Back Again

Last night I went for my first-ever motorcycle ride. The level of excellence that was achieved can only be compared to this.

Spooky spooky

So my fantasy writing workshop is working on a horror segment right now... I've always wanted to write a horror story, but I've never been able to manage it right. Maybe I don't have the gift for intensity needed to really get someone scared.

My friend turned me on to H.P. Lovecraft... about the only thing I've read is "The Music of Enrich Zann." Which was fabulous - but not quite as entertaining as Neil Gaiman's interview about him.

My favorite bit: "It's pseudopod is reaching out for me! No! No!" I think writing a story that includes that line should be canon in all writing workshops. Things can only get better from there.

P.S.

...Ezra Pound = Hottie McHothot. Photo courtesy of AGM.

Oh, Today

Finished Other Voices, Other Rooms, after a ridiculously long period of trying. Couldn't get past that carnival scene. Maybe it's because I took a few day's break before Part Three, but it seems to me that Capote lost the thread of things in the home stretch. I couldn't make any more sense of it than Joel could during his fever. All in all, the end disappointed me. But that's mainly because I had high hopes for the beginning.

My favorite part is where Randolph describes his life with Dolores, and how she was more alive in her violent dreams, where she hunted him like an animal, than she ever was in the waking world. Note to self: beware lovely chicas who keep nightmare journals. If I led a more interesting existence, that would be more easily said than done.

Kitty's Got A Brand New Bag

Catcomeback lives! After a nine-month hiatus, I'm reviving ye olde blog. I'm not keeping to the "On This Day" form, either. I'm branching out into unknown territory... which basically means anything I want. Be prepared for crafty projects, literary musings, and whatever else I feel like.
XO, Mia.

April 30th

On this day... Walpurgis Night celebrated throughout Europe. Behind that galumphing title (makes me think of walrus purging) lies a fascinating muddle of Christian and pagan festivities. Catholics mark it as the feast of St. Walburga, a German nun who lived in the 700s; others associate it with the Wiccan feast of Beltane and other fertility celebrations. According to Wikipedia, it's main mascot is the witch. It's sort of like a friendly, springtime Halloween. I personally would recommend splitting up Halloween celebrations: The night of April 30th will be for the warm, fuzzy aspects of the holiday (little kids in puppy costumes, candy), while October 31st is reserved for horror movie marathons, high school keggers, and all other forces of darkness. How much cuter would it be to see children in fanciful outfits gorging themselves against a background of butterflies and spring vegetation? Not to mention how much warmer for those who have to accompany said cute children from house to house? The lengthened days would provide more safety for the trick-or-treaters; adults wouldn't have to worry about scheduling their plans and those of their kids into the same night, because the grown-up parties would be in the fall. It's genius, I tell you. (Why does no one listen?)
The internet is a fickle temptress - I get online looking for good blog links, but end up spending an hour on crap ghost photos. It's so frustrating - Everyone who's ever had dust on their camera lens sends it in to these websites, assuming that they've got orbs. Silly, silly.

April 5th

On this day... birth of German violinist Louis Spohr, 1784. I chose this entry not for any outstandingly interesting tidbit about the man himself (though he made Faust into an opera and painted a mean self-portrait - see picture), but about the unbelievable volume of members of his profession throughout history. I don't believe a there's been a day of Catcomeback research (a grueling process, requiring several hours hard meditation on a mountaintop followed by a ninja battle) that I didn't encounter at least one famous violinist being born, or dying, or occasionally doing something really noteworthy in between. But then, there are plenty of repeated professions. Take actors and actresses - a dime a dozen, or more like a penny. It may be I focus on violinists because they're my favorite sort of musicians. First, because they play my favorite instrument. There's something about the way a violin sounds almost like a woman's voice that's just spine-tingling. Second, because they were the rock stars of Classical music. Yes, Beethoven was deaf and it was awesome, but women rarely went into hysterical fits during his performances, as they were said to do for Paganini. They had a love of the dramatic (Paganini liked to encourage stories that he was the devil by travelling everywhere in a black coach pulled by black horses). You just don't see that kind of thing nowadays - The Devil Went Down to Georgia doesn't even begin to make up for our dire lack of awesome fiddlers. In fact, the story from that song was cribbed from 18th century violinist Guiseppe Tartini. Tartini claimed that one night he dreamt the devil came into his bedroom in an attempt to bargain for his soul. G.T. challenged him to a violin duel, but the sonata the devil played was so incredible that, upon hearing it, G.T. called the whole thing off. After he woke up, he attempted to reproduce the bizarre sound - he came up with The Devil's Trill, which sounds less demonic than you would think, given the circumstances. I guess standards were different in the 1700s. You can listen to a little of it here. If you're unimpressed, I guess you'll just have to make your own deal for musical fame...