Starving to Death

Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia by Marya Hornbacher

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is a rather brutal book about the author's many years of bulimia and anorexia. She doesn't spare any details about the self-destructive behavior and it's consequences. It's a difficult read partly because it's easy to see yourself and most women in her thought processes about eating, weight, and self-worth. I don't really know any women who don't think that way to some extent, which is horrifying. It's, of course, also hard to follow her excrutiatingly detailed and horribly prolonged efforts to kill herself through starvation and malnourishment.

The thing I didn't like was that that was all we got. The book ended before her final hospitalization, so we didn't follow her through her more lasting recovery (we did get some of the initial hospitalizations). We don't get to hear what ultimately helped her to pull out of the mess she was in. It's like when your girlfriend spends weeks detailing the trouble she's having with her partner and you're all enraged on her behalf, then the two of them make it up and you don't hear another word. You're left with all these feelings and worries, and they are blissfully happy, but aren't sharing their secrets with you anymore.

Hornbacher's been accused of writing book that provides all sorts of "tips" for aspiring anoretics. It seems like that impression would have been blunted if she'd just let us in a little on her recovery.

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The Cure for Irony

This guy is like the smartest person I've ever even heard of:



Also: my new boyfriend.

Sad

I said goodbye to my nearly 18-year-old kitty today. I was hoping not to have to make the decision, but he was a tough old bird and who know how long he would have hung on? He wasn't eating and couldn't move very well.

I'm sure going to miss him.

The Sassmaster Review of Books

Epileptic by David B.

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is probably the longest graphic novel I've read which is probably to the author's credit as it must have been a ridiculous amount of work, but it can be taxing on the reader. The story, about the author's childhood to young adulthood with his family and brother with epilepsy, is worth telling, and he has a unique take on it. His parents search for help for their son among an astonishing range of esoteric religions, cults, alternative medicines, healers, diets, etc. is mixed with his own hyperactive imagination. As a child, the author fixates on war and violence-prone historical figures such as Ghengis Khan. His drawings show us his rich, but lonely, interior life, filled with ghosts, fantastical creatures, and reimagined reality. Despite the implied anxiety, he manages to make this bizarre landscape feel homey and comforting. The density of the drawings and the length of the book means it's hard to appreciate fully the extent of his work. But it's a worth a look


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Aww, the Daily Show gave S.D. a shout-out. Thune's in the house!

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=217693&title=clusterf#@k-to-the-poor-house

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Funny Political News
Joke of the Day

Oh yeah.

Surprise Party

OK, so Suspiciously Pleased and I planned a party for our January birthdays, along with Elvis (or El, as SP calls him. They're tight.) The Muse was also part of our tribe, as all four of us have birthdays within a week of each other. (Capricorns rule!)

So just as the joint starts hoppin', we are shocked (Shocked!) by the appearance of Molldoll (the original Sassmaster) fresh from Florida. She voluntarily donned socks and flew to Mpls for her sister's birthday. Aww...

Once the screaming and jumping about had subsided, many party-goers wanted to be photographed with the King, especially SP in her Ann-Margaret outfit:

Some got a little frisky.

E. was looking especially fine that night.

SP made red velvet cupcakes that spelled out the names of the birthday kids, but rowdy party-goers began using them for anagrams. Damn Scrabble players....

There was jamming with, why yes, that IS an actual stand-up base. And a ukelele on the left. Yes, it IS sad you weren't there.

Elvis couldn't resist the impromtu jam:

There was dancing

Including reenacting of scenes from Viva Las Vegas by SP and her man:

And a spot-on E-personation:

C's new lady seemed to like us, despite her wary look here. We thought she was awesome.

Near to the end of the night, some minds were opened. In a complete reversal of policy regarding cold weather, Molldoll went out and frolicked in falling snow without a coat. And of course, demanded that we photograph her:

She even threw snow around with bare hands:

Is this the same chick that bitched about 50 degree weather in May for a solid week?

Aw look, she brought the sun with her.

Somehow, ck and the Muse escaped the camera all night, so here's an older one of them:

They make a mean cannellini dip, y'all!

Thanks for the good times, everybody! Let's do it again real soon.

Pipe Down

Are we moving toward a yelling-based economy? I realize that my health, interests, and general crankiness qualify me as an honorary old coot, so I'm probably nobody's target demographic. But it seems like transacting commerce is requiring a lot more hollering than it used to. I stopped in at Jimmy Johns the other weekend, and the music was deafening. I had to yell my order two or three times to be heard. Same thing at Chipotle. And Starbucks does that thing where they want to "get something started" for the people in line, which means shouting "medium decaf latte" over the heads of strangers. I dislike it.

I know some restaurants actually pursue the noisiness with hard surfaces and open kitchens. The Rainforest Cafe had that whole damn fake jungle going on with the screeching monkeys and such. (My GOD was that annoying.) Apparently the hubbub acts on us like hallucinogen, making us think we're at the center of a "happening," when in fact we are just at Chili's happy hour, bitching about work. Do people enjoy this stuff, really, or is this just a phase we're all going through? Are they trying to make us anxious so we'll eat more? I think it's working.