I wanted to post a later Joni Mitchell song called "Come in From the Cold" but it's youtube-banned. So here's one of her classics: "A Case of You." Either written about Graham Nash or Leonard Cohen.
Just before our love got lost you said,
'I am as constant as the Northern star.'
And I said, 'Constantly in the darkness.
Where's that at? If you want me I'll be in the bar.'
Sunday, July 19, 2009
tweets is for gossip!
I've finally figured out what Twitter is really good for. There was a bit of an upset in the Tour de France today--the Garmin team didn't let George Hencapie take the yellow jersey, which everyone wanted him to get since he helped Armstrong to win all his Tours.But forget the news reporters--the best thing to do is go to Lance Armstrong's Twitter page, and the twitters of those twittering with him. Gossip! Even the news sources are turning to twitter as a source.
If this were an Agatha Christie mystery, Poirot would be guessing that a murder is gonna happen anytime soon. And we'd find out that Hencapie's been sleeping with the wife of someone on the Garmin Slipstream team!
Alas... it's more likely something as boring as dissing each other's TTT.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Love song of the Day: For the Buffies & Spikes
"I Do What I Have to Do" - Sarah McLachlan
I've always read this as a I'm-in-a-fucked-up-relationship-and-can't-get-out song...
Deep within I'm shaken by the violence of existing for only you
But that's just my take. A lot of people see it as a romantic love song.
And then the Teen Angst version. (How did I know there would be multiple Buffy & Spike videos for this song?) "Addicted" by Kelly Clarkson.
I've always read this as a I'm-in-a-fucked-up-relationship-and-can't-get-out song...
Deep within I'm shaken by the violence of existing for only you
But that's just my take. A lot of people see it as a romantic love song.
And then the Teen Angst version. (How did I know there would be multiple Buffy & Spike videos for this song?) "Addicted" by Kelly Clarkson.
My favourite youtube comments of the day
Don't sell yourself short, Grumbledouche, you can be both French and a redneck, and your thoughts can be both bloody and worth nothing.
Love song of the Day: The First Cut is the Deepest
Okay, it's not like I post a love song each day. But I like calling things "of the day." Good ole Cat Stevens... he wrote some beeootiful songs. (Like this one. And this one [check out the funky pianist]. And this one. And he's so cute and funny!)
Friday, July 17, 2009
The Geographical Organization of Books
I'm done organizing my fiction books, though the non-fiction still needs taking care of. I've pulled a few already-reads to get rid of. And there are others that I could get rid of if I were moving, without too much heartache--mostly from the cheap book sales Cher and I used to go to.
The cataloging is slow-going. The genres are done, I'm about halfway through the general fiction, and there are still the plays and poetry to do. Right now the tally is at 603 books.
Part of the fun of organizing books is figuring out how to sort them, This Time. That's why this is my favourite scene in High Fidelity:
Last time I went by genre and alphabetical. This time I went by genre and then mood--and if there's still a lot, then alphabetical. So I separated Fantasy from Sci Fi, cause Fernando's in a Fantasy mood right now. And in Sci Fi I separated out the old-timer authors who I'm less interested in, and shoved them at the back. And I made a separate pile for humorous authors.
In Romance (where I put some chick lit or historical fiction too) I separated historical from contemporary.
Mystery is mixed with horror and thriller, and basically alphabetical. My Agatha Christies are separate, and they 're by detective.
General Fiction I decided to divide by country... not the country of the author, but where the book mostly takes place. Cause that's often how my mood works. For example, Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy is in "Eastern & Southern" lit, because it takes place in India, and is very India-focused. But his A Suitable Music takes place in England (and Venice?) so it's with the British lit. On the other hand, the book about the Muslim Indian woman who moves to Paris and ditches her arranged-fiancé is with "Eastern/Southern" and not with "European & Other" because the issues she faces tie back to her country of origin. So if I ever get the chance to teach a course on Developing Areas, I could draw on the "Eastern/Southern" books.
And then there's a separate pile for French language, whether it's a play, poetry, etc. because I have to be in a different mood to read French--ready to put out more effort.
The division between "genre" and "general" is of course arbitrary... but's it's my collection, so I'm allowed to be arbitrary.
The cataloging is slow-going. The genres are done, I'm about halfway through the general fiction, and there are still the plays and poetry to do. Right now the tally is at 603 books.
Part of the fun of organizing books is figuring out how to sort them, This Time. That's why this is my favourite scene in High Fidelity:
Last time I went by genre and alphabetical. This time I went by genre and then mood--and if there's still a lot, then alphabetical. So I separated Fantasy from Sci Fi, cause Fernando's in a Fantasy mood right now. And in Sci Fi I separated out the old-timer authors who I'm less interested in, and shoved them at the back. And I made a separate pile for humorous authors.
In Romance (where I put some chick lit or historical fiction too) I separated historical from contemporary.
Mystery is mixed with horror and thriller, and basically alphabetical. My Agatha Christies are separate, and they 're by detective.
General Fiction I decided to divide by country... not the country of the author, but where the book mostly takes place. Cause that's often how my mood works. For example, Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy is in "Eastern & Southern" lit, because it takes place in India, and is very India-focused. But his A Suitable Music takes place in England (and Venice?) so it's with the British lit. On the other hand, the book about the Muslim Indian woman who moves to Paris and ditches her arranged-fiancé is with "Eastern/Southern" and not with "European & Other" because the issues she faces tie back to her country of origin. So if I ever get the chance to teach a course on Developing Areas, I could draw on the "Eastern/Southern" books.
And then there's a separate pile for French language, whether it's a play, poetry, etc. because I have to be in a different mood to read French--ready to put out more effort.
The division between "genre" and "general" is of course arbitrary... but's it's my collection, so I'm allowed to be arbitrary.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
good old xkcd
This is so funny. I've often been on the metro in the morning and thought that everyone looks like the "glass eyed automatons" of this comic, AND that it wasn't the case, but that we all look like that to each other. Cause we're all frickin' tired! But I imagine that it's this "loo loo loo yawn being transported to my stop" facial expression that causes so much Trainspotting-like disdain amongst the *rebels*.
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Where would I be without you?
Posted at "Where Do the Children Play" by Yusuf Islam
GreatGrumbledook (2 days ago)
@obdaddy: We do not have such words like "redneck" in France but we do have virtue and horror: For virtue is helpless without the horror and without virtue the horror would be pernicious, as citizen Robespierre said once; and with both Cat Stevens and the likes of his are easily dispatched and it is high time as I will not dine until I see the same done!