Documentation of the experiences of a group of wenches and biznatches (here used as a gender-neutral term) as they attempt to read 50 books in a year, while under the influence of various amounts of wine.

Sunday

Skippity's Bickity-Bam! Three in a row!

Kay, so I suck a lot and my life has pretty much been a carnival of pain for the past three weeks, but I am now going to review...dum dum dum...three books at once! Cuz getting all my typing done in a lump hurts less.

Book 14: Maid Marian, by Elsa Watson. Please make fun of me for reading this book, for I deserve it. Long ago, when I was a tween, I got hooked on Robin Hood stories (I know, I know...). This was a buck at Half Price Books and I needed something to read on my ski trip, so I picked it up. It was okay. Nothing to write home about. Nothing spectacular. It kept me interested, but it let me down too. It's the Robin Hood story told from the POV of Marian, and it was pretty predictable. It was very obviously written by a woman who has a lot of cats and a real peachy view of the world, which, sadly, I do not share. I give it a "meh."

Book 15: High Impact Portrait Photography by Lori Brystan. I guess I know how to take high-impact portraits now. Dammit, there should be a hyphen between "high" and "impact," woman! It's called a compound modifier! Ack! No, but anyway, I actually found this book really useful. I want to do a sort of kids-and-pets kind of photo gig if I ever get the hell out of advertising, and this book had lots of cool ideas in it, for props and poses and lighting and all sorts of stuff. I took notes. If anyone would be willing to pose for me so I can practice my high-impact portrait photography skills, I would appreciate it. As soon as I get my arm glued properly back into its socket and I am able to lift my camera again.

Book 15: Lighting Secrets for the Professional Photographer by Alan Brown. The lesson I learned from this book is that the secret to professional lighting is that you need to be really rich so you can afford all the shit they use in this book. It seemed to be aimed much more at people who already have a photo studio and a shitload of professional lights, which I don't. Nonetheless, I read the whole thing, hoping to glean some useful bits of information. The only really good idea I got from this book is that you can use fill cards to un-fill too, which, well, if you're not into the photogeekery crap isn't going to make any sense.

So. I actually read all these books a while ago and I am just now getting around to writing about them. Sitting down and reading is, randomly enough, very painful right now. So is not sitting around and reading. Pretty much everything I have done the past three and a half weeks has been painful. I am really ready for this doopidity to be over.

Okay. Enough bitchin'.

1 comments:

Nia Emul said...

You can un-fill with something meant to fill? What??

Anyway, I am sure we can all forgive you for posting these a while after you read them, since you're actually posting stuff, unlike some people *ahem*. And actually reading stuff unlike other people (like me, I am trying to cram too much stuff into my days again). Also, that carnival of pain thing sounds crappy. I'd see if I could get my admission back, if I were you.

Sucks about Maid Marian. I was always a fan of the Robin Hood stuff, too. I have a book waiting in my pile that is also told from her perspective. When I get down to it, I'll let you know if it was any better.

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