Carol
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Posts by Carol
Song of the Week: “You Got The Style,” Athlete
Aug 15th
Back in the old days when we still listened to CD’s, an English friend recommended “Vehicles and Animals,” the debut release of a British band called Athlete. 
Apparently, Athlete was (and still is) popular in the UK (though they took some flak for their “mockney” accents), but they’ve never caught on in the States. That’s too bad because they’re really, really good — and also because we Yanks think mockney accents are adorable. When I first heard the CD, I was feeling mopey, and “Vehicles and Animals” suited my mood so perfectly that I listened to it over and over again without ever getting bored.
I still enjoy Athlete’s music. Here’s my favorite track (which I managed to upload from my computer without any help — go me). Just click on the link to hear it.
You don’t need to feel moody to like this song, I promise. Besides, in the age of global warming, lyrics like, “Oh, it’s getting hot in here — must be something in the atmosphere,” just might make this the perfect song for August.
Back to Reality
Aug 12th
I’ve spent the last three weeks with my husband and kids in this cute house on Cape Cod, but tomorrow I head home to California. My head is already swimming with a to-do list.
On the work end: Post a GoodReads giveaway. Come up with a galley giveaway. Write some essays to promote What Came First. Get review copies in the mail. Plan my book launch party. And, oh yeah — I just sold another book , which is wonderful, wonderful news . . . but now I have to find time to write it.
On the family end, there’s too much to even think about. Soccer and orthodonture feature prominently.
Every time I take an extended vacation, I think: Why can’t real life be like this? Why does everything always have to be so complicated? I pretty much always work on vacation, but with all the extra time to sit and think, it doesn’t even feel like work.
Ah, well. I am lucky to have such a full life. And besides, next summer I’ll be back.
Marshmallow Fluff. Yeah, You Heard Me.
Aug 11th
It wasn’t until my children were old enough not to choke on peanut butter that I realized that marshmallow Fluff is not a universal food. There was a golden Cape Cod summer when I discovered that Fluffernutter sandwiches — that’s peanut butter and Fluff, which my children preferred to jelly — were the perfect beach food (quick to prepare; no need for refrigeration), followed by a not-so-golden return to California. Our local grocery store, I soon discovered, did not carry Fluff! There was some marshmallow creme stuff (ripoff), but it was in the baking aisle, not next to the peanut butter, where all self-respecting egg-white/sucrose spreads hang out.
I didn’t buy it.
Since then, I have occasionally come across an occasional, puny jar of Fluff at some California grocery store or other, stuck among the corn syrups in the baking aisle or posing as a sundae topping near the freezer section — never next to the peanut butter, where it belongs. I don’t buy it, waiting instead till I get back to Cape Cod, where I can buy a big jar of Fluff to go with my favorite Pepperidge Farm Soft Oatmeal bread, which is even harder to find on the west coast.
Yes, I know that marshmallow is not an ideal lunch food. And is maybe not a food at all.
Yes, I know that sticky stuff draws sand.
For a few weeks every August, I don’t care. To me, Fluffernutter sandwiches taste like summer.
If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be . . . RISD (Rhode Island School of Design)
Aug 9th
I spent four years in Providence, RI, when I was an undergraduate at Brown University, but I knew remarkably little about RISD (Rhode Island School of Design), even though the two campuses are adjacent on the east side of the city and allow for cross registration. One Brown student I knew took a photography class at the prestigious art school (as I would have if I’d had any sense at all), plus I remember a RISD student in one of my acting classes. That was about it.
Fast forward a whole bunch of years: now I have a daughter old enough to be looking at colleges. Since we’re in New England for a few weeks, my husband and I took our daughter and niece to see Brown and RISD. I’ve been to Providence several time since leaving school, but I’m still shocked that the city is so . . . nice. There was major, major gentriication around the turn of the millenium (I think) that included uncovering several rivers that run through the center of the city and building a really nice shopping center (“mall” sounds tacky) called The Providence Place, um . . . Mall.
We spent the first afternoon and evening exploring Brown and nearby Thayer Street, which is a funky little street lined with shops and restaurants that are way nicer than the ones that were there when I was a student.
The next morning we took a tour of RISD. I knew RISD is widely regarded as the best art school in the country. What I didn’t know is that it so cool. There is a whole room that has plants, animals (alive and dead), fish and birds (ditto), shells — you name it: everything you’d need as a model if you wanted to draw, paint or sculpt something from nature.And then there’s that other thing from nature: man. There was a skeleton room, too (not all the skeletons were human, but an awful lot were).
Studio classes run six hours at a stretch; the studios themselves are open twenty-four hours a day.
As for other facilties, here are a couple of shots from what is easily the most gorgeous university library I have ever seen.
Yeah, I definitely should have taken that photography course.
Song of the Week: “Magic Show,” Electric Owls
Aug 8th
So I’ve been thinking about this Song of the Week thing and decided that most of my choices will fall into one of several categories:
1. What the Cool Kids are Listening To: These are new (or newish), under-the-radar songs that just may be the next big thing. Or not. If you are under twenty, you may know these songs. If you are over twenty, you probably don’t. (And if you do? You are exceedingly cool. Or you spend way too much time and money on iTunes.)
2. In Case You Missed It: These are old favorites that, in my opinion, never got as much playtime as they deserved.
3. Inspiration: I listen to music a lot because it provides a mental soundtrack to whatever I happen to be writing. And also because I just like listening to music. These are songs that made it to one of my books’ playlists. Occasionally, I’ll even post a playlist. Oh, yeah. Now you’re excited.
4. Covers: Exactly what it sounds like.
5. Guest Picks: In which I makes someone else do the work.
Today’s pick, “Magic Show” by Electric Owls, falls under What the Cool Kids are Listening To. I discovered this song courtesy of two teenaged music hounds (both of whom, quite coincidentally, happen to be blood relatives). I’m not sure that I love this song, but I like it . . . and I do love the name Electric Owls. “Magic Show” was the theme song for the movie “Charlie St. Cloud,” which, I gotta say, was way better than I thought it would be, and not just because Zac Efron is . . . well, Zac Efron.
At some point, I will get someone from my music advisory team to show me how to embed a song or video into a wordpress.org blog post. (If anyone reading this knows how, please, please tell me!) In the meantime, here’s a link to a YouTube video. Enjoy.
“Magic Show” by Electric Owls:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQO24bai9FE
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