Well, I was probably foolish to cook so much this evening after working a 9+ hour day, but I just felt like it needed doing. Hence the lateness of this post, as we see November off. Hey, I've seen this one in a few places (like Crooks and Liars), is it for real?
I love the sentiment, even as I keep looking around Manhattan (particularly the Columbus Circle/Lincoln Center area) going "ooh pretty, look at all the makeshift booths going up to sell people crap..."
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Silly Site o' the Day
Keith brings me to the Muppet Wiki neologism virmup, which is short for "viral Muppet video." You know, like the Bunsen Honeydew Carve-O-Matic which was everywhere on Thanksgiving (and made right before Hallowe'en, the same time as the Swedish Chef one that nobody seemed to run), or the "Bohemian Rhapsody" one that propagated just about everywhere (including here) a few days ago. According to the site, Upcoming Muppet videos will include "Dust in the Wind", "American Woman", "Popcorn", "Carol of the Bells" and "Stand By Me." The wiki page includes links to and info about all the viral Muppet videos done so far, and do scroll down to the end to see the various Muppets' YouTube channels, Vimeo accounts and MySpace profiles. What, no Faceook?
Been away from keyboard pretty much all day, watching a few old Doctor Who DVDs (which, alas, were not as good in the rewatching as they were in my memory), despite Amy taunting me about all the ironing yet to be done:
Tomorrow for sure!
Silly Site o' the Day
It's Buy Nothing Day here in North America (and tomorrow in much of the rest of the world), but I still need to venture out to pick up my dry cleaning and a few culinary necessities, so wish me luck. Fortunately I'm only going locally so I shouldn't be sucked in too much by the NRF-created evil that is so-called Black Friday. Aside from the wanton destruction, it's just sad to consider how many of these shoppers will be experiencing buyer's remorse very shortly. Which is why today's site is Regretsy, a blog dedicated to exploring some of the worst "bargains" to be found on the handmade-merchandise site Etsy.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Thanks for Giving Blogaround
Because I'm caught up in so many other things, I may as well try for one more:
• Val D'Orazio's been posting some really primo stuff lately. Go read about her Kali Yuga moment, as it were, and her discovery that the cultural pendulum seems to be swinging back again. Heck, one look at what's currently on Broadway (Mad Men-era musicals are making a big comeback now) convinced me of that.
• I love this table of how we interact with old media (TV) versus new media (internet). Very Marshall McLuhan, hot-v-cool media... Via Cory.
• Annalee Newitz thinks part of New Moon's appeal is its subtle cultural meta-subversion. I don't entirely discount her interesting analysis, but I think most girls and women who see it repeatedly aren't really looking for or appreciating that stuff. I think it's yet another case of male-run Hollywood discounting and marginalizing the oft-unreplicable tastes of the female moviegoing public. They do it every time - Titanic, Mamma Mia, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and on and on... Why are there no excuses made whenever a "two-quadrant" boys-and-men-centered movie tanks, and no analysis forthcoming when it does well? Also on io9, Charlie Jane Anders thinks Men Who Stare at Goats is a much better Ewan McGregor-featured Star Wars movie than at least three others.
• A couple Firesign folks at tonight's chat mentioned they liked the Beatles 3000 video I put up earlier this week, so I wanted to mention another Fab Four-related link: Lauren Davis at io9 links to an alternate-universe essay of what the world might have been like if the Beatles had reunited on SNL for a gag like many of us at the time wished they would have.
• In health news, Barbara Ehrenreich plays up her current them of blind optimism being bad for us using the H1N1 vaccine as an example. I don't know if that's a "blind faith in corporations" screw-up as much as it is a total capitulation to everything corporations say. Politicians are neither stupid nor blind, they're pretty savvy, I think most of them probably figured there wouldn't be enough vaccine to go around. It's par for the course, innit? Digby has an immoderate proposal about a medical procedure with which she personally disagrees being covered in the health reform bill. Archcrone, Amanda Marcotte and Susie Madrak all seem happy with the new mammogram recommendations; I only wish they'd come out ten years earlier so I wouldn't have gone through all that yearly pain and those false positives. This is not a fun procedure to undergo, and if you aren't high-risk it ought not be mandated until about the time you get your first colonoscopy (speaking of non-fun procedures).
• Why can't other media people learn how to actually examine TV ratings like Eric Boehlert? Maybe they all feel it's in their best interests not to?
• What Digby Said about some cops going for the jugular with their tasers when someone looks at them funny. You can't legislate politeness, dude.
• The Rude Pundit wants to know, What's with the new backlash against women? (Part 1, Part 2) I'm assuming someone will mention to him that rape jokes are part of that backlash?
Woo-hoo, that's all my bookmarked pages cleared! Happy Thanksgiving once again for the last time this year, everyone!
Thanksgiving 2009
As the only American in our household, I have long acknowledged that Thanksgiving is primarily my responsibility and my celebration. Still, Robin got the holiday decorations (our greeting card wreath, fiber-optic tabletop-sized tree and my menorah and candles) down from the loft storage/crawl space, set up the fold-out table in the living room and even yanked (no pun intended) the tablecloth down from the larder, whilst I tried to figure out what to pull together for our feast. After a few years of experimentation, I pretty much have the mental picture down of what serving platters and utensils I'll want for whatever I've bought in the last week, as well as the timing of it all. (It also helped tremendously that Rob and I cleaned out and put away the AeroGarden this morning, giving ourselves lots more surface space in the kitchen for the next few months.) Here's this year's result; as ever, click to embiggen:
I didn't light the candles in the corners and middle of the back, they were there mostly for decoration and to hold the cloth steady. Between the candles are the cranberry sauce with mandarin oranges (left side) and a heated-up can of yams/sweet potatoes (right). The yams were, as feared, a spectacular failure. In the foreground are our two bowls of store-bought butternut squash soup. Left to right in the midground are the wild rice and 'shroom dressing (not bad but next year I'm using brown rice instead and adding some chicken stock), gravy, the turkey breast, corn on the cob and caramelized brussels sprouts with garlic.
Here's the view from the other side of the table.
And here's my tasty plate and bowl. No, I lie; the plate and bowl are inedible. But the food on it was tasty for the most part. Happy holidays and good eating, all!
Silly Site o' the Day
Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow US citizens and residents! Let's get our sillness out of the way prior to the usual traditions of watching the parade (probably with the sound off) and figuring out what to make for the Thanksgiving meal. This year's holiday month will be comparatively austere considering our financial circumstances, but we're together and that's what's important. Photos to come, if there's anything worth photographing. As ever, I'm grateful for all of you friends and relatives for your support and caring. Onward, then: Thanks to August for the Alice's Restaurant link below:
Still amazingly relevant 40 years later, considering the latest surge-promise from President Obama re Afghanistan. And while we're on the subject, don't forget a nice heaping helping of The Firesign Theatre's Pass the Indian, Please!
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Silly Site o' the Day
You know what I love about the latest cycle of Beatlemania (I think I've lived through about five now)? That we can use new technologies to make even more outrageous Fab Four satires:
Okay, this one seems to be everywhere today (I first saw it on Keith's blog):
So, who am I to blow against the wind, any way the wind blows?
Monday, November 23, 2009
Silly Site o' the Day
Hooray, Bloglines has rediscovered LiveJournal feeds! Now I can catch up on at least a third of my Kultcha blogroll (which I'd taken to following via Google Reader). Speaking of antiquated net hobbies, here's a nice BoingBoing post by Brandon Boyer on the lost hobby of point-and-click adventure games.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Silly Site o' the Day
I know it's Sunday, but even if it weren't, PZ Myers recommends the following Wii, or We, game:
PZ hopes it's a hoax. Based on my visit to the website, I fear it's actually viral marketing for the upcoming February 2010 release of the next Dante's Inferno videogame.
The landlord's adjusted the heat again and it's mostly comfortable in the apartment, but kitties still appreciate a good cuddling with the blankets:
Someday I'll get back to actually doing Friday Cat Blogging on a Friday again.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Silly Site o' the Day
Glad I got out of the house, even if it was just to run errands and see the podiatrist to excise an ingrown toenail. The weather was lovely! Good job I don't go in for sun poisoning, though. If you do, you might want to check out Pale Is The New Tan, via Xeni at BoingBoing. Pretty disturbing stuff.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Silly Site o' the Day
Although I suppose today's Children in Need day has officially ended in the UK, I'll bet you can still give. Here's Peter Kay's animated contribution:
Robin walked me through this one, as I didn't recognize about half of the characters. Update: Vinnie's annotated it.
Been watching wacky food-related shows in preparation for tonight's episode of Top Chef. Since that show's on Bravo, I thought Steakhouse or Gay Bar (via Xeni at BoingBoing) was an appropriate link for today.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Silly Site o' the Day
Because every now and then I have to return to my roots, and because I'm too tired at the moment to go seeking anything else, I present a recent interview with The Firesign Theatre:
Via Tom Gedwillo and his Chromium Switch, whence you can also grab all the old Four-Alarm FIRESIGNal issues I self-published in the '80s and '90s.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Silly Site o' the Day
Last week our local PBS station ran a show on how the Beatles influenced Russian youth and, all domino theory-like, led to the breakup of the Soviet Union. [Yakov Smirnov] "In Soviet Russia, glass onion looks through you!" [/Yakov Smirnov] Anyway, while the premise was largely hogwash in my opinion, and it was creepily male-centric for a group with such a solid female fan base through 3+ generations, bits of it were rather charming in that doesn't-quite-translate way. Like the many weirdnesses of English Russia (via Lauren at io9), which in turn links to things like 10 Famous Paintings Recreated in Vegetables. And what's not to love about Santas Take Over the Moscow?
"'Scuse me, Mommy? Mommy? It was Friday the 13th and you didn't post a picture of your black cat!"
"Mommy? MOMMY?!"
Don't let him fool you, he was just angling for more cat treats.
Silly Site o' the Day
So I decided to explore Flash by Night, the home site of Drench (to which both Robin and I are currently strangely addicted), and I may never get any work done again, damn it. I tend to prefer the puzzle games to the arcade-type ones, and the one that intrigues me the most so far is 7 Down because I still haven't figured it out but I seem to do pretty well at it.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Silly Site o' the Day
Robin thought The Human Printer was a good silly site, but I just find it kind of peculiar. Let me get this straight: human beings sit there and trace photographs halftone-dot by halftone-dot? And I mean, more than one human being? To what purpose? Although they're currently contracted by Nike to do a couple sports photos, so I guess someone likes it. (I'm the old-fashioned type, I tend to prefer Leroy Nieman for sports painting and Seurat for pointilism.) If you're as fascinated by this as Robin, here's a gallery.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Silly Site o' the Day
May as well get a jump-start on "tomorrow" (actually later today). I've been promising myself to go on Facebook more to keep in touch with friends and relatives, so maybe I'll be inspired by the Facebook Conversation Generator (also via the Comedy Central Insider blog).
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Silly Site o' the Day
I've been so busy playing Drench, I am no longer aware of all internet traditions. Here's "Charlie Bit Me" (of which I'm clueless) Auto-Tuned (of which I'm not):
Via Joselyn Hughes at the Comedy Central blog. Whoa, the CC blog has an actual female? Any chance of any more actual females making the Daily Show or Colbert writing staffs?
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Silly Site o' the Day
Continuing with the theme, here's your God FAQ (via Lambert). Oh, and by the way, do you know how you can tell it's November in NYC? The Thanksgiving Parade viewing stands have started to go up along Central Park West.
Via Sheila Lennon, my latest Flash game obsession: Drench! Only took me a half dozen tries to get past level one. Hey, I like the things, I didn't say I was good at 'em...
Sunday, November 08, 2009
The Siblings in 2009
The Sibling Picture is becoming quite the family tradition amongst the extended family clan on my mom's side. Here's the latest one, taken at a gathering hosted by my youngest brother Jay and sis-in-law Kara to welcome my newest sis-in-law Bridgette (wife of my younger brother Gene) into the family:
I think whenever Mom, Aunt Kenie and Uncle Phil got together, there were more camera flashes going off than at any other time. Well, maybe almost any other time. This collective garnered its fair share of clicks as well:
That's me and Robin, Gene and Bridgette in the middle, Jay and Kara on the right, and my Mom in front.
Rob and I both took lots of photos, and have finally uploaded our combined "Galleriggs" here. (Mom, let us know which ones you want us to print out for you!) I've also linked there from my Facebook page, which almost the entire family seems to be on.
Now the only photos left to organize and upload are our now-annual foliage shots from VE Macy Park, where we stopped on our way to the gathering at Jay and Kara's place. And just in time for the holiday snaps to start...
Central Park Foliage
As I knew I had a doctor's appointment on Thursday, I brought my camera and used the opportunity to walk back to work through the southeast end of Central Park. Click to embiggen, and enjoy.
Still awaiting blood test results, but my A1c level went down which means I'm managing the diabetes very well, and the anti-inflammatory NSAID is working so I can once again do little things like toweling myself off without being in excruiciating pain. More photos to come, but these are probably the last of the foliage pictures.
We had our groceries delivered yesterday, neither of us feeling up to schlepping heavy bottles and cans up two flights. I stocked the larder today, which of course left an empty box for Amy:
Both silly and brilliant. Via Robyn at Serious Eats.
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Silly Site o' the Day
Lots of people showing they remember, remember the 5th of November:
That's from here. You can find more of an explanation of Project Chanology at this Wiki page. Doesn't it sound like it ought to have something to do with Dick Cheney? Meanwhile, on the side of the pond that actually does remember, remember, Open Up is going national, and presumably Rob's former home base was at its usual celebratory peak. And to think, they all looked so calm and normal when we visited in March!
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Silly Site o' the Day
Taking a brief 7th inning stretch break before watching the Yankees (if the game so far is any indication) win the 2009 World Series. Let's celebrate with a grocery store musical, shall we?:
I wonder what the collective noun is for a collection of collected noun lists...
Sunday, November 01, 2009
As Six Becomes Seven
Throughout my life I've had several "friend crushes," periods of intense admiration for people with whom I was lucky enough to hang around and who had a tremendous influence on me. I got to see one of these people, Leah Adezio, enter the blog world briefly before her untimely depature from this plane of existence. Another, my college buddy Bill-Dale Marcinko, faded away before he could ever go online, and now he's gone as well.
And between Billy and Leah, there was Anna Deborah Ackner. Anni, her nom de plume during the days we hung out, was not only the maid of honour at my wedding to Steve, but the star staff writer for my zine INSIDE JOKE. I adored her writing, and still do. For whatever reason, after Steve and I divorced I lost touch with Anna, but the internet sometimes has a way of bringing things full circle. It was never to be with Bill-Dale, it was way too short with Leah, but I'm very thrilled to say that I have just learned that Anna Ackner now has a blog, The Incredible Doctor Postage, chronicling her current project: "over the course of the next year, I will write 1,000 letters. 1,000 personal, chatty, comfortable letters in longhand, with a signature. I will mail each one and I will see what happens."
Anna has been put into the Top Six on my sidebar, making it a Top Seven, of the writers I most admire who have had the greatest personal influence in my life and my decision to blog. As far as I'm concerned, when it comes to writing influence, Anna is my alpha and omega, and I feel blessed that I can now read her regularly again.
Silly Site o' the Day
Sarah Haskins just makes it so easy for me to post a Silly Site, as she always comes through:
I love the little embedded history lesson about contraptions. Very true. I categorize this under the adage "I want to believe." Many of us wish our specific troubles could be gotten rid of by cheap plastic devices. I still fall for this stuff regularly.
Worldly Serious Blogaround
White rabbits! I needed that extra hour last night, if only to recover from Game 3 of the World Series. I seem to drift off in the late innings and force myself awake for the 9th., then I can't shake off the sleepiness come morning. But the cats have been fed, Robin's gone back to sleep off a lingering stomach bug, and at this point I'll do just about anything to avoid that pile of ironing. So, it's well past time to catch up:
• Sometime back, some folks (liberals, yet!) were apoplectic about new FTC rules (PDF) requiring bloggers to engage in full disclosure regarding products they were being paid to endorse or advertise. I, on the other hand, applaud this move. It's sad that honesty needs to be legislated, but frankly I wish full disclosure were mandated across the board for everyone. It's why I bitched about conflicts of interesting vis a vis the Clinton blogger lunch and the New Amsterdam junket. It's why I shout at the TV every time Rachel Maddow has her BFF Mrs. Alan Greenspan on (or, for that matter, a former gossip blogger who used to be obsessed with and titillated by unusual sexual escapades). It's why I stayed away from reviewing comic books on which my now-husband worked back in my Usenet days, and always (to my memory) began a review of a comped comic by mentioning I got the book for free. It's common friggin' sense, is what it is. As Michael Bérubé points out, blogging has evolved over the years as more people go pro. Heck, I was even a pro blogger /columnist (for ComicMix) for about a year and a half. So I recognize that this enterprise has matured a bit now, and so with great power comes great yadda-yadda.
• On the other hand, I'm not sure whether I agree with Pam Spaulding about the Schumer-proposed exceptions that would exclude amateur bloggers from certain journalistic protections. I think in general whistleblower protection should be strengthened, but if you're not being paid to blog you shouldn't necessarily be entitled to all sorts of legal support for your hobby. I view it the same way as some bloggers' sense of entitlement re monetary support (running fundraisers and begathons and the like). As I've said repeatedly, unlike the days of my old INSIDE JOKE and Four-Alarm FIRESIGNal days when I spent hundreds of bucks out of pocket to self-publish print zines for a decade each, I've never paid a single cent to blog, to post pictures, to upload videos - nothing beyond internet access costs which I would have paid anyway even without a blog. And unlike the situation with ComicMix, I'm not being hired to write Pen-Elayne, I do it out of love. Why on earth would I demand you pay me for something that costs me no money and which I'd be compelled to do for free anyway? Update: Ah, I see via Kevin Drum that the shielding-amateur-bloggers (aka "citizen journalists") bit passed anyway.
• I vacillate between getting really worked up about the sorry state of women writers in late-night comedy (i.e., practically nonexistent) and the idea of romantic liaisons between men in power in said halls of late-night comedy and their female subordinates. There's something very appealing to me, and I'm sure many others, about the idea of one's talents being discovered and nurtured by a more famous person who falls in love with you and, you know, remains in love with you as you become equally famous. It shows up everywhere from A Star Is Born to Easter Parade to lots of movies that didn't feature Judy Garland. Of course, reality rarely turns out this fairy-tale'ish, so there's a backlash of disappointment underlying the very reasonable feminist view that an imbalance of power in the workplace is rarely an ideal situation for a love affair to blossom. It also gets in the way of analyzing situations like that of Kater Gordon, which seems to have involved non-romantic nurturing then dumping. Interestingly, opinions seem to be divided about the Letterman affairs with, for instance, Jill at Feministe wanting to know what the big deal was, and Melissa McEwan opining here and here that it's not just about Letterman himself but the overall atmosphere promoted when women in the comedy scene are perceived as de facto sexually available rather than working partners. Meanwhile, Digby examines, as she does so well, the hypocritical pundit moralizing over it all. But honestly, after "balloon boy" people actually expect anything of substance from most of our "old" media? It's good to see Kate Smurthwaite, at least, beating these odds on the other side of the pond, as she takes her turn on the Tarfalgar plinth!
• A nice trio of posts from Digby's place: an explanation of the producerism mentality; false equivalency between astroturf-created teabaggers and actual HCAN protesters; and points out that those on fire really oughtn't trust the arsonists. Another nice quartet over at Shakesville: about God and morality; how hard it sometimes is to be a feminist (that one by Esme); more on the Terrible Bargain; and a living-while-fat post that made me blub. (A propos of that post, Woman Within tends to be my clothing shop choice. Upside: as soon as you figure out what your size is and what you look good in, you can buy all kinds of great and pretty stuff for cheap. Downside: Made in China.) Digby and Melissa remain superlative essayists and must-reads for me even if I don't always get a chance to praise them to the skies.
• Annalee at io9 has a thoughtful feminist analysis of modern science fiction. Sad that so little has changed from the '70s when I gave up on male-centric sf for the friendlier realms of female-written fantasy. I wonder if it's also why, as Lauren at Feministe points out linking to TV Tropes, "Toys marketed to girls don't use technology; they use magic." Yeah, it starts that young. Although I take a bit of exception to this image Samhita at Feministing passes along. I like the idea of feminist princesses as much as the next enlightened reader, but most thinking women recognize rescue fantasies as just that - fantasies. They're fun to indulge in, and daydreams are good for the imagination and the psyche as long as they're recognized as such. Besides, every now and then fairy tales come true (mine did), just not in the same way some of these tropes suggest. And speaking of toys, as Rose at Feministing suggests, if you're disappointed with the current doll output at Mattel, why not purchase a real African-American looking Barbie from Loanne Hizo Ostlie? Wow, what a striking-looking doll!
• As long as the otherwise-wonderful Joel McHale keeps making stupid Roman Polanski jokes (i.e., FAIL) I guess that story remains current, as it should be until the child rapist is brought to justice. Jeff Fecke has some interesting thoughts on why so many Hollywood types are still supporting the aforementioned child rapist.
• Stephen Fry makes a good point in his Tale of Two Cities. It's the same thing I always say when I'm confronted with "are you a Yankees fan or a Mets fan?". It's possible to like more than one New York baseball team at a time, honest. Lance Mannion reminds us, in the context of bitching over baseball instant replays, that we should lighten up, it's only a game. And over at HuffPo, Tony Sachs makes the case that the older some Yankees players get, the better they get.
• Also at HuffPo, Brad Schreiber celebrates the Firesign Theatre's recent 40th anniversary performances out in El-Lay, which I'm sorry I couldn't make but hey, I'm on the wrong coast and Phil A doesn't do that plane thang very well from what I recall.
• Okanogen at Corrente makes an interesting observation about why the so-called "birther" movement is so insistent. If you build up the President's cult of personality so much so that he becomes like unto a god, you run the risk of not wanting to worship the next person who ascends to said godhood, and then you need to do everything you can to tear them down and delegitimize them.
• KTK at LeanLeft examines how the media treats workers' salaries as opposed to how much money management makes, and how we're taught by capitalism to react negatively toward anyone "committing a sin by making more than is allowed for someone in their place in the social order." That was a real "click" moment for me, I never realized how much I internalized that attitude as well.
• Typos aside, I adore this essay by Amanda Marcotte about creepy conservative men judging "hotness" of liberal versus conservative women (although I love her almost-Freudian typo of using "hoards" for "hordes" since that's what a lot of these men seem to want to do, hoard women as though they're the mere objects these men wish they were). Also from Amanda, why she doesn't go for the "take your medicine" attitude put forth by some feminist movie critics. I think she totally hits the nail on the head with "Personally, I think plain old sexism explains the situation quite neatly. Right now, the environment is such that women don’t have a lot of time in their schedules to see female-centric movies, because most people don’t go to the movies alone. That means either getting a partner, a friend, or a relative to go with you." Back in the '80s I had a lot of disposable time and income and I was actually a "movie person," going to lots of afternoon matinees alone. Nowadays, I don't enjoy doing most out-of-the-home entertainment activities alone, and Robin and I don't really like going to the cinema where we can't control the volume of either the movie or the people around us. Although we've been lucky enough not to run across the tough-guy creep Amanda met on a recent trip to the movie theater.
• Some cultural bits and bobs: After reading Vinnie Bartilucci's thoughtful analysis of the movie Shock Treatment, I'm more than tempted to rewatch it. Carrie Fisher name-drops. I know, it's what she does, but I just think she's so cool anyway. Cheryl Lynn notices a pattern in DC Comics (I'm too busy noticing that lately neither they nor Marvel have been hiring Robin, one of the best and fastest inkers around, and then doubtless wondering why it takes 3, 4, 5 inkers to finish a single book). I absolutely adore Laura's and Eric's romantic neologism. And Wil Pfeifer finds a forgotten hero in amongst the Sgt. Pepper artwork.
And so, with only one category (News+Views Guys) left to read and all my saved items accounted for, it's time to post this, then my Silly Site, then take a long, doleful look at all that ironing...
