Catching up this month

Earlier this month the writers and editors over at Slate starting wondering what cultural artifacts our new millennium would leave behind. Reading the article reminded me of when I was a kid and my brother and I were heavy into the Indian Jones, lost treasure, and anthropology. (I’m pretty sure this was after dinosaurs but before X-Men). Anyway, we tried to think of what kind of treasures we would leave behind, and what people 200 years from now would think about it. (From what I remember we thought that Barbie would be mistaken for a house hold goddess/idol and Hot Wheels precious currency).
Obviously those are artifacts from the previous millennium, but it’s an interesting list worth looking at.

Slate is also doing some silly internet polling….so you can go vote and the wonder at the idiots who think “The Star Wars Kid” is going to survive the next 100 years.

This month was also the NYC Marathon. Christoph Niemann, the all-around fantastic illustrator, did a great live illustration of the event…while running the 26.2 miles. It’s charming and a really nice way to see how someone’s brain works when it’s running that far. Apparently you think about bananas and pen caps. If nothing else, you should absolutely check out his work.

And in follow up, I remember when this project, 3191 a Year of Mornings ,was just a beautiful blog of pretty pretty images. Now it looks like it’s taken off in some great ways. If you get the chance,take some time to enjoy the peaceful images. When you are wondering at the beauty of toast try not to think about how disorganized and chaotic your mornings are. I just have to believe those ladies have a “beautify” lens on their cameras that instantly turns a bowl of oatmeal into art…

I’m back

Over 2 years ago I abandoned this blog. It was a lonely orphan wandering the dark sleezey streets of the internet. In a curious and delightful way we’ve reconnected and you’ll be able to find me here….blogging. As a side note–I know we can’t change “blogging”, but writing it down and seeing it on screen makes me feel kind of squidgy. I’d welcome some recommendations for a new name of whatever it is I’m doing.

Anyway. Howdy internet! For the start of the week here’s a few links to get reacquainted:
We’ll start here at I love charts  because they’ve got a great diagram of toast.

And last week, the DailyMail had a silly article about women, here’s the the actual study if you want. From this article it looks like someone got a gift bag from Saphora and turned it into a science fair project. I’m not really sure what to make of it. When participants of the study were shown faces  of women with make-up on they were considered more attractive, competent, likeable and trustworthy. (Do not ask me how mascara makes me more competent or trustworthy. It just does.) But when participants were looking at the make-up face for longer periods of time, the faces with heavy make-up were considered more attractive, competent, likeable, but not trustworthy. In all cases, not wearing makeup apparently makes you a looser.  What’s the take away? Next time I pile on the makeup I’ll make sure to keep moving.

This man’s art will make you feel better.

Once you’ve done that, you can join me leaf collecting. Then we’ll sit around and make these while we drink tea and chat about how much we love fall. We can also sit around an look at pics of Ryan Gosling.

I’m going to be posting about what I’m reading and writing, along with my misadventures here in Asheville. Stay tuned!

Why didn’t they have books like this at my middle school?

the London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd

Ted and his sister watch as their cousin Salim enters a pod on the London Eye and follow his progress around the wheel; when the pod empties, Salim isn’t there. The book records the events that follow Salim’s disappearance

Dowd’s characters are absolutely compelling and the plot simple but well developed. Nothing in the book felt overblown or overwrought (you know how mysteries can quickly spin out of the norm). Dowd keeps the plot tight and grounded, and that sense of reality makes it all the more gripping. Ted is a wonderfully insightful narrator, and his  relationship with his sister is spot on. It a fun quick read, perfect for summer afternoons in the park.

Check out her website for an excerpt and a few other reviews.

Looking forward to while I’m in NC:

Mountains
Good food (biscuits, homemade brick oven pizza)
A massage
Sleeping in
Staying in my pjs
Mom, Dad, Cambo
Down time with Fred
Sitting on the front porch sipping coffee
Hiking
A nighttime that gets dark
Quiet
Mountains
Sunsets

Lists

Reasons to start blogging in lists (in order of practicality)

1. I’m no good at real posts.
(see past posts)

2. I’m always thinking in lists
- to do’s
-groceries to buy
- people to email
- books to read
- things to remember

3. This’ll be a good exercises in brevity

4. I’ve always loved these lists at McSweeny’s

love yo mama

I got sucked into the internet void this afternoon looking at this website, postcards from yo mama.

The whole concept is pretty brilliant: a website to post emails from or IM chats with your mom. Mothers are one of the best sources for stories, and  these flashes of insight are both laugh-out-loud funny and cringe-worthy. Ahh… such are mom stories.   Mom stories usually start as harmless rants and then break into a game of one-upping, “oh yeah, well my mom…” or “that’s nothing my mom is even crazier.” Until the only thing left to do is drunk dial your mom.

Needless to say, I’ll be looking at their book when it comes out on March 24th.

And I just have to add, that my mom is NOT one to be counted among the crazy. If anything, she should start a blog collecting all the wacky voice mails and emails I send HER.

art, art, art

these guys are awesome! 

 

I’ll admit that I have a soft spot in my heart for performance art. I kind of love it from afar, but hate it when I’m forced to sit through it or discuss it the way that I would discuss a book, movie, play, dance piece, or any other work of art. From a distance it’s totally cool.

The Moth!

           Last night I *finally* made it to a Moth show. I’ve been a long            time  listener of the podcast, but never had the pleasure of                          attending a live show…and it rocked my socks. It’s fantastic! If you        ever get the opportunity…take it, 6 bucks!  

          The stories last night were all about “Foreign Soil,” and over all I        was impressed by the performances. A couple stories felt over rehearsed and off topic, but the majority of tellers had a great blend of humor, insight, and authenticity. The best part of hearing the stories live was being reminded of my own adventures on foreign soil. I hadn’t thought of my study abroad in years. (some of the memories should remain rightfully buried).  This memory-recall doesn’t really happen when I’m listening to the podcast; I think the ipod/computer is just to removed. But as I listened to the stories last night it was great to be reminded  that we all have stories to share and we are always telling stories and listening to stories. Last night I remembered why I studied writing and why I think writing/storytelling is important…it is one of the essential bits to being human. 

When you get the chance listen to a story. 

A little about the Moth
The Moth is a non-profit storytelling organization, that was established about 10 years ago and now has six ongoing programs in major cities. This is storytelling + improve at it’s best. Members of the audience, selected out of a hat, have 5 min to tell a personal story that relates to the theme of the evening. Each performer is judged by the audience and a host guides the evening. I know it starts to sound like slam-poetry…but this is WAY BETTER. 

You can check out their web site here

Or download their podcast.

New kinda post

I had an epiphany this week…I’m a terrible blogger. I’m not consistent, and when I do the articles are kinda long.  So in a effort to work on a new years resolution (blog more) I’m going to completely ignore the “review” part of my blog. I’ll still post reviews, but I will also post more links and photos. 

So here you go, articles and images that have captured my imagination this week. 

Fictional Men Worth Loving a fun article from the Wall Street Journal. 

I’d like to add a few from my personal list:

Peter Lake in Winter’s Tale by Mark Helprin

I love bacon, but this kinda makes me gag.
ummm…it’s 4 pounds of a heart attack, and the images make me feel sick

This chocolate torte looks sublime. 
Lucky for me it uses a spring-form pan, and I don’t have one so I don’t have to worry about making one and eating it all. (right. Unless I need to go buy a spring-form pan)

See you soon!

 

Hug a Tree

Well kids I’m not quite back in the swing of things, after almost 2 weeks of holiday-ing the regular work routine seems all the more grueling. But I had the chance to get some great reading done, it’s amazing how much reading you can get done when 8 hours of your day aren’t spent at an office. I’ve got a couple reviews in the works: a post on The Man Who Loved China, a biography of Joseph Needem, and The Watchman, just in time for the movie release.

But for now I’m taking in some heavier material: The Tree, by Colin Tudge. The subtitle says it all, “A natural history of what trees are, how they live, and why they matter.” In the first fifty pages I’ve taken in more biology than in the past 4 years of my life. My brain feels like it’s gone into hyper-drive trying to remember my seventh grade biology class. This book has me sniveling like an idiot over the reproductive strategies of cod, the 224 cormosomes needed for some species of trees, and the ever changing taxonomy of botany. Yet, in between all the science I can’t remember, Tudge offers some great little insights that I think are worth sharing.

A note on different “kinds” of trees:

In fact, there are many lineages of trees — quite separate evolutionary lines that have nothing to do with one another except that they are all plants. Many plants, in many of those lineages, have independently essayed the form of the tree. Each achieves treedom in its own way. “Tree” is not a distinct category, like “dog” or horse,” it is just a way of being a plant. The different kinds have much in common, and it is good and necessary to have feel for what is essential, but the essences of nature will not be pinned down easily. In the end, all definitions of nature are simply for convenience, helping us focus on the particular aspect that we happen to be thinking about at the time.

Ah, the limitations of language…reminds me of some of my freshman philosophy classes:

The way we define natural thing influences the way we treat them — whether we speak of wildflowers or of weeds, of Mrs. Tittlemouse or of vermin. But in the end nature is as nature is, and we must just try with different degrees of feebleness, and for our own purposes, to make what sense of it we can.

Life is hard, and no one way of living is perfect. So all y’all can get of my back:

All of life’s requirements — metabolism, reproduction, and the business of getting along with others — are difficult. Each creature must solve life’s problems in its own way. There is no perfect, universal life strategy. Each has its own advantages and drawbacks.