We have no idea why we’re feeling so cynical today — try as we might, our new positive mental attitude doesn’t seem to be working. We recite our mantra and practice visualizing thigns working out exactly the way we hope, and, well, maybe we need to get a different mantra. Either that or stay off the freeway. Or maybe have more coffee. Yes, that always seems to make the morning brighter. A much as we appreciate the work of all the Bronte’s, we must agree that Pride and Prejudice trumps Jane Eyre. The latter is too Victorian for our taste […]

If we could have one wish fulfilled this Valentine’s Day (this is the holiday where wishes are granted, right?), it would be that people of all ideologies could read/hear people of other ideologies and absorb their thoughts without attack. That is to say, if you encounter a viewpoint that differs from yours, examine it for merits. The one thing we know for sure is that no two people see things the same way. Your truth differs from ours. Judge the story, painting, poem, movie, song, whatever as a whole. Maybe it won’t change your viewpoint — in fact, if you’re

Somehow, we didn’t get the memo that we’re supposed to get all worked up over Valentine’s Day (though we were excited that our horoscope hinted that we’d be showered with gifts all day long. That, we can get behind). The rest of the world, however, seems to be all Valentine’s all the time. Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but you know what we mean. And, sure, we’re going to take advantage of the hard work of others to fill our posts today. It will give us time to ponder the fact that there isn’t a holiday dedicated to the inherently

Continuing her self-outing, Mary Bly (publishing as Eloisa James) hits the New York Times op-ed section with what we hope is the opening of a real conversation about genre fiction’s place in the fiction spectrum. Yes, we mean all genre fiction. One would have to be sleeping to ignore the fact that other genres are viewed with some derision. This morning, we’re sort of feeling it’s genre fiction’s hewing to archetypes that makes them seem anti-intellectual. Bly has her take: Intellectuals never seem to believe that a strong story and an interest in relationships could explain the popularity of romance.

Now we’re not going to be all disingenuous and pretend we didn’t know that Eloisa James was a pseudonym. We knew she (the real person) was a highly regarded scholar, etc, etc. In fact, the only surprise we felt upon reading this article was…hmm, no surprise at all. How peculiar. Actually, it’s refreshing when a romance author addresses the realities of writing in the genre — especially when those realities butt up against academia and, shall we say, fear of the unknown. James makes an interesting point: denying what she writes shames her readers. And, of course, we wouldn’t be

As it turned out, we barely had time to do more than look at the pictures in yesterday’s newspaper. Figures…the day we skip our avid cover-to-cover consumption of all things newsworthy, there’d actually be a story that makes us laugh. And cry. But mostly laugh. Thankfully, the husband caught this gem and, in his subtle way of communicating with us, left the folded newspaper on our desk. Such is our brilliance that we realized, this morning, that we were supposed to pick up the section and read it (exhaustion had us thinking he’d accidentally left the paper there for reasons

Here’s to the man who made us understand live theater… Playwright Arthur Miller Dies at 89

Before we begin, let us describe our day. Lots of cars, and we worried about bridges collapsing due to the weight of potholes. We arrived for our ten o’clock meeting at 9:59, only to discover racing down seven flights of stairs and into the building was wasted calories. Meeting cancelled. Oh, we didn’t tell you? Really, you should check your email while driving. Also, applying mascara at 70 MPH wouldn’t hurt. At one point, we walked by an open office door. Inside, there were three people. The topic of conversation, as only appropriate for a day like today, was the