these podcasts a listen. If you don’t have an iPod or other MP3 player, you can download the segments to your computer and listen that way.

I do take exception to the early part of this particular podcast. The guys seem to think that younger children don’t actually read HP books. They think that the length alone is too daunting for an eight year old and parents are actually reading these to their children. Do these guys know any eight year olds because our children definitely read the books when they were eight. We didn’t read them outloud and we didn’t buy audio versions. Don’t underestimate a kid’s ability to get into really good reading material!

Warning! Spoilers abound!

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Daily Dose of Blogher – Pheedo

Daily Dose /

Ages ago the Blog Herald decided to misinterpret the partnership between BlogHer and Pheedo. Yet another example of what I was talking about in my last post.

Yes, Pheedo and BlogHer teamed up to support women bloggers. They did not team up in order to discriminate against male bloggers. The only reason someone could be excluded is if he (or she) chooses not to support BlogHer. If you are excluded then it is your own fault and not the fault of either Pheedo or BlogHer or of men or women.

What is the problem? I mean really. If some ad group teams up with GLBT bloggers, I’m pretty sure they’d let the straight folks into the fun if they wanted to support the gay cause. If some ad group teams up with mommybloggers, I’m sure they’d be happy to let the childfree folks join if they wanted to support the mommyblogger cause. Creating new opportunities for groups is not exclusionary, the attitude of those who do not believe in the cause IS.

Go on, include yourself, we’re happy to have you join us and if you see a BlogHer ad on someone’s – site or feed click it!

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Daily Dose of Pet Peeves – Equality

Daily Dose /

Happy Belated Women’s Equality Day! I meant to post this on Friday but life is hectic and I’m still sick so we are celebrating a wee bit late on the Daily Dose of Denise. Better late than never, eh? (Speaking of celebrating, run over to Ms. Magazine and celebrate buy getting a reduced subscription rate!)
e·qual·i·ty n. pl. e·qual·i·ties
The state or quality of being equal.

Nowhere in that definition does it say “better than” so why is it that people hear “women’s equality” and think “Oh brother, there they go again with the male bashing.” I just do not understand why people hear “better than” when they hear the word equality used in conjunction with the words women, gay, black, minority etc…

Our radio station did this on Friday. In celebration of Women’s Equality Day they asked people to call in and give examples of how women are better than men. Why, Why, Why, Why!???? Don’t they know that this is the sort of thing that causes feminist bashing and makes the fight for equality for EVERYONE just that much more difficult? Why didn’t they ask people to call in and talk about how having the right to VOTE has made a difference in their lives? Wouldn’t that be a more useful celebration? How about asking women and men to call in and tell how much they make a year, so there could have been discussion about the inequality that remains? There are so many other ways to celebrate Women’s Equality Day. Grrrr!

My ex husband, my ex fil, my ex mil – all of them would hear the words “equal rights” for whatever minority group was clamoring for change and hear “better than” or “special rights”. They drove me nuts, they still drive me nuts. I’ve heard school children say that people asking for equality are asking for special rights to help make their lives better than other people’s. I’ve heard WOMEN bash feminists and feminism because they are uncomfortable saying they are better than men or deserve more rights than men. I have been known to yell “THEY AREN’T ASKING FOR SPECIAL RIGHTS! THEY AREN’T SAYING THEY ARE BETTER! PAY ATTENTION! GET A DICTIONARY!”

Come on folks, all together now, equality means being EQUAL, not being BETTER!

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Brilliant Women Journal

Bookcrossing, Books in Bed, Favorites, Reading Lists /

I joined a Bookcrossing book ray for something called Brilliant Women Journal and I’m amazed at the book I have sitting in front of me today.

The entries that those before me have made are incredible. I wasn’t expecting the artwork, the glitter, the stickers, it has some sewn pages for goodness sakes. I’ve had the book for ages. I keep picking it up and reading the passages and pondering which brilliant women I will add to the journal.

Unfortunately, I can’t decide! All women are brilliant! And I don’t do “favorites” very easily or very well. I have to do something though, I am feeling very guilty for holding onto this for so long and denying others the pleasure I’ve had from picking it up and sifting through its pages about brilliant women, entered by brilliant women.

Help me out, which brilliant women authors and characters would you include in this journal if it was sitting in front of you?

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My Dirty Little Secret

Books in Bed, Don't Read This /

I have a secret. It is one that I try not to think about too often but I am going to share it with you because I trust you to understand.

I want to join a book banning campaign. I want to burn books.

There, I said it. Isn’t it horrible? So far I have been able to keep my impulse to ban or burn under wraps but it is difficult. It is more difficult when I hear someone talk about the very book I want to ban or burn. That happened recently when Amanda Marcette at Pandagon blogged Nothing More Counter-Cultural Than a Burqua. You see Amanda was talking about Wendy Shalit’s book “A Return to Modesty” (which I will not link because I want to burn it or ban it and I do not want to expose you to something as horrible as this particular book).

I totally and completely agree with Amanda, Shalit has found just another way to teach women to hate their bodies. She’s trying to discourage women from being proud of who they are and telling the world just what they think. Her book actually suggests that women who have not “returned to modesty” get what they deserve when they are treated poorly by men or even by other women. Can you imagine? Shouldn’t a woman like Wendy Shalit understand just how harmful that type of talk is to women – and to men???

I read this book as soon as it was released (2002) because the website I was spending a lot of time on was having a live chat with the author. After I finished I felt the need to burn and ban, stronger than virtually any feeling I’ve ever had. But, it’s against my “religion” to do such a thing to a book, ya know? Some people have suggested I sell it or give it away but I do not want anyone impressionable to read such trash and I don’t want to expose non-impressionable people with it either. So, there it still sits on my shelf.

Every now and then I see it and feel the urge to lay a fire in the fireplace (bad idea since I live in Florida and it’s often way too hot for a fire). Banned Books Week is coming up, I’m feeling the temptation to start a campaign. Argh!

This is the only book in my house that I have forbidden my children from reading. They can read the lesbian erotica. They can read the blood and gore mysteries. They can read the two Harlequin’s on the shelf. They can read Dr Laura but they cannot EVER read A Return to Modesty. It’s a Lost Virtue that I hope stays lost forever.

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The Ministry of Reshelving

Books in Bed, Bookstores /

Courtesy of Jane – will you join the minstry? And, shouldn’t we be reshelving in libraries too?

1. Select a local bookstore to carry out your reshelving activities.

2. Download and print “This book has been relocated by the Ministry of Reshelving” bookmarks and “All copies of 1984 have been relocated” notecards to take with you to the bookstore. Or make your own. We recommend bringing a notecard and 5-10 bookmarks to each store.

3. Go to the bookstore and locate its copies of George Orwell’s 1984. Unless the Ministry of Reshelving has already visited this bookstore, it is probably currently incorrectly classified as “Fiction” or “Literature.”

4. Discreetly move all copies of 1984 to a more suitable section, such as “Current Events”, “Politics”, “History”, “True Crime”, or “New Non-Fiction.”

5. Insert a Ministry of Reshelving bookmark into each copy of any book you have moved. Leave a notecard in the empty space the books once occupied.

6. If you spot other incorrectly classified books, feel free to relocate them.

7. Please report all reshelving efforts to the Ministry. Email your store name, location, # of 1984 copies reshelved, and any other reshelving activities conducted, to reshelving @ avantgame.com. Photos of your mission can be uploaded to Flickr, tagged as “reshelving”, and submitted to the Ministry of Reshelving group.

Our goal is to relocate one thousand nine hundred and eighty-four copies, and to complete successful reshelving of 1984 in all 50 United States. Global contributions are welcome.

Note: this project is not a critique of bookstore culture, the state of the shelving industry, or even of pervasive government surveillance. It is merely an observation that 2 + 2 = 5, and 5 is no longer fiction.

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The Virgin of Bennington

2005, Books in Bed, Don't Read This, Non-Fiction /


The title is better than the book, lol. Maybe I am just non-fictioned out or maybe I’m not a Kathleen Norris fan and someone else might enjoy this more than I did. It started out well enough, a conservative and relatively sheltered young woman going from Hawaii to Bennington – shock of shocks – but moved quickly into true boredome. The woman was just plain boring, if you ask me. Even when she was doing a bit more “living” she was boring. Boring, boring, boring.

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Looking Back

2005, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Favorites, Non-Fiction /


I saw this reviewed on some book blog (I’m sorry for not remembering which in order to give proper credit) and promptly reserved it at the library. I was surprised to see that I was first on the reserve list, I assumed it would be more popular than that because of Lowry’s popularity among kids, parents and teachers alike.

TW read it on Saturday and kept laughing and I kept saying “what???!” so she’d read parts to me all the way through it. I picked it up early on Sunday morning and enjoyed it immensely. Though I’d have enjoyed it more if TW hadn’t read me almost all ofthe good parts the day before. 😉

This is the way a children’s author, or any author, should write a biography. I really loved it and would happily recommend it to anyone who is a Lois Lowry fan or even someone like me who likes her books well enough but isn’t as enthralled by them as the rest of the world seems to be.

I actually thought about re-reading some of her books just because I enjoyed “Looking Back: A Book of Memories” so much. (And if anyone knows where I can find the Anastasia books on CD, let me know. E loved the only one we could find and NEEEDS more Anastasia!)

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A Walk in the Woodszzzzz

2005, Books in Bed, Non-Fiction /

OK could someone explain to me why people actually love A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson? More to the point can you explain why people call this a really funny book? Why they say things like “laughed my head off” and “extremely funny” when describing it?

I know I was sick but I didn’t laugh. OK I laughed once but it was in the second half of the book which most reviewers seemed to find less funny. I kept wondering if I had checked out the wrong version from the library or something.

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