Christmas Unwrap-Up

Sheesh, so much has been going on that I haven't had time to write about!  Somehow it seems appropriate for the last day of the year, to wrap up the last few weeks, covering holiday events that have gone unblogged.

First of all, Christmas itself.  Despite a few small hiccups, I'm declaring brunch at my house a success - more because it was fun than for any other particular reason.  A highlight was E's surprise holiday visit!  T agreed to pick her up from the airport and bring her to brunch, but a delayed flight threw a bit of a wrench in the works.  Everyone was understanding when I said T was running late and we'd have to delay the food a bit, and it all became clear when T and E showed up at the door!  Mimosas flowed and a good time was had by all.

That night I had a low-key Christmas dinner with T's family, coffee, more presents, general merriment.

A couple days later, I went to see my first Trans-Siberian Orchestra show.  I've had a number of their CDs for years and love listening to their stuff every Christmas season.  They played two shows at Scottrade Center, and T and I went to the afternoon show.  I made this choice because the seats available were significantly better, although it might have been a mistake.  The crowd at our show was pretty dull (save a few unendingly and endearingly entertaining superfans), but a friend went to the evening show and said people were wild.

Audience aside, the show itself was an odd combination of narrative work, rock show, orchestra performance, and pyrotechnics display.  And by rock show, I mean 80s hair band rock show.  As it sounds, and as T and I discussed, it's hard to pin down exactly what the concert was, but I know most of their music, so I found it enjoyable.  However, next year I think I'll opt for the evening show instead, even if the seats aren't as good.  I feel like the whole odd experience would be enhanced by  the presence of a more energetic crowd.

I've been so busy that I haven't even had time to do my annual watching of Little Women and Love Actually yet, but I'm still planning on getting to them.  Also this year, for the first time, I watched It's a Wonderful Life on DVD, rather than seeing snippets here and there on TV.  It's the first time in a long time (maybe ever?) that I've actually seen the entire movie all the way through, start to finish.  I was reminded that the movie is, as John Hawkes points out, actually quite dark despite its happy ending.

So I guess that's it for another Christmas - more next year!

Goal #52

Goal #52: finish my kitchen cart.

I have been working for some time on repainting an old bureau at T's house.  My plan for it is to be the final storage I need in my kitchen - for baking supplies and my extensive collection of teas.  For now, they're in boxes on the floor, anxiously awaiting their new home.

Big news!
This brings me to the end of my year of weekly goals.  What do you think? Should I continue?  Monthly goals?  I've had some success with the weeklies, definitely more than I ever had with a big New Year's resolution.  Monthly would give me opportunities for bigger projects, but bigger often equals less likely to be completed, because they're a little harder to get a handle on.  Maybe I'll break down monthly goals into smaller, weekly chunks.  Thoughts?

Recap of Goal #51: definitely a party week, and was it ever good!  Christmas brunch at my house was a success, and T threw me an awesome, totally unexpected, and very thoughtful surprise party for my birthday.

Happy Birthday to Me!

What I'm Reading Now -- Farm City

I'm so many posts behind, and because these ones are easy (though perhaps not particularly seasonal), I'm going to use this post as a cop out for the day.

So guess what?  (Is that sentence supposed to have a question mark at the end of it?  It's not technically a question, but I feel like it always comes out sounding like one, so I give it a question mark.  Thoughts?)

Anyway, guess what?  I'm reading Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer.  I stumbled across it at the library and know nothing about it going in except what you can obviously learn from the title.  Stay tuned for my final thoughts.

52 Weeks of Dresses -- Week 48

Otherwise titled: dancing with myself

As has been clear from previous posts, I've been a bit behind on my Christmas celebrating this year.  One of the things I haven't done much of: attending live performances of various types.  In an effort to remedy this situation, I took myself out on a date to see the annual SLSO holiday show.

As always, it was light, fun, lovely.  Our famous soloist was Debby Boone (of You Light Up My Life fame), but she had lost her voice earlier in the week; while her performance was spirited, it was not musically impressive.  Props to her for at least showing up and giving it the old college try though.

The bummer for you, my lovely readers, is that there was no friend there to take a picture of me in my dress, so I took a pic of it when I got home.

But trust me, I looked great!

Merry Christmas to All!

Goal #52

Goal #52: party!!

This is a big week - hosting Christmas brunch at my house for the first time ever, and my birthday!  I'm going to try to relax and enjoy it.

Recap of Goal #51: I'd have to say that this week is improved over last.  I've made progress on my apartment, made my first Christmas cookies of the year (about three weeks later than usual), and ran some errands that needed to be done.  But I did realize that I've lost something that's important to me - I hope it turns up.

Are We Still Here?

I think yesterday was the fourth time in two years that the world had been predicted to end: according to the religious fanatics, May 21 and (failing that) October 21, 2011; according to various accounts of the Mayan calendar, either December 12 or December 21, 2012.  My hopes weren't high for apocalypse.

Are we still here?

What I Watched -- The Iron Lady

I'm a bit ashamed to admit this, but I didn't actually know much about Margaret Thatcher before seeing The Iron Lady.  To be fair, I was eight years old when she left office.  However, I was a history major.  And I studied in London.  But my focus was American history and the British history I focused on while I was there was older - World War I and the British Civil War.

[Aside: I've noticed a general lack of historical knowledge in lots of people of my generation stretching from the end of World War II through to whenever we were old enough to start remembering for ourselves, with the exception of the Civil Rights Movement.  In fact, probably 10 years ago or more, Hasbro released a 20th Anniversary Edition of their popular Trivial Pursuit game, which covered events that had occurred in the two decades since its original release.  It was ridiculously hard; even Dad thought so!  But that goes to show that my knowledge is lacking.  Apparently they now also have a 25th Anniversary Edition; maybe I'd have better luck with that one.  We played the Master Edition over Thanksgiving, and us young kids crushed it!]

But back to the Baroness Thatcher.  She's played in the movie by Meryl Streep, who deservedly won an Oscar for best actress for her performance.  Thatcher is an old woman, remembering some of the important events of her life with a focus on her rise to the post of prime minister.  She starts out as a much maligned "grocer's daughter," but drives hard against the political machine and makes a name for herself, meeting her husband Denis along the way.  I found these historical snippets fascinating even if somewhat out of context, and wish there had been more of them.

The other branch of the story was the personal side: a lonely old woman whose husband had died and whose son lives half a world away.  It's a poignant reminder that even the most famous and powerful people in the world still face the same troubles in the end as the unwashed masses, even if they have cheery hired help to make it easier.

Bottom line: I would've like more background in history and politics (I can't believe I just said that - I hate politics!), but I enjoyed the story of the woman.

Random Links

I overshare; therefore, I am.

The new city library.  And a little history, too.

Have you ever been stuck in traffic and just wanted to drive over the other cars?  This puppy should do the trick.

Amazing house, how sweet the lights - for your Christmas enjoyment.  Though there are more recent imitations, I think this one is pretty cool.

Ocean flowers.

A solution to the unemployment problem: Santa, Inc.

One of Life's Little Pleasures

Pulling up to a parking meter with no change, and realizing that the person who just pulled out left you an hour and a half on the meter.  How nice of them.

Now, this didn't actually happen to me today, but it is nice when it does.

Goal #51

Goal #51: Have a good week.

This week was a rough one.  It wasn't all bad - we had a fun lunch for my paralegal's birthday, I saw an alt-rock show that took me back to the grungy 90s, happy hour with G&G.  But there was a lot of bad: emotional meltdown, illness, lack of productivity (blaming the illness), lack of working out (for sure blaming the illness), other people's emotional meltdowns, and a lot of people just being mean for no reason.

Example 1: one dumb chick walking past me and my dog (either thinking I couldn't hear her because I had headphones in, or just not caring whether I could or not) yells at the dog that he "better not lift his leg and piss while [she's] walking by."

Example 2: another dumb chick walks past me on the sidewalk and says, "I hate your vest."

People are the worst, really.  I want to be a hermit.

Recap of Goal #50:
- Send out the rest of the cards? Check.
- Christmas menu? A work in progress, but mostly there.
- Cookies? Haven't even thought about it.  (For the record, I think this will be the first Christmas since I learned how to bake that I haven't made and delivered cookies to everyone I know.  That's how you know I'm busy!)
- Shopping list? Nope.
- Shopping? Not 'til I have a list. Duh.
- Little tree? Check.

Nothin' a Little Duct Tape Can't Fix

Duct tape is magical.  Here is just the latest:

I have gotten in the unfortunate habit of forgetting my belt when I go places.  Often, because of the way my schedule works out, I leave the house with multiple changes of clothes which are suitable for my activities over the course of the entire day.  For some reason, the belt often is left home.  (There was that one day I forgot pants, but that's for another day.)

Anyway, yesterday I forgot the belt, yet again.  I needed my change of clothes at T's house, where I was going to be doing some painting.  I suppose I could have gone without it, but that would have been an unfortunate, plumber-like situation.

Luckily, T was trimming up a giant piece of rubber floor matting for his new home gym.  He happened to have a narrow strip that he took off the end to square up the corners, and it was plenty long to be a belt.  Now, for a buckle....

What I'm Reading Now -- Gone Girl

Gone Girl started getting great press even before it came out, and I've been dying to read it.  I've finally made enough progress through my backlog of audiobooks that I feel like I can get to the more current stuff.

In this one, a woman disappears on her fifth wedding anniversary, and the story is told alternately through her voice and that of her husband.  That's all I know.

I hope it lives up to the hype (or buzz).

Quote of the Day

"It's easy to say how we love new friends and what we think of them, but words can never trace out all the fibers that knit us to the old."
  -- George Eliot

What I Watched -- Life of Pi

Way back when I was in NC, I went to see Life of Pi with mom and E.  Generally I prefer to read books before I see the movie counterparts, but I'm super behind on my reading and this seemed like a visually appealing movie worth seeing in the theater.  Off I went, knowing nothing about the story other than that there was something about a boy, a tiger, and a boat.

And really, that was most of the story: a boy, a tiger, and a boat.  The boy is Pi Patel, the tiger is Richard Parker, and the boat is too small for the two of them, but it's all they have after their ship goes down in the middle of nowhere.

The story of the shipwreck is told as a flashback; you know from the very beginning that Pi survives.  Once that's out of the way, there are really two things about the movie worth your time: first, it's an Ang Lee film - hence visually appealing, though spare (they are lost at sea, remember).  Second, there's a tiger on a boat.  Don't see that very often.  Actually rumor has it that a live tiger was only used for some of the scenes in which Richard Parker is swimming; everything else was CGI.  Regardless, Pi and Richard Parker's relationship and exploits are engaging.

There are stories floating around out there in the ether about the origin of these names, and the two that I've found are quite interesting.  See for yourself:

1. Yann Martel, the author of the book, supposedly named the tiger after Richard Parker of Mignonette infamy.  Parker was a cabin boy on a yacht which went down in 1884.  The four on the yacht all managed to reach the lifeboat, but the other three survivors consented (or at least didn't object) to sacrificing Parker in an act of cannibalism.

Apparently (though I didn't notice it), there is a ship passing by in the background in a scene with adult Pi called The Mignonette. 

What's more, this gives new meaning to the mystical island in the movie, doesn't it?  (If you've seen it, you know what I mean.)

2. Edgar Allan Poe's only novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, published in 1838, came out decades before the loss of The Mignonette.  The boy Pym stows away on a whaling boat with his dog, named Tiger.  There is a mutiny and a counter-mutiny, and the only original mutineer to survive the second go-around is named - you guessed it - Richard Parker.  Pym, Richard Parker, and two other sailors survive a terrible storm but find themselves without food and fresh water.  Parker suggests that they draw straws, because one of them needs to be sacrificed so the others can survive.  Parker loses, and is killed and eaten.

Can I point out again that The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket was published 46 years BEFORE The Mignonette wrecked.  Weird.

Anyway, pick whichever story you like. They're both good.

Bottom line: well done, and worth the big screen if you can suspend your disbelief and just go with it for a couple of hours.

What I Read -- The Long Walk

I was going to blog about this book when I started it, but I'm so backed up with posts that I already finished it and this is the first that you, my loyal readers, are hearing of it!  I guess that's not really a bad problem to have though.

Anyway, The Long Walk is a Hurt Locker-esque portrayal of modern war and the price it exacts on those (specifically EOD units) who take part in it - except that The Long Walk is a memoir where The Hurt Locker was not.

I think this book would be better appreciated as a book than on audio.  It's the type of thing that, in order to fully appreciate the gravity of the situations the author found himself in, you really need to be giving it your full attention.  Unfortunately I was not.

The author does narrate the audio though, which I love.  There are great readers who make their living narrating audio versions of other people's books, but there's something a little more personal about having the author read his own book, especially when it's one as personal as this.  So that was good.

Goal #50

Goal #50: must do Christmas things.

Why must I do these things?  Because I'm seriously behind schedule.  On the list: send the rest of the cards, put together a Christmas menu, figure out what kind of cookies  I want to make, put together the big shopping list, go shopping, maybe even get a tree if I can find a little one.  (Anyone know where they sell mini trees, maybe three feet tall?)

Recap of Goal #49: I have a table! I had to drive all the way for St. Peters for it, but it matches my chairs pretty well and is the perfect size. Score!

Dinner!

I've lived in my new apartment for about a month, but it's been a very busy month.  For the first time earlier this week, I actually cooked something!  Roasted veg, and lots of them: butternut squash, carrots, Brussels sprouts, onion, apple (okay, some fruit too), all with a little EVOO, salt, pepper, curry powder, and ancho chili powder.

Yum!

Not Gentlemanly At All

I don't make a habit of commenting on restaurants where I haven't actually eaten, but in this case, I'll make an exception.

Dad was in town for a brief stint earlier this week and went out to eat with G&G at a new spot called Little Country Gentleman, which has gotten good reviews in the local press.  They do tasting menus - three, six, or twelve courses.  Sounds perfect for me, a semi-locavore with a flair for indecision.

Apparently tasting menus are all they do.  Unfortunately I was working the night of the dinner outing, so I only had a little break to stop by and sit with the fam.  I told Dad when I would be there and asked him to just order me an app which I could nosh on, then jet back to work.  I was happy with our plan.

But they wouldn't do it!  They were super snooty and refused to even bring me a bowl of soup!

Party foul; I won't be back.

To Kill a Mockingbird -- Take 2

Love To Kill a Mockingbird!

I started listening to it, and for much of the book I couldn't figure out why everyone who heard I was in law school (back when that was true) asked "have you read TKAM?" It was a story about Scout and Jem.  Sure, Atticus happened to be an attorney, but still.

Then I got to the last third of the book and it all became clear.

Random Links

More irony.  Also: don't text and drive.

The art of immersive travel.

Sometimes you just want a drink.

And here's dad, with the zinger.

Free classes.

Happy snowball fighting this winter!

What I Watched -- Love Sick Love

This is a long overdue post about one of the last SLIFF movie shown in this year's lineup, and the only one I managed to go see!  It's called Love Sick Love, and holy cow, there is a lot of crazy in this movie!  So, so, so much crazy in one person (and her family).  It was riveting, because you never knew when it was going to stop.

It's an interesting commentary on the lack of commitment in the hookup culture, although frankly doesn't speak too highly of either side of that coin.

Bottom line: dark, funny, twisted.  Interesting, if you like those "I can't look away, I'm watching a train wreck" types of movies.

52 Weeks of Dresses -- Week 47

Otherwise titled: more congratulations to E! And a little of NC, too.

Saturday started for me with a long run, which was desperately needed. Thanks to a fortuitous interaction with a woman in E's yoga class, we learned that the Duke Chapel Choir was performing Handel's Messiah this weekend, so we all trooped over to campus to see that, which was lovely!

 

Amazing architecture in the chapel

The family graduation dinner was at a small place in Chapel Hill called Lantern.  Local-Asian, that was their thing.  Interesting combo, but the food was tasty, and apparently better for the environment.  There was a ton of food at dinner.  They did family style appetizer service, with pasture-raised pork dumplings (mushroom dumplings for the vegs), crab and pork spring rolls, salt and pepper shrimp (curried beets for the vegs), a charcuterie plate, and chickpea and potato chaat (loved this!).  We had a choice of entrees and dessert; I had the tea- and spice-smoked poulet rouge as a main, which was tender and delicious.  Dessert was - you guessed it - molten chocolate cake with coconut ice cream.  I have a problem.

Sorry you can't  see my dress too well, but it's strapless and pretty short;

I wore it with gray tights and black heels.

Our dinner reservation was late, so afterwards pretty much everyone crashed.

Dad was leaving Sunday afternoon, so we spent his and D's last few hours at the oh-so-quaint Fearrington Village, belted farm life and all.

They're ready for the cold weather!  Too bad it's still 65 degrees.

A belted goat having breakfast

Fearrington has adorable everything - coffee shop (The Belted Goat - how appropriate), gift shops, bookstore, cows.  We shopped for a while (I especially enjoyed browsing the bookstore) then headed off to Raleigh for the Boylan Heights ArtWalk, which was lovely, but I was especially taken with the old southern houses.

We stopped in for some quick but tasty noodles and rice at David's Dumpling & Noodle Bar before heading off to see Life of Pi (more on that later).

Goal #49

Goal #49: must. get. table.

I don't have a table, not one you can eat at anyway.  This week, I'm going to fix that - even if it's only to beg/borrow/steal my temporary version of a table back from T.  But really, a girl's gotta eat, right?  In truth, it's okay if I don't actually have a table by the end of the week, as long as I have a plan for getting a table.

Recap of Goal #48: Well, I think I got together the list of people I need to go shopping for, and the list of people I will send cards to, but I haven't started doing either the shopping or the writing yet.  Neither have I gotten together my own wish list (sorry guys, it's coming!).  Work on this front must continue.

52 Weeks of Dresses -- Week 46

Otherwise titled: congrats to E!

She's officially a "comma MPH!"  Yesterday was the big day:

Afterwards, we went out for the world's biggest dinner party with seven of the graduates and their families.  The dinner was at Piazza Italia in Brightleaf Square, which I adore!  I made up for it all by running five miles this morning.  E did a lovely job organizing it and I think everyone had a good time!

The graduates!

Toasted cheese ravs - the trend is moving east!

Spinach tortellini

Chocolate cake!

That has been the big focus of my time in NC thus far, so not much else to report except that the weather has been lovely!

Rin Tin Tin -- Take 2

Many moons ago (okay, actually probably half a moon ago), I finished listening to Rin Tin Tin, but I've been quite busy traveling and haven't had time to put my thoughts down.  Then I forgot all my thoughts!

So here's what I remember.  The book is the history, as the subtitle says, of the actual Rin Tin Tin and then of his descendants as they followed in his famous footsteps.  I found the early part of the book about the original Rinty, as he was called, to be fascinating and heartwarming.

The middle segment of the book follows the first Rinty's descendants, and I found that portion less interesting, as the stories tended to run together a bit.  "Wait, are we on number three or number four now?"

The final segment covered the legal wranglings affecting who had rights to Rin's descendants, likeness, etc.

But, since it was my favorite part, let's go back to the beginning.  German Shepherds were developed by - you guessed it - the Germans right around the turn of the 20th century.  Rin Tin Tin was found in a village which sustained heavy shelling in an effort to drive out the Germans.  Aside from some pigeons, the 5-day-old pup and his littermate sister were the only creatures in the kennel to survive the Allied onslaught.  Lucky for Rin he was found by Lee Duncan, a California boy who was in such desperate need of a companion that he shepherded (ha!) the dogs all the way back to the US - no small feat in post-war France, where most animals were either killed or sold for food as the troops departed the country.  Nenette died shortly after reaching New York, and only Rin Tin Tin accompanied Duncan back to the west coast.

They passed several enjoyable years together, during which the dog showed off his intelligence and physical prowess.  The breakout canine star Strongheart paved the way for Rinty's entree into show business, and the rest, as they say, is history.

I think I didn't really appreciate how impressive Rin Tin Tin was as a film star, but check out this clip from Clash of the Wolves.  Skip to 8:13 and watch from there to the end, and just remember that he is a dog - a dog! - who was trained to do this!

Overall the writing style was easy to follow; the sentences were sometimes long, but clear.  Take this passage, in which TV producer Bert Leonard proposes the show The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin to execs in New York City:

"The show was aimed at children. They would love it, Bert explained, because they all go through a phase during which they devote all their affection to some dog, the only creature with whom they can share unselfish loyalty and complete wordless understanding.

The next section of the proposal was a surprise. It began, 'A child's grief over the loss of his dog is the most monumental sorrow he will ever experience. . . .After that loss, he is prepared for anything that growing up may do to him.  A child and his dog together enjoy the most rewarding of companionships, one which is never topped for pure rapport again in his life.'"

How true.

[In case you're wondering, you can have a Rin Tin Tin all your own - order here!]

Pondering

If a turtle lost his shell, is he naked or homeless?

Moby Dick

A while back in a "Random Links" post, I included a link to the Moby Dick Big Read site.  This project started in September, and the group behind it is posting one chapter of Moby Dick per day on the site, free for anyone to download or stream.  Each chapter is read by a different celebrity of sorts: actors, authors, poets, artists, professors, etc.

For reasons I can't totally explain, I am in love with Chapter 60.  It has a fairly technical description of the whaling line, which will be interesting to anyone interested in ships and probably tediously boring to anyone else, and it ends with a surprisingly philosophical turn.  Check it out.

Thanksgiving Redux

I hope all my loyal readers had wonderful Thanksgiving holidays, wherever they might have found themselves.  I know I did.

Of course there are the big thanks for family, friends, good health, good food, etc.  Those are all well and good, and sincerely meant.

Today, however, I would like to give thanks for something less often appreciated.  It's that moment when you come in from the cold and step into a hot shower.  Your recently-numb toes prickle as the life returns to them.  That is a wonderful moment, and is tempered only by the knowledge that the shower can't last forever.

So thanks, hot water, for that moment.

What I'm Reading Now -- To Kill A Mockingbird

Is't possible that I made it all the way through law school, or more to the point, this far through life, without having read To Kill A Mockingbird?

Apparently it is, because it happened.  But in belated honor of the book's 50th anniversary, I'm finally getting around to it.  Maybe I'll finish it by the book's 75th.

Goal #48

Goal #48: get on the Christmas wagon.

I'm one of those weird people who actually loves Christmas.  I like Christmas music, I like the hustle and bustle, I think it's all fun and, well, jolly.  And normally I'm totally on top of my Christmas shopping.  This year, somehow I missed the boat.  It's almost December and I've got nothing.  Time to get going, kids!

Recap of Goal #47: fail.  Again.  Let's face it: as much as I love reading my magazines, I'm just not very good at doing it since it's not particularly pressing.  I did get through a handful when I was in Chicago, but not nearly as many as my goal required.  Eh.  C'est la vie.

What I Read -- The Fault In Our Stars

This is a book about kids with cancer.  Sounds depressing, right?  And in some ways, it really is.  But it's also great.

The title comes from William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, in which the actual quote is this: "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, / But in ourselves, that we are underlings." Typically this quotation is interpreted as blaming our own failings for our current human condition.  It's an interesting twist in the title then, to say that the fault is, in fact, in the stars.  That the cancer the kids in the book have is just fate, not something that anyone has any control over.  And at least in the case of kids with cancer, that's probably true.

The story is told from the point of view of Hazel, a sixteen-year-old girl testament to the miracle of modern medicine.  Some years earlier, she had been diagnosed with stage IV thyroid cancer, but an experimental drug shrunk her tumors and allowed her to reach some level of stasis.  She's in this condition when she meets Augustus Waters at a cancer support group.  Gus is in remission and is interested in Hazel; she's hesitant for reasons that become clear, but their journey together is emotionally medicinal for both of them.

Hazel is wise beyond her teenage years, a not-uncommon side effect of a terminal condition like hers.  Nonetheless, the (adult male) author's ability to describe the world through her eyes and level of understanding is impressive.  Good stuff.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Dinner at Pi

I had my very second neighborhood experience last night!  (My first was walking to the grocery store and carting all of my stuff home a week and a half ago.  Yeah, I haven't been home much lately.  That's going to change.)

Anyway, K and J came over for a housewarming party, and we walked down to Pi for dinner!  Tatsy delight.  K and I shared one of the specials - a thin crust, garlicy, turkey-sausage-and-cheesy work of magic.  J had The Hill, which I've had before and it's Italy-tastic!

Apparently sometimes I don't feel like having my picture taken.

Goal #47

Goal #47: read magazines!

I've used this one before, I know.  But it's Thanksgiving this week, I should have some down time, and I'd like to get through at least 1/4 of the backlog that I've built up.  It'd be nice to finish my book also, but that might be asking too much.  Baby steps to a better M.

Recap of Goal #46: I saw Argo!  Total, epic fail on the SLIFF movies though.  It just hasn't happened this year.  There are lots that look good, but I can't seem to get my act together.  During the week I tried to go to two but was running so late that I missed them, and Friday, when I would have been on time, I was just too tired.  Eh, I guess there's still next year.

What I Watched -- Argo

T and I saw Argo over the weekend, and I loved it!  Reasons why:

It's set in 1980, so the visuals are great - hair, makeup, clothes, the whole bit.  Fabulous.

This is a true story.  I knew going in how it was going to end.  But I was still on the edge of my friggin' seat the whole time.  Like, heart-racing-are-they-going-to-make-it-out-of-this?! suspense.  And I already knew what happened at the end. (I feel like that needs to be emphasized.) That's a good movie.

It highlights a little-known piece of history.  Very cool.

Bottom line: see it.

52 Weeks of Dresses -- Week 45

Otherwise titled: a little Mozart

I don't have much to say about this show.  I think I was good, but it was a fight to even keep my eyes open.  Sometimes it was a losing battle - I missed part of Requiem, the title piece.  Also part of SLSO's performance: Schoenber's Friede auf Erden (Peace on Earth) and a Haydn cello concerto, which was really great.

Pictures? Not so great.  This is the best of five - five!  Yeah.  Next time I'll try to remember to do the pictures before the show, when I'm slightly more willing to do anything other than go to sleep.  It's a cool dress though - floor-length brown, Grecian style, with some beading.

What I'm Reading Now -- Rin Tin Tin

Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend came out last fall, and was great Christmas gift bait for those people you're obligated to buy gifts for but don't actually know that well - in-laws, cousins, business associates.  If they had a dog, wanted a dog, or expressed any interest in the animal kingdom, this was the gift for them.

But the thing about this book which made it different from a lot of the other gift bait is that it actually got some really laudatory reviews as a quality book.  Granted, quality is a standard I sometimes waive in books.  I mean, c'mon, I read the Twilight books.  The jig is up.

However, I am a dog person, and apparently a sucker.

What I Read -- Nickel and Dimed

I was in a cultural studies phase of my life when I bought Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, by Barbara Ehrenreich.  I fell out of that phase and never ended up reading it, though I did acquire it on audio somewhere along the way.

In light of the recent election (y'all heard about that, didn't you?), I figured I'd dust this one off and see what there is to say about it - which is that it's exactly what you'd expect. 

Ms. Ehrenreich gives up her privileged life for four months to try her hand at low-wage jobs in four different cities, one month each.  And, no surprise, it's hard!

First is the business of applying for jobs, which was a little complicated for her, since she was lying (at least by omission) about her background.  Nevertheless, she managed to score jobs in each city without too much trouble.  Next on the agenda: either finding low-cost housing near work or figuring out how to pay for transportation from more distant housing.  After all, low-wage jobs are called that for a reason: because they don't pay much.  Third, figure out how to live on what you have left.  The cost of everything is a concern.

But in a funny way, budgeting is the easy part.  Once you get a job, you know how much you'll be taking home each week and roughly what your expenses are. You can plan.  It's the unplanned costs, and there are potentially many, that are the problem.  Ms. Ehrenreich didn't continue her experiment long enough to deal with any major medical issues or car trouble, but on such a tight budget they obviously would've been a problem.

Then there are the physical, emotional, and psychological issues, about which I won't go into too much detail, because frankly, they're obvious.  Often low-wage work is physically demanding.  Lots of ibuprofen probably needs to go into the budget.  And, while it isn't mentally taxing in the way deep, extended periods of intense thought are, it's emotionally draining to take other people's crap all day.  But there's also a camaraderie that develops between the employees at her various jobs - a "we're all in this together" attitude.  So even if it sucks, at least you're not alone.  Misery loves company.

Aside from making the point that minimum wage really isn't a living wage, this book is largely free of political commentary. (Yes, I realize that sounds weird because this whole book basically is political commentary.  What I mean is that you don't get beaten over the head with it.)  The fact that it's a story rather than a manifesto makes it almost enjoyable - certainly more interesting.

Random Links

The Atlantic's 2012 Ideas List - scroll to the next idea at the bottom of the text.

How to escape Middle Earth in case of emergency.

Let's hear it for the dogs.

Magic on the subways.

I want to be her - no one would suspect ever suspect 'lil old me of being deadly in hand-to-hand combat.

Jean-Paul Sartre's blog.

Gassed.

Goal #46

Goal #46: see a movie.

So many movies to see right now.  SLIFF started late last week, and I really want to see Argo and Skyfall, the new James Bond movie. 

Recap of Goal #45: progress, but I still have a long way to go.  Things are slowly coming together though!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

I'm planning on bringing your gift when I see you.  Don't worry, it's small!

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox -- Take 2

I finished up listening to The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox while I was opening mystery boxes this week - there were many, many hours of that.  And I have to say, I didn't love it. 

It has a number of things in common with The Thirteenth Tale, which I listened to a few months ago.  It's a book about sisters.  There is a third party in the mix.  That third party is on the trail of some long-hidden mystery.

I thought this one lacked the moral complexity of The Thirteenth Tale, plus, it was not a great book to listen to on audio.  It changes point of view throughout, and more and more frequently the closer to the climax you get.  But there's no indication of the change except a pause or break.  Sometimes it's in the middle of the sentence, but it still takes a little bit to realize that it's a new character, not just that the current character was interrupted mid-thought by someone else.  I'm not sure how it's handled in the book, or if it's any clearer.

Anyway, it was decent-enough entertainment for unpacking, but not destined to become a classic.

The Song I'm Loving Today

Little Brother (The Tallest Man On Earth)

When I was in New York in September, I stopped in at Rizzoli's Bookstore on West 57th Street.  I was minding my own business and perusing books when the background music caught my ear.  It was this guy, and this song in particular.  I got the last copy of the CD that they had - in fact it was the in-store play copy!  I've listened to it a dozen times since and just love it.

His name is Kristian Matsson and he's Swedish, but reminds me of a younger and more audiologically understandable Bob Dylan, though not necessarily a less cryptic one.  I can totally see his music being played in the background of a thoughtful but angsty show like Scrubs, John Cale-style.

For your listening enjoyment, you can hear the entire album, There's No Leaving Now, here.



Why are you thinking again little brother
When you know there's a story for every wrong?
Well I won't be around in the morning,
Can only pray there's no harm in me moving on
To my trials and your unknowns.

Now there's a legion of wolves in the forest
And what might've been lost, it is there I know.
The crazy old names, loving owners,
I feel useless when I have to face alone
All your trials and my unknowns.

If you could just walk on by
With signs just flying around,
And if this storm was just the motion
Of your kid just trying out
If you could only lose these miles.

Now there's a terrible light on the shading
Where you threw your insanities on a wall.
I can see where the dog hits the summer,
I said "I believe you forever" but you said "don't."
It's a trial for all that grows.

If you could just walk on by
With signs just flying around,
And if this storm was just the motion
Of your kid just trying out
If he could only lose these miles.

Why are you drinking again little brother
When your rambling's the hard part of loving you?
You say the creek and fog's gonna drown you
But there are deeper wells where we're going to
There's no drowning this unknown.

If you could just walk on by
With signs just flying around,
And if this storm was just the motion
Of your kid just trying out
If we could only lose these miles.

And with your memories lost on a hillside
The wind takes you further and forward now.
Your world is a kite in the weather
Gently tied to your hand that is pointing out
There's a sky in this unknown.

If you could just walk on by
With signs just flying around,
And if this storm was just the motion
Of your kid just trying out
If you could only lose these miles.

Born To Run -- Take 2

"Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn't matter whether you're a lion or a gazelle--when the sun comes up, you'd better be running."
  -- Roger Bannister

I have to divide Born to Run into four parts.  The first includes some background on running as a sport and ultramarathons in particular.  This is where we get our introduction to the Tarahumara people - a rare Mexican tribe famous for their running ability.  We hear loads of amazing stories of people running 100 miles in the mountains like 100 miles is a walk in the park! McDougall specifically discusses the Leadville 100, a race beginning and ending in the highest incorporated city in the US.  (Remember when I went to Leadville a couple of years ago? It's not far from Breck.)

The second portion is basically a diatribe against running shoes, which I totally could have done without.  "Running seemed to be the fitness version of drunk driving.  You could get away with it for a while, you might even have some fun.  But catastrophe was waiting right around the corner."  McDougall himself had lots of injuries and problems with his running, which is where the Tarahumara come in.  They run either barefoot or in very simple sandals to protect their soles.  They run their whole lives and for long distances, largely without serious injury.  McDougall blames Nike, probably not entirely wrongly, but he's pretty didactic about it.

Third is a biological and anthropological analysis of the reasons we, as humans, became upright distance runners.  At first glance, we don't seem well-suited for it.  Four legs and feet give more thrust than two.  We have no tail to balance us as we're trotting along.  We don't have the flexible spines and elastic lungs of cheetahs and jackrabbits (which can reach speeds of 45 miles per hour!).  We have a big, heavy, relatively unstable head up high on our frame.  Really, we should be terrible runners.  Everything is all wrong.  So why, then, did we evolve to be this way?  Why did we come down out of the trees and start walking on two feet instead of four?

Distance is the answer (or so McDougall thinks).  Along with walking on two feet, we also shed our fur.  True, we don't have elastic lungs for major capacity, but we can sweat, which allows us to cool ourselves and run for a long time.  Those jackrabbits who can go 45 mph?  They can only do it for about half a mile.  Then they start to overheat and have to stop.  We can run for miles and miles and miles because we're more efficient at cooling ourselves.  Those unsteady heads on top of our necks?  Turns out they act like roof weights on skyscrapers, which keep them from swaying too far from side to side in a strong wind. Our head, working with our swinging arms as counterbalances, is basically a tuned mass damper keeping our upright bodies stabilized while we move.

The theory as to why all this matters?  For the Tarahumara and other distance runners, animals were prey.  They were food.  The hunters couldn't out-race the four-leggeds, but they could outrun them.  Working in groups, they would follow a prey animal, just keeping it in sight until they literally ran it to death.  Let the feast begin.

For the last portion of the book, we return to the Tarahumara racers in Mexico.  An eccentric expat from Colorado name Micah True (probably better known in Mexico as Caballo Blanco) organized the Copper Canyon Ultra Marathon, a race of about 50 miles designed to support the Tarahumara and their way of life.  Caballo Blanco brought some of the best American ultramarathoners down to participate as well.  Want to knwo who won?  Read the book!

What I'm Reading Now -- The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox

I bought this book a while ago and just never got around to reading it.  Then I was poking through the audiobooks section at the library and there it was: The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox.  Since I seem to be having better luck with audiobooks lately, I decided to give it a shot.

I'm actually pretty far into it already, what with all the packing and moving that happened this weekend, although I made no attempt to rediscover the plot before I started listening, so I'm not sure where we're going with the story yet.

Goal #45

Goal #45: This is an easy one: unpack.

So many boxes. Everywhere.

Recap of Goal #44: Obviously - I moved!  Today, not yesterday, but still!  Of course there are lots of little things to deal with still, but the big furniture is in place!

Brooklyn, U.S.A. -- Meet Sandy

Due to the impending hurricane, plans changed a little bit for Saturday.  E and I met D for brunch at Miriam, this cute little Israeli spot in Park Slope.  (First I went running, so I could feel especially satisfied when I cleaned my plate.)  E and I did a bit of wandering around Brooklyn after that, and stopped off at the Grand Army farmers' market, then the Brooklyn Public Library to see their exhibit on fashion illustration.  Then it was time for E to pack her things and head home for good!  (Shed a tear.)

After she left, I met my friend L and some others (I actually met someone who works in costume design - she had been busy all day working on Christmas outfits for the Rockettes!) for drinks and dinner.  We went high class with the drinks at a place in Chinatown called Apotheke.  Then we went low class with the food at Great N.Y. Noodletown.  Typical - kinda shady-looking dive with delicious food.

Sunday, things went haywire.  As far as I knew, I was still on a flight out on Monday, so I had breakfast at home and headed off to the Frick - my favorite NYC museum and one of the things I had yet to do this time!   After that, my plan was to go to yoga in Tribeca, then home to pack.

[As an aside, The Economist has a quarterly journal they call Intelligent Life, which recently had an ode to the Frick.  Great read.]

I was on the way to the Frick when I got word that the city was going to begin a system-wide shut-down of all public transit beginning at 7:00 that night.  Okay, that doesn't mess me up too much.  I was about two thirds of the way through the galleries when I got a text message that my flight had been cancelled.  Ruh roh.  Let the craziness commence.

Turns out, it was a good thing that E and I ended up eating out so much, because we still had a fridge full of food!

When my Monday morning flight got cancelled, I got moved to a flight Tuesday afternoon.  There was really never any hope of that flight actually leaving.  When that one was cancelled, I was on a flight Wednesday morning.  Then that one got cancelled, and now we're looking at Friday - if, that is, La Guardia can dry itself out.

So, about Hurricane Sandy.  The good news (though it makes for boring reading), is that I really don't have much to tell you.  Where I am it got awfully windy but hardly rained at all.  My power didn't go out.  I still have water.  Aside from the inability to go anywhere due to the subway closures, it's oddly underwhelming.  I'm just watching a lot of TV (Homeland? Check.) and reading the news constantly.  As B (who lives a few blocks from E's place) said when I texted to ask if he was okay: "Yep. Almost perversely so.  Feels weird to have power and water when Manhattan is basically floating away."  Couldn't have said it better myself.

If you want to look at some pretty amazing pictures of the storm though, The Atlantic has a couple of galleries on their website that are a good compilation of the early and later stages of the disaster.  (Remember when L and I went to Cape May in early September.  This is what it looks like now.)

I did venture out Tuesday afternoon to see what I could see, and I got a few shots, but nothing too spectacular:

 

I could say that I wish I had more interesting things to share, but really I don't.

Happy Halloween!

Random Links

It's a lonely life, Tift Merritt. But I totally agree about the modern aspects of it.

And in another effort to halt the relentless march of "progress," an excerpt in support of handwritten notes.

Are you an advocate looking for a cause? Try education for girls.

The geography of government benefits.

The island where people forget to die.

Happy birthday, Bob Ross.

Laws of Modern Man.
Laws of Modern Woman.

Brooklyn, U.S.A. -- Hurricanes, Yoga, and Art, Not Necessarily In That Order

Speaking of the next day, the morning was fraught with consternation as E and I pondered from our separate locations whether to change our airplane tickets, since New York was about to get hurricane'd on.  And I might have done a little actual work as well.

I was sore from running so skipped that and instead went to the New York version of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian.  (There's a bigger on in DC.)  It was, well, small, but enjoyable.  And it's housed in the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Customs House, which is simply stunning (more).

 The ceiling of the central hall

The permanent exhibition of Native American clothing and artifacts was there, and very cool.  They had a small exhibit of mixed media paintings by Julie Buffalohead which I didn't care for too much, but there was a great exhibit called "Up Where We Belong" highlighting Native Americans and their contributions to the music world, primarily rock and jazz.  Unfortunately the "Circle of Dance" exhibition wasn't open yet.

 A martingale, used to prevent a horse's head from rising too high.

 The platinum record reissued to the family of Ritchie Valens for "Donna."  The exhibit also has Buffy Sainte-Marie's Oscar for "Up Where We Belong" (from An Officer and a Gentleman) and the 2008 Lifetime Achievement Grammy awarded to The Band.

Lyrics sheet for "Universal Soldier"

 Jimi Hendrix's multi-colored coat

 Robbie Robertson's custom-painted Fender Stratocaster

 Stevie Salas had his guitar custom-shaped to resemble the club wielded by Chingachgook in The Last of the Mohicans

From there I went to an exhibit I had heard about in Soho but just hadn't made it to yet.  It's called The New York Earth Room, and it is exactly what it sounds like - a room full of earth.  Dirt.  That's right.  Someone filled a second-floor loft in Soho with thigh-deep dirt.  And you know what?  It's actually really cool!  Weird, for sure, but cool (literally cool, in the summer, apparently - the dirt helps modulate the temperature swings).  Something about the air in the room is different.  It smells like dirt, but it smells clean.  It's neat.  Also I just wanted to jump in it like I was three years old and it was a ball pit!

Earth Room has been on continuous view to the public since 1980, supported by the Dia Art Foundation, a mostly-privately-funded charitable organization.  The work was originally commissioned in 1977 and was the last of three such projects.  The first two - Munich (1968) and Darmstadt (1974) - no longer exist.

The same artist, Walter De Maria, has another work also supported by Dia just a few blocks away.  This one is called The Broken Kilometer.  (Unfortunately photography is not allowed in either exhibit, so you'll have to check out the websites.) This work is a floor installation made up of 500 polished brass rods, 2 meters long and 5 centimeters in diameter.  They are arranged in five rows of 100 rods each, the first two placed 80 millimeters apart, with each space after that growing by 5 millimeters.  I don't really get it, but apparently some people do - this one has been on view to the public since 1979.

As soon as E got off work we met up for another yoga class, then got some cider and headed home for a quiet Friday evening of packing and drinking.  Her last night in NY - how sad!