Saturday, June 19, 2010

Lighting the Web

I am an online shopper. It’s not because I love to shop, but because I hate to. When I shop in traditional, brick and mortar shops, I can easily get overwhelmed trying to make a decision. But online, I can take my time and look at things more carefully.

This advantage is especially crucial when making decisions on things like home lighting, as lights in the house make a big difference in the overall effect of each room. For me, I am a fan of Hunter ceiling fans and have them in each room. But of course, each will have his or her own taste in lighting. And that’s where a site like Lighting the Web comes in so handy. You can carefully read up on each product, and find what suits you best.

If you are looking for home lighting, Lighting the Web is the place to visit.

Posted by poetically challenged in 02:05:54 | Permalink | Comments Off

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Virginia Woolf’s Night and Day

I recently finished reading Virginia Woolf’s Night and Day. It was a good read, with plenty of things to think about. I liked the characters Catherine, Ralph, and Mary, and was pretty much sucked in by their story.

In some ways, it’s a little different than much of Woolf’s writing, but in others it feels absolutely typical. Either way, I enjoyed it, and think it’s a great one for anyone who is looking for a good read.

Posted by poetically challenged in 01:38:42 | Permalink | Comments Off

Thursday, November 19, 2009

dark ’til dawn

Posted by poetically challenged in 06:18:54 | Permalink | Comments Off

Friday, January 9, 2009

Prayer Blog

My blogging friend has started a new blog called Prayer Corner. You can go there and request prayers, “no strings attached.” Stop in if you are needed a prayer offered on your behalf.
Posted by poetically challenged in 00:33:28 | Permalink | Comments (4)

Monday, December 8, 2008

Tai Shan

I’ve been invited by Sloth Jockey to begin a new blog there.  I am excited about this, and have agreed to set up a new blog called Tai Shan.

At this new blog, I’ll be writing about my experience in and with China, and about all things Chinese.  I think it should be lots of fun, and I hope you will come along and enjoy the experience with me!
Posted by poetically challenged in 15:16:04 | Permalink | Comments (3)

Monday, September 1, 2008

Book Ad Space Direct with me

I’ve begun a new service at my blog here. I am allowing advertisers to book ad space direct from me, not going through any third party advertising company.

I have placed ads on this site that have been booked through third-party ad companies. It generates a trickle traffic to the websites that advertise here, and has generated a small but regular flow of income via advertising. I am offering the ad space direct because the quality of traffic generated here seems to warrant it, and because direct dealings between advertiser and publisher help defray the cost of advertising.

The pricing is as follows, for now:

in-post ad:  $5/50 word post
sitewide text links:  $5/month or $50/year
125×125 button:  $7/month or $75/year
banner:  $12/month or $130/year

You will notice that it is cheaper to book ad space here for a whole year than it is to do so on a monthly basis. I am very willing to work out package deals for anyone who would like to make special arrangements, such as booking more than one type of ad, or blocking off periods of time for the ad to appear that may not be reflected in the above pricing. Fill up the request form if you are interested, and I will contact you to make the necessary arrangements. All requests will be read by me, and I will respond to you to arrange the details of your advertisements. By requesting your ad through this form, you get your ad space directly from me, without a third party advertising company standing in between. Please, no pornography or violent images, no ads for racist or sexist sites. And please keep it clean and family friendly. If you are interested in arranging a package deal for advertising across my network of blogs and websites, please indicate that in your request, and I will contact you to work out the details. I will look forward to hearing from you!

Posted by poetically challenged in 01:24:31 | Permalink | Comments (4)

Friday, August 22, 2008

Arthur’s Tale Retold

I recently finished reading The Crystal Cave. It was not that long ago that I read The Mists of Avalon, and I found the two stories very similar. I know, I know…. it is the same basic story, so of course they are similar. But that’s not what I meant. I was referring to the telling of the story. I would have expected a bit more difference than I found, to be honest.  Even though the stories are basically the same, there are so many ways to retell the story, aren’t there?


Admittedly, Avalon was from a more self-consciously female perspective than Cave, with the latter work even holding onto some very traditional borderline misogynist thinking. But still, the two stories just seem to have a similar style and approach to telling the events of the tale. But it doesn’t quite have to be put together that way.


For instance, The Once and Future King is a good example of a retelling of the Arthurian legends in a very nicely-put-together new packaging. It is fun to read, and makes you want to keep reading. It even makes you happy that there are subsequent books in the series. It is, at the end of the day, a fun read.

Which is what I cannot (sadly) say about the other two. (And even worse is Stephen Lawhead’s series, which comes off like reading a textbook.) It is a funny thing. I like Arthurian legend, and I am generally a person who can find something to enjoy in almost any text, but somehow, neither Avalon nor Cave quite work for me. I can’t exactly put a finger on it, but with both books, I was glad when the reading experience was over.
Posted by poetically challenged in 16:04:36 | Permalink | Comments (3)

Monday, July 28, 2008

The Devil in the White City

I finished reading Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City a couple of weeks ago.  It was a very good read.  I am not usually a nonfiction reader, when reading for leisure, but I really enjoyed this one a great deal.

The book got me to thinking about a number of different things, and I wrote a review of it for the really cool new online lit mag Sloth Jockey.  There were a lot of things I could have included in the review, but didn’t want it to get too long for people to read (or for the editor to include).
One of the things that I had to leave out was the fascinating idea of H. H. Holmes, the serial killer whose story is one of the two main threads in the book, as a harvester of body parts.  Sometimes, I think we like to think of questions of harvesting organs and/or DNA as a new ethical dilemma brought about by the great strides we’ve made in medical technology in recent years.  That’s true, to an extent.  But I think it is easy to overlook that the progress has been strides, and not leaps.  There is a flow to the technology that has developed, and the ethical questions that are raised by the advances in technology don’t sit in a vacuum. Rather, these advances have taken place slowly over time, and the ethical questions have been there throughout that time.
When H. H. Holmes and that other famous murderer across the Pond were doing their gruesome dissections, it was only a relatively short time after the writing of Frankenstein, another book which considers ethical questions which might seem to be a bit  ahead of their time.    For me, one of the beauties of Larson’s narrative is that it gives some perspective about where we sit in the whole scheme of this flow of progress — and that this place is not really so unique (and exciting) as we might like to think.
And of course, the presentation of the attitudes toward progress that were largely held in Chicago — and the whole nation — at the time is pretty depressing.  Hubris sticks so close to humans that you might think of it as a faithful companion.  Too bad it’s the sort of companion that might be said to corrupt good morals.
Posted by poetically challenged in 05:01:17 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Friday, February 22, 2008

Who’s Afraid of Beowulf?

I recently finished reading Tom Holt’s Who’s Afraid of Beowulf?  It was a fairly entertaining story, and well written.


I enjoyed Holt’s treatment not only of how Vikings might move about in today’s world, but also at how the world of Vikings and of today might not be so different after all.  That made for a very entertaining read, actually.  And of course, the connection (or the discontinuity in our minds) between technology and magic is always fun to consider.  I liked how Holt handled that in such a lighthearted fashion in the book.

This is one of those novels I picked up cheap somewhere at some library sale or another.  It was worth the small amount I paid for it, and also the time invested in reading.  It might not be the most brilliant book ever written, but it was fun all the same.
Posted by poetically challenged in 03:47:00 | Permalink | Comments (3)

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

An Invitation to a Book Club Discussion

At my main blog, I’ll be hosting a book club discussion soon. We’ve chosen The Man Who Walked Through Time, by Colin Fletcher. It looks like it will be a very fun read.We’ll read the book starting now, and will begin the discussion in mid-Feb. Stop in at my other blog and have a look at the plan there. I hope you’ll join us for the discussion.
Posted by poetically challenged in 18:47:13 | Permalink | Comments (3)