Randomosity on Fridays: Poetry Edition

[Edit: Our hearts go out to all the people experiencing craziness and tragedy this week, but especially to those in Boston where most of the crazy has been these last few days. Be safe and take care.]

April is National Poetry Month, which is nifty and totally something we should celebrate more. While poetry is a highly subjective genre (I think even more so than the way fiction is), I think it's a valuable subject of study for readers and especially writers. As writers, words are our tools of choice, and poetry can really make you realize the true power and potential in those tools.

With poetry, the focus is drawn down to the word-by-word level, where everything has to pull double if not triple duty because of the shorter (and sometimes strictly structured) form. So it can really be an exercise in precise diction and imagery, something all writing benefits from. Beyond that, poetry also takes into account the flow of words, the cadence of the lines as they're read, and sometimes even the look of the poem itself. It is a form that operates on multiple levels of comprehension and feeling, which is something we can try to bring to other forms of writing. It's like the literary equivalent of music.

Basically, I have a soft spot for poetry even though I never really studied it (or even read that much of it) from an academically rigorous standpoint. But it appeals to my sensibilities as a writer and reader, and I totally wanted to be a poet (in 6th grade) before I ever wanted to be a novelist.

So anyway, I thought I'd share a few poems to sort of lighten the tone of this dark week. First, you will find a brief medically-inspired Twitter poetry session between authors Lydia Kang and April Genevieve Tucholke, which eventually led to a line of my own.

And my little entry into this:

Here's something a little lighter on the poetry front. It's one of my favorite moments from the TV show Avatar: The Last Airbender even though it's sort of a filler episode. Sokka stumbles upon a haiku reading and proves to be rather good at it.




Lastly, since I love you all so much, here's my Brit actor crush Tom Hiddleston reading poetry. It's one of Alz's favorite poems. Beware, you might swoon.

Tom Hiddleston - He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven by William Yeats
Shared from sweating-like-a-cornered-nun using Embeddlr

"Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams."

Q4U: What is your favorite poem? OR Share a line (or two) of atropine poetry!

Happy weekend!

Waiting on Wednesday (4)

Considering recent events, I think we're all in need of happy-making things. Since we're all readers and writers around these parts, there's nothing like anticipating books to brighten the day. Here are a few we're looking forward to.

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

1) THE OATHBREAKER'S SHADOW by Amy McCulloch

Blurb from Goodreads: Fifteen-year-old Raim lives in a world where you tie a knot for every promise that you make. Break that promise and you are scarred for life, and cast out into the desert.

Raim has worn a simple knot around his wrist for as long as he can remember. No one knows where it came from, and which promise of his it symbolises, but he barely thinks about it at all—not since becoming the most promising young fighter ever to train for the elite Yun guard. But on the most important day of his life, when he binds his life to his best friend (and future king) Khareh, the string bursts into flames and sears a dark mark into his skin.

Scarred now as an oath-breaker, Raim has two options: run, or be killed.

Fantasy is the genre of our heart, and this one sounds like it's going to be a good one. We love our girl MCs, but it's nice to get a male YA POV in there once in a while, and we're all for non-typical, non-European fantasy settings. This one is out in June, so the wait isn't too bad.


2) ROSE UNDER FIRE by Elizabeth Wein

Blurb from Goodreads: While flying an Allied fighter plane from Paris to England, American ATA pilot and amateur poet, Rose Justice, is captured by the Nazis and sent to Ravensbrück, the notorious women's concentration camp. Trapped in horrific circumstances, Rose finds hope in the impossible through the loyalty, bravery and friendship of her fellow prisoners. But will that be enough to endure the fate that’s in store for her?

Elizabeth Wein, author of the critically-acclaimed and best-selling Code Name Verity, delivers another stunning WWII thriller. The unforgettable story of Rose Justice is forged from heart-wrenching courage, resolve, and the slim, bright chance of survival.

Code Name Verity was my favorite YA book last year (only narrowly beat out for my favorite book overall of the year by The Song of Achilles), because it was so unexpectedly moving and powerful. I still can't get over how good it was, and I will review it one day when I finally have the coherent words to do so. Yes, I recommend it THAT MUCH. So it's a no-brainer that I freaked out when I heard Code Name Verity was getting a companion novel. I CANNOT WAIT for this one!


3) VICIOUS by Victoria Schwab

Blurb from Goodreads: Victor and Eli started out as college roommates—brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognized the same sharpness and ambition in each other. In their senior year, a shared research interest in adrenaline, near-death experiences, and seemingly supernatural events reveals an intriguing possibility: that under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities. But when their thesis moves from the academic to the experimental, things go horribly wrong.

Ten years later, Victor breaks out of prison, determined to catch up to his old friend (now foe), aided by a young girl whose reserved nature obscures a stunning ability. Meanwhile, Eli is on a mission to eradicate every other super-powered person that he can find—aside from his sidekick, an enigmatic woman with an unbreakable will.

Armed with terrible power on both sides, driven by the memory of betrayal and loss, the archnemeses have set a course for revenge—but who will be left alive at the end?

I was impressed by Victoria Schwab's beautiful, atmospheric writing in The Near Witch, so I was intrigued to hear that she was writing an adult novel. While the blurb is certainly attention-grabbing, it's the cover that I love. So gorgeous.

Q4U: What books are you waiting on?

And for an added dose of happy for all of this week, here's a gif of a puppy.

Randomosity on Fridays: Happy Things

Happy Friday, everyone!

We've got another wedding this weekend for another of our childhood friends. (Yep, another one. We truly are at the point when all our friends start getting married. Another good example of early 20s versus late 20s: The Sister is going to Coachella this weekend; we're going to a wedding.) Though neither of us is involved in the wedding party this time, it's still busy-busy.

And it's Friday, so here are two videos of fun things!

Firstly, we have a cool time-lapse video of the dance floor from the last wedding that the newlyweds recently posted.

Gennia and Scott Reception (condensed version) from Scott Rabideau on Vimeo.

Secondly, we have a video the Sister took of Loki earlier this week. It was a super windy day, and though Loki was a bit frightened by it, he was also really taken with the leaves that came fluttering by. Here's a vid of his floppy ears vs. the wind.




Have a great weekend, friends!

Name That Book Aww Yeah Answers

Awwwwww yeeeeah it's time for the answers to last week's Name That Book post!  This time around it was more challenging since 1) there were no book covers involved and 2) for many of them you had to have read the book or been more familiar with the details of the story to identify them.  Nonetheless, I was surprised by the many correct answers that popped up!

Let's see how you did:

1. The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle

"The unicorn lived in a lilac wood and she lived all alone."

~*~*~*~

2. The Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix

The seven bells of a necromancer, right to left:

Ranna, Mosrael, Kibeth, Dyrim, Belgaer, Saraneth, Astarael

AKA

Sleeper, Waker, Walker, Speaker, Thinker, Binder, Weeper

~*~*~*~

3. Unspoken by Sara Rees Brennan

A scene featuring our plucky heroine Kami Glass

and the mysterious boy Jared

and the bottom of a well at nighttime.

 ~*~*~*~

4. I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen

"My hat is gone.

I want it back."

 ~*~*~*~

5. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Alina, the Darkling, and...I forget what they call it

but it's a magical white stag with magic antlers.

~*~*~*~

So how did you do in this round of Name That Book?  Krispy got 'em all but she and I read and discuss practically everything together so she gets no brownie points.  Maybe the next round of Name That Book should be set toward stumping Krispy.  I haven't bullied her in a long time.

Q4U: If you've read any of the books above, are you excited for the sequels (if applicable)?

And for your perusal, past rounds of Name That Book:

Name That Book / Answers
Name That Book Again! / Answers
Name That Book: Stick Figure Edition! / Answers

Randomosity on Fridays: Ode to a Friend and A Wedding!

Looks like Alz's last Name that Book challenge was a bit harder than usual. So we're giving you the weekend to ponder on it and will have the answers up on Wednesday.

[Warning: Picture heavy post ahead!]

Today, we're going to reminisce about a recent wedding that was, in short, awesome. I may be biased though since it was the wedding of one of my best friends since childhood. Alz has known her since those hazy golden days too and was also in attendance. There were confetti cannons, high school reunions, and unintended celebrity run-ins, I kid you not.

Photo: Gennia

It was also ridiculously gorgeous thanks to the sunny weather of Palm Springs, the oasis-like setting of The Parker, and the fact that my friend is an accomplished artist, designer, and photographer (as is her hubs and therefore, they have a fine eye for style). In fact, I featured her on this blog a while back as part of our AAPI Month celebrations: Feature Friday with LA-based graphic designer & photographer Gennia.

Gennia is one of my nearest and dearest friends, the one who got me into like half the fandoms I've ever been in and had 2nd breakfast and Elevensies with me throughout high school. Foodies + media junkies for life! I'd wax more poetic, but she reads this blog sometimes and is so not into cheesiness. So I'm going to stop now before I bring out the cheese fountain. Just know that she is amazing, funny, and tall (grr!), and she and her hubs (who is undeniably one of us) made their Big Day one of the best weekends ever for all of us. I couldn't be happier for them.

So I think it's best to sum up my sentimental thoughts with this ode I wrote for laughs sometime in high school, and it's all still true!

Oh Gennia!

How you inspire me

with your sharp wit

and impeccable

                                 timing.

How you can turn

the most idiotic of subjects

and make it sound

worthwhile.

How you can find

the deepest of meanings

in words and phrases

that make no

                       lalalala—sense.

Oh Gennia!

How irreplaceable you are

to not only our dinky town

but also the world at

                                   LARGE!

Now, the wedding in pictures!

Getting ready & sitting pretty. We played our favorite songs and drank mimosas.

Bridesmaid gift. *hearts*

Me and the Maid of Honor.   Photo: Gennia

Wedding attire: shades of coral + gold heels. Getting dressed & ready for photos, then show time!

Photo: the Sister

Bride and her mother.

The ceremony: Their vows, guys, were enviably good: sweet, genuine, and funny without being cheesy. Not gonna lie, made me a little misty & others outright shed tears (of joy!).

Photo: N. Jin

Photo: M. Nelson

Bride with her dad.    Photo: T. Kiefer

Husband and wife.   Photo: M. Nelson

Cocktail hour: catching up with old friends (some high school friends we hadn't seen since HS were there. Plus, we hogged the polaroid camera & spammed the wedding guestbook.

Photo: the Sister

Me + Sister before stuffing our faces. Photo: the Sister

I should not at this point that during the "getting ready" part of the day, one of the girls and I went to the pool to get something from her bf. Little did we know that Cameron Diaz and her crew were chilling poolside that day. We didn't recognize her, but she asked us if we were part of a wedding. We answered, but we were in a hurry so we were probably a bit brusque. Sorry, Cameron D!

The reception: Gorgeous decorations + ridiculously good food. Like literally one of the best meals I have ever eaten. (Can you say lobster macaroni? Duck? Short rib?)

Hall of lights.     Photo: M. Nelson

Dancing: Lots and lots of dancing. I'm not one for dancing, but I partied like it was 1999!

The First Dance.    Photo: the Sister

Bridesmaid bride circle!   Photo: the Sister

One of the best moments of the night: the groom's knee-slide across the dance floor to Footloose. It's because he resembles Kevin Bacon.

And I do believe I mentioned something about confetti cannons...

CONFETTI CANNONS!!!

The whole confetti cannon thing literally started as a joke. The groom thought it'd be awesome to have confetti cannons going off at relevant points, and my Sister was the staunchest supporter of the whole confetti cannon idea. The rest of us thought it was hilarious, but we didn't think it was actually going to happen.

IT HAPPENED. BOOM! *mic drop*

Ending: The night ended with a special live performance from 2 of the bridesmaids. They sang Andrea Bocelli & Sarah Brightman's "Time to Say Goodbye" in the original Italian.

With interpretative dance too!

The next morning: Farewell Brunch. We took pics with our HS friends. (Alz is not in these photos because she's camera shy.)

"Act casual!"

We were re-enacting our HS prom photos.

Oh and I danced so much at the reception, I broke my shoe. Really. Now I know what the 12 dancing princesses felt like... That's also why I was in flip-flops in the brunch pics above.

Goodbye, flats! You've had a good run!

There was also a PHOTOBOOTH at the reception, and we took a lot of photos, so I'll save them for later. It was fun and ridiculous and there were lightsabers involved.

In the meantime, happy weekend, friends! And go see Jurassic Park in 3D or something because a T-REX coming at you would be all kinds of cool!

Sister's excellent lonely raptor impression.

Q4U: What is/would be a MUST-HAVE song on your wedding reception playlist? For us, it was I WANT IT THAT WAY by the Backstreet Boys. The second that song came on, practically all the young women in the room rushed the dance floor to dance and sing it at the top of our lungs. It was magical.

Name That Book Aww Yeah!

Hey ho, let's go!  It's time for another round of Name That Book.  This time rather than cover interpretations, we've got a mix of illustrated scenes and symbolic representations of things.  Take a gander and see if you recognize anything!

1. This classic fantasy book isn't YA, but it is beloved by both Krispy and Alz.

2. This fantasy is YA. So far there's a trilogy and a couple of short stories
and I think a novella, and there's a prequel book that's been supposedly
forthcoming for years now.

3. A scene from a snarky fun magical mystery by an Irish author.
The second book is due to be released this fall.

4. From a picture book. Hint: the red thing is something you wear on your head.

5. Here I tried to be all artistic and symbolic when representing this
fantasy YA.  That's a sun, and darkness, and a celestial quadruped.

Guess away, my friends, guess away!  Answers forthcoming.