Archives
I was asked yesterday what I'm looking forward to when I get back home. I answered, "cricket, warm weather, and seeing my family and friends". But, obviously, not necessarily in that order. It occurred to me today that I'm also looking forward to not being so busy or surrounded by so many busy, busy, busy people.
New York's just like that. You invite people to a party here and a bunch of them won't even respond: they won't say they'll be there, they won't say they can't make it, and then they won't show up. It's not because they hate you. It's just because they're busy, overwhelmed, drowning. And when I'm here I wind up just as busy, just as behind ...
Posted by Justine at 22:03, October 31st, 2005 under New York City/USA, Sydney/Australia |
Only two panels, so there'll be heaps of time to hang out in the bar. Woo hoo!
Thursday 2:00-3:00PM
Gender-Bending Fantasy (Capitol A)
Inhabitants of fantastic worlds typically disregard the laws of physics, and frequently re-cast societal norms to fit an un-earthly reality. This panel will discuss recent fantasy fiction that challenges assumptions of sex and gender.
Terry A. Garey, Ellen Klages, Justine Larbalestier(M), Diane Martin, Jill Roberts
Friday 12:00-1:00PM
Images of Women in Fantasy Literature (Capitol A)
The home of WisCon, Madison is the center for feminism in fantasy and science fiction. We will discuss the roles women have had in fantasy since Tolkien. Fantasy has become populated with women, finally, but are they realistic women who provide good role models? Can modern feminist ideals be ...
Posted by Justine at 10:26, October 30th, 2005 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Feminism |
I can't do this. I can't do freezing cold weather. I can't. We just walked four blocks through icy wind and some sleet and it makes we want to curl up in a ball and cry and cry. I'm never ever ever staying this late in the Northern hemsphere. From now on at the very very most it'll be June to September.
As Elvis is my witness I will never be cold again!
Posted by Justine at 11:25, October 29th, 2005 under New York City/USA, Ranting, State of the World, Whingeing |
Last night I tried fresh
yuba for the very first time and it were sublime.
photo swiped from
this site
I also ate the best edamame I've ever had (fresh and smoky), sake (unfiltered milky goodness), and chestnut icecream (words fail me).
The meal ended twelve hours ago, but I'm still in heaven just remembering all the flavours: eel stuffed with fresh tofu, skirt steak cooked in miso with enoki mushrooms, black sesame ice cream.
Food is good. Life is good.
Posted by Justine at 10:31, October 28th, 2005 under Food, Liquids, New York City/USA |
There are no pictures of
Daniel Vettori posted on this blog, with or without his shirt on. So all you folks googling "Daniel Vettori no shirt" or "Daniel Vettori sexy" can just move along to say
here. And really, people, Daniel Vettori is not sexy. Michael Holding or Keith Miller now that's sexy.
Posted by Justine at 15:51, October 27th, 2005 under Cricket, Sport, Viewing |
Good on ya, Sheryl!
Photo by Lorenzo Pesce
Posted by Justine at 18:48, October 26th, 2005 under Basketball, Sport, State of the World |
Marrije asks what a mangosteen is. No words can convey the glory of the mangosteen. Instead I offer you this photograph:
which I swiped from dunnowhere ages ago stupidly forgetting to get the photographer's name. Whoever took this: it's © you.
Posted by Justine at 18:04, October 25th, 2005 under Food, Mangosteens |
Just read and giggled all over
this post by
Diana Peterfreund in which she wittily whinges about all the work she has to do (and skewers Star Wars). It struck a chord cause I was just about to whinge about the pageproofs of
Daughters of Earth which just landed in my life with a very heavy thunk.
Aaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!
Diana (I'm taking liberties referring to her by first name, I don't actually know her, but I read her fabbie blog, so I feel like I know her) starts by referring to a
harder working writer who has family on top of it all, whereas Diana just has her sailor boy and a full-time job. I'm going to lower the ...
Posted by Justine at 13:45, October 24th, 2005 under Bloggery, Daughters of Earth, Excuses, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Magic or Madness trilogy, Ranting, Travelling, Whingeing, Writing life |
One of the freebie books I picked up in Atlantic City is The Believer Book of Writers Talking to Writers. In the intro it mentions that one of the interviews was conducted at a cricket match. So what did I do next? I leafed through every interview until I found that one, which turned out to be Adam Thirlwell talking to Tom Stoppard. But, here's what a cricket tragic am I---once I got to the interview I skimmed impatiently through discussions of how Stoppard conceives and writes his plays, of Ionesco and Sappho and 9/11 and blah blah bloody blah, trying to find where they talk about the cricket being played in front of them.
I was beginning to think ...
Posted by Justine at 1:52, October 24th, 2005 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Cricket, New York City/USA, Reading, Sport |
I'm not sure I've mentioned how much I adore cricket writer, Peter Roebuck. Mostly it's cause his over-the-top metaphors and similies crack me up. He funny (and I can never tell whether it's on purpose or not).
I'm frequently asked why I love the game of cricket so much. It's a hard question to answer because there are so many answers. One of them has to do with the complex and fascinating history of the game and the countries it's played in, which Mr Roebuck sums up in
his latest piece for the Sydney Morning Herald in a satisfyingly overblown way:
In many respects, cricket is the most unruly of games. Consider its component parts. Ten teams play Test cricket. ...
Posted by Justine at 15:34, October 22nd, 2005 under Cricket, Sport, State of the World |
Lovely
Maud just linked to
this collection of Amazon one-star reviews of books that made
Time's top 100 books list (of which I have read only 41 'cause they left off most of my faves---Bastards! Unsurprisingly, it's very US-centric). Anyways, the whole one-star reviews thing made me very very happy. Reading one-star Amazon reviews
always makes me very happy. They so funny!
Posted by Justine at 14:25, October 21st, 2005 under Bloggery, Reading |
Posted by Justine at 13:43, October 20th, 2005 under Basketball, Cons & Other Gatherings, Cricket, Food, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Liquids, Listening, Magic or Madness trilogy, New York City/USA, Scott's books, Sport, Travelling, Words & Language, Young Adult literature |
I don't want to rubbish a whole city, especially when I was only there for a few hours, but Atlantic City is an erky perky bleah of a place. Friends warned me it was a shithole---I had no idea they were being kind. It's ugly, full of the most hideous buildings ever built and populated by zombie gamblers, who are served by an army of twelve-year-old incompetent staff. Once you're inside one of the casinos it's almost impossible to get out again. All signs lead to more gambling areas. I'm convinced that hell will be nothing but Atlantic City casinos.
This is heresy for an Australian, but, I hate gambling. I love cards and I'll bet on them, but not with ...
Posted by Justine at 9:56, October 19th, 2005 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Magic or Madness trilogy, New York City/USA, Ranting, Reading, Science, Scott's books, State of the World, Travelling, Viewing, Whingeing, Young Adult literature, Zombies |
Posted by Justine at 16:19, October 18th, 2005 under Scott's books, Sydney/Australia, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 0:24, October 17th, 2005 under How To Ditch Your Fairy, Listening, Magic or Madness trilogy, New York City/USA, Writing life, Young Adult literature |
After a month of no motorised transport there was a vast deal today. Cars, planes, taxis. We went from San Miguel to Mexico City to New York City. We are tired. Tomorrow there will be trains: to Brooklyn and back (see previous post). The day after that buses to Atlantic City. It'll be broom broom broom all the time. I will pine for walks on cobble-stoned streets.
Since I promised
Cherie that I'd blog every day once I left Mexico. I'm blogging at this late hour despite fatigue. How good am I? Say thank you, Cherie. Also tomorrow seems to be too chockers for blogging so I thought I'd sneak it in early.
Things that i achieved in San Miguel:
photos of ...
Posted by Justine at 2:33, October 16th, 2005 under Bloggery, Cricket, Magic or Madness trilogy, New York City/USA, Sport, State of the World, Travelling, Whingeing |
Next week is Teen Read Week and me and Scott will be doing a bunch of readings and signings around the traps.
First up, the very day after we get back from Mexico, so expect us to be full of Mexican cheer (I plan to wear my Mexican cowboy hat and may do the entire reading in Spanish):
Sunday 16 October, 6:00PM
Justine Larbalestier
Bennett Madison
Scott Westerfeld
Barbès Reading Series
376 Ninth Street (at 6th Ave.)
Barbès Bar
Park Slope, Brooklyn
New York
I'll be reading from Magic Lessons the sequel to Magic or Madness in a way that gives absolutely nothing away if you haven't read the first book. I'll also read a wee bit from a brand-new novel I've been working on. Scott will ...
Posted by Justine at 14:20, October 14th, 2005 under Magic or Madness trilogy, New York City/USA, Reading, Scott's books, Travelling, Young Adult literature |
We went out to San Miguel's botanical gardens, a large and beautiful cactus preserve. There have been many changes since the last time we visited in February 2004. First up there are new dunnies.
La Bond and
Mr Rowe will appreciate the difference. Eighteen months ago there was just one: a tiny tin shed without dunny paper or the ability to flush convincingly. Now it is a thing of splendour. Behold:
Also it comes complete with lovely guardian dog.
Last time we visited it hadn't rained in months. This time it was autumn after much rain.
Before:
Now:
And the cactus is in bloom:
Remind me why we're leaving again?
Posted by Justine at 13:33, October 13th, 2005 under Toilets, Travelling, Viewing |
I finally did it. I finally got a photo of a hummingbird. Hell, I got two. What kind of a genius, am I? And it required no patience or planning at all. I just happened to be in the kitchen with the camera.
You see it? There in the centre right of the photo, just behind the pale purple flowers.
No? Well how about in this photo:
This time look just left of the pale purple flowers.
Okay then, here's the first photo again, but this time cropped with the hummingbird dead centre:
And the second, also cropped and in the centre:
See it? Isn't that cool? You don't see it? Look closer, damn it! See the grey blur? See the ...
Posted by Justine at 13:26, October 11th, 2005 under Frippery, Listening, Travelling, Viewing |
I'm the invisible one.
Posted by Justine at 12:54, October 7th, 2005 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Scott's books, Travelling, Writing life |
Posted by Justine at 17:44, October 5th, 2005 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Travelling |
