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[Feb. 8th, 2007|02:54 pm] |
i'm grading lots of papers this afternoon. some are good, some are not.
things are good as a whole. my wifey and i are searching for a house in the country with a few acres. all we keep seeing for houses in our price range are warnings about what can go wrong with owning a house. teens run amok tried to paint the DROP CEILING of one basement while their parents replaced the 1969 wood paneling with barnwood (not hot, my friends) for a l'il hint of rustic.
what else? i'm starting to fight my way through a 1878 travel account of Gabon in German. i have one semester of German under my belt and i'm sitting in on two classes this semester. it is taking me about 2 or 3 hours per page. this is like the Somme of reading. no one can ever complain about learning French - at least les francais don't try to stack 15 clauses in one sentence! i found out the author's diaries of his 3 yr stay in Gabon are in Berlin.
this leads to a list of all the places i would ideally like to visit to look at archival materials. i better hit them scratch tickets to pull it off...
Switzerland
Neuchatel - Protestant missionary collections
France
Paris - lots of stuff
Vincennes - French naval archives
Aix-en-Provence - colonial archives
Nantes - some dossier from the foreign ministry
Strasbourg - Albert Schweitzer archives
Italy
Rome - female Catholic religious order archive
Germany
Berlin - explorers' diaries
Austria
Vienna - materials collected in Gabon in the 1870s
of course, i'd really like to dunk, too. or spit columns of flame from my mouth. |
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| rare update |
[Dec. 8th, 2006|01:11 pm] |
I saw the lead singer of the Dead Milkmen play at Grand Palace, a small venue, last night. It made me realize I never was into the DM that much in my teen years. Now, I'm 15 years older. However, Henry Daggs tore up the stage before Talcum made it to the stage...
Ok, back to radio silence. |
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| good moments |
[Sep. 10th, 2006|12:27 pm] |
America is the greatest nation in the world.
1) On our basic cable, QVC has on some nights some wonderful sword shows. I guess its for those too high class to hit the flea markets to get their skull and dragon hilted +3 flaming bastard sword. It is a shame to miss out on the REO Speedwagon mirrors and Rebel flag swimsuits, so I'll always stay true to the game. Lords of light! They sell them in packs of 20 or 200 (for kindergarten classes). It would be a dream come true to become a TV salesman of fake medieval weapons. Or, better, a member of a private organization paid by the government to teach Iraqis how to embrace the free market by selling swords, Ren Faire bustiers, and role-playing games online and at flea markets.
2) At the local chain bookstore, I found a magazine - the Ancient American. Sounds good? Well...It is designed to promote every half-baked discovery of America theory (Scots in Tennessee c. 700 AD being a hot one) designed to "prove" Native Americans never made anything larger than a tiny hut. They reprint late 19th century archaeology texts that "promote discussion" by arguing that savage, brutal Native Americans never could have made any mounds. One of the board members belongs to the "Atlantis Foundation", and a former editor is actually one of the masterminds of the Nazi march on Skokie in the 70s and a convicted pedophile, at least according to this website . The site's discussion is really, really long, but it confirms my undying faith in the collective insanity of people. Who knew that white supremacists, con artists, and elderly dupes seeking to find Phoenician ruins in Illinois were part of a subculture?
The magazine holds an annual convention! ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) villagecharm, I'd love to join you on a wonderful trip to learn all about the Irish monks and Etruscans that built those "Mayan" ruins. After that, we can buy Lugers or something. |
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| another rock night... |
[Sep. 10th, 2006|01:59 am] |
it has been a hectic week of "work", even though i only taught one day this week thanks to Labor Day. i have been stuck trying to save a nightmare article ms that has been a thorn in my side since 2004 in different forms. i feel like i finally have enough to get it published, but i've felt that way roughly 4 times.
i beat down Mebale the ebay enemy. if he spent one mini-euro more, he would have had his photos. too bad he didn't, because i'm out 250 dollars.
i went to see a show at a local bar, Wall $treet. No, Louis Louis Rukeyser wasn't there playing that killer 1971 synth that freaking steamrolled the anti-Man saps. However, a local band called Velcro Stars did play. They truly tore up the joint. I'm a sucker for a pedal steel guitar, but besides that, they also had some wonderful guitar sounds. They reminded me of c. 1995 Wilco. The crowd was friendly and very drunk. It can get old being the one non-scenster at a show, but tonight was worth it. It is a relief to know on almost any given night one can find good music again!
time for bed - 2:10 AM! |
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| a night of fine rock |
[Sep. 2nd, 2006|08:08 pm] |
Yesterday was a lovely evening of rock at Grand Palace, a fine establishment in the town I now find myself in. Its a recording studio/used record store/small venue for bands. I decided after a long first week of teaching at M--- S----, an excursion into indie was called for. My wife C--- lent me a messenger bag, which I stocked with 30-35 yr old minibottles of exquisite rare brandies (apricot liqueur...mmm...its like cod liver oil for drunks) and a copy of a book on African American steamboat workers. I whisked down the empty campus and the dull orange lit streets of my town until I made it to the venue. Keep in mind my narc skills had to come out since I was probably the oldest person in the room. Thank goodness I have heard of hot new groups like the Fine Young Cannibals and Let's Active!
It turned out many people brought their own beer, and warm old exotic spirits do not quench a thirst. I offered some young lady a 32 year old cognac for her PBR. She just gave me the a can. I felt very classy. Thankfully, that sentiment dissipated once the Evangelicals took the stage. I haven't seen youngsters have so much fun hopping around haplessly since the Poster Children played Bloomington, Indiana in 1994. The lead singer was a crooner. He managed to fight his way through blown fuses and endless rocktronic fog machines. The smoky haze of dry ice, the mad yelps of the crowd, and the frenzy of the band led to moments of sheer pandemonium. I decided as I rode home that nights like this were worth the wierdness of being ancient history compared to most of the audience.
What else? I am yet again in an ebay struggle with my arch-nemesis Mebale. There's roughly 5 people in the world who use ebay to collect old photographs and postcards of G---, the country whose history keeps me employed. Too bad one of them seems to have more money than Brinks. Mebale is a G---- man who keeps vanquishing me in postcard bidding wars. If he starts to enter the game, its over and done. Until now, I hope! There's two photos for sale (starting bid 10 dollars) by the first African photographer who ever took portraits in the country, roughly around 1878. Only I know this. Only Mebale, a Swiss historian of African history writing an essay about the photographer, and I actually care, but I'm not letting that minor issue stop me from potentially blowing several hundred dollars to snag the photos. I kind of hoping Mebale actually wins to get me off the hook of spending so much money...We'll see if I finally go out like a plucky Bad News Bear or crash like Dag Hammerskold. |
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 23rd, 2006|08:02 pm] |
Watched two reality shows tonight. Obviously, this is pathetic. But there's some consolation - in the last 5 years that we were free of any tv save fuzzy public broadcasting, I always found other ways to be pathetic.
There's a few things that come to mind.
Storm Large. Is this not one of the worst showbiz names ever? Maybe magicnarcker shouldn't talk. Then again, I know it is horrible.
Best showbiz name? I hand it to Stalin. Maybe picking good names isn't a sure sign of good morals.
Canada should turn its collective back on Lukas Rossi. Toronto. Victoria. Montreal. Kelowna. Aren't there better dressers and singers in all these scenes? And yet he made it? Were y'all too stoned or hung over to make it to the auditions or something? With his bad taste, he deserves immediate US citizenship.
The whole burst of reality shows fits well with the rise of rabidly neo-liberal individualism. I honestly think the easiest definition of hegemony is simply to focus on Tyra Banks and the judges on America's Top Model. Danielle, change those bent teeth and drop those reminders of lower class speech, young lady. Management decides endlessly what is wrong with the workers, and the workers either disappear or follow orders. Or even better - get the workers to turn on each other, or allow the customers to waive their invisible hands to send the unpopular off the screen. Workers struggle to get management to love them. Did managers of temp companies develop the first reality show? Maybe the fact that reality shows first rose in popularity in social democratic Europe tells you that they have as big a death wish as Americans. Eurodisney pales in comparison to the out of bounds competition of Hell's Kitchen and the like.
And Supernova. Hot Topic rock. At least there's some nodding to the ideal of the freedom that consumption brings and the celebration of individual identities that can be purchased at the tattoo parlour and the mall. To me, that somehow is easier to swallow than the bezerker laissez-faire nightmares of Hell's Kitchen. Aged rockers choose younger talent, though, and praise the same tired tunes that have been beaten upon us in public places since 1991.
But I'm the sucker watching it, and so the Man wins again. |
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| funeral moment |
[Aug. 22nd, 2006|07:05 am] |
I am about to return home from my grandmother's funeral in Cleveland. She lived a full and wonderful life until she passed away this weekend at 95. I never knew her side of the family very well because of my parents' divorce, and I regret not building our relationship like I should have. It was good to see her side of the family. I wasn't raised Jewish, and she was a faithful Reformed Jew, so it was interesting to get a taste of her faith. This was a little odd, though -
Most of the pallbearers were ushers at her temple, with the exception of myself and two of her nephews. She had given money to a fund to pay for ushers' dinners. So as we raised the coffin and carried it to the hearse, the ushers discuss a potential problem.
Usher 1: Do we invite the son to the dinners?
Usher 2 (a bit of worry in his voice): I don't know. It is an USHERS' dinner.
Usher 3: But if she was invited, then should not also the son go?
Usher 2 (sigh): We will need to talk to the president.
Clunk. Giant brassy coffin placed in hearse. |
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| Steve Guttenberg revisionist |
[Aug. 14th, 2006|10:24 pm] |
I submit to you, dear reader, a proposal:
Bruce Willis is just a lucky Steve Guttenberg. There's zero difference between them save Die Hard.
David Addison Jr. of "Moonlighting" - loveable yet wry, better with the ladies than a gun, and a smooth customer with a giant glob of gab.
Carey Mahoney of the "Police Academy" series - loveable yet wry, better with the ladies than a gun, and a smooth customer with a giant glob of gab.
1988: Steve G. towered over Tinseltown like some quirky King Kong of Komedy flattening foes with a few well-place comeuppances. "Cocoon," "Short Circuit," "Police Academy," and finally, "Three Men and a Baby" had elevated him to a bodhisattva of laffs - and how! He was pumping out more hits than Spector in his prime. Bruce Willis? Who was Bruce Willis?
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(Definition of bodhisattva from wikipedia here)
Bodhisattvas in Mahayana Buddhism
In Mahayana Buddhism, a bodhisattva has the compassionate determination to aid all beings on their quest for the highest state of development, full enlightenment of a Buddha. This type of motivation is known as bodhicitta ('citta' means mind). Remaining in this world of uncontrolled rebirth (samsara), the Bodhisattva has taken the bodhisattva vow to achieve Buddhahood as quickly as possible and thereby be most able to teach Dharma until all beings have likewise achieved enlightenment.
Another common conception of the Bodhisattva is one who delays his own final and complete enlightenment in order to save all sentient beings out of his enormous compassion. He is on a mission to liberate all sentient beings, and only then will he rest and complete his own enlightenment.
In brief, simply imagine the Bodhisattva as saying, "If I know how to swim, and even one other being cannot, then it is right to remain behind in this world to assist them until they know how to save themselves from drowning".
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And if Mahoney saw Fackler in a jam, don't you think he would have managed to save him from officer Mouser? I think the case is clear. What would a typical Bruce Willis character do? Shoot Mouser and yelp, "Yippie ky yi yay!"
SG would not douse himself in bloody entrails. Bruce Willis is a war pig.
What did Bruce Willis do to deserve Die Hard? When the whole stoner crew descended on the 99 cent movie theatre in downtown Windsor to see the horror of DH in the summer of 1988, did anyone know at that moment that Willis had ripped away SG's crown? No, we were too busy smoking Winstons in the theater and sneaking schnapps sips to realize what was going on. Dame Fortune can be merciless. It must have been like having a garden party in the country in June 1914, not paying attention to the papers.
Stevie G: no band that I know of. No machine guns. No smiles to lame smirks to an audience so versed in 80s action that they laughed at jokes designed to mock them for their own lack of expectations. Steve Guttenberg's kind of gratituous flesh and cheap pratfall films was never corrupted by endless corpse blockbusters.
What if Die Hard had never happened? What if Steve Guttenberg became Tom Hanks? Would we be in Iraq today?
Steve Guttenberg represented what we could have learned from Vietnam - a new kind of man too busy trying to get laid and a few laughs to butcher truckloads of extras in a few minutes. Bruce Willis is what we did instead. |
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