Interesting stuff - How to Write, Amazing Library, and RIP John Updike

Hey, Hi, Hello!!...... loyal listeners. Hopefully you are all having a superb Saturday night. Padfoot and Prongs are spending tonight being sexy, nerdy girls at home and discussing books, which is fairly typical of us. Tonight we thought that we could bring you just few fun literary things for your viewing pleasure. We have been busy with schools and in Padfoot's case tackling the mountain that is Atlas Shrugged...so we have not had much time to get some reviews up. But!! do not be worried faithful followers, for we shall have more to come soon! For now enjoy these tantalizing tidbits. Alliteration abounds all around!

To kick off the night we have found for you a very interesting article about George Orwell's 'rules for effective writing'. For all of you wanna-be Owells or Updikess out there, hopefully you can be able to incorporate some of this advice into your future best-sellers. Or, if you are just a loyal literature follower, maybe you can see a few of these points implicated in some of the works that you love most.

• 1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print. -- Examples like this would be red as a rose, hard a rock, tight as a drum. Even though these expressions are easily understood and recognized ... that is exactly why they should be avoided. These types of expressions are so overworked and over used that they no long inspire any sort of emotion in a reader. The idea is to create your own cliches. Maybe one day we will all be saying as smart as Padfoot and Prongs. I'm just saying...
  
• 2. Never use a long word where a short one will do. -- Indubitably. Duh.
  
• 3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out. -- You are the ever. You fill in the blank.
  
• 4. Never use the passive where you can use the active. -- You write the best blog post ever. The best blog in the world is written by you. (Thanks to Al and Nin. for the correction) Active is definitely more effective. An active tense puts you in the readers point of view and helps you feel more immersed in their world. This is by far our favorite rule.
  
• 5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent. -- It seemed to rabbit pretty dobby for A Clockwork Orange. Zammechat?
  
• 6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous. -- This we can agree with to an extent. We do believe that while it is important for a writer to show a certain amount of competency with the English (or Spanish, French, etc.) language, we also believe that it is important to express yourself in whatever manner or style of writing that you see fit. As long as it pertains to the message that you are trying to convery, and you are not trying to simply rely on 'shock value'.

Hope you enjoyed that list. Now something for your viewing pleasure. Jay Walker's library. Splooge.

Visit: http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/16-10/ff_walker?currentPage=all for more

And to finish off the note, we regretfully feel compelled to include a brief acknowledgment of the fact that the author John Updike passed away last Wednesday, January 27th. In the literary world he was known as the "Chronicler of Suburban Adultery” and had numerous popular works. Such titles include; Of the Farm, The Centaur, Terrorist, and his Rabbit Run series, which won him a Pulitzer Prize. Although we have never read an Updike novel, we own several of his novels and anticipate reading his works in the future. If any one has any strong feeling twords Updike and would like to share in a personal opinions or recommendations about his works or life feel free to comment. We would love to learn more.

Rip. John Updike
1932-2009

That is all for tonight folks. Keep an eye open for a few reviews this week including Penguin Island, Atlas Shrugged and more. Mischief Managed!

Interesting stuff - How to Write, Amazing Library, and RIP John Updike

Hey, Hi, Hello!!...... loyal listeners. Hopefully you are all having a superb Saturday night. Padfoot and Prongs are spending tonight being sexy, nerdy girls at home and discussing books, which is fairly typical of us. Tonight we thought that we could bring you just few fun literary things for your viewing pleasure. We have been busy with schools and in Padfoot's case tackling the mountain that is Atlas Shrugged...so we have not had much time to get some reviews up. But!! do not be worried faithful followers, for we shall have more to come soon! For now enjoy these tantalizing tidbits. Alliteration abounds all around!

To kick off the night we have found for you a very interesting article about George Orwell's 'rules for effective writing'. For all of you wanna-be Owells or Updikess out there, hopefully you can be able to incorporate some of this advice into your future best-sellers. Or, if you are just a loyal literature follower, maybe you can see a few of these points implicated in some of the works that you love most.

• 1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print. -- Examples like this would be red as a rose, hard a rock, tight as a drum. Even though these expressions are easily understood and recognized ... that is exactly why they should be avoided. These types of expressions are so overworked and over used that they no long inspire any sort of emotion in a reader. The idea is to create your own cliches. Maybe one day we will all be saying as smart as Padfoot and Prongs. I'm just saying...
  
• 2. Never use a long word where a short one will do. -- Indubitably. Duh.
  
• 3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out. -- You are the ever. You fill in the blank.
  
• 4. Never use the passive where you can use the active. -- You write the best blog post ever. The best blog in the world is written by you. (Thanks to Al and Nin. for the correction) Active is definitely more effective. An active tense puts you in the readers point of view and helps you feel more immersed in their world. This is by far our favorite rule.
  
• 5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent. -- It seemed to rabbit pretty dobby for A Clockwork Orange. Zammechat?
  
• 6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous. -- This we can agree with to an extent. We do believe that while it is important for a writer to show a certain amount of competency with the English (or Spanish, French, etc.) language, we also believe that it is important to express yourself in whatever manner or style of writing that you see fit. As long as it pertains to the message that you are trying to convery, and you are not trying to simply rely on 'shock value'.

Hope you enjoyed that list. Now something for your viewing pleasure. Jay Walker's library. Splooge.

Visit: http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/16-10/ff_walker?currentPage=all for more

And to finish off the note, we regretfully feel compelled to include a brief acknowledgment of the fact that the author John Updike passed away last Wednesday, January 27th. In the literary world he was known as the "Chronicler of Suburban Adultery” and had numerous popular works. Such titles include; Of the Farm, The Centaur, Terrorist, and his Rabbit Run series, which won him a Pulitzer Prize. Although we have never read an Updike novel, we own several of his novels and anticipate reading his works in the future. If any one has any strong feeling twords Updike and would like to share in a personal opinions or recommendations about his works or life feel free to comment. We would love to learn more.

Rip. John Updike
1932-2009

That is all for tonight folks. Keep an eye open for a few reviews this week including Penguin Island, Atlas Shrugged and more. Mischief Managed!

Padfoot - Second Review - The Curse of Lono

The Curse of Lono
By Hunter. S. Thompson

A few weeks ago I made my weekly trip to Half-Price. Staring at me from across the room was a Ralph Steadman picture on a book that I had never seen before. The book was "The Curse of Lono" by Hunter S. Thompson and Ralph Steadman. I am a "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" fanatic so I decided then and there 20 bucks for this book was well worth it. Plus it has lots of Steadman creepy pictures that I love, and if you haven't seen them before Google them, they are fantastic.

First of all, if you have never read a Hunter S. Thompson novel, what are you doing with your life?! Go read one right now! That being said, I had high expectations for this book. "The Curse of Lono" starts off with Thompson and Steadman going on a trip to Hawaii to cover a marathon. As in most of Thompson's writings, there are many strange adventures hes experiences, and many drug infested memories. Usually, this makes for great stories, but this book just felt dry, and forced.

However, his descriptions of Ralph Steadman, the "rich and famous British artist", were hysterical. He portrays Steadman as, a crazy British man:

"Many were world-class runners, fanatics about personal health, and the sight of Ralph made them cringe. The aloe had half-cured his back, but he still walked like a stroke victim and his physical presence was not cheerful. He limped from room to room with his sketchbook, still deeply confused on valerian root, until a man wearing a silver Nike jumpsuit finally led him outside and said he should check himself into the leper colony on Molokai."

After reading "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas", watching the movie, and falling completely in love with Thompson's unique story telling, I expected nothing but stimulation of the brain from "The Curse of Lono". I do believe having such high expectations were what ruined the book for me. However, it is still a great work from Thompson, and if you do not even want to attempt this book I do not blame you. Read "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas", or "The Rum Diary", I hear the latter is an extremely fantastic read as well.

The pictures posted on this blog are all by Ralph Steadman, and if you don't know, these books by Thompson are all 'Gonzo Journalism' which is a mix of facts and fiction.

If you are interested in seeing some more of Steadman's artwork (which is creepy, not for everyone, but fantastic to me!) then here is his official website; check it out!

http://www.ralphsteadman.com