Saturday: a return to routine! Sort of
Jun. 11th, 2022 11:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
walkitoutI took T. to martial arts and then Vic’s. Fun! They had in person piano lesson. Awesome!
I am reading _The Kitchen_ by John Ota, since we’re having a remote meeting about Future Kitchen tomorrow. I’m optimistic about neither the book nor the meeting, but since I’ve now pitched two NF books (DNF’d both! For somewhat different reasons), I don’t even feel like I need to finish this thing if it is too obnoxious.
For reference purposes: The Great Demographic Reversal was pitched (DNF) because economists who treat labor in 1972 as the same as labor in 2022 don’t know what the fuck they are talking about and have nothing useful to say. Geopolitical Alpha pitched (DNF) for an October 2022 publication date, a thesis that if you look at “constraints” instead of “preferences” your geopolitical considerations when investing will be materially better, and a specific example of Putin won’t invade whatever. Technical, he’s right. Putin did _not_ (yet, anyway) invade any of the Baltic states. But the reasoning manifestly failed in the Ukraine case. If your idea of a material constraint is, Russia selling oil to Germany means they won’t invade whatever the fuck, well, it wasn’t much of a material constraint now was it.
John Ota so far has wildly misrepresented the Pilgrims and shown himself to be a truly horrifying ally. That was Massachusetts and Virginia kitchens. We’re now on to New Orleans. The kitchens and the visits are interesting, so I’m so far tolerating this book to a greater degree than the others.
ETA:
Things definitely take a turn for the better in the Port Ellice House chapter. Ota tells a little of the story of his Japanese grandfather and imagines himself as a houseboy in the Port Ellice House. This really helps a lot, because in the other chapters, it was so much about being awed by the extreme wealth, which I find super disturbing when it involves enslaved persons.
ETAYA:
Unrelated DNF. Before continuing with the tenement kitchen chapter, I decided to try some fiction. I had a great convo with K. on Friday about whether or not it is possible to write romance novels with protagonists in their 50s. I feel that the genre retains a few too many conventions (a narrow understanding of physical attraction and attractiveness, pair bonding that lasts decades, ets.) that are difficult to square with protagonists in late middle age / young end of old. If all previous relationships were duds, why would this one be any different? If previous relationship was good, what happened to end it and are they realistically functional again yet, or are they permanently traumatized by nursing someone through cancer / losing a loved one abruptly to trauma or massive heart attack? If they _thought_ the previous relationship was good and they were dumped, why do we think their judgment is any better now? Anyway. I figured I’d read some lists of possibilities, and Penny Watson’s “Apples Should Be Red” popped up and looked entertaining … and it turns out I already own it. OK, how’d that happen? My sister apparently read it and liked it sooooo….
Nope. Our putative hero’s first words on stage are: “Frank Bucknell is a fucking retard.” I have zero problem with f bombs. I was also expecting f bombs. I like f bombs.
I don’t like the r word. This is not okay. Also, he smokes. Marlboros. Double extra special not okay.
That was a super fast fail. OTOH, it cost me absolutely no money. Also, looking at the original order I see it also included _Darkness Becomes Her_, by Kelly Keaton, whose books written under the name Kelly Gay I once enjoyed. So maybe I’ll try that next.
I am reading _The Kitchen_ by John Ota, since we’re having a remote meeting about Future Kitchen tomorrow. I’m optimistic about neither the book nor the meeting, but since I’ve now pitched two NF books (DNF’d both! For somewhat different reasons), I don’t even feel like I need to finish this thing if it is too obnoxious.
For reference purposes: The Great Demographic Reversal was pitched (DNF) because economists who treat labor in 1972 as the same as labor in 2022 don’t know what the fuck they are talking about and have nothing useful to say. Geopolitical Alpha pitched (DNF) for an October 2022 publication date, a thesis that if you look at “constraints” instead of “preferences” your geopolitical considerations when investing will be materially better, and a specific example of Putin won’t invade whatever. Technical, he’s right. Putin did _not_ (yet, anyway) invade any of the Baltic states. But the reasoning manifestly failed in the Ukraine case. If your idea of a material constraint is, Russia selling oil to Germany means they won’t invade whatever the fuck, well, it wasn’t much of a material constraint now was it.
John Ota so far has wildly misrepresented the Pilgrims and shown himself to be a truly horrifying ally. That was Massachusetts and Virginia kitchens. We’re now on to New Orleans. The kitchens and the visits are interesting, so I’m so far tolerating this book to a greater degree than the others.
ETA:
Things definitely take a turn for the better in the Port Ellice House chapter. Ota tells a little of the story of his Japanese grandfather and imagines himself as a houseboy in the Port Ellice House. This really helps a lot, because in the other chapters, it was so much about being awed by the extreme wealth, which I find super disturbing when it involves enslaved persons.
ETAYA:
Unrelated DNF. Before continuing with the tenement kitchen chapter, I decided to try some fiction. I had a great convo with K. on Friday about whether or not it is possible to write romance novels with protagonists in their 50s. I feel that the genre retains a few too many conventions (a narrow understanding of physical attraction and attractiveness, pair bonding that lasts decades, ets.) that are difficult to square with protagonists in late middle age / young end of old. If all previous relationships were duds, why would this one be any different? If previous relationship was good, what happened to end it and are they realistically functional again yet, or are they permanently traumatized by nursing someone through cancer / losing a loved one abruptly to trauma or massive heart attack? If they _thought_ the previous relationship was good and they were dumped, why do we think their judgment is any better now? Anyway. I figured I’d read some lists of possibilities, and Penny Watson’s “Apples Should Be Red” popped up and looked entertaining … and it turns out I already own it. OK, how’d that happen? My sister apparently read it and liked it sooooo….
Nope. Our putative hero’s first words on stage are: “Frank Bucknell is a fucking retard.” I have zero problem with f bombs. I was also expecting f bombs. I like f bombs.
I don’t like the r word. This is not okay. Also, he smokes. Marlboros. Double extra special not okay.
That was a super fast fail. OTOH, it cost me absolutely no money. Also, looking at the original order I see it also included _Darkness Becomes Her_, by Kelly Keaton, whose books written under the name Kelly Gay I once enjoyed. So maybe I’ll try that next.