I am a fan of the strange and sometimes grotesque. In fact, it is the weird and sometimes morbidly offbeat that enchants me more than society's typical idea of beauty. It is different and refreshing to me. Here is a really interesting film short by Sam Chen on Alberto Giacometti- a man famous for his stretched-thin hollow-eyed figures. It is in two parts, if you make it through the first part, I think part two is the best of all. Love the ending, love the existential themes throughout, love the art work. Be patient, it takes a bit to download.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Sunday, May 17, 2009
I still got it!!
Every once in awhile I think I like to feel that I am young and invincible. After all, I am only what.. 26? ok maybe 27. Add ten years onto that with a two year old.
Jay and I went on a date Friday night. I was looking forward to it all week, because we have both been so busy we have hardly seen each other in a month. Anyway-- date night. We have a hard time coming up with date ideas. There just isn't much to do in Salem besides dinner and a movie and that is boooooring! We tend to play our activities by ear. We cruised down to a local festival in town which was o.k. The music was great but so loud that it threatened to bring back my migraine so we left shortly thereafter. And had no idea what to do next. It was only 10:00 and we still wanted to play.
I jokingly suggested a moonlit walk on the beach, the beach being a good hours drive away. I say jokingly but really it was a gorgeous night and I haven't been to the beach since summer. Jay thought it sounded fun and a good way to ensure I stayed up all night so off we went.
Sometimes nothing is more fun than just taking a long drive with your honey, without the added benefit of a demanding toddler in the backseat. The drive up was quite lovely. Then we raided the Lincoln City Safeway for cash and chocolate and hit the beach.
It was cold but absolutely beautiful. The color of the water blended into the night sky, except for the white crests of the waves that broke onto the shore. There were hardly any city lights and few people on the beach at midnight. We beach combed in the dark with only a small flashlight to find shells. Obviously, we didn't have much success.
Then, in a complete atmospheric reversal we ran into the local casino to try our luck with the slot machines. We lost. But that is ok, because we only gambled ten bucks. It was about 1:00 when we started back. We stopped along the way to look at the stars.
I didn't go to bed until about 2:30 am. Which would be fine, except I work at 5 am on saturdays. So I had to wake up at 4 am. I was quite impressed that I managed 13 hours of hard physical labor on less than two hours of sleep. Energy drinks are quite helpful in situations like these.
I am now just waking up from a good sixteen hour marathon sleep. It was a really fun weekend, and occasionally, maybe once a year, it is fun to know I can still pull off an all nighter. It makes me feel young and alive. Or maybe young and foolish. Take your pick.
Jay and I went on a date Friday night. I was looking forward to it all week, because we have both been so busy we have hardly seen each other in a month. Anyway-- date night. We have a hard time coming up with date ideas. There just isn't much to do in Salem besides dinner and a movie and that is boooooring! We tend to play our activities by ear. We cruised down to a local festival in town which was o.k. The music was great but so loud that it threatened to bring back my migraine so we left shortly thereafter. And had no idea what to do next. It was only 10:00 and we still wanted to play.
I jokingly suggested a moonlit walk on the beach, the beach being a good hours drive away. I say jokingly but really it was a gorgeous night and I haven't been to the beach since summer. Jay thought it sounded fun and a good way to ensure I stayed up all night so off we went.
Sometimes nothing is more fun than just taking a long drive with your honey, without the added benefit of a demanding toddler in the backseat. The drive up was quite lovely. Then we raided the Lincoln City Safeway for cash and chocolate and hit the beach.
It was cold but absolutely beautiful. The color of the water blended into the night sky, except for the white crests of the waves that broke onto the shore. There were hardly any city lights and few people on the beach at midnight. We beach combed in the dark with only a small flashlight to find shells. Obviously, we didn't have much success.
Then, in a complete atmospheric reversal we ran into the local casino to try our luck with the slot machines. We lost. But that is ok, because we only gambled ten bucks. It was about 1:00 when we started back. We stopped along the way to look at the stars.
I didn't go to bed until about 2:30 am. Which would be fine, except I work at 5 am on saturdays. So I had to wake up at 4 am. I was quite impressed that I managed 13 hours of hard physical labor on less than two hours of sleep. Energy drinks are quite helpful in situations like these.
I am now just waking up from a good sixteen hour marathon sleep. It was a really fun weekend, and occasionally, maybe once a year, it is fun to know I can still pull off an all nighter. It makes me feel young and alive. Or maybe young and foolish. Take your pick.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Alternate State of Mind
I don't have much to say, but I will say something anyway, because somebody around here has to blog, right? Am I right? First off, after my last post, I am pretty sure I will never receive presents from anybody again. Well I love you guys anyway.
I seem to be a work-aholic. I spent the last month being so panicked about losing hours of work that I found an extra Saturday job at the farmer's market. Then my weekday hours suddenly picked up again, and now I am working almost all day six days a week. Yet somehow in all this work, I am finding time to read. A lot. I have read something like three books this week, which when I was a teenager was nothing, but now that I have 'sponsibilities, is quite impressive to me.
This large amount of fiction I am consuming means that I seem to be walking around in a literary daze. Not sure if it is just stress, or the fact that my nose has been in a book almost constantly lately, but I am not mentally all there. I find myself missing turnoffs as I drive, and contemplating the mysteries of the cosmos whilst at work. My cynical side is also taking over. Sometimes reading depressing novels can do that to me.
I don't know how many times Jay has asked me if I am mad at him. No, Jay, I am not mad at you, just spacey and stressed out. I think we both need a vacation.
Five more weeks of school to go!
I seem to be a work-aholic. I spent the last month being so panicked about losing hours of work that I found an extra Saturday job at the farmer's market. Then my weekday hours suddenly picked up again, and now I am working almost all day six days a week. Yet somehow in all this work, I am finding time to read. A lot. I have read something like three books this week, which when I was a teenager was nothing, but now that I have 'sponsibilities, is quite impressive to me.
This large amount of fiction I am consuming means that I seem to be walking around in a literary daze. Not sure if it is just stress, or the fact that my nose has been in a book almost constantly lately, but I am not mentally all there. I find myself missing turnoffs as I drive, and contemplating the mysteries of the cosmos whilst at work. My cynical side is also taking over. Sometimes reading depressing novels can do that to me.
I don't know how many times Jay has asked me if I am mad at him. No, Jay, I am not mad at you, just spacey and stressed out. I think we both need a vacation.
Five more weeks of school to go!
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Is it the thought that counts??
Referring back to an earlier post about reusing, recycling, and not buying things much anymore, I am thinking about presents lately. This is because
A. Mother's Day is coming up
B. Then Father's Day is coming up
C. But before that my anniversary is coming up
D. I already forgot or put off doing anything for my parents birthdays earlier this year.
I think the idea of just going out and buying something for somebody is definitely off-putting for me. Can I use that word? Is that even a word? I don't like stuff and I don't like feeling that by giving stuff to other people, I am obligating them to keep more stuff. Besides my parents are in the midst of moving so I really don't think they need much right now anyway.
On the other hand, I feel like a heel if I don't do anything. I mean, I love my parents. I want them to feel special on holidays and birthdays, and unfortunately I don't live close enough to make them a delicious meal or garden for them.
So I get in this dilemma every gift-giving time of not wanting to give an impersonal card or gift, and intending to make something cute and small or edible. Then of course I put it off and don't do it, and inevitably I don't do anything except call and apologize for being a forgetful jerk. This is also what happened during Christmas.
And let's not forget the fact that men are impossibly hard to shop for or give gifts to.
Yes, I know I make things way more complicated than they have to be.
A. Mother's Day is coming up
B. Then Father's Day is coming up
C. But before that my anniversary is coming up
D. I already forgot or put off doing anything for my parents birthdays earlier this year.
I think the idea of just going out and buying something for somebody is definitely off-putting for me. Can I use that word? Is that even a word? I don't like stuff and I don't like feeling that by giving stuff to other people, I am obligating them to keep more stuff. Besides my parents are in the midst of moving so I really don't think they need much right now anyway.
On the other hand, I feel like a heel if I don't do anything. I mean, I love my parents. I want them to feel special on holidays and birthdays, and unfortunately I don't live close enough to make them a delicious meal or garden for them.
So I get in this dilemma every gift-giving time of not wanting to give an impersonal card or gift, and intending to make something cute and small or edible. Then of course I put it off and don't do it, and inevitably I don't do anything except call and apologize for being a forgetful jerk. This is also what happened during Christmas.
And let's not forget the fact that men are impossibly hard to shop for or give gifts to.
Yes, I know I make things way more complicated than they have to be.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Get Smart, Feed the World
Apparently I am always the last to know about cool websites- but for those of you who don't know about this one - FreeRice- you can play trivia with a number of topics from art to vocabulary and for each question you get right, you have donated 10 grains of rice to the UN Food Program.
Hey its fun. Try it.
Hey its fun. Try it.
Friday, April 17, 2009
The Mysteries of Language
I recently moved up in the world of transcribing, to college courses. Currently, I am sitting in on the most fascinating linguistics course and learning all sorts of things about verbs that I have tried to repress since eighth grade. But perhaps most importantly, I have learned from a college professor that using the word ‘can’ in a question of permission is completely permissible and should not be subject to the snarky reply of “I don’t know, can you?” So there.
Now I know that I CAN ask if I CAN go to the bathroom, and I CAN use the word CAN as a perfectly acceptable substitute for the word may, because a Doctor of Linguistics says I CAN. If anybody gives you grief over the usage you can give them the technical explanation. “The deontic usage of the word ‘can’ denotes a loose social obligation , in that I am asking, not if I am capable of going to the bathroom, but if I am allowed.” Then you can smugly leave to go to the lavatory, while they are looking up the meaning of the word ‘deontic.’
I find language simply fascinating. Was that the reason that I studied so many languages in high school, or was studying Latin, German, ASL, and Spanish what made me love languages? I don’t know which is cause and which is effect, but the end result is I love to watch and discuss how languages evolve. Chalk up another mark to my rampant nerdiness.
In other language fronts, isn’t it so fascinating when kids go beyond the parroting phase of language into creating their own string of sentences? James is finally getting to that point. Sure he has been chattering and talking for quite some time but mostly in one or two word phrases and the occasional sentences that he hears the adults repeat to him over and over.
I have noticed that in the past month or so, he has gone beyond that to forming his own conclusions about words and what they mean. He makes the most interesting leaps of logic and expresses those ideas to me in very cute and fascinating ways.
For example- he loves pepperoni, but when we bought baloney, he associated the similar sound of the words with pepperoni. Then we moved onto to lunch meat which looked similar to baloney. The end result is he now calls all lunch meat “pepper-blowni.” You have to spit when you say the Ps and Bs too, to get the right effect. And ok, it was so cute, we all call it pepperblowni now.
He also asks me to “open” his strawberries. This means taking the leafy stem part off. I can only figure that “opening” food to him means making it edible and accessible to him.
This morning, as I was insisting on putting his shoes and socks before we went to the sitters, and he was fighting tooth and nail against it, he announced “I want my feet back on!” I am not sure if he properly appreciated why I was laughing at him.
Now I know that I CAN ask if I CAN go to the bathroom, and I CAN use the word CAN as a perfectly acceptable substitute for the word may, because a Doctor of Linguistics says I CAN. If anybody gives you grief over the usage you can give them the technical explanation. “The deontic usage of the word ‘can’ denotes a loose social obligation , in that I am asking, not if I am capable of going to the bathroom, but if I am allowed.” Then you can smugly leave to go to the lavatory, while they are looking up the meaning of the word ‘deontic.’
I find language simply fascinating. Was that the reason that I studied so many languages in high school, or was studying Latin, German, ASL, and Spanish what made me love languages? I don’t know which is cause and which is effect, but the end result is I love to watch and discuss how languages evolve. Chalk up another mark to my rampant nerdiness.
In other language fronts, isn’t it so fascinating when kids go beyond the parroting phase of language into creating their own string of sentences? James is finally getting to that point. Sure he has been chattering and talking for quite some time but mostly in one or two word phrases and the occasional sentences that he hears the adults repeat to him over and over.
I have noticed that in the past month or so, he has gone beyond that to forming his own conclusions about words and what they mean. He makes the most interesting leaps of logic and expresses those ideas to me in very cute and fascinating ways.
For example- he loves pepperoni, but when we bought baloney, he associated the similar sound of the words with pepperoni. Then we moved onto to lunch meat which looked similar to baloney. The end result is he now calls all lunch meat “pepper-blowni.” You have to spit when you say the Ps and Bs too, to get the right effect. And ok, it was so cute, we all call it pepperblowni now.
He also asks me to “open” his strawberries. This means taking the leafy stem part off. I can only figure that “opening” food to him means making it edible and accessible to him.
This morning, as I was insisting on putting his shoes and socks before we went to the sitters, and he was fighting tooth and nail against it, he announced “I want my feet back on!” I am not sure if he properly appreciated why I was laughing at him.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Are You Ready for More Art??
I swear this isn't an ugly one. In fact I quite like it- it makes me smile. There is a lot of symbolism and imagery in it that I won't go into, suffice it to say it is about consumerism in the 1950s. The guy on the billboard outside is Al Jolson, whom I now love simply because Jay does the most hilarious interpretation of him.
The naked guy with the BLOW POP is Charles Atlas, a famous body builder, and I am not sure who the nude with the lamp shade on the couch is. I just love their poses and the detail. I would totally hang this in my bathroom, if only for Charles Atlas.
The naked guy with the BLOW POP is Charles Atlas, a famous body builder, and I am not sure who the nude with the lamp shade on the couch is. I just love their poses and the detail. I would totally hang this in my bathroom, if only for Charles Atlas.
Just What Is It That Makes Today's Homes So Different, So Appealing?
By Richard Hamilton
By Richard Hamilton
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