My favorite authors

"You sort of start thinking anything's possible if you've got enough nerve."
-J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix)

"If the composition's imperfect, why would so many pianists try to master it?"
"Good question," Oshima says, and pauses as music fills in the silence. "I have no great explanation for it, but one thing I can say: works that have a certain imperfection to them have an appeal for that very reason - or atleast they appeal to certain types of people. Just like you're attracted to Soseki's The Miner. There's something in it that draws you in, more than more fully realised novels like Kokoro or Sanshiro. You discover something about that work that tugs at your heart - or maybe we should say that the work discovers you."
-Haruki Murakami (Kafka On The Shore)

“She called a rose a rose. He called it an accumulation of cultural and biological constructions circulating around the mutually attracting binary poles of nature/artifice.”
-Zadie Smith (On Beauty)

"Everything everybody does is so—I don't know—not wrong, or even mean, or even stupid necessarily. But just so tiny and meaningless and—sad-making. And the worst part is, if you go bohemian or something crazy like that, you're conforming just as much as everybody else, only in a different way."
-JD Salinger (Franny and Zooey)

"We need enormous pockets, pockets big enough for our families and our friends, and even the people who aren't on our lists, people we've never met but still want to protect. We need pockets for boroughs and for cities, a pocket that could hold the universe."
-Jonathan Safran Foer (Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close)

*These are my favorite authors that inspire me and keep me motivated whenever I get writer's block. I feed off their words, images, and adventures. I hope to create my own style and voice, but it's always great to have a few driving forces to help along the way.

Murakami

WOW. After reading the entirety of Zadie Smith's novels, I've been having a difficult time getting lost in a good book. That is, until I discovered the infamous novelist hailing from Japan, Haruki Murakami. If you haven't heard of him or opted to add him to your stack of summer reading, please, I strongly urge you to do so.

I picked up "Kafka On The Shore" on a whim, and was instantaneously transported to this mystical world of talking cats, drunken cowboys, rainy days, magical libraries, lost souls, and noodles. It's insane how connected I felt with the protagonist. How parallel our lives are. I also was mentally stimulated by the themes of time and the meaning of life brought up in this book as well.

Here are some quotes are really enjoyed:

“Time weighs down on you like an old, ambiguous dream. You keep on moving, trying to slip through it. But even if you go to the ends of the earth, you won’t be able to escape it. Still, you have to go there - to the edge of the world. There’s something you can’t do unless you go there.”

“Our responsibility begins with the power to imagine.”

It's hard to describe his craft, but it is so visual, intellectual, and imaginative. I love when an author can grab you physically, and displace you into the characters and their situations. Reading it reminded me of the Anime film, "Paprika" that deals with the science of dreams.

Since then, I've devoured:

1) Norwegian Wood (where I discovered the famous Beatles song)
2) Sputnik Sweetheart
3) After Dark

I'm currently diving right into "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" and I can't get enough of it. If I could write in Murakami's style, I'd be one happy talking cat.

Raw Vegan Blueberry Cheescake

Um, yum...

Go and make this.

J.K. Rowling's Harvard Commencement Speech

"If you choose to use your status and influence to raise your voice on behalf of those who have no voice; if you choose to identify not only with the powerful, but with the powerless; if you retain the ability to imagine yourself into the lives of those who do not have your advantages, then it will not only be your proud families who celebrate your existence, but thousands and millions of people whose reality you have helped transform for the better. We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better."

Amazzzing...

Veganomicon

A.K.A. My personal bible.

Even if you don't eat vegetarian/vegan (al though EVERYONE can, unlike the blindess entity of meat-eaters) food. Why not take the time to flip through this wonderous cookbook filled with works of art that only your tastebuds could dream of.

Mere and I have already made the Portabella Mushroom salad, which literally, is to die for. I'm not kidding.

Isa Moskowitz and Terry Romero are the brain goddesses behind this masterpiece. If you want to know more about them or their recipes, click here.

Diablo(ws) Cody

"Don't ever agonize about the hordes of other writers who are obstensibly your competition. No one is capable of doing what you do. No one else can ever be you."

Too true, Diablo, too true.

I've had a Xanga since I was sixteen years old...
I was a MySpace whore before the masses...
I'd blog about this. Jot a note about that.

NO ONE ASKED ME TO WRITE THE INDIE VERSION OF JAMIE-LYNN SPEARS.

I'm only scribbling these thoughts down in this manner, because now coming from Minneapolis (612 district, represent!) won't seem nearly as cool or interesting after the once CityPages writer went all Los Angeles. Which leads into my second argument: now she gets to ruin Hollywood with her quirky style and paint a new way of looking at main characters, vernacular, and humor before I'll ever get a chance to.

But in light of friendly joking, mad props to you, Diablo. I secretly (well, I guess it's not that much of one now that it'll be forever documented in the interwebs of digital space!) am obsessed with her and couldn't be more inspired and excited by her work. She's creating her own path, avoiding conventionality, and sticking to what she knows, and I respect that.

Moses

Moses "Kinky" Thompson
Dec. 16, 1995 - May. 11, 2008

Today marks the tragic loss of a beloved family member...

Moses, my beautiful, baby, Bernie, brother passed today on Mother's day. I already really miss him and the house doesn't have that same nostalgic feeling it once seemed to beam with when he was around. That was the thing that was most unique about my little friend: he was always around...always there to lend an ear, or a warm, fuzzy, shoulder to lean on. Even when I moved back home from my studio in NE MPLS, he was right there by my bedside, waiting, with that twinkling glint in his eyes. He never questioned where'd I'd been, or about the choices I make...there was zero judgement whatsoever. He'd just smile at me and give a wink. And how fortunate that I moved out of my apartment when I did. I was able to have 9 truly special months with Sweet Boy. He just enjoyed the company and always kept me warm at night. As I type this, looking around my room, I can still smell his funky earwax-like scent, that I have grown to love. And it scares me the prospect of it slipping away. He was an amazing dog. We were lucky to be granted such a special magical beast to come into our lives, and our hearts. It's so wonderful to think that out of all the families and humans he came to know in his long, and full life, we were the ones he called family. The ones he recognized, relied on, and respected. It's so cute. All he ever wanted in life was to hang out with us, a good pet, a nice walk up the street, hamburger and rice, and the occasional ear session of Pooh Bear's "Little Black Rain Cloud." A pup of simplicity.

There is some comfort in knowing that he knew how much we loved him and that he had a true sense of belonging. And now he doesn't have to be in pain anymore. This is going to be hard to deal with for awhile...Mom was telling Mere and I about the Rainbow Bridge and how after dog's pass, they go here. And when we leave this physical world, we too, will cross the rainbow bridge and Moses will be waiting at the other side for us. I like that. That in a small way, gives me solace while I cope with this morbid day.