Literary Lush

So far while I have attempted to write this post, both librarian's cats have been spazzing out, so I am hoping they'll chill for a few minutes and go watch some HGTV. Aisling launched my electric pencil sharpener off the side of the desk, sending pencil shavings all over my tangle of wires. They both attempted to flip the lamp over numerous times. Then they bolted away, growling and yowling. I have a fantasy where I can draw, and I create famous picture book characters named Grrrrowl and Yoooowl. They are both neurotic owls.

Anyway, I digress. While I was working very hard at the desk today (no really, we were busy) my mind wandered onto the topic of books and bars. I have been following one bookish bar, The Lady Silvia, on Facebook for a while, and I'd really like to see it sometime. The bar is designed "to resemble the famed Prague Library of the 19th Century, creating a highly stylized, incredibly intimate getaway from the world outside," according to the website. The Lady Silvia is a speakeasy located in the Soho Lofts downtown with no sign to guide you. It's absolutely gorgeous, and it'd be the perfect place to host a boozy book club. Anybody wanna join? BYOBooks? Books and Beer? Bilbliophiles Anonymous?

Here's a stolen image and a link to their site:

http://theladysilvia.com/

Another place I am eagerly awaiting is The Velveteen Rabbit. Have you ever heard of a more awesome name for a bar? I am picturing purple velvet and turquoise chandeliers. Probably way off, but it's fun to dream. I know virtually nothing about the future establishment, but I did find their blog today. Gin with basil and lemongrass? Yes, please! Rabbits wearing monocles? Even better!

Among these two and the Harry Potter-esque feel of The Griffin, we could have quite an awesome time forgetting to have deep literary discussions.

Young Adult

Here's a sort-of movie review. Have you heard of Young Adult? It's still showing at a few theaters around Vegas, and it's definitely worth the trip past your regular movie watching destinations. The husbasaur and I saw it at Regal Village Square, which may be my favorite Vegas theater. They tend to show more foreign and indie movies (meaning they show some, and the only other place in Vegas that does this is the newish Theatre 7 downtown, as far as I know.)

So what's it about? Mostly Charlize Theron's character, Mavis, who despite that name was the It girl in high school. She's pushing 40, still gorgeous, but highly dysfunctional; she's a bit of an alcoholic, somewhat sociopathic, and her claim to fame is her ghost authorship of a superficial Y.A. Series that was once popular. Mavis spends her days sleeping, online shopping, and occasionally banging out a sentence or two for her latest work (essentially, she's me, if I were an author). Insipid reality shows are always playing in the background, hilighting the depressing futility of Mavis's life.

When she learns that her high school sweetheart is a new parent, happily married, Mavis leaves "the big city" (Minneapolis) for her hometown of Mercury, MN. There she strikes up a sweet, funny, offbeat friendship with Matt, the town geek, who walks with a cane due to a high school hate crime (played by Patton Oswalt [as Matt, not the hate crime personified]). Unfortunately, Mavis is really out to free her former heartthrob, Buddy, from his horribly stifling marriage to the woman he loves. She weasels her way into their lives and takes a tailspin toward utter insanity, trying to get what she wants.

Mavis is a difficult character to sympathize with, but I finally began to like her near the end. She reveals why she's been stuck behaving like a teenager for the past twenty years, and she takes the first steps toward growing up.

Because of the darkly hilarious exchanges between Mavis and Matt, the echo of real life, and the nod to Y.A. lit, I give Young Adult a quirky thumbs up. Go watch it, and stop by Sambalatte on the way for a Nutella cappuccino. Do it.

Time is on my side.

Yes it is! That's why I've waited so long to write again. I just love to begin posts that way.

I own an iPad now, and I've quickly become addicted to staring at the screen for hours; thus, I decided to wander over and bang out some self indulgence here.

The librarian's cat has become rather literally OCD since last we spoke. He really seems to believe that I am his mother, and while it's awfully flattering, his attention can get suffocating. Every night, he finds it necessary to mount my arm, kneading and kicking. This can go on for an hour if I don't intervene. It probably seems creepy that I wouldn't, but sometimes when a cat attacks at three a.m., you just go with it and try to get back to sleep. Moreover, when I try to stop him, he says, "ROOOW!" in a disturbing voice and lunges at me to begin nursing on the blanket, my arm, or the fuzz oozing from a hole in the comforter. Thankfully, I discovered a cat calming serum distributed by Whisker City that allays the OCD for a few hours at a time. The liquid contains supposedly calming herbs, but I have a feeling the truly active ingredient is the alcohol, and I'm worried that the poor kitty may soon count alcoholism among his troubles if I continue to administer calming water every day. This is unfortunate because I believed he may have been cured after a week with no creepy episodes, but last night he went at it again, and I promptly spiked the water.

I believe his anxiety is caused by the librarian's second cat, Aisling, who has already been among us for two years it seems. I hope they will work out the hierarchy soon so that we can all find peace.

In reading news, I still do that. Most recently, I finished The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler. It's a YA title set in 1996. Two teens sign on to AOL for the first time only to stumble upon the future via Facebook. Somehow, the website just appears in the favorites bar, and they manage to figure out that they're glimpsing the banality of their future Facebook selves fifteen years early. Josh is married to the popular girl, and Emma is unhappily married and unemployed. They find out that they can change the future by making decisions in their current lives, which leads to Emma getting rid of a series of unpleasant marriage prospects and Josh getting chummy with Ms. Popular much earlier than he was supposed to. Conflict ensues, and the friends ultimately discover that living for the present is the best way to create a happy future.

The unpleasant features of this book include a few too many references to 1990s technology peppered throughout the first chapter, and a mildly didactic prompt to get over Facebook, but the plot is very compelling nonetheless, and I zipped through the story because I couldn't wait to learn what happened between Josh and Emma. Ultimately, it's a sweet Y.A. romance worth a quick read.

I hope I'll continue to read and write this year. It's one of my unresolved semi resolutions for 2012.