Random Fandom

While I was doing my school reading the other night, my cat Bunnicula was getting all up on the screen in my computer, so I snapped this photo, which I think is one of the best non-kitten photos I have of her cute self. My baby.

My first whining post of the term

Oh Tomer, why do you do this to me?

I thought we had no books for 2002. Now we have like, 6? I hope that they're all e-books because it's not fair that they said before that there were no books and now there are. Blarg.

Also I just want clarification: is the on-campus session the 21st or the 27th of October? Because I just got asked to be Candice's date for a fancy pants gay wedding on the 21st at the Philosophical Society and I reallllllly want to go (any excuse to wear my vintage little black dress!). Plus I bet a lot of people have already booked hotels and the like. Eep!

Ground control to Major Tom: You're back in Space College. Realizing that I can't do whatever I want now with all this work to do again, I cancel my plans for this evening and plan to just go home and read, read, read. I hope I find some time for Ulysses this weekend, now that I have the book! But unfortunately The Accidental Library Manager and endless PDFs are the menu du jour. Bitch bitch bitch...

Autumn Beckons

I've had it with summer, it is time for fall, dammit! I'm willing it to be fall. Cardigans and leaves and pumpkin ales are dancing in my head. Finishing my sweater was one aspect of my hoping that my actions will somehow influence the weather. The second was tonight's dinner: sweet potato chili. The finished product looks a bit different than the picture, where the sweet potatoes were still hard and it wasn't nearly as thick. I'm going to write the recipe in my LJ but not here, because I'm not sure if y'all are interested in such things, but this chili was completely ad hoc and involves sweet potatoes, tempeh, black eyed peas, black beans, carrots, and various sorts of majicks. If you want the "recipe" let me know, I just wanted to post about that and the tasty iced peach green tea I made tonight.

C'mon fall! FALLLL.

What I did on my (tiny) Summer Vacation

Finished seaming the sweater over lunch. I hope I get to take some better pictures soon, after I block the sweater (I took these with my camera phone in my cube). I must say though, this knitting went really fast, the seaming is nearly invisible and it's the best fitting garment I've produced thus far. I might just be getting good at this knitting thing! Too bad I probably won't be able to knit much again until my NEXT term break!

"Better to be Pissed Off than Pissed On"

Here's a
lengthy but fascinating New Yorker article about Stephen James Joyce, executor of the Joyce estate, and his protracted battles with scholars over Joyce's works. Lots of interesting stuff about US copyright law as it applies to Academia, as well as biographical information about the Joyce family. With a special cameo by our buddy Lawrence Lessig.

Bibliotic

Well here we are, first day of school once again. Did I feel like I was really even out of school? Not particularly. I see Dr. T has posted some lengthy PDFs to read for the class that won't really be up and rolling until Wednesday (first one is 46 pages). So, as I figured, the lack of required books does not really mean lack of required reading. That's OK though, I'll just try to plow through as usual, and everything should be OK. I'm no longer worried about my ability to succeed in the program, so it's just a matter of staying motivated and keeping the rest of my shambles of a life in check. Meeting Justin after work to get the recommended book for 2700 and I also just received my copy of Ulysses and the companion book at work today for my reading group. I see lots of lengthy coffee shop hangs in my future this fall!

Speaking of, yesterday I went to the coffee shop on 9th & Bainbridge that my friend Anj had mentioned. I have to say, I liked it a great deal! The staff was nice, the space was really cool, the music was good, and the coffee was good, as was the other drink I got (something with coconut and ricemilk). I can envision that environment being the one where I get most of my work done this fall and winter, especially since they have free wifi. Sunny enough to give a view of the outside world but cozy enough to keep me comfy and working inside. Perhaps I'll go back there sometime this week after work.

PS Saturday's weather was such a tease. I can't believe it's going to be almost 90 today. I don't care if it's gray and rainy, but this humidity/heat has got to go away! It's time for fall to happen.

Escape to New York

For my last gasp of a "vacation" before school starts on Monday, my friend Duck and I went to the MoMA to catch their Dada exhibit before it closes. The exhibit was pretty awesome (although no photography was allowed, sadly) but I took lots of other pictures, as this is the third time I'd been to the MoMA and hadn't yet seen their full collection (the first time was in Queens and they barely had anything on display, the second time I was there to see an 8 hour film and couldn't see anything else as a result.) On to the pics:


The architecture of the building is really beautiful. In this picture you can see three floors.


The Sculpture Garden was so pretty, and the weather was absolutely perfect; it was dark and cool all day but it didn't rain. Such a relief from the August we've had.


Carlo Carrà - Funeral of the Anarchist Galli.. never seen or heard of this work before but it was beautiful.


Picasso sculpture, Glass of Absinthe.


Closeup of Jackson Pollock's signature.


Duck looking at the Pollocks.


My reflection in the Brancusi. By far my favorite photo of the day.


My boy Lichtenstein (you can see me in this one too).


Me examining a Rauschenberg.


I can't remember what artist did this minimalist green-blue-grey thing, but the picture of me and Duck in this reflection is really weird and cool.

After we left the MoMA we went to Kate's Joint, this awesome vegan diner I've been to many times, and we ate a ton of food in a very short time frame (I had a vegan caesar salad, delicious African peanut soup, and the holy grail - vegan Disco fries! Then we split a piece of chocolate mousse cake). We went to a little bar with a photobooth and took some pictures, and realized that if we made it back to Penn Station within 30 minutes we'd get home at a reasonable time, so we downed the beer super fast. Duck started feeling ill right away. We ran for the train and got on, the train to Trenton was hell because I had to pee the entire hour and Duck was fighting vomiting, but once we got to Trenton everything was golden, although I think I was still a bit green from the experience:


Not terribly flattering picture of me on the train home. We walked home from Suburban Station and it was such a beautiful night! I hear the weather should be like this all week which is quite agreeable to me. Overall I think it was the most efficient and we didn't get lost or anything. Good end to my vacation, as tomorrow it's time for SCHOOL!

Knives Out

There is one day a month I look forward to work, the glorious day known as Sushi Day. Seriously, I write it on my calendar. My work's cafeteria has this amazing sushi chef come in and he rolls me up a cucumber avocado roll and seaweed salad and it is glorious. I haven't been having too great of a day, but I went up to grab my sushi and the chef smiled and started performing surgery on a tomato and made this for me...



A tomato butterfly! Is it sad that that could make my day? Probably. But happiness is where you find it, and today it was in a tomato butterfly on my sushi plate. There's your moment of zen for the day.

Did They Tell You How the West Was Won?

On my day off Monday Scott and I concocted the best of all possible concept birthday cakes for our dear friend Christian. It was inspired by a previous cake Scott had done, called 2001: A Cake Odyssey, which was conceptual only in that that phrase was written on the cake. This idea started modestly and spiralled wonderfully out of control. We decided to do Manifest Destiny in cake form, dubbing it Manifest Birthday. We put little flags with Christian's face on it all over the globe, representing stereotypes of various cultures (mostly for the comedic value of drawing on Christian's face.) Here goes:


Scott fills in the continents with the precision of a surgeon.


Manifest Birthday in its full glory.


Top of the World! Took some flags out to show the continents. Not bad for freehanding.


A ludicriously large beret, a baguette, and a bottle of wine for Chretien, and a fez for his Moroccan counterpart. Notice the major difference between the French and the Morroccan is the curliness of his moustache.


The Fu Man Chu here looks a bit like Charles Manson, and sadly you can't see the rest of the Russian picture, which features a hammer and sickle insignia on his lapel and a jaunty pipe.


Christian and his Penguin friend at the South Pole.



Christian SCUBAing off the coast of Greenland. Most have been cold!


Christian loves the President!


Christian the Great terrorizes the earth.

After this picture we immediately dug into the chocolate cake, and in classical imperialist tradition we carved up Africa first. Somehow I see more silly cakes in our future...

The Great Day Off

So much to write about, and really no time at all to do it! (I'm writing this while eating my lunch in about 15 minutes, and I might end up having to stay late today too which is a total bummer.) Anyway I had a great, productive weekend but I'll mostly just talk about Monday, which was a real honest-to-goodness vacation day (instead of a vacation day that I take to go to Pittsburgh and sit in class for hours on end)! It was perfect.

Woke up in the morning, bopped around the house with my cup of coffee and made plans to meet Scott at the Starbucks near the Free Library. Brought my knitting and had a decaf version of my signature $-bucks drink-- grande iced coconut soy latte-- and knit until Scott arrived. We went to the third floor of the library which is really secluded and pretty and rang the bell for the rare book room, which they opened after a few moments. We were met by a charming gentleman librarian who asked us about ourselves before our tour, and we discovered he's friends with the librarian with whom Scott team-taught at Masterman. This little nugget (and the fact that I'm a library student) gave us access to more works than the usual tour which was great!

O the things we saw and learned! Egyptian scrolls on papyrus! How to guild paper! Renaissance illuminated text! Illusionary artwork on the edge of paintings that only appear when you bend the book slightly (easier to explain what that is in person but it was awesome!) a miniature copy of the Magna Carta from 1315 with a thick wood binding with actual bookworm holes in it! The first folio of the works of Shakespeare! The dead stuffed raven, once a pet of Charles Dickens, that inspired the Poe work! I wanted to move into the Elkins room, it was my dream study. Our guide was wonderful and we all chatted back and forth, and Scott and I left beaming from ear to ear.

We grabbed some lunch at Whole Foods and went back to the Book Corner, where I hoped I'd find Ulysses for the reading group I'm joining. I didn't, but I found so many other wonderful things. They had sections of books that were all first editions, sections that were all about Philadelphia or printed there, sections with only rare books, sections with all signed copies. And with everything 40% off, Scott and I both made out like bandits. He got a ton of old literary journals and a 1st edition copy I found of a Robert Frost book of poems. I got a beautiful 1930 "art type edition" of Wuthering Heights, Alexandre Dumas' Celebrated Crimes which was printed in 1895 by the Rittenhouse Press of Philadelphia, a 1st edition copy of Lazarus by Andre Malraux, and a 1st edition collection of Benjamin Franklin's autobiographical writings. Horray!

Next we met back at Scott's and made Christian's hilarious concept birthday cake, but I'll write about that after I load the pictures. Then a bunch of us went to Abysinnia for Ethopian food, I used to live near there and hadn't had it in a while, I cleaned my plate! Went home and knit and watched the first part of Spike Lee's documentary on Hurricane Katrina, it was really very good, will watch the rest tonight. My goal is to finish the sweater before I start school on Monday.

OK that took too long to write, way too much to do, but I'm so happy I had such a productive, awesome day off.

Knitters Gone Wild

My knitting circle is not exactly like many others. We have some very strange things in common besides knitting, one is that a lot of us are librarians or librarians-in-training (which might not be that surprising as far as stereotypes go), but a more unusual one is a love for New Wave music. Over a year ago my knitting group introduced me to a once-a-month New Wave dance party called Sex Dwarf, and although I had never wanted to dance in public before (I'm both tone deaf and devoid of any rhythm) I went and had such a great time that I was hooked. I brought Zinnia with me this time, and it was a blast! It was the third anniversary so everyone had to wear red and black. Witness the sweat and debauchery.


Zinnia and I ready to leave - put on your red shoes and dance the blues




Cute picture of me and Zinnia on the dancefloor


Robby and Superstar DJ Robert Drake


Sam, the glorious Ms. Jackie, and my sweaty self.


Knittas represent


Me and my awesome gay boyfriend, Robby


Blood in the disco!


Another fun one of me and Z.



Group action shot!

There are so many more pictures! I have a few more here, the ones marked with an "R" were stolen from Robby's pictures (of which there are 1,000) here. Fun fun!

Revenge is a Dish Best Served "Wit"

This is GREAT, taken from Philebrity:

Subject: 9/9/06 !!! FLASH MOB AT GENO’S !!! Please Forward Forward Forward to your Philly Friends !!!

Hello friends and fellow humans,
You’ve probably heard of random flash mobs happening around the country by now - masses of people suddenly, unexpectedly showing up at a public space, doing something marginally absurd, such as pillowfighting in Love Park, or 5-minute mega dance parties in a plaza, etc. Well, here’s another one coming up you can be a part of! Please forward it along to your friends if you think it’s interesting.

Imagine this scenario:
Hundreds of people lining up to order cheese steaks at Geno’s. Nothing unusual, right? Right. That’s the usual scene there anyways. However, here’s the twist: everybody lined up, one after another, will be ordering in any language besides English! Don’t be surprised if none of those people get served. They probably won’t be. Imagine the confusion!



Where:
Geno’s Steaks
S. 9th & E. Passyunk, between Federal and Wharton

When:
Saturday September 9, 2006
5 PM sharp
**show up between 4:30pm and 4:50pm or so, hang around the area, in the park, etc, and at exactly 5pm, everybody ‘in on it’ will start lining up.**

What:
Going to Geno’s for the specific purpose of ordering in non-English. Come equipped with a couple of lines in another language to order cheese steaks, fries, anything really. They probably won’t serve you, and if they do and you don’t want to buy it, just say, “Sorry, no thanks,” or, “Sorry, I changed my mind,” in your other language.

Remember:
You may sincerely want to buy a cheese steak/fries/soda/etc. For this purpose, we will try to be as polite as possible. However, you are not obliged to buy anything.

For more info, go here, to figure out what the hell I'm even talking about, go here. I've actually witnessed/participated in a flash mob before, and it sounds lame unless you're actually there, then it is quite exhilirating/hilarious, even better if it's political in nature!

I Ain't Dedalus Yet (worst joke ever)

My awesome friend Jackie decided she wants to get together a monthly reading group to discuss James Joyce's Ulysses. She posted it on Craigslist:

Are you interested in reading (or rereading!) Ulysses by James Joyce? I'd like to get a group of readers together to discuss the book monthly (Wednesday nights?)?)ed: it will actually be Tuesdays starting in September. I thought meeting at Fergie's would be appropriate! We can have some Guinness and do a chunk a month, and finish up near Bloomsday (June 16). Please contact me if this sounds like your kind of fun!

I've read The Dubliners and Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and I've been wanting to read Ulysses but never thought I had the time. And although I know that this is still true, being in school again has kicked my intellectual curiosity into overdrive, so I think I'm going to give it a go. No time like the present, right? I am also going to try to learn to like Guinness and other super-dark beers, as I'm more of a Hop Devil, myself. Got to get down with my Irish ancestory!

Jackie then shared this link with me to a full-text online version of Ulysses, which will pretty much guarantee that I will never do work again. Also this explanation of Why One Should Read Ulysses is great.

Yes I realize this picture is not of James Joyce, but of Ewan MacGregor as James Joyce. But as Ewan MacGregor is my dream man, this is how it shall stand. And yes, I have seen the movie where Ewan plays Joyce, it is bloody awful but borderline pornographic, and I did like that aspect of it :)

Deep Thoughts

Been feeling some wanderlust lately, so I was looking through some old traveling pictures. My work monitor is really dark so it looks like my shape is just cut out of the scene. It makes me think a few things:

* I'd be hard-pressed to think of a prettier place in the States than Big Sur.(although Ithaca and Vermont are two favorites)

* I've been incredibly, incredibly lucky to do as much traveling as I've done in the past two years. It's one of those things I never thought I could afford to do. I hope I continue to travel as much!

* Please oh please let it be jacket weather again soon.


========

On a completely unrelated note: Somehow I find parallels between the whole Gunter Grass being an SS officer thing and the Jon-Benet Ramsey killer being found. I guess the parallel is time, and how the truth does eventually surface. I think there is little on this earth more important than honesty. Better late than never, I guess.

Fanspotting

I was a voracious reader since age 4, but sometime in middle school I just completely lost all interest, until in 9th grade when I picked up Trainspotting. Then I would take the train to the Philly Free to read all his other works, and it got me right back on the horse, so to speak (no, not heroin!). So even though I don't read much contemporary literature now, Irvine Welsh's works have very special memories for me.

I got to the Free Library and sit in the 4th row center of the reading room and I had a perfect vantage point from which to take pictures. As the place filled up (it was surprisingly full) one of the workers said no photography was allowed. Drat. Welsh approached the podium, bald as a cue, sporting an awesome kelly green track jacket and a surprisingly placid facial expression. My general impressions of him in person were that he was a much kinder, gentler person than his writerly voice would suggest.

He read some passages from his new book, The Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs, and the first two were funny enough and it was especially lovely to listen to his Scottish brogue lilt over the dialect. I looked around at the crowd and saw there were a fair amount of people my age who probably read Trainspotting as teens. But I also noticed some extremely elderly folk hanging out, which I felt was a bit out of place. Is Grandma really reading about shooting junk, anal sex, and House music? In fact, in front of me was a regular white-haired cabal of olde women.

At this point Welsh, losing some of his nervousness, launches into his last passage where one of the characters goes to an old witch living in a Scottish project to try to figure out how to reverse a spell he's inadvertenly cast, and the woman propositions him for sex, which he reluctantly agrees to. What followed was an absolutely filthy, detailed depiction of the sex act that went on for quite some time. The crackle of the audience was audible as we blushed, laughed, and shifted in our seats. I look at the olde ladies, who were shaking their heads in disapproval. Then one, much to my delight, actually stuck her fingers in her ears!

After a nice little Q&A (I thought it was interesting that Welsh comes up with a title before he writes a book. Who does that?) He went upstairs for the signing. When I approached with my copy of Marabou Stork Nightmares (my favorite of his) he smiled warmly and said my name with that lovely accent of his. I had witnessed a veritable parade of geeks gush all over the man like the various fluids in the passage he had just read, and I didn't want to do that, but what happens when I get up there? "Hi Mr. Welsh. I just wanted to say that I love the way you visually lay out the words on the page in some of your books. It's almost like concrete prose, it's remarkable."

Yeah, that's right, I said CONCRETE PROSE.

I am Megan's bottomless well of embarrassment.

The smiling, gracious Mr. Welsh thanked me and told me he loves my city, and I thanked him (taking credit for all of Philadelphia in the process) and scooted over to the book table to buy his new book with the literal last dime in my wallet from a nice shaggy haired fellow. Then I took the extraordinarily shitty, dark, grainy, fuzzy picture that you see below.



So that was it! I'm glad I went, glad I now have three signed books in my collection (Marabou Stork Nightmares, Sarah Vowell's Take the Cannoli, and Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States) and I still never cease to amaze myself, that I can work at a place for 3 years where I met world leaders, musicians, and movie stars on a weekly basis with barely the bat of an eye, but put me in front of a writer I like and I turn into an absolute silly little girl. So it goes!

High Five

Much to discuss! It was a rather eventful weekend. I think a numbered list will do it best.

1. Rosenbach Museum! - Duck and I went to the Rosenbach Museum on Saturday and it was a real treat. There was so much artwork and beautiful furniture, and I hit it off big time with the docent when I told her I was a library student. We talked a lot about their collection of rare books, and I hope to one day go back and get to page through them (you can make appointments to do so). Mmm is there anything better than a really old book? They even had some incunabula (I hear there's a killer collection at the Philadelphia Free Library's Rare Book Room that I will hit up soon). I bought a chapbook of the original Dracula story from 1488, and a book called Passing Through: Letters and Documents Written in Philadelphia by Famous Visitors. If you're a big nerd like me I suggest checking out the Rosenbach. I have a feeling I'll at least be going back to pick up gifts in the future.

2. Bob Fosse! - Friday night my friend Jackie brought over Cabaret. I had never seen it before, but holy cow was it great! It was so dark and decadent, it had potential Halloween costume written all over it. Then Sunday I was sitting around bored and looked On Demand and saw All That Jazz, which is Bob Fosse's autobiography starring that dude from Jaws. Man what a surreal, disturbing, awesome, beautiful film! I'm loving some Bob Fosse at the moment.

3. Whores! - Apparently all the drug dealers in my neighborhood have moved aside to make way for a ton of prostitutes! Walking home Saturday after the Rosenbach I saw three, one of which commented on my outfit (I didn't hear her) got incredibly offended I didn't respond, and yelled at me, "What are you going to act like we don't know each other?" and turns to Duck, pointing at me, "We slept together." Duck turns to me in mock disbelief and yells, "MEGAN!!!" and I retort, "Oh, I didn't tell you? You don't remember that week where I was a filthy disgusting crack whore?" Haha

4. Sam's benefit! - My friend Sam who survived ovarian cancer had a benefit on Saturday night to raise money for the cause. It was fantastic, the place was mobbed, and she raised $1700 all told. They had a Johnny Cash cover band called Man in Black, and while I HATE cover bands this guy was actually really great. Also, I drank too much beer. But it was a good time! Big ups to Justin for coming by.

5. Librarything! - Yesterday, somewhere between determined and hungover, I catalogued pretty much all of my fiction books on Librarything. My collection is here if you're interested. I hope to do my non-fiction sometime this week, which will take much, much longer. I'm loving everything about Librarything (I only wish I could categorize my records this way!)

Also does anyone know how to get my Blogger right column with my user info to stay at the top? It's driving me nuts that it's all the way at the bottom like that. That's it for now, pictures soon to follow.

G*d Bless You, Mr. Welsh

Thanks Philebrity...

"It's a funny thing. You would think that with the advent of Scottish World Rock Domination (Camera Obscura, Mogwai, Belle & Sebastian, Franz Ferdinand, The Cribs, the re-ascendance of Orange Juice, and so on), combined with the threads of new fatal heroin coursing through the news cycle, that the time would be high for Irvine Welsh to experience a major revival. After all, dude kinda was and is the harbinger for all of these things and more. Word on the book review circuit is that his latest, The Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs, is a fine return to Welsh's deep-dialect, bringing-out-the-worst in people tragiocomic milieu. So why not, say we. Welsh reads at the Free Library on Tuesday, and seriously: What, you're not gonna try and see if he'll drink with you afterwards?

Irvine Welsh reads and talks, Tues., August 15, 7pm, free. Central Library, 19th and Vine Sts. More info here."

HOLY SHIT. Now, I don't really like much contemporary literature, (and I'm not even sure if Welsh counts as a contemporary writer, since he definitely hit his peak in the 90s) but Welsh has a very special place in my heart.

When I was very small I would read insatiably, and sometime in middle school I just stopped caring about reading. Didn't pick up a book for pleasure for a few years. Then I was introduced to Trainspotting and my eyes were reopened, I went to the Free Library (which was a feat, since I had to take a train from the suburbs and then walk quite a bit, at least an hour commute!) and borrowed or sat and read every other book Welsh has written (I later bought most of them). Marabou Stork Nightmares still blows my mind, I really wish I had written that book. When Porno, the "sequel" to Trainspotting came out, I pre-ordered it from Amazon UK and got it before anyone in the States. Now apparently he has a new book out, and although I wonder if I'll be as into his writing as I was as a teenager, I would LOVE to see him in person! And maybe even take a picture or something with/of him! He's such a legend in my little world, the man who single-handedly turned me back on to reading.

So the question is, is anyone else a Welsh fan? Does anyone want to join me? I'm even going to skip work charity Quizzo, which is a big deal, because man, once in a lifetime thing to see one of your hero writers.

Go Ask Alice

I'm chomping at the bit to organize my book collection via Librarything. I will definitely do it on Sunday. Meanwhile, they just posted about a really innovative new Talk feature that could make Librarything even more potentially addictive. Read about it here. Also does anyone who read this have a Librarything account? I was surprised when I searched for Philadelphia how many user names I recognized...

Also I had an awesome time last night with Vegan Cookie Monster, who is the reason I managed to bring lunch today! Mmm leftovers. She's the best. Tonight is my Fiber Night over at Purlewe's where I will try to actually make some progress on the cute lime green cabled cardi I'm knitting.

Oh and in my possession today are some old pictures of me with various hair colors... red (circa 17) and my *gasp* natural color, including one extremely underaged drinking picture of me clutching my first ever Martini in my powder blue nail polished little fist, complete with eyebrow ring and wild-eyed smile. I was in a bar in Manayunk, and I think I was about 15 or 16 (way to go, Manayunk! I look like I was 12!) Multiple coworkers said I looked like Alice in Wonderland. And me without a scanner...

M.I.A.

I know I've been quiet, dealing with some personal shit but I'm keepin' on. I'm planning a very educational/nerdly remaining break, including:

* a trip to the Rosenbach Museum (never made it there the other day, too much lounging around with coffee and my copy of Wired with Stephen Colbert on the cover. It was totally worth it.)

* Sunday I will probably load all my books on LibraryThing so you can all know what a true snobby little brat I really am.

* probably going to the MoMA with the Duckman August 26 to see that amazing Dada exhibit. I will probably get us hopelessly lost, Duck will probably get us killed. Stay tuned.

On the work front:


Please oh please oh please.

The Truthiness Paradigm

Just a little tidbit from the latest Wired, which has a fun little missive from my boyfriend Stephen Colbert called "Be an Expert on Anything." I thought some of you Pitt kids might get a kick out of this one:

USE THE WORD ZEITGEIST AS OFTEN AS POSSIBLE.
Ideally, you want to find words that sound familiar but people don't really know their definitions; zeitgeist, bildungsroman, doppelganger -- better yet, anything Latin. But avoid paradigm. It's so 1994. If you say the word paradigm, everybody knows you're a poser.

Take that, Kuhn! OK off to the Rosenbach!

Christmas in Paris

It is just far too hot to live today. Even in my air-conditioned office the idea that it's that hot outside is mocking me. So as a bit of a Calgon moment, I'm going to post some pictures of me in Paris in the cold weather and pretend I'm there and it's cold.


Me my first morning in Paris drinking some REAL coffee in Montmartre


Scott finds his twin at the Musee D'Orsay


The Eiffel Tower at dusk. I long for scarf weather.


It was so cold down on the Seine! Mmmm chilly....


Being coquettish at the Moulin Rouge


Scott in heaven

And last but not least, the best picture in the world: Paris at Christmas time. In the front, Scott. In the back, our friends Tami and Manning who we stayed with, smooching. I have a glossy picture of this in my cube and I sigh at it periodically everyday.


Fin!

How Do You Like Dem Apples?

First, the good stuff. I took a couple of pictures of the Adam Arcuragi show the other night at the Philadelphia Ethical Society. (Some of you Cohort peeps saw them with me in Pittsburgh). They were really good. Witness.


Everybody sing!


My best friend Debbie on the violin



=====

OK so I've been a little concerned about iTunes lately. I wonder if anyone else has experienced similar feelings. I was burning the Assassination Vacation mix CD that I made for 4 friends. The first three times it was no problem, but when I went to burn the 4th iTunes "reminded" me that I was only authorized to burn CDs from music I purchased from iTunes, and then gave me the option to proceed. Oh REALLY. So despite the fact that I paid for all the music on this mix, some years ago, but I didn't buy it through iTunes but on this little invention called the CD, that somehow that's not OK? I'm sorry but I think using a track on a mix CD for a friend is totally fair use.

There was a song I didn't actually have that I wanted to include on the mix, that was They Might Be Giants' James K. Polk. I actually lost my giant TMBG discography (which Polk isn't on) so I bought that too, and the single track of James K. Polk on iTunes. When I loaded it onto my computer, it told me that I could only load the album onto 5 more computers. Huh? I never get rid of music, and since one tends to buy a new computer every two years or so, does that mean in a few years I no longer own the They Might Be Giants discography? I thought I was buying this music, not leasing it. I feel like they're begging me to steal music in the future. Jerks.

Grrr. C'mon Apple. I love you, I do. But don't make me burn all those love letters I wrote you when I purchased the Macbook. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.