12.26.07
Posted in Magazines at 9:47 am by Rosepixie
The theme of this issue was “The Great Debate” and nearly every article presented at least two viewpoints on whatever the given topic was. I largely enjoyed the issue, but I wished that there were more than just two viewpoints given on most of the topics. Most things were presented as very black and white, but that isn’t the only way to see it. Compromises, shades of gray and completely different views are all there, but weren’t presented or acknowledged. Recognizing that there are more than two sides is really important and I would have thought that New Moon would have understood that! Oh well. I loved the poems in this issue, anyway.
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12.21.07
Posted in Magazines at 12:40 am by Rosepixie
There may be no more Old Cricket, but he will never be forgotten. Marianne Carus’ letter at the end of this issue was wonderful and sweet - a lovely tribute to an amazing author. The story included at the beginning of this issue was wonderful and it was just so nice to read one last story by Lloyd Alexander. I’m not certain that I like the new lay-out changes, but I’m sure that I’ll get used to them. I loved the images in “The Last Caravan” and found “The Camel and Hassan Djiwa” to be very funny. I also really enjoyed the “Homeplace” story in this issue and the piece about Marco Polo. The end of “Barn Gravity” was wonderful. I loved this issue and it will always be special because of the touching tribute to Lloyd Alexander. Goodbye, Old Cricket! I’ll miss you!
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12.16.07
Posted in Magazines at 2:50 am by Rosepixie
I really don’t know why I read this, I only recognized about a third of the music personalities talked about in it (and most of the ones I recognized were the classic ones). Only a few of the fashions at all interested me and for the most part I was pretty bored. Popular music is clearly not something I’ve given a damn about for some time.
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12.02.07
Posted in Magazines at 1:08 am by Rosepixie
The holiday issues of The Horn Book are always really interesting. Their list of new recommended titles are always interesting, although none of the titles really grabbed me this year like some of them did last year. There was a fantastic article in this issue about the appeal of fantasy and the difficulties in reviewing it. The article about reissued books was also great - Terri Schmitz makes great observations that I can totally relate to! Richard Peck’s Zena Sutherland Lecture was also totally amazing. There was a great piece on the history and impact left by Astrid Lindgren as the world, but especially Sweden, celebrates her hundredth birthday. It made me want to take a trip to Sweden! The issue also had an amazing set of reviews and my list of books to read has grown a great deal after reading it!
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11.25.07
Posted in Magazines at 1:18 am by Rosepixie
This is a weird and totally unnecessarily massive issue of Vogue. I found very little of real interest in it and in an issue that was nearly 850 pages long, that’s disappointing at best. I found the fashion spreads (theoretically the showpieces of the September issue) incredibly uninspiring. Sienna Miller, doused in feathers, was on the cover. This was especially disappointing when on remembers that the September covers of Vogue usually have models on them. So many of the books, companies and people covered in this issue seemed to be there largely because someone high up at Vogue liked them or they just oozed so much celebrity that the magazine had to feature them. I’m tired of that. I want real fashion news, not news about the editors’ favorites. It feels so name-droppish and superficial. They can do, and in the past have done, better - much better. At this rate I will most definitely cancel my subscription (which I thought I hadn’t renewed last year anyway…) and get my news online or elsewhere!
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11.08.07
Posted in Comics at 2:14 am by Rosepixie
Things just seem to keep getting more and more complicated, don’t they? And what is up with those villains at the end? A bunch of them looked like they were wearing the mantles of current good heroes! Are they from the future too? How are all these people getting back from the future? And what’s with the Justice League running off? And why was Diana pissy to Blue Beetle? I guess I’ll just have to keep reading!
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Posted in Comics at 1:01 am by Rosepixie
This was definitely an interesting story. I kind of wonder what the broader implications of the story was, but mostly I just thought it was a good story. I always wonder why Wonder Woman is such a huge fan of Superman. What’s up with that? I found Power Girl’s resentment of Wonder Woman’s insistence on brains over brawn pretty funny and kind of interesting from a characterization standpoint. I think that mostly it was just fun for me to read about some characters I don’t read about terribly often.
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Posted in Magazines at 12:35 am by Rosepixie
This was an incredibly interesting issue of The Horn Book. It was a special issue with a focus on gender. There was a series of short pieces throughout the issue written by various writers and illustrators discussing varying elements of their experiences with reading or writing and gender. Many talked about their experiences of reading as boys or girls. Some discussed adult experiences. I loved Jennifer L. Holm’s feelings about Wonder Woman and Marc Aronson’s discussion of games and the emotional power of numbers. John Green’s exploration of why he hated the Hardy Boys was particularly funny. I really enjoyed reading all of these pieces.
There were also several interesting feature articles. The interview with Jon Scieszka was both informative and funny. He’s such a passionate man when it comes to his work, but he seems able to laugh at anything! The article looking at sissies in literature was fascinating and really made me want to read an original version of Little Women! There was a very interesting article about ‘gender alchemy’ in manga that actually got me to add several manga titles to my list! There was a particularly good piece on what makes a good sex ed. book. It was a really insightful discussion of the strengths and shortcomings of modern sex ed. books.
There were, of course, lots of good reviews as well. This was a great issue of the magazine and I loved every page of it. This was an awesome issue and I loved it!
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10.15.07
Posted in Comics at 6:04 am by Rosepixie
I love Batman. He totally came through for Dinah! I have no idea how she’s going to rescue Ollie from Themyscira now, though. I do know she’ll tear the world apart trying if she needs to. She’s like that. Maybe Babs can help? And what about Connor taking the Green Arrow mantle? Is he going to give it up now or are there going to be two Green Arrows? That would be a little weird. I guess we’ll see what happens!
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Posted in Comics at 5:52 am by Rosepixie
What is with all my comics ending like this today? And I don’t have the next Teen Titans, so I can’t find out what happens! These future Titans are very strange and creepy. It reminds me a lot of the “Justice Lords” from the Justice League cartoon. Very strange. I can guess what happened to Supergirl (Legion, most likely), but what’s with the others? Did Ravager die? Why is Martian Girl white? Very weird!
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