December, 2014 | The Plaid Pladd Blog

Archive for December, 2014

Fuck 2014

December 31st, 2014 by pladd

2014 was the worst year of my life (so far, I guess). December 31st, 2013, I made calzones, watched a compilation of the best vines of 2013, and then spent the night throwing up. The next day I thought calzones had been a poor choice. The next week I thought I had the flu. The next month I thought I was probably going to die.

SURPRISE! I didn’t. But spending months as a medical mystery, dealing with doctor’s bills, medicine side effects, endless tests, and trying to get enough nutrients to not be hospitalized would take its toll on anyone. Thankfully, I’m doing a lot better now. I don’t want to get into details, but obviously my yearly goals took a fatal hit.

1. Read All of Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable: 87%

When it was December 1st and I was still somewhere in S, I realized this wasn’t going to happen. I still plan to finish, but without the time crunch.

2. Make a pie once a month: 40%

I was kind of surprised this wasn’t 0%, but I did make a few pies this year, mostly for other people’s events. Most recently, I made a chocolate pumpkin pie when my grandma visited this fall. Adding chocolate to pumpkin isn’t intuitive, but everyone seemed to like the results!

3. Make a new cocktail once a month: 0%

lulz

4. Get everything currently on my To-Read list off it: 92%

Soooooooo clooooooose. Oh well. I have 8 left. That’s pretty good, considering.

5. Make Dwarf Helms: 100%

Oh yeah, this happened

If you’re going to succeed at only one of your goals, it might as well be the most metal. And the one that keeps your face warm.

6. Update my blog at least once a week: 87%

Another that I was SO CLOSE to achieving, until somewhere around November when I started getting lazy.

Total: 68%

Fuck you, 2014. You sucked hardcore, and I’m not sorry to see you die. Bring on 2015!

Previously: 2013 goals

Tagged: 2014, 2014 goals

Posted in 2014 League of Six |

2014: The Pretty

December 31st, 2014 by pladd

Every year I bring you The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of the books I’ve read, and then I feel guilty that I’m leaving out The Pretty. So I give you a bonus post for those cover designers who actually tried. This year, they are:

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

I really love the art style on this, that almost looks like paper cutouts. I also think it fits the kind of surreal nature of this book.

Geeks, Girls, and Secret Identities by Mike Jung

This book was kind of whatever, but the cover looks mad exciting!

To Be Or Not To Be by Ryan North

This book just won all of my awards this year. And how can it not? It’s a kickass choose-your-own-path book with badass illustrations.

Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers

SPEAKING OF BADASS, GET IT, ISMAE! I loved everything this book chose to be. Assassins? Check. Death as a character? Check. Interesting historical setting? You bet. LADY POWER TO THE MAX? You know it! And the cover portrays all these badass things too.

Previously: The Good
The Bad
The Ugly

Tagged: 2014 books

Posted in Book Reviews |

2014:The Ugly

December 30th, 2014 by pladd

My favorite part of year-end posts! When I get to look back over the books I’ve read and decide which ones had the ugliest covers!

Mom Ladd helped me with this post. She wasn’t biased by the book’s contents, so she helped me pick out the most blah covers.

A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl by Tanya Lee Stone

This isn’t bad in itself, just inappropriate for the mostly serious book.

An Exaltation of Larks by Robert Reed

This is a bizarre sci-fi story set in the modern day/the future. I don’t know what’s going on here.

More Than This by Patrick Ness

Another sci-fi story about alternate realities that could have tried harder.

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

This book clearly needs more purple. What were you thinking??

YOLO by Lauren Myracle

Now this is the kind of purple I’m talking about! But my mom pointed out, rightly, that other than good color choice it is just sort of meh.

The Book of Awesome

Mom Ladd declared this nowhere near awesome enough.

A Short History of Myth by Karen Armstrong

This one tried, but I feel like it has the potential to look way cooler.

Clearly I need Mom Ladd assistance on more blog posts.

Previously: The Good
The Bad

Tagged: 2014, 2014 books, Mom Ladd

Posted in Book Reviews |

2014: The Bad

December 29th, 2014 by pladd

As promised, here’s The Bad list of 2014! If Brian and I hadn’t started that Hate Book Club, this list would be depressingly short, which I guess means I’m getting better at picking out books for myself. As always, these were the ones I rated 1 star on GoodReads (you can’t rate 0 stars, unfortunately).

Every Day

This book was the one I hated most this year. I think others on this list might be objectively worse, but I knew going in that they would suck. This book’s premise sounded interesting, but then it just pissed me off. I think I did a pretty good job summarizing why in my original post:

the main character is a new person everyday, wearing their body and accessing their memories until midnight when he moves on to some other random body. This premise raises a lot of interesting issues, almost none of which are explored. The bulk of the plot is about his creepy relationship with the girlfriend of one of the people he possesses. Maybe it’s just because I really hate the love at first sight trope, but their relationship struck me as superficial bullshit. “He looks at her and only he can see her secret sadness” uggggggggh no. You can’t use that as a shortcut to establishing a believable connection between two characters. Plus, the ethical implications of dragging your host body around, wrecking its life because it’s your vehicle for the day are only kind of acknowledged. We’re supposed to realize that his stalker-Nice Guy(TM) love trumps all those concerns, I guess. Also, he hops into a lot of different teen-problem-novel-esque situations that we’re supposed to Learn A Very Important Lesson about, even though these people are portrayed as strange cardboard cut-out minorities with almost no humanity of their own. Except the one fat guy he possesses, who is described as “the societal equivalent of a burp.” The protagonist makes a big show of how non-judgmental he is, except of the fat guy, because since you did this to yourself, you deserve society’s scorn. A GIANT NOPE TO BOTH THOSE ASSUMPTIONS, David Levithan. Ew.

It by Stephen King

I was enjoying this book until the end, when the group of eleven-year-olds decide to pause in their escape to have sex in a sewer tunnel.

Grinding in Greenville by Victoria Andrews et al

A poorly-written romance novel with damaging portrayals of rape victims! Heyeah.

Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus by John Gray

Obvious advice you might find useful if you are a 1950s stereotype.

Real Marriage by Mark Driscoll

A thinly-veiled cry for help.

Enchanted by Alethea Kontis

Some kind of re-imagined fairy tale bullshit?? I literally remember nothing about this book.

Six 1 stars out of 82 total books isn’t bad!

Next: The Ugly
Previously: The Good
2013 The Bad

Tagged: 2014, 2014 books

Posted in Book Reviews |

2014: The Good

December 27th, 2014 by pladd

It’s almost the end of the year so time to give you The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly of what I’ve read this year. As always, these were all books I rated 5 stars on GoodReads.

My favorite book of 2014 was:

Smek For President by Adam Rex

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! The True Meaning of Smekday is my favorite book ever! Although I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to admit that in public what with a terrible movie adaption coming out soon. I didn’t even know Adam Rex had written a sequel until James gave me an Advanced Review copy for my birthday!!!!!!!!! BEST PRESENT EVER YES!!! Happily, the second book continued the spirit of the original!

To Be Or Not To Be by Ryan North

A choose-your-own-adventure based on Hamlet. With awesome illustrations. You should buy this ebook right now.

How to Fight Presidents by Daniel O’Brien

This book was the perfect amount of hilariousness and history.

Longbourn by Jo Baker

It’s important for us all to remember that regency England was not all empire-waist gowns and balls for most people.

All the Truth That’s In Me by Julie Berry

Holy crap this book was good! I read it in one sitting. A historical fiction mystery with multiple DRAMATIC TWISTS! And just enough romance to make me happy!

Twentysomething: Why Do Young Adults Seem Stuck? by Robin Marantz Henig

This book reminded me of too many people I know.

Eighty Days by Matthew Goodman

Two lady journalists racing around the world!!! Olde timey transportation!!! Yes!!!

Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers

ASSASSIN NUNS!

Sorrow’s Knot by Erin Bow

A matriarchal society that fights zombies with knots. I’m 100% into this.

Rapture Ready by Daniel Radosh

Daniel Radosh investigated bizarre and amazing aspects of Christian pop culture. My favorite was definitely Christian pro wrestling.

Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel

Ancient cave-girl power!

A Short History of Myth by Karen Armstrong

This book charts the sociology of myth through history, how our cultural myths changed our civilization changed. A short book, but fascinating.

To the Letter by Simon Garfield

A history of letter writing! With funny and interesting excerpts of letters!

Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing by Mignon Fogarty

I have other grammar and style guides, but this one is the best for practical tips that make sense, examples that stick with you, and ease of looking common problems up.

Tagged: 2014, 2014 books

Posted in Book Reviews |

So Steven can make croissants now

December 11th, 2014 by pladd

Steven got this Craftsy course on croissant making on Black Friday. Making croissants is finicky and takes a long time, so of course Steven loves it.

Croissants take a lot of butter, yo

Usually, Steven has trouble making doughs and I end up swooping in to save the day, but not this time:

The outfit must have helped

The process involves a lot of folding your sheet of butter into your dough:

Yeah, that top square is all butter

Of course you have to measure to get everything precise

Rolling pin action!

Finally, after much toil, they started to look like croissants:

Laaaaaaaadies

Unfortunately, he had to leave them proofing to go to orchestra practice:

Hella professional proofing set up

So it was left to me to actually get them in the oven:

Steven trusts me too much

Luckily, my part wasn’t that hard, and they turned out beautifully:

Perfection

The insides are just the right flaky consistency:

We each did our part

Next time: Pain au Chocolat/I die of joy

Tagged: baking, Steven

Posted in Food |

Women need pink for reading comprehension

December 7th, 2014 by pladd

So here’s a book I found at the library:

Essential Car Care for Women!

Dudes, you don’t need this. You were born knowing how a four stroke combustion engine works. But ladies, in the name of equality, you’ve got a lot of catching up to do. Literally that’s how the back justifies itself:

Despite the many advances women have made since the internal combustion engine was invented, there is still one widely held belief that won’t seem to go away: “When it comes to cars, women should just leave it to the men.” In Essential Care Care for Women, ESPN NASCAR pit reporter Jamie Little and Discovery Channel “Turbo Expert” Danielle McCormick team up to dispel this myth once and for all

Because a special pink book for women really dispels the myth that they know fuck-all about cars and can never learn. Or maybe we just can’t learn without someone condescending to us! It’s true that I have trouble understanding text that’s not pink.

Finally someone understands my lady-needs

And yet, to my knowledge, this hasn’t made it on to any challenged book lists. I feel like debating this would be a better use of our time than freaking out about classical breasts on the cover of The Awakening.

Tagged: books, library

Posted in Library Tales |