I’ve been thinking alot about communities lately, and how fortunate I am to be involved with several great ones. Teachers who are supportive and generous, students who are supportive and generous, wonderful friends who introduce me to their friends, who are also wonderful.
So here are some stories that we’d like to support over here at Magically Real HQ. Have a happy Solstice/Kwanza/Christmas/Chanukah/winterytime:
in NO particular order:
1. Stacey Levine, The Girl with Brown Fur.
category: Stories. The Girl with Brown Fur features weird luscious tales: expressionistic, surrealistic, but accessible and somehow strangely fun.
2. Community
category: TV show– comedy. Almost thrown off the air several times, Community tells a series of hilarious and oddly touching meta-tales about a community college called Greendale. Seemingly simple, but emotionally complicated and rewarding. Dark but uplifting. Available on Hulu. Starts up again in February 2013.
3. Boys over Flowers
category: TV show — melodrama. Boys over Flowers is a “thing.” Korean K Pop meets Snidely Whiplash, Lillian Gish and every possible melodramatic trope. It works. Riveting, at times ridiculous, but always iconic and INTENSE.
4. Carlos Ruiz Zafón, The Angel’s Game
category: Novel. The second in the Shadow of the Wind series, and imho, the best. Hack writer encounters Barcelona noir. Chandler meets Marquez. Fantastic meditation on writing and why books matter. With a soupçon of Faust.
Feel free to share your own fab 4.
Stephanie Barbé Hammer Writing (Un) Real 