anaraug's Xanga

Dr. McNinja

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 20:49:25 GMT

For the most possible awesome at once, read Dr. McNinja. I lolled at this one today:

Readathon EoE Meme

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 18:18:21 GMT

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?

Well... 18th, apparently, since that's the one where I fell asleep and didn't wake up.

2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?

I literally couldn't put Beowulf down. While that kept me engaged I'm not sure if it would keep anyone engaged...

3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?

Y'all did a wonderful job. If I had to come up with something, maybe I'd put a big-ol readathon status widget on the homepage, like "xx xx xx time left, ongoing mini-challenges" etc right in the header, since I think that'd be useful.

4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?

Everything! I didn't detect any hiccups or anything. The timing of everything was really well planned out; mini-challenges were fun, etc.

5. How many books did you read?

3 and parts of 2 others.

6. What were the names of the books you read?

eXistenZ, Jaws, Beowulf, Gravity's Rainbow, Tropic of Cancer

7. Which book did you enjoy most?

Beowulf

8. Which did you enjoy least?

While I DID enjoy it... eXistenZ

9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?

I wasn't!

10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?

I'm 100% likely to be a Reader! I might be a cheerleader if I can't commit to 24 hours.

Readathon Summaryyyyyy

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 18:08:18 GMT

I started 2 hours late and quit 4 hours early, but worse things have happened. Should have drunk one more energy drink I guess.

Finished eXistenZ, Jaws, and Beowulf, got 42 pages into Gravity's Rainbow and 53 into Tropic of Cancer before I quit.

Drank 3 BAWLS, a starbucks cappuccino, a Red Bull Cola, and a morning call cafe au lait throughout the day. And three bundles of cha soba. Probably had too much caffeine early and not enough late.

Also maybe I should have put on more metal and hardcore music and less post-rock and ambient. At least as it got late.

I'm trying to remember if I did any other mini-challenge besides the food one. Not sure...

Oh well, anyway it was great great fun fun and I can't can't wait wait until the next one!

Readathon Post #5

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 05:41:07 GMT

Finished Beowulf. Kind of cheating since half of the pages were the original old english and the other half were the translation and I only read the translation, but hey. I'm a sucker for epic poetry--wasn't disapointed.

Books finished: eXistenZ (278 pp); Jaws (278pp, 70 not in thon); Beowulf (213pp)
Books in progress: 42 of Gravity's rainbow
Pages read: 741
Been reading for 16:40
44.46 pages per hour
0.18 books finished per hour

Can't decide if I should finish an incomplete laying around or if I should pick up Tropic of Cancer.

Readathon Vlog #3: Beowulf

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 03:25:57 GMT

I have this thing I do...

Readathon Post #4 -- halfway!

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 00:23:30 GMT

I just realized the bizzarest thing. The two books I've read so have precisely the same number of pages.

Books finished: eXistenZ (278 pp); Jaws (278pp, 70 not in thon)
Books in progress: 20 of Gravity's rainbow
Pages read: 506
Been reading for 11:20
44.65 pages per hour
0.18 books finished per hour

Friends left, I just finished Jaws at my house. I'm gonna change venues for a bit and get some hardcore reading done. I think I'm going to head out to Morning Call in Metairie and finish a book there. I'll bring my eee so I can still blog, etc, but don't think I'll be vlogging again until I come back.

First half of the 'thon has been fun enough, been taking it really easy to be honest. 2 books is good enough considering how much distraction was around. Awright I'm out for now; time for more reading.

The big question... can I read for 12 more hours? The big answer: Probably.

Readathon Vlog #2: Chilling with Nick and Quentin

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 22:55:41 GMT

In which we vaguely mention the books we are reading and mostly just act awkward and waste space.

Bananas

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 21:54:28 GMT

For the Feed Me Seymour Mini-challenge

The description of Pirate's "banana breakfast" in Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon:

With a clattering of chairs, upended shell cases, benches, and ottomans, Pirate's mob gather at the shores of the great refectory table, a southern island well across a tropic or two from chill Corydon Throsp's mediaeval fantasies, crowded now over the swirling dark grain of its walnut uplands with banana omelets, banana sandwiches, banana casseroles, mashed bananas molded in the shape of a British lion rampahnt, blended with eggs into butter for French toast, squeezed out a pastry nozzle across the quivering creamy reaches of a banana blancmange to spell out the words C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre (attributed to a French observer during the charge of the Light Brigade) which Pirate has appropriated as his motto . . . tall cruets of pale banana syrup to pour oozing over waffles, a giant glazed crock where diced bananas have been fermenting since the summer with wild honey and muscat raisins, up out of which, this winter morning, one now dips foam mugsfull of banana mead . . . croissants and banana kreplach, and banana oatmeal and banana jam and bread, and bananas flamed in ancient brandy Pirate brought back last year from a celler in the Pyrenees also containing a clandestine radio transmitter . . .

I like bananas.

Do you like bananas?

Readathon Post #3

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 21:19:36 GMT

Books finished: eXistenZ (278 pp)
Books in progress: page 173 of Jaws (100 during thon); 20 of Gravity's rainbow
Pages read: 398
Been reading for 8:20
47.76 pages per hour
0.12 books per hour (so far...)

Nick and Quentin have been really slowing me down, talking and all. But friends make it more fun so it's all cool. They're sick of reading so they're gonna leave me to it while they go watch bad movies like they usually do on saturdays or something.

Readathon post 2

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 16:25:14 GMT

http://24hourreadathon.com/

Just finished eXistenZ.
278 pages read total
Been reading for 3:20
83.4 pages/hour
0.3 books/hour (lol)

One book down! eXistenZ in my favorite movie, but the book was pretty meh. So much of what makes me love Cronenberg's movies is how awkward and creepy everything is. In the book, everything came across as cheesy and stupid where in the movie it was unnerving or shocking, etc. Whatever, it was still a lot of fun and I enjoyed it. I got about what I expected and was an easy first read for the 'thon.

Quentin just showed up to read some with me also. The roommate and girl are being really annoyingly loud so we might evacuate or something. Anyway.... yay books!