Last weekend we went to Paris! I had a lovely time, despite having mixed feelings about the city itself. It was hella cold, btw, and on Saturday morning I had to buy some socks from a crazy mustachioed man in a plaid jacket. Mmmm boy, those are some warm socks.
Hooray, I finally got to check out the Velib, Paris' new bike rental program! It's awesome, and I was impressed at how heavily used they were, and how easy it seemed to use. Of course, as a non-resident and unprepared person, I was not able to rent one myself, but, mark my words, I will do so on my next visit!
On Saturday night, we went to a little restaurant hosted by a man with a tremendous mustache. It was amazing. I appreciate that sort of effort. In my imaginary world where I can go about my day with prosthetic facial hair, I would purchase this product to assist with this look. Finally, someone has created a more durable version of the "prosthetic" mustache.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Monday, October 13, 2008
obsessions throughout history
Perhaps due to my lack of time to listen to much of anything, I can't get these Fleet Foxes songs out of my head. I find myself whistling them, thinking about them. They jumble together into 1 glorious song.
Thinking about this current fascination led me to listing all of my favorite-obsession-songs, that I can remember at least, the ones that get stuck in my head at least every day for a month. Memory may fail me, or I'll end up writing all my favorite songs ever, but here goes. And really, I don't know what I expect to get out of this. Nothing, really, but sometimes I just want to reminisce.
In vaguely chronological order:
David Bowie - Starman (my first favorite song)
Quo - Quo Funk (one-song wonders, and not even a good one)
Pharcyde - Passin' me By
Ice Cube - Today Was a good day
Salt n Pepa - Shoop (once upon a time knew all the words)
Cracker - Low (1994?)
Morrisey - Big Mouth Strikes Again
Mel Carter - Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me
Tribe Called Quest - Award Tour
Jeff Buckley - Last Goodbye (damn, I loved that one. a great song)
Radiohead - Paranoid Android
Blur - Sing (Trainspotting soundtrack!)
Belle & Sebastian - waiting for the moon to rise
The Divine Comedy - something for the weekend
Outkast/Big Boi - Ghetto Musick (w/ Patti Labelle!)
Of Montreal - The Party's Crashing Us Now
That's about all I can think of right now. There are some major gaps in that history, though....
Thinking about this current fascination led me to listing all of my favorite-obsession-songs, that I can remember at least, the ones that get stuck in my head at least every day for a month. Memory may fail me, or I'll end up writing all my favorite songs ever, but here goes. And really, I don't know what I expect to get out of this. Nothing, really, but sometimes I just want to reminisce.
In vaguely chronological order:
David Bowie - Starman (my first favorite song)
Quo - Quo Funk (one-song wonders, and not even a good one)
Pharcyde - Passin' me By
Ice Cube - Today Was a good day
Salt n Pepa - Shoop (once upon a time knew all the words)
Cracker - Low (1994?)
Morrisey - Big Mouth Strikes Again
Mel Carter - Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me
Tribe Called Quest - Award Tour
Jeff Buckley - Last Goodbye (damn, I loved that one. a great song)
Radiohead - Paranoid Android
Blur - Sing (Trainspotting soundtrack!)
Belle & Sebastian - waiting for the moon to rise
The Divine Comedy - something for the weekend
Outkast/Big Boi - Ghetto Musick (w/ Patti Labelle!)
Of Montreal - The Party's Crashing Us Now
That's about all I can think of right now. There are some major gaps in that history, though....
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Back to the Future
After about 6 months of being disconnected from the rest of humankind, I now have internet access at home again. Yes, I am sitting on the couch, computer on lap, tea on couch... (don't move too suddenly, or tea will be on lap).
The past months I have spent in the Internet Cafe/phone booth/discount shop across the street, where neighbourhood kids come to play computer games or IM each other with harrassing comments, men come to play online poker for 4 hours, people search for jobs (I was one of these), and even just to check some email and read some news (also me).
The phone booths had doors but no handles, probably because the actual booth was too small to stand inside and use the phone at the same time. You'd be surprised at how much space your elbows take up. This somewhat defeated the purpose of having a booth, because everyone could hear what you said. I was one of few English speakers using the phone booth, which made it difficult to talk about anything but pressing affairs such as a request for money. This also meant that I could not talk about anyone in the place, as they would most certainly hear me.
Similarly, the computer tables were a little too small to comfortably fit the keyboard, which had obviously never been cleaned.
While the place did make me feel pretty claustrophobic, I think what simultaneously irritated-the-piss-out-of and fascinated me was the freezer full of halal meals and frozen fish. It remains a mystery to me how a shop could claim, at face value, to offer web services and phone cards and then fill up half of the space with food and dry goods (with the occasional flat of 36 eggs).
Still, the place was always packed. When it wasn't crammed with people on dating websites or online gambling, kids gossiping while one IM'd another gaggle of kids, the shop seemed to be a center for a local Muslim population, mostly African. I guess it offered them a space to socialize and buy cheap and familiar foods.
But damn, the place could have been a little less packed with broken monitors, enormous freezers, flats of Coke, and still could retain a social value.
The past months I have spent in the Internet Cafe/phone booth/discount shop across the street, where neighbourhood kids come to play computer games or IM each other with harrassing comments, men come to play online poker for 4 hours, people search for jobs (I was one of these), and even just to check some email and read some news (also me).
The phone booths had doors but no handles, probably because the actual booth was too small to stand inside and use the phone at the same time. You'd be surprised at how much space your elbows take up. This somewhat defeated the purpose of having a booth, because everyone could hear what you said. I was one of few English speakers using the phone booth, which made it difficult to talk about anything but pressing affairs such as a request for money. This also meant that I could not talk about anyone in the place, as they would most certainly hear me.
Similarly, the computer tables were a little too small to comfortably fit the keyboard, which had obviously never been cleaned.
While the place did make me feel pretty claustrophobic, I think what simultaneously irritated-the-piss-out-of and fascinated me was the freezer full of halal meals and frozen fish. It remains a mystery to me how a shop could claim, at face value, to offer web services and phone cards and then fill up half of the space with food and dry goods (with the occasional flat of 36 eggs).
Still, the place was always packed. When it wasn't crammed with people on dating websites or online gambling, kids gossiping while one IM'd another gaggle of kids, the shop seemed to be a center for a local Muslim population, mostly African. I guess it offered them a space to socialize and buy cheap and familiar foods.
But damn, the place could have been a little less packed with broken monitors, enormous freezers, flats of Coke, and still could retain a social value.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
2008 obsession?
I MUST learn how to make these USB critters! My USB stick is a dull grey rubber. No fun at all!
Friday, November 16, 2007
Is this what US politics have come to?
I saw this piece of "news" on MSN after logging out of hotmail. This is truly disgusting. I take this as representative of the depths to which the right-wing press will stoop to blaspheme their opponents. Poor Obama. I'm afraid that the worst might still be yet to come....
Saturday, July 28, 2007
My Summer Vacation
During my recent visit home to the States, I got to enjoy just about all the Americana I could fit into 2 weeks.
We drove out to NY, where we visited my sister's college; she'll be attending the Equestrian Science program at Morrisville State College. My grandpa asked if her horse was accepted as well -- Beau will be moving to Morrisville with Alice, but he won't really be "attending" as such. Only the college's horses are really part of the program. Those guys seem to have a good life out there -- lovely stables and huge fields to run around in.
I went camping with my family in the Adirondack mountains of New York State. Such a beautiful area! Unfortunately it was too cold to go swimming in the area's many lakes, but we went hiking a few times.
I picked the 7.5 mile hike that almost killed us all with its steep inclines. But there were beautiful views of the whole area at the top!
We also got to visit some family. It was great to see Gimma, Gimpa, Alice & Alex, and Janice!
We drove out to NY, where we visited my sister's college; she'll be attending the Equestrian Science program at Morrisville State College. My grandpa asked if her horse was accepted as well -- Beau will be moving to Morrisville with Alice, but he won't really be "attending" as such. Only the college's horses are really part of the program. Those guys seem to have a good life out there -- lovely stables and huge fields to run around in.
I went camping with my family in the Adirondack mountains of New York State. Such a beautiful area! Unfortunately it was too cold to go swimming in the area's many lakes, but we went hiking a few times.
I picked the 7.5 mile hike that almost killed us all with its steep inclines. But there were beautiful views of the whole area at the top! We also got to visit some family. It was great to see Gimma, Gimpa, Alice & Alex, and Janice!
Sunday, July 1, 2007
Angel of the North
http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/gormley/I went to see Antony Gormley's cool cool exhibition yesterday at the Hayward Gallery at the Southbank Centre. I love huge installation work, particularly if it's interactive and/or technically impressive -- this was all of the above. Gormley uses the body as his starting point -- his or those of others -- and experiments with spatiality (and thus somewhat with perception). The Blind Light piece was pretty crazy -- a glass box filled with fog that you can explore and walk around in. You really lose the sense of your surroundings -- after about 10 minutes it got quite disorienting.
Another really fascinating one is Event Horizon, in which 31(?) cast-iron life-size models of Gormley were placed on top edges of buildings, bridges, etc. around a 1km+ area of the gallery, so, stepping out on the roof (or even from the ground), you can see all these human figures observing you.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/gallery/2007/may/03/art?picture=329805771Also, the Southbank Centre is really cool. But more on that later.
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