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[butterflydreaming]

Somehow I've been reading "Young Adult" catagorized books. The first was Feed (M.T. Anderson). Now I'm in the middle of Wolf Moon (de Lint). It's perplexing to see how things are marketed. What criteria earn the YA label? Sex? Age of protagonist? Themes? Length?

Why isn't Promised Land (Cynthia Felice) YA?

On an only vaguely related note, Beverly Cleary is turning 90. She has recently okayed a movie version Ramona. She made the writers change the ending of the screenplay.

Newsweek told me this, the same issue that has a big cover story about user-generated web content. The article mentions My Space, Flickr, and others. The article is a minimum content overview, but I did learn that as many people as live in St. Paul, MN (I think that was the city of comparison) signed up for My Space all on one recent Monday, making it the largest new account activation day to date.

Before anyone {*cough*rhonan*cough*) says anything like "that's a lot of emo", I would like to remind my readers that my big brother is on My Space.

And don't go saying Emo like it's a bad thing. Emo is the natural decendant of Goth!

Comments

[ironymaiden]

wow, i'd call Promised Land a SF romance.

i was trying to find someone on MySpace tonight, and it was one of the worst user experiences i've had. obviously it is compelling to others in some way i don't comprehend. C says it's a meet market?

[butterflydrming.livejournal.com]

PL is SF and romance-focused., but also so lightweight that it reads like YA. I've read a lot of YA that was far darker and deeper. 'Course, I never read romance novels, so I can't compare the genre.

[butterflydrming.livejournal.com]

My Space is very much a Meet Market, while at the same time having minimal interaction. And it's close to impossible to find someone specific unless you know what email addy they are using or if they've given you their URL. That's why I'm not surprized that Newsweeks says that their is a surge in new users every Monday. My Space is a little bit like an interactive calling card. And noisy, as you've pointed out.

I think the appeal to the masses is that it asks for very little maintainance. You put up a picture, maybe send out a "bulletin" every now and again. The profile page is the focus. Your "friends" can post a comment that shows up on it and stays there, something like a Glitter Graphics picture or some such.

Funny enough, my profile was "collected" by some random guy who seems only to want a large list of pretty girls. It has amused me to keep him in the friend list.

[rhonan.livejournal.com]

No, Emo is all the angst of goth, without the style, cultural, or literary underpinings. Besides, I'm glad to see that the emo kids prefer MySpace to LiveJournal.

On another note, what do you think of Heinlein's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Heinlein) juveniles?

[butterflydrming.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to see that the emo kids prefer MySpace to LiveJournal

My teenaged nephs & niece aside, I beg to differ. We have *plenty* of "emo kids" on LJ.

I haven't read Heinlein... you'll have to forgive me this. To be honest, I haven't read much "hard" SF. So many books, so little time!

[rhonan.livejournal.com]

Drop all your plans for tonight, and if necessary tomorrow. Go directly to a book store, buy a copy of The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, and attain the bliss that is Heinlein. Now, TMiaHM is not one of his juveniles, but it is regarded by many as one of the greatest works of Science Fiction.

[buhrger]

if you're looking for Young Adult books, i of course recommend the incomparable Young Adult Novel by Daniel Manus Pinkwater. it's the book that introduced me to dada, among other things. the author's blurb on the jacket included this:

When asked to comment on this novel of sociological import, the author said "I honestly don't remember writing this. Are you sure there hasn't been some mistake?"

[butterflydrming.livejournal.com]

Awesome. {goes to place hold at library}

I wasn't seeking out YA, it just happened that way with what became available. varina8 had recommended Feed a while back. Charles de Lint is always a soothing read.

For whatever reason, I love picture books and YA novels, even though I don't really like kids...

[buhrger]

Awesome. {goes to place hold at library}
i heartily endorse everything that Pinkwater has written - while i don't blame Pinky for turning me into the twisted weirdo i am today, i do blame him for the fact that i enjoy being a twisted weirdo as much as i do. after starting into his stuff in grade 4, Douglas Adams and Monty Python were just more of the same. (not to in any way put down DA or MP)

[joyful-storm.livejournal.com]

I discovered today that my big sister is on My Space. . .

I looked at her profile and got spooked because it said "User so-and-so is in your extended network!", and I thought, "WTF, I have no network here. . . do I?"

General ick in the direction of that electronic venue.

Sordid family history XDD

[shiro-no-wired.livejournal.com]

Emo is the natural decendant of Goth!
Well, the child of Goth and Punk, anyways. Goth's other child, by Techno, is Industrial.

Rap wants in, but he's the black sheep of the family ^^;

Re: Sordid family history XDD

[butterflydrming.livejournal.com]

Hee. But I kind of think of Punk as the uncle of Goth, with Mod as a possible grandfather. And where does the Beat movement fit in?

Re: Sordid family history XDD

[shiro-no-wired.livejournal.com]

Beat + Anarchist = Punk?
I'm not sure... His mother's son-in-law?