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ByGD

Mastodon, Gojira, Kvelertak at Showbox SoDo

Good fortune can be more challenging than hardship.

Good fortune can be more challenging than hardship.

Sometimes I wish I didn’t live in such a fabulous city. On any given day, there is not only some kind of art event going on, but usually a painful choice between events. When I was a child I never wanted to go to bed because I was afraid to miss something. I haven’t gotten any better as an adult. At Iceland Writers Retreat I overdid it so much that I completely lost my voice and had to communicate by handwritten notes. And yet I found myself at Showbox SoDo on Monday night, only two days after covering the sixth anniversary of Seattle Living Room Shows for Three Imaginary Girls, and still medicated for a cold that I’ve had for roughly six weeks. But… Mastodon! And Gojira!

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ByGD

Book Report: LoveStar

LoveStar book coverIn the week running up to Iceland Writers Retreat, I really dove into Icelandic fiction. It turns out that Icelandic novelists can be pretty challenging, even when their books are fun. By the time I read Andri Snær Magnason’s dystopian novel LoveStar, my head was reeling – which is a shame, because LoveStar was right up my alley, and I wish I could do it justice. In all likelihood, I won’t be able to summarize all the ideas that LoveStar stirred up in my head, so let me just start by saying, “Read it.”

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A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Pacific Northwest Ballet

Midsummer Night's Dream bookle coverIf you have a little girl, or know a little girl, you have to take her to see A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Pacific Northwest Ballet, where girlish fantasy is fulfilled onstage. Fairies in flower petal skirts, iridescent insect servants, a queen in a snail shell boudoir – all framed by sumptuous cabbage roses and morning glories on a scale to make the dancers seem Tinkerbell-sized.

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An Imposture of Writers at Iceland Writers Retreat

In the library at Bessistadur (the Icelandic White House)

In the library at Bessastadir (the Icelandic White House)

Ironically, there is no collective noun for writers. According to Google, James Lipton has suggested “a worship of writers.” Although Lipton is an expert on collective nouns (he’s written a book about it after all) the term hasn’t caught on. The very people who both enshrine common usage of words and mint new words where language provides none have for centuries neglected to establish a collective noun for their own work. Perhaps this is because writing is such solitary work. Read More

ByGD

The realm of the unexpected

home of Halldór Laxness

Such a wonderful encapsulation of the Iceland Writers Retreat! Please click through to read my fellow Retreat alum Carrie Breck’s write-up.

The Realm of the Unexpected