Category: Fanciful Delights

dear internet: here is compendium of things that struck my fancy this week. need more to read? check out the fanciful delights archive. x0x0, lisa

things i have written

witty bitches is throwing love to a piece i wrote for them a year ago.

books / movies / tv

i just finished a modern retelling of northanger abbey and apparently i have opinions on it. i started the fourth book in the mistress of the art of death series, a murderous procession. if you’re into lady power books about a woman doctor in medieval england, check that series out.
i saw Ghostbusters over the weekend and adored it. i still need to catch up on: Independence Day, Star Trek Beyond, Legend of Tarzan, The Secret Life of Pets, Ab Fab (the movie), X-Men Apocalypse, Love & Friendship, and Genius are a few off hand I need to see. don’t judge.

fanciful delights

this is going in the tmi category, but you can now get your sperm account via your iphone. here’s why the octopus has been used a lot in cartography. you can live straddled on the border of US and Canada and there is this tiny library  which is in Vermont AND Quebec, and you need a border guard to get through. allegedly. if you ignore someone, it’s called “ghosting” and yep, there is a bot to do it for you. while i’ll admit i have mixed feelings about zelda + scott (was she really crazy? did he steal her writing?), they are one of my favorite literary couples. having spent most of my adult life in long distance relationships, i thought this was pretty apt. more in the tmi realm, you can now have coloring pages of cunts. here is the long lost letter from neal cassady to jack kerouac. i don’t think i’ll make it writing about my life for six centuries but this family did. in one of the most remote inhabited areas in the world, socks are the stuff of love. i grew up with sassy. let’s pretend to not be surprised women that are bossy are treated as assholes. yeah, we should be paid for our art but some continue to think otherwise. why CAN’T condoms be cute? ayn rand was wrong — she who is most resilient is she who is most connected. if I can meditate, 383 consecutive days, then anyone can meditate. Having worked a bookstore was far more informative than getting a degree in English lit. Who knew Juggalos were so progressive? franny + zooey forever. now that i’m over 40, working long hours apparently makes me dumber.

This day in Lisa-universe: 2012, 2011, 2003, 2002, 1998

 

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dear internet: Here are a compendium of things that struck my fancy this week. need more to read? check out the fanciful delights archive. x0x0, lisa

books / movies / tv

In my new job, I am doing a lot of data entry so it gives me time listen to a lot of audiobooks, which works in my favor for two reasons; I can catch up on my to be read piles and being read to while I work. if you’re into period mysteries, I would suggest Mr. Churchill’s Secretary and Maisie Dobbs, both beginning of respective series. In print books, I’ve been having a French moment. I always recommend Marian Keyes and Jane Austen pastiches. I also really enjoyed a novel that seemed to be parallel to my life. In need for a mindful pickup? Learn how to love or silly pug illustrations for a laugh.
There is too much going on in the TV world but currently I’m having a Scottish moment and I’m mainlining Monarch of the Glen.  TheExHusband and I recently saw Swiss Army Man, a flick that filled with quirks and farts but not surprisingly is quite good.

fanciful delights

Missed or haven’t seen Game of Thrones? Samuel L. Jackson will catch you up. Did you know writing will help you get a job faster, handle hard times,  and help with gratitude and allows you to understand the world? Then how you write gets boiled down to cooking terms. (See what I did there?) Now you all know why I keep an online diary. Hrm, I’v called corner stores “liquor stores,” “party stores,” and “convenience store.” What do you call your corner store? Part of mindfulness steps is to get rid of a lot of stuff. And to get cliched, do you know what your good life is? You can stop sabotaging yourself now. Haven’t we learned there is no pattern for creative people other than they have their own thing. Don’t forget Google knows all. Most people are beyond crueland are borderline sadists. Miss ’90s television? While Brexit looms, learn how Britain was unified. I’m always curious to know, scientifically, why I like the things I like.

This day in Lisa-universe: 2015, 2014, 2012, 2011, 2003, 1999, 1998

 

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Want to start at the beginning?
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Dear Internet,
Inspired by my Star Trek lovin’ pal, Carrie-Anne, I’m restructuring a bit how Fanciful Delights will be presented, thus in addition to things that have struck my fancy for that week with a bullet point list of what’s happening in my life.
Which I’ll start next week because it’s late Sunday night and I am grumpily need to get to bed.
xoxo,
lisa

things I have written

þ palindrome birthday in which I discuss turning 44 and love.

Fanciful Delights

þ The Unbelievable Tale of Jesus’s Wife An account of the potentiality of Jesus having been married. Dan Brown novel or reality? You decide.
þ How a boy from the Sri Lankan jungle formed the greatest punk band you’ve never heard You don’t have to be in punk or even post-punk to marvel at a slice of music history. If you’re discovering obscure or very little known bands, check out Death, an all Black punk band from Detroit that pre-date even The Ramones. The documentary is fabulous.
þ Dear Broke Reader: Your Sense of Entitlement is Killing Me A thoughtful argument on the nature of getting paid for creative work and those who steal from creators. You’ve seen variations of this argument with illustrators and other creative types but here the case is pushed forward because it’s not that people are asking for something for nothing but they are just taking that something without paying, e.g. illegal downloads of the work. There are numerous ways you can pay an author, and not necessarily in cash, for their work:

• Buy the book outright. Even used books while the money isn’t going directly to the author, the work is being shared and loved by more people
• Check out the item from the library. You are not paying directly for the authors books but the more a book / author is checked out, higher likelihood that more copies will be purchased not for just this title but for the author’s other works are well you’re also sharing in the love.
• Support the author on social media. Sharing IS caring and the more people know about an author, the more people will buy from that author, and so on it goes.

This day in Lisa-universe: 2014, 2013, 2002

 

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Want to start at the beginning?
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Dear Internet, Here are a compendium of things that struck my fancy this week. x0x0, lisa

Fanciful Delights

þ Before there was Chuck Norris, there were The Forgotten Female Action Stars of the 1910s
þ My paternal grandmother was from Mull, so that’s one of my connections to Scotland. (FUN FACT. My paternal grandmother was born in 1880 or 1890, I forget which. (My dad was born in 1927.)) I present to you 12 maps that show a variety of geographical and population information in / of Scotland.
þ If you’re not hip to your feminist history, Mary Wollstonecraft is considered to be the first modern feminist whose work, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, was published in 1792. You may know her as the mother of Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein. To commerate Wollstonecraft, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency has recently published Women Who Should Be Pretty Pissed Off: Vindicating Mary Wollstonecraft.
þ Around Easter is when I start getting obnoxious about Peeps and next year, I’m totally making peepshi!
þ I am partially obsessed with French way of life which has recently been intensified by this curated link collection of 63 Things You Can Do Like a French Girl. (Psst: I’ve started reading How to Be Parisian Wherever You Are: Love, Style, and Bad Habits and French Women Don’t Get Fat.)

This day in Lisa-universe: 2014, 2012, 2004, 1998

 

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Subscribe to the mailing list, Bloglovin’, or
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frequently? Subscribe to A Most Unreliable Narrator.
Want to start at the beginning?
Buy my book, The Lisa Chronicles: Vol 1: 1998

Dear Internet, Here is a compendium of things that struck my fancy this week. x0x0, lisa

Fanciful Delights

þ Other than my birthday, Eurovision is the second best time of the year. “Come for the camp, stay for the geopolitical intrigue.”
þ As you may have guessed, I’m always on the lookout for new (or regurgitated) list/articles telling me how to become a successful person. This list is no different BUT there is anecdotal evidence so one person’s failures / successes are always delightful.
þ I fell in love with turn of the century style and pop culture in 2004 when I went to Paris. To help feed that love, New York Public Library has made available 2000 turn of the 20th century pop culture posters.
þ I am still on the fence about seeing Batman vs Superman, but Lego Batman? Top of my list for 2017. (After Wonder Woman, of course.)
þ This past week has had loads of tragic occurrences (can we just throat punch half the world now?) but the article that Microsoft had to remove their twitter AI after it became a Hitler-loving sex robot within 24 hours cheered me up a bit.
þ Remember a few weeks ago when I mentioned I was growing warmer to the idea of the Brontes? Here’s another piece of evidence why I should love them.

This day in Lisa-Universe in:

 

Want to be the first in the know when a new entry posts?
Subscribe to the mailing list, Bloglovin’, or
follow via RSS. Want Lisa goodness but less
frequently? Subscribe to A Most Unreliable Narrator.
Want to start at the beginning?
Buy my book, The Lisa Chronicles: Vol 1: 1998

A WEEKLY COMPENDIUM OF THINGS THAT DELIGHT MY FANCY.

Dear Internet, Enjoy!  x0x0, lisa

Writing

Cunning Tales from a Systems Librarian
þ So now you’ve got that in-person interview!

Fanciful Delights

þ If you came of age in the ’90s, you may remember Sassy magazine. Someone put together a list the complete list Sassy’s Cute Band Alert! Oh. Youth.
þ Depending on the time of day, and who you ask, I’m either 5’10 or 6′. They say you’re taller in the morning than you are in the afternoon (though finding a legit site to support this seems to be a tad difficult), which tends to explain the difference (and don’t get me started on people lying about their height either). Having good posture, according to The Art of Manliness, is essential for confidence and looking trim. HRM.
þ While I, too, sometimes gravitate to the obscure, this fellow takes it to a whole ‘nother level.
þ I met my first online -> in person boyfriend in 1995. Who knew I was such a trend setter?
þ I’m really into social history, the more obscure (sense a theme here) the better — can you imagine being this coroner in the 1900s?
þ I tried to bring hugger-mugger back into circulation, but alas, it has not been successful.
þ Now that I know how to take a torc on and off, I obviously need one.
þ Ever wanted to give your books leather covers? Here you go.
þ If I had £10,000, I would buy this
þ This needs no further introduction: Americans bought more legal pot than Girl Scout cookies in 2015
þ In Celebration of Old-School LiveJournal (Just a FYI, my LiveJournal account is still active.)
þ I’m a big proponent of self-care, so anything in that realm is totally helpful
þ Also add in: cable split jacks, Bob Dole, slider boxes, analog cell phones

This day in Lisa-Universe in: 2014, 2004, 2001, 2000

A WEEKLY COMPENDIUM OF THINGS THAT DELIGHT MY FANCY.

Dear Internet, You can follow this collection on Pinterest. x0x0, lisa

Writing

Cunning Tales from a Systems Librarian
þ How To: Become a Library Future(ist) – part i
þ LibUX interviewed me on unicorn librarian jobs and more for their podcast and it went live this week! If you have 30 minutes, go take a listen!
þ personal anacdotes on misc

Fanciful Delights

þ A few months I went on OKCupid out of pure curiosity. With a only a photo and blank profile, I received half a dozen “hey baby” messages within 5 minutes. Nope nope nope and deactivated my account. When I read My First 48 hours As An OkCupid Moderator, it confirmed why I’m only dating myself and I like to keep it that way
þ I am growing warmer to the Brontë’s and I have to concede Jane Eyre and the Invention of the Self is a great nod to that argument
þ By answering a few questions, Bright Cellars will pinpoint the perfect wine for you
þ Another rock star writer named Jonathan cannot keep his dick in his pants
þ At least one person asked me if helped empty the world’s supply of scotch, but I can’t stand the stuff (or bourbon, rye, or whisky). Trust me. I’ve tried. I’m a vodka girl through and through.
þ Matthew Rhys (Phillip in The Americans) in his glorious Welsh self and Matthew Goode, because he’s Matthew Goode, have a tv series coming out called, The Wine Show. Sign me up!
þ My body is a quirky son of a bitch. Once it gets used to something, it decides it doesn’t like it anymore. See: crazy drugs. While the same happened with the Mirena IUD, it still remains the most popular contraceptive I advocate. I was thrilled to learn Thanks to IUDs, Unintended Pregnancies Are Falling for the First Time in Decades
þ Relevant to my interests, a podcast discussing nothing but Icelandic saga
þ Mormons and non-Mormons are having it out via Amazon reviews over a 1981 edition of the The Book of Mormon
þ Believe it or not, the Prohibition Party still exists
þ Things you learn when playing rugby
þ I am totally looking forward to being 60 and rocking jeans, pop culture tshirts, Chucks, and cardigans so this listicle makes me pretty happy. #14 of the lady and her tattoo sleeves? That will so be me.
þ If you’ve seen Star Wars VII, you’re away the adorableness that is BB-8. Well now someone has made him — out of LEGOs
þ Mr. Darcy’s Shirt Is Coming to America: “A half-serious proposal to keep the shirt wet and molded to its display dummy by using misters like those in grocery store produce sections was deemed ‘curatorially unsound…'”.
þ aaastateofplay.com, using Social Security birth registered records, have calculated the top ten male and female names for every decade going back to the 1880s. “Lisa” shows up only once, in the 1970s, and is never seen again. Growing up, there were always at least three Lisas in my classes. As I got older, went to college, getting adult jobs — I can rarely find a Lisa anywhere. I don’t think I even know a Lisa up to my extended schedule. Now, where the hell are the other Lisa’s?? Are they being hunted down? Am I next?? It remains a mystery of the age.
þ Miniature milestone as Russian claims new record for world’s tiniest book
 

This day in Lisa-Universe: 2014, 2012, 2003, 1999

A WEEKLY COMPENDIUM OF THINGS THAT DELIGHT MY FANCY.

Dear Internet, You can follow this collection on Pinterest. x0x0, lisa

Writing

Cunning Tales from a Systems Librarian
þ I Want To Be A XXX Librarian, Part IV – In which I discuss the hows, whats, and whens for applying for jobs.

Fanciful Delights

þ A zen approach on how to become the worlds greatest lover
þ Umberto Eco passed away this week. Here are 10 of his best quotes
þ Who marries whom – how your job impacts who you will marry. (Librarians to marry software devs to truckers?!)
þ As we know, fairytales have been around forever, but did you know science has developed a theory they date as far back as 6,000 years ago?
þ New intro and teaser for the rebooted Powerpuff Girls (yay!)
þ This is tres super cool: You can now interact with Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights and there is also an accompanying app
þ Remember the book 1000 Recordings To Hear Before You Die? Someone made a Spotify playlist of 792 of those songs
þ When I was in Amsterdam a few years back, I went to the Van Gogh Museum only to find most of it was under massive refurbishing and I missed out on a lot of Van Gogh’s works. No more! I can now peruse hundreds of Van Gogh’s work, in high resolution, online
þ If you’re interested in cryptocurrencies, Princton has released, for free, a PDF of Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies with the print version coming out this fall. The book is being used in Princeton’s Coursera class of the same name
þ Someone can now, literally, eat a bag of dicks
þ I am beginning to get the impression Cummings’ poem, [i carry your heart with me(i carry it in] is the Starry Night of love poetry, but fuck it. I love this poem and this stop motion video is gorgeous
þ FreshComfy makes gorgeous literary scarves you can wrap yourself up in
þ You can now graduate with a master’s degree in Samuel Beckett
þ A mashup of literary lovers who deserve each other
þ “Juicing is not just another fad though: it is a privileged, wasteful form of food consumption that’s worse for you than cooking and bad for the environment; juicing is the triumph of marketing over science.”
þ “...the difference between whitewashing POC characters and making previously white characters POC”
þ Iceland to build first temple to Norse gods in 1,000 years
þ Ancient genomes reveal that the English are one-third Anglo-Saxon
þ You can now download nearly 500 catalogs and art books, for free!, from the Metropolitan Museum.
þ As a Doctor Who fan, you can now have your name written in Gallifreyan

This day in Lisa-Universe in:

A WEEKLY COMPENDIUM OF THINGS THAT DELIGHT MY FANCY.

(I’ve been passing loads of stuff around the interwebs (not contagious) and decided it was time to quasi get this feature back up and running.)

Fanciful Delights

♥There are seven different kinds of love.
♥ I am really, really, digging Girl on the Net. Think of it as if Dan Savage lost his transphobia, was a woman, and wrote straight up honest content and advice for for women and everyone else in getting a healthy dose of sex information, how tos, and more. Love. Her.
♥ In the reimagined world of Riverdale, it is revealed that Jughead is asexual.
♥ Started February 17, there is a free MOOC on Comics: Art in Relationships
♥ I saw Pride and Prejudice and Zombies last week and Loved. It. (Think of it as campy, parody fun filled zombie film.) To back up my critique of this awesome sauce, Wired wrote, “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” Is More Than the Sum of Its Undead Parts.
♥ Need relaxation? There is a seven hour video of a train trip on YouTube
♥ Peter Coddle’s Trip to New York is the 1880s version of Cards Against Humanity
♥ The near complete list of all set lists from 120 Minutes

This day in Lisa-Universe in: 2012, 2000

A WEEKLY COMPENDIUM OF THINGS THAT DELIGHT MY FANCY.

Dear Internet, You can follow this collection on Pinterest. x0x0, lisa

WRITING

Articles
♥  “Devil’s Advocate: Just Because I Divorced Him Doesn’t Mean He’s Not My Best Friend” (essay), A Practical Wedding, October 2015

READING

♥ I recently finished Sweet Tooth, Speak Easy, The Last Kingdom, Interpreter of Maladies, The Shepard’s Crown to name but a few. Naturally, I keep a list of books I read every year.

FANCIFUL DELIGHTS

♥ Karen Gillian wrote and directs a short on the probably realities a falling star. It’s beautifully written and directed.

♥ You can now buy adult Underoos!
♥ Pride and Prejudice AND ZOMBIES.

♥ A Tale of Two Cities: AND DRAGONS
♥ It’s all about the subtext! Thank the BBC for Jane Austen Erotica
♥ Epic dance battle between swing and street dancers.

♥
 

This day in Lisa-Universe in: 2003, 2001, 1998