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I officially have a new job
And I am officially moving to Washington, DC.
Many of you already know this – but this is the big ol’ official announcement: I have taken a full-time job with Al Jazeera, as a senior producer on The Stream. This also means I’m moving to Washington, where the show is based.
FAQ
But you’ve been working there for a while, right? Yes, that’s true. I came on temporarily to help launch the show. But, to be honest, I’ve enjoyed the work so much that when they asked if I’d like to come on full-time I couldn’t help but say yes.
When do you move to DC? This next week is my last in San Francisco. I’m actually writing this from my flight home to move out of the apartment.
What’s The Stream? Oh man, you obviously don’t follow me on Twitter. It’s Al Jazeera’s new social media show. Here’s a link.
I will of course miss the west coast like nobody’s business (It’s been over ten years, Golden State!) but I’m very excited about moving east. And DC is a pretty cool town!
George R.R. Martin farts in your general direction
I’m currently trying to wean myself off Game of Thrones with the methadone of The Tudors. Man, was that a dizzying sprint. I started reading the very first book in May. Since, I read all four available books, watched the entirety of the HBO series and then read the fifth book in just a weekend. Devoured it, more like.
There are many good things to say Game of Thrones (and many, many fine mashups to be had in Tumblosphere) but as I’m still digesting, I had one short item of note from Dances with Dragons that I wanted to point out to the Internets.
Somewhere in that fog of a weekend I happened upon a funny and familiar phrase: “fart in your general direction.” Now you and I both know where that comes from:
I don’t presume to know whether that phrase was a rare and gentle wink from Martin to his readers (an audience that most certainly knows where that comes from) or whether it was one of those phrases that just kind of slips through a writer’s fingers to his keyboard and into his manuscript, passed over in all later edits.
I do find its use fascinating though. Fantasy writing, and certainly in the Tolkein-esque ring Martin seems to be boxing in, is ageless. It is not tied to its time. Yet, this little slip of a phrase places this book. This is a book written by someone who watched (and probably several times) Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Whether or not this is intentional it leads me to wonder: Could there be a post-modern fantasy? Could you write that book, brimming with clever references and asides, without subverting all the laws that make a fantasy book a fantasy book?
Anyone else find any little telltale phrases in your respective devouring of Dances with Dragons? (I also noticed “shubbery”, but that’s perhaps excusable.)
