Friday, October 29, 2010

My First Book Signing Experience


Never once in my life have I attended a book signing. Shocker! As everyone knows, there is always a first for everything.

Last night, I arrived downtown by public transportation. Our destination: Barnes and Noble on Walnut Street in Philadelphia. I grew increasingly excited as my mom and I approached our destination. Upon entering, a girl with a youthful demeanor handed matching red wristbands with the letter "D" marked appropriately. What does this letter mean? Well, when the letter on the wristband was called, that group of people were allowed to form a line upstairs for the book signing. Anyway, after waiting around for two hours, my mom and I were called to the scene.

Clutching the thick, red book to my chest, the line moved faster and then we came face to face with her: Kat Von D!! Rushing over to her, she gave me a big hug, signed my book with a red sharpie marker, and took two pictures with me. Following a brief chat, she gave me another big hug and we parted ways. Although this encounter was short, I understood that the endless line continued behind me--In other words, I needed to move along!
 Regardless of the enduring pain of standing in line for hours and the rowdiness of the people waiting, I enjoyed myself. Kat is the same content person portrayed on her show " LA Ink." An all around, real, genuine, amiable person. My disappointment did not exist after meeting her for the first time!


My advice for individuals who wish to have their books officially autographed by their favorite authors: be available! Make sure that you do not have any occasion planned and free your work schedule. You WILL be waiting in line for a long while! Perhaps even bring some sort of activity to work on while you wait? How about a nice crossword puzzle? As I stated before, if this truly is an individual that you admire, the wait will be worth your time. (:

~Lovely Iris

Monday, October 25, 2010

Lovecraft In The Movies.

You know what amazes me? When a person can stretch out a short story into a movie. Recently, I watched "From Beyond," which is an adaptation of H.P Lovecraft's short story, "From Beyond." Taking a (litterally) 3-4 page short story and expanding it always pinpoints unique creativity. Although I did not care for the majority of the movie itself, I do commend the writers from attempting to "finish" what Lovecraft had "started." The selection of the actors proved worthy enough--especially Jeffrey Combs. I think he portrayed Dr. Crawford nicely. I would advise anyone interested in watching the film to read the short story first. It's easier to compare that way.


~Lovely Iris

Thursday, October 21, 2010

A Cute Poem About Cats. (:

"Cat Math"

Addition:
How many strokes
Of cheek against chair
Does it take to prove
Territorial rights?

Geometry:
is any amount of bare space
Shining at the bottom of the foodbowl
Acceptable?

And how do you prove the negative
To humans?

Calculus:
Jump too close
And the parabola will be still ascending
Feet below the surface
Where their tangent
Should be level
Landing without lift or fall.

Jump too far
And the parabola will be descending
Feet below the surface.

Feet shouldn't scrabble for purchase.
Cat math depends on dignity.
The derivative should be zero
Eyed before the leap
Into quadratics.

Ruth Berman, Asimov's Science Fiction, August 2008

If you like this poem, you can check out this neat website I found that contains a lot of poems about cats. http://www.pawsonline.info/cat_poetry.htm

Enjoy!

~Lovely Iris

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

How Does One Classify Horror Literature?

As friends of literature, I am sure you all are aware of what books are deemed worthy to place under the "horror" genre--for example, "Frankenstein," by Mary Shelley and "Dracula" by Bram Stoker. Although these are the most obvious, how about the ones we consider to be horror that are less obvious? First, take a glimpse back to Oscar Wilde's intriguing classic, "The Picture of Dorian Gray."

Naturally, one's reaction would to immediately pinpoint the certain aspects that make this classic a stereotypical "horror": The murder, the insanity, and, most importantly, the ghastly portrait of Dorian's soul. Other than these significant features, how else does this book follow the rules of what constructs a horror novel? From my perspective, I see nothing else that would convince me that this piece could be considered a "horror" classic. Sure, the idea may evoke fear in the audience, but not as significantly as one that contains "otherworldly" beings---such as these ghostly authors: H.P Lovecraft, Stephen King. The better classification as I visualize, would be under, respectively, "Mystery" or "Thriller" instead.

In addition to Wilde's classic, I suggest that "Phantom of the Opera," by Gaston Leroux is not a horror piece, either. Why? Does the idea of a disfigured, misunderstood man living under the opera house spook you? Perhaps to some, but this classic deserves recognition as a romance--the courage of the phantom taking advantage of the one and only chance at finding a partner that would adore him for his personality.

Perhaps I am gazing too deeply down the rabbit hole. But, as far as what my perspective insists, these pieces of literature should not be considered a part of the horror genre. Naturally, there are probably other novels that deserved to be "re-knighted" with another classification. Please feel free to share any thoughts on my blurb!

~Lovely Iris.

Monday, October 18, 2010

A Journey of Progression



Are you often a victim of temptation? Escape with British author Sarah Waters into an erotic tale of betrayal, lust, and status.
Set in the Victorian Era (1890’s London), Tipping the Velvet follows the heart twisting tale of an impoverished oyster girl, Nancy King, climbing the stairs to fame and misfortune. Her place is with her father, a seaside restaurant owner, but is seduced into the world of show business by male impersonator miss Kitty Butler. Nancy eats the fruit produced by the tree of temptation when she travels far away from her hometown. As her relationship with Kitty progresses, the flame inside her heart ignites and a deeper, more intimate connection is established.
As Nancy advances in her career, she encounters the vile snake that hangs from the tree of temptation. The important people in her life abandon her and the people she trusted betray her. Because of her loss in relationships, she plays the part of a male rent boy, roaming the streets for money. Nancy’s life continues to encounter many twists and turns throughout her journey in life.
Waters successfully portrays a world of compassion, excitement, and remorse throughout the novel. She incorporates an accurate setting of Victorian London, bringing her characters to life. Tipping the Velvet is an entertaining piece of erotic literature that anyone with a compassionate heart will learn to love.                                                                                                                                                              (As a little side note, the movie adaptation is sensational! There are a few scenes missings, but, otherwise the flick follows faithfully. I recommend that you read the novel first before taking the plunge.)

~Lovely Iris

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Literature Taught in Universities--A Small Thought.

As always, I strongly encourage universities to add "Paradise Lost" to the list for English Literature majors. I was highly disappointed that I had been served a little "blurb" of the epic in a 17th century literature class. Granted, the text is difficult to understand, but, with extra guidance with a trained professional students will learn to cope.

 When I was in college, I attended a "Dante's Inferno" course. Now, this course was very intense--lines interpreted word by word, reference by reference. Although initially intimidating, the course grew intriguing with a Dante scholar as the leader.

 I know after reading this small blurb of a post, some of you may be thinking: "Is she nuts?" or "Why would I want to read that? It's hard and boring!" I agree that older forms of literature are difficult to comprehend. They may even frustrate you to the point where you just want to throw the book at the wall! But,  as I stated in my example before, with the perfect guide and patience, these texts may become more enjoyable.


Enjoy literature as a piece of the puzzle of our history. Do not look at it as a way to make your life miserable.

~Lovely Iris.

Friday, October 15, 2010

Tattoos! Yay!

"No more tattoos! Three is enough!," my mom states in a stern manner, after slipping out from "under the needle." I always jokingly tell her that I will end up getting my cat's portrait on my upper left arm. Ha ha. Wouldn't that be funny? But, in all seriousness, if I were to ever slap another piece of art on my body, I would want Kat Von D to accomplish the task. No, seriously. Besides being a fan of the TLC series LA Ink, I adore Kat's work. Have you ever seen her portraits? Stunning! Take a look at her work if you aren't familiar: http://highvoltagetattoo.com/artists_kat.html

Why the rant on Kat and her work? Well, I'm excited to announce that her new book, The Tattoo Chronicles, will be released soon! (October 26th, to be exact) And, as a little bonus for fans that live in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she will be making an appearance for book signing on October 28th from 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm. If you're interested, be there or be square!

http://events.myspace.com/Event/6692422/Book-Signing--PHILADELPHIA-PA

~Lovely Iris

No, The Customer is Not Always Right!

Have you ever worked in customer service? Were you ever a server? If so, can you recall the times you've encountered bizarre, angry or even annoying customers? Yeah, you know who I am referring to .

I, for one, have been serving the people of Pennsylvania for four and a half years now. I understand and empathize with other people who have to endure insults from customers. At the last establishment I worked at, people were fired left and right due to that almighty slogan of "the customer is always right." Of course, you and I will probably disagree with this saying. Even most of you are probably thinking: Nonsense! What about the times when the customer is really stupid or disrespectful towards the employees?

Well, I have an answer to that question.

While cruising through Amazon.com, I recently discovered a hilarious book that most of the people of customer service will relate to. And, to my surprise, the titles reads: "The Customer is NOT Always Right," by A.J. Adams.

This ingenious book contains nothing more than hilarious scenarios poking fun at stupid, ignorant customers.  Many of these excerpts are collected from the author's website, http://notalwaysright.com/. One of my favorite scenes includes a rude customer and her son eating at a restaurant. They ask the waiter how he ended up working as a server (and not something greater? typical, ignorant customer.) She even instructs him to tell her son how to not end up like him. He answers with the utmost of wit:  "Here's what you need to do. I graduated from college, so do not go to college. I live on my own, so you need to live with your mom for the rest of your life. I have never gotten arrested, so you need to get arrested as much as possible. I hope that helped!" How clever!


So, if you're feeling depressed over a customer's insensitive remark, take a gander at this read!!


~Lovely Iris.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

American Psycho

Don't you just love the look on Christian Bale's face splattered with the blood of his prey in American Psycho? I know I did! After viewing this interesting, yet intensely gory and violent film, I decided that it was time to take a "stab" at the coinciding controversial novel.

To my surprise, the movie does absolutely NO justice to the book. Besides the obvious, slight character name change, the director had chosen to exclude the majority of the material. But, if he had included this material, the movie would probably have been banned in many countries. In intense. meticulous detail, the protagonist of the novel describes his devious deeds---from murdering innocent people to committing acts of hatred towards women. Although this brief coverage of the text may disturb some readers, I recommend this book to those who want to "know" and "experience" what's hidden deep inside the mind of  an obsessive psychopath.

Any thoughts on either the book or the movie? Please share!

~Lovely Iris.

Kind of an..introduction?

Hey, everyone. My name is Stephanie ( but you can call me the "Lovely Iris") and I am here, blogging about a passion of mine--literature. Although I may not know everything there is to know about authors, I know a lot of useless information. In this blog, I hope to post my thoughts on certain books and authors. Stay tuned!

~ Lovely Iris