And her head has no room

[sovay]

In which I pay for all of yesterday's grinning. There's karmic balance; there really is. I have a migraine, but there is a greater problem: my iTunes library has eaten itself. No music. I'm not quite sure how this happened, and it puzzles me greatly, but I think my computer and I are both heading for the doctor's in the near future.*

On the bright side, the ever-impressive eredien has created livejournal icons from The Cuckoo, so that I now have a terrific icon of Psholtii looking pretty much the way I feel right now. I need a paid account just so I can support my growing icon habit.

Also, since I got into an offline argument about Keats yesterday, am I wrong? Are there reasons I should really like him? I'll give him "La Belle Dame Sans Merci," because I have a soft spot for demon lovers a mile wide, but otherwise I'm mostly left wanting to read Matthew Arnold or Swinburne or any other Romantic but Wordsworth. Distract me. Please.

*I didn't mention before that a few days ago, my mail program also cannibalized one of its own folders, and I lost pretty much all of my writing-related correspondence since 2003. This was not such a disaster, since I'm obsessive and paranoid when it comes to certain areas of my life, and so I had most of the files backed up. I don't think there's anyone's address I lost that I couldn't get back one way or another, and important things like contracts and acceptances and edits are all recorded elsewhere. But I really, really don't want my laptop to crash and take something actually vital with it, say, this lecture I'm working on for Wednesday, or all of my finalized stories since 1999, so . . .

Comments

[erzebet.livejournal.com]

Can't help you with the Keats. La Belle is the only thing of his I can handle, for reasons you've already stated. :)

Here's a distraction. My mother was/is literally obsessed with Rod McKuen. Um. So, she bought my daughter every book of his ever published, I think, and I've been reading a few of them here and there. Who is this guy anyway?

[eredien]

I don't know. My mother has two copies of one of his books; perhaps he was important in the 70's?

[erzebet.livejournal.com]

The 70's. That would explain it. :)

[sovay]

Who is this guy anyway?

Sadly, I have zero idea. I even checked on amazon.com to see if I had read one of his books when younger and simply never recognized the name: and I hadn't. Does your daughter like his books? (Do you?)

[erzebet.livejournal.com]

His poetry creeps me out, and I am not a big fan of things that creep me out (though the forthcoming movie Lady in the Water looks creepy in a good sort of way). So no, I can't stand his work and I guess my daughter doesn't like it either or else she wouldn't have left all of the books here with me. :)

But I was wondering if this was another example of my extreme ignorance, as in he might be a world-class poet and here I am thinking his stuff is horrid. :D

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

I actually recall him as a figure who was mildly famous in the mid-seventies because he read his own poetry on spoken-word records, several of which made the charts. However, he was famous primarily as a synonym for, well, lack of quality.

[erzebet.livejournal.com]

However, he was famous primarily as a synonym for, well, lack of quality.

Ah, well. That would explain my mother's interest. Poor thing has awful taste. :)

[lesser-celery.livejournal.com]

McKuen did pop schlock and was immensely popular in the early-to-mid 1970s. I can't express how happy I am that few people here seem to know him and that no one extols his virtues. That's better than any stake through his "poetic" heart that I could ever have hoped for.

[erzebet.livejournal.com]

LOL

I feel much better now. I haven't found a single virture in what I've read, and I really don't think I can stomach another line. :)

[sovay]

(though the forthcoming movie Lady in the Water looks creepy in a good sort of way)

I am looking forward to that, if only because it has the best trailer I've seen in years: hooks your interest and gives away nothing of the plot. I'm assuming there will be a mermaid or a nereid or something appropriately myth-aquatic in the swimming pool, but I know no more than that (and I could always be wrong). And I did really like The Sixth Sense; it's one of the few instances where a twist-ended film holds up even without the twist.

[erzebet.livejournal.com]

Yes, from what I've read on the website for the movie, I think it is more of a nereid's tale, which of course means I'll have to see it. I have a thing for the water creatures. My favorite water-creature movie ever is The Secret of Roan Inish. Did you ever see that one?

[sovay]

I have indeed; I own it. : ) My favorite film on that theme is Splash, on which I imprinted as a very small child, but I queued up to see The Secret of Roan Inish when it came out and fell in love. It's probably the best selkie film out there. (This may be a very small niche, but still . . .)