Celexo's Rite to Write

Totally Worth It!

2010-04-07T12:38:00.002-04:00

Woof...it's been almost a month, eh? And all I've got today is a little Mad Men blooper/spoof video. Well, c'est la vie...apparently this little nugget was filmed at the Season Three wrap party, and although Christina Hendricks isn't there, her red hair does make an appearance or two.

YouTube Tuesdays

2010-03-09T12:37:00.003-05:00

Inaugurating a new feature here (YouTube Tuesdays) in which I post funny, interesting and/or thought provoking videos culled from surfing the web.

If you're not watching "Modern Family" than I don't even want to know you...it's the hilarious tale of an extended family: the patriarch is remarried to a much younger woman, with a child who acts much older than he is; the patriarch's daughter is married to a man who acts much younger than he is; and the patriarch's son is married to the most hilarious actor on TV at the moment (see his depiction of "Brokeback Mtn" in the charades clip below).

The second clip is from "Community" on NBC (I know, right? Apparently they still make quality TV shows––check it out on Thurs @ 8pm est). It's the story of a ragtag group of misfits stuck at Glendale Community College. This particular clip features Abed, who is the Greek Chorus of the show. He's continually commenting on the action and helping the viewer, but he tends to be a little tabula rasa, if you know what I mean...

Finally, the trailer for "TRON: Legacy". Enough said...

Logorama

2010-02-27T09:20:00.001-05:00

Check out this inventive Animated Short––nominated for an Oscar. I love it's combination of foul language and corporate logos...

http://kottke.org/10/02/logorama

LOST Candidate & Ex-Candidate List of Names & Numbers

2010-02-23T22:03:00.004-05:00

Viable Candidates are bold; Linus & Rousseau among everyone else are scratched out...

14…Pryes

15…Ford

16…Jarrah

17…Barnes

18…Kueffner

19…Nguyen

20…Rousseau!!

21…Metteney

22…Moorhead

23…Shepherd

30…Wade

31…Toms

32…Rutherford

33…Novak

34…Grimaldi

39…Morton

40…Dowsett

42…Kwon

43…Barnes

51…Austen

98…Horton

112--Horton

113--Worden

114…Amada

117…Linus!!

118…Chavez

119…Almeida

120…Rodrigues

121…Nielson

122…Freed

124…Dawson

125…Owens

126…Renti

127…Mora

Mini-Miracle...

2010-02-22T09:09:00.002-05:00

How about that game last night, eh? Apparently the boys watched this clip prior to hitting the ice...

"A Thing for Numbers"

2010-02-17T12:51:00.002-05:00

On a quick break from writing my dissertation––by which I mean watching women's curling––I just wanted throw out some LOST thoughts and see what sticks to the wall...

What we discovered last night:

Jacob brought his version of the Oceanic Six to the Island by touching them; curiously, only Jack, Hurley, Sayid and Sun are in both groups (Kate and Aaron replace Sawyer and Locke––not sure if there's a significance there).
Jacob's Six are deemed "Candidates" and are assigned numbers: Locke/4; Reyes/8; Ford/15; Jarrah/16; Shephard/23; Kwon/42
Ilana collected Jacob's ash from the fireplace
Esau is now ensconced in the body of Locke––and he can't switch again; although it seems like he can morph into Smokey at will
Creepy little blond boy tells Esau, "You know the rules. You can't kill him."
Two stones––one black and one white––were kept in balance in Jacob's cave, recalling the black and white stones of Adam & Eve from Season 1

Total guesses on my part:

What exactly is the relationship between Jacob, Esau (i.e., Man in Black) and the Island? I wonder if the little creepy blond boy is actually the Island itself, and Jacob and Esau are overseers––a partisan Democrat and Republic body charged w/protecting the Island
Jacob brought his peeps to the Island, but why can't Esau recruit off-Island? Perhaps, Jacob is Esau's jailer?
Check out Wikipedia's article on Jacob's Ladder--interesting stuff.
Does Esau get to pick his candidates? Or, are Jacob's Six candidates for either position? Wouldn't it be just perfect if Locke and Shephard ended up as the new Jacob and Esau?

Retro LOST Credits...

2010-02-12T00:53:00.000-05:00

Emergency Brake Video

2010-02-03T11:18:00.002-05:00

As someone who used to (thank god it's past tense now) ride the train to work everyday, I've stared at that Emergency Brake a number of times. Here's an interesting dissemination of everything you've ever wanted to know about it!

emergency brake from Casey Neistat on Vimeo.

...the Shadow of the Statue?

2010-02-02T10:49:00.004-05:00

***If for some reason, like you've been living in a cave or something, you've not seen the most recent season of LOST, for God's sake, don't frickin read the following post***

Oomph...just too many LOST tidbits percolating in my brain/tummy. First of all, why is the premiere––and this season, I presume––on Tuesday nights? Hasn't it mostly been on Weds & Thurs?

Is it a coincidence that tonight's premiere coincides* with Groundhog Day? By the way, Punxsutawney Phil predicts six more weeks of winter...anyway, are the LOST writers giving a hint by aligning their show w/a Janus-faced rodent who's mostly concerned with (what lies in) his shadow??

Onto the predictions:

(1) Juliet's bomb-busting abilities fail to do anything other than create a massive white fade-out, resulting in all-out war between Ilana's group and a yet-to-be-determined group loyal to Esau, aka Man-in-Black, aka Flocke (Fake Locke)

(2) I'm predicting a full-on Anakin Skywalker for Ben: his murder of Jacob, masterminded by The Emperor, I mean Flocke, I mean Esau (isn't this fun?), will drive Ben into a Darth Vader-esque rage, threatening to kill all of Ilana's peeps, or he'll be so disgusted at his being used, that he will turn on Flocke/Esau.

(3) I predicted way back in the spring that it would be totally rad –– rad, I tell you –– if the premiere opened either back in Australia w/everybody getting on the plane again or actually on the plane itself. In addition, they all crash again but get a chance to right their wrongs, ala those Choose Your Own Adventure Books (I loved those things).

Allright, see you on the other side...

*see what I did there?

Handel, part deux...

2010-01-29T12:00:00.002-05:00

"Handel had been left off-balance by his mighty swing. De Gex lashed out with his free hand and caught the composer's lace cravat in a bloody grip. He jerked hard, desperately trying to pull himself out. Eliza reacted before she could think. Her free hand dropped to the bridge of the cello. She raised it on high as her other hand levered the neck down toward the floor, and she launched it across the pit in a high arc. It rotated as it hurtled through apogee, and came down like a javelin, its whole weight concentrated behind the tail-pin. When it stopped, it was sitting on de Gex's chest. It lodged there at an angle, emitting a spectral chord as the life sighed out of de Gex. He let go of Handel's cravat.

The composer picked up his staff from the floor and righted his periweg. "Fifth page, second bar!" he called out. But the musicians were slow to return..."

[p. 581, System of the World]

Jo(h)n & Kate + 8

2010-01-27T13:23:00.004-05:00

That is, John Locke, Kate Austin and whichever eight other Losties you prefer––I'm partial to

Hurley, Juliet, Jack, Sawyer, Sayid, Ben, Jacob & Jacob's friend. As Kottke said,

enjoy this little amuse bouche less than a week away from the premiere...

Handel, Alchemy & Vampires...

2010-01-26T13:49:00.002-05:00

"There must be an opera tonight," Jack remarked through the grate.

" 'Tis not possible," Daniel returned. "It is out of season. I do believe they are erecting sets, and rehearsing, for a revival of The Alchemist by Ben Jonson."

"I saw it a hundred times as a boy," Jack said, "why ever are they reviving it now?"

"Because Herr Handel has written new music for it."

"What? It is a play, not an opera."

"Styles change," Daniel said...

"...It chagrins me to hear that the good old Alchymist [sic] is being subjected to such perversion," said Jack. "I've a mind to pop Mr. Handel in the gob."

p. 564 from System of the World, the third volume in Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle...I'm almost finished with this massive undertaking –– I must be a masochist; moving on from DFW's Infinite Jest (just under 1,000 pages) onto Stephenson's 3-part series, each of which clocks in at around 900 pages.

TW, on the other hand, continually reads and re-reads the Twilight series –– and now she's moved on to Sookie Stackhouse, of True Blood fame. So, anything w/vampires and she'll read it. Me –– anything w/o vampires, and I'll give it a go.

If you missed "Fantastic Mr. Fox"

2010-01-14T08:46:00.001-05:00

Here's a little sample of what you missed:

"...in different area codes"

2010-01-11T11:06:00.004-05:00

Check out the Times for an interesting compilation of data concerning your Netflix queues...for conversation's sake, here's the good ole 02453 (Waltham):

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Slumdog Millionaire
Burn After Reading
Milk
Twilight
The Wrestler
Gran Torino
I Love You, Man
Changeling
Doubt

I don't know what it says about Boston, but in and around the city, Slumdog, Button and Milk seem to make the top five. Thought provoking, but also a little creepy -- although not for me, since I stopped Netflixing about 4 years ago. What do you think?

"LOST"

2010-01-07T11:42:00.003-05:00

(The "Lost" Supper)

February 2nd -- the countdown begins. I've been holding the last 5 episodes of Season 5 on my DVR. Last night, we watched episode #12 "Dead is Dead." I've still got 4 more to go before the premiere; unfortunately, I've got less than a month to go...

Poll: What to watch...

2010-01-05T12:55:00.004-05:00

...to break-in our new 37" HD LCD TV?

The options are (mostly) gifts from the holidays:

(1) "The Nightmare Before Christmas" by Tim Burton, given to me in preparation for my trip to Burton's exhibit at MOMA by Al.

(2) "Jurassic Park" given to me by my ~~sister-in-law~~ TW. (edit: I've been informed by my lawyer that TW gave me "Jurassic Park" and my sister-in-law gave me the 1st season of "30 Rock". My apologies for the mix-up...)

(3) "Airport" given to me by my sister-in-common-law, Sarah S.

(4) "Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith", which I'm pretty sure I bought for myself...

You don't say...

2010-01-03T21:02:00.002-05:00

Taken from my current read, The Confusion part 2 of the Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson:

"Roger, what is Mrs. Bligh's bloody book -- by your leave, Mrs. Bligh! -- but squiggles of ink? I have ink, Roger, a firkin of it, and can molest a goose to obtain quills, and make ink-squiggles all night and all day. But they are just forms on a page. What does it say of us that our commerce is built 'pon forms and figments while that of Spain is built 'pon silver?"

"Some would say it speaks to our advancement."

"I am not one of those had cases who believes credit is Satan's work, do not put me in that poke, Roger. I say only that ink, once dried on the page, is a brittle commodity, and an economy made of ink is likewise brittle, and may for all we know be craz'd and in a state to crumble at a touch. Whereas silver and gold are ducile, maleable, capable of fluid movement..."

p. 484

It's been so long...

2009-12-30T18:01:00.004-05:00

yea, well -- it was the holidays, and I'm reaching the point where I'm associating my computer with my dissertation. So yes, I haven't blogged much lately (it's been almost a month!), but I'm here now and I'll try to find my rhythm over the next few days or weeks.

I thought I'd start easy by letting you know which books I got for the holidays. I didn't get a lot of them, but what I did get will keep me busy...

"Towards a New Architecture" Le Corbusier; I opened this one early (let's call it a Hanukkah present, shall we?) and look forward to reading it. It'll go hand and hand with Jane Jacobs' "The Death and Life of Great American Cities" which has been foundering on my night stand for months, right next to Peter Gays' "Freud: A Life for Our Time."
"Soccernomics" by Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymans. Modeled on "Freakonomics," this book takes a detailed look at the numbers behind soccer. I bought this for my cousin and loved thumbing through it so much that a little birdie must have passed it along that I'd love to own it myself.
"2666" by Roberto Bolano. I've been sitting on Bolano's "The Savage Detective" for quite some time, but "2666" is the next book in my online reading book club's list (after "Infinite Jest" and "Dracula") so I thought in order to read this tome I'll need a little help from my (online) friends.
"Tim Burton" This retrospective of his career is a great supplement to the exhibit currently at MOMA. Awesome show, awesome book!
Currently, I'm tearing through Neal Stephenson's "The Confusion" from his Baroque Trilogy. I've written about Stephenson before, with particular love going out to his "Cryptonomicon." His Baroque Trilogy centers on Isaac Newton, gold, science, philosophy, history, warfare, shipping, and a number of other characteristics -- it's a lot of fun and keeps you thinking. I'm only on part 2, so I'm loving it and looking forward to its conclusion.

Design(ed) Websites...

2009-12-09T09:47:00.002-05:00

Day three of my proctoring ordeal continues on, now with driving snow, which is not so bad, that will turn to rain, which is bad.

As I sit here, drying off, I want to share some websites that I've been delving into lately. They're inspired by the desire to create individual pages for each blog/entry...very creative stuff that I wish I had the time/energy/talent to create myself. I guess they're calling them blogazines, crazy kids.

Anyway, check them out below:

Gregory Wood

Jason Santa Maria

Dustin Curtis

URL ABC

2009-12-04T10:56:00.006-05:00

I haven't memed in a while, heck I haven't truly blogged in a while, but I thought since I had a fairly productive morning (2+ hours actually writing) I would take a little break and pass on this fairly interesting, and a little scary, project -- found over at DesignNotes.

Go to the address bar in your favorite browser, and type one letter. Start with “a”, end with “z”.

A. acontinuouslean.com

B. bldgblog.blogspot.com

C. cardplayer.com

D. designnotes.info

E. evite.com

F. facebook.com (The Fatted Calf was a close 2nd)

G. google.com

H. heavensharvestfarm.com

K. kottke.org

M. mac.com

P. philipjohnsonglasshouse.org

Q. quoddyvacation.com

R. ralphmcquarrie.com (hint, hint -- X-mas is coming...)

S. salon.com (I'm surprised about this, as I read Slate.com much more than Salon)

T. talkingpointsmemo.com

U. ubu.com

V. versiontracker.com

W. wayneandwax.com

X. ??

Y. yesbutnobutyes.com/archives/2009/04/lost_wired_puzz.html

Z. zappos.com

Hit in the Head...

2009-12-01T10:09:00.003-05:00

...with a deck of cards.

**Spoiler alert -- the following post contains much poker-related content.**

In addition to the numerous kitchen table poker games that spring up around the holidays here, I try to get to the casinos (nominally boats, but they sure don't look like boats) as the closest and biggest poker room in St. Louis is about 5 minutes from my house. This is about 110 minutes closer than the closest poker room to my apartment in Boston. So, this Thanksgiving I got in two separate trips: the first I ended up about $45, but it should have been more as I played hungry and tired and stooopid; my second trip I got hit in the head with the deck and ended up $125. Both sessions were$3-6 limit, by the way.

This second trip was fun -- I had quads in a pot with 6 runners pre-flop; flopped a couple different full houses and even had a Broadway straight withstand a third heart on the river (these seriously old, and loose, players were in it to win it with any two cards). As I was stacking chips, I remembered my session in L.A.: those crazy gamblers play $4-8 w/$1 chips so that there are piles and piles of chips in the pot, so if you win a pot it takes a number of hands just to stack all the cash. I won about three huge pots in one round and was just trying to keep up -- stacks and stacks of chips; always a good time.

On my first trip, I had quite an interesting first hand. I sit down in the big blind; I have trouble getting my chips out of the rack, and then fumbled them a little bit posting the blind. A Paul Darden-esque (PD) jerk to my left limps in and literally everyone else folds. I check my option w/78o and see a flop of 9-10-5 rainbow. I check because I tend to play pretty tentatively during my first round and PD bets out. I call hoping to turn the nuts: this doesn't happen, but I do make a pair on the turn (the 8 of hearts). I check again, and PD hesitates before betting once more. My spidey sense is tingling; either he's got QJ and the nuts, or he's got nothing. The river brings an off-suit nothing card (2 of something).

Here's where it get interesting: I check, he checks. He says, "Two pair." My heart sinks a little and he makes a feint towards flipping over his hand; but, he never does it. I'm holding onto my one pair and waiting: finally he says, "What do you have?" I, of course, said, "I called you, brother" as our game of chicken continues.

I finally decide that his vocal two pair is junk, and flip over my cards announcing the lone pair that I had. He flashes J4o (in 1st position!) and mucks w/a not quite sheepish grin on his face.

Moral of the story: protect your hand at the table; don't release your cards until you're positive you have a loser, and often you should just flip it over -- especially if you're playing out of your element, in an Omaha game or something.

By the way, he chastised someone later for misreading his hand. Ironically, PD won that particular hand -- and he was still belittling the older gentleman. PD busted out a few rounds later...!

RBOC: Never-ending November Edition

2009-11-22T13:10:00.002-05:00

No rest for anybody these days...one house guest leaves and another shows up! Therefore, I present you another edition of RBOC:

We walked the entire Freedom Trail in one day -- we did stop for lunch, but otherwise we walked from Park Street to Bunker Hill. Beautiful weather and cupcakes; what more could you wish for?
Plymouth Rock evoked different emotions from Sarah and I: simultaneously, we blurted out opposite opinions. Can you guess who thought what?
We capped off the visit with a visit to Barbara Lynch's dual establishments, Sportello and Drink. But before we even got there, Sarah and I had a Candid Camera moment: we reached Congress Street, but weren't sure which way on Congress to go. As we stood there, a car pulled up and a girl asked, "Are you looking for Drink?" Next, she asked if she could walk w/us as the three of us searched for the address. As Sarah pulled out her Iphone to doublecheck everything, another woman walks up to us w/the same question, "Are you looking for Drink?" At this point, I was convinced we were on Candid Camera. Eventually we discovered that we were standing right in front of the place -- very minimal, indeed.
The food was incredible: Al got a spicy tomato soup to start and Sarah & I split a Fontina fondue. Next, Al got gnocchi which is apparently the star of this place; Sarah got a risotto with quail pieces and I had a brown-butter bigoli (a kind of pasta) with lobster and sage. As the pictures & name (Sportello means counter service in Italian) illustrate, you sit at a counter and the waitresses are very intimate and knowledgeable. Well recommended!
I had a great week w/Sarah, and I'm sure I've left out from stuff...of course, "Reckless" and the Beehive at the BCA, as well as our discussion of Freud in the car! Exploring the North and South Ends, as well as Plymouth -- a great time was had by all, I think!
"FC Ph.D", our current indoor soccer team, started the season w/a 5-3 victory. It's always good to start on the right foot, so to speak.
And I'm flying home on Tuesday -- I hope that the Fatted Calf is back open again.

Philly

2009-11-16T21:31:00.005-05:00

In the end, I didn't run up the "Rocky" steps, but I did end up walking up them, which felt like quite a victory as it was. Unfortunately, the morning we toured the city was a little misty -- not exactly raining, but enough to ruin our landscape photos. We saw Independence Hall, and I reminisced about 1776.

We had fantastic meals, including a stop in the lobby of 10Arts -- Eric Ripert's restaurant featuring Jennifer from "Top Chef". I kept looking through the kitchen door, but I never saw her!

We also ate lunch, although both of us had brunch, near the touristy part of town at Farmicia. This place was definitely not touristy, though -- from their play on formica, to their farm-fresh, local produce, this restaurant is worth tracking down. We're certainly going there again, if we're even in Philly again. The most remarkable building in Philly, from my limited experience is the City Hall. Is it some mix of Beaux Arts and Greek Revival?

I'm particularly proud of this photo -- it was taken left-handedly and out of a moving car, as I was driving; not too shabby?

Beer Pong...

2009-11-11T14:59:00.001-05:00

Just what kind of beer pong is Jimmy Fallon playing these days? (Oh, who am I kidding?) It's January Jones -- enjoy!

Wow...

2009-11-09T11:06:00.003-05:00

Watch this clip. I've never down anything like this; I ripped a guy's shirt once, but he deserved it! Found over at Unfogged.

Movie Character Interactions...

2009-11-04T13:02:00.002-05:00

Check out this guy's chart of the interactions of movie characters in LOTR, Star Wars, Jurassic Park, et. al.

Maybe I should consider reformatting my fourth chapter in this style?

In an October State of Mind...

2009-11-02T17:57:00.002-05:00

Isn't October great? The weather's fantastic: the leaves are beautiful (so I'm told); it's not too hot, it's not too cold; I can still play soccer outdoors. October is capped off by my favorite holiday, Halloween; you get a plethora of scary movies (my DVR's still loaded with 'em), and you are required to buy candy on the off-chance that some kid rings your doorbell, which they haven't in our neck 'o' the woods in three years now. Academically, the petals haven't fallen from the bloom, so to speak; there aren't too many papers to grade yet; perhaps a mid-term, but nothing too drastic. And the major holidays are right around the corner, or square in your face if you walk into a Target or Walgreens.

Too bad I was sick for almost half this month; perhaps that's responsible for my overly-rosy assessment?

Sure there are better holidays out there, but overall what month can compete? December -- waaay too cold, for some people. July -- just the opposite. I'm taking bets...somebody try to counter my hypothesis, I dare you.

TV/Movie talk...

2009-10-29T09:29:00.002-04:00

Just a random collection of TV/Movie ephemera today.

Not only is NBC's "Chuck" returning sooner than March, but it's gonna be six episodes longer, as well. If only they would switch it to Tuesday nights, when there's absolutely nothing on television.
Speaking of TV, it's been announced that the Olympics put the final season of "LOST" on hiatus for two weeks (Thanks to Al for the heads-up). Are they really worried that hardcore "LOST" fans aren't gonna be able to tear themselves away from Ice Skating or the like?

Finally, TW & I had mixed emotions last weekend after we saw Where the Wild Things Are. I'm sure if you knew us personally, you could decide who did & didn't like it; maybe I should add in a poll for the readers?

Looking around the interwebs I discovered/remembered that Spike Jonze, the director of Wild Things, is pretty much known for his talents as a music-video director. Check out the Fatboy Slim video, "Weapon of Choice", starring Christopher Walken, and compare it to the trailer for Where the Wild Things Are.

Red Rum

2009-10-26T16:32:00.003-04:00

In the full swing of the holiday, I've been taping and watching some horror films lately. During lunch today, I caught the last 25 minutes of Psycho -- the updated version starring Anne Heche and Vince Vaughn and directed by Gus Van Sant. How incredible is Vince Vaughn at recreating the role of Anthony Perkins? I mean, it's just spot on, and creepy.

But I digress...

For the remainder of my lunch break, I began Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. That opening shot, high above the solitary car on the mountain road is incredible. For those who don't know, the scene is underscored by an eerie musical motive; it's a musical setting of a Latin hymn, famously found in a Requiem. Dies Irae is translated as "Day of Wrath", if you needed any help in setting the mood.

Even w/o knowing that musicological nugget, the ominous music perfectly foreshadows the ultimate conclusion of the movie.

[Mild spoiler ahead, if you've lived in a cave or somehow never learned how to read or participate in popular culture]

When I read The Shining for the first time, waaay back in middle school (yes, I had a creepy Stephen King phrase which earned me the title, "Person Least Wanted to Meet in a Dark Alley"), a helpful reader scribbled in the margins above the third statement of Red Rum, "It's murder, backwards, you idiot."

Well, gee, thanks for that...this is partially why I hate reading books from the library. Speaking of books, I'm still working on Peter Gay's bio of Freud and it's pretty interesting -- I've been thinking about my childhood alot lately; interesting stuff.

"Make that an extra-large popcorn"

2009-10-21T09:57:00.003-04:00

I've never been one to leave a theater for food or restroom purposes; I don't know why, but I've paid the cash, I'll see the trash. But, check out this review of Lars Von Triers' The Antichrist. I didn't have interest in seeing it, but now I'm kind of interested in listening to the audience shriek...from the outside in the lobby, that is.

By the way, I haven't seen Where the Wild Things Are yet, but I'm dying to. Anybody out there in blogland seen it yet?

RBOC: "The Bright Side of Life" edition

2009-10-15T14:28:00.004-04:00

Today's blog is brought to you directly from the living room couch where I've been camped out for the better part of a week. Sounds perfect for some RBOC, right?

I'll keep saying it till someone listens: Modern Family, Weds on ABC, is the funniest show on TV (Sorry Glee, I'll get to you in a minute). Watch this week's episode, via Hulu, below.
Glee, oh Glee...I do appreciate having music on Primetime TV, but what good is it if it's always super-produced, and lip-synched out of its mind. You have Broadway singers, Beyonce-backup dancers and the like. Show us some mistakes, please. William Hung wasn't a sensation because he was good...trust me, showchoirs across the country sound nothing like Glee -- we can handle it, give us something real. I've read numerous accounts of how stringent the producers/directors are about incorporating the musical numbers into the show so as not to have people spontaneously breaking out into song. Fine, I love it; but stop giving us over-produced numbers right when for the first time the students receive their sheet music.
I don't know anyone who watches Jimmy Fallon these days (anybody, Bueller?), but I was certainly intrigued by his house band, The Roots. For further evidence of their awesomeness, check out Eric Idle w/t Roots, below.

Well, duh...

2009-10-08T13:16:00.003-04:00

From the Things-I-never-thought-of-but-make-perfect-sense files:

The vomitorium was not, as urban legend has it, a room for ancient Romans empty their stomachs, so to speak; it was a passage that allowed play or sporting-event spectators to exit an ampitheater quickly.

If you clink through, you'll discover that we now shorten vomitorium to "vom" for a theater exit, often in front of the proscenium.

Who'd a thunk it?

I used that term for years w/o having any sense of its history...

"Myriad myriads of lives teemed forth"

2009-10-07T13:33:00.003-04:00

Earlier this morning, as I was cranking away at the dissertation (2 pages a day, this week!), I got tripped up on a word that I've had issues with in the past -- a myriad of issues, so to speak. Noun or adjective, the word myriad has come up recently in high-ranking editorial sessions back home.

So, I looked it up in my handy Oxford American Dictionary widget; the standard descriptions note the double status as an adjective and noun, but I was struck by the following passage, entitled "Word Note". As I read the note, posted below, I noticed its increasingly idiosyncratic writing style and I thought to myself, "This certainly reads like David Foster Wallace." Lo and behold, the signature -- DFW; voila!

If my little epiphany today wasn't enough proof, I've decided to take a little time off from DFW -- although, don't worry, my X-mas list has a truckload of DFW books on it. Anyway, what am I currently reading? Dracula, by Bram Stoker...fun stuff, particularly for October.

myriadAs an adjective, myriad means "an indefinitely large number [of something]" (The Local Group comprises myriad galaxies) or "made up of a great many diverse elements" (the myriad plant life of Amazonia). As a noun, it's used with an article and of to mean "a large number" (The new CFO faced a myriad of cash-flow problems). What's odd is that some authorities consider only the adjectival myriad correct—there's about a 50-50 chance that a given copyeditor will query a myriad of —even though the noun usage has a much longer and more distinguished history. It's really only in nineteenth-century poetry that myriad starts showing up as an adjective. So myriad' s situation right now is confusing. It's tempting simply to recommend avoiding the noun usage so that there's no chance a reader will be bugged. The truth, though, is that any reader who's bugged by a myriad of is both persnickety and wrong—and you can usually rebut sniffy teachers, copyeditors, et al. by directing them to Coleridge's "Myriad myriads of lives teemed forth…."

--DFW

Conversational, opinionated, and idiomatic, these Word Notes are an opportunity to see a working writer's perspective on a particular word or usage.

Infinite Jest: By the numbers

2009-09-29T10:43:00.004-04:00

Size: 9.3 x 6 x 2 inches

Weight: 2.4 pounds (shipping weight according to Amazon)

Pages: 981

Notes and Errata: 96 pages; 388 endnotes, some of which run to chapter length

Chapters: 28; but don't let that fool you -- there are over 189 scenes in this book

Time Spent: 92 days (June 21st to September 22nd; 75 pages a week) w/a little help from my friends at Infinite Summer

Necessary Bookmarks: 3; one to mark your page, one to mark your endnotes, and one to mark the following:

"Chronology of Organization of North American Nations' Revenue-Enhancing Subsidized Time, By Year"

(1) Year of the Whopper

(2) Year of the Tucks Medicated Pad

(3) Year of the Trial-Sized Dove Bar

(4) Year of the Perdue Wonderchicken

(5) Year of the Whisper-Quiet Maytag Dishmaster

(6) Year of the Yushityu 2007 Mimetic-Resolution-Cartridge-View-Motherboard-East-To-Install-Upgrade For Infernatron/Interlace TP Systems For Home, Office, or Mobile (sic)

(7) Year of Dairy Products from the American Heartland

(8) Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment

(9) Year of Glad

Yes -- I'm finished; yes -- I'm happy I read it; no -- I'm not sure what to read next...For a more elegant summary, read the original NYTimes review.

RBOC: Fall TV, 2009

2009-09-24T19:05:00.002-04:00

The new fall season's shaping up to be one of the worst in quite a while. Thus far, I've only found 1 new show worthy of my time:

Modern Family, Wednesdays at 9pm on ABC, gets my winning nod. It's a look at an extended family: Dad's remarried a (much younger) Colombian woman w/a child; his adult son is gay and just adopted a child w/his partner; adult daughter has a 16-year old and two others -- just add water; watch the hilarity ensue. Actually, the Lion King bit is pretty funny.
Cougar Town, starring Courtney Cox, is not even worth my mention. Save 22 minutes for yourself and read a book -- remember those?
HIMYM: Ted's lapse in front of the class, whilst trying to remember how to spell "Professor," is a terrifying moment that will haunt my dreams from now until whenever I'll have to do that in the (hopefully near) future.
Glee, which I've talked about before is on probation -- as far as I'm concerned. I think it's a quality show, but the lip-syncing is making me a little crazy (I do like the a cappella intros, however). Granted, "I'll be auditioning for the role of kicker" is probably one of the greatest lines of the season.

I wonder if Aaron Sorkin ever read Infinite Jest?

2009-09-21T14:02:00.003-04:00

'There's these three statisticians gone duck hunting,' he said. He paused. 'They're like statisticians by trade.'

'I'm with you so far.'

'And they gone off hunting duck, and they're hunkered down in the muck of a duck blind, for hunting, in waders and hats and all, your top-of-the line Winchester double-aughts, so on. And they're quacking into one of them kazoos duck hunters always quack into.'

'Duck-calls,' I said.

'There you go.' Stice tried to nod against the window. 'Well and here comes this one duck come flying on by overhead.'

'Their quarry. The object of their being out there.'

'Damn straight, their raisin-debt and what have you, and they're getting set to blast the son of a whore into feathers and goo,' Stice said. 'And the first statistician, he brings up his Winnie and lets go, and the recoil goes and knocks him back on his ass kerspalt in the muck, and but he's missed the duck, just low, they saw. And so the second statistician he ups and fires then, and back he goes on his ass the second one goes, from firing, and they see his shot goes just high.'

'Misses the duck as well.'

'Misses her just high. At which and then the third statistician commences to whooping and jumping up and down to beat the band, hollering "We got him, boys, we done got him!'"

Taken from Infinite Jest, p. 867.

RBOC: Breakfast-for-Dinner Edition

2009-09-18T17:48:00.003-04:00

At the end of week 4, the dissertation steadily marches on -- like an ancient sea turtle that returns to nest, my dissertation mojo has returned. I get a solid 2.5 hours in every morning -- consistent, quality work that hasn't occurred for quite a while. The afternoons, well, they're another story...

Seeing as the intellectual parts of my brain today are pretty much exhausted, I am reduced to providing to you -- oh gentle reader, you -- Random Bits of Crap with which to subside until you (inevitably) stumble upon some other mind-altering, yet utterly useless, website.

My reptilian brain won yet once again today, in what looks like quite a lopsided battle between it and whatever else the other part of my brain looks like, as I bought sandwiches for a lunch date w/TW. As I stood there, waiting for my steak & cheese to get panini'ed, I was rendered inert -- staring at the baseball-sized arancinis sitting by the checkout register...delicious!
Did you watch "Fringe" last night? This delightfully kooky, 'did-they-just-do-that?' kind of show premiered their 2nd season last night, and they didn't miss a beat.* Survivor also premiered a new season (their 19th) last night, w/a record-high 20 people starting. Favorite lines included, "Everybody knows black men can't swim," which of course had to be followed by Jaison -- the Yale alum and water-polo team member -- torching his competitor in the swimming leg.
Breakfast for dinner, tonight. What more needs to be said?
See The Sports Junkie NY if any of you are dying for a POV of any NY-area games. This guy -- my college roommate of 4 years -- is probably the sharpest sports mind I've ever seen. Oh ya, and he sprinkles in discussions of the Real World/Road Rules Challenges too!
Finally, I can't end a post w/o any reference to IJ. I'm right at 100 pages to go and I still don't want it to end; at this point, trying to slow down feels like walking upstream -- but I'm determined to milk my initial reading of this book for all it's worth.

* See lines like, "Feel his anus. It's soaking wet."

What more can I say?

2009-09-17T13:30:00.001-04:00

I might be changing my mind...

via kottke

DFW

2009-09-11T18:38:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow -- Sep 12 -- marks the one-year anniversary of David Foster Wallace's self-inflicted death. I don't have much to add: I didn't know the man personally, but I do know his writing.

As my introduction, I read the New Yorker article about him in March along with the excerpt of his unfinished novel, The Pale King. I immediately went out and picked up Infinite Jest (IJ). Despite the reputation as his masterpiece, the book sat on my shelf for months. I was finally spurred into action when I stumbled across the online book club, Infinite Summer. Now I had a community -- albeit a virtual one -- to help me across the finish line of this monster tome.

Am I finished? No -- I'm on pg. 785 out of 980. But a strange thing has happened: I've stopped reading IJ. But that doesn't mean I've stopped reading DFW -- oh no, my friend. I've read Consider the Lobster -- a collection of his non-fiction writings, and I'm just discovering that a slew of his other non-fiction is floating around the internet (something I'm sure DFW would surely love).

Public Service Announcement: read the article DFW wrote for Harpers about a trip he took on a cruise line: it's called, "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again."

But I can't bring myself to finish IJ -- I don't want it to end; I've fallen hard for this book, and I've already told TW that I want to read it again, pronto. Those of you who know my reading habits, know that I tear through a book -- especially the final 1/4.

Ask me to give the denouement of any pop-culture book of the last five years and I couldn't do it -- "The Da Vinci Code" was set in Paris, right? Didn't "The Historian" have something to do w/vampires?

I just don't want this feeling, I mean book, to end...

I don't have anything moving to say: all I can offer you is to open yourself up to DFW; I think you'll be very happy once you've done so.

Here's a few other DFW-related links:

(1) One author's personal take on DFW

(2) How to write like DFW (this will be extra funny once you've read some DFW)

"Glee" roundup...

2009-09-09T15:14:00.002-04:00

Hello all,

Don't forget to set your DVRs tonight! That's right, "Glee" is premiering right after the speech so if you're sick of all the post-speech spin you can get your saccharine fix filled.

For now, here's a couple of little nuggets you'll like:

Rachel Berry was Wendla, from Spring Awakening

"Gold Digger" -- what more can I say?

DFW's take on the Bricklayer/Workman's Comp story

2009-09-08T13:42:00.002-04:00

As taken from Infinite Jest (p 139-40):

"Workmans Accident Claims Office

State Farm Insurance

1 State Farm Plaza

Normal, IL 617062262/6

Dear Sir:

I am writing in response to your request for additional information. In block #3 of the accident reporting form, I put "trying to do the job alone", as the cause of my accident. You said in your letter that I should explain more fully and I trust that the following details will be sufficient.

I am a bricklayer by trade. On the day of the accident, March 27, I was working alone on the roof of a new six story building. When I completed my work, I discovered that I had about 900 kg. of brick left over. Rather than laboriously carry the bricks down by hand, I decided to lower them in a barrel by using a pulley which fortunately was attached to the side of the building at the sixth floor. Securing the rope at ground level, I went up to the roof, swung the barrel out and loaded the brick into it. Then I went back to the ground and untied the rope, holding it tightly to insure a slow descent of the 900 kg of bricks. You will note in block #11 of the accident reporting form that I weigh 75 kg.

Due to my surprise at being jerked off the ground so suddenly, I lost my presence of mind and forgot to let go of the rope. Needless to say, I proceeded at a rapid rate up the side of the building. In the vicinity of the third floor I met the barrel coming down. This explains the fractured skull and the broken collar bone.

Slowed only slightly, I continued my rapid ascent not stopping until the fingers of my right hand were two knuckles deep into the pulleys. Fortunately, by this time, I had regained my presence of mind, and was able to hold tightly to the rope in spite of considerable pain. At approximately the same time, however, the barrel of bricks hit the ground and the bottom fell out of the barrel from the force of hitting the ground.

Devoid of the weight of the bricks, the barrel now weighed approximately 30 kg. I refer you again to my weight of 75 kg in block #11. As you could imagine, still holding the rope, I began a rather rapid descent from the pulley down the side of the building. This accounts for the two fractured ankles and the laceration of my legs and lower body.

The encounter with the barrel slowed me enough to lessen my impact with the brick-strewn ground below. I am sorry to report, however, that as I lay there on the bricks in considerable pain, unable to stand or move and watching the empty barrel six stories about me, I again lost my presence of mind and unfortunately let go of the rope, causing the barrel to begin a..."

And I imagine you can fill in the rest. Either way, a little workmans-comp humor to brighten your day, via DFW. See also the Mythbusters take on the urban legend...

Infinite Summer

2009-09-04T13:00:00.002-04:00

"'...for the game's finest players frequently close their eyes entirely as they wait, trusting the railroad ties' vibration and the whistle's pitch, as well as intuition, and fate, and whatever numinous influences lie just beyond fate.' Struck at certain points imagines himself gathering this Wild Conceits guy's lapels together with one hand and savagely and repeatedly slapping him with the other -- forehand, backhand, forehand."

So, for the previous passage to make any sense, it might behoove you know that a certain male teenage tennis phenom named Oliver Struck is reading a passage about the history of a certain, 'chicken-like' game involving Canadian youths & a leap across train tracks w/a train en route. Wild Conceits, by the way, is a journal in which Struck is researching a connection between said 'chicken-like' game & a group of wheelchair-bound assassins infiltrating the lower 48 states in order to overthrow the Organization of North American Nations (O.N.A.N.). I am reading this passage, by the way, in a footnote that occupies 5+ pages.

The passage continues: "'They will jump athwart the tracks in front of its high speed nose at the final moment, each trying to be the last to leap and live. It is not rare for several of the le Jeu's finalists to be struck.' Struck tries to decide whether it'd be unrealistic or unself-consciously realistic to keep using his own name as a verb -- would a man with anything to camouflage use his own name as a verb?"

Two things: (1) the back & forth between Struck and his passage mirrors that between the reader & his footnoted passage; (2) I'm sure some readers have wanted to slap David Foster Wallace's face -- "forehand, backhand, forehand" -- but I've felt that way about other authors, of the academic stripe mostly.

This extended passage is particularly wonderful for many reasons. First, it's occurring in a footnote about 3/4 of the way through the text and he's (DFW) still giving us exposition -- the book is 900+ and he's still introducing material. But, he does it in the most roundabout way possible: believe it or not, the wheelchair-bound, Quebec Assassination squad is pretty vital to the storyline, and DFW introduces their whole reason for being chairbound in what turns out to be a secondary character reading an academic journal in a footnote that the reader is reading -- did you follow that?

I just realized that I'm on p. 740 (out of 978!) and still loving the book.

RBOC: Wanna bet edition

2009-09-03T17:05:00.004-04:00

The Clintons got so tired of the persistent rumors about their daughter's upcoming (and fictitious) wedding that they bet $1000 against any so-called anonymous tipster that Chelsea wouldn't be married by the end of August? Of course, they got no takers...

As most of you know, I have a weakness for a good gamble every now & then. Heck, I've been in a doctoral program for the better part of my adult life IN THE HUMANITIES! That should be good enough proof that I'm always up for a challenge.

I'm already getting excited about some serious bowling on Saturday night...I'm looking forward to overcoming the 99-1 horse coming in for a push last time Al & I went at it!! That's right, I'm still sore about that...

===================

Speaking of horses, I'm finally back on the dissertation horse. Week #2, day 4 of the final push has seen me settle into a pretty good routine: 9-12 in the morning, 12-2 for gym & lunch; after that, however, is a little harder. I'm still figuring out what's best for me...perhaps I'll try to recapture my old early grad school days of working from 8-11PM...who knows?

Seriously? Seriously...

2009-08-26T19:31:00.002-04:00

...or not? Who knows, but I came across David Foster Wallace's Top 10 list of favorite books. Two Thomas Harris books, one each from Tom Clancy and Stephen King -- who knows? I'm on board...

Here's the list, as found over at toptenbooks.net:

The Screwtape Letters -- C.S. Lewis
The Stand -- Stephen King
Red Dragon -- Thomas Harris
The Thin Red Line -- James Jones
Fear of Flying -- Erica Jong
The Silence of the Lambs -- Thomas Harris
Stranger in a Strange Land -- Robert A. Heinlein
Fuzz -- Ed McBain
Alligator -- Shelley Katz
The Sum of All Fears -- Tom Clancy

======================

All right, we're back on track -- 2 full days of cracker jack dissertation work (that's good, in my opinion). I've been formulating a (gasp) musicology blog entry, but it's still in its embryonic stage...more to come!

RBOC: "Not Dead Yet..."

2009-08-20T15:53:00.003-04:00

"I'd like to go for a walk..."

That's right, folks -- I'm still around. In the last 15 days, I've vacationed in 3 different states/countries (although all were in the same time zone)...Since I'm not quite home yet -- that'll be sometime on the day after tomorrow -- I'm keeping today's edition very short, random-bits style...

Jersey Boys is actually a fun, little show.
Did you know that Joe Pesci was pretty instrumental -- so to speak -- in creating "The Four Seasons"? The show is essentially a history lesson wrapped around a string of hits from the 50s & 60s that you would know.
Gay men are apparently bad at spelling and great at naming Bette Midler movies. So to cap off our 4 days at Fire Island, we went to trivia. Three of the questions involved spelling some fairly easy words -- karaoke, quintessential, etc. Can you name 7 Bette Midler movies? I couldn't, but our team captain could.
Check out The High Line's website for more information on this awesome little park on the Lower West Side (more pics to follow).
Sleeping pills work wonders when one must sleep in a skeevy place...
Traffic sucks on Long Island...
TW's zonked out on the couch after an 1 1/2 car ride -- what a wuss...

Enough bits for now -- more to come once I return home and properly screw on my brain!

You tell me...

2009-08-04T12:55:00.002-04:00

Well, in honor of today's last class & quiz, I'm questioning you -- my loyal readers (all 3 of them). How would you do on today's multiple-choice portion of the quiz? Answers to follow...

(The mini-essay is about the stylistic evolution of the Beatles as seen in their album covers: pick 1 cover from the early, middle & late years to illustrate your point about their evolution)

1) What is unique about the final songs on Abbey Road?

a. They are all in the same key

b. They are all sung by the same singer and have similar subjects

c. They are all sung by different singers and have dissimilar subjects

d. They all merge together into a montage

2) Who perceived imaginary messages in the Beatles’ White Album?

a. Phil Spector

b. Charles Manson

c. Sharon Tate

d. George Martin

3) What song on the White Album mentions at least 3 previous Beatles’ songs?

a. “The Long and Winding Road”

b. “Julia”

c. “Glass Onion”

d. “Back in the U.S.S.R."

4) Why was John’s first version of “Revolution” deemed unfit as a single?

a. It was too fast

b. It was too slow

c. He was ‘out’ on violence

d. He was ‘in’ on violence

5) Which posthumous album was released after the Beatles broke up?

a. Revolver

b. Abbey Road

c. The Beatles, aka The White Album

d. Let It Be

6) Who was brought in to re-mix the Get Back/Let It Be tapes?

a. Phil Spector

b. Charles Manson

c. Sharon Tate

d. George Martin

7) What song did George write while using Eric Clapton’s acoustic guitar?

a. “Here Comes the Sun”

b. “Something”

c. “Layla”

d. “Wonderful Tonight”

8) The Beatles released the single “Hey Jude/Revolution” during what significant event?

a. 1965, Sandy Koufax’s perfect game

b. 1963, JFK’s assasination

c. 1969, Woodstock

d. 1968, Chicago Democratic Convetion

9) Who was Billy Preston?

a. The producer of Let It Be

b. The leader of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

c. A pianist George brought into the Get Back/Let It Be sessions

d. All of the above

10) Which Beatles was once a member of the Traveling Wilburys?

a. Paul

b. Ringo

c. George

d. John

These aren't the droids you're looking for...

2009-07-29T16:45:00.002-04:00

Wow, check out this CG clip circa 1980! The musicality of the video is surely helped by the Beatles' clip "Flying" used as the soundtrack...

Vol Libre from Loren Carpenter on Vimeo.

Found over at kottke.org

Officer Krupke

2009-07-29T12:12:00.004-04:00

Holy cow, it's been a long time -- 12 days since my last post, and it seems like ages since I wrote anything substantial in any sort of forum. My Beatles class has really come along nicely: we're winding down, actually -- tomorrow's on Politics, with emphasis on the Revolution/Revolution 1 discrepancy; and I'm gonna throw in a smattering of the "Helter Skelter"/Tate Murders because I'm fairly certain that these kids don't know/haven't even heard of Charlie Manson.

I, on the other hand, read the prosecutor's book (Bugliosi?) back when I was in middle school -- sheesh, couple that grisly book with all the Stephen King books I read back then, it's no wonder that my 7th-grade class voted me the "Student You'd Least Like to Meet in a Dark Alley."

There's a lot bouncing around in my head right now, but the "Skip" Gates controversy really boils my blood. Christopher Hitchens' article in Slate is particularly to the point: if Gates was white, none of this would happen. Officer Crowly -- coming off more like Officer Krupke, if you ask me -- ascertains that this short, old, black man using a cane is indeed who he says he is. Gates does so by issuing his Harvard ID -- at this point, what officer wouldn't take the high road and walk away? Okay, what if Gates did start talking about Crowley's momma?

How do you not recognize this guy? Now, I've read a short segment from his seminal work "The Signifying Monkey" for a class I took a while back on Thomas A. Dorsey. Fine, let's assume this guy hasn't read a lot of Afro-American Lit/Crit Theory...does he not watch PBS? There's an 80% chance that Gates is one of two black men on a constant loop on PBS these days (the other being the fantastic astronomer/astrophysicist/constant Colbert-Report-guest Neil deGrasse Tyson). Gates has been doing these episodes where he researches bloodlines of prominent black Americans, including Oprah, Quincy Jones, et al. Come on, seriously; you've at least flipped through one of these shows, right?

{{there's a guy totalling primping in the window at the booth; he's directly in front of me (<12") and can't see me!!}}

How does Officer Crowley end up escorting this guy out of his house, off the front porch, in handcuffs?!?!?!?

I'm not even gonna touch the woman who called in the 'suspected breaking & entering.' Um, you live in Harvard Square -- how do you not know "Skip" Gates? Wow...

Enough for now...hopefully I'll be checking before I hit the road for August. That's right: Toronto, South Carolina & Long Island all are on the docket this August, so I'm working my tail off now, so I can enjoy the beach/golf course/High Line/Broadway.

"...a lacuna where trailer-park trailers are concerned..."

2009-07-17T10:38:00.003-04:00

Infinite Jest, oh how I love thee; the playful word-i-ness; the offbeat, wacky characters; the names (Orin and Hal, two of the protagonists, which have fairly conservative names); the conversations...

Here's an extended conversation between Hal, the younger tennis phenom whom we've just found out received a hugely important shock to his system at the age of 13* (spoiler below, not like any of you are gonna read this book), and his older brother Orin, who's a placekicker for the Arizona Cardinals, and quite the ladies man apparently.

Orin: 'I said I think I'm being followed.'

Hal: 'Some men are born to lead, O.'

'I'm serious. And here's the weird part.'

'...'

'The weird park is I think I'm being followed by . . . by handicapped people.'

As they discuss the evidence cited by Orin, including that prior to and after a tryst in a trailer park, Orin sees the same man struggling to get his wheelchair out of the sand, Hal, the slightly out-of-touch tennis phenom, seeks to fill a hole in the O.E.D. where trailer parks are concerned:

'But this trailer. This lady you met's trailer. Confirm or deny the following. Its carpet was wall-to-wall and extremely thin, a kind of burnt yellow or orange.'

'Yes.'

'The living-room or like den area contained some or all of the following: a black velvet painting featuring an animal; a videophonic diorama on some sort of knickknack shelf; a needlepoint sampler with some kind of frothy biblical saw on it; at least one piece of chintz furniture with protective doilies on the arms; a Smoke-B-Gone air-filtration ashtray; the last couple years' Reader's Digests neatly displayed in their own special inclined magazine rack.'

'Check on velvet painting of leopard, sample sofa with doilies, ashtray. No Reader's Digests. This isn't especially funny, Hallie. The Moms comes out in you in these odd little ways sometimes.'

'Last one. The trailer-person's name. Jean. May. Nora. Vera. Nora-Jean or Vera-May.'

'. . .'

'That was my question.'

'I guess I'll have to get back to you on that.'

'Boy, you really put the small r in romance, don't you.'

LOVE IT...seriously, I'm completely devoted to this book.

* Hal discovered his dad's own suicide, by way of a microwave; he analogizes the scene to the remnants of a microwaved potato that was not cut open.

LOVE: The Ultimate Mix Tape

2009-07-16T13:18:00.002-04:00

No, I'm not referring to my recent 1-year anniversary, which was excellent by the way...thanks for asking...I'm blogging about George Martin's new soundtrack to the latest Cirque de Soleil production entitled LOVE.

In collaboration with Paul, Ringo, Yoko and Olivia Harrison, George Martin and his son Niles have revisited and recombined the original Beatles' masters at Abbey Road Studios. The result is a unique soundscape featuring all of our favorite hits in dramatically new settings. Bass lines from Revolver end up paired with melodies from the White Album; ambient sounds from "Revolution #9" end up as segues from song to song. It's as if someone left the cages open at the zoo, and you show up the next door with the zebras and penguins cooly co-habitating in the same pen.

=======
Remember when I used to end my blogs with an update on my dissertation's status? Well, a number of factors -- including, but not limited to, my winning a fellowship for next year, and my Beatles class, and my papers for Boston & Toronto Haydn conferences -- has kept me from dedicating any solid work to the diss. Soon, after my (very fun) month of August vacation(s) my dissertation will be swept off the shelves and into a defendable form of writing...hopefully.

Right on track...

2009-07-10T14:50:00.002-04:00

...with the book, that is. Infinite Jest just keeps on coming; every page a new idea, concept, structure. The book is post-modern in every sense of the word: it's a pastiche of different styles, points-of-view, locations, places and characters. It includes 100 pages of endnotes, most of which are completely necessary to the storyline; and DFW quotes urban legends and jokes, or at least embeds them within the narrative (google "bricklayer story + DFW" for more info).

But for me, the jokes, the descriptions, the overall usage of words is incredible. I'll include a few instances below, which are completely stripped of their significance but I hope they can convey just a little bit of meaning:

"And who could not love that special and leonine roar of a public toilet?" p. 15
"The sun, if your fluttering eye catches it even slightly, gives you the blue and red floaters a flashbulb gives you." p. 16
"She was the kind of fatally pretty and nubile wraithlike figure who glides through the sweaty junior-high corridors of every nocturnal emitter's dreamscape." p. 38-39
"Mario, what do you get when you cross an insomniac, an unwilling agnostic, and a dyslexic?" "I give." "You get somebody who stays up all night torturing himself mentally over the question of whether or not there's a dog." p. 41
"The defecatory posture is an accepting posture, it occurs to him. Head down, elbows on knees, the fingers laced together between the knees. Some hunched timeless millenial type of waiting, almost religious...The mute quiescent suffering of generations of salesmen in the stalls of train-station johns, heads down, fingers laced, shined shoes inert, awaiting the acid gush." p. 103
"...even [earplugs] do not solve the problem of a snoring roommate if the roommate in question is so huge and so adenoidal that the snores in question also produce subsonic vibrations that arpeggio up and down your body and make your bunk jiggle like a motel bed you've put a quarter in." p. 201

RBOC: Glass edition...

2009-07-08T13:02:00.005-04:00

It's been waaaay too long since I've graced the interwebs with another RBOC edition. Over the past week or so, I've been intrigued by architectural articles in Slate and The Times; so, some of my Random Bits Of Crap will be related to buildings.

Chicago's Sears Tower now has an entire landing made out of glass. File it under D for "Don't Look Down."
Did someone say glass? Well, before the Sears Tower added a measly little outcropping of glass, Phillip Johnson designed an entire house out of it...located in Connecticut, this jewel of Modernist architecture is certainly on my travel wish list.
One final bit of architectural interest appeared in the Times today: apparently an entire building made of pods is scheduled to be torn down. One wall of the pod has all the electrical stuff: oven, frig, tape deck, etc; while the other end is anchored by a giant porthole window (made of glass!) that creates the effect of living in a fishbowl!
I almost forgot this little nugget: St. Louis and public art made the Times; has anyone seen these sculptures?
The Beatles class (rhymes w/glass) keeps on ticking. Yesterday's class was the first day that I actually taught anything (day 1 consisted of syllabus discussion + a viewing of "A Hard Day's Night"), and I think it went pretty well. I laid out some common language for discussing early Rock 'n' Roll (what's a backbeat? Electric guitars?)
Super fun, really trashy gossip about one of my students that I suppose I shouldn't really publish out in the world-wide web -- definitely fodder for a phone conversation!

"I like big...

2009-07-06T12:30:00.002-04:00

...books, and I cannot lie." Seriously, I don't know why but I've always been attracted to books that can double as doorstops.

Let's take a look at the numbers:

Ayn Rand's Fountainhead = 694 pages
Stephen King's IT = 1090 pages
Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon = 1130 pages
Robert Caro's The Power Broker = 1166 pages

And in my current book, David Foster Wallace takes 981 pages, plus an additional 100+ pages of endnotes, to lay out his masterpiece (so I'm told) Infinite Jest. The story, as far as I can tell 147 pages into, concerns Hal Incandenza -- a young tennis phenom -- and is set at the fictional tennis academy in Entfield, MA. I really enjoy the actual references to local landmarks here in Boston: Allston slums, the Red and Green lines, Harvard Square, et al.

In addition to Hal's extended family, including two brothers and his parents, both of whom founded the tennis academy, there seems to be an underlying moral about the eroding nature of pop culture as it's delivered through the television. A certain videotape is making the rounds, and by making the rounds, I mean sucking people into watching it over and over until they actually succumb to it.

Peppered throughout the text are multiple points-of-view, including local dialects that take a couple different readings to actually process...the most poignant passages, however, concern depression and suicide. Once you read these passages, DFW's own suicide seems 10x more tragic.

I'm about 10 pages behind today's deadline, but I've still got tonight to catch up. 10 pages seems like nothing, but when you get a single sentence occupying a full page plus endnotes it takes a little longer than normal. Still, it's very worth the effort -- at least, thus far.

I'm off to the first class of The Beatles today, so I'll leave you with a little taste of what we'll be doing:

2009-06-29T16:02:00.006-04:00

Just doing a little housekeeping here in my little corner of the internet (as he sweeps away the cobwebs)...

Over the past week, TW & I tore through the first two seasons of Dexter (obviously, we loved it!)

I was heartbroken over the weekend, as the US Men had a lead going into the half against Brazil -- unfortunately, they're still a green to beat them for the full 90. Still a great tourney for them, overall!

I made the first deadline for my online book club; 7% (and 75 pages) down, 93% (and I don't even want to do the math) to go!

Currently, I'm sitting here watching the clock crept ever-so slowly...

One week exactly until my Beatles course begins...I'm
about 3 parts excited, 2 parts nervous!

Infinite Jest

2009-06-22T13:37:00.003-04:00

Well, it seems that a small corner of the internet has banded together to read David Foster Wallace's masterpiece Infinitie Jest. Seeing as it clocks in at 981 pages, the communal aspect of this undertaking is appealing. Therefore, I'll be joining in. I've always wanted to join a book club, and this seems to be perfect: all the positive elements (help w/discussions, positive reinforcements) without the negative (don't have to schelp to the meeting in the perpetual rain that is Boston lately). And, I just happen to be in between books at the moment. The good folks over at Infinite Summer are my partners in crime, so check in from time to time over there to see how things are going. Perhaps I'll include some tidbits here...if you want a little insight into David Foster Wallace (DFW), check out his commencement speech, "This is Water," to Kenyon College from a few years back...apparently it's not online anymore, as a publisher has printed a copy of it.

It's been a while...

2009-06-20T17:39:00.002-04:00

...and it'll continue that way. I've been on a semi-informal summer vacation from my blog. Once my class starts rolling, July 6th, I imagine that will be rectified.

For now, check out this ranking of the top-ten architecture in Star Wars.

Vacation Recap...

2009-06-11T23:51:00.005-04:00

Today's blog comprises an overview of the StL trip, in pictures! My favorites appear in the following order: We went to the opera, and picnicked outside; we visited my favorite golf course; we slid down, crawled in, around and through things at the City Museum, which is neither a city nor a museum. Enjoy!

Vacation in images

2009-06-05T08:47:00.007-04:00

I'm heading off to here (above), with a side trip (hopefully) to below.

Meanwhile, I'll most definitely be stopping here for a ballgame:

Here for a burger:

And here for an opera (that Boheme at OTSL, if you couldn't tell):

More to come during the week!

Antilibraries

2009-06-01T17:23:00.003-04:00

This post, from a new site that I've been devouring lately, sums up perfectly my philosophy regarding books.

Umberto Eco, by the way, is a fantastic author, whose book "Foucault's Pendulum," really appealed to me in a way that rendered my mind quite unable to grasp the book's mutliple storylines. The book features The Knights Templar, which attracted my attention post-Da Vinci Code, and it invokes a much more layered interpretation of their history.

By the way, has anyone borrowed my "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" book? Moreover, if you have that book laying around, do you also have my score to Schumann's "Dichterliebe"? These two books seem to have dissappeared down the rabbit-hole, so to speak, in the past few years and I miss them dearly.

The Weekend Past, by the numbers...

2009-06-01T07:45:00.002-04:00

This past weekend saw my first paper presented at a conference, and I think it went over fine. There were some issues (apparently I was a little fidgety, which I blame on the lack of a proper podium -- I was reading off a music stand!), but otherwise nothing too major. I was awfully busy with outside activities as well, so I was unable to attend most of the actual conference. So here is my weekend, by the numbers...

Haydn Panels attended: 3, including my own

Papers presented: 1, including my own! (sweet...)

Words misspoken during said paper: I'm not sure, maybe one or two, but I did get coup de grace right

Soccer games played: 2 in two days; one men's, the other coed

Soccer games missed: 1, and it was a consolation game

Injuries resulting from said games played: 2, a deep bruise in my thigh rendered me almost inert on Saturday afternoon/evening; while in Sunday's game, some idiot slid into me -- studs up -- as I was playing goalie, so my right leg is pretty mangled right now

Referees yelled at, truly: 1, surprisingly...our guy yesterday was new, to me at least, so I had to break him in a little bit; otherwise, I was pretty good

BBQs conducted: 1, and it was truly delicious -- marinaded steak tips, from whole foods, corn on the cob, and three jumbo sea scallops for an appetizer, all grilled to perfection!

"Where's Celexo?"

2009-05-23T14:09:00.002-04:00

I'm celebrating my 100th post today: it all started back on Nov. 17th, as I was laid up with a broken foot, and look how far we've come. In honor of this milestone, I've decided to enter story number 3 into the vast collection of Celexo's Great Stories. Past editions include the great debacles in Vegas and on the camping trip from hell. And today's story, titled "Where's Celexo", is quite certainly a debacle to the nth degree.

The Time: 2003, Summer
The Place: Opera Theater of St. Louis, as Celexo was working his first union crew gig
The Players: Celexo, age 24; Celexo's Dad; Andrea, aka "Goth" Chic; various other crew members

That summer was quite an enjoyable experience for me. It was the first time I had worked on an official backstage crew before, and it was doubly interesting because the company worked in repertory, which meant that instead of producing one opera at a time, they put on an entire season within the span of a month (or 5 weeks?). Anyway, this meant that crew members had to break down and load in a new show everyday, sometime twice a day (matinee + evening shows were a pain in the rear).

So, as crew members, we had a lot of down time in between acts, in between shows and sometimes we were required to be there to break down and load in a show at 11:30PM, then be back the next morning for rehearsals of a different show -- ugh, it was not exactly a glamorous schedule.

The union guys had a lot of fun with it...actually, I think they had a lot of fun with alcohol. Pretty much every show/load in-or-out ended with us all sitting out on the loading dock drinking beer. What's wrong with that?

Well, as we all know, alcoholic use tends to fog your decision making process, and once you couple that hindrance with a backstage romance, hoo boy watch out -- you've got yourself a humdinger.

Enter: "Goth" chic, or Andrea as everyone called her. Being single that summer, and plied with copius amounts of alcohol, I entered into a (rather questionable) relationship with said "Goth" chic. It was exotic, at the time, to say the least, and I enjoyed the rather antithetical coupling of me (uber-preppy/dorky) & her (black clothes, bleached-blond hair, pale skin).

I also enjoyed the fact that she rented an apartment about 5 minutes away from the theater, when I was staying w/my parents that summer, about 40 minutes away from the theater. This made those quick turnaround days very easy on the system.

Often during that summer, those of us who were at least 21 liked to frequent a Monday-afternoon blackjack tournament at a local casino (I never won, but placed 2nd once and in the money a few different times). Anyway, this fateful Monday night I stopped by the tournament, played, lost and left to meet up with "Goth" chic (as she wasn't 21 yet, she couldn't get in the casino).

Once I arrived, I turned off my cell phone for reasons escaping me although I'm sure they were good at the time. Now, the remainder of the story shifts perspective from what I know to what I heard the following day. I spent the night at "Goth" chic's apartment, apparently oblivious to the hilarity ensuing outside in the real world.

My parents, god bless them, must have thought I was still a teenager -- not the post-graduate, has lived on his own now for six years person that I actually was -- and got worried when I didn't come home that night.

My dad, god bless him, frantically drove to the casino to search for me assuming that I'd been mugged and was lying helpless in a ditch, or even better, that I'd been in some sort of gambling induced haze and was still playing blackjack (alas, this was prior to my poker-playing days*). He couldn't find me; duh, I'd left hours ago! But, he did talk to a security guard, and perhaps a state trooper -- am I making that part up? I can't quite remember...

Anyway, his next step was to call the technical director at the Opera Company, but dad waits until 8am, or so. This is where the story veers into a Terry Gilliam-inspired romp: apparently, the TD tells my Dad about the relationship, and gives him "Goth" chic's number. Oh, to have been a fly on the wall of that conversation -- if only one of them would have mentioned a terrorist or something, the FBI would have recorded it!

The next thing I know, "Goth" chic is answering a phone call from my father -- remember, I'm 24 years old!!! -- asking if I'm there and if I'm all right.

Well, you'd think that this story would be over right here, right? Um, no...it gets better. So, of course the TD tells everyone about the early-morning phone call, and eventually some joker prints up a million sheets of paper with the phrase, "Where's Celexo?" on them. I was pulling them off the backsides of set pieces for the remainder of the season.

So, remember kids, always tell your parents where you're going or else they'll freak the heck out...oh, by the way, Mom: I'm going out to see "Jerry Spring: The Opera" right now, so don't worry if I don't answer the phone.

See you all soon,
Celexo

* Ironically, I remember a certain tenor in the company who joined us every now and then at the casino who actually played poker. I couldn't believe that he did -- I was so jealous, and overawed because the poker room, at the time, was this really intimidating place for me.

Long time coming..

2009-05-19T07:58:00.002-04:00

Hello all,

Sorry I've been so delinquent in my blogging lately. I've been working 24/7 at the booth, and on top of that, I've been writing my first ever conference paper. The conference is actually right here in Cambridge. I think it will be small (around 40 people or so), but nonetheless my first paper garners a little bit of attention -- and stress!

I just wanted to point out a few new features that I've added to the right sidebar of this blog. Below my acronyms, I've added two new features: my Twitter updates and my del.ici.ous bookmarks. If any of you are like TW, whom I've had to drag kicking and screaming into the 21st century, you'll probably not be aware of either of these new features.

Twitter is almost like a blog -- except really short. It allows you publish a 140-character statement about whatever you prefer -- what you're doing, reading, eating, thinking, etc...I use it to update, educate and entertain.

Del.ici.ous is a different animal. It's considered "social bookmarking". Essentially, every user has a page where they post links of things they're reading. You can follow other people, and see how smart they are! I use it a little differently...I use it as a reminder of what looks interesting, but haven't had time to read yet. Check out the recent addition about what's been found under the New York Harbor -- ugh. Also see the NYTimes review of the Boston Ballet's recent performance highlighting the 100th anniversary of the Ballet Russes -- rest assured that my reveiw is much more positive than the Times.

See you soon,
Celexo

The Great Baby Ploy of '09

2009-05-12T22:06:00.004-04:00

It's not exactly a secret that I'm a tiny bit baby crazy these days. A few weekends ago TW & I went to a birthday party for a one-year old! Owen, the son of good friends of mine from grad school (and poker night), turned 1 and was feted by a bevy of other one-year olds (did I use all those words correctly?). Well, a number of these kids were cute, but some were not; some kids were well behaved, others were holy terrors. The holy terrors belonged to, what TW & I judged to be, awful parents -- funny, right? The cutest kid, by far, was absolutely adorable; he couldn't keep his eyes off me, and once he locked on he just stood there and stared, and stared...he was "look the other way, I'm stealing your baby" cute. Case closed.

On to the question: is the baby crazy an act? TW can't quite make up her mind (it's a good thing she doesn't read this blog!). It wouldn't be the first time that I've used babies as a bud of a joke concerning TW. Two Thanksgivings ago I told my entire family that TW & I were getting married over a year from then; I then discover that TW & TMIL found a great place to get hitched and it was going down this past July. So, once I return home for Christmas, I have to tell everyone that TW & I "had" to get married early, if you know what I mean (wink, wink).

Well, the baby crazy is not necessarily an act. But, I do realize that I can use it as leverage to help me get something else that I'm crazy about: a dog! I know that TW doesn't want kids anytime soon -- "Wait till we both get jobs" she crys -- but, I think that we're getting closer to the dog...really. In fact, I think a dog will definitely help me get through my fellowship year next year. I'm terrified of the cabin fever that is entirely possible from my lack of outside working; so, what would a better way to get out of the house than walking a dog? I think it's perfect...so, I'm slowly but surely working my way there.

"The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao"

2009-05-08T20:54:00.006-04:00

Well, I must admit that the bar was set pretty high for Junot Diaz and his book, "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao." Two years ago, I couldn't turn around without seeing this book on a top-ten list. It even won a pulitzer prize...

(A.O. Scott's NYTimes review is a pretty good primer; so, if you end up reading this book, which I wholeheartedly endorse, I would recommend paying attention.)

The titular character is practically a background character. Once you finish this book, you'll see the world through the eyes of Oscar, his mom, sister, and roommate; you'll get your fill of history (Dominican-Republic style), dictators -- well, I guess just Trujillo, but Castro makes an appearance -- and plenty of science fiction. At one point, Oscar claims his life's goal is to become the Dominican Tolkien -- and he includes enough references to Mordor, Sauron, the Nazgul, et al, to fill a notebook.

On the surface, this novel is a coming-of-age story about a fat, nerdy Dominican kid growing up in New Jersey. But its deep structure is more concerned with the power of myth (in the DR, they have a particularly potent curse called the fuku). Rooted in the cruel regime of Trujillo, this curse expands outward to (seemingly) influence everything in the DR -- or, at least Oscar and his family perceive it as such.

I particularly enjoyed the history: I didn't know much about the Antilles (or the Caribbean in general), and I tend to enjoy history. This particular strand resonated with me because I recently TA'ed a class on Global Hip-Hop. One of the more interesting topics in that class concerned the migration patterns between NYC and the Caribbean -- a topic that is central to the Oscar and his family. And again, it was another fact of which I was unaware.

My only concerns about the book were its mixed language...were you're writing about a family transplanted from the DR into New Jersey, and you want to keep it realistic, you're going to include Spanish -- it's a must; but, unfortunately for me, my Spanish chops are non-existent. But, I soldiered through the statements that I didn't understand and pieced together some meaning from the general context. Overall, it's not a deal breaker -- but, it's an issue nonetheless.

If you're looking for a deeply-layered novel, which reads almost like an Intro to Cultural Studies, and constantly surprises you with new points-of-view, then this is your book.

Meme it up...

2009-05-07T12:10:00.003-04:00

In lieu of the two posts that are percolating in my head, I've stumbled across this meme in a British architectural journal/website. Titled "My (non) digital life," it playfully addresses the modern phrases of digital life yet applies them in a very analog fashion. So, I thought I'd give it a crack (mind the rail/take the tube/what's on the telly) -- remember, it's a British meme.

What's your favourite (sic) site?

In St. Louis, I love sitting on Art Hill, looking out over the lake and Forrest Park while eating a Fatted Calf cheeseburger. In Boston, I enjoy walking near the intersection of Boylston and Tremont streets; it's got virtually everything you could want/need: eating in Dim Sum in Chinatown; reading in the used bookstores; walking around the Boston Common; and seeing shows in the Theater District.

Do you use social networking sites?

My social networks are flung far and wide; I do not use them, but I do participate within them.

What are you watching?

Currently, I'm watching the pages fly by in my book, "The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao."

What was the last thing you bought online?

I didn't necessarily buy it, but I won $5 from a friend when he set the line on him losing golf balls at 5. I immediately took the over and I'm still waiting for payment.

Where shall we play?

On the pitch! It's another Britishism for what we Americans would call a soccer field.

RBOC: Proctoring Edition

2009-05-04T10:49:00.002-04:00

Well, it's that time of year again (finals time) which means that TW and I are helping the Registrar administer finals.* That sounds much more important than what we're actually doing: we deliver blue books to each exam three times a day; otherwise, we sit in a room and hope that there aren't any problems.**

I have a few things on my plate at the moment, but I've been wanting to bloviate/blog about a few things...in random bullet form.

TW and I saw "Spring Awakening" last night for the first time. I really enjoyed it, although our seats were so good that I was distracted by a lot of the technical aspects: crew, music, lights -- it's a pretty minimal show, but with a few new effects. I'm always drawn to figuring out how they do this or that, and it's a major reason that I enjoy live theater. Luckily, I'll be going back to see this show in a few weeks -- when TW's mom -- comes to visit us in Boston. She's been dying to see the show, so I'll get another shot at enjoying the show from an entertainment point of view.
Farhad Manjoo, Slate's resident tech writer, has an interesting post (up yesterday) about how he hates RSS feeders. They strip out the soul of blogs by giving you a sanitized version -- I completely understand this, and agree with a number of his points. I'm giving his method a try, for now.
The summer movie season has officially began, at least for TW & I. We went to see a 10:20am showing of "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" over the weekend.*** It was entertaining in a $5 way...in the poker scene, look out for one of my favorite pro poker players (just a heads up, so to speak!). We've also seen "State of Play" (liked it), along with a few rentals: "Indiana Jones & the Crystal Skull" (seriously, I still like this movie!); "Hellboy II & the Golden Army" (the movie itself kind of sucked, but it was incredible to see Guillermo del Toro use a full-movie budget to create all the wacky characters...can't wait to see this guy's version of "The Hobbit"...it'll be awesome, in a "Pan's Labyrinth" kind-of-way, hopefully...

* I wonder how 'normal' people gauge time? 9-5, M-F, I guess you get to look forward to 3-day weekends, right? Well, in the Ivory Tower, we have a much different system of time...Sept-May gets broken down into semesters, mid-terms, finals, beginnings/endings of class -- it's a whole new world!

** We actually do a little bit more than that, but for your purposes -- we sit in a room from 8:45am to 11:15pm for six days.

*** How's that for a title? Seriously, it pretty much screams: come see some backstory, but you know there's a whole franchise behind it..."X-Men Origins: Storm/Slug/Sloth/Anteater"

Can you guess...

2009-05-01T12:37:00.002-04:00

...which cousin was involved in the production of this clip? FYI: this mashup stars the St. Louis Five -- my three cousins (on my mother's side) and my brother, of course.

Enjoy...

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

William Ayers or Sasha Grey?

2009-04-30T14:33:00.002-04:00

I honestly believed that tonight's appearance on campus of porn star Sasha Grey was responsible for the police presence at our campus entrance until I saw this headline. How funny is that? Do you think they did this on purpose? Get the police presence 2-1...It's also the night before finals start for the undergrads -- seems like an awfully bad time to have such high-profile appearances, doesn't it?

Nevermore...

2009-04-27T12:24:00.002-04:00

I'm glad to see that Boston is trying to reclaim Edgar Allan Poe. An article in today's Globe publicizes the new plaque commemorating Poe's birthplace -- but, apparently, it's in the wrong place. Of course, this is entirely appropriate because Poe hated Boston. I think it was more professional jealousy as Poe never fit in with the Boston Brahmin set: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Longfellow and Lowell all had long and successful literary careers; as Matthew Pearl lays out in his fantastic historical novel, The Poe Shadow, Poe died in Baltimore penniless, wearing ill-fitting clothes, virtually alone in the world.

I must confess a long-held affection for Poe's writing -- I've had a book of his poetry on my shelf since I was in middle school. I've always been drawn to the macabre -- first Poe, then Stephen King and now the books of Preston & Child (they have a new book coming out next month, "Cemetary Dance."). I even set one of his poems to music in a theory class back in school -- I can't quite remember the poem, "Amelie" perhaps? But it was awesome...in fact, it was so good that the Professor asked to hear it again to help fill the remainder of class one day!

Perhaps a sly Bostonian can start a tradition along the lines of Baltimore's Poe Toaster...

"All these stupid women are the same..."

2009-04-24T10:31:00.002-04:00

What could possibly be better than the combination of animated LEGOS, musical theater and The Silence of the Lambs?

Enjoy:

via the standingroom blog

RBOC: Wednesday edition

2009-04-22T11:18:00.003-04:00

Hello all,
It's been a while...I wanted to blog one of my recent soccer games, but during said game I jammed my finger (my middle finger, in case you were curious), which consequently rendered my typing ability slightly less than accurate -- or pain free for that matter. So here I am on Wednesday trying to fill in the gaps. Sounds like a RBOC day to me -- how about you?

First of all, the soccer game on Saturday was great: we played an undefeated team -- we're not exactly undefeated ourselves (more like un-lossed-to), so I wasn't feeling confident. But our particular team tends to play up to its competition, and I feel like we pretty much dominated this team. We scored two quick goals, which got them on their heels, and we pretty much held the lead from then on out.
All this positive soccer feeling drained away as we were unable to slay two undefeated teams within the span of four days -- last night's game was a big let down as we were dominated 6-0 with hardly any sustained pressure in the offensive zone.
It's been fun watching all the marathoners limping around the city. They're easy to spot: very skinny; lots of Boston Marathon gear; stiff legs; and zero ability to read a map! Apparently these guys (and gals) are so used to following the herd that they cannot possibly guide themselves around a city -- sans a bunch of cheering fans.
I'm actually teaching a class tomorrow!! I'm filling in up at a community college that I'd recently taught at -- it should be fun because I haven't taught (anything) in almost a full year. More on that tomorrow...
I'm nursing a strong hockey hangover today after my beloved Blues got swept last night by a (vastly) superior Vancouver team...I'm laying this loss squarely at the feet of my good friend Sarah for picking the Detroit Red Wings as her favorite hockey team...as if??
Did you hear about the DUI-charged classical music conductor? So many jokes, so little time -- classical music was playing on the radio? Seriously?? I know that drinking and driving is a serious thing, but come on...I'd love to know **exactly** what he was listening to.

How Weird Am I? (Please Read Before Answering)

2009-04-15T13:23:00.000-04:00

For your consideration, and my reassurance, I'm requesting your thoughts on the following tics, habits, neuroses, and weird things that I do (or don't do) on an almost daily basis:

* I always pick up the second newspaper -- never the first -- from the pile; I imagine the second paper somehow to be cleaner than the top paper...go figure.

* I do not eat fruit -- I used to eat apples, but haven't in ages -- this stems from a childhood incident in which my mother tried to kill me: it was Mother, in the Kitchen, with a banana.

* When I'm riding the train, I try to keep my hand on the same spot -- to me, touching as little of the bar as possible seems like the cleanliest option.

* I shoot pool lefthandedly; I kick a soccer ball mostly with my left foot; and, I prefer my backhand in ping-pong (but not in tennis); but I do almost everything else righthandedly.

* I'm colorblind

* If correctly prompted, I can get a little Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde on a soccer field (it's not pretty...).

* Finally, I absolutely must -- and I'm serious now -- I must have ice cubes in my mouth as I exit a restaurant. I do not know why, but I've been doing since high school, and it's a very comforting act.

That's not too weird, is it?

RBOC: Live-Free-or-Die edition

2009-04-11T13:14:00.006-04:00

Well, I've finally swept away the last vestiges of my 30th birthday celebration. Yesterday, TW and I returned from quick and dirty little trip up to New Hampshire -- one day & night in Portsmouth and then half a day in Manchester -- that served as TW's present to me. Overall, it was a great trip full of sweets, shoes, a sub, seafood, sunshine and sensational architecture.

What follows is an overview of the trip, in bullet points, pics and a precis...

The below picture shows some lucky bloke in the middle of Candy heaven. It's a little shop called "Yummies" in Kitterary, ME. They have stacks of milk crates -- floor to ceiling -- filled with every possible candy you've ever had. Their salt-water taffy lured TW back for a second visit. Kitterary is also home to a large chain of outlet stores, including a PUMA store where I bought TW a brand-new pair of (white!!) sneakers.
Next, we stopped at the USS Albacore -- the first submarine with a curved hull. Unfortunately we couldn't get inside, but we were able to walk around it and listen to some recording about its history.
After that we found our inn in Portsmouth -- the Ale House Inn. This contemporary inn just opened a little while ago, and it sits directly above the Seacoast Repertory in an old brewery building right down on the waterfront. Portsmouth itself is a cute little port town with tons of old buildings. Apparently, in the middle of a building boom in the 1960s, the town moved all the historic buildings and plopped them down in a section of town now called the Strawberry Banke. Check it out -- it's pretty cool.
That afternoon we checked out the Redhook br ewery just outside of town. Although the tour was pretty pathetic -- although it only cost $1 -- the finale was awesome. The guide gives everyone a double-shot glass and then proceeds to fill up pitcher after pitcher of the five different beers on tap that particular day. Let's just say that TW was so drunk after the tour, she let me buy two separate 6-packs -- one each of our favorites from the tour (TW also "let" me buy this cool glass).
The finale of trip came the next day when we visited the Currier Museum in nearby Manchester. The museum is the curator of a Frank Lloyd Wright house called "The Zimmerman House." This is the 3rd Wright house that I've been inside (Fallingwater & Oak Park are the others), and it was definitely incredible. We weren't allowed to take pictures, so the posted pics are pictures of pictures from the actual museum. The ceiling is the most intricate design I've ever seen -- in addition to the board-and-batton style, the many swoops and dives in the ceiling create multiple corners and wacky angles. I'm glad I wasn't in charge of the mitre saw for that house -- ugh!

Overall, it was a fantastic two days...I'd do it again in a heartbeat (checkout my face-book page for more pics!).

Gray-haired Davids who sing...

2009-04-06T11:13:00.002-04:00

Was that David Byrne or David Robertson in NYC over the weekend? See the review in the Times today of the SLSO's triumphant series of concerts in Zankel Center and Carnegie Hall over the weekend -- and all that after their delayed flight almost made them miss their Friday-night concert.

The Dangers of Alcohol...

2009-04-03T11:32:00.002-04:00

Enjoy this little clip of our most recent trip to Chinatown. Here in Boston, (almost) everything shuts down at 2AM, which leaves few options for those still "enjoying the evening."

Starring from left to right:
Al (the not-so secret videographer);
Kenny (the foul-mouthed liberal);
Celexo (the birthday boy);
TW (silent but deadly);
Sully (the other birthday boy);
Kate (the new girl);
Ric (the broken-foot boy);
Sarah (the holy-mother-of-god-she's-drunk girl);
Ed, aka Fred, or Pete (the object of Sarah's affections)

Pay particular attention to the 1:30 mark: that's Chau Chow's signature pepper steak -- the drunk's love the sizzle. I'm particular to the General Gau's mixed w/some fried rice...delicious!

A Day in the Life...at the Booth

2009-04-02T13:49:00.002-04:00

So today marks the 4th day in a row, and 3 out of 4, at the booth in Copley Square; needless to say, I'm having a little nutter today. On Tuesday and Wednesday, I did not have my usual morning oatmeal -- and if you know me at all, you know that I eat oatmeal everyday for breakfast (barring dire circumstances) -- so, that's thrown me off my (soccer, et al) games, literally and figuratively.

Last night, I showed up for my soccer game at 8:40, which I thought was perfect -- I get there 20 minutes early to socialize and lumber about (as a 30-year old now, I need more time than ever to warm up). I walk into the field and notice that my team is already on the field playing! My 9PM game time actually was an hour late -- arghh! I hate it when that happens; actually, I can't recall ever doing that before but that's mostly owing to my personal secretary, TW.

So today I'm here at the booth (again), and I've already had a few doozies...but right off the bat, I had a real winner. The biggest show in town these days is a pre-Broadway run of "Dirty Dancing" or as the non-English speakers like to call it, "Dirty Dance." It's been here 8 weeks, and will stick around for 2 more, so all the late-for-lifers are coming out of the woodwork these days trying to get tickets before it leaves town.

My first customers this morning were a group of 5, and they didn't speak a lick of English. So, I muddle through the transaction by writing out the cost of each ticket ($52.25!!) and then down beneath that the total ($261.25). The ringleader plunks down a hundred and three fifties, so far so good; another one drops down a single and finally a ten-dollar bill appears...at this point, a crowd is starting to form because it's the first transaction and people are fiending for their half-price tickets.

Now, here's where it gets good: I hand them their tickets and try to tell them that we're all set, despite the fact that they're .25 short! I was trying to be hospitable, but also trying to speed up the line by forgetting about the extra .25 cents. Suddenly this group of 5 customers, which previously couldn't speak a lick of English, starts demanding their change!!

"Change, change?" they clamored.
"Oh god, is this really happening?" I think to myself.

Finally, another customer convinced them that I had paid the .25 cents and that they were all set...ugh, got to love our customers!

You've also got to love our co-workers. I'm working today with quite the little peach! I returned to the booth, after running the morning errands, to find my her wildly swiping a credit card into the computer over and over again.

Now at this point, you'd have to think to yourself, "Self, why doesn't this card seem to work?" I immediately point out that the show she's trying to buy is in Florida, which we can't access here at the outlet. Problem solved, or at least the problem at hand!

The birthday that won't die...

2009-03-30T14:07:00.002-04:00

That's right, I feel like I've been celebrating my birthday for months now -- which I sort of have been, but that's the fun part, right?

It all started back in the first week of March when I broke down and bought a new IPOD touch and a few other items since then for myself (thanks self, you rock!).

Then, in the run up to my birthday, some of my family members sent me checks, which is always appreciated (thanks family, you rock!).

On the big day itself, TW took me out to dinner at our go-to sort-of special meal place: Not Your Average Joes. We love this place, and don't get there too often, so it was a nice little celebration (thanks TW, you rock!). In addition to that, TW revealved that we would be taking a little New Hampshire vacation in a couple weeks, and the centerpiece of that trip would be a visit to one of Frank Lloyd Wright's house in Manchester, NH -- the Zimmerman House. This is particularly cool for me because I'm an architecture (and Wright) nut, and it will be only my 2nd Wright house to see in person (thanks TW, you rock x2!!).

And finally, I had a bigger celebration on Saturday night organized by my friend Al (seemingly from another continent, as he was traveling in Brazil and Argentina just 48 prior to the party!). We started with a smaller gathering of about 9 people, including one of my old roommates -- also celebrating a birthday -- at Eastern Standard. Check out the pictures of the private dining room that we had reserved just for us -- we felt like rock stars back there. The food was good, although I would like to go back and try other things as well.

Next, we moved the party down to a place called FELT -- so named because of the five pool tables located on the 2nd floor, where we had 2 reserved, along with drink tickets and free admission to the night club on the 4th floor. We had a few new friends join us at the party -- including my newly-relocated-to-Boston cousin Becks, and some new members of the soccer team -- and a great time was had by all.

Of course, any good night out must conclude with the obligatory trip to Chau Chow in Chinatown for some late night General Gau's and Pepper Steak...something about that greasy food certainly settles down the digestive system after a long night of drinking. Thanks go to Al, and I supose to TW as well -- for such a fantastic night out all around -- I've heard nothing but great things from everyone involved, and that goes double for me!!

I, unfortunately, didn't take any pictures, but I'm sure they'll be floating around the interwebs soon. Stay tuned for a trip report on my the New Hampshire leg of my birthday celebrations -- this has certainly been a fun month!

He's still got it...

2009-03-25T13:46:00.000-04:00

That's right, I sure do. Fresh out of the gate today, on this the second day of my 30th year, I got hit on by two separate female customers at the booth. Both were older women -- shit, am I classified as older now? -- and both were harmlessly smiling and very talkative during each transaction. After the second customer, my co-worker leaned out from behind his desk and said, "Yep -- you've still got it. Turning 30 didn't diminish you one bit!"

Last week, a man kept chatting me up, and I was just annoyed because it was a Monday -- and we don't have shows on Monday, so he was essentially just wasting my time. Anyway, at the end of the conversation, he leans in and says, "You have great teeth; you should be an actor." Well, first of all, thanks for the compliment although I don't think my teeth are exactly the bee's knees. They're nicely aligned all right, but I think they're kind of a hazy white (from all the soda). Anyway, he was just another in a long line of B*#tix weirdos we get around the booths.

Today, we had a guy with a huge honkin' ring on his right hand -- normally what you'd expect from a professional athlete. He came by yesterday and I noticed the ring, but upon his return today I had to ask him about it. I was expecting him to be on some Super Bowl team from the 70s or something, but he claimed it was the result of a conference championship from East Tennessee State -- you know, those powerhouses. It just struck me as odd, that's all.

Goodbye 12, goodbye 13, hello...

2009-03-23T21:58:00.003-04:00

...30? Ugh -- I declare a miscount.

Just for the record, I've already purchased the following items for myself in honor of my 30th birthday:

My IPOD touch
"Infinite Jest" by David Foster Wallace (unread)
This cool computer cover

So, all of my fans out there, please cross those items off your list! Stay tuned for a recap later on...until then, I'm signing off for the last time as a twenty-something...

Is that what I sound like?

2009-03-20T10:59:00.004-04:00

Sorry it's been a while...I'm at the tail end of a 5-day work week -- how do you normal people do it? -- and fighting a little head cold to boot, but I've finally got things back on the right track. Anyway, I've got to share these two McDonald's clips for their filet-o-fish sandwich. By the way, I actually eat these sandwiches and enjoy them -- how about that? I'm sure you've all seen this ad, which has been on TV quite a bit lately:

In addition to the incredibly catch jingle, the two men and their reactions are absolutely priceless. But for a more subtle comedic take, check out this clip, which never aired on TV but has been making the rounds online for at least a year now:

Are you listening to me? Hilarious...

Watching "Watchmen"

2009-03-14T18:41:00.002-04:00

Seeing as some of my go-to friends are out of town (TW's in NYC; Al's in Brazil!!), I've been living the bachelor lifestyle this weekend. Mostly this consists of drinking lots of soda and leaving the toilet seat up, and today I reverted to one of my most enjoyable habits of bachelorhood -- (go ahead, insert joke here) -- seeing a Saturday-afternoon movie. I love doing this: always have, always will; and today, I went to see "Watchmen."

Typical array of audience members: skinny Asian kid; fat, balding white guy; goth couple, including the only woman in the audience; and me!

I came into the movie not having read the book, but I was well aware of the negative reviews it'd received in the press -- not that bad reviews bother me; in fact, they probably convinced me to go. I still remember the original Batman movie and all the bad press it received: I loved that movie. Now, I'm not saying that there's a connection between bad press and my reaction to a movie (the sample size is too small), but it won't scare me away.

Now I did enjoy the opening credits, much as Dana Stevens did over at Slate; and I found the action violent, but not overly so. This lengthy movie is structured as a series of vignettes draped upon the structure of a who-dunnit, and from what I've gleaned from the press it seems to mirror the history of the graphic novel, which originally appeared in a serialized form.

My biggest complaint, and it bothered me highly, was the soundtrack. You know all of these songs: Simon and Garfunkel's "Sound of Silence," Hendrix's performance of "All Along the Watchtower," Dylan's "Times are A-Changin'," Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," and some classical music war horses even made an appearance: Mozart's Requiem and Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries.

All fine selections, truly...but I bet you could match up these pieces to their scenes: Cohen's Song accompanied a graphic, yet hollow sex scene; Dylan accompanies the credits, with their historical overview (get it? The times are a-changin!); "Sound of Silence" for a flippin' funeral; Mozart appears post apocolypse and the Wagner reprises its role as go-to Vietnamese soundtrack. Ugh, it's about subtle as a meat cleaver.

One problem with using such recognizable music is that the audience already has a set of memories and emotions already associated with that music; I, for instance, have very specific ties with "Sound of Silence" and once I started to hear that music, I'm not thinking about the movie anymore -- at least, for the time being.

Despite the music, and the preponderance of blue penis (what's the plural form of penis?), I did enjoy the movie. Much more than "Sin City," which was the last such graphic novel-turned-motion-picture that I saw.

Great Books

2009-03-13T19:21:00.000-04:00

I enjoy books, and my apartment is a veritable shrine to that love. I have numerous bookshelves and various other piles of books surrounding me at all times. I read almost anything: from Heller's "Catch-22" and Scott Smith's "The Ruins" to Anthony Keidis' auto-biography "Scar Tissue" and Robert Caro's "The Power Broker" -- a masterful account of Robert Moses that weighs in at over 1000 pages.

I'm a sucker for reading the great novels of recently deceased authors. Last year saw the death of Norman Mailer and David Foster Wallace -- I ran out and bought "Executioner's Song," which I love by the way, but haven't plowed through to completion; this doesn't bode well for my recent purchase of DFW's "Infinite Jest," which is twice as long and infinitely more dense, but who knows...I'm a sucker for footnotes.

By the way, any good John Updike recommendations?

One article, in the recent issue of The New Yorker, augurs my hope for enjoying David Foster Wallace's magnum opus. An excerpt from DRW's unfinished final book appears over the course of four pages -- why is that important? Well, look at the first page: did you notice that there isn't a single paragraph break? When I first noticed that, before I even read the title, I thought to myself: "Wow, what a tour-de-force!" (There are six total paragraph breaks in the entire 4 page excerpt.) Wallace's unfinished novel, as it was revealed in the preceding article, is about a local chapter of the I.R.S. on the local level -- but, on a global level, his novel is about boredom. The daily, hourly and very tedious and repetitive tasks that take just the slightest amount of thought, but require very little effort are the star characters in this excerpt.

"He imagined that the clock's second hand possessed awareness and knew that it was a second hand and that its job was to go around and around inside a circle of numbers forever at the same slow, unvarying machinelike rate, going no place it hadn't already been a million times before, and imagining the second hand was so awful it made his breath catch in his throat, and he looked quickly around to see if any of the examiners near him had heard it or were looking at him."

Those of you working in a cubicle must empathize, right? It's hard for me to say, but I can certainly imagine...

2009-03-10T14:04:00.003-04:00

I've been enjoying SNL lately -- never live, because yes I'm just that old -- but via the DVR. Seth Meyers "Weekend Update" is often the funniest skit of the evening, even though some of his bits can be high on the wack-a-doodle scale. His interviews with Kenan Thompson, as a flustered economist, are classics:

But the recent weekend update featured a Jon Bon Jovi "opposite" band; instead of a tribute band, "Jon Bovi" is a band for those who hate Bon Jovi.

I've been impressed with the level of musicality on T.V. recently: in addition to Anne Hathaway's singing on the Oscars, SNL has featured a number of singing peeps. But the Jon Bovi Opposite band certainly ranks up there...don't you think?

It's a chicken-and-the-egg proposition...

2009-03-05T16:17:00.003-05:00

...but don't forget the grass, the cows, the manure, the photosynthesis, and the symbiosis of it all. What am I talking about? Food, stupid...I'm talking about food. But what you don't realize is that most of the food we eat these days is related to -- if not downright consisting entirely of -- CORN. And this corn isn't the maize of our fairly distant ancestors; this is commodity corn (Hi-Bred 34H31 or the genetically modified 33P67, et al).

Before I get up to my eyeballs in corn, let me preface this blog by saying that I just finished the Michael Pollan book "The Omnivore's Dilemma." In this book, Pollan investigates three separate meals, which fall along a spectrum of options: the Industrial, which culminates in a McDonald's meal that uses corn in virtually every aspect; the Pastoral, which features food all sustainably grown on a farm that uses grass as a common denominator; and the Personal, a meal that was picked, foraged and hunted entirely by Pollan himself in the hills of San Francisco.

Reading about the agro-industrial complex, which dominates the first meal, is so eye-opening -- and stomach churning -- I felt as if I was Neo as he unplugged from The Matrix for the first time.

Did you know the US Government subsidizes the growth of corn to the detriment of the actual farmland itself? The more corn you produce, the more the payout; here's a tasty little Catch-22: when the price of corn drops, the farmer must produce even more corn to cover the downswing in cost. I'm no economist, but doesn't that pretty much reverse supply & demand? And the continuous growth of one plant damages the soil so much that the farmer must then buy pesticides and other chemicals to keep up production.

We grow so much corn in this country that it's unaffordable not to feed it to Cows. Unfortunately, we didn't ask the cows how they felt about this. They are ruminants, which means that their diets consist of grass -- not corn -- and this transposition of their diet requires a pretty heavy dosage of anti-biotics. Fun side note: "fermentation in the rumen produces copious amounts of gas, which is normally expelled by belching during rumination. But when the diet contains too much starch and too little roughage, rumination all but stops, and a layer of foamy slime forms in the rumen that can trap the gas. The rumen inflates like a balloon until it presses against the animal's lungs. Unless action is taken promptly to relieve the pressure, the animal suffocates." p. 77-78.

Speaking of drugs, cows get all kinds of drugs: they have some to halt mad-cow disease, which is a by-product of the fact that we feed rendered cow parts back to the cows (Hey, protein is protein, right?); and the crowding of cows into smaller, denser CAFOS (Concentrated Agriculture Feeding Operations -- seriously) results in a widespread and rapidly evolving immunity to most anti-biotics.

If none of that bothers you, try this one on for size: in these CAFOs, the stalls that house each cow form a circle around a lagoon...this lagoon is formed from the manure that has oozed out of the cow stalls; but, that manure moves pretty slowly. This means that our cows -- our hamburgers, NY strips and ribeyes -- stand and even sleep in manure: "...sooner or later some of the manure caked on these hides gets into the meat we eat. One of the bacteria that almost certainly resides in the manure..." (p. 81-82) is Escheridia coli O 157:H7 -- does that sound familiar?

Understand that as dirty as this situation seems on the surface, one underlying element unites the entire agro-industrial complex, and that is Oil. How do you process are those ears of corn? And move those ears to the CAFOs? And move those cows to and from their slaughter? What about collecting and planting those ears of corn? Oil, oil and more oil...

Check back soon for my -- much more positive -- description of the Pastoral meal.

In which I pontificate on the merits of...

2009-03-03T12:52:00.002-05:00

...just how darn cute this puppy is!

Stolen from Slate's article on the human/animal bond.

Actually, there's no pontification here; just a cute puppy picture.

Rainy Day Women...

2009-03-02T16:46:00.002-05:00

Well, it's not quite rainy here -- but we've got plenty of precipitation. I'm here at the booth today and there's not much to do...other than answer a few questions from some rainy-day women.

My soundtrack for this afternoon has been interesting: Miles Davis, "Birth of the Cool" (1950) which is quite a cool album; and Bob Dylan, "Blonde on Blonde" (1966) -- hence the title. It's amazing to me that only fifteen years separates these albums because their aesthetics are so completely different. "Visions of Johana" is probably my favorite track on the Dylan album, although the entire record is fantastic: "Stuck Inside of Mobile," "Just Like a Woman," and "Sad Eyed Lady" also score high points!

Sprinkle in some early Beatles, earlier today, and a Haydn string quartet that I'm currently writing about, and you've got yourself a well-rounded little swatch of Music History.

Stay warm and dry...

A Garlicky Treat

2009-03-01T19:42:00.002-05:00

Pop a 1/4 cup of popcorn
Cover with 1/8 tablespoon of melted butter
In a thin layer, coat the popcorn with grated Parmesan
Add shredded Asiago and Cheddar cheese, along with garlic powder
Finish with salt and pepper, and (ideally) an iced-cold Coca-Cola

Perfect for movie (or DVR'ed TV) viewing; on tap for tonight, 60 Minutes & the most recent addition of The Clone Wars online at the Cartoon Network -- Sunday nights are great because TW has orchestra rehearsal; can't you tell from the TV lineup?

RBOC: Cobweb edition

2009-02-26T11:11:00.003-05:00

"My name is Celexo, and I'm here to recruit you!" to keep reading my blog, that is...Hello all, it's been a while, so without further ado, my random bits for the past few days:

I just received an early birthday present the other day; is that a computer in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me? No -- it's an Ipod touch. It's awesome, and I keep discovering new, cool and actually helpful tricks on it every day.
I'm not disappointed that Sean Penn won an Oscar, I thought he was very good...but, I think that I discounted his performance because he was recreating a character, whereas Mickey Rourke was creating "Randy the Ram" from scratch. Now that I put it down on paper, I'm beginning to see all the holes in that line of reasoning -- so it's something I'll look out for in the future.
Speaking of the Oscars, did you catch my old buddy Yo-Yo Ma playing a Bach cello suite for a Hyundai ad? This guy will do anything for a buck -- perhaps, we should be using him to bailout the country.
And Cuba Gooding Jr. showed up at the Oscars, too: don't you think he felt embarrassed to stand up there with Kevin Kline, Alan Arkin, Joel Grey and Christopher Walken? And what does he do? He screams some more, this time at Robert Downey Jr. for stealing roles from black gusy.
I went to see a preview performance of Dmitri Shostakovich's opera The Nose last night. This satire features a nose that disappears from Koyvalov's face, only to turn up later on to occupy a position of higher rank!! It turns out that this absurb concept works particularly well as a critique of the so-called "socialist" culture -- where hierarchy exists, yet everyone is equal. No wonder the opera was shut down after 16 performances!
And finally, LOST, what more can I say? It's really getting down to the nub of things now, with John Locke caught in between two different forces -- love it!

Oscars...

2009-02-22T17:47:00.003-05:00

Just wanted to get in my thoughts before the show tonight...since I've only seen WALL-e, Batman, The Wrestler and Milk, I'm not exactly qualified to talk about much.

But, in the male actor category I've got to say that Mickey Rourke's performance is pretty stunning -- and I'm not just talking about the purely physical aspects of his performance; I felt a wide range of emotions, and that's what it's all about right?

I watched 'The Wrester' and 'Milk' back-to-back yesterday afternoon, and it occurs to me that the two portraits represent two separate paths to the same end (spoiler alert: they both die!); The Wrestler represents the gradual deterioration -- both mentally and physically -- of a washed-up superstar from the 80s, while 'Milk' illustrates the slow accumulation of power/influence in Harvey Milk's life. In both cases, the portraits showed the challenges inherent in living a public life: Milk loses multiple partners (and one to suicide) because of his sheer pursuit of gay rights; Randy the Ram is divorced from his wife, estranged from his daughter, yet still manages to forge a bond that nevertheless cannot keep him from the ring.

My favorite part of 'The Wrestler': once Randy takes his job at the supermarket, but just prior to entering the floor, he halts at the doorway; we hear a crowd, quietly at first then building, chanting Randy's name...it's a very poignant reminder about the seductiveness of the spotlight.

Emile Hirsch, by the way, is a revelation in 'Milk.' In spite of those horrendous glasses, he plays an initially preening, then a more substantial member of Milk's coterie -- he especially incredible when he's preening!

Anyway, enjoy the Oscars...

What Kind of Liberal are You?

2009-02-18T15:03:00.001-05:00

In a review of the new book by Alan Wolfe, "The Future of Liberalism," K. Anthony Appiah undertakes an impressive overview and succinct history of Liberalism -- with a big L. Despite it's current state as a party concerned with important questions -- pro-choice, anti-gun, big government, Liberalism began as a concept more associated with social realism. Appiah points to Immanuel Kant's slogan sapere aude ("Dare to Know") as a liberal's guiding light, and Appiah connects this with the stereotypical image of the liberal artist/scholar. Kant's view of Man's role is not to fulfill god's work, but to create our own path. This stands in stark relief to Rousseau's view of the Man in nature, trusting his instincts (i.e., using faith) to guide him.

Tangentially, this is one of the many reasons I love ABC's Lost. With characters like John Locke and Rousseau -- who, by the way, lived alone (mostly) on the Island for 18 years until Flight #815 crashed -- populating the island, along with many more obscure scientists and mathematicians, create a dense fabric of allusions that keeps the internet buzzing.

Back to the point, here are Alan Wolfe's seven elements of Liberalism: how many define you?

1) Sympathy for equality
2) Inclination to deliberate
3) Commitment to tolerance
4) Appreciation of openness
5) Disposition to grow
6) Preference for realism
7) Taste for Governance

Boston Ballet's "Black and White"

2009-02-16T21:31:00.004-05:00

As promised, I'm including a little more structured description of last night's production of Jiri Kylian's "Black and White" that TW and I went to see. I was so looking forward to this production -- because of the music, mostly -- that I ended up buying tickets.

The production consisted of 5 pieces: Webern's Five Pieces for String Quartet; two slow movements from Mozart piano concertos; what was advertised as a Bach partita, but was really two snippets of the partita separating a very radical transformation of that same music; Steve Reich's Drumming; and a little dollup of whipped cream, six (little) dances by Mozart.

The choreography spanned a wide gulf: from ultra-modern movement, which resembled architecture more or less, to what in context was more "traditional." I use the scare quotes around traditional because even the most conventional choreography last night was completely modern in orientation.

A series of over-sized dresses provided a continuous link between all five pieces -- sometimes rolled, sometimes lofted overhead, everpresent.

The first piece, "No More Play," played with different spaces throughout the stage. A series of squares of light were projected onto the floor and scrim that helped to demarcate different areas of activity. Dancers strolled behind the scrim, leaned over the lip of the stage into the pit, and were projected high up onto the scrim. The modern choreography often resembled a school-yard jungle gym as the dancers climbed over and upon each other (see the above picture); and the dancers perfectly mirrored the angular musical lines.

The second piece, "Petite Mort," began with an unaccompanied rhythmical dance with swords -- a first for me! But once the music (Mozart piano concerti) kicked in, the choreography slid into a more traditional territory.

The third work,"Sarabande," literally scared the bejeesus out of TW: at one point, the dancers turned to the audience and shrieked. This work juxtaposed the old and new, but it also played around clothes. In addition to the large rolling dresses, the five men pulled their shirts over their heads -- and danced; and then pulled their tights down around their ankles -- and danced! Oh, and they shrieked...I know I'm not selling this very well, but it was a very interesting work. The entire piece was enacted with the rolling dresses hanging halfway up over the stage. I interpreted this as a commentary about either a) woman's domination over men; or b) modern technology's domination over man. Either way, it made me think -- and cower a little bit.

The penultimate work, "Falling Angels," was most likely my favorite piece. It's complete integration with the music made it so succesful. Reich's piece, "Drumming," is a minimalist masterpiece: Minimalism, in a nutshell, consists of very small cells of music repeating over and over again; and these repetitions start to reveal variations as they build layer upon layer. Not for the faint of heart, but very cool when combined with such unique choreography. The dancing paired ensemble precision with outburts of soloistic flair; the rhythmic persistence of the score was illustrated in the constant fluctuations in the dancers.

The final piece, "Six Dances," was the perfect cherry on top of the evening. (Overly) Powdered wigs and actual skirts on the woman were consistent with the more traditional movements -- yet, the head butts and pattycakes enlivened the affair!

Overall, a great evening of modern dance...check out a tragically short version below. The clips are: "Six Dances," "Sarabande," "No More Play," "Petite Mort," and the final piece is "Fallen Angels."

Sunday's for rest, right?

2009-02-15T22:08:00.002-05:00

Not for me...what follows is a mild brag!

8:30 am -- Leave the house to fill my slowly leaking front right tire; then, drive to watch TW play an early-morning soccer game.

9:00 - 10:00 am -- Watch TW play; she's pretty scrappy down low in the corners, and she assisted on one goal and hit a post; I leave from the game and drive directly downtown to work at B*#tix.

11:00 am - 4:00 pm -- Work at the booth, which is swamped by the way: it's a three-day weekend and the start of vacation week for most schools up here in the Northeast.

4:30 - 6:30 pm -- Arrive at Ivy for dinner; yummy, delicious Italian food served tapas style...try the butcher block of cheese and other assorted goodies, especially if you have a gift card from your mother (thanks mom)!!

7:00 - 9:15 pm -- Watch the Boston Ballet's production of Black and White...no, it's a staged version of Michael Jackson's ill-fated single, but a fantastic series of five ballets presented by the Czech choreographer Jiri Kylian. It was awesome, by the way, and I'll be blogging it more completely once I've had a time to digest it all.

10:00 pm -- Just got home and am now telling all you about it!

Old Jews Telling Jokes...

2009-02-14T15:45:00.003-05:00

...dot com, that is. I've been spending a few spare moments over there, and laughing a bunch. It's pretty self-explanatory: old jews telling their favorite jokes. In my opinion, here's the best one:

For short and sweet, check out "Chicken." I can relay it here:

Do you know how to sell a chicken to a deaf guy? You say, "HEY--DO YOU WANT TO BUY A CHICKEN?"

Priceless...

Meme-ing it, high school style!

2009-02-10T14:17:00.002-05:00

Directions: Fill this out about your SENIOR year of high school. REPOST with the name of high school and graduating year in the subject box.

1. Did you date someone from your school?
Yes; I dated the vet from the end of junior year and on for quite a while...

2. Did you marry someone from your high school?
No; she was a vegetarian and I should have known right then and there that it wouldn't work out.

3. Did you car pool to school?
No; I took classes in "A" period (before school began) all four years: the first two, my dad dropped me off on his way to teach; and the second two, I drove because I invariably had to drive to a rehearsal after school each day -- practically!

4. What kind of car did you have?
My first was a gold Toyota half-hatchback monstrosity that I loved; next, I drove my grandma's oldsmobile something or other...

5. What kind of car do you have now?
Toyota corolla, 2000.

6. It's Friday night...where are you? (then)
If I didn't have a rehearsal, I was most likely at a movie (we loved movies), and then off to Denny's or later Applebee's to discuss/flirt with everyone else.

7. It is Friday night...where are you? (now)
Most certainly not at dinner and Denny's; mostly hanging out with TW, but the location varies.

8. What kind of job did you have in high school?
I taught cello lessons the entire time, which I suppose was the reason I could afford to always drive everyone -- that, and I was one of the few to have a car that others weren't embarrassed to be seen in.

9. What kind of job do you do now?
Musicologist-in-training/B@#tix lifer...

10. Were you a party animal?
Hardly; I don't think I went to a single party during high school that wasn't a cast party for play or musical.

11. Were you considered a flirt?
I think perhaps I might have been considered a flirt, at least in a very small circle of friends -- I would need some objective observations to back that up, however...

12. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir?
Orchestra and showchoir, yes that's right -- showchoir!

13. Were you a nerd?
Music nerd, yes; regular nerd, probably to others but I didn't think so...

14. Did you get suspended or expelled?
The closest I ever came to punishment of any sort would have been for giving my middle-school string teacher my middle finger; but, in my defense, it was made out of wax and how could she possibly have known that it was my middle finger?

15. Can you sing the fight song?
Did we have a fight song? Sarah, you'll have to fill me in...

16. Who was your favorite teacher?
Both the Eichenbergers (my string and choir directors), and later Mr Marsh who was my Senior Humanities guru cum inspirational guide through life!

17. Where did you sit during lunch?
I had variable locations, but I always had chips and coke for lunch...never went through the cafeteria line once!

18. What was your school's full name?
McCluer North High School

19. When did you graduate?
1997

20. What was your school mascot?
The North Star, and I didn't realize it at the time but one of my best friends -- Sarah -- was actually the mascot!

21. If you could go back and do it again, would you?
Perhaps; but it would depend on my mood at the time.

22. Did you have fun at Prom?
Which one? I went to 4 proms in 5 years, which I contend must be some sort of record...I did have fun, I suppose, but it wasn't really "dear diary" stuff, if you know what I mean.

23. Do you still talk to the person you went to Prom with?
No.

24. Are you planning on going to your next reunion?
I just went to my 10-year reunion, last fall, but I don't think I'll be doing any of that again anytime soon.

25. Do you still talk to people from school?
Actually, I still talk to more teachers than students; but, Sarah and Chris have been there through the thick and thin of it all!

Vegas, baby, Vegas...

2009-02-09T14:30:00.002-05:00

I'm continuing my Celexo's Great Stories series in honor of the recent trip Cryin' Grandma and Crazy Aunt just took. As you can read in the title, this particular story is set in Las Vegas -- that wretched hive of scum and villainy.*

The setting: Las Vegas; the time: Spring Break, 2001; the players: Celexo and his roommate of four years, Paulie Leggs.**

Looking back on this story now, I am a) amazed that I could afford a trip to Las Vegas when I was a senior in college; and b) saddened that I had no idea that there was a thriving poker there at that time...c'est la vie.

I think that Paulie was a little more experienced with the concept of gambling than I was, at that time, although neither of us had been to Vegas. He understood the basic concepts of Blackjack, while I understood that Aces were good for 1 or 11; neither of us understood much more than blackjack, but Paulie was certainly alot more worldy than I was.

We took the red eye out; and to this day, I attribute that to our downfall. We landed around 2am, Vegas time, which felt like 4am to us. Being the cheap college students that we were, we didn't book a hotel that night: we decided to drop off our bags and hit the strip -- ugh! Except we didn't so much as hit the strip, as hit the casino floor. Oh, by the way, we were staying the very classy Circus Circus hotel.

At the time, I think we both grossly underestimated our bankrolls. I'm guessing here that between the two of us, we had about $600 for a four-day trip -- that's $300 apiece, for those of you keeping score at home. So, we promptly sit down at a $5 a hand blackjack table, and you know how this is gonna end, right?

WRONG!! Paulie goes on a huge run: he's so hot that they switch dealers, they cut the deck mid-deal and they eventually bring in a cooler...we had no idea what they were doing, but an old grizzled local leaned over and educated us little by little.*** I, on the other hand, was up and down, and after a four-hour session (or so) I had lost about $200 (or 2/3) of my entire bankroll.

Bankroll updates: Paulie is +$300; Celexo is -$200; for a total of $500 between the two of us.

It's now about 7am or so and we discover that we'll be able to check in around 9am...so go to the little cafeteria, grab a bite to eat, and then walk around the place. It's huge!! There are multiple towers and casinos; there's even a bonafied circus midway that sits directly atop the casino floor -- there's nothing sadder than a Vegas casino at breakfast; although Paul won, I was most definitely loser at that point and I fit right in with the locals.

Day #2: We wake up around mid-afternoon and repeat our late-morning ritual: we walk around, grab a .99-cent slice of pizza and decide our plan of action for the day. Dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe (okay, but not great) and then off to Caesar's Palace to (hopefully) turn around my luck and continue Paul's!

Let's jump ahead to the action: Caesar's only has $25 tables, and Paul's still feeling his oats so he sits right down -- I, of course, have only $100 dollars and don't feel lucky, so I get to watch the blood bath. Paul proceeds to lose 12 hands in a row, or about 60% of our entire bankroll, as I stare on blankly...

We get out of there with the shirts on backs, but just barely. We decide to walk home (saves $), which isn't that far, but has the disadvantage of taking us right next two about 3 more casinos, including the Treasure Island (cleverly repackaged as TI). Paul claims, to this day, that I was so desperate for $$ that I discussed selling our belts and shoes -- I'm sure that I never discussed selling my shoes; the belts, on the other hand, were possibly brought up, who knows?

Once we get to our hotel, we walk past the main casino floor (phew!) en route to our rooms; but, the tower casino (closer to our room) calls our name and we decide to try our luck once more...you guessed it, things do not go well. We finally pull the plug with a grand total $50 remaining BETWEEN THE TWO OF US!

We have no credit cards, no cell phones and no money -- well, actually we had $50 for two more full days in Las Vegas. That night, as we sat in our hotel room licking our wounds, Paulie called his girlfriend...like a saviour from the heavens, she mentioned that her step-dad just happened to be in Vegas at the time and that he would help us out. He showed up the next time and took us on a tour of the Hoover Dam; he bought us lunch (something other than .99-cent pizza!) and generally killed a full day for us -- it was a Vegas miracle.

The fourth and final day as miserable...we spent it walking up and down the strip; watching the volcano, the pirate show and fountains; we sat in the sportsbook at the Mandalay Bay, and generally felt like the degenerates that we were...we even discussed the best (i.e., cheapest) way to get to the airport. Since the Mandalay Bay was closer to the airport, we took a shuttle with our luggage there, dropped it off and then walked away from and then back toward it by the end of the day...ugh, what a schlep that was.

All in all, we had a great time although not a very profitably one**** -- and of course, we got a fabulous story!

* No, not Mos Eisley ... God, I hope anyone who reads this blog will get that reference.
** I wished we actually called him that because he was all of 5'3" tall.
*** Looking back on it now, I'm sure that my "unorthodox" play was driving him mad; but he must have known that we were relative newbies...
**** I think I just had enough money in my pocket to buy a delicious cina-bon in the airport.

It's about the Arts, stupid...

2009-02-06T12:00:00.003-05:00

I've been reading the coverage on the new stimulus bill, which is now in the Senate, with a mixture of anticipation and dread. On the one hand, I'm amazed at the amount of hand holding Obama's been doing with the Republicans. I'm sure that we can all agree that the current financial crisis is certainly equivalent to the crisis of 9/11, and in that aftermath, Bush most certainly did not reach out to the Democrats -- let alone the Republicans. Do we really think the Senate minority will filibuster what is most likely the most necessary piece of legislation in recent history? No, I do not -- I think that they are trying to score cheap points now, which they can cash in later down the road when they're running for re-election.

One of their whipping boys is, of course, funding for the arts. This particular topic is highly sensitive around Boston these days -- see the Brandeis threat* to close and sell off $350 million worth of art to cover a budget shortfall -- and, in particular, with me. The horrible economy has finally trickled down to my (admittedly small) rung of the ladder. I'm now heading into the second semester of my graduate years, of which there have been many, that I have not been hired to teach either as an adjunct or an instructor.

This brings me back to my original point: why would anyone cut funding for the arts? There are examples too numerous to recount here in total, but suffice to say that the flowering of Rome, Florence, Vienna, Paris and London all had their attending artistic movements.** Now, whether those movements were funded directly by the government is not the point; people spend money on the arts, and that is precisely we need.

I'm not arguing that the Arts Alone Will Save Us (worst action movie, ever!). So, why don't we hit the problem where it started, with the houses. Allegedly, we have scores of houses just rotting out in neighborhoods across the country...the longer these houses sit, the harder it is to sell them, and the local government collects even less taxes, and the local schools get hit harder than before so that they have to cut music and art classes -- look at how easy that was cut arts funding!

Here's my solution: why don't we take 3 million (or billion) dollars, which we're doling out like candy anyway, and pay small teams of men -- and women -- to rehabilitate these houses: mow the lawn; clean the property; paint the front doors...not only do we prepare the houses to sell, which generates local taxes, but also we spread some income throughout these teams of workers out painting/cleaning & mowing.

Just my two cents...

* I'm including the latest letter from our President in its entirety to see if you can parse his meaning.

Dear Members of the Brandeis community:

The past ten days have been extremely difficult for all of us. I have heard from many of you and listened carefully to your criticisms and constructive suggestions. I have read every message on the faculty list serve, and the thoughtful letter sent to me by a group of faculty last night. I have also heard from students, staff, alumni, university presidents and complete strangers about my statements regarding the vote by the Board of Trustees concerning the Rose Art Museum.

In retrospect, I wish I had handled the initial statements I made in a far more direct way. Unfortunately, those statements did not accurately reflect the Board’s decision authorizing the administration to conduct “an orderly sale or other disposition of works from the university’s collection.” The statements gave the misleading impression that we were selling the entire collection immediately, which is not true. The University may have the option, subject to applicable legal requirements and procedures, to sell some artworks if necessary, but I assure you that other options will also be considered. The Museum will remain open, but in accordance with the Board’s vote, it will be more fully integrated into the University’s central educational mission. We will meet with all affected University constituencies to explore together how this can best be done.

I regret as well that I did not find a more inclusive and open way to engage the Brandeis community in the deliberations that led to the Board’s decision.

I take full responsibility for causing pain and embarrassment in both of these matters. To quote President Obama, “I screwed up.”

Having learned from this experience, I will do my best, as will the entire administration, to work together with all of you in a collaborative manner. We must cooperate as we move forward to confront our financial crisis. But we also have to take bold steps. Obviously, we have many tasks ahead of us regarding the curriculum and the budget.

In meetings with members of the faculty and with students in the past few days, I have been heartened by the enormous reservoir of good will, imagination and willingness to work hard to guarantee that Brandeis will continue to thrive as a first-rate institution of higher learning.

Sincerely,

Jehuda Reinharz

** I also think the correlative works too: the last eight years saw the rise in pretty crappy entertainment -- i.e., the proliferation of reality TV -- and a similar nadir in public service/government.

RBOC: Edition Incoherent...

2009-02-04T11:17:00.002-05:00

Today's random bits are sponsored by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, or MBTA. "The MBTA -- guaranteed to get you where you need to go, precisely when you don't want to get there."

Why oh why, dear MBTA, do you need to take the train, which I'm riding, out of service? How about that nice, lovely little train right behind us? No, okay...let me just depart the train, stand out in the cold for 12 minutes, and risk being late to work -- just for fun!
Boss #1 and Boss #2 are both in Utah for a conference this entire week; I guess that elevates my status from Boss #3 to Boss #1 (sort of).* This means that I get to open/close Fanny 4 days in a row (woohoo!).
Despite a raging snowstorm**, Aloha Mr. Hand went to trivia last night and placed third; this reserves us the final spot in next week's "Tournament of Champions."
Tomorrow marks the one-week anniversary of our reduction in cable. The weekend was fine -- we watched most of Battlestar Galatica season 2.0, and generally survived. This week's been easy, for me at least, because I've been working every flippin' day.
On Monday morning, I turned in my dissertation year fellowship...we're keeping our fingers crossed!
And thanks to Sarah for my blog to anything Aaron Sorkin could have written -- priceless!

* Some of you, perhaps, will remember my Billy (sort of) sweatshirt from years past...I've been having a wicked sense of nostalgia lately.

** It snowed all of 2 inches; this storm was pretty much a pansy-ass bunch of hassle.

Alex vs. The Mouse

2009-02-01T21:24:00.004-05:00

Back in my pre-blogging days, I used to send out periodic (longish) mass e-mails. Since I'm not feeling particularly creative today, I've decided to re-post one of these e-mails. I'm writing this while watching the end of the Super Bowl: wasn't that Alec Baldwin/Hulu commercial during the 4th quarter brilliant?

Anyway, on to the story --

"Hello all-

Well, it's been a long time since I have delivered a mass e-mail so I thought I'd give it a try seeing as I don't talk to people all that often up here.

I'm getting really sick of telling my "old guy croaking on the plane" story, so if you haven't heard that one yet...ask somebody else! This story, entitled "Alex vs. The Mouse," is about a guy named Joe and a, ah I mean a guy named Alex and his (my) battle with a mouse in the apartment. This story needs to be prefaced by the fact that my roommate moved in the Saturday before Thanksgiving and for the 2 1/2 months before then I never heard, saw or imagined a mouse in the apartment. Apparently, Andrew (my roommate) made some OJ the other day (Thurs) and seems to have missed the trash can with the empty can. Friday night I come home after a long day of class and work. I go into the kitchen to get some Coke, obviously, and I see a huge tail sticking out from behind the trash can and then he scurries away...Damn, I think to myself, I pick up the trash and hope that the damn mouse forgets where he was. No such luck, after a night at T's pub I come home and go to bed. No sooner than my TV turns off I hear something scurrying around. I spring out of bed, grab my glasses and run to the kitchen (which is all of two steps) to hear the mouse run out of the trash and back behind the fridge. Round One goes to the Mouse...I can't get any sleep that night, every hour or so I hear him, spring out of bed-turn on the lights-scare him away and head back to bed...NO SLEEP AND ALL MOUSE PLAY MAKE ALEX A VERY TESTY BOY

Round Two is Sunday night...Saturday night I saw Monty Python at a midnight showing and was in too much glee to be bothered by a rodent...Back to Sunday night, I move the trash can to cover what I think is the hole Mr. Mouse is sneaking out of...No such luck, another on again off again night of sleep but I do think I win this round. I hear Mr. Mouse scurrying around like usual but this time I hear him in what I think is my stove...Once again, I spring out of bed (at this point, I'm thinking that my roommate thinks I have a huge bed-wetting problem) to run into the kitchen. I turn on all the burners of my gas stove and for one instance I hear this mouse scream...Have you ever heard a mouse scream? I did...freaky...Anyway, he still escaped but I'm hoping that I singed him a little.

Anyway, Round Three consists of me constructing a large Mouse-Hole blocking device (re: two pieces of 1x6's screwed together) to stop Mr. Mouse...Last night, I hear Mr. Mouse scratching away at the Mouse-Hole blocking devices but that's it and off to sleep I go.

Well, I'm hoping that Mr. Mouse decides to visit other apartments from now on, but who knows? Anyway, if anybody knows of any particular mouse traps or poisons that work well, please share..."

By the way, I ended up buying a sticky trap for the Mr. Mouse. It worked, insofar as it caught the mouse; but, he was still alive...so, I ended up scooping the trap+mouse into a plastic bag and (I'm not proud of this) threw it out of the window (3 stories up!). Bye, bye Mr. Mouse...

"Tricky Dick" or Frosty-Lost(y)...

2009-01-29T10:52:00.002-05:00

Today's blog is a jumble of things...Last night's episode of Lost; and my attendance at the Boston premiere of "Frost/Nixon" (the play).

First of all, last night's Lost was truly a home run. It combined two of the more mysterious characters on (and off) the island: Richard Alpert, the seemingly never-aging, yet ever present man-about-the-Island, and Charles Widmore, Penny's dad and (apparently) one-time cohort of Richard himself back in the 1950s. Add in a little touch of island intrigue -- just where did that H-bomb come from? -- and you've got yourself a recipe for TV deliciousness.

My prediction: this H-bomb, which was ensconced in an A-frame tower very similar to the one used in the John Adams/Peter Sellars opera Doctor Atomic, needs to be protected, right? Well, Daniel Farraday said that it was corroding and claimed that the Others (pre-Dharma) needed to enclose it in lead and concrete. My guess is that the Others, since there's most likely a shortage of concrete and lead on the Island, will take it to the Temple -- that hitherto unseen location on the Island where the Others (post-Dharma) went to hide from the Boatpeople.

Other thoughts:
1) Who was that Other guarding Farraday and why did she look familiar to him? Was it, perhaps, the girl that he supposedly rendered comatose in Oxford with his time-space continuum experiments? It was hard to tell from the photo that we saw, but all things are possible on Lost, aren't they?

2) I love Miles' ability to speak to dead people...his reading of 4 dead soldiers early in the episode helped Farraday to pinpoint the era (1950s) so that he was able to convince Alpert about the H-bomb.

3) We had another illusion to the uber-mysterious Jakob. Who is this guy/spirit/deity/mapmaker?

4) I just love the time travel...will we be informed about the other, older mysteries on the Island? I'm talking about the Black Rock -- that whaling/slave ship from the 1890s -- and the Adam-and-Eve skeletons back in the Cave? What about Rousseau's expedition?

5) I'm a little tired of the "Oceanic Six." We had a whole session devoted to their exploits back on the mainland, and frankly, I'm sick of them. Give me all Island, all the time...

========

"Frost/Nixon"

Two nights ago I went to see "Frost/Nixon" -- not the movie, but the play. It opened here in Boston, on Tuesday, and starred Stacy Keach as Frank Langhella as Richard Nixon. Although his performance was satisfying, I couldn't stop comparing his rather stocky body to the guy presiding over the marriage in that (fantastic) movie, Beetlejuice.

But, back to the play: as you know, it is about a series of interviews the British talk-show host turned journalist David Frost obtained from Richard Nixon -- Nixon's first interviews after Watergate. Apparently the play takes a few liberties from the exact interviews, but it nonetheless creates a narrative that is intriguing. By the end of the play, the audience sees a detente between the two men that were prior combatants, and you can easily begin to understand the actions on both sides.

The set is dressed to remind you that the initial format was TV: a giant screen hangs atop the stage and shows a closed-circuit video feed of the actual stage production. This produces an effect where the audience is torn between watching the stage and watching the screen; a not-so-subtle reminder that TV is all powerful...Nixon obsesses about his appearance; after his disastrous "sweaty debate" debacle with Kennedy, Nixon continuously wipes his brow and lip, and asks many times to fix his collar.

The climax of the play centers on Frosts ability to get Nixon to apologize; and it's in this moment that the huge TV comes to life. Instead of staying on the full body shot, which they've used throughout the entire play, the camera closes in tight on Nixon's face as it's clear that he's agonizing about his role in Watergate. This creates, at least for me, a very sympathetic portrait of the ex-President.

My two quarrels with the play are technical...First, every actor/director knows that the first rule of stage direction is that you -- as an actor -- need to open up your body to the audience. Now, I was sitting in the center section -- my normal seats! -- and, half of the time, characters were talking upstage!! Perhaps they were just lazy, or it was their first night in a new theatre, but for whatever reason I spent a majority of the show watching people's backsides. The second half of the play is set around the TV/interview stage setting, which emphasizes just two chairs -- center -- so perhaps the actors are used to standing aside and watching the action, but it's no excuse.

My other complaint concerns the actual structure of the play. To make it cohesive, the playwright uses voice-overs as narration and I just think it's lazy. Frost hires a coterie of assistants to prep for his interviews, and one of these assistants is charged with connecting the dots, so to speak.

=============

My dissertation year fellowship is due on Monday. I've spent the past few days rounding up the necessary items: transcript; ABD certification; and letters of recommendation, or at least letter of recommendation. I'll spend the weekend polishing up my first chapter and the prospectus that I've created...I think it'll be a pretty good looking proposal -- once it's all done!

"...this rebuke to the exemplary..."

2009-01-26T16:25:00.003-05:00

"In a triumph of the middling, in a nod to mediocrity, and with gorge rising, it gives me great nausea to announce Robert Russell -- Bingo Bob, himself -- as your New Vice President.

This lapdog of mining interests is as dull as he is unremarkable, as lackluster as he is soporific, this reversion to the mean, this rebuke to the exemplary, gives hope to the millions unfavored by the exceptional. As the vice-presidency was once being famously described as not worth a bucket of spit, let's all hock a big loogie for Bob Russell.

Not the worst, not the best -- just what we're stuck with."

This scene, from The West Wing's fifth season -- and the episode, I believe, is either "Constituency of One" or "Han" -- is fantastic. I love how Sorkin portrays writers, and writing! In fact, his discussions of the writing process are one of my influences in my writing.

I really enjoy my morning doses of West Wing: my DVR is set to tape any West Wings that appear, and Bravo has been showing them two at time from 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM. So, I eat my oatmeal and watch a West Wing...I love it!

Anyway, I discovered that in the episode "Constituency of One" Sorkin uses a joke that he later recycles in an episode of Studio Sixty on the Sunset Strip.* The joke goes something like this:

A jewish guy calls his mom.
He says, "How are you, mom?"
She replies, "I'm starving; I haven't eaten in 60 days."
The son asks, "Why haven't you eaten in 60 days?"
The mom replies, "I didn't want my mouth to be full in case you called!"

I like this joke...it seems more appropriate for the relationship between my mother and my brother; I, on the other, call my mother every Sunday like a good son -- right, mom?

* This is one my best friend's favorite straw-man arguments concerning Aaron Sorkin...hey Sarah, just cause he repeats himself doesn't mean that he's a bad writer! I said, just cause he repeats himself doesn't mean that he's a bad writer!