namman siggins

At the time, it was just one of the most exuberant pieces of marketing bullshit I had ever seen. HAHAHA, "classic Mexican Cuisine." Don't get me wrong, I love me some TB, but I don't remember Mexican Pizza and Grilled Stuffed Burritos being a part of my Mexican cooking or something I ever heard my grandma said she was going to cook. I, too, have had that surreal experience.

Since Sherlock was mentioned: http://www.futilitycloset.com/2014/09/29/the-real-life-sherlock-holmes/ worth a listen and great cast too

Be a reddit scorpion atheist #notallscorpions #scorpiongate

The new collection of Hilary Mantel stories are blowing me away. I've never read Gibson. Where should I start?

Here's some recommended reading:

I'd go to IMAX for that. Hell, I don't regret seeing Transformers 4 on IMAX; that was actually a good film and I didn't need to see the other three to understand what was going on.

The Awl and Millions are great places to get recs. I'm have my own little system that I've built up over the years. I'm not going to explain it because it's a somewhat convoluted and has little quirks that just with for me.

Bought The Rover today One of the best films of '14.

This has such a Coen Bros vibe to it; can't fucking wait. Also, The Master is a brilliant movie and may be my favorite PTA film.

http://5by5.tv/isometric/21 special guest Danielle Riendeau

If you're interested in more fabulist/fantasy novels without female stereotypes check out: All the Birds, Singing: A Novel by Evie Wyld Duplex by Kathryn Davis Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel The Bees by Laline Paull This this this and this. Also, Hilary Mantel's early novels before Wolf Hall would be another great recommendation.

There's a nice filling of cheesy between the layers of comedic genius in this; I was laughing my ass off this morning.

Well, I just got done with my thoughts on Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer http://the9thblog.blogspot.com/2014/09/annihilation-novel-by-jeff-vandermeer.html

I was really happy to hear the Sunless Seas has a non-binary option for gender; that's something I rarely, if ever, see in video games. Primer is a neat film. It takes all the glory and spectacle that most stories bring to time traveling and throws it out the window. Time travel would of course be done by a bunch of nerdy ass dudes who wouldn't know how to deal with it when they go through it and that it's story would be elliptical and somewhat Lynchian.

God, I fucking love Blood Meridian. I remember when I first read that book and being blown away from the get go: What way to start your novel and to instantly hook your reader. McCarthy does a beautiful job drawing an image in the reader's head about our protagonist, his age, where is at in the world/class through lyrical straight-to-the-point prose. Another thing I like about McCarthy and it comes out especially in Blood Meridian is his ability to describe the landscape in which his characters' inhabit; the landscapes feel worn out and lived in and they instantly come alive within a few words; they're also characters themselves. The landscape becomes living beings that fight or help the characters' or they are a reflection of the characters' exterior and interiors; they're never static in McCarthy's world, they're always bursting with life and energy, even a desert is shown to be bursting with life and energy. His exploration of violence was another thing that attracted me to him and Blood Meridian. Havin been a victim and perpetrator of violence, his themes of violence hit home to me. The senseless violence that his characters' act upon and that violence, real violence, can occur out of the blue without and was something that reflected my reality growing up. To read what violence does to a person's psyche was something that I didn't get much of at that time. The books I was reading didn't explore the full intent of violence and how it shapes the world and the people it's done by and thrust upon. So when I came across McCarthy and his stories, it was a revelation, a reflection and allowed me to escape and explore the violence in my life. Also, you can't go wrong when you have a paragraph like this: Talk about cinematic! My god! McCarthy starts off with a panoramic view, then moves to a series of closeups. Within these closeups, McCarthy takes us through time and space. McCarthy compresses a lifetime of violence and battle and brutality in this paragraph, and he does this by the grab that Native Americans are wearing. McCarthy uses the garb to show how victorious and brutal the Native Americans have been through the ages and there are sneak peaks of the victims they have slain: from the conquistadors to the white stockings to the bloodstained weddingveil. God, I fucking love this book!

If anyone is wanting to check out a new comic, I highly recommend Typex's Rembrandt:

It is and Uncivilized is also releasing David B's Incidents in the Night Book 2, MariNomi's Dragon's Breath, Joann Sfar's Pascin (I've been waiting for this to release), Lewis's True Swamp vol 2 (one of the best comics that deals with existential dread but through swamp critters) and I just ordered Caitlin Skaalrud's House of the Holy because it looks and sound fascinating. I'm also glad that Kaczynski's Cartoon Dialectics Vol. 1 is being sold though it was originally OOP. I agree, some of the Retrofit can be rather shit, though they are few and far. I am really excited about Antoine Cossé new comic and a comic from Akino Kondoh!

J.1137 was my comic for 2013. Breakthrough Comics in general have become one of THE minicomic pub' company to watch out for; it's a damn shame you have to import them and it's so pricey. I was excited when Fantagraphics decided to publish a collection of Kaczynski's short stories. Kaczynski's Uncivilized Books is another great comic pub' company. UB's fall release is something to watch out for. Speaking of Retrofit comics, Theth by Josh Bayer and Number 2 By Box Brown = good shit. I think Ryan Holmberg did a nice essay on Seiichi Hayashi. Also, Breakthrough Comics re-print one of Seiichi Hayashi's short stories.

Worth it. Carroll is one of the top cartoonists in the field right now and it comes out with Through the Woods. Each story is exponentially stronger than the last and Carroll does a wonderful job utilizing the medium's strengths. If you don't want to spend the money, get it from your library. EDIT: My copy of Beauty came in!

Life has been more and less good for me: I've had to stop hanging out with a friend for a while for the shitty things he's done to a couple of my other friends. That's been painful because I see him as a family, but I fucking angry at him and need to some space to think about things. Though I "dropped" him, I've gained a new friend and deepen my bonds with my some of my other friends. I no longer feel somewhat alone now in Sacramento and I've recovered well from my long-term relationship. I've found more time to read my books and money to buy more. School is going fucking great and I'm almost done with it; thank god, I fucking hate college. I was never a big fan of school, but it's needed in this society to live somewhat well. Also, I'm amazed by how open-minded the people in Sacramento are: I can walk around in my dress or skirt and not worry about being called a faggot or ready myself to get into a fight. So I've been living more and more open with my attire.

Illbleed is such a cool and bizarre fucking game. The surreal landscapes and monsters you come across get burned into your head.

Never been to Disneyland, but I've been to Disney World multiple times with my family. I had a blast, but the Florida weather can take its toll on you; fuck, writing this out I remembered by Dad almost got sun stoked when we last visited Disney World. I'm surprised I haven't checked out Disneyland yet since I've been living in California for a bit now. Oh well. I think Lego Land is further up in my list than Disneyland.

Some other books worth checking out: The Bloody Chamber: and Other Stories by Angela Carter, Carter takes familiar fairy tales--Red Riding Hood, vampires, and the like--and twists them on the head by putting a feminist viewpoint and exploring male and female sexuality; awesome fucking book, I LOVE Carter. Grendel by John Gardner, a heart wrenching and devastating existential novel which explores the monster Grendal from the Beowulf myth. The Bees by Laline Paull, Flora 717 is a bee that is in the lowest caste possible:a sanitation worker. Flora is able to move up, but as she does, she discovers more and more sinister things about the hive and Queen The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington, we follow 92-year-old Marian Leatherby who is given a hearing trumpet, but is soon put into an institution by her family. Within the institution she explores a surreal landscape: a bee fountain, the Winking Abbess, and a gateway to the underworld are some of the things Leatherby comes across.

Me too especially when it comes to feminism. There are times where I need to shut the fuck up and listen or shut up. I get pissed too when people try to talk about Trans* or genderqueer and how it relates to me and the same goes when issues about being a Mexican or Latin American in America. Some articles I've enjoyed reading recently Women in Sci-fi or lack their of: http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2013/aug/08/science-fiction-invisible-women-recognition-status And a nice essay on Lovecraft and his rampant racism: http://www.racialicious.com/2014/05/28/the-n-word-through-the-ages-the-madness-of-hp-lovecraft/

Gaymerx was great! I plan on going next year.