Posts on tv

Happy Equinox! How I love that word, equinox, so magical and mysterious-sounding. And come springtime, I love what it means even more. More daylight than nighttime! Crocuses and daffodils! T-shirts and open windows! I’d definitely put the vernal equinox in Room Lovely.

What is Room Lovely? First you need to know about Room 101. In Orwell’s 1984, Room 101 was the dreaded chamber where dissidents would be tortured with whatever they feared most. For example, if Indiana Jones went into Room 101, he would most assuredly scream, “Why did it have to be snakes?”

Anyway, the British, wonderfully odd ducks that they are, have a TV program called Room 101, in which various British personalities discuss things they hate with funny man host Paul Merton. If Merton agrees with the guest, with a pull of a lever, those things (or a physical representation of them) go down the chute into Room 101.

And that’s it. That’s all there is to it. This is why you’ve got to love the BBC.

Recently, I watched the episode of Room 101 in which Stephen Fry was the guest (currently available on YouTube). You’d probably know Stephen Fry as the actor who played Jeeves in TV’s Jeeves and Wooster, the narrator of the British Harry Potter audiobooks, or—the way I know him—the host of the offbeat BBC comedy/talk/quiz/intellectual show QI. Fry is a remarkable extemporaneous speaker. Everything he says sounds incredibly intelligent—generally because it is. Oh, all right, and because he’s got a British accent.

Anyway, Stephen Fry’s the one who suggested that instead of focusing on the negative, sending things you hate to Room 101, we ought to send things we love to a place called Room Lovely—and that Room 101 itself ought to be sent to Room 101.

Earlier in the show, he also remarked on critics. I believe late night TV film critics were the specific target of his ire, but he talked about professional critics more generally:

I just have this feeling that these people are going to go, when they’re dead, and St. Peter’s going to say, “What did you do with your life?”

You know, I think it’s just a terrible waste of a life.

Now, as the person who develops my library’s picture book collection based almost exclusively on journal reviews, I do rely heavily on such criticism. And I want to read scathingly honest reviews. I hate ordering books based on gently positive reviews, to find them blah on multiple levels (in own admittedly critical eyes). In our media-buried world, we need critics. There’s just too much material out there to wade through to the junk to the good stuff all by ourselves.

And we need to be critical consumers on our own, too. Even a garbage disposal won’t eat everything you feed it. (Ever drop a spoon in there? It’s not pretty.) It revolts me to think of the blank-stared, slack-jawed couch potato who passively ingests all media that comes his or her way. Do take in books, movies, music, TV, but don’t just gulp them down. Taste them. If you find them pleasing, savor them. If you don’t, spit them out. And think about why. Think about how they might have been better and how they make you see the world differently, if only for a few minutes. Discuss them. Think about them in the shower or when you’re lying awake in the middle of the night.

But best of all, be an active producer, creating your own content, whether it's a book or a painting or a garden or a wooly hat or a delcious meal. You still need to be critical. Developing a critical eye is essential to writing. You need to be able to recognize what is successful and what is not in the books you read, apply what you’ve learned in your own writing, and critically approach what you’ve written. You won’t always be able to recognize just what you’re doing right or wrong, but you can’t be completely hopeless at it, either, or you’ll never improve.

Believe it or not, this is all a lead-up to the revelation that I don’t generally like writing book reviews and have no desire to advance my career in librarianship through professional reviewing. I do read critically, view critically, listen critically, but when it comes down to it, I don’t usually feel like taking the time to write down my thoughts for a public forum like this. It takes a very special piece of work to do that, and even then I have to be in the right mood. It really takes a lot of thought and time and energy to write good reviews. And that’s thought and time and energy that, most days, I’d much rather put toward creating my own work than critiquing others’.

I’m not about to put the critics in Room 101. We need them. But I’m with Stephen Fry in wanting to put my own arms, legs, and soul to work, doing things, rather than spending my precious time remarking on what other people are doing with their own precious time.

I've fallen behind in the Kidlitosphere lately, both reading and posting-wise. I chalk it up to the season, in large part; I've been trying really hard to be nice to myself and not stress out about things like, say, keeping up with the blog. Here are some things I've been enjoying that have nothing to do with the Internet:

• Vegan cooking - I'm enjoying Isa Chandra Moskowitz's cookbook Vegan with a Vengeance: Over 150 Delicious, Cheap, Animal-Free Recipes That Rock. So far, so good! We've been using her seitan recipe for some time now, and over the past few weeks we've also tried the scrambled tofu, biscuits with sausage gravy (one of my favorite foods ever, from my meat-eating days), and onion miso soup. I'm planning to make the chocolate raspberry cake for my dad's birthday. If you've ever thought about reducing your dairy/egg/meat intake, take a look. Vegan with a Vengeance is a far cry from scary nut-and-twig vegan recipes from days of yore.
• Watching Doctor Who - When I put the "complete first series" of Doctor Who on hold at the library, I was expecting an assortment of kitschy episodes from 40 years ago. Somehow I completely missed that the BBC revived the series in 2005, and HOO BABY is it good! It's well-written, with terrific acting and quite respectable special effects. If you were a fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation or The X-Files, you'll probably enjoy it. And maybe even fall a little bit in love with Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor. Like maybe I did. Hypothetically speaking.
• Listening to New (To Me) Music - Iron & Wine and Calexico's joint effort In the Reins is seep-into-the-consciousness-and-take-up-residence music. It's so very mellow and pretty, it pretty much perfectly mirrors these snowy February mornings. I'll be using it as mood music for one of my writing projects I plan to return to once I finish this revision of another (slog, slog, slog). Some other new-to-me albums getting a lot of play: the New Pornographers' Challengers, the Finches' Human Like a House, and the Magnetic Fields' I.

And I'll be back soon with that post about unusual character names. Pinky swear.

Thanks to Wizards Wireless for tagging me for the “Seven Facts About Me” meme! Of course, it means thinking of seven facts worth sharing here – harder than it sounds. Here goes:

1. I’m a youth services librarian. Four years ago, I decided to go to library school: hands down, one of the best decisions of my life. If you’re intelligent and curious, love books and helping people, but aren’t cut out for teaching, give it serious consideration. Plus, nothing releases your spirit for creativity like a job that makes you happy. Which is important to me because…
2. I’m a writer. Not yet published (not since various college rags, anyway), but working on it. I write middle grade and young adult novels, mostly realistic but also some near-future science fiction. I’ve wanted to be a published novelist since I was seven, so it’s been taking a while. But I’ll get there someday.
3. I’m a food snob. I’m not interested in haute cuisine, but it’s very important to me to find, say, the best Chicago-style pizza or locally made ice cream. My favorite cuisines are Ethiopian, Indian, Mexican, Thai, and breakfast.
4. I’m a book snob. At the library, any book a patron enjoys is worthwhile in my, um, book. But in my personal reading, I’m extraordinarily picky. Life’s too short to read books that don't speak to you. That said, what speaks to me is not necessarily what critics love, and I reserve the right to be utterly idiosyncratic in my judgment.
5. I’m a movie snob. Again, life (and money) is too short for the stupid, sappy, or overly cerebral. I know what I like, and I like geeky comedies, non-cheesy science fiction, and literary fantasies (Golden Compass, anyone?).
6. I’m a TV snob. Yet again, life (and money) is too short for a cable addiction; choose wisely. Current addictions: Q.I., Heroes, and Battlestar Galactica.
7. For all I claim to be a food, book, movie, and TV snob, I’m not a people snob. I like to think I'm open-minded, and it's a testament to the world's amazing diversity that I keep finding new ways for my mind to be opened.

I don't know if there's even seven people reading this blog at this point, so I'm not sure who to tag! But if you'd like to be tagged, comment here with a link to your site!