On this grey Friday, I'd like to point you in the direction of a few independent musicians you might want to check out (preface: I would classify the following as singer-songwriters, a little bit folky, a little bit poppy, and a little bit rock and roll):
She's really great. I had seen her in concert back in 1999, and wasn't so sure that I dug her, but I had the chance to see her recently and she really rocked. She's recently added a band and her sound has really grown. I'm really excited about her new album, due out this spring, that hopefully will be more lively than the lovely, but not completely addicting, Distillation. The highlight of her show in October was her cover of Pink's "Mizzunderstood."
I tried forever to resist these guys. At first, I just found them precious. See, the one guy's last name is Church! The other's is Rockwell! Get it! Do you? Joti Rockwell graduated from Haverford College, which is a 10 minute walk from my alma mater, Bryn Mawr College, and Rockwell Church played a lot at both colleges and in the surrounds, and had legions of female fans. However, once I gave them a chance, I really enjoyed what they're putting out. I'd especially recommend them to you if you like John Mayer. There are mp3s available for download at their site.
I had the pleasure of discovering Nini Camps live when she opened for Melissa Ferrick at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC. She's incredibly energetic, and her first album, Lovepie is a great record. She also has mp3s available for download. When I saw her live, she did a smoking cover of "Can't Let Go," a Lonesome Strangers tune that is often covered live by Lucinda Williams.
I recently read a book by Naomi Klein called No Logo. It's an interesting critique of globalization and capitalism, and I found if fascinating, if frightening. After Fast Food Nation, I was a little desensitized to stories of unfair working conditions, but Klein does an excellent job of recounting the stories of sweatshop workers in the Phillipines, among others. One of the storylines I found most fascinating was the story of some Bronx youth, who when enlightened about some of Nike's labor practices, put all of their Nike gear in bags and dumped the bags at the NikeTown store in Times Square. Awesome.
Anyway, I just discovered that there is a companion web site, No Logo, where Klein posts updates and messages. Very interesting. I've always wondered why there aren't more book/internet tie-ins, especially for nonfiction tomes. I hope that more sites like these pop up in the future.
I really enjoy film. I probably see fifty or so movies a year. However, I'm not a big "favorites" person. I don't have a favorite actor or actress, or a favorite director, or even a favorite movie, short of a nostalgic love for Hoosiers. Recently, though, I had occasion to rent Pedro Almodovar's All About My Mother. I'm not sure what caused me to pick it off the shelf, but I loved it. I was originally supposed to watch it for a Gender Studies class I took in college, but didn't, and now am kicking myself thricefold because I would have loved writing a paper about it. It's beautiful, and touching, and gripping, and manages to do it all without being slick or maudlin. That's all I will say other than imploring you to see it. Now I have to try and find a place in Central Ohio that's showing Talk to Her.
So, I was out and about on my lunch break yesterday, and I passed an Arby's fast food restaurant. They had a large sign out in front of their location that said:
Arby's! Now Hiring SUPERSTARS!
This floored me. I initially felt several reactions:
1. Was this their idea of how to distinguish themselves while competing for workers? Do they think that someone is going to be thinking to themselves, "Well, I could be a team member at Taco Bell, but why? Why would I want to do that when I can be a SUPERSTAR at Arby's?
2. Is this SUPERSTAR notion a brainchild of corporate or of this particular franchise? I could not find any references to SUPERSTARS on the Arby's website. Does some manager at an Ohio location of Arby's really think that asking for SUPERSTARS is the way to hire quality workers?
3. Are they not aware that a star is the logo for Hardee's? I think Hardee's should sue.
4. Finally, is this what retail is coming to? I have worked in retail, and it's thankless. The trend is to no longer refer to employees as "employees," but rather to veil the fact that they are working too hard for too little in phrases like "team member," "member of the cast" (Disney Stores are fond of that phrasing), or "associates." This trend is a sad attempt at glossy-ing up what happens in fast food and retail, but SUPERSTARS? Beyond "Spelling Superstars" in elementary school, does anyone really want to be called a SUPERSTAR?
I suppose that yes, people would like to be called SUPERSTARS. But beyond athletics and entertainment, does the word SUPERSTAR really fit? I don't think there is a person on earth who would think that shilling roast beef at Arby's is a notch on the ladder of SUPERSTARDOM. Shame on Arby's for thinking anyone would fall for that.
I only glibly refer to my 52 book goal for the year in the previous entry. I thought I'd elucidate a bit.
Roughly, that's a book a week. Do I think I can do it? Probably not. In fact, probably most definitely not. It's sort of a screwed up goal, really.
Mainly because books are of such varied lengths. In June (on my birthday, no less), the new Harry Potter book is scheduled to come out. Given trends, it will probably be 1000 pages long. That's different than, say, some light novel I might read on a plane.
Plus, it's almost the end of January, and I've only read two books, and not at a pace of a book a week. I don't think I can physically do it. Add to that my forty hour work week, and studying for the GREs, and applying to graduate school, well, it's not likely. The more I think about it, I worry that I'll start choosing to read shorter books just to fulfill the goal. So, I'm going to modify the goal, right here, right now. I want to read 30 books this year. This is still going to be a challenge, but I am going to try. 30 is a nice, round number. It's a book every twelve days. That sounds manageable.
Thirty it is, then. Wish me luck.
In my quest to finish 52 books this year (Can she do it, folks? Can. She. Do. It?), I have finished another, Sarah Vowell's The Partly Cloudy Patriot.
After The Corrections, I needed a break from heavy-hitting fiction, and Vowell's collection of essays was an excellent respite. Vowell is part of the literary clique of David Sedaris, Dave Eggers, David Rakoff, and anyone who's ever been on This American Life. I imagine that Vowell and the others together in high school as the kids who worked on the literary magazine and smoked cloves and watched foreign films. I would probably find them irritating if I didn't secretly wish that, minus the cloves, I had been one of those people. But I digress.
Vowell's book examines politics and some other more mundane topics, and does so well. The essays are concise, and easy to read, some as short as 4 pages and others far longer. The crown in the cap is the essay that analyzes the 2000 Presidential Election and the Jock v. Nerd mood that arose regarding Bush and Gore. When she points out that the notion of having the Jock (Bush) in control of the Presidential Fitness Exam, I laughed out loud.
I do recommend this book, and I would particularly recommend an audio edition. I'm making the bold assumption that there is one, but given Vowell's radio career, I'm sure there is. Vowell's voice is startling, somewhat nasally, but her comic timing is so wry and so impeccable, that I think audio would be the best way to approach The Partly Cloudy Patriot. You can listen to one of the essays from the book at the tail end of this episode of This American Life.
Here's something I didn't know existed in small packets...Salad Cream, which is a british mayo-esque condiment. Go check out The Condiment Packet Museum.
So, my high school was not always the paragon of education. Looking back, some things occurred that maybe weren't always kosher. A health teacher whose curriculum is a little too pro-life, a gym teacher who has a prurient interest in whether or not "you girls are behaving in the locker room," a history teacher who is a little condescending when discussing Vietnam War protests. Fine.
Everything pales in comparison to one Mr. Abbott. It can only be seen to believe. Be sure to get to the fourth and fifth page where one can read his statement.
He is a lesson in both on-the-job decorum and post-arrest stupidity.
One of my most favorite places on earth is my grandparent's farm. It houses two barns, the farmhouse where my grandfather grew up, apple orchards, a pond, a beaver dam, and other wonderful, natural attributes.
In the winters, we used to sled from the top of the hill (where the photographer is standing in this picture) down until we hit the completely frozen pond, where we'd get ourselves together to start again.
I'm a geek. Not only do I use phrases from moderately obscure 1950s poetry for my domain name, but I also wrote 50 odd pages about said same 1950s poetry and some Latin poetry from, oh, 2000 years ago, give or take.
Anyway, I love poetry, and I'm pretty proud of the thesis I wrote as an undergraduate (there are some things I'd change now, of course, hindsight blady blah). If for no other reason than my being able to find it and print it when I need it (you know, Latin Emergencies and such), I've uploaded it onto this site. Check it out here.
Also, Latin is truly a fabulous language. As a Latin major, I encountered people saying, "Isn't that a dead language?" On a pretty regular basis. However, anyone who's ever studied any etymology at all knows that Latin is very much alive. It just happens to be alive in English. Want to improve your standardized test scores? Study some Latin roots. Want to understand sentence structure a little better? Again, break out some Latin.
One of the things that I find truly sad is that fewer and fewer high schools are teaching Latin. My high school dropped their fabulous Latin program a little over a year ago. Latin had a reputation for being "hard," and, at least in the case of my high school, enrollment was low in the program. True, it's not easy, and it's often taught very differently from Spanish or French and can be a challenge. The rewards, however are so immense. Improved vocabulary, cultural knowledge, history are only a few of the benefits from studying Latin.
Well, I just finished reading The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen. I received it as a gift. I had been avoiding it because of the whole Oprah Hoopla [Oprah chose it as an Oprah Book Club book and the author balked, and then people thought he was snotty, and the he sort of apologized, but not really, etc.], but I have to say, it is truly tremendous.
It is rather sad, and also rather draining. Frankly, it's depressing. However, it is well-realized and the characters are fascinating, and I never lost interest. It wasn't nearly as pretentious as I had expected. I mean, it certainly has a "great american novel" vibe to it, but it's pretty easy to overlook (the page I linked above is an example of that vibe). I'm nonplussed that their making it into a movie, but you never know, it could work beautifully.
So, Joe Lieberman is running for president.
Read about it here. This dismays me.
Mainly because Ol' Joe is Mr. Moderate when it comes to a lot of issues close to my heart, mainly the separation of church and state and the death penalty. Bah to that. And a sigh. Every time I read the news, I get bummed.
So, I did give in and watch Joe Millionaire last night. I can't decide if it is a beautiful train wreck, a sad train wreck, or both. First of all, no way are some of these women as young as their little screen scribblies say. No way. I know 24-year-olds, some 24-year-olds are friends of mine, you, Heidi? You are no 24-year-old.
The "millionaire" himself is one of those guys who is attractive only in special circumstances. Say, when the light is right and hitting the all-crucial square inch of his face that holds his mojo. Most of the time, he gave me a basic "ew" feeling, but then for a brief moment, I'd see something in him, and quickly as it came, it went away. However, if you need to see more Joe Millionaire than you bargained for, check out these photos.
With nothing else on in its time slot, I may check in with this debacle periodically. However, since it is FOX, it's got an undertone of sleaze that's hard to endure.
What a game yesterday! Never in a million years did I think my Steelers were going to come back from their deficit. I have to say, I did not have confidence in them at all. Antwaan Randle El proved that once you've played for Bobby Knight, you've got enough mettle to go around.
Saw a couple films this weekend. First was Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I had nearly forgotten the book completely, which made the movie extra fun, although I do have some qualms. I'm proud of Chris Columbus for keeping his sap-meter on moderate, but I do think there are times when narrative and character development were sacrificed for action. Plus, Moaning Myrtle? Just looked wrong. Big time. But, all in all, enjoyable, and faithful enough, and it's good to know that the adage, "Well, it's not as good as the book," still reigns supreme.
Second was Monsoon Wedding. My expectations were high, and I was a bit disappointed, but only slightly. It's charming, although, on occasion, tough to understand, and touches on some interesting themes. The lead plot was not very interesting to me (the main female character left a lot to be desired, in my opinion, she wasn't especially developed or realized), but the subplots were both dramatic and lovable. An excellent rental. I wish I had time to watch more of the director audio commentary on the DVD.
How excited am I for the Real World/Road Rules Challenge? SO EXCITED. I'm not sure I'll be able to stay up on Monday nights, but with MTV's proclivity for reruns, I'll never be far behind. I remember watching the first season of Real World when I was 11 or 12 and they all seemed so old and now I look at the Vegas season and am just appalled by their immaturity. The culture clash of ages on the challenges is priceless. I'm especially looking forward to seeing the folks from Real World: New Orleans bicker and bicker. I'm heading over to MTV.com now to set up my fantasy challenge team.
Movable Type rules. It really does. It's powering this site, and was so easy to install, even for a not-always-savvy techtype like myself. So, a big thank you to Movable Type.
Welcome to Waking Slow. I'm pretty excited about the new site, and hopefully, the new domain. There was an old version of Waking Slow, if by some chance a reader has stumbled upon this and thinks, "Wait a second, wasn't..?" Yes, there was, but I trashed it in a fit of pique and exasperation with Blogger. This is Waking Slow anew.
