by Melinda Snodgrass | Feb 8, 2009 | Blog
Last night I watched the last of the five films nominated for Best Picture. Ian and I were ambivalent about watching THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON because we knew it was very long, and we figured it would be sad. Sad isn’t something I need right now. It’s why I haven’t watch REVOLUTIONARY ROAD. Anyway, I’ve now seen them all, and it’s a strong field. It isn’t one of those years where I’m cringing because GLADIATOR...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Feb 8, 2009 | Blog
I’ve just spent well over two hours trying to remove outdated appearances from my blog, and put up my new appearances. Obviously I haven’t succeeded, and it’s made me feel so damn dumb. So here are my new appearances.Boskone February 13th-15th 2009 BUSTED FLUSH signing at Page One March 7th 2009 from 4:00 pm until 6:00 pm. I hate to admit this, but struggling with this program has cost me my work out time at the gym, and reduced me to tears. Normally I...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Feb 7, 2009 | Blog
I was catching up on my tivo now that I’m home, and I watched two episodes of House back to back. Now, I like the show (I know it drives medical professionals crazy, but I don’t know any better so I can enjoy it.) I especially like the soap opera and the mind games people play with each other. It’s far more involving then an episode of 24 where it’s all about shooting, running, torturing someone, and breathless messages to the...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Feb 7, 2009 | Blog
I took a deep breath after the election, and haven’t blogged about politics for a few weeks, but now I just can’t keep silent any longer. I’m not an economist, but even I know that when the threat of deflation is hanging over our heads, and folks are losing their jobs we need spending on a massive scale. A scale that only a government can achieve. Even Republican economists are saying this. But it appears that the...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Feb 5, 2009 | Blog
As I drove across Arizona today I found myself thinking about the lost world of the nineteen forties and fifties. When cars had water bags hooked to the front of the radiators, and signs warned — “last water for a hundred miles”. When other signs shouted out — SEE LIVE SNAKES, SEE REAL INDIANS — a casual lumping together of exotics for the white folks making their way toward California and the fabled land of milk and honey and movie...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Feb 4, 2009 | Blog
So, it seems I own a stallion, and he reminded me of that fact today. I had a lesson that started well, and ended badly. Last night I went into mental stress mode. One of my old friends got laid off from his job yesterday, and he’s in the construction industry. Not a good situation. He’s fifty-six — a worse situation. A spotty job record because construction is a cyclical business. No college...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Feb 1, 2009 | Blog
Since I came to California to ride I guess I ought to talk about how that’s been going. Very well. Very exhausting. What I have sadly begun to realize is that if I’m going to ride at the level that interests me — FEI (which includes Prix St. George, Intermediare I and II, and Grad Prix) — I have to be in incredible physical shape.I had joined a health club in New Mexico and had started working with a trainer just before I left for L.A. I found...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Jan 28, 2009 | Blog
I just wrote an entry about the really shitty wireless at this hotel. And it failed to load the post. I am so angry. It’s hard to write on my blog, hard to get mail, hard to download Keith Olbermann — in fact it has become impossible. What the hell am I doing in this crappy hotel in Chino California with nothing but malls and chain restaurants all around?
by Melinda Snodgrass | Jan 27, 2009 | Blog
I realize that I use the word “craft” a lot. What do I mean by that? Craft is a set rules that can be broken, but not until you’ve mastered those rules. There are very basic issues of craft –word choice, sentence structure, punctuation.. (Although I will freely admit that I’m baffled by the comma. I tend to use them as a rest in music, or a pause in delivery as if I were an actor delivering a line.) Here are some other examples...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Jan 27, 2009 | Blog
Why The Fear?I have a short story I’m really excited to write. I have the proposal for a Y/A book series to prepare. But I keep hesitating and hesitating. I’m like a dog who keeps circling her bed trying to figure out the right way to lie down, that perfect position that will be comfortable and safe.Once I’ve started writing I’m fine. Get me past that first page, and I’m golden. Especially if I have a good outline. I get up each day,...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Jan 25, 2009 | Blog
Ian and I continued our support of WWII movies last weekend with a double feature. Defiance on Friday night, and The Reader on Saturday night.George R.R. joined us for Defiance. I had read a review that dismissed the movie as two hours of people yelling at each other. Other reviewers gave it good reviews. I fall into the good reviews camp. I really enjoyed this movie. Daniel Craig was amazing (and very easy on the eyes). Ian and I kept leaning over to...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Jan 23, 2009 | Blog
It was Tuesday afternoon after the inauguration, and I was driving across Arizona, a notoriously conservative part of the country. Radio signals morphed in and out like distant voices heard in a forest. There were many twanging guitars, and mournful male voices singing about lost loves, jobs, trucks, wives, dogs, children. There was an oldie station giving me the best of the Stones, and the Beatles on the hour. At other times the oily tones of radio...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Jan 20, 2009 | Blog
I just finished watching the inauguration. I cried. We’ve taken the first steps to leach away the poison of slavery. I reveled in listening to a man who can form a coherent sentence. As a writer I listened to the play of words written by a man who loves language. I looked at the crowds stretching away from the Capitol. A crowd that held black, white, brown and Asian faces. Where women stood side by side with...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Jan 18, 2009 | Blog
I’m off to Los Angeles tomorrow, and will be gone two to three weeks. I’m looking forward to seeing (in no particular order) my horse, my friends, my manager. After the cold of a New Mexico January it will be pleasant to be warm, and I think I’m going to spend some time sitting on a beach watching the waves and thinking about my life,But before I go all philosophical and navel gazing I wanted to make a post about writing, and trying to analyze how I bring my...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Jan 15, 2009 | Blog
So, I don’t understand most of this, but this is the most amazing article. Check it out. It is so cool. www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126911.300-our-world-may-be-a-giant-hologram.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news It seems that we are just holographic images on the edges of the universe. Or as Paul Cornell said, Plato was right.
