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Fannish scuttlebutt says that Rammstein will make a big announcement on the Fourth of July. Given the significance of this date for the American fanbase, part of me hopes it's the announcement of U.S. dates, but as the Internet is so fond of reminding us, the world doesn't revolve around America, and so I suspect that it will be more mundane, like the unveiling of the "Best Of"'s tracklist or the announcement of an accompanying DVD with videos or live footage. I confess that as much as I would like to know the latter, I would dearly love for it to be the former. Announcing the U.S. dates so far in advance would give me plenty of time to strategize and let me know just how much I need to scrimp and save. Obsessing over every penny is exhausting.
In non-Rammstein news, I've started reading Dean Koontz's Frankenstein series. I've never set much store by Koontz's writing technique; I find it idiotically simplistic, with its proliferation of two-sentence paragraphs and third-grade vocabulary, and while I realize that economy of word can be used to great effect, it can also be incredibly lazy and create a flimsy, unfinished atmosphere. Many of his scenes feel like narrative shorthand, quick, rough storyboards that rely on the reader to finish them. If I cared enough about his characters, then I might try, but they're incredibly flat, bovine, and unappealing, and so I don't. I realize that not every writer is going to be Faulkner or Joyce, but I prefer my characters to have meat on their bones and color in their eyes and cheeks, not flit listlessly through the pages like pale shades. Flannery O'Connor was an efficient writer who did not indulge in narrative excess(in fact, I think she would have eschewed it), and yet, she painted brilliant characters and vivid scenarios. Writing is like tai chi, and some forms are finer than others. Flannery was a master, whereas Koomtz is a bumbling novice with two left feet and motor control issues.
Still, the premise is interesting and I'm only forty-five pages in, and so I'm going to give it a chance.
In non-Rammstein news, I've started reading Dean Koontz's Frankenstein series. I've never set much store by Koontz's writing technique; I find it idiotically simplistic, with its proliferation of two-sentence paragraphs and third-grade vocabulary, and while I realize that economy of word can be used to great effect, it can also be incredibly lazy and create a flimsy, unfinished atmosphere. Many of his scenes feel like narrative shorthand, quick, rough storyboards that rely on the reader to finish them. If I cared enough about his characters, then I might try, but they're incredibly flat, bovine, and unappealing, and so I don't. I realize that not every writer is going to be Faulkner or Joyce, but I prefer my characters to have meat on their bones and color in their eyes and cheeks, not flit listlessly through the pages like pale shades. Flannery O'Connor was an efficient writer who did not indulge in narrative excess(in fact, I think she would have eschewed it), and yet, she painted brilliant characters and vivid scenarios. Writing is like tai chi, and some forms are finer than others. Flannery was a master, whereas Koomtz is a bumbling novice with two left feet and motor control issues.
Still, the premise is interesting and I'm only forty-five pages in, and so I'm going to give it a chance.
