And for the first time in 1o years, I didn’t get up at 4 am…but I did shop the Black Friday Sales at 8:30–in Dallas.  For me! I’ll try to get a picture on The Twisted Sisters blog later.

But that’s not my topic. I broke a routine, and for me that’s a big deal. Bigger than scooping an awesome bargain!!  This year has been my time to deviate from my carefully normal ordered  life.  I discovered that I can write almost anywhere, not just my office, or when it is quiet, or only in the morning. I don’t even have to ‘have’ a lap top. There are notes on several napkins, paper towels, and the backs of envelopes.

During the next few months, I will be driving my husband to work (in Dallas) as he recovers from double shoulder separation/tendon repair back to back surgeries. As much as I LOVE to shop, and I do know where the bargains are, I will be writing, or doing research either camped out in his office building. Or if the weather is nice, across the street at the Frisbee park. 

Are you going to break a routine that may be holding you back?

Just when I was gathering some momentum with my networking, writing, and blogging NANO arrives. My website redo is ongoing, the dude will be a year old next week (hey, Leah, he and GG may have the same birthday) and constantly needing attention and the holiday mail season is upon us.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with it… Nanowrimo is an annual writing challenge – it’s free by the way – and the goal is to get 50,000 words by November 30th (or just to boost your word count, get a good start on a new wip or finish one). I heard from one Nanoer that last year he did 82,000 and won a contest with it last month.

So forgive me if I’m inconsistent this month. RCPn is waiting for me. I created a poster this week with all my characters on it for inspiration. Shut up, Marley, and start writing.

PS If you didn’t catch the interview I did with Susan at Twisted Sisters check out that one and the rest on Susan’s Meet a Psychic.

I replied, “How psychic?” and proceeded to explain the ability/disability that I’ve been cursed/blessed with for the last thirty years. See the interview wiht me and others ‘psychics’ at Twisted Sisters Blog on Halloween.

If you miss it I’ll post it in its entirety here, Sunday.

Conclusão: o Rio já foi um lugar obrigatório para se fazer shows.

Com excessão de algumas bandas enormes como Kiss e Iron Maiden, outras bandas não fazem mais nenhuma questão de vir à Cidade Maravilhosa.

A última vez em que o Aerosmith veio ao Brasil foi em 2007, fizeram um único show em SP e tchau!

Tudo bem. Concordo que o Rio de Janeiro talvez esteja, hoje, para o Rock, o que São Paulo está para o samba, mas isso não significa que não tenhamos roqueiros no RJ ou sambistas em SP.

Da agenda de shows que vai rolar em SP só Angra, Tim Ripper Owens e Faith No More farão shows também no RJ.

Alguns podem pensar: mas são excelentes bandas. Ok! Mas quem não gostaria de ver Children of Bodom e Amorphis (pessoal do Black), Jerry Lee Lewis (!!! dispensa apresentações), Killswitch Engage, Kreator e Exodus (juntos!!!), o Faith No More com o Deftones, Dragonforce, os malditos Twisted Sisters, Grave Digger com Dr. Sin e por último, Skid Row (mesmo sem Sebastian Bach valeria o ingresso).

O Rock e o Heavy Metal sempre andaram por meios underground, mas aqui tá demais! Acho que um pouquinho mais de vontade pela cultura nesse sentido também é legal.

Afinal, foi em um Rock n Rio que as portas do Rock n Roll internacional se abriram para o Brasil.

Saturday night I was wishing I’d had a big magnet made to put on top of my race car. Yeah, I know they are supposed to go on the sides but the way I raced, the magnet would have been shredded or had a big black doughnut all over our beautiful faces.

I had another good racing night, although I was the last car to cross the finish line  in 7th- and damn grateful for that! Fourteen cars started the race. We got one lap in then the BIG one. My little ‘friend’ from two weeks ago didn’t fare well. She caused it. Coulda told her not to take up the entire track but noooooooooo.    bwaaaa! Anywho…four cars were smashed. On the 5 laps left signal, the lead car pulled off because he’s so illegal he should be arrested. With two laps left, the 199 turned into the 05. I like the 05 so watching the wreck happen didn’t make me happy, less so because the 199 put his right front wheel into the driver’s window!!! Yes, a fight ensued on the track. A piece of advice, never take your helmet off.  While I really wanted to finish higher as I got cheated last week of two places, I happily went to the pay window to get all my entry money back! And….I’m 4th in total points for the year. Woot!

No final dos anos 80, comecinho dos noventa, eu tropecei em meus complexos e caí na infinita espiral descendente que foi minha longa, difícil e revoltada adolescência e acabei me agarrando ao goticismo e suas obscuras vertentes culturais e musicais, as quais nunca mais abandonei, diga-se de passagem.

Mas é claro, eu tinha apenas uns treze anos e ainda flertava com o lado negro da força e como qualquer garota de minha idade durante grande parte do dia meu senso estético e meu repertório pop eram constantemente bombardeados com calças clochard,  gel para cabelo com glitter, corte de cabelo a la “Chitãozinho e Xororó” (também conhecido como “franja-samambaia”), cores flúor, Madonna, Michael Jackson e comerciais da Hollywood com suas indefectíveis trilhas sonoras“farofa rock”.

Eu adoro farofa rock. E antes que qualquer remanescente das trevas me pinche uma maldição, tenho que dizer que esse gênero musical não pode ser por mim friamente analisado porque tenho por ele um apego emocional enorme, portanto, não sou possuidora do distanciamento necessário dos críticos, já que ele está ligado, para mim, à uma época despreocupada, pré-adolescente, praticamente sonorizando o final de minha infância.

Mas como alguém que gosta de, sei lá… Einsturzende Neubauten, Freiburger Spielleyt, Yo La Tengo entre outros vai gostar de…Poison? Bem, idiossincrasias e paradoxos de minha pessoa à parte, acho que gosto de farofa rock PRINCIPALMENTE porque não enxergo o estilo como algo sério.

Aquilo pra mim não é música, é pura tiração de sarro, é puro estilismo, é exagero proposital, é metalinguagem pura e simples, a indústria musical tirando sarro de si mesma, ou vai me dizer que é pra levar a sério a letra de um Dr. Love, do Kiss por exemplo? – “Oh, fique de joelhos, baby…eu sei do que você precisa…o primeiro passo do tratamento é um beijo”…Putamerda, não dá.

É a mesma coisa que querer analisar Mamonas Assassinas, Calypso ou funk. Apesar de sociólogos e antropólogos defenderem seu valor cultural, a coisa toda é pra ser relevada. É pra ouvir e dar risada,  é música feita por encomenda pra curtir, não é à toa que o gênero também é chamado de “arena rock”…é música pra show, pra ser tocada em grandes estádios, tomados de fãs enfurecidos, suados, bêbados, tatuados e barbudos e mulheres de shortinho jeans mostrando os peitos. É pra se divertir e servir de fundo musical para comerciais de cigarros com esportes radicais e só. Como se cigarro combinasse com esporte… viu como tudo NÃO faz sentido?

Os trajes, (ou a falta deles…) os cabelos enormes (e permanentados), as calças apertadíssimas e as guitarras empunhadas como símbolos fálicos são emblemáticos do gênero. Inesquecível, vai dizer?
O farofa rock, surgiu na verdade na rabeira do glam rock e do new wave, tendo como precursores bandas como Kansas, NY Dolls (que na verdade eram punks) T-Rex e Gary Glitter, e por exemplo. Depois disso, no final dos anos 70 a mistureba com a disco music e uma espécie de soft metal (ou seria EMO metal? Rsrs) deu origem à bandas como Cinderella, Heart, Journey, Winger, Asia Phenomena II, Twisted Sisters, Kiss Poison, Whitesnake, Survivor e bandinhas com nomes de estados e cidades americanas…fear them!

Farofa rock tem gosto de fim de infância, primeiros goles de cerveja, hormônios e risadas.

E quem nunca assoviou a melodia de “Love Ain’t no Stranger” que atire o primeiro maço de Hollywood…o sucesso!

Abaixo uma “seleçãozinha crasse A” do melhor do farofa rock of all times!

Tryck på länken ovan, läs, begrunda och inse att du knappast kommer läsa något roligare i år, nästa år eller ett tag framåt. The Onion är helt fantastisk!

I reply: “The ones that are less than 4″ long, half an inch wide, and taper down to nothing? The ones that are not all even the same size, the ones that that ravel before your eyes, the ones that were you to piece them together would be more seam allowance than patch? Those ones? Gee, I dunno, THROW THEM OUT?!”

In all honesty I have tried to come up with a use too and have actually taken scraps that wise students pitched in the trash can to try and figure out a use for them. The best I can come up with is arranging them in a starburst and then fusing them to a sweatshirt. My luck I’d have room for two on the front, in just the array you are imagining. I put them back in the box for another go at it later.

Finally, Mary Jeanine used them to border a quilt she made with one of Sharyn Craig’s patterns. She combined them with short strips of various widths and did a fabulous job.

Here’s Mary Jeanine’s “Quilt For Tati.”

And a close-up of her wonderful border…

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Also, I’m glad to see so many of you are working on the shrug.  And all the shrugs I have seen are just incredible.  I’ve seen them in organic cottons (yummy), alpaca (so soft) and other DK weight yarns.  An added bonus is that this pattern looks great on everyone. 

And I want to update you on new arrivals in the shop.  We have received the 1824 cotton - 18stitches in 24 rows.  A slightly nubby cotton that is wash and wear.  Great for all those baby projects and I want everyone to remember that all baby yarns (i.e. all yarns that can be used for baby projects) are 30% off in August in honor of my Miss Emma. 

We also have received in Shepherd’s Worsted and Helen’s Lace from Lorna’s Laces.  Shepherd’s worsted is a 100% worsted weight super wash wool in some of the most popular colorways from Lorna’s Laces that knits up at 4 stitches per inch.  While Helen’s Lace is a 50% silk, 50% wool blend that stitches up at 4 stitches per inch.

You also need to stop by and see the two yarns we have received in from Twisted Sisters.  And you want to make sure you enter this URL correctly on the internet or you will find yourself at the web site for Twisted Sister – “the ironmen of rock and roll” just like yours truly.  Boy talk about having a flashback to the 70s and 80s.  But from Twisted Sisters Knitting we have Daktari,a 100% slubbed cotton knit on a size 6 – 8; and Zazu, a 100% extra fine merino wool.  Boy, these yarns really rock man, like they are way cool, like they totally zoom me out.  Uh oh, stayed too long on the band web site but you get my meaning.

I hope  you get a chance to get into the shop and see these incredible yarns and take advantage of our baby yarn sale.  Before long I’ll even have a picture of Miss Emma.  Did I mention how beautiful she is?

Peggy

La letra de esta canción habla básicamente de mantenerse firme en las convicciones propias y no dejarse influenciar por el pensamiento de los demás. Sin embargo, el video musical retrataba la rebeldía contra los padres y fue incluida en una serie de listas de canciones consideradas no recomendables o inconvenientes para los jóvenes de la época, criticándola por supuestos contenidos violentos.

La banda ha tocado la canción en todos los conciertos de su carrera desde entonces, y es hoy en día un clásico de la historia del glam en los años 1980. Recientemente el canal VH1 la nombró en su especial de TV “Las 100 Mejores Canciones de los 80“.

Aunque gozaron de gran popularidad en los 80 y tuvieron algunos otros sencillos populares  no se comparan con el éxito alcanzad por “We’re Not Gonna Take It“. Actualmente la banda se ha reunido nuevamente para actuar en diversos recitales tales como Monsters of Rock realizado en julio de 2008 en la ciudad de Zaragoza.

Parade was a classic and direct effect. I personally found it a regular worker. But it was rather a trick without a premise. Entourage provides an appealing premise, and an extra level of interaction with the spectator eliminating the other ‘queens’ too. But does this make the effect more confusing? Twisted Sisters has a very clever premise and in some ways the ‘doubling up’ of the method makes the effect seem even more astounding. Perhaps this is a case for some magical markup analysis?!

At the end of the day, I suppose we have to perform what suits out style. And for the time being I will be giving Entourage an outing or two. But I’d be interested in others’ thoughts and experiences of this.

PS there is an ungaffed version of Entourage in the e-booklet Mind Blasters which is also full of other excellent mental magic.

[American Links here: Entourage by Gordon Bean
Twisted Sisters by John Bannon]

the doors have closed at

the little pink building on 10th avenue south

and we’re taking our gallery on the road…

so that we can spread our wings!