Kate's Point of View

The Product of Creative Frustration

Spinning the Wheel for Elvis

By

On May 17, 2011

In rock

Last night Wonder Boy and I checked out Elvis Costello. He’s not on my 100 List but he should have been. (I’m not adding him now because that would be cheating but I will be expanding the list by adding more artists I’d like to see.) I don’t know tons by Costello, but what I do know I like. And what I saw live in concert at the Taft Theater in Cincinnati, I also liked. The man is an entertainer!
For The Revolver Tour, the theme was “The Return of the Spectacular Spinning Songbook” and Costello played it up perfectly. On stage there was a hug Wheel-of-Fortune-style wheel. On every triangle within the wheel was one song. Concert guests were selected to come up and spin the wheel. After they selected their song, they got to stay on stage while Costello performed. People could either sit at a bar set up on stage or dance in a go-go cage. Yep, there was a go-go cage on stage. Awesome.
Wonder Boy and I had pretty sweet seats for the show. We were in the second row of the balcony almost dead center. At one point, Costello went out into the crowd with a wireless mic and we lost site of him but were still impressed. I’ve seen a few artists go out into the crowd, most memorably Lenny Kravitz, and I always think it’s a cool move. Well, cooler than Kravitz going into the crowd (did I mention he wasn’t wearing a shirt?) was when Costello showed up in the balcony. He sang his way up a flight of stairs in the Taft Theater and walked all over the place. I was maybe six feet away from the man!
The show ended, I thought, with a lot of bravado and it was pretty perfect. But then there was another encore. And then another. Four of them all told. He was fabulous. And while I’ll always wish I could have gotten to see Elvis as in Elvis, seeing Elvis Costello was pretty much awesome.
This post originally appeared on Kate’s Point of View. © Kate. All rights reserved.

Booty

By

On May 16, 2011

In uncategorized

About a month or so I won a contest on Maggie Mason’s blog Mighty Girl by sharing one of my favorite childhood memories. Knowing I won was excitement enough but then yesterday I got my prizes in the mail. I love getting to dig through boxes f random crafty stuff. Back when The Sampler was running regularly, I was hooked. It’s fascinating to me to see what things people cook up to make.

My Might Girl prizes was like a special edition of the sampler. Everything in it was intended for kids, but I’m embracing my inner child and keeping most of the stuff for myself. My loot includes:

Alphabet Flash Cards: These flashcards from Polliwog Learning Products are great, sturdy and textural since they are made with wood and the letters are sandpaper.

Leaf Puzzle: I love this puzzle from Just Hatched because it’s a fun toy for kids (including nephews coming over to visit) and it has an educational element since it teaches shapes and types of leaves.

Strongman Doll: This was handmade by Dria Peterson. This one might get gifted to a child but Biggie loves it and may just gift it to himself.

Pins: These must be pretty easy to make because I’ve gotten pins in lots of craft samplers. I love them because I use them to adorn gifts. I place them on the knot part of a bow and think it makes things look more special. These were made by Suzy Ultman.

Journal: How cute is this?!? It’s felted and has an alpaca on it so it’s pretty much awesome. You can find other items from the artist who did this in Suzy Ultman’s shop on Etsy.

Scarves: Two beautiful bandanas from Birch Leaf Designs!

I am also signed up for three months of the Wee Wood of the Month Club. I am not making that up. I will receive a handmade wooden toy from Little Alouette in the mail each month. Very excited!

This post originally appeared on Kate’s Point of View. © Kate. All rights reserved.

Two Lives Told in One Day SnapShots

By

On May 15, 2011

In books, reviews

Look at today’s date and take a snapshot of your life at it stands today. Not go back and do the same for every year of your life on this exact day. What do you get? Is it a complete telling of your life? Does the story that comes together tell enough of the important details?

Conducting the same exercise I am left with significant gaps in my life story. One day a year is not enough to tell the story. Or is it?

David Nicholls, in One Day, explains the twists and turns of Dexter Mayhew and Emma Morley’s lives. He illustrates the mundane and the extraordinary events that make up any lifetime. And he does it with one day a year.

On July 15th, just as Dexter and Emma are about to graduate university, they officially meet and enjoy one night of fun and love. Although there is a connection between them, Dexter has plans for worldly adventure and Emma has dreams of her own success so they part ways. Over the years, as told through phone calls, letters and live interactions, Emma and Dexter keep in touch.

It has become increasingly common to see the narrator in a novel change from one character to another throughout the story. Sometimes this method seems like the easiest, or even laziest, way to accomplish an end. But some authors, such as Nicholls, are able to use the different voices to illustrate depth that couldn’t come from just once voice.

Throughout One Day Dexter is easy to hate and Emma, although more sympathetic, is maddeningly accommodating of Dexter. While the reader may never overcome these feelings, empathy for each character is created when the story is told in their own words. During on stage of their friendship, Emma is dedicated to Dexter and regularly sends him long letters and books that are carefully selected to augment his phase of life. In return, Dexter sporadically sends postcards with no more than a few words on them. The reader knows from Dexter, though, that while drunk he is penning pages long letters to Emma that he never has the courage to send.

Because each chapter in One Day represents only one day, the novel is easy to read and easy to put down and pick back up again without losing your place. There are phases in both Dexter and Emma’s life that are incredibly frustrating to read about but they’re too likeable to stop reading about them.

But, when finishing down One Day, I’m curious if the reader is left thinking about either Dexter or Emma or if, as I was, they are too busy reflecting on how representative one day a year of their own life could be.

This post originally appeared on Kate’s Point of View. © Kate. All rights reserved.

Sometimes Things Just Work Out

By

On May 9, 2011

In gardening, photography

I am supposed to be out of town right now. But things with scheduling blew up so I am still in town and loving it because the garden is going crazy!
This post originally appeared on Kate’s Point of View. © Kate. All rights reserved.

Travel Day Number 3

By

On May 5, 2011

In travel

Warning: This is a rambling post, and while I write a lot of rambling posts, this one might take the cake. It’s what happens when you blog while bored.

I have five days of travel this week and 3 or 4 next week. I work with people who travel all of the time. When I grew up my dad travelled all of the time. I couldn’t do it.

I think some people are born to travel. Despite a love of traveling for pleasure, traveling for work is a whole other ball game. For my first overnight I packed my thing into a small duffle bag. I was proud. Then I met up with my co-worker who had luggage the size of a laptop bag. What??? For this trip I didn’t screw around. I still have my things in a smaller suitcase but I am ready for all types of scenarios.

What’s ironic is that I can travel around the world, quite literally, with nothing more than a backpack. I remember when Wonder Boy and I once visited my friend Delicious in DC he saw my luggage and started laughing. Delicious and I spent three weeks traveling around Europe with only a few days worth of clothes on us. We washed underwear in sinks, visited laundromats. We weren’t above wearing dirty clothes. And then I rolled into DC for a long weekend with enough luggage to last about 3 weeks.

As I jammed my suitcase full of stuff last night I tried to reconcile the differences in my packing styles. I decided it all came down to one thing: flip-flops. Initially I thought it had to do with if I wanted to impress people or not. Because if you want to impress people who pack different things for all sorts of occasions, right? But really, the things I packed for this trip? Neither impressive or the type of clothing I’d like to be associated with. Business dress… blech. (As I type this I am in my conference outfit of company polo and dress slacks but also sporting Chucks, so there is still some room for creative expression.) Now DC was a trip where I wanted to look cute so maybe it’s sometimes about wanting to impress people.

The trips I like, the trips I can pack well for, are ones where flip-flips are appropriate for all occasions. Flip flops are fabulous. They let your toes enjoy the warm weather, they don’t make your feet sweat, they can look great with a dress outfit and just as good with a T-shirt and shorts. I used to use flip flops as part of my tag-line when I did freelance writing for Time Warner (see the bottom of the story).

This post originally appeared on Kate’s Point of View. © Kate. All rights reserved.

Page 84 of 195

Previous

Next

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén

Meta