Aesthetics of Everywhere

MOVING BLOG!

2009-07-11T23:15:00.003-04:00

As well as Blogger has served me here, I am moving my blog to Wordpress.com in what I dub a "sweeping web move." I like grand, I like dramatic.
I've been thinking about doing this for a couple weeks now. It's easier to set up multiple pages on Wordpress, which I'll use for the purpose of turning the blog into a more encompassing personal portfolio. It'll have pages for my photography and writing. I hope to be tweaking the layout a fair amount over the next couple of weeks, so don't get anxious as the site undergoes its troubling adolescent "trying to find itself" stage.

Presenting: Aesthetics of Everywhere, version 2, Wordpress edition, whatever... Please meet me there, and update your bookmark:
http://cbae.wordpress.com

Tripartite.

2009-07-02T18:45:00.003-04:00

...and brief, since all I'm focused on is unwinding.

One. A brief ode to Twitter, presented in precisely 140 characters as is the rule:

twitter is trending topics. brief bursts of convo, rather meditated-upon, succinct. minimalistic in a maximalistic screen-immersion culture.

Two. Dr. Oliver Sacks, whose book Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain I picked up last week, was a guest on the June 29th episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Talks about how music stimulates the pleasure center of the brain. It's neat how things seem to rush at once into your life. Trending topics, again.

Three. I may have forgotten my third thought. Will just say that I've been continuing with my David Foster Wallace binge... devouring Brief Interviews with Hideous Men nowadays on the bus ride to and from work. It's a collection of his short stories, wild yet controlled. DFW's got a way of reigning in these bizarrely constructed tales, in an auto-crash, can't-look-away fascination. They're urgent, causing the reader to feel that not only is it rude to stop reading, it may in fact be unsafe to do so. Fictional characters will hang in your conscience well after you've scrubbed your hands of the grit and oil. It's not simply that it's dark. It's also sad and here and real.
I can safely say that he does short fiction as well as he does essays as well as he does hyper-lengthy fiction. What a guy.

In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan

2009-06-30T19:45:00.003-04:00

Finished off reading an amazing "eater's manifesto" by Michael Pollan called In Defense of Food. It's a short and engrossing read on the problems with the American diet and how we can choose to reverse them. Pollan has an excellent way of subverting the obtuse language of food as we know it in the Western context. And much of it, Pollan argues, cannot even be called "food" - he cuttingly deems much of it "edible foodlike substance," ha! His writing is sincere and his tips for changing one's own diet to be healthier and more conscious are easy to incorporate. By not pushing vegetarianism or veganism but leaving the choice of diet open, Pollan hopes to change the death path of the quote-unquote average American.

Sidenote, re: deathpath - "In 1960 Americans spent 17.5 percent of their income on food and 5.2 percent of national income on health care. Since then, those numbers have flipped: Spending on food has fallen to 9.9 percent, while spending on health care has climbed to 16 percent of national income." This is outrageous.

In Defense of Food is a work that all people must read, because though we all eat, we are too often misguided or wrongly mystified, largely by a movement championed by the food industries (hand-in-hand with scientists) known as Nutritionism: studying nutrients in isolation to extract their supposed benefits, then injecting these into our food products.

Wonder Bread with the whole grain removed and manipulated in the lab with any number of additives to make it white and soft.
Milk with the fat removed, then - since the health benefits of the milk have been cancelled by doing so - adding in vitamins that are really only fat-soluble anyway. Low-fat or skim milk isn't real milk: you're drinking milk rendered less nutrient-dense and then patched up with additives so it resembles milk.
And so on, and so on. Won't spoil the book.

Seriously though, best guide to eating I've read yet. And I thought I already had an idea of what's essential to nutrition... it's liberating to forge a path to more deliberate eating. It'll debunk those myths that are perpetuated all around us in order to sell more food-like substances in our groceries. Go pick it up as soon as you can: In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan.
Then take a good look at what you have on your plate. Is it food?

"Tales of music and the brain"

2009-06-22T06:43:00.004-04:00

Schopenhauer is quoted in the introduction to Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks, "The inexpressible depth of music, so easy to understand yet so inexplicable, is due to the fact that it reproduces all the emotions of our innermost being, but entirely without reality and remote from its pain... Music expresses only the quintessence of life and of its events, never these themselves."

Going through old notebooks

2009-06-21T09:22:00.003-04:00

Considering I'm something of a pack-rat, I started to scrapbook recently in order to keep all my ticket stubs, scraps of paper, photos, etc. all together for some future nostalgia-ridden viewing. Here's a scribbled note I came upon from 2005- or 2006ish: "I can't even express how beautiful it was flying into Atlanta as the sun set, through big fluffy clouds like wisps of pulled cotton candy." The handwriting's shaky, as if the thoughts were pinned to paper amidst a scene more viscerally confrontational than careful ink and set line-widths. And that's it, you know - the scrambling attempt to turn those feelings into sticky preserves, knowing all the while that the pulp'll liquefy, spill away. Words can come close, and they'll capture the pulse behind it, but mostly they will sound less real, more idealized.
I don't remember that sunset now (I barely remember flying to ATL): I can guess at the sensations from the words I saved through this minute description.

Consider the Lobster and other essays, David Foster Wallace

2009-06-16T21:43:00.009-04:00

Looking for entertaining reading that is also seriously thought-provoking and keen?
The essays in David Foster Wallace's Consider the Lobster, which cover a variety of topics (the porn industry, the English language's clash between Descriptivists and Prescriptivists, sports memoirs, etc), are substantial enough to get into the real grit of things and raise some downright profound questions, and short enough that one doesn't have to commit to a much more lengthy text [read: Infinite Jest. No, seriously, read it this summer].

Quick run-through of faves from Consider the Lobster.
My #1 is absolutely "Authority and American Usage," which can be found online, but is certainly better consumed in traditional format on the page - and consider that fact modernist irony, please. Plus, the footnotes look better rapidly scaling down in font size. If you're a linguistics geek or have just completed a course reviewing the histories of the English language (as I have most recently done), you will devour it. And even if you think you've heard everything there is to be said about the English language's development, you will benefit from DFW's wit and candor in treating the subject. Trust me... but, disclaimer: please be a geek about language.

"How Tracy Austin Broke My Heart" is the one about sports memoirs. Really it's more about what we seek from such supremacy in sports skill - the kind of grace that is also sought by Updike's Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom, for example. Choice tidbit: "Maybe what keeps us buying [these sports memoirs] in the face of constant disappointment is some deep compulsion both to experience genius in the concrete and to universalize genius in the abstract." We want answers, and we want insight into how to be great. Or what that might feel like, at the very least.

"The View from Mrs. Thompson's" is an article on DFW's experience of September 11th 2001 in Bloomington, Illinois. I found this line about residents of midwest towns such as Bloomington to be notable:
"...And they watch massive, staggering amounts of TV. I don't just mean the kids, either. Something that's obvious but important to keep in mind re Bloomington and the Horror is that reality - any felt sense of a larger world - is mainly televisual." Just painfully well-put.

Other great, much longer essays are "Up, Simba" in which Wallace travelled with McCain's 2000 campaign for Rolling Stone Magazine, and "Host" which profiles talk radio host John Ziegler. It's tough choosing favorites from this collection because I couldn't help but read the book straight through, even though originally I had asked myself, "Really? Am I going to want to read the article about a lobster festival?" Yeah, I guess I did.

First thoughts upon waking.

2009-06-16T06:33:00.000-04:00

The knowledge that comes to you in a dream - from whence does that information spring? Could it be a filter of the world that is unconscious while awake, then becomes consciously foregrounded while asleep? How is it that I seem to learn things from my dreams? I'm not talking "oh I learn that I'm anxious about X or Y event." Rather, say, a fact about an artist, details about a historical figure, or some piece of information that a friend has kept from you. And it's not a regular occurrence but I could believe that this happens more often to some others. Probably we catch a whole lot more in passing than we can account for.

Iranian election photojournalism

2009-06-15T19:02:00.003-04:00

Passing on a link to photos from the tumultuous scene following last Friday's Iranian presidential election. Really remarkable photography that gives a glimpse into the charged atmosphere there.

Dean & Britta, June 5th at the Black Cat

2009-06-07T10:05:00.002-04:00

I've grown so accustomed to a fast internet connection that it seems tough to get by when you're just sitting around waiting for a page to load. Trying to pay bills online, but even the Bank of America website is taking its sweet time loading... and watching music videos doesn't seem worth it right now. Either way, it's a nice relaxing day - my day off!

Friday night I went with two of my best concert buddies to see Dean & Britta at the Black Cat. You might also know Dean Wareham from Galaxie 500 or Luna, the influential indie rock bands he formed in the 80s and 90s. Or you might not. Anyway, my friends Chris and Pete got me into Galaxie 500 pretty recently, so I'm a recent fan. But Chris has been following Dean Wareham for something close to 20 years and on Friday, he finally got to meet him! We also met Britta, who is gorgeous. Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips are married and play together as Dean & Britta. Seems a bit poppier than the older stuff, but they're a great live act. The Black Cat was pretty packed that night with a mix of longtime devotees and new listeners.

Watch a video of Galaxie 500's "Tugboat." Also check out the music video for Dean & Britta's "You Turn My Head Around" and others.

Video of the Chamblin Bookmine

2009-05-31T20:03:00.003-04:00

Wow. Here's a video of the Chamblin Bookmine, a used-book store of epic proportions in Jacksonville, Florida. I would love to wile away my time there. It's difficult for me even to limit my Idle Time visits to an hour - and Idle Time Books is many, many times smaller than this place looks to be.

The aisles of the Chamblin Bookmine remind me a little bit of the "Five and a Half Minute Hallway" from Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves. Eerie, almost otherworldly... A hallway that knows not the bounds of physical bounds nor human perception. The Borges quote inserted into the video doesn't exactly interfere with that strangeness, either.

Star Trek film

2009-05-24T20:14:00.003-04:00

My day off today - just returned from seeing the Star Trek film (out now in theatres) with some friends. I wanted to post quickly to recommend it, as a non-Trekkie, to anyone looking for an entertaining film. Plenty of excellent CG, and packed full of action with a solid cast. It was pleasantly surprising for me, someone who has probably never seen an entire episode of the Star Trek series before. It's directed by J.J. Abrams, aka the co-creator of the Lost series.

Sundays are excellent and it feels great outside. Cherish these fine fleeting moments before the humidity moves in full-force.

Sriracha Chili Sauce

2009-05-21T00:58:00.003-04:00

Okay, I realize I'm obsessed with Sriracha sauce (aka "rooster sauce" or "cock sauce"), but I'm finding it's not that uncommon to be... check this out: the New York Times article about it, "A Chili Sauce to Crow About," is presently the #1 most emailed article. What! To its credit, however, it's a good condiment for practically anything - obviously in pho noodles, but also atop any savory rice dish or mixed into other sauces. And new visitors to our house almost unfailingly comment on how great the stuff is. Sriracha-users seem to be pretty enthusiastic fans!

2009-05-11T23:22:00.002-04:00

This school year = complete. One more year for me. Time to start on my summer reads!

And a link for ya'll. Here's a neat YouTube-based collaborate music project called In B Flat. These videos seem to harmonize well no matter what order in which you start playing them. Sounds pretty atmospheric, art-school... it kind of depends on which you choose, though. I can't really figure out what's going on with the Nintendo DS there - is the game console itself making the noise?

My present self reading with past self, who had written for future self.

2009-05-05T16:04:00.003-04:00

Just some musing during my re-read of The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien:
High school literature class. Learning the language of archetypes, of parallelism. Listing notes on syntax, emulating the rhetoric, claiming recognition of a "transferred epithet." Scribbling that in the margin a half-page above an unfinished meditation on juxtaposition of -

A re-read is an instance of
notes expounding upon notes,
a book carrying a weight great
with pen-ink and trailing thoughts.

(Also confer Billy Collins's poem, "Marginalia.")

Link: Forbes ranking of the 20 Best Places to Live in the World

2009-04-29T09:14:00.002-04:00

Go here to see the slideshow of the 20 best, ranked by Forbes.
This is pretty neat because I am looking to get out of the DC area in the next few years, mostly because I've never lived anywhere else. According to this list, I'd probably have to cross over to western Europe or Canada to achieve the highest quality of life... I don't know. Anyhow, this does not help to quell my wanderlust. I'm gonna have to take a weekend roadtrip ou deux this summer.

Back to paper-writing. I've been just cranking out the pages lately (but of course in a more artful manner than that denotes, I should hope). Oh, and somebody remind me to write sometime about how everything I read seems to converge and allude to each other and music even, music aligns in such concord to the words on the page and the thoughts that seem to emerge everywhere. Almost enough to make one believe there is a configuration natural to living or thought... But I digress; that's a whole 'nother post at least. And, o! I have some fresh thoughts on social networks online and offline to expand upon, too. Possibly also a feature post on the musical genre of "freak folk," in time. There's a lot of writing to be had here.

Quotation for this lovely morning.

2009-04-18T08:10:00.002-04:00

From an interview with Harold Bloom on the subject of reading in the modern age: "You cannot even begin to heal the worst aspects of solitude, which are loneliness and potential madness, by visual experience of any kind, particularly the sort of mediated visual experience that you get off a screen of whatever sort."

In honor of tax day having come and gone:

2009-04-16T07:31:00.002-04:00

My brother sent me this link - a visual representation of where your Federal tax dollars go. Nicely laid out, especially for those of you who grasp numbers better in spiffy graphical form.

Leaving Tangier, Tahar Ben Jelloun

2009-04-14T10:39:00.001-04:00

Likely the most notable aspect of Tahar Ben Jelloun’s newest novel to be translated from French into English, Leaving Tangier (2009), is his unique storytelling through the series of “character sketches.” People of all backgrounds and experiences and relations to Tangier are made real and alive through their speech, reflections, and cultural mannerisms. Most of their tales are quite tragic: stories of prostitution, drug-dealing, and trafficking run rampant in Tangier’s seedy coastline locale. New people are introduced abruptly; their narratives are then weaved together through the highly ambivalent relationship between Azel and Miguel, separately from Morocco and Spain, who together represent the portal city of Tangier. Leaving Tangier shows Tahar Ben Jelloun’s developed understanding of what it feels like to straddle two nations and how difficult it is to completely sever the ties to one’s homeland. His knowledge of expatriation is as vast as his characters are numerous.

In this novel of simultaneous descent and brief bouts of enlightenment, migrants are torn about their past and national identity. Azel, the protagonist, is described at one point as “street trash” by his rich Spanish “lover,” who is all too willing to take the Moroccan man’s body even without receving his heart. Their acts flow parallel to the Strait of Gibraltar, claiming the Moroccan lives that sorely strove to reach new prospects in the glamorous land over the water. Drowning becomes a purgatory move in this sense, cleansing years of raw history.

Eliot for your morning, Hegel in the evening.

2009-04-10T10:00:00.004-04:00

From the second of Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot:

...Had they deceived us,
Or deceived themselves, the quiet-voiced elders,
Bequeathing us merely a receipt for deceit?
The serenity only a deliberate hebetude,
The wisdom only the knowledge of dead secrets
Useless in the darkness into which they peered
Or from which they turned their eyes. There is, it seems to us,
At best, only a limited value
In the knowledge derived from experience.
The knowledge imposes a pattern, and falsifies,
For the pattern is new in every moment
And every moment is a new and shocking
Valuation of all we have been. We are only undeceived
Of that which, deceiving, could no longer harm.

And to somewhat clarify his meaning here (poetics must be murky; philosophy too), Hegel's owl of Minerva:

The lesson of the concept, which necessarily is also taught by history, is that only in the ripeness of actuality does the ideal appear over against the real, and that only then does this ideal comprehend this same real world in its substance and build it up for itself into the configuration of an intellectual realm. When philosophy paints its gray in gray, then a configuration of life has grown old, and cannot be rejuvenated by this gray in gray, but only understood; the Owl of Minerva takes flight only as the dusk begins to fall.

Perhaps a to-do list is in order.

2009-04-06T22:13:00.003-04:00

There's a Chinese curse: "May you find what you are looking for." And the Rolling Stones realized, "You can't always get what you want."

The implication is that nobody really wants to get what they're searching for. The drive for it arises from the ignorance that complete achievement would be crushing. Your ego would fail, miserably incapable of reconstructing itself in relation to the achievement of complete satisfaction. You'd have to then define yourself by the possessed. It's continual goal-setting for safety. Because of this, there's no completion - you can't win life. There's more to be had.

Here's the epiphany. (Yes, I prefer to blatantly over-dramatise the trivialities of my own life - I embrace this practice fully because I see we all inevitably form the centers of our relative universes anyway. So, "epiphany.")
We can't stop searching. We create our own meanings. Nihilism may work (or not, whatever - haha) in theory, but the realization that we're not going to get there doesn't mean we shouldn't start the journey anyway. Life is one grand, interrupted action and it is only assigned significance because hey, we're human. There's no reason to stop those cycles, but there is literature to make it feel valid. May you keep searching.

Art Spiegelman, "What the %@$*!! Happened to Comic Books?!"

2009-04-03T12:37:00.008-04:00

I went to see Art Spiegelman talk last night at my university. For those who don't recognize the name, Spiegelman is the author of Maus, a renowned graphic novel about his father's experience of the Holocaust which was awarded a Pulitzer Prize Special Award in 1992.

Not only is Spiegelman a talented writer and thoughtful comic artist, I was pleased to find he is also wonderfully well-spoken and entertaining as a speaker. His presentation, entitled "What the %@$*!! Happened to Comic Books?!," was fast-paced ride through the history of comics and the rise of the graphic novel in today's world. Indeed, even his manner of speech replicates the poised control of the graphic artist, who internally converts time into space in order to fill and arrange the panels properly. At least speaking for myself, I can say that Spiegelman was able to keep me absorbed in a topic I had no real interest in, as he flew through early comic history, the role of comics in newspapers, their subsequent ebb and redirection into 'comic book' form, and ending with his own place in the presently maturing graphic novel scene. He ended there relatively modestly, I would argue, for his stature both within the genre and outside of it (Time Magazine named him one of the top 100 "Most Influential" people in 2005).

I'd say I was most interested in his discussion of the aesthetics of the comic form. I was unaware of how much thought is required to lay out the page in a way that not only communicates the story in a compelling manner, but guides the reader through a sheet of paper packed to the brim with content. And negative spaces matter: with page space at a premium, an empty panel (or two, or three...) speaks volumes. Spiegelman at one point claimed, "I'm interested in what leaks outside the panels." A skilled graphic novelist will understand this. The contents on the page point to what is left unsaid - the weight behind the mere 'lines on paper.'

Art Spiegelman has recently published In the Shadow of No Towers, a graphic novel written about the events of September 11th. He has also done some brilliant and often controversial covers for The New Yorker magazine... which anyone who knows me recognizes is a personal favorite. Regardless, I would recommend reading the Maus books to start off.

Huck Finn!

2009-04-01T22:43:00.002-04:00

I've been misguided in my prior judgment of Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. As my first reading of Huck Finn, the linguistic techniques used by Twain in writing this novel emerge fresh – unclouded by a previous experience with the text – and candidly influence my perception of the book’s driving forces. I’m not sure I could have wholly appreciated, as a child, the nuanced way in which Twain is able to portray the speech of such varied dialects. Reading this novel without the background of my study of the English language’s context and development, would probably have resulted in my dismissal of it as a simple adventure story. Surely a notable relic of American children’s literature and national character, but nothing more.

Of course, that impression would be proved insufficient to judge the true merit of Huckleberry Finn. Twain’s linguistic skills are of a very high caliber, shown through his ability to methodically depict a number of American dialects in this text. The vernacular speech leaps from the pages - it's fascinating to hear it do so - and crumbles the years past between my childhood (the one without Huck) and my... post-childhood (the one discovering Huck's charms). Huck Finn is delightful because he is pure and simple in a novel that may not be quite so simple. I caught myself laughing out loud several times towards the end of the book.

And besides, who can resist Twain’s “Notice” preceding the body of the text? “Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot…”

Waltz with Bashir

2009-03-20T19:03:00.002-04:00

I went last night to see Waltz with Bashir (a friend and I wanted to catch it in theatres before it stopped showing), an Israeli animated film about a character struggling to regain memory of his time serving as an IDF during the first Lebanon War - specifically, the night of the Sabra and Shatila massacre. Such a political animated film about war may seem contradictory, but director Ari Folman treats it artfully. This is not to say it's ever anything less than tragic... it's absolutely devastating.
I noticed the color range in the film contributed much to its effect, leaping from almost monochrome to sharply brilliant. It's an interesting way to illustrate the way our memories, especially those of the horrors of war, can be so vivid whether or not they're "correct." We construct stories to seal the gaps, and similarly, we construct stories to conceal what we've experienced. Digging into the rifts can be valuable even when it uncovers a terrible truth about oneself. But the context of war strips away the human element, and that's probably the most detestable part about it.

Romanticism and sentimentality; debate with self.

2009-03-06T16:29:00.006-05:00

It has taken me far too long to discover Goethe.
At age 20, I have.
The writing of The Sorrows of Young Werther is, I feel, perfectly aligned with my sentiment. Werther's character is, heart and soul, impassioned to the point of self-destruction. He leaps from consuming love to utter hopelessness in an instant. Before choosing this book (quite on a whim), my reading of Romantic literature had been mostly limited to the British: Coleridge, Wordsworth, Clare, and so on... Having never studied German, I read it in English translation, yet the effect is there. Almost too overwhelming to handle, especially because I see so much of myself in young Werther. I may have issue declaring national identity, but I declare myself a full-blooded Romantic. All general statements from me such as these must exist with a disclaimer, of course: I am a Romantic, yet I am one living in and responding to a modern age. I would embrace Modernism if it could definitively be called a movement now though it would destroy me, as anyone. Word on the street is that Modernism's dead or something anyway. Post-modernism's by nature ambiguous. (I'm rambling.) Maybe I am a Pomo Romantic.
And in a fit of passion, as soon as I began Werther, my one objective became to finish it and promise myself a reread of it very often. A return to history... smacks of straight Modernism, don't it? Yet the lack of declaration above, in the guise of a statement of identity, must drive it into the prefix Post- realm...
Ha, looks like I need to be reading some David Foster Wallace now. Except it'll have to wait, since War and Peace is next on the list and there's a novel to command one's faculties.

Yeah, and read White Noise by Don DeLillo.

2009-03-02T09:33:00.004-05:00

I was sitting here thinking about how many forms of communication are open to the Internet world today, and it made me a little nostalgic for when my friends and I would chatter excitedly about a new website or exchange screen names. Everything was so feverishly novel - just imagine, we can meet people who live on the other side of the world; we can create chat rooms based on interest (especially important for those of us who felt there were few others to whom we could really relate in our own middle school). We can be anonymous and reveal secrets that those inhabiting our offline worlds might not accept about us.
It seems that kids growing up with all of these new generation networking websites - some even those directed at elementary schoolers! - would take all of these forms for granted. Internet living is becoming interweaved into modern living. I mean, I got sucked into the online world pretty quickly as a middle schooler, but at least I had experienced a childhood of running around in the woods for hours building forts, warring with Super Soakers in the summer, playing board games and Truth or Dare at slumber parties, walking to the neighborhood pool with friends... and I read books, piles and piles of books. There's one you never outgrow. I wouldn't be surprised if children in elementary school these days go straight inside the house after getting home, and escape directly into the allure of screen glow.

I mean, look at attention spans. Ooh, meta-thought: Is this post too long for success online?
What works today is that which can be delivered in snippets, preferably portable so technology can follow one's movement anywhere. Blackberrys, iPhones, the Kindle...

I saw a mother talking with an attendant at a Metro station. Her son was bawling hysterically over a handheld video game he had dropped getting off the train, while the two adults tried to console [ha, ha] him.

Essay responding to the e-book.

2009-02-23T07:05:00.004-05:00

John Updike wrote a reverberating little piece entitled "A Case for Books" that I think expresses why so many of us serious readers are alarmed by the rise of the electronic-format book. The physical appeal of the hard copy of a novel is unmatchable even by the variable format font and crisp screen glow. And don't misunderstand me: I am hardly a modern-day Luddite (I keep a blog and check my Google calendar several times a day), but Updike's essay puts into words those hesitations and anxieties that I've been having trouble focusing. He argues that books leave remnants suggestive of our internal lives in a way that electronic books cannot; they "externalize our brains, and turn our homes into thinking bodies." They serve as "counterweight to our fickle and flighty natures." It's a short and punchy defense by a man who truly appreciates writing as an art form.

"A Case for Books" is included in his collection of essays and literary criticism entitled Due Considerations, which is well worth a read, a skim, or at least dabble.

Warm house!

2009-02-19T20:02:00.002-05:00

When the heat stops working in the house for two days in the frigid February winter, one really gets to appreciate central heating. Mmmyep. It's back on and I'm toasty at home now, with a cup of tea.

The next few weeks are going to be filled with some good Russian lit. I feel it's very appropriate for this weather. Started reading Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev today. A couple of friends and I are starting a book discussion group... following that, we'll take on Tolstoy's War and Peace.

Obama's presidental news conference

2009-02-09T11:14:00.002-05:00

A note so nobody misses President Obama's first prime-time White House press conference tonight. 8pm, news channels everywhere. Don't expect me to live-blog it or anything - I haven't yet gone that far. ;)

Film sidenotes;

2009-02-05T13:40:00.006-05:00

Quickly going to jot down some film notes before I head to my next class. I like to have my initial reactions in writing and I've been watching more movies than usual lately. Though I'm certainly behind on seeing the Oscar nominees for this year - out of the nominees for Best Picture, I've seen exactly 0. Ahem.
Onto my recent views:

No Country for Old Men (2007): A brilliantly written and suspenseful thriller, directed by the Coen brothers and based on its namesake novel by Cormac McCarthy. Javier Bardem is absolutely bone-chilling here as a murderous sociopath.

Chunhyang (2000): This is a Korean film that I found notable for its mix of both modern storytelling features as well as the traditional pansori musical poetic style involving a singer and a barrel drum player. It's a universally known tale of love and loyalty in Korea that has been made into a movie for modern audiences by director Kwon-taek Im. Great way to experience Korean culture and history.

As for movies that are currently out in theatres, I'm excited to see Coraline (a surreal animated film which opens tomorrow, based on a Neil Gaiman book), as well as The Wrestler and Slumdog Millionaire. My housemates and I tried to go to see Slumdog last week, but it was sold out at E St Cinema. Sad.
Anyway, I'll sum up by saying I'm pleased that I am getting plenty of respite from my academic- and job-related duties so far this year. My friend just got me a DVD of Shakespeare Behind Bars which I'm excited and curious about - it's about Kentuckian prison inmates performing Shakespeare. Reminds me of the episode of This American Life (which I loved) in which Missourian prison inmates get together to put on a staging of Hamlet. You can listen to that one online by following the preceding link.

My little tribute to John Updike.

2009-01-28T11:55:00.004-05:00

John Updike
March 18, 1932 - January 27, 2009

John Updike died yesterday at the age of 76. A classmate announced it in one of my English classes - turns out that we were discussing realism that day too.
It had seemed that John Updike was the one man who would never stop writing. He often crafted sentences that drew our attention to a detail of suburban life that we would never have otherwise noticed. And crafted a vast, rolling landscape of them - enough reading to last well beyond his death. There was a poignancy in the care he took to portray American life, as flawed as it is. On the subject of suburban adultery, which was often a topic of his writing (as in Rabbit, Run), Updike said it was "a subject which, if I have not exhausted, has exhausted me."
And not only did he write novels - so many of them - he wrote essays, short stories, poetry... even continued to write reviews. It's probable that he frustrated many with his prolific writing - how can one person write so much and possibly have it be so good? - but it's certain he also charmed many more.

Sometime last year, Rabbit, Run became the first work of John Updike's that I had read. I won't spoil it, but I loved it. Certain passages are absolutely tragic. And fortunately, he left a lot more to us.

From Rabbit, Run:

"I had forgotten," she says.
"Forgotten what?"
"That I ... could have it too."
"What’s it like?"
"Oh. It’s like falling through."
"Where do you fall to?"
"Nowhere. I can’t talk about it."

Sure, it's a conversation about orgasm, but the quote has its resonances in death as well.

First sticking snow of the winter?

2009-01-27T09:02:00.007-05:00

We've had a couple of days this winter of mild flurry fall, but this morning I awoke to a nice steady snowfall that has decided so far to stick. They're predicting a couple of inches before the day is out! Finally.

A light morning dust upon my street.

Also, am I the only one who had trouble figuring out this next slogan?

It reads on the 7-Eleven coffee cups: "If we charged any more for coffee, you'd have to wait in line."
I get it now, and I guess I'll grant that there's value to the type of advertising campaign that isn't immediately translucent to the consumer. It did capture my attention and force me to ponder why it was that I'd have to wait in line... It's possible, however, that it was just my pre-caffeinated dozy state (practically slept through the whole bus ride). 7-Eleven's strategy of mimicking higher end coffee shops is appropriate for the pocketbooks of today. Pseudo-lattes galore, eh? Let's just say a buck and some change is far easier to swallow - or to sip - than three or four bucks of burnt beans.

Photos from the Morning of the Inauguration

2009-01-23T19:14:00.002-05:00

By 'morning,' I mean the early morn, say around 6am. Just a few frigid shots to follow, from the pedestrian bridge takeover towards the Capitol to the cool (filled to capacity) bike parking which we only discovered afterwards:

Friday photo file!

2009-01-16T17:41:00.002-05:00

Here's a statue by Alexander Phimister Proctor, one of the tigers guarding the 16th Street Bridge. Proctor was a sculptor who is also known for the famous buffalo statues on the Dumbarton (Q St) Bridge near Dupont Circle and Georgetown. I like that the tigers get all gussied-up for the winter. They even seem to be getting into the Inauguration spirit here, with the tiny American flags!

It's no news to anybody in DC that it's cold, but...

2009-01-16T06:34:00.004-05:00

I honestly can't remember the last time it's been this cold in DC. And still no real snowfall! How frustrating!
In warmer news, the Inauguration ceremony for our new President Barack Obama is only four days away now. Here's to hoping the weather's a little more bearable on Tuesday.

Arundhati Roy - The God of Small Things

2009-01-12T10:50:00.002-05:00

Beginning with this year's booklist, I'm going to try to write mini-reviews for what I've read. I'll post them here on the blog, too.
Also, I am now shopping around for web hosting, though I am going to first design and write some pages for my site.

Here's the review I wrote up for book #03 of this year:
Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things – her first novel – demonstrates her remarkable ability to capture the effects of a single day’s events. Her novel follows the story of a family in India, fluidly intertwining through time rather than tracing a chronological path. The author reveals how small actions can be grow to enormous, nearly disastrous, proportions. The history told of these characters carries the echo of the grander history outside their own world, of India and of human life. Roy is fantastic in her ability to write in the voices of the twin children, Estha and Rahel, changing the structure of the English language to reflect the purity of youth. The reader learns in due course about the tragic happening that has destroyed that purity, though Roy carefully holds the reader in an aching state of half-knowing until the end. Arundhati Roy shows in this novel that she is gifted with not only the art of poetic language, but also with the craft of weaving a deeply resonant narrative.
You'll rush through it with a sense of urgency (so in that way, it's a fast read). I'd love to give it a re-read to catch the things I missed the first time through.

Lead-up to Inauguration.

2009-01-08T10:09:00.002-05:00

There's a great deal of talk surrounding the upcoming Inauguration of President Barack Obama, but it cannot be denied that Washington, DC is going to feel like a changed city the morning of January 20th.

Well, just take a look at this breakdown of the traffic routes that day: WTOP Inauguration Traffic. They've even got a handy Google map that shows the road closings - basically overlaying the map of downtown DC with red lines. Bridges closed as well, essentially cutting off the city from Northern Virginia. Living within the city has its advantages. Hopefully walking will be less chaotic. I plan on a photo outing with a friend over the course of the Inauguration events, so those'll be posted around here soon.

12 Days Until Inauguration, the Presidential Inaugural Committee reports.

2009-01-07T15:54:00.003-05:00

One of my goals for this year is to keep a more comprehensive booklist. Rather than jotting down solely the titles, authors and date of completion, I'm keeping a little notebook on hand to write down reactions, interesting quotes, and references to look into further.

I should probably also create a webpage for it when 2009's out. Ideally I'll have time to create a new web portfolio, complete with photography, writing, random bits like the booklists for each year, as well as an embedded blog. Yep. I used to have a web portfolio for my photography but I have no idea what happened to it (I mean, well, I know - it fell into neglect). Anyway, it'd be useful and a fun project.

Also, I plan to write waaay more. Working on a couple of stories right now.

2009-01-02T00:49:00.000-05:00

2009 shall be great.

Debate over burritos, linked from DCist.com

2008-12-24T07:03:00.005-05:00

Mmm. I realize it's not yet 7am, but this discussion over the best burritos in the District reminds me that there are many burrito shops that I haven't yet tried. Plenty of places in Mount Pleasant, even, which is super close to my house. Say what you will, I consider the burrito an art form among foods.

Also, it seems I'm among the few who rank The Burro's burritos high... have that habanero sauce once, though, and you'll never look back.

Still the season to be thankful?

2008-12-15T19:43:00.002-05:00

Just to note in passing, Metrorail's got a few cars running now with the new cloth-covered seats and non-carpeted floors. It's clean-looking, and probably much easier to clean... a few nights ago the car I was riding in had a pile of vomit under one of the seats and I'm sure it's no fun for Metro employees to clean that from the carpeted floor.

Also, I was discussing the Metro system with a couple classmates who all hail from other locations (and have traveled somewhat extensively). We pretty much agreed that although we love to complain about Metro's failures - which, okay, have recently been quite glaring - overall it's a very well-maintained and easy to navigate system compared to others worldwide. Yeah, we're not the best, but sometimes we need to show more respect for the DC Metro system. And yes, I did hear that story about the Metro elevator that suddenly went into reverse...

Mad frenzy of final paper writing.

2008-12-08T19:00:00.004-05:00

Wow, so tonight I polished off the third ten-page paper I've written in the last two weeks, and I came to the realization that I've really found my groove in terms of academic paper-writing. It seems the first two years I've written papers for class that were good, you know - ones which acceptably met the guidelines for length, content, amount of analysis, whatever - but not above par.

And finally I've snagged it, the grace of writing that feels natural even in the confines of the academic voice. Length doesn't phase me because it's simply another border within which to work, but doesn't really change the level of 'difficulty' in writing the paper. It would sound blasphemous to the student of my times past, but I can proclaim now: "I enjoy it! I thrive off this stuff. I'd be absolutely content spending the rest of my life churning out pages filled with ideas and dance these words around to infinity." There must be a scientific basis for this "writer's high." Once I pushed through the muck of tentative freshman- and sophomore-year writing, those countless essays of stop-and-go, half-formed arguments (which felt like pointless essays then), I hit my stride here, this fall of my junior semester. However, history can't be written as it's occurring, right? Time'll tell.
Maybe the sheer number of pages I've subjected myself to writing this semester, taking three English classes and another two which involve several essays, has forced me to break the ennui. Last week, I had felt utterly drained: as if all the words had been taken out of me. But then I knew, it's a part of the writing process and it's a part of what makes writing so damn difficult sometimes - when there's nothing left, still you must take more from yourself. And it's probably why so many writers have a psychotic break. Heh, I kid... maybe.

Next week I've got final exams. This winter break is going to feel niiice.

2008-12-01T10:55:00.004-05:00

It's now December. Where does the time go?

Lots to remember about the year 2008:
Barack Obama elected first African-American president of the U.S. (and my first time voting in a presidential election), much global worry over the financial crisis, first tattoo, summer Olympics in Beijing, pirates and vampires abound, house shows and living in the Columbia Heights house with Aaron and Katie and Sarah (plus signing my first lease), countless bombings and crashes worldwide, trips to North Carolina and Montreal, one of my best friends finally getting out of the hospital, training new employees at work and going to concerts with co-workers, and appreciating youth as I turned 20.

Seasonal writing.

2008-11-16T23:41:00.002-05:00

This brisk air of late lends itself readily to writing. I can see why there is so much poetry composed on the subject of the seasons... I'm thinking about this at the moment because I'm writing a paper on how winter is handled in the poetry of a few English Romantics - including one of my new faves, John Clare. So here's an appropriate poem written by Clare, the desperately poor peasant poet (with a tendency to misspell and leave out punctuation), called "Written in November":

Autumn I love thy latter end to view
In cold novembers day so bleak and bare
When like lifes dwindld thread worn nearly thro
Wi lingering pottering pace and head bleachd bare
Thou like an old man bids the world adieu
I love thee well and often when a child
Have roamd the bare brown heath a flower to find
And in the moss clad vale and wood bank wild
Have cropt the little bell flowers paley blue
That trembling peept the sheltering bush behind
When winnowing north winds cold and blealy blew
How have I joyd wi dithering hands to find
Each fading flower and still how sweet the blast
Woud bleak novembers hour Restore the joy thats past

When one's shivering out there, one's aware.

It's quite a different nation this morning.

2008-11-05T05:55:00.002-05:00

And how I first knew last night? It wasn't the early prediction from my manager, "I'm pretty sure Obama won," nor the reports coming in over the radio as eight o'clock, nine o'clock, ten o'clock rolled around.
It was the whoops of joy from men riding their bikes up and down streets for the sole purpose of letting all the tension of the past years out; it was unbroken stream of car horns through Dupont and celebratory "Obama!"s that broke the air at every stop when the bus doors opened; it was pyrotechnics in Columbia Heights and the smiles from passengers who felt less like strangers. It was pure parading in the streets by people who learned again what it was to believe in something.

We're waking up now, America...

Noted to myself, on the bus.

2008-11-02T09:14:00.002-05:00

Caught myself in a foolish line of thinking, one that won't come as much of a stretch for most Americans today. We'll buy items to serve a specific purpose, accumulating more and more, getting hooked on getting more, eventually become so depressed by the weight of it all and the sight of ourselves. It's illogical but we do it.
It's great getting a free ride on the bus. Hardly ever happens on Metrorail, though - their system is much more organized with the entry and exit gates.
So of course we're each burdened by our own afflictions, and that's not new. Read some good lit, burst into life, and ride your tide out. It's not that simple but it sure feels that way when you're young, and afraid of getting any older. Fame's not as important as experiencing as much as possible (whenever I read the Romantics, I want to get out and just wander). There's more to be found in getting low than reaching those heights sometimes.

Election Day is November 4th, this Tuesday! Go vote, do everything else afterwards. It's been such a long time coming that I'm pretty tired of election coverage and campaigning and opinion polls... and here's to hoping it won't take a month to get the results.

'The Early Death and Inevitable Rebirth of 'Message' Politics"

2008-10-27T19:44:00.003-04:00

I attended another great lecture this evening, this one in the anthropological vein with linguistic elements (rather than a discussion of literature as the last one I discussed on the blog). It was entitled "The Early Death and Inevitable Rebirth of 'Message' Politics," by Michael Silverstein.
I find that I gain more from these lectures hosted by the academic departments with featured speakers than the class lectures in those same departments. But I'm fairly convinced that's a matter of my treatment of it, because I get genuinely excited for a fresh speaker - what a special opportunity at our university - don't know what to expect beyond what I infer from a well-crafted title... whereas for the courses in which I'm enrolled, it's: oh hey here are the basic tenets of the argument in that article - please share your interpretations of the reading - don't forget your papers are due next class. Oh! - There's maybe a better reason. Everyone who attends these departmental lectures is interested in the subject. They aren't required to attend; therefore, attendance tends to be sparser but discussion is palpably charged, listeners are thoroughly engaged and responsive to the ideas set forth. Heh, and the professor-to-student ratio is much more in favor of the professors.
Okay, okay.

So the lecture itself was on "message" politics, especially in regards to the current presidential campaign. Michael Silverstein is important in the field of linguistic anthropology, highly influential in shaping the way theorists study language in the social context. He's also well-informed in American political history, which he demonstrated tonight. This particular discussion took on the idea of how these messages or brands of the politicians have re-emerged in this electoral cycle as negative messaging. He outlined the rhetorical styles of both Barack Obama and John McCain, the combination African-American pulpit style meeting American civil rhetoric in Obama, and the so-called "straight-talk express" of McCain.
Silverstein definitely drew some laughs when he took some time to decode what he termed the "concept soup" of Sarah Palin's speech - giving examples of these syntactic stretches she joins by seemingly arbitrary connectives. He compared these to the responses that professors are so accustomed to reading on exams, those written by students who only half paid attention in class and have memorized a few key phrases to string together without understanding their meanings. He also discussed the new linguistic features of web campaigning (hey out there, blogosphere!), the trope of place as a source for the essential quality of a candidate (as understood by the media machine), the escalation of campaign slogans and how they play off of each other, and much more that he was able to convey in that hour or so.

A lot of what Silverstein relates to this week's "This American Life" broadcast. You can listen to the program online - follow that link or download it on iTunes. It's a quick, down-and-dirty, yet informative, look at how the presidential candidates are faring in the state of Pennsylvania. There are stories from both the Obama and McCain camps, and what especially struck me was the interviews with self-proclaimed racists who are proud to admit that they're voting for McCain because they're not going to let a black man into office. Honestly, what year is this?

And funneling down to the local level... High heel drag queen race in Dupont tomorrow! Parade from 7 to 9pm on 17th Street between Church and R Streets NW, followed by a race of queens kickin' off at 9. I'm goin' with co-workers, slingin' that cam, and postin' right here soon. See you all there!

mind breaks

2008-10-16T22:00:00.003-04:00

I must strike a balance between input and output.
This is difficult. That is an understatement.
Writing involves discipline, but first one must determine how much energy to invest in keeping the suck of life open, to receive the great loves of our lives, and to seek advice from the known and respected writers past and present. Only after that (though this be ongoing and never, never quite leaning towards completion) can it be prime season for converting these experiences of the sensory and the cerebral into an original form of any merit. I guess most writers just publish their practice until they find that seed.

I mean, at times I think I'm onto something.

Then I'll return, tell myself to go read a book or take a hike or something. It's not enough yet. Need more greats in my head, you know.
Oh, and there's an article by Malcolm Gladwell in this week's New Yorker ["Late Bloomers"] that is fairly reassuring. He claims that many excellent writers (and other artists) were late bloomers, so there's no need for my anxiety over not having a novel published at age 20. Gladwell wants to disprove this popular conception of genius linked with precocity. A nice quote from that: "On the road to great achievement, the late bloomer will resemble a failure." Maybe a lot of the reason why I so fear aging is that I'm afraid of not having enough time to share all these words I'm convinced are inside, or at least word-seeds that need a damp little bit of soil.

On another note, are there people afraid to take in the "wrong" stuff? Like somehow baser material will undermine the purity and champion of that stuff they've accumulated thus far? I don't get why a classmate would refuse to read a novel simply on principle, assuming it's not a matter of time or effort. Can't there be advantage to having that knowledge - if not from the material in the text itself, then at least from one's own take on it? How can you dislike a book before you've given it half a chance?

That beautiful point in October.

2008-10-15T07:30:00.004-04:00

Alright, so I'm currently buried deep in schoolwork for midterms, but setting goals anyway. This simply includes finding the time to read a little for myself, getting refreshed on my own fiction-writing, and enjoying the last of the warm weather. Sleep is unfortunately minimal, but there will be time enough for that soon. It's important to have one's priorities in check!

I went to a talk on Monday night by Suhayl Saadi, a Scottish writer and our own British Council Writer in Residence here at George Washington University. His mastery of language is absolutely astounding. And not only of the English language (that's tough enough); he weaves words and phrases adopted from languages such as Urdu into his novel, even changing or combining the words. Supposedly his first novel, Psychoraag (2004), includes a glossary for readers. He stressed the importance of translating more writing, stating that many people are limited to Anglophone texts because not enough literature is translated into English. He explained the essential connections between music and words and silence. I want to attempt Psychoraag when I'm up to the challenge: it's massive, it's multilingual, and it's difficult. He confronts the realms of dreams, alchemy, and space.
We talked for awhile afterwards about the difficulties of finding satisfaction in one's work - he admits going through an average of fifteen drafts of everything he writes, from newspaper articles or radio plays, to short stories or novels. Saadi says that as human beings and as writers, "we've experienced all the possible emotions - the rest is research." Writing is a collective act, of course - we all try to know another. I'm inspired. I'm certain I can make it happen.

Read all poetry out loud.

2008-10-09T00:33:00.005-04:00

I am absolutely enamored with the Romantic poets.

I have a poem to memorize for my course on the British Romantic Movement (I chose Keats's "To Autumn"), and reciting this poem over and over has made me realize how important it is to hear poetry spoken. There's much you can miss by solely doing a silent reading of a poem, or by reading it only a few times. My new goal is to memorize all of my favorite poems. My memory's never been great, but I suppose the only way it will improve is if I work at it.
In reading "To Autumn" out loud many times in an effort to commit it all to memory, I've lulled myself into a dreamy poetic loop that calls for sleep... wow, those images... "Conspiring with him how to load and bless / With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run"...

Sant Ocean Hall

2008-10-04T21:19:00.003-04:00

Folks, the new Sant Ocean Hall at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History is aching for you to come visit if you're nearby. It's an extensive, well-designed, and overall aesthetically pleasing exhibition. I stopped in to check it out between classes, so I didn't get a chance to read or watch or explore as much as I would have liked, but I'll be back for sure. Snapped a few photos for ya'll, though!

Change your sleep patterns; see something new.

2008-09-30T15:44:00.002-04:00

In the murky depths of the evening, there's a flood of thought and word and idea that surprises me with the joyous hope that there are still original things to be expressed. I suppose that's the drive for becoming a writer - knowing the power and extent of language to say something new has not been exhausted. But I know I'm exhausted sometimes.
I stayed late at the library a couple nights ago, and then decided to walk around the city late at night (okay, early in the morning - it was around 3:30/4:00am). I watched delivery trucks speeding through the quiet city streets, still halting at traffic signals to abide by the law, even without a single pedestrian approaching. I observed cars come to a stop, each to release a bounding human with a stack of papers tucked underneath his arm that bore the claim of "MONDAY." It's strange to read Monday's headlines when you feel Sunday hasn't been put to rest yet.

Car-Free Day DC!

2008-09-22T05:56:00.001-04:00

Happy Car-Free Day, folks! Take those legs for a spin today.

It's also the first day of autumn, the best season ever...

Tropical storm warning!

2008-09-05T14:42:00.002-04:00

Climate change and mass devastation aside, I always get a little bit excited for any kind of atypical weather condition. As a kid, I'd watch the weather report every morning before walking to the bus stop, then dutifully report to my classmates what conditions were called for. And most of the time the predictions would be inaccurate, but everyone likes to know what to expect anyway. Tropical storm Hanna is moving into the area sometime tonight or tomorrow, and the air's abuzz with talk of canceled Saturday plans. My plans only shift to admit that I probably won't ride my bike to work tomorrow. Sigh, and in the winter I'll regret all the days of summer that I didn't ride.

Class is back in session!

2008-09-02T23:26:00.003-04:00

Today was the first day of the new semester - and so, back to lots of required reading. Time management, too. It's great when you get a syllabus full of titles that have been on your "to-read" list though. Hopefully I'll continue to update the blog regularly!

Steven Pinker - The Stuff of Thought

2008-08-29T11:07:00.003-04:00

If anyone's in search of a good - yet intellectually stimulating - book, take a look at Steven Pinker's The Stuff of Thought.
I'm not quite through all of it, but it's a well-researched and accessible read on our speech and what we can learn about our minds through language. I couldn't recommend this more highly for anyone interested in the fields of linguistics, anthropology, or psychology. And it's a scholarly read but doesn't read like a textbook. The examples he chooses are fascinating, and I can apply almost every one to my own use of speech in daily life. There's a bit of an eye-opener when he discusses the distinction between predicating and referring (in the chapter, "Cleaving the Air") in reference to how Google sells noun phrases. Apparently - I didn't previously know this - Google became hugely successful because of its ability to generate successful clicks for advertisers based on a sort of graduated cost system. For example, displaying your company's website in the primary results for the search phrase "digital cameras" is more expensive than for "digital camera" because in the former, which is more referential, the person is likely to be researching brands to buy, while in the latter, generic singular phrase, the person searching is probably just curious about how digital cameras work. Therefore, plurals are more expensive than singulars. Great stuff.

Reason # 302 to ride a bike (waba style)

2008-08-25T01:04:00.004-04:00

The comfort of knowing that the blaring at 1am on your block is not your car alarm going off.

And another: being able to park safely in your living room at night. Parking here can be horrendous, especially for those less experienced with parallel parking.

It's already looking brighter in DC...

2008-08-21T11:55:00.004-04:00

Within a couple weeks of the DC SmartBike program starting up, there's already talk of expanding - adding more locations, and of course more bikes. More bikes in the city! Currently there are 120 SmartBikes total, and with 450 people signed up already, they'll need to move to catch up. It's been hailed as a hugely successful start to a program that'll put more people in the saddle, help speed up the process of making DC more bike-friendly, and promote courtesy among drivers and cyclists. At least I hope.

They're talking plans for Capitol Hill as one of the crucial stops in expansion. It'd also be neat to see DC SmartBike come to Columbia Heights, maybe as part of the whole DC USA growth at the Metro. I've seen the stations full of bikes around the city, but have yet to spot a person renting one out or riding one.

Froyo everywhere, all the time!

2008-08-20T22:19:00.004-04:00

Walking through Adams Morgan today, I noticed the former space of the Miss Pixie's location is being converted into a frozen yogurt place! The sign's probably been there awhile, but I just now noticed that it was touting some froyo. Here's to hoping it's good, because it's close enough to my house. I'm already a Mr. Yogato addict, and that's fairly new in the city as well. What's nicer than some froyo topped with mochi pieces in the summer heat? I still need to try the other frozen yogurt places, like Tangysweet (I've never been).

oh grand and powerless technology!

2008-08-17T22:23:00.005-04:00

It doesn't seem irrational to make statements such as "iTunes can read minds" anymore. Right? On shuffle it'll play the perfect song, we'll strive to match it to the situation with a bit of coincidence, or confidence in its psychic properties. This program must know so much about me - you know, for a computer program. How often I listen to a song and when I get stuck on a certain one (playing it over 40 times in three days for instance), what time of day or night I play music the most, when I'm on a downloading kick. If only it had the power to truly understand what other value music holds, and what it personally means to each of us. It'd have the power to destroy. The emotional investment is incredible.

40-hour workweeks, nine-to-fives...

2008-08-14T10:22:00.003-04:00

I'd like to find a statistic on the number of people working approximately 9-to-5 Monday through Friday in DC, because I bet it's a huge proportion of our working population.
Downtown during a weekday is a good indication of this - basically all you'll come across is office buildings, lunchtime establishments, and caffeine pit-stops. It's a desolate area after hours, when you'll be hard pressed to find a place to eat or something to do and the streets will be empty, save for those few drained souls treading back to the Metro to get home and crash before another long day in the office. The more social of their coworkers have dispersed into the surrounding city by this time and are working on drink three.
Actually, since my "weekend" by the five-day workweek standards usually falls on Monday and Tuesday, I've found that there's a certain niche in DC of those who shun the 9-to-5s. They're found in the coffee shops - all day long it seems! In this way, even the cool coffee shops become a bit more like offices...

Olympics coverage.

2008-08-13T10:08:00.002-04:00

Summer Olympics season really makes me wish I had a television. I can watch some of the recaps online, but there's something about sitting around a telly with some pals rooting for the athletes.

Also, the Chinese are serious about their training! They're leading in gold medals, but the U.S. has a couple more medals overall.

How these seasons create their own desire and fulfillment

2008-08-09T17:03:00.003-04:00

This morning was the most blissful morning to ever descend upon us. Riding my bike to work today, coasting down hills with the breeze, I couldn't help but wonder if I had just awoken from a two-month long nap. The weather felt like it was sharing a secret - this is what we call autumn, and it's headed your way - and consequently I felt like I was again a grade schooler, passing notes and having crushes. The cool lack of humidity made DC feel oceanside.

Let's hope this sticks around for the rest of the summer. Autumn is certainly my favorite time of year. Crunchy leaves and crisp air! Primo bike-riding weather! Freshly baked pumpkin pies and apple cider!

Cool diagram for people who like cool diagrams (and food)!

2008-08-07T12:28:00.004-04:00

The NY Times has a nifty chart detailing how the American weekly diet has changed since 1970. Fastest growing food category? Fats. We're also eating more shellfish, less veal, adding an increased amount of sugar and sweeteners to processed foods, but overall just putting a lot more on our plates.

Locals, eh?

2008-08-02T21:40:00.002-04:00

How long before one feels comfortable in a new state? How many years until one truly believes that they are a citizen of a country?
Could I ever be anything other than DC? I'm not sure why, but I was surprised to hear a customer tell me today that she was new to the area and already loving this city. DC doesn't feel outwardly friendly or welcoming, in my opinion. A while back, I started talking with some tourists on the Metro, and one of them told me that some newspaper or magazine ranked Washington, DC as the most difficult city in which to strike up a conversation with a stranger. Are we all so distant from each other? It does seem that most residents are people "just passing through" during some stage of their lives, constrained by the bounds of time as their jobs or internships will dictate. DC as a stepping stone is sort of a depressing idea, because what of those of us who choose to stay? Does it harden us against loss, bracing ourselves for the inevitable moments when our friends fly off, or does it make us more adept at maintaining long-distance relations?

It's the meat, stupid?

2008-07-31T10:30:00.003-04:00

This press release from the PCRM details the demonstration by doctors in which they used over 1000 tomatoes to spell out "It's The Meat, Stupid!" to draw attention to the meat industry's role in spreading the salmonella outbreak. It hasn't broken mainstream media, however... they're still on the pepper lead. The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention has a handy little breakdown of where the salmonella Saintpaul infections have been identified, including 31 people in Virginia, 38 in Maryland, and one in DC.

Places.

2008-07-30T11:31:00.004-04:00

Location (and those associated features, like climate) is not nearly as important to one's happiness in a place as the sense of community fostered there. The need for community is so strong, yet living in an area relatively isolated such as the suburbs can cause people to turn to material wealth, mistaking that for happiness. When am I happy? When I'm not feeling like an outsider... I can be a wanderer without feeling lost.

I seek out places where people say hi.
I should say something here about local businesses, but mostly I give them my support because I like familiar faces that have some history in the area.

Ooh! The Loftstel!

2008-07-24T23:01:00.003-04:00

I'm intrigued by this house called the Loftstel that I sort of stumbled upon online. It's a communal living idea that has materialized in DC - right over in the Petworth neighborhood - as well as a couple other cities, including NYC where it began. It's a big group house that serves as a hostel for people who intend on longer stays, while job- or house-searching for example, and are looking for a more social temporary living situation. Seems really conducive to meeting a bunch of cool folks when you're new to an area! There are student discounts on the rate, but it's still a bit pricey for one bed in Petworth. The one in Philly is 400$/month for students; here, it's more than double that.
Now I really want to see the Loftstel in Petworth. Curiosity compels me. I bet it's fun! I don't even know much about that area... I've been to Domku, but that was way back when (okay, a year ago).

Passing thoughts aboard a bus.

2008-07-22T21:53:00.002-04:00

So I'm here, I'm there, I'm collecting stories along the way - those that'll make it into permanence through words. Give everywhere a chance. Love the feeling of being in motion.

A Murky story?

2008-07-16T12:14:00.002-04:00

Within the past couple of days, there has been a lot of talk over Jeff Simmermon's blog post about the denial of his iced-espresso request at Murky Coffee in Arlington, and the subsequent response from Murky.
Apparently coffee shops don't like to serve espresso with ice, because patrons tend to order these with the intention of filling the rest of the cup with the free milk and creamer available, creating a cheap "ghetto latte." Customer saves some cash through this loophole, but store loses a bit of profit on the drink and has to refill the pitchers of milk/creamer more often. Murky Coffee has an expressed policy against doing so, and the owner states that it somehow destroys the taste when espresso is added directly to ice.
At the reinforcement of this policy and the refusal to serve Simmermon his drink in the way he wished to have it, he posted a response on his blog that starts off stating, "The only way I'm ever coming back to Murky Coffee in Arlington is if I'm carrying matches and a can of kerosene." But honestly, does that justify telling someone on the store website, "If you ever show your face at my shop, I'll punch you in your dick"? Bad attitudes all around, but it's hard to deny that Murky knows their coffee.

Aging and sitting around.

2008-07-15T17:44:00.003-04:00

The NYT reports today that children are exercising less as they age. The drop is from an average of 3 hours a day exercising to around half an hour a day, in the period from age 9 to 15. I certainly found that I spent much less time outdoors once I discovered the joys of the Internet...

But on the other end of the spectrum, you'll want to reverse this and exercise more to possibly slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease. It's no secret that our physical condition affects our mental state.
Okay, that's all to see here for today - get movin'!

All I want to do in the summer...

2008-07-14T11:03:00.003-04:00

Beat the heat. Whew, anyone who has spent their summers in DC knows why most people opt to leave the city at the first opportunity (and every long weekend). The humidity plus the heat combine to form a formidable force. Ha.
All I want to do is go swimming, drink iced tea.

Some outside reading on water: the environmental impact of bottled water. Better: filter your water and bottle it yourself in reusable bottles.

Beijing Olympic Preparation

2008-07-12T20:47:00.003-04:00

Amongst the many actions Beijing is taking to prepare for the Olympics is the removal of dog meat from restaurant menus. Yeah, because eating dog meat is so much different than eating, say, cow or pig meat.
I'm also interested in seeing how effective the car ban during the Olympics will be in bringing down pollution levels. The Beijing government has posted a notice stating that beginning July 20th (and lasting for two months), cars with odd- or even-numbered plates will not be allowed on the roads on alternate days.
Haile Gebrselassie, an Ethiopian distance runner with asthma, has already announced he will not be traveling to Beijing for this year's Games. Other athletes have plans to fly in solely for their competition because they do not want to submit their bodies to the poor air quality any more than is necessary, rather than staying for the duration of the Olympics. I really don't blame them. When I visited Beijing this past winter, nothing was more clear than how unprepared they are to host this year's Olympic Games. The city always looked like it was under a dense layer of fog (really smoke - it was depressing), and breathing was difficult even for day-to-day activities. That level of air pollution isn't something you can solve in a few months.

"...going vegan takes serious bloody willpower."

2008-07-10T10:55:00.004-04:00

A bit of light reading for you this morning:
Restaurant critic Jay Rayner goes vegan for a week.

It's entertaining, but not to be taken too seriously (militant vegans, he may piss you off). Rayner writes very humorously and provides good perspective on what a vegan diet appears like to those out of the loop, including the frustration of hidden animal ingredients and the difficulties encountered when dining out.

Also, a photo website comparing what packaged foods actually look like, contrasted with how they appear on the box. Heh!

Oh, to get around.

2008-07-09T09:43:00.004-04:00

With gas prices as they are these days, people are discussing how to sell their SUVs - or alternatively, what to do with the SUVs they can't get rid of. The second link's just for fun, but gas prices are undeniably steep, and rising. The national average at the moment is $4.108/gallon, an all-time high. Who can afford to fill up anymore?

All the more reason to ride a bike if you can.
The SmartBike program in DC couldn't come at a better time. Yeah, I know, it's Clear Channel... but this leads to a veritable slew of improvements to cycling in the city. Hopefully it will speed up the addition of more bike lanes, and create greater visibility for those riding bikes, forcing drivers to keep an eye out for cyclists. When there are dedicated lanes for bikes to use, our actions while riding become more predictable, resulting in fewer collisions and better harmony between motorized commuters and pedal-powered ones. We're all trying to get to work!
And maybe, just maybe, fewer people will park in the bike lanes (ugh, frustration!).

From discussion with friends living in the city but taking public transport to work rather than their bike, I've found that it's often intimidating for them with all the accidents they'll read on the news. And yeah, it's impossible to be completely protected. Yesterday morning, Alice Swanson, a 22-year old cyclist, was struck and killed while riding to work near Dupont Circle. It's really tragic.

Summer of caffeination

2008-07-08T08:45:00.002-04:00

Here's a handy website that lists the caffeine content of drinks, including all of the popular sodas and energy drinks, as well as coffee and tea. The names of some of the drinks out there are pretty hilarious - take "Who's Your Daddy" or "Whoop Ass," for example. I've never even seen a lot of these on the shelves!

Ack! My peppers!

2008-07-07T07:56:00.003-04:00

So now the investigation into the salmonella outbreak in the U.S. uncovers that it might be linked with consumption of jalapeño peppers, or maybe cilantro or serrano. I eat so many jalapeños. Maybe it's time to cut back? But there was a huge tomato scare before it was jalapeños, and I still ate those happily. There's really no solid evidence pointing to any one type of produce just yet.

Clarendon to Court House.

2008-07-06T22:14:00.003-04:00

Spent a few hours exploring Arlington, Virginia with a friend today. It's a pretty neat area, with some quirky little establishments, gorgeous old houses full of character, and many miles of bike trails.

I'm gaining a true appreciation for the DC metropolitan area. It's easy to fall into routines when you're living someplace, to stop being observant of one's surroundings. It's similar to how people from an area never partake in the "touristy" activities, no matter how fun they might be, just because they suppose they'll always be there or that they never change. Showing a visitor around your hometown is another way to gain a new perspective.
I need to work on my DC knowledge database! And in that way, I'll have more to share with others on my travels. It's the question on their lips: "Where are you from?"

I've been hearing bits and pieces about a recent trend towards 'staycations,' which involve vacations spent at home or nearby. That's more an economic thing, I suppose - I admit I haven't read up on it - but there are valuable things to be learned from the place you've always been. Look into the history of your town, discover a new part of the woods...

Quick link for reading, food-related.

2008-07-04T19:46:00.005-04:00

Must run, but here's an interesting article I read from a previous issue of Time magazine on the geography of childhood obesity. From a few weeks ago because I don't subscribe, but I picked up an old issue to flip through at my parents' house today.

It's true that fatty foods, loaded with preservatives and highly processed, become the mealtime staples for poor communities. Take-out places are cheapcheap, and very prominent in low-income areas. Grocery stores may often be further away than your neighborhood fast-food joint. Obesity in the U.S. is a huuuge problem. Literally. And it's escalating. It isn't just an aesthetic thing because there are too many health complications to name.
Anyway, thought I'd share the link - and happy fireworks today!

Tomorrow it begins!

2008-07-02T22:44:00.003-04:00

One of my favorite events on television: the Fourth of July Twilight Zone marathon on the SciFi channel! AH! Okay, "one of my favorite events on television" is not an entirely accurate description because it is the only one I truly care about - besides, of course, the Twilight Zone marathon at New Year's. I eagerly await this time every year. Don't have cable in the house but I'll find a way to watch a few episodes at least.

Runs tomorrow morning through the end of July 4th. Quality programming on the SciFi channel.

Five Guys Columbia Heights!

2008-07-02T07:53:00.002-04:00

Yow! The Five Guys at 1400 Irving St NW has finally opened, as of yesterday - or the day before. Somehow I missed it. Now, as soon as you step off the Columbia Heights Metro, you will be struck down immediately by the call of greasy American fare. Being veg, all I eat from Five Guys are the french fries, but oh man are they delish. And I'm always hearing great things about those burgers, so give it a shot if you've never been.
Then head over immediately to Sticky Fingers Bakery, only about two blocks away, for a cowvin cookie or some other vegan dessert to polish it all off. Mmm.

Also, an interesting post on the future of local retail in the age of DC's rapid gentrification.

O Canada

2008-07-01T09:29:00.002-04:00

Happy Canada Day!
And how's our fair neighbour doing these days? Let's say they need me as a resident, and that's that.

Our own national holiday arrives in a few days. Fireworks have been going off in our neighborhood for several nights already. One of my house mates informs me that a makeshift fireworks-dealing stand has popped up across the street. I usually look up when I hear the bursts, and my first reaction is always, "ack, more gunshots."

14th street bus!

2008-06-30T23:50:00.002-04:00

Oh man, the buses that run along 14th street are so full of character.

Tonight, I was riding it back north from U street and it was PACKED. I was standing by the front door (three of us were ahead of the yellow line, but the driver let it slide). This was at a little past 11pm.
An elderly woman got on the bus a little later, sat down, then immediately started yelling at someone across from her to stop talking on his cell phone. It heated up into a loud argument in Spanish, but I gathered that she was annoyed at young people always "yakyak"-ing on the bus. She started reaching for him with her cane, smacking the guy with it as he got off at the next stop. He was still making obscene gestures at her as the bus pulled away. Everyone else was just laughing.

Not that I'm paranoid, but...

2008-06-30T11:37:00.003-04:00

Your activity is being tracked when you're driving, using TiVo, searching on Google so that companies can better direct their advertising at you. This is nothing new, of course. But this article has a few interesting examples of which I had never heard, such as the refrigerator that tracks the brands you're purchasing.

Happy future!

Weird!

2008-06-29T11:09:00.004-04:00

Ever think about how strange the Internet is? What kind of realm is this? We spend so much time "online" when we are sitting in front of our laptops... makes me think of The Onion's World of World of Warcraft. It's communication disconnected from physicality. Huh. I have an uneasiness about inhabiting a body anyway. Maybe it's easier to focus on the mental output rather than the coordination of all areas. No one's watching you when you're online, except of course for the government, aliens, etc etc, so you're not being judged as harshly. Strange and inbred.

There was a time only a few years ago when I would periodically take breaks from the Internet (go offline for, say, a week or two). I can't imagine doing that for more than a couple days now. I'm in deep. Attempting to maintain a regular blog doesn't help, ha!

Extolling the virtues of the reusable grocery bag.

2008-06-26T12:07:00.003-04:00

Reusable bags. A topic very close to my heart, because I spend so much time bagging groceries.

They aren't limited to the handled bags sold at the grocery, your own backpack or canvas tote bag is as good. Even bringing back the "disposable" (okay, I detest this description but that's another topic altogether) bags is better than getting new ones on every grocery trip. According to TreeHugger, the average plastic shopping bag is only used for 20 minutes and takes at least 500 years to degrade.

Do not get discouraged and believe that your action will get lost in the world of overconsumption. There is a growing movement towards greening one's lifestyle. In the past few years - okay, even just in the past several months! - I have noticed more grocery stores selling reusable bags and offering incentives for using them, usually something like 5 cents taken off the bill. They cost about a dollar each, so if you use them regularly they pay for themselves. Reusable grocery bags are now available in most mainstream supermarkets such as Giant, Safeway, and Harris Teeter. It works for them because it saves some money and gets them free advertising, too.

Working in a grocery store, I see that every week more people start reusing bags. It's really a snowball effect here. The more people bringing along their bags, the more visible this option becomes, and the more it becomes the norm. I actually get customers stepping up to my register with their food and apologizing for forgetting their shopping bag. The guilt isn't necessary, but it's definitely positive that bringing one's bag is more expected.
We go through so many paper/plastic bags each day, it is unbelievable. So every person who brings their bags is helping. Hey, it's not the end-all and be-all, but it is a simple change to make. Because remember this: reduce and reuse before recycling! Just a note from your friendly grocery store worker.

Ranking enviro-friendliness of transport.

2008-06-25T17:13:00.006-04:00

So, I've not got much time, but let's start this off anyway.
What's the most environmentally sound method of travel in DC?

Obviously holding top position is walking or cycling. Both are zero-emissions and you can go anywhere you need to if it isn't too far, or if you have the endurance for it.

Riding a bicycle is much faster than walking, and though the current condition of roads is far from perfect for cyclists, DC's working on improving the situation. The Washington Area Bicyclist Association announced not too long ago that DC was named by Bicycling Magazine as most improved bicycling city in America. There are many exciting improvements planned, and surely more as others pick up some human-powered wheels!
It's a good idea to ride the bike lanes when possible, even if it puts you a bit out of your way. Some roads are just not fun to ride - potholes, dense traffic, poor visibility... fortunately, the DC Department of Transportation puts out a map that charts which roads have been rated in terms of bikeability (yes, probably made that word up). It's a good resource, check it out.

However, there's the added benefit of being able to take in one's surroundings when you walk. You can't exactly take photos when you're riding, and stopping someplace for a drink means dismounting and finding a place to lock up your bike. But it's fun! And it's great exercise!
Yes, and there are others which you may prefer: skateboarding, rollerblading, street luging - is this legal in DC? even possible in flat downtown? I take pause here.

So, use your head and use your legs.

Nocturnalism, night buzz, fresh mornings.

2008-06-24T10:59:00.004-04:00

Walked home last night [after several cups of coffee - buzzbuzz] on sidewalks emptied of their daylight activity, the few lone wanderers illuminated briefly under street lamps, houses heavy under the weight of sleep... Nice having a coffeehouse within a mile's walk that is open late. On a perpetual search for more caffeine-infused late-night spots! ...gosh, I gotta kick it.

Living here in an actual neighborhood rather than the sterile, self-contained, downtown campus environment is refreshing. Because up north in Columbia Heights, people spend lazy Sundays sitting out with neighbors, and couples drink coffee on their porch in the early morning hours with their dog. The parking spaces clear up on the street in front when those with cars leave for work, only to be claimed a few hours later when technicians and maintenance workers arrive to fix pipes, fertilize yards. Friends gather in clumps to socialize loudly, leaning on car doors and chain-smoking cigarettes. And sometimes you can catch them, the stray cats that slink around, picking through scraps and sneaking through fences.

Pace of life.

2008-06-23T13:11:00.003-04:00

One striking difference I've encountered in my travels (which admittedly are fairly limited and privileged) is the wide range of living pace amongst people occupying different parts of the world, different countries, different cities or towns.

As one who has lived in the DC Metropolitan area my entire life, I find that I'm overwhelmed by places such as New York where trends burst into life and fizz out before even reaching the other end of the city. NYC's loud, brash, and doesn't seem to stop. How does anyone get a chance to catch their breath? I've got city energy, for sure, but I consider NYC more a place to spend a weekend partying rather than a place to settle in. Strut your stuff there, make home elsewhere.

I'd really like to find a city that's centered around living with respect to others and to the earth, one that prefers local businesses to chain stores but maybe offers both. My cousin suggests that Portland, where she has spent the last six years, would suit me. I should find out.

Fast cars and drugs.

2008-06-22T21:10:00.005-04:00

Going back to visit my parents in the wealthy suburban area they inhabit became a bit bleak when I started thinking about how tragic it is that so many teenagers find themselves victim of the restlessness that they channel into racing their expensive sports cars, and burning through a huge amount of their parents money to fuel their drug habits. Indeed, these are separate problems. But I believe they're both rooted in the same cause... the burn-out, the numbing that comes from a life of hazy excess.

These are the kids I saw in high school driving too fast just for something to do, spending money simply to kill the time, popping painkillers and always always smoking. "Nothing to do," the mantra and the excuse for doing nothing worthwhile. Too many students' lives cut short by it. Hell, multiple preventable deaths of my high school peers should not have occurred in the few short years I spent there. No wonder we hated high school. That's the pressure to escape, because every single person that stayed is now working a dead-end job, unhappy, or addicted... at least that's how it seems. Seemed. It's why we invented so many terrible nicknames for our town, in reference to the wealth-flaunting we came to resent and embrace simultaneously. Or to distance ourselves from everything that was associated with the place, a "yeah I'm living here, no I would not be if I had had a choice." There we are: none of us had a choice, and those who did got out.

And I'm feeling myself more and more a product of that world of apathy, the world of feeling and emotion reduced to dollar signs - never clear in the head, moving too much, stumbling over all my words. My new focus is to reset my focus. I could learn a lot from mucking around in my memories.
I'm young but I have my starting-point. Know the saying, "nip the problem in the bud"? Yeah, I am so relieved that I recognize this vacancy.

Outsider status on multiple levels.

2008-06-21T17:36:00.004-04:00

I have always inhabited a sort of observer position in most spheres through which I have passed. With my family, it is becoming more and more apparent that I feel out of step with my Korean culture, as I was raised by American culture - television, day care, video games. In my elementary school I was not only a minority - I could literally count the number of kids with Asian descent on one hand.
Often, it just sucks. Try as you might to elevate it into the highest form of learning cultural tolerance, but as a being coming to age it is maddeningly difficult. Especially in a society such as we have here in the United States, which is often ill-defined as it is.
Find one's place amongst the multiple blurry groupings? A task to make all else seem laughable. I wish I knew.

Rising from the dead city.

2008-06-20T08:23:00.004-04:00

Hello! A new blog as a renewed attempt to capture the essence of being, in all places, in snippets of thought put to words, in those fleeting moments throughout the day. Embracing new ideas and mediums. We'll see how it goes. I'd like to discipline myself by regularly updating this.

Possible feature idea: French Form Friday. That's today.

...Mais aujourd'hui, je n'ai pas assez de temps pour une dissertation propre. Je pars pour mon travail maintenant!