“One could let all these facts and things lie alongside each other like laminations, not like growing cells. This laminated knowledge produced a powerful sense of freedom, truthfulness and even selflessness, [...] She sensed that the idea of lamination could provide both a model of conduct and an aesthetic that might suit herself and prove fruitful. It would, she decided, as in the event it did, take years to work out in the implications” (209-210).
A. S. Byatt, The Virgin in the Garden
If I could work at desks like these, life would be beautiful. I've been researching spaces a lot for my master's project, and I've decided that in order to have a nice life and succeed, I need a beautiful desk. It's where the work gets done.
So, the other week I was hanging out with some dear friends when I was posed a questions somewhere along the lines of: Would you rather always hear a theme song running through your head when you walk or have spotlights on you that reflect your mood? Being the person I am, of course, I opted for the theme song, and as of late, I have been thinking about music quite a bit. So then the real dilemma started—which theme song? I mean there are so many to choose from and I love TV so finding one was going to be hard. I mean thinking about this really got me. Of course, we mentioned quite a few that I would say make the complete nexus of my themes songs—at least for this moment. But of course…before then, there are the iconic ER and Law and Order non-verbal themes that are quite popular, and oddly enough I happen to have both of them on my ipod. And there is also the Friends theme, which I would be hesitant to necessarily claim as my own since I never really liked the show all that much.
Anyways, so I think I’ve sort of put it down to three show theme songs that I love and I think represent me in this present. However, I would also think that I wouldn’t necessarily like to hear them every time I walk. But I do think that they are good for you to check out and take a look at. I’ve mentioned and dissected some lyrics and imbedded some videos.
Felicity. So, I discovered this show through Netflix, and I vaguely remember seeing an episode when it was on air on the WB. It has now become one of my top 5 shows and is one of the few shows that I actually own. I’ve worked my way through the show 2 and half times…currently working on Season Three. The show also introduced me to quite a b it of some beautiful songs, and thus, I honor it as one of my own themes.
Written by JJAbrams Can you become. Can you become. A new version of you. New wallpaper. New shoe leather. A new way home. I don't remember. New version of you. I need a new version of me. New version of you. I need a new version of me.
Short and simple and sweet. I like it because it attests to the fact that I am everchanging and evolving. I also like the ethereal quality of the first two seasons. Very "aural." I feel as if I'm in a cool trance a little bit. When it switches over in the 3rd and 4th season, I love the scenes they show because they come from some of my fav episode. And, I actually really like the Twilight Zone episode, which apparently everyone hated.
Of course then there is the iconic, Golden Girls, which I think is actually one of the first songs that I ever learned besides those nursery rhymes. When my cousins used to babysit me, and I was 5 years old, I remember sitting in my uncle’s recliner and watching the show with them. Not to mention the countless nights in high school that my family spent watching it right before Designing Women came on.
Thank you for being a friend / Traveled down the road and back again / Your heart is true your a pal and a confidant. / And if you through a party / Invited everyone you ever knew You would see the biggest gift would be from me / And the card attached would say thank you for being a friend.
And now, Cheers. Perhaps a little weird since I’ve maybe only seen three full episode, which at the time Iliked. I don’t really know if I would like the show, but I came across the theme song on an info website recently and I totally loved the lyrics.
Making your way in the world today takes everything you've got. Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot. Wouldn't you like to get away? Sometimes you want to go Where everybody knows your name, and they're always glad you came. You wanna be where you can see, our troubles are all the same You wanna be where everybody knows Your name. You wanna go where people know, people are all the same, You wanna go where everybody knows your name.
I think this song really fits with my life right now. It’s all about my friends and all about comfort. I couldn’t have made it these past couple years without them. Shoulders to cry on, friends to laugh when, women to dance with. Ah, good times. I also really love the color and the mix of the old and new in the theme.
I mentioned in my first blog that I would hope to include other people's writing in my blog. Well, I finally found something I was particularly moved by.
This sestina was written by a dear friend, another MG.
Enjoy!
"To Michael's Hunger"
My day is chaos: I had to skip lunch, all I have to eat is cheese, and that won't suffice until dinner. Do I have take-out menus? Maybe I should just drink.
It's 2:00, is it okay to drink away my thoughts of chaos? Or should I just eat this menu? Why would anyone schedule lunch so early and make dinner so late? So here's to cheese!
No fromage and crackers, just cheese and wine--the acceptable drink for any time before or after dinner, and is this really chaos or the absence of lunch? I don't like anything on this menu.
Is there sanity on one of these menus? Hot guys, prozac, and cheese-- that would have been a great lunch followed by a pretty stout drink. I could have forgotten about the chaos and even had the same thing for dinner.
What should I do for dinner? I'll order from this menu-- food to fight the chaos-- French fries and burgers with cheese and an espresso to drink. That should make me forget lunch.
Tomorrow I should remember lunch, and have a light healthy dinner, then I can go out for a drink, somewhere with a good cocktail menu. I should throw away this cheese and ignore my thoughts of chaos.
I should not drink my lunch or have chaos for dinner and not eat menus or old cheese.
"It was a pretty boring day," said Michael. "There was lots of self-reflection and sleeping. Northing actually. Just voids of time spent doing things. Things over and again. Things done before, things done now, things to do later. Abstractness personified. Personality erased and abased. Tons of thinking about life and experiences. Lies to the self and to others. I can't believe I told my mom that I was having a good day. It was more of an average day. I did this and that. Nothing special. Nothing every really that special when it is all just the routine. Can anything ever stand out from a routine."
"Get up, sit down, move around. Actions repeated over and over again with little to no concious deliberation. Sadness, happiness, interest, and boredom all on this mathematical wave expansion table that the computer in the brain moves around and around on the x-y axis grid of my conciousness. Feel this, feel that. Cold, hot, anger...where does all of it come from? Why does looking at the window produce this feeling of loneliness and sterility inside? I can't create the world around me. I can't create anything material, just words on the page, words on the screen, words in my head, words in conversation. The condensed nature of my production swings laboriously over and around my thoughts."
Everyone should check out this awesome web-art feature on the Cabinet's website. It's called "There There" by Jackie Goss. It's very informative, and the graphics are kinda awesome.
I hope you enjoy and feel free to post your favorite factoids. Mine happens to be: "In a map of 1900 you see the Philippines tucked under California" or maybe "Henry Garnett, chief cartographer and pizza lover, chooses 'souvenir'--a font he recognizes from Pizza Hot menus."
I never really think about space or place really all that much outsides of wanting to find places to go out for vacation. But in reading this, I remember a really interesting West Wing episode where some people tried to convince Leo or Sam that the United States should back this organization that wanted to redraw the map of the world. We very rarely think about the world at large in a geographical sense...or so I think. Although of course as of late we have been obssessed with ecological issues. Look at films like Wall-E or The Happening.
There really is such a large space out there, but it is seriously dwindling each day. We are not only losing space and resources at an alarming rate, but we are increasingly destroying the Earth with our horrible habits. How many times have we kept the lights on too long? Wasted food? Or abused our access to gas and water? In ecofem, I remember reading an article about how women in some countries walk five hours a day to reach available water sources.
Why is New York such a cool state? Answer: Because its Republican State Senators introduced a bill into their state legislature attempting to ban bullying in public schools. Key element to the bill: gay, lesbian, and transgender students would be protected under the bill because it will protect students and teachers of all sexual orientations and genders. Awesome.
Alan Van Capelle, the director of a pro-gay New York agency, said, “In a Queer Eye for the Straight Guy [and] Will and Grace world, kids are coming out at a much younger age,” he said. “As a community, we have done a woefully inadequate job of protecting them.”
I totally think that this is awesome that New York is doing this, and I hope that soon many others states will catch on. To me, this says that there are parts of America were progress and education have reached the minds of individuals. However, as per course, there are some issues with the bill. It won't be voted on at today's session, but hopefully, they will vote on it in the near future.
I personally remember a kid/possible friend/acquaintance from high school who was treated horribly at school because of his orientation. The worst of it was during P.E. one day when some other students threw rocks at him, which was just absolutely horrible and explains why I took extra-credit courses outside of school to make up for my in school P.E. credit. Maybe someday this won't happen to children. Maybe one day societ will be able to realize that we are all just people and that treating others with such disdain for no reason is not necessary.
Because of DVR, I was lucky enough to catch a marathon of the first six episodes of ABC Family's new television show, Secret Life of an American Teenager, and of course, it wouldn't be a typical summer without latching onto some weird television show that I will indubitably not end up finish watching once school starts. Of course, the big "secret" is that teenagers have sex and that you can get pregnant the first time that you have sex. Wow! I didn't really know that those facts were that secret.
Monopolizing on the rather public pregnancy of Jamie Lynn Spears, ABCF decided to jump on the disturbing "new" trend of redefining "family values." Every episode is followed by a PSA about preventing teen pregnancy, however, it seems the only way to deal with it is to get married and have the kid (uh, disgusting). Of course, I was overly thrilled at the idea that Amy, the main "pregnant" character might actually succeed in getting an abortion. I mean, since the first episode, the word was mentioned and the seed planted. However, I should have known that a network with "family" in the title wasn't going to allow sweet teen Amy to actually follow through with it. This weeks episode was the final straw. She actually made it into the operation room of the clinic after being bombarded by a pro-life, evangelical ex-cheerleader and her new boyfriend who wants to marry her and make everything better. The naivete of half the cast is so lame and sort of passe when it comes to TV drama.
The redeeming features of the show, however, are Molly Ringwald as Amy's mom and India Eisley (quite the newcomer) as Amy's sister. While Molly Ringwald is playing the opposite end of her 80s roles, she does a pretty good job of acting like the adult version of her former roles, sometimes. India often steals the spotlights from the other characters of the show. The dry delivery of her lines seems to make her acting style seem raw and lame, however, her quirky lines and forward-thinking sensibilities outweigh her own childishness concerning her inability to understand adult relationships. And before I forget, I have to mention Francia Raisa as Adrian (the school's resident bad girl who enjoys sex and quite frankly may have the best lines of the show so far) and Amy Rider (Ben's friend and resident romance/sex statistician who seems to know more about sex than those two dudes from Loveline).
So, what is Amy's way out of this pregnancy? Well so far her options are abortion (which is probably a no-no), marrying Ben (which is lame and shouldn't happen), or getting together with the baby-daddy (which will probably happen for ratings and plot twists). Ah, conventional television.
But what really bugs me is that ABC Family won't just give her the abortion. Doesn't that happen in families? Is every family so story book? There are no gay families on the network. It seems as if the most they are willing to do is have inter-racial families (that are because of a foster agency not because of choice). (While I'm not an expert on the whole network, I'm pretty sure my statements are true, and if not, I apologize.)
Anyways, I'll keep watching it for a while, and who knows, maybe like Gossip Girl, a follow-up might appear in the future.
I was perusing the NY Times site, and I often like to look at the pictures that accompany ads. I was so excited when I came across this one, and I was even more excited to see that this house was actually in Rhode Island, a place that I have always dreamed about moving to. And by dream, I mean think about a lot and know that it probably won't happen. However, if I had enough money, I would totally buy this place (after Mt. St. Michael, Mt. St. Michel, and the Biltmore...although I technically think this house would be the cheapest).
The house is named Clingstone, and it sits in Narrangensett Bay of RI. It was built by the Mr. J. S. Lovering Walton and Mr. William Trost Richards in 1895. It was eventually purchased by Henry Wood, a distant family relative in 1961 for only $3,600 dollars. Since then, Wood has made the house practically a completely green house with solar power, seawater composts for water, collecting basin for purifying rain water, etc. So yeah, that makes the house completely great...but I want it because it looks so beautiful. I can just see myself sitting at a window typing on an old school typewriter thinking of my youth traveling abroad.....
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