Forgotten Hereoes: Laura Ingalls Wilder

I've never read any books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Little House on the Prairie always seemed a bit too girly to me as a kid. It fit in the genre with that other three-named girly author Louisa May Alcott and their English counterparts, the Brontës (whom I have come to thouroughly enjoy) and Jane Austen (whom I still disdain).

I recognize that this was probably due to proto-mysogynism at the age of 11. But anyway, I would now like to publicly repudiate an active dislike of Laura Ingalls Wilder. I mean, she started writing at the age of 65. Not everyone, in fact, hardly anyone, can pull off that sort of total reinvention in old age and fewer can be really, really great at it. I'm 25 and I already think I've peaked. My memory is getting worse and my mind is like a block of cement. Not so for Laura Ingalls Wilder.

The Tam Diaries: Video Edition

A few years ago, I completed what I consider to be the definitive compilation of classic pop music songs post-Nirvana and pre-Britney Spears; my middle school years, the raw material that eventually formed my musical tastes. It is called The Tam Diaries. The compilation spans 15 CD-sized playlists and totals 240 songs. The first album contains the 16 tracks that I judge to be the most essential, most defining pop tunes of the later-mid-90s era. Here they are, without commentary.

1. Everclear, Santa Monica
2. Beck, Where It's At
Beck |MTV Music
3. No Doubt, Just A Girl
No Doubt |MTV Music
4. The Presidents of the United States of America, Peaches
5. Oasis, Champagne Supernova
Oasis |MTV Music
6. Green Day, Brain Stew/Jaded
Green Day |MTV Music
7. Puff Daddy & Foo Fighters, It's All About the Benjamins
Diddy |MTV Music
8. La Bouche, Be My Lover
La Bouche |MTV Music
9. LL Cool J, Doin' It
10. Puff Daddy, I'll Be Missing You
Diddy |MTV Music
11. Tony Rich Project, Nobody Knows
Tony Rich |MTV Music
12. The Smashing Pumpkins, 1979
13. Alanis Morrisette, Ironic
Alanis Morissette |MTV Music
14. Bush, Glycerine
15. Sublime, What I Got
16. Blues Traveler, Hook
    

Muscle Memory

Last night I had a bunch of dreams about Charlottesville, none of which are interesting enough to relay here. The interesting thing, however, was what happened when I woke up. In a sequence of events I can only attribute to thinking a lot about Virginia in my sleep, when I woke up, I reached to my right to grab my cell phone (which I use as an alarm) as opposed to my left. This is kind of crazy because I keep my cell phone on my right in Charlottesville but on my left here in Chicago.

Now that this event is slightly removed, it seems odd to make such a big deal about it, but it was a very odd circumstance at the time.

Achewood's Mini-Renaissance

Achewood has always been excellent.  The first year or so is kind of minimalist, but still incredibly enjoyable.  Once the normal cast got set, though, it really took off.  It's had its ups and downs over the course of its now lengthy life, but I'm pleased to say that I think Achewood is right now in the midst of a mini-renaissance.  

When discussing Achewood, the most prominent characteristic is of course the unimaginably unique voices that the author, Chris Onstad, has developed for each character.  While it is true that the different players, their varying dialects, and their improbable interactions are the best part of Achewood, I particularly enjoy trying to make a composite of each character to get at the person of Onstad himself.  If I had to take a guess, I would say that Onstad is most accurately portrayed by one character in Téodor... the mildly overweight, music-loving cook.  

The mini-renaissance [i.e., the past two strips in long-form color format] has been focusing mostly on inner thoughts of Téodor, his past, and his candid inner thoughts.  It might be much to call these strips touching, but they are affecting in a way no web comic has ever been.  The main themes seem to be remembrance of things past, assessing an importance to an unimportant detail of something from memory.  The distinction between these strips and the normal Achewood strip is emphasized by the color, which is fantastic.  The formatting is slightly non-linear for both.  I really just can't express how amazed I am by these two simple strips, just check out 1/11 and 1/14 for yourself.  And the best part - there are at least two more to come.

[Also in a mini-renaissance: the vlog Rocketboom hosted by adorable and consistently hyper-intelligent Joanne Colan... more Joanne the better, I say.]