January 5, 2009
a couple test shots
A couple test shots with my new camera. It was supposed to be delivered tomorrow, showed up today.
UnWords
For example:
abandick (ə-băn’dĭk) 1. (v.tr.) To leave a man mid-sexual intercourse, causing him much frustration and physical discomfort.
deifenestration (dē’ĭ-fĕn’ĭ-strā’shən) 1. (n.) To throw all talk of God out the window.
thermalophobia (thûr’məl’ō’fō’bē-ə) 1. (n.) An abnormal fear when one is showering that someone might sneak in, flush the toilet, and scald them to death.
vurp (vûrp) 1. (v.) To be reminded of what had been eaten last via a short belch-like occurrence. 2. (n.) A vomit burp.
(thanks, Dale)
Objectified: The Trailer
Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
My wallet, it would seem, I’ll not recover. I only keep the one credit card, so I am going to monitor charges over the next few days and hope that nothing untoward shows up, working on the assumption that someone helped himself to the $200 and ditched the wallet. If a charge I didn’t make appears, I’ll swiftly put a stop on the card, but I’m going to cross my fingers, as I don’t want to go through the annoyance of all the associated changes — the automatic bill payments et cetera, et cetera.
Now I would have seen about a new driver’s license pronto, as on my way back from the shop to which I returned in hopes of finding the wallet, I passed the motor vehicles office. But my hair is soooo overdue for a cut and a color touch-up, and I’ll be damned if I’ll have a photo taken now that I’ll have to live with for any number of years to come. I’ll take the small risk of driving up to Madison to the salon on Wednesday without my license.
I’m a girl. What can I say? I need to replace my ID, there is reason for concern over my credit card, I’m out $200 — and my first concern is sitting for an official photograph in which my untinted roots will be visible.
In exactly which year
did washboard abs become six-pack abs?
(Tangent: Has Sarah Palin made it impossible for ‘liberals’ to say six-pack without wincing?)
A joke for Sheila
Next Halloween Jessie and I are going to the RV park costume party dressed as Todd & Holland.
Max Wanger
The wedding section of Wanger’s site might actually be my favorite.
Crayon Physics
Crayon Physics Deluxe is finally available for pre-order and there is an iPhone version currently out.
Wired’s review of the iPhone version sums up my thoughts pretty well.
the god of small things
Today I can hold a coffee cup in my right hand.
The Arizona Trip
I snapped a few photos with my iPhone during my fly fishing trip at Lees Ferry in Marble Canyon
the effects are usually mild or temporary
I enjoy adding my own list to the voice-over warnings about the side-effects of drugs. A couple recent favorites: double nose, bifurcated penis.
What will change everything?
Every year the Edge Foundation asks a question it sends to a long list of contemporary writers, thinkers, scientists, entrepreneurs, and teachers. This year’s question is: What will change everything?
I’m inclined to think a second Great Depression might.
7 New World Wonders
A new list of “wonders” has appeared on the New Scientist website. It includes the world’s oldest ice-cube and the phenomenon of “earth humming.”
Grilling in the Dark
Excerpts from an Unfinished Detective Story:
He was a chalk outline waiting for a place to happen.
I had roused myself and gotten ready extra-early that morning. A four o’clock shadow now covered my face like cigarette ashes on a dinner plate.
“As much as I hate my life,” she said over her shoulder, “I hate your life even more.”
January 4, 2009
Long-tailing it, Siamese Style
Why supe out your car when you can take the engine and mount it raw on a banana-shaped boat? This is how they roll in Thailand. Note the name of this one…
Obama Long-tail Boat
Here’s a video of a long-tail joy-ride we took in one of the canals of Bangkok. And here’s the full trip dispatch from Bangkok using Ohle’s Pisstown Chaos as our guidebook.
Has anyone heard a peep out of Barack Obama the past few days?
Just wondering, cos I haven’t. Maybe I missed something. Ah, there were no banks involved. Maybe that’s it?
Elaine Bradford’s Museum of Unnatural History
If any of y’all have the time or the inclination, this show should be extremely fun.
Art League, Houston, TX
Museum of Unnatural History, a dioramic installation of new works by Elaine Bradford
January 9 - February 20, 2009
Does anyone else
still get chills during the operatic section of Damien Rice’s “Eskimo”?
Photo from 6 month exposure
Mournful Remembrance
There is truly no point to this; it’s a funeral vignette, no more, no less. Here goes. The Deceased was the mother of my friend’s girlfriend, and the funeral was held in one of those American cities with more rich folks than cultural cachet. And my friend took it in mind that the occasion called for her girlfriend to wear something other than what she customarily wore to the gym or to rehearsals or to the dance classes she taught. So she gussied the girlfriend up in a costume befitting, oh, I don’t know, Sophia Loren, maybe, or possibly Anjelica Huston. Fitted black jacket, short-but-not-too short black skirt, two-and-one-half-inch heels, and a wide-brimmed black hat topping the girlfriend’s long (dyed) (black) hair. Dramatic (but not whorish) make-up.
So the girlfriend made an impact at her mother’s funeral – an impact matched by her father, divorced on more or less friendly terms from The Deceased. As he stepped forth from the limo that conveyed him to the event, he slipped (he was dead drunk), but catching sight of his daughter dressed to the nines, he managed to call out, “It’s show-time!”
Nope. No point to my telling this non-anecdote. Just popped to mind in connection with mourners.
January 3, 2009
My computer died last night.
So this is a picture of my computer, lying in state.
It was a one and a half year old Macbook. It died while we were transferring my iTunes library to my 500 gb G drive, to clear space for the Macbook to breathe. Not everything I had on it was backed up, although because all the music we’re doing lately is recorded and backed up on Ross’ system, it’s nowhere near as bad as it could be. I did lose the start of a rapturous piece of written work, a lot of photos and the full bandwidth versions of my photo movie projects.
This is my first computer to actually die. My old ‘96 Performa is still working fine, on its 1 gb of total memory, or thereabouts.
I was looking forward to sharing some pics from the steam whistle extravaganza we went to on New Year’s Eve, some of which were remarkable, but I emptied the last 200 pics into iPhoto an hour before the whole thing ticked its last.
Let’s have a wake. Let’s share our memories of computers past, how they died, and how we remember them.
new issue of the Believer
The new issue of the Believer has a nice article online from Gary Lutz, and there’s also an interview with the amazing Gordon Lish. Think I’ll go out and buy a copy. You can read the full Lutz speech online:
The Believer
Christmas Day 2008
A little after the event!
I spent Christmas day with my 94 year old mother-in-law. She has her own teeth and reads; she knows what is happening! Other than her two daughters, everyone who is dear to her is dead - we made an effort this year. I snapped this as we left her house. I do hope that there is a next year.
“Do you like good music /
That sweet soul music?”
This song makes me cry.
dear clusterflock
What band from your glory days do you still enjoy?