Now a sick day. I'm home doing what I do best today: taking care of the M-Dawg. He's got a bad case of the icky-snots. We're going back and forth between Guitar Hero and building fortresses outta various materials. I love it!
Rock on.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Even our drafts have drafts!
No sledding today! It's already dropped down to -12 degrees with the windchill. Stay warm.
Brrr...
MORE SNOW!!! School's cancelled and we're hoping to hit the sledding hill this afternoon. And just in case you were wondering: No, I'm not missing the breadcrumbs. I kindda like the uncertainty of it all.
So bring on the snow dayz! I hope you're all happy, healthy and feeling the love.
So bring on the snow dayz! I hope you're all happy, healthy and feeling the love.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Classic Mixed Tapes versus Burnin' the Itunes
I remember Christmas morning circa 1980 like it was yesterday: the smell of pine sap filling the air as I was blinded by the biggest boombox ever to grace my presence. Its speakers stared at me blankly like a wide-eyed alien while its antennae intimidatingly shot up straight into the upper atmosphere, claiming its fair share of airspace. But the deal-cincher was the (sing hallelujah brothers and sisters) double tape deck. I now held the power of Dolby at my fingertips and it felt so good.
Yes, this was a defining moment in my life; I put away my Urban Chipmunks 8-track and my Big Bird record player in anticipation of living a more enlightened life inspired by such current MTV hits as "I Want Candy" and "Hey Mickey." Not only did I help kill the radio star, but I totally bought into the mixed tape movement. I recall excitedly ripping the tapes from their cellophane jackets and going through the ritual of determining Side A from Side B, painstaking affixing the labels, and spending hours upon hours listening to Casey Kasem's Top 40 for just the right songs.
Indeed, I'm fairly certain I had a mixed tape for every moment of my young life. I listened to these tapes all of the time which has resulted in an array of aural flash-backs from my first slow-dance song, REO Speedwagon's "I Can't Fight this Feeling Any Longer," to a devastating high school break-up, "Angel Eyes." I made and distributed all sorts of themed mixed tapes for friends, crushes, and fellow band geeks, and there was a certain labour of love that went into designing the perfect mixed tape.
I dust off the old tape deck every once in awhile, but my love for playing dj has been replaced with indexing my ITunes library. Frankly, it's just not as meaningful to me as when I made the tapes. Perhaps the fact that the tape deck was a little less anesthetic and a lot more raw appealed to my artistic senses. There definitely was a certain enjoyable anxiety associated with getting the timing just right for the fade-out. It was also a great way to pass the time and get all mushy thinking about the things and people that were important to me at a particular point in time. Now all you have to do is stick in a CD, click eight or nine songs, and voila you're ready to go within a matter of minutes. The time for reflection zapped by technology in an attempt to make life easier on all of us.
That's not to say that I haven't bought into ITunes. I love being able to type in any old song in the world that I'm in the mood for and adding it to my library in the time that it takes to warm-up a cuppa. In fact, I've recently been thinking about my life and what the soundtrack might look like. Here's what I've come up with thus far:
Abba's "The Stranger" and The Beatles' "Strawberry Fields" are what I recall as my first favorite songs.
Bonnie Tylor's rendition of "Total Eclipse of the Heart" followed suit.
Images from Dire Straits' "I Want my MTV" go through my head on a daily basis.
Throw in a little side of Billy Joel's "Pressure," along with some Dee-lite, and add a heaping portion of the likes of MC Hammer, De La Soul, and the early Yo! as remniscient of my high school days.
College: my era of punk and goth which never really ended but can be summarized as anything performed by "The Cure" and "Bauhaus." Soundtrack must include "Bella Logossi's Dead" and "Into you like a train" and "Temple of Love"
My Scottish travails: "Irish Rover," "Flower of Scotland," Evlis' "Blue Moon" and "The Bare Necessities."
Loves loved and lost: Frente, OMD's "Secret," Anything by the Cocteau Twins, "Take the Weather with You," Tom Wait's "On the Wings of your Love," "If not for You" by Bob Dylan, and "The Sun is a Mass of Incandescent Gas," by They Might be Giants.
Joey: Let me hear the calming call of a cello anytime (thanks, Jay-man); "So nice to come home to" "Someone to watch over me," "Wild Horses" by the Rolling Stones; "Do you realize?" -- Radiohead; "Busby Berkely Dreams" by the Magnetic Fields; and anything by the Palace Bros.
Milo: Brak's "Smell you later, get a job," "Baby Mine" from Dumbo, and "Candle on the Water" from Pete's Dragon. And I can't hear the Beatle's song "Two of Us" without melting down from pure love and joy.
My last year and a half in grad school: "Downtown," "Your mother should know," by the Beatles, Beck's "Everybody's got to learn sometimes," the Carpenters "Rainy Days and Mondays," and Morrissey's "Sing your life."
Yes, this was a defining moment in my life; I put away my Urban Chipmunks 8-track and my Big Bird record player in anticipation of living a more enlightened life inspired by such current MTV hits as "I Want Candy" and "Hey Mickey." Not only did I help kill the radio star, but I totally bought into the mixed tape movement. I recall excitedly ripping the tapes from their cellophane jackets and going through the ritual of determining Side A from Side B, painstaking affixing the labels, and spending hours upon hours listening to Casey Kasem's Top 40 for just the right songs.
Indeed, I'm fairly certain I had a mixed tape for every moment of my young life. I listened to these tapes all of the time which has resulted in an array of aural flash-backs from my first slow-dance song, REO Speedwagon's "I Can't Fight this Feeling Any Longer," to a devastating high school break-up, "Angel Eyes." I made and distributed all sorts of themed mixed tapes for friends, crushes, and fellow band geeks, and there was a certain labour of love that went into designing the perfect mixed tape.
I dust off the old tape deck every once in awhile, but my love for playing dj has been replaced with indexing my ITunes library. Frankly, it's just not as meaningful to me as when I made the tapes. Perhaps the fact that the tape deck was a little less anesthetic and a lot more raw appealed to my artistic senses. There definitely was a certain enjoyable anxiety associated with getting the timing just right for the fade-out. It was also a great way to pass the time and get all mushy thinking about the things and people that were important to me at a particular point in time. Now all you have to do is stick in a CD, click eight or nine songs, and voila you're ready to go within a matter of minutes. The time for reflection zapped by technology in an attempt to make life easier on all of us.
That's not to say that I haven't bought into ITunes. I love being able to type in any old song in the world that I'm in the mood for and adding it to my library in the time that it takes to warm-up a cuppa. In fact, I've recently been thinking about my life and what the soundtrack might look like. Here's what I've come up with thus far:
Abba's "The Stranger" and The Beatles' "Strawberry Fields" are what I recall as my first favorite songs.
Bonnie Tylor's rendition of "Total Eclipse of the Heart" followed suit.
Images from Dire Straits' "I Want my MTV" go through my head on a daily basis.
Throw in a little side of Billy Joel's "Pressure," along with some Dee-lite, and add a heaping portion of the likes of MC Hammer, De La Soul, and the early Yo! as remniscient of my high school days.
College: my era of punk and goth which never really ended but can be summarized as anything performed by "The Cure" and "Bauhaus." Soundtrack must include "Bella Logossi's Dead" and "Into you like a train" and "Temple of Love"
My Scottish travails: "Irish Rover," "Flower of Scotland," Evlis' "Blue Moon" and "The Bare Necessities."
Loves loved and lost: Frente, OMD's "Secret," Anything by the Cocteau Twins, "Take the Weather with You," Tom Wait's "On the Wings of your Love," "If not for You" by Bob Dylan, and "The Sun is a Mass of Incandescent Gas," by They Might be Giants.
Joey: Let me hear the calming call of a cello anytime (thanks, Jay-man); "So nice to come home to" "Someone to watch over me," "Wild Horses" by the Rolling Stones; "Do you realize?" -- Radiohead; "Busby Berkely Dreams" by the Magnetic Fields; and anything by the Palace Bros.
Milo: Brak's "Smell you later, get a job," "Baby Mine" from Dumbo, and "Candle on the Water" from Pete's Dragon. And I can't hear the Beatle's song "Two of Us" without melting down from pure love and joy.
My last year and a half in grad school: "Downtown," "Your mother should know," by the Beatles, Beck's "Everybody's got to learn sometimes," the Carpenters "Rainy Days and Mondays," and Morrissey's "Sing your life."
Friday, January 25, 2008
Don't hate me because I let my kid watch The Simpsons
My son, Milos, is a seven-and-a-half year old second-grader. He's bright, a little on the mouthy-side, musically inclined, and the veritable cherry on top of our family tree's super fudge sundae. People can usually spot that he's an only child from a mile away; not because he is spoiled per se, but because he demands a certain attention from the rest of the world.
One (and I emphasize the number one here) way Milos gets the world to notice him is by invoking the creative genius of Matt Groening, the mastermind behind The Simpsons. My son is obsessed with everything related to the Simpsons. He hordes numerous publications from the local library on a monthly basis, collects DVDs and comic books, and even wears Simpson clothing (who knew it was still available?) What little tv he watches consists of what he casually refers to as "an episode." For instance, he'll negotiate with me: "Mom, I'm done with my homework, can I watch an episode?" We don't even have to determine what kind of episode it is...it's just assumed he means an episode of The Simpsons. Although it's teetering on the brink of obsessive-compulsion, we're not all that surprised by Milos' affection fo rthe show, given that his father and I have both relished The Simpsons since we were young.
As many things in families often do, Milos' Simpsonmania-esque behavior has become normalized in our household. There's no going back now, because he's had every episode, character, and catch-phrase memorized and indexed for years. We haven't discouraged his behavior because his enthusiam for the show reflects his joy for life: he skateboards, loves going to the library, reads at at least a fourth-grade level, doesn't park himself in front of the tv for more than a half an hour at a time, fashions comic books and cartoons out of various materials, and has a flair for theatrics and humor.
These are some of the postive aspects that his father and I focus on. Sometimes, as with all kids at some time or another, Milo slips up and he (dramatic gasp) might use his knowledge of All-Things-Simpson for bad. When this happens we gently remind him of Spiderman's Uncle Ben's sage advice: "with great power comes great responsibility." This usually is enough to remind him that it's a privilege not a given and he pipes down a bit.
So here's the thing: we let our kid watch The Simpsons and we watch The Simpsons with our kid. But even more importantly, we talk with our child about the good choices and the bad choices that each of the characters make and how those things impact their family and the rest of their community. I think this is what makes it okay to watch the Simpsons with our kid: we talk about what it means. It's not just a funny cartoon, it's social commentary, criticism, and witty satire. It's intellectual while making fun of the intellectual. It's an art form and a medium for both good and bad expressions of culture and society. Finally, it's representative of how we are all individually flawed but somehow find strength to persevere through unconditional love. So, don't hate me because I let my kid watch The Simpsons...even a seven-year old benefits from hearing how families stick together, make mistakes, get angry, and find happiness in the smallest details even in the midst of a wild and crazy world where just about anything can and does happen.
One (and I emphasize the number one here) way Milos gets the world to notice him is by invoking the creative genius of Matt Groening, the mastermind behind The Simpsons. My son is obsessed with everything related to the Simpsons. He hordes numerous publications from the local library on a monthly basis, collects DVDs and comic books, and even wears Simpson clothing (who knew it was still available?) What little tv he watches consists of what he casually refers to as "an episode." For instance, he'll negotiate with me: "Mom, I'm done with my homework, can I watch an episode?" We don't even have to determine what kind of episode it is...it's just assumed he means an episode of The Simpsons. Although it's teetering on the brink of obsessive-compulsion, we're not all that surprised by Milos' affection fo rthe show, given that his father and I have both relished The Simpsons since we were young.
As many things in families often do, Milos' Simpsonmania-esque behavior has become normalized in our household. There's no going back now, because he's had every episode, character, and catch-phrase memorized and indexed for years. We haven't discouraged his behavior because his enthusiam for the show reflects his joy for life: he skateboards, loves going to the library, reads at at least a fourth-grade level, doesn't park himself in front of the tv for more than a half an hour at a time, fashions comic books and cartoons out of various materials, and has a flair for theatrics and humor.
These are some of the postive aspects that his father and I focus on. Sometimes, as with all kids at some time or another, Milo slips up and he (dramatic gasp) might use his knowledge of All-Things-Simpson for bad. When this happens we gently remind him of Spiderman's Uncle Ben's sage advice: "with great power comes great responsibility." This usually is enough to remind him that it's a privilege not a given and he pipes down a bit.
So here's the thing: we let our kid watch The Simpsons and we watch The Simpsons with our kid. But even more importantly, we talk with our child about the good choices and the bad choices that each of the characters make and how those things impact their family and the rest of their community. I think this is what makes it okay to watch the Simpsons with our kid: we talk about what it means. It's not just a funny cartoon, it's social commentary, criticism, and witty satire. It's intellectual while making fun of the intellectual. It's an art form and a medium for both good and bad expressions of culture and society. Finally, it's representative of how we are all individually flawed but somehow find strength to persevere through unconditional love. So, don't hate me because I let my kid watch The Simpsons...even a seven-year old benefits from hearing how families stick together, make mistakes, get angry, and find happiness in the smallest details even in the midst of a wild and crazy world where just about anything can and does happen.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
This is exciting news for paper airplane enthusiasts like myself!
Origami spaceplane aims for space station descent
15:09 21 January 2008
NewScientist.com news service
Anna Davison
15:09 21 January 2008
NewScientist.com news service
Anna Davison
http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn13208-origami-spaceplane-aims-for-space-station-descent.html
The spaceplane is about 20 cm long and is made of paper, but it has passed wind tunnel tests at Mach 7 and 200 °C.
A paper plane might not seem ideally suited to space travel, but a Japanese engineering professor is collaborating with origami masters to design a small paper spacecraft that could be launched from the International Space Station and survive a descent to Earth.
A prototype was successfully tested in a wind tunnel last week.
"This origami airplane might some day actually fly," says Jim Longuski, an expert in aeronautics and astronautics at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, in the US.
Longuski, who was not involved in the project, says that offbeat notions often generate exciting new ideas. "I don't think it's crazy at all," he told New Scientist.
The novel craft could inspire new designs for lightweight re-entry vehicles, or for planes to explore the upper reaches of the atmosphere, according to Shinji Suzuki, from the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the University of Tokyo.
Heat resistant Suzuki worked with members of the Japan Origami Airplane Association on the design for the plane.
They first collaborated a decade ago to design a 3-metre long paper plane shaped like a space shuttle, which was launched from the top of a mountain.
The origami space plane will be a similar design, Suzuki says, but only about 20 centimetres long and with a rounded nose to minimize aerodynamic heating.
It will also be chemically processed to incorporate silicon in the paper structure, increasing its heat resistance, although the plane shouldn't be subjected to the fiery temperatures endured by heavier objects as they hurtle toward Earth.
When released from the International Space Station, it would be travelling at Mach 20, Suzuki says, but thanks to a large surface area and low weight it should slow considerably as it falls through the upper layers of the Earth's atmosphere.
A smaller prototype paper plane was tested up to Mach 7 and about 200 °C in a hypersonic wind tunnel in Tokyo last week.
'Nice gimmick'
In theory, the plane could come all the way down to the ground without ever getting that hot, says Steven Schneider, at Purdue University, who was also not involved with the project.
If the paper spaceplane is ever launched, however, we might never find out what happens to it.
Suzuki plans to write a message on the plane in many languages, asking anyone who finds it to return it to the Japan Origami Airplane Association, but that's unlikely, according to Schneider, because the plane could land almost anywhere on Earth.
A paper plane wouldn't show up on radar and would be extremely difficult to observe through a telescope. "You'll drop it off and it'll disappear," Schneider told New Scientist. "It's a nice gimmick, but without a way to observe the thing it's not much more than a nice idea."
Suzuki says he would like to develop an ultra small tracking device to attach to the plane.
The spaceplane is about 20 cm long and is made of paper, but it has passed wind tunnel tests at Mach 7 and 200 °C.
A paper plane might not seem ideally suited to space travel, but a Japanese engineering professor is collaborating with origami masters to design a small paper spacecraft that could be launched from the International Space Station and survive a descent to Earth.
A prototype was successfully tested in a wind tunnel last week.
"This origami airplane might some day actually fly," says Jim Longuski, an expert in aeronautics and astronautics at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, in the US.
Longuski, who was not involved in the project, says that offbeat notions often generate exciting new ideas. "I don't think it's crazy at all," he told New Scientist.
The novel craft could inspire new designs for lightweight re-entry vehicles, or for planes to explore the upper reaches of the atmosphere, according to Shinji Suzuki, from the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the University of Tokyo.
Heat resistant Suzuki worked with members of the Japan Origami Airplane Association on the design for the plane.
They first collaborated a decade ago to design a 3-metre long paper plane shaped like a space shuttle, which was launched from the top of a mountain.
The origami space plane will be a similar design, Suzuki says, but only about 20 centimetres long and with a rounded nose to minimize aerodynamic heating.
It will also be chemically processed to incorporate silicon in the paper structure, increasing its heat resistance, although the plane shouldn't be subjected to the fiery temperatures endured by heavier objects as they hurtle toward Earth.
When released from the International Space Station, it would be travelling at Mach 20, Suzuki says, but thanks to a large surface area and low weight it should slow considerably as it falls through the upper layers of the Earth's atmosphere.
A smaller prototype paper plane was tested up to Mach 7 and about 200 °C in a hypersonic wind tunnel in Tokyo last week.
'Nice gimmick'
In theory, the plane could come all the way down to the ground without ever getting that hot, says Steven Schneider, at Purdue University, who was also not involved with the project.
If the paper spaceplane is ever launched, however, we might never find out what happens to it.
Suzuki plans to write a message on the plane in many languages, asking anyone who finds it to return it to the Japan Origami Airplane Association, but that's unlikely, according to Schneider, because the plane could land almost anywhere on Earth.
A paper plane wouldn't show up on radar and would be extremely difficult to observe through a telescope. "You'll drop it off and it'll disappear," Schneider told New Scientist. "It's a nice gimmick, but without a way to observe the thing it's not much more than a nice idea."
Suzuki says he would like to develop an ultra small tracking device to attach to the plane.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Hurling Haggis or Haggis Hurling? Raising awareness...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080122/od_nm/scotland_haggis_us_dc;_ylt=ApCMxS23fqELm_d4P3rkLJbtiBIF
And while you're at it, learn how to hurl it too: (the following text is from http://www.scottishhaggis.co.uk/haggis_hurling.htm)
The World Haggis Hurling Championships have taken off again backed by McKean Foods - the official sponsors of this long overdue event.The tradition of Haggis Hurling dates back to early Scottish Clan Gatherings, where the women folk would toss a haggis across a stream to their husbands, who would catch the haggis in their kilts.In the modern version a haggis is hurled for distance and accuracy from atop a platform (usually a whisky barrel).Two variations on the tradition have developed, one enacted at festivals, the other a professional sport. It is due to be presented as a demonstration sport at the 2004 Olympics!!
The Scottish heats took place at the Bearsden and Milngavie Highland Games earlier this month. North America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand heats will follow soon in readiness for the World Championship next summer.
The present World Record for Haggis Hurling has been held by Alan Pettigrew for over 18 years. Hardly surprising if you consider he threw a 1lb 8oz haggis an astonishing 180' 10'' on the island of Inchmurrin on Loch Lomond in August 1984.
And while you're at it, learn how to hurl it too: (the following text is from http://www.scottishhaggis.co.uk/haggis_hurling.htm)
The World Haggis Hurling Championships have taken off again backed by McKean Foods - the official sponsors of this long overdue event.The tradition of Haggis Hurling dates back to early Scottish Clan Gatherings, where the women folk would toss a haggis across a stream to their husbands, who would catch the haggis in their kilts.In the modern version a haggis is hurled for distance and accuracy from atop a platform (usually a whisky barrel).Two variations on the tradition have developed, one enacted at festivals, the other a professional sport. It is due to be presented as a demonstration sport at the 2004 Olympics!!
The Scottish heats took place at the Bearsden and Milngavie Highland Games earlier this month. North America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand heats will follow soon in readiness for the World Championship next summer.
The present World Record for Haggis Hurling has been held by Alan Pettigrew for over 18 years. Hardly surprising if you consider he threw a 1lb 8oz haggis an astonishing 180' 10'' on the island of Inchmurrin on Loch Lomond in August 1984.
Indeed.
Well it certainly is refreshing to learn that we all have standards! Well, isn't it?
Kudos, Mark, for finding this and adding to the zaniness of it all.
Kudos, Mark, for finding this and adding to the zaniness of it all.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Here's my first Helium publication. I entered this piece in a contest today. I had to write about annoying TV ads. Still getting used to the formatting so there are a couple of typos, but the point is I'm finally writing for fun and (hopefully) a couple of bucks to boot.
It's late and I'm utterly exhausted from tossing and turning for the past three hours. I finally give up on my unfaithful pillow and wistfully turn to my trusted telly for some much needed sympathy, but to no avail. http://www.helium.com/tm/81381...
It's late and I'm utterly exhausted from tossing and turning for the past three hours. I finally give up on my unfaithful pillow and wistfully turn to my trusted telly for some much needed sympathy, but to no avail. http://www.helium.com/tm/81381...
Two great tastes that taste great together
Legos and Monty Python:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIXByCAIzos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QxaawOwUS8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcxKIJTb3Hg&feature=related (actual movie footage...no legos...but my very favorite part)
Legos and Wierd Al:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nh9mVsBKwYs&feature=related
Legos and Indiana Jones:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egPgU5kAjKE&feature=related
Legos and Beer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATBl4qH9I54&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIXByCAIzos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QxaawOwUS8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcxKIJTb3Hg&feature=related (actual movie footage...no legos...but my very favorite part)
Legos and Wierd Al:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nh9mVsBKwYs&feature=related
Legos and Indiana Jones:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egPgU5kAjKE&feature=related
Legos and Beer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATBl4qH9I54&feature=related
Road trippin'
I'm all about road trips and funky roadside attractions, so if you're reading this you'll have to deal with my love for all things kitsch! Here's a picture from the Salt and Pepper Museum in Gatlinburg, TN (of course, where else would it be?) Just think, this is merely one room of "the rooms upon rooms of salt and pepper shakers" that pay tribute to our nation's beloved and constant ceramic condiment companions. This pic serves as a gentle reminder to salt and pepper those veggies and visit the museum at www.thesaltandpeppermuseum.com
Wait! Wait! I've found it!
Someone who actually has more time on their hands than I do. The craftsmanship is remarkable, isn't it?
http://www.pitbullarmory.com/Squirrel-armor.html
http://www.pitbullarmory.com/Squirrel-armor.html
Hey, it worked for Larry Craig, didn't it?
This guy actually claimed that he did not snatch a purse, rather it accidentally wrapped itself around his foot and somehow magically ended up in his hands as he was exiting the building. I bet he'd write really good fiction!
http://www.nwfdailynews.com/article/11430
http://www.nwfdailynews.com/article/11430
Global belching
Hmmm, I wonder if I could get that much money to study how much methane my child emits on a daily basis? Maybe the end of the world is nearer than we think! http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080121/ap_on_fe_st/odd_belching_cows;_ylt=AsdHImA0x60Gry9we7b9IQHtiBIF
This is strange...
I just read this article (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22782812/) about a dude who was recently busted for stealing 93 pounds worth of women's underwear from landrymats in Washington. I'm hoping they don't put him on laundry detail in prison...he'll be sorely dissapointed.
A Twist on an Old Favorite
The Brother's Grimm told of an evil sorcerer named Fitcher who played a twisted version of the Dating Game. He lured young women to his evil pad and charged them with the menial task of egg sitting. He would leave for days on end and invite the woman-du-jour to explore his lair at her leisure, with one glaring exception: (insert sinister music here) the forbidden room. The woman quickly grows tired of the gold and jewels behind doors number one, two, and three and just can't help herself from entering the forbidden room. Once inside, she finds the bloody heads of Fitcher's previous amores lazing about and, of course, the precious egg becomes speckled and she has sealed her own fate much like that of a curious cat.
This goes on and on until one witty gal leaves the egg in a safe place, enters the room, and breaks the "spell" by putting the dismembered bodies back together. She tricks Fitcher, who wants to get in her pants because the egg shows no sign of speckling, and ultimately burns him alive as he awaits her at the wedding alter.
Hmmm...does anyone else wonder where the heck these stories came from? I mean, sure, they're stories we've all heard around the campfires in various forms, but I'm really interested in the story behind this story. I'm definitely going to research this more...
This goes on and on until one witty gal leaves the egg in a safe place, enters the room, and breaks the "spell" by putting the dismembered bodies back together. She tricks Fitcher, who wants to get in her pants because the egg shows no sign of speckling, and ultimately burns him alive as he awaits her at the wedding alter.
Hmmm...does anyone else wonder where the heck these stories came from? I mean, sure, they're stories we've all heard around the campfires in various forms, but I'm really interested in the story behind this story. I'm definitely going to research this more...
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Rockin' Juice
Here's a kickpants afternoon pick-me-up juice: 1/2 cucumber, 1/2 apple, and 2 thick slices of pineapple. This is definitely a cuppa feel good goodiness. Drink up and don't let the wolves get you down.
Road Warrior
When was the last time you picked up some Hot Wheels cars and made them go vroom-vroom? It's honestly been awhile for me, but recently I've played with nigh on one-hundred vintage Hot Wheels cars, tanks, & motorcycles. I was surprised that it's actually more fun than surpressed memories often allow, but when I'm five centimeters high and driving my bright red mustang through two flaming 360's NOBODY, including Boss Hogg, can get me down!
Don't forget to play today.
Don't forget to play today.
Taken hostage by techno garbage - please recommend something for me to read
So, I promised myself the first thing that I would do after leaving the graduate program would be to sit down and read all of the books that have been piling up in protest to my utter lack of interest due to my academic undertakings. Well, my friends, the time has come for me to break free from academia's unrelenting clutches and shun the self medicating crap tv and video game antiseptic that has consequently taken my brain hostage.
Therefore, I am setting out on a new adventure, donning my red cape, and making my way through the haunted technoforest to find my way back to the written word. I will allow myself to feel the pain of realizing the final page and I refuse to continue my foolish ways of picking up a book only to set it down again when something else catches my eye. I will follow through and read a book in its entirety for the mere sake of pleasure and mayhaps, just mayhaps, I'll even learn something new. Hmmm...I wonder if there are any good books about guitar hero? Hey, don't knock it...guitar hero is always there for me, no matter what, and all it ever asks is that I put new batteries in the wireless guitar every once in awhile. There are no final pages to excrutiatingly part with, no definable end, just the promise of a new personal high score.
Here's the list of five interesting books (along with their amazon.com descriptions) I've started, put down at some point, and heretofor swear to finish soon:
Henderson the Rain King (1959) by Saul Bellow
The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature Seriocomic novel by Saul Bellow, published in 1959. The novel examines the midlife crisis of Eugene Henderson, an unhappy millionaire. The story concerns Henderson's search for meaning. A larger-than-life 55-year-old who has accumulated money, position, and a large family, he nonetheless feels unfulfilled. He makes a spiritual journey to Africa, where he draws emotional sustenance from experiences with African tribes. Deciding that his true destiny is as a healer, Henderson returns home, planning to enter medical school. http://www.amazon.com/Henderson-Rain-King-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140189424/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200595143&sr=1-1
A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby
From Publishers Weekly: Starred Review. If Camus had written a grown-up version of The Breakfast Club, the result might have had more than a little in common with Hornby's grimly comic, oddly moving fourth novel. The story opens in London on New Year's Eve, when four desperate people—Martin, a publicly disgraced TV personality; Maureen, a middle-aged woman with no life beyond caring for her severely disabled adult son; Jess [...]; and JJ, an American rocker whose music career has just ended with a whimper—meet on the roof of a building known as Toppers' House, where they have all come to commit suicide. Bonded by their shared misery, the unlikely quartet spends the night together, telling their stories, getting on each others' nerves even as they save each others' lives. They part the following morning, aware of having formed a peculiar sort of gang. As Jess reflects: "When you're sad—like, really sad, Toppers' House sad—you only want to be with other people who are sad."It's a bold setup, perilously high-concept, but Hornby pulls it off with understated ease. What follows is predictable in the broadest sense—as the motley crew of misfits coalesces into a kind of surrogate family, each individual takes a halting first step toward creating a tolerable future—but rarely in its particulars. Allowing the four main characters to narrate in round-robin fashion, Hornby alternates deftly executed comic episodes—an absurd brush with tabloid fame, an ill-conceived group vacation in the Canary Islands, a book group focused on writers who have committed suicide, a disastrous attempt to save Martin's marriage—with interludes of quiet reflection, some of which are startlingly insightful. Here, for example, is JJ, talking about the burden of understanding that he no longer wants to kill himself: "In a way, it makes things worse, not better.... Telling yourself life is shit is like an anesthetic, and when you stop taking the Advil, then you really can tell how much it hurts, and where, and it's not like that kind of pain does anyone a whole lot of good."While the reader comes to know all four characters well by the end of the novel, it's Maureen who stands out. A prim, old-fashioned Catholic woman who objects to foul language, Maureen is, on the surface, the least Hornbyesque of characters. Unacquainted with pop culture, she has done nothing throughout her entire adult life except care for a child who doesn't even know she's there and attend mass. As she says, "You know that things aren't going well for you when you can't even tell people the simplest fact about your life, just because they'll presume you're asking them to feel sorry for you." Hornby takes a Dickensian risk in creating a character as saintly and pathetic as Maureen, but it pays off. In her own quiet way, she's an unforgettable figure, the moral and emotional center of the novel. This is a brave and absorbing book. It's a thrill to watch a writer as talented as Hornby take on the grimmest of subjects without flinching, and somehow make it funny and surprising at the same time. And if the characters occasionally seem a little more eloquent or self-aware than they have a right to be, or if the novel turns just the tiniest bit sentimental at the end, all you can really fault Hornby for is an act of excessive generosity, an authorial embrace bestowed upon some characters who are sorely in need of a hug.175,000 first printing.(June)Tom Perrotta's most recent novel, Little Children, has just been published in paperback by St. Martin's Griffin. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved
http://www.amazon.com/Long-Way-Down-Nick-Hornby/dp/B000SOQDNQ/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200595321&sr=1-1
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
Amazon.com: Author Erik Larson imbues the incredible events surrounding the 1893 Chicago World's Fair with such drama that readers may find themselves checking the book's categorization to be sure that The Devil in the White City is not, in fact, a highly imaginative novel. Larson tells the stories of two men: Daniel H. Burnham, the architect responsible for the fair's construction, and H.H. Holmes, a serial killer masquerading as a charming doctor. Burnham's challenge was immense. In a short period of time, he was forced to overcome the death of his partner and numerous other obstacles to construct the famous "White City" around which the fair was built. His efforts to complete the project, and the fair's incredible success, are skillfully related along with entertaining appearances by such notables as Buffalo Bill Cody, Susan B. Anthony, and Thomas Edison. The activities of the sinister Dr. Holmes, who is believed to be responsible for scores of murders around the time of the fair, are equally remarkable. He devised and erected the World's Fair Hotel, complete with crematorium and gas chamber, near the fairgrounds and used the event as well as his own charismatic personality to lure victims. Combining the stories of an architect and a killer in one book, mostly in alternating chapters, seems like an odd choice but it works. The magical appeal and horrifying dark side of 19th-century Chicago are both revealed through Larson's skillful writing. --John Moe http://www.amazon.com/Devil-White-City-Madness-Changed/dp/0375725601/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200595452&sr=1-1
Love is a Mix Tape by Rob Sheffield
From Publishers Weekly: Music critic Sheffield's touching and poignant memoir of love and death will strike a chord in anyone who has used a hand-selected set of songs to try to express something that can't be put into words. A socially awkward adolescent, Sheffield finds true love as a college student in the late '80s with Renée, a "hell-raising Appalachian punk-rock girl." They're brought together by their love of music, get married and spend eight years together before Renée suddenly dies of a pulmonary embolism. Sheffield's delivery is not that of the typical actor/ reader. We come to know Rob as this geeky, lanky guy, and his reading is characteristically a little bit uncoordinated, yet it is tender and heartfelt enough to win us over. Each chapter opens with a song list from a mix tape made at the time. Listeners may wish that, as with Nick Hornby's essay collection Songbook, there had been an audio component that would allow the music to take us back or would introduce us to new songs that helped Sheffield press on into an uncertain but hopeful future. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.http://www.amazon.com/Love-Mix-Tape-Life-Loss/dp/1400083036/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200595521&sr=1-
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
From Publishers Weekly: With its spotlight on elephants, Gruen's romantic page-turner hinges on the human-animal bonds that drove her debut and its sequel (Riding Lessons and Flying Changes)—but without the mass appeal that horses hold. The novel, told in flashback by nonagenarian Jacob Jankowski, recounts the wild and wonderful period he spent with the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth, a traveling circus he joined during the Great Depression. When 23-year-old Jankowski learns that his parents have been killed in a car crash, leaving him penniless, he drops out of Cornell veterinary school and parlays his expertise with animals into a job with the circus, where he cares for a menagerie of exotic creatures[...] He also falls in love with Marlena, one of the show's star performers—a romance complicated by Marlena's husband, the unbalanced, sadistic circus boss who beats both his wife and the animals Jankowski cares for. Despite her often clichéd prose and the predictability of the story's ending, Gruen skillfully humanizes the midgets, drunks, rubes and freaks who populate her book. (May 26) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. http://www.amazon.com/Water-Elephants-Novel-Sara-Gruen/dp/1565125606/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200595638&sr=1-1
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Amazon.comIt's 1808 and that Corsican upstart Napoleon is battering the English army and navy. Enter Mr. Norrell, a fusty but ambitious scholar from the Yorkshire countryside and the first practical magician in hundreds of years. What better way to demonstrate his revival of British magic than to change the course of the Napoleonic wars? Susanna Clarke's ingenious first novel, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, has the cleverness and lightness of touch of the Harry Potter series, but is less a fairy tale of good versus evil than a fantastic comedy of manners, complete with elaborate false footnotes, occasional period spellings, and a dense, lively mythology teeming beneath the narrative. Mr. Norrell moves to London to establish his influence in government circles, devising such powerful illusions as an 11-day blockade of French ports by English ships fabricated from rainwater. But however skillful his magic, his vanity provides an Achilles heel, and the differing ambitions of his more glamorous apprentice, Jonathan Strange, threaten to topple all that Mr. Norrell has achieved. A sparkling debut from Susanna Clarke--and it's not all fairy dust. --Regina Marler http://www.amazon.com/Jonathan-Strange-Mr-Norrell-Novel/dp/B000ENWIJO/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200595723&sr=1-1
Therefore, I am setting out on a new adventure, donning my red cape, and making my way through the haunted technoforest to find my way back to the written word. I will allow myself to feel the pain of realizing the final page and I refuse to continue my foolish ways of picking up a book only to set it down again when something else catches my eye. I will follow through and read a book in its entirety for the mere sake of pleasure and mayhaps, just mayhaps, I'll even learn something new. Hmmm...I wonder if there are any good books about guitar hero? Hey, don't knock it...guitar hero is always there for me, no matter what, and all it ever asks is that I put new batteries in the wireless guitar every once in awhile. There are no final pages to excrutiatingly part with, no definable end, just the promise of a new personal high score.
Here's the list of five interesting books (along with their amazon.com descriptions) I've started, put down at some point, and heretofor swear to finish soon:
Henderson the Rain King (1959) by Saul Bellow
The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature Seriocomic novel by Saul Bellow, published in 1959. The novel examines the midlife crisis of Eugene Henderson, an unhappy millionaire. The story concerns Henderson's search for meaning. A larger-than-life 55-year-old who has accumulated money, position, and a large family, he nonetheless feels unfulfilled. He makes a spiritual journey to Africa, where he draws emotional sustenance from experiences with African tribes. Deciding that his true destiny is as a healer, Henderson returns home, planning to enter medical school. http://www.amazon.com/Henderson-Rain-King-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140189424/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200595143&sr=1-1
A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby
From Publishers Weekly: Starred Review. If Camus had written a grown-up version of The Breakfast Club, the result might have had more than a little in common with Hornby's grimly comic, oddly moving fourth novel. The story opens in London on New Year's Eve, when four desperate people—Martin, a publicly disgraced TV personality; Maureen, a middle-aged woman with no life beyond caring for her severely disabled adult son; Jess [...]; and JJ, an American rocker whose music career has just ended with a whimper—meet on the roof of a building known as Toppers' House, where they have all come to commit suicide. Bonded by their shared misery, the unlikely quartet spends the night together, telling their stories, getting on each others' nerves even as they save each others' lives. They part the following morning, aware of having formed a peculiar sort of gang. As Jess reflects: "When you're sad—like, really sad, Toppers' House sad—you only want to be with other people who are sad."It's a bold setup, perilously high-concept, but Hornby pulls it off with understated ease. What follows is predictable in the broadest sense—as the motley crew of misfits coalesces into a kind of surrogate family, each individual takes a halting first step toward creating a tolerable future—but rarely in its particulars. Allowing the four main characters to narrate in round-robin fashion, Hornby alternates deftly executed comic episodes—an absurd brush with tabloid fame, an ill-conceived group vacation in the Canary Islands, a book group focused on writers who have committed suicide, a disastrous attempt to save Martin's marriage—with interludes of quiet reflection, some of which are startlingly insightful. Here, for example, is JJ, talking about the burden of understanding that he no longer wants to kill himself: "In a way, it makes things worse, not better.... Telling yourself life is shit is like an anesthetic, and when you stop taking the Advil, then you really can tell how much it hurts, and where, and it's not like that kind of pain does anyone a whole lot of good."While the reader comes to know all four characters well by the end of the novel, it's Maureen who stands out. A prim, old-fashioned Catholic woman who objects to foul language, Maureen is, on the surface, the least Hornbyesque of characters. Unacquainted with pop culture, she has done nothing throughout her entire adult life except care for a child who doesn't even know she's there and attend mass. As she says, "You know that things aren't going well for you when you can't even tell people the simplest fact about your life, just because they'll presume you're asking them to feel sorry for you." Hornby takes a Dickensian risk in creating a character as saintly and pathetic as Maureen, but it pays off. In her own quiet way, she's an unforgettable figure, the moral and emotional center of the novel. This is a brave and absorbing book. It's a thrill to watch a writer as talented as Hornby take on the grimmest of subjects without flinching, and somehow make it funny and surprising at the same time. And if the characters occasionally seem a little more eloquent or self-aware than they have a right to be, or if the novel turns just the tiniest bit sentimental at the end, all you can really fault Hornby for is an act of excessive generosity, an authorial embrace bestowed upon some characters who are sorely in need of a hug.175,000 first printing.(June)Tom Perrotta's most recent novel, Little Children, has just been published in paperback by St. Martin's Griffin. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved
http://www.amazon.com/Long-Way-Down-Nick-Hornby/dp/B000SOQDNQ/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200595321&sr=1-1
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
Amazon.com: Author Erik Larson imbues the incredible events surrounding the 1893 Chicago World's Fair with such drama that readers may find themselves checking the book's categorization to be sure that The Devil in the White City is not, in fact, a highly imaginative novel. Larson tells the stories of two men: Daniel H. Burnham, the architect responsible for the fair's construction, and H.H. Holmes, a serial killer masquerading as a charming doctor. Burnham's challenge was immense. In a short period of time, he was forced to overcome the death of his partner and numerous other obstacles to construct the famous "White City" around which the fair was built. His efforts to complete the project, and the fair's incredible success, are skillfully related along with entertaining appearances by such notables as Buffalo Bill Cody, Susan B. Anthony, and Thomas Edison. The activities of the sinister Dr. Holmes, who is believed to be responsible for scores of murders around the time of the fair, are equally remarkable. He devised and erected the World's Fair Hotel, complete with crematorium and gas chamber, near the fairgrounds and used the event as well as his own charismatic personality to lure victims. Combining the stories of an architect and a killer in one book, mostly in alternating chapters, seems like an odd choice but it works. The magical appeal and horrifying dark side of 19th-century Chicago are both revealed through Larson's skillful writing. --John Moe http://www.amazon.com/Devil-White-City-Madness-Changed/dp/0375725601/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200595452&sr=1-1
Love is a Mix Tape by Rob Sheffield
From Publishers Weekly: Music critic Sheffield's touching and poignant memoir of love and death will strike a chord in anyone who has used a hand-selected set of songs to try to express something that can't be put into words. A socially awkward adolescent, Sheffield finds true love as a college student in the late '80s with Renée, a "hell-raising Appalachian punk-rock girl." They're brought together by their love of music, get married and spend eight years together before Renée suddenly dies of a pulmonary embolism. Sheffield's delivery is not that of the typical actor/ reader. We come to know Rob as this geeky, lanky guy, and his reading is characteristically a little bit uncoordinated, yet it is tender and heartfelt enough to win us over. Each chapter opens with a song list from a mix tape made at the time. Listeners may wish that, as with Nick Hornby's essay collection Songbook, there had been an audio component that would allow the music to take us back or would introduce us to new songs that helped Sheffield press on into an uncertain but hopeful future. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.http://www.amazon.com/Love-Mix-Tape-Life-Loss/dp/1400083036/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200595521&sr=1-
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
From Publishers Weekly: With its spotlight on elephants, Gruen's romantic page-turner hinges on the human-animal bonds that drove her debut and its sequel (Riding Lessons and Flying Changes)—but without the mass appeal that horses hold. The novel, told in flashback by nonagenarian Jacob Jankowski, recounts the wild and wonderful period he spent with the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth, a traveling circus he joined during the Great Depression. When 23-year-old Jankowski learns that his parents have been killed in a car crash, leaving him penniless, he drops out of Cornell veterinary school and parlays his expertise with animals into a job with the circus, where he cares for a menagerie of exotic creatures[...] He also falls in love with Marlena, one of the show's star performers—a romance complicated by Marlena's husband, the unbalanced, sadistic circus boss who beats both his wife and the animals Jankowski cares for. Despite her often clichéd prose and the predictability of the story's ending, Gruen skillfully humanizes the midgets, drunks, rubes and freaks who populate her book. (May 26) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. http://www.amazon.com/Water-Elephants-Novel-Sara-Gruen/dp/1565125606/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200595638&sr=1-1
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Amazon.comIt's 1808 and that Corsican upstart Napoleon is battering the English army and navy. Enter Mr. Norrell, a fusty but ambitious scholar from the Yorkshire countryside and the first practical magician in hundreds of years. What better way to demonstrate his revival of British magic than to change the course of the Napoleonic wars? Susanna Clarke's ingenious first novel, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, has the cleverness and lightness of touch of the Harry Potter series, but is less a fairy tale of good versus evil than a fantastic comedy of manners, complete with elaborate false footnotes, occasional period spellings, and a dense, lively mythology teeming beneath the narrative. Mr. Norrell moves to London to establish his influence in government circles, devising such powerful illusions as an 11-day blockade of French ports by English ships fabricated from rainwater. But however skillful his magic, his vanity provides an Achilles heel, and the differing ambitions of his more glamorous apprentice, Jonathan Strange, threaten to topple all that Mr. Norrell has achieved. A sparkling debut from Susanna Clarke--and it's not all fairy dust. --Regina Marler http://www.amazon.com/Jonathan-Strange-Mr-Norrell-Novel/dp/B000ENWIJO/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200595723&sr=1-1
Staving off the vampires with a pint o garlic
You know, I feel like one of those before and after models on latenight infomercial tv squawking reverently: "If I can do it anybody can!" In this case, however, I am not being paid by some questionable sponsor so I can squawk all I'd like (afterall, it is my blog). Anyway, I've had loads of time on my hands lately, so I've decided to shed my walruslike outer shell in an attempt to thwart some imminent health problems. In doing so, I've begun an illicit love affair with my power juicer. It's true, my eyes literally roll back in my head when I hear the motor revving up...ah, just the thought of it gets me all worked up. Seriously, though, there really is something to staying the outside course at the grocery store and becoming acquainted with the virtually endless uses of ginger, carrots, kale, bok choy, & peppers of all shapes and sizes. Thus my fairy tale now includes characters like ugli fruit, papaya, mango & alfafa. I'm hoping they'll continue playing a big part in my happily ever after as I've already lost 13 pounds in my endeavor.
If you have any juicing tips please leave some comments. My drink of the day consisted of 3 carrots, 1/2 green bell pepper, 2 celery stalks, 3 broccoli florets, and 1 clove of garlic. Needless to say, I need not fear any vampire attacks today!!
If you have any juicing tips please leave some comments. My drink of the day consisted of 3 carrots, 1/2 green bell pepper, 2 celery stalks, 3 broccoli florets, and 1 clove of garlic. Needless to say, I need not fear any vampire attacks today!!
I know they're around here somewhere!
Someone should really invest in making magical breadcrumbs that taste like gasoline so pesky birds keep their foraging beaks to themselves. Alas, like the fabled Hansel and Gretel, I have entered an enchanted forest sans a trail of breadcrumbs. There's no turning back now, so I invite you to join me on my fairytale adventure to find meaning in life. Don't forget to bring your coconuts.
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