down and out - on - murder mile

I really liked fucked-up books. Suicides, drug addictions, rape, death. Tragedies. Things too terrible to see in the light of day. That's why I love this book.

I was originally draw to this book because it is yellow. But, as I flipped through the pages, I was thrown into the story of a heroin addict and his junkie wife with a narrator's voice like this sound of the city. It's raw. Scary. Real. Honest. Beautiful. It discusses addiction, love, hate, beauty, fear, the façade of real life. 

It's a fast read.

Read it. 

iTunes - Tunes of i - senuTi

Something I learned today.

Preface: My iPod has been screwed up for about six months - after it's been fully charged, it loses power in about thirty seconds.

To fix my iPod, I've decided to restore it to the original settings. This means that I'll have to lose all of my songs, most of which are not on my computer, and all of my settings. However, as I valiantly tried to copy all of my media to iTunes, it simply wouldn't work.

But, I have figured it out. To copy your music from your iPod to iTunes, open up your iPod folder from My Computer. It should have a hidden folder called iPod_Control, which has all of your settings, music, cover art, etc. Right-click the folder and chose Properties, then un-check the Hidden box under Attributes. Click Okay.  Now, you are free to File, Add New Folder to Library in iTunes.

El fin.

Edited to add: Restoring my iPod did fix the battery problem, but not all of my music was stored, though I copied it to iTunes. Weird, but worth it.

sinfest - fest of sin - tsefnis

Sinfest has become one of my favorite comics ever. It covers just about everything - love, religion, good, evil, sex, rejection, indulgence, porn - with clever dialog and beautiful lineart. Multiple sets of stories (Slick and Monique, God and Devil, Pooch and Percy) flow together to create a comic that will make you laugh, make you cry, and make you say, "What the fuck did I just read."

Highly recommended. Brilliant.

wordstock 3 - wordstock three - wordstock tres

I know I'm the second-worst blogger ever (thanks for being first, Laura.)

However, I feel obligated to share this and this and this with you for my own bragging benefit. I am now officially published!

I now have eight copies of my book in my possession. I bought them at the Wordstock festival in Portland on the weekend of my birthday at the Franklin, Beedle & Associates Publishing booth. When my mom and I went to the cashier (Jim Leisy, who originally started the Short Fiction Competition) to buy our copies, he remarked, "Wow, you sure are buying a lot of these."

My mom replied, "Well, my daughter is a finalist."

The entire booth erupted. "This is Danya?!" "Danya, we think you have so much potential!" "I loved your story!"A judge from the competition was there and he told me that he received my story because another judge had put it through to him as the winner of ten stories he had read.

It was amazing, it was incredible, it was what I want to do for the rest of my life.

juno - juno - juno

i think that it's just about time to do a post about the movie "juno". obviously, the movie is entirely founded on clever dialouge ("that ain't no etch-a-sketch; this is one doodle that can't be undid, homeskillet.", "i figured you could never have enough of your favorite one-calorie breath mint.", etc.) and witty, random characters, but is overall a fucking awesome movie. this is my favorite scene and i think it gives you a pretty much solid look at what "juno"'s all about:

also, the soundtrack is a fantastic array of indie-rock. it's awesome. 

wordstock 2 - stock de mot - wortlager

after about two months of insanity, i have checked my email and received a letter from wordstock, the annual literary festival in portland, congratulating me on being one of the ten finalists! i already have secured a place in the wordstock 10, an anthology that will be available at the festival, by being a finalist, but i have to wait until november to hear the final word.

i am ecstatic. wish me luck!

stingrays - pastenagues - stechrochen

again. i am sorry for the hiatus, but i just finished the second week of school and am literally exhausted. i try to get over eight hours of sleep every night, but at the end of the day, i am always completely drained.

anyways, that's not your problem.

my dad sent me this awesome fowarded email of the golden stingray migration:

"Looking like giant leaves floating in the sea, thousands of Golden Rays are seen here gathering off the coast of Mexico .

The spectacular scene was captured as the magnificent creatures made one of their biannual mass migrations to more agreeable waters.

Gliding silently beneath the waves they turned vast areas of blue water to gold off the northern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula

Sandra Critelli, an amateur photographer, stumbled across the phenomenon while looking for whale sharks.

She said: 'It was an unreal image, very difficult to describe. The surface of the water was covered by warm

and different shades of gold and looked like a bed of autumn leaves gently moved by the wind.

It's hard to say exactly how many there were, but must range in the thousands.

We were surrounded by them without seeing the edge of the school and we could see many under the water surface too.

'I feel very fortunate I was there in the right place at the right time to experienced nature at his best.'

Measuring up to 7ft (2.1 meters) from wing-tip to wing-tip, Golden rays are also more prosaically known as cow nose rays.

They have long, pointed pectoral fins that separate into two lobes in front of their high-domed heads and give them a cow-like appearance.

Despite having poisonous stingers they are known to be shy and non-threatening when in large schools.

The population in the Gulf of Mexico migrates, in schools of as many as 10,000, clockwise, from western Florida to the Yucatan."