Most ridiculous thing I've found for sale on itunes ever (yes you can buy the whole album):

Weird academic conferences (absurd academia, pt. 2)
I mean. It does kind of sound like fun if you were into motorcycles. But I'm not hugely surprised that this is "the only online peer-reviewed journal dedicated to motorcycle culture."


Call For Papers: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOTORCYCLE STUDIES CONFERENCE,
Colorado Springs, Colorado, June 3-6, 2010
The International Journal of Motorcycle Studies (IJMS), the only online,
peer-reviewed journal dedicated to motorcycle culture, will be hosting its
inaugural conference at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, June
3-6, 2010.

IJMS is dedicated to the study and discussion of motorcycling culture in all
its forms‹from the experience of riding and racing to the history of the
machine, the riders and design to the images of motorcycling and
motorcyclists in film, advertising and literature.

We welcome submissions on all areas related to the cultural phenomenon of
motorcycling worldwide. We invite contributions from all members of the
motorcycling community. Suggested topics include:

€ The motorcycle or riding in film, literature, art and music

€ The motorcycle as art

€ Motorcycle racing

€ Motorcycle history

€ The role of place/environment in motorcycling

€ Motorcycling and issues of safety and risk

€ Motorcycling and the law/legal issues

€ Motorcycle technology/design

€ Motorcycling and race, class, ethnicity, sexuality or gender

€ The psychology of the motorcycle, the motorcyclist and the ride

€ Motorcycle travel/tourism

€ Motorcycle rights and politics

€ The commodification of motorcycles, motorcycling and/or motorcyclists

€ Motorcycle clothing/fashion

€ Advertising/marketing of motorcycles, gear and motorcycle culture

€ Media representations of motorcycling

€ Other literary, anthropological, geographical, historical,
sociological, political, economic/business or psychological perspectives of
motorcycling culture

In addition to traditional academic paper presentations, we encourage
submissions using alternate forms, such as photographic exhibitions or
multimedia presentations.

The Tropical Wood Ring Holder you REALLY didn't need to see:



(available at Urban Outfitters).

getting in some shaftesbury just under the wire: beauty is good!

Also, re: the below necklaces:

The one that was highly preferred:
Forever 21, approx $9

The one that was not approved:
Anthropologie, approx $50

However; what is perhaps most interesting is that at least part of this is photography; I looked at both at them and the one from Anthro is definitely a lot nicer (the Forever 21 necklace basically looks like junk, which basically it is). But Anthro has that weird extra long chain. Not surprisingly, I haven't actually bought either one. But at least this kind of relieves my mind that there definitely IS an improvement over Forever 21 at Anthro, even if it's not quite as much as one would hope.

Deus ex machina fail (so far; there's still another week and a half-ish for someone to intervene. Who should I be supplicating to?).

In the meantime: SPARKNOTES. Also: JSTOR!

Weird academic papers:

(I probably shouldn't put this on my blog in case someone from the department is stalking me. . . but such a classic example of academic bizarreness!).


Carnivorous Virility, or Becoming-Dog

*Monday, November 16, 2009* Please note date!
3:00-5:00pm

Humanities Instructional Building
Room 135

This paper argues for a queering of temporality that would undo our
nationally circumscribed and periodized fields of literary study in order to
work through topoi--discursive commonplaces--that haunt texts across
historical eras. Prof. Freccero's case study involves cyanothropy, the
merger of human and dog; it takes as its starting point the Columbian New
World encounter, from reports of dog-headed cannibals to accounts of the
devouring dog as the ubiquitous companion/weapon of Spanish colonizers; and
concludes with the attack of Diane Whipple by two Presa Canarios in San
Francisco in 2001. The symptomatic figure--itself already haunted by long
histories--repeats itself, travels between and among subjects and objects,
and condenses in itself a whole series of New and Old World meanings, from
companion to cannibal, primitive savage to savagely civilizational. Prof.
Feccero wants to argue that in order to understand the historical and
affective work such figures do, we must make use of fantasmatic
historiographies whose temporalities resemble psychoanalytic understandings
of the working of time as subjectivity and affect more than they do the time
of progressive history

Urban Outfitters is selling a Twilight t-shirt??

Team Edward T-shirt

I think they have officially become un-hipster. If UO ever was hipster, which has yet to be clear to me to begin with (hipster? hipster wanna-be? hipster wanna-be by definition being hipster anyway?).

But NO, NO, I DON'T prefer the stone-cold sparkly variety!

POLL!!! Which is better:

Necklace A:




Or Necklace B:

Can I just take a minute to comment on the absurdity of the way jeans are named? I know we've all thought this before.

From J.Crew, below, we have:
(1) Destroyed matchstick jean in vintage dark distress wash
(2) Destroyed matchstick jean in busted stone wash

Do I want my jeans Destroyed, Distressed, and Busted? Well, ok I like them to be kind of soft. But like, what's with the extreme linguistic punishment of denim these days?

So sad, so true:

But pretty darn amusing: Make Your Own Academic Sentence (link)

Exam Notes. I know you are all probably not that interested in reading my exam notes from Pocock's Virtue, Commerce, and History. My question, however (mostly for myself) is whether even taking these notes is at all useful. Like I think these notes say something, but I am concerned by the number of question marks, which indicate confusion, e.g., is x and such really true or a total misinterpretation on my part?

Anyway, here's Whiggism for you. Below, on other posts for today, there is a cartoon and a picture of a pretty outfit to make up for this.

Chapter 11: ‘The varieties of Whiggism from Exclusion to Reform: A history of ideology and discourse.”
Complication of defining Whiggism across the period. Negotiation of different categories: when Whig and Tory overlap; the difference between “Old Whig” and “Modern Whig.” Evolution of a morality of politeness in the early 18th century (the Spectator circle). Toryism slowly fading (?) into a few real Jacobites in the country. Concern that virtue of the arts losing integrity under corruption of Walpolean polemic. But also idea that “Augustan” art flourished under peace and prosperity, and therefore also under Whig supremacy (?). Idea of Toryism changing with George III and his apparent effort (from the POV of the Whigs?) to reinstate power of the crown (“patriot king”). Commerce in C18 held to entail presence of an aristocracy. Regrouping of Whigs with French Revolution. Romantic idea that Whigs associated with mechanical philosophy. Romantic radicalism flowing from both republican (?) and Tory source. Coleridge’s “Tory utopia.” Neomedievalism.

And this (actively stolen from Marie) is the reason I'm drawn to shopping rather than reading for my exams:

Stress = Too much shopping.

Or, as the bank account is suggesting, covetousness.

omigod.



At Free People for a lot of Money

Want. So much.

Actually, I take that back, I think "when exam notes deteriorate" is more clearly evident in the current dialogue surrounding the facebook faux-engagement, which definitely is "18thC/Victorian Gothic grad students studying for exams lose all sense in a ridiculous way."

When exam notes deteriorate:

Keats.

Isabella; or, The Pot of Basil
Summary: Isabella and Lorenzo are in love. Isabella’s brothers consider it an improper match and murder Lorenzo. Lorenzo comes to Isabella in a vision and tells her that he’s dead and where his grave is (approximately). Isabella digs up his body and takes his head and puts it in a pot in which she grows basil. Cries a lot over the pot. Basil flourishes. Brothers find out what’s in pot, are exiled. Isabella’s pot taken away, she is sad and crazy.
Notes: Crazy gothic story. Vampirism. Ghosts. Murder. Decay. “A Story From Boccaccio.”

The Eve of St. Agnes
Summary: Madeline and Porphyro get it on, but everything around them is dying, which is probably a bad sign.

Someone should really make these into Keats haiku. Like the dissertation haiku. Marie, we could could have a set of hip hop haiku keats! YO URN!

"Readers may be divided into four classes.
1. Sponges, who absorb all they read, and return it nearly in the same state, only a little dirtied.
2. Sand-glasses, who retain nothing, and are content to get through a book for the sake of getting through the time.
3. Strain-bags, who retain merely the dregs of what they read.
4. Mogul diamonds, equally rare and valuable, who profit by what they read, and enable others to profit by it also."

Mr. Coleridge, 1811ish. I fear that I currently fall into category #3. You?

Please, someone, come drink the remainder Coors light in our refrigerator. In fact, take it away and drink it somewhere else, because I don't want to be responsible if the metal aftertaste turns out to be poisonous.

Sometimes I miss high school. I accidentally opened iPhoto and this picture popped up. I don't REALLY miss high school. . . but right now grad school is high school but even MORE scary. Like instead of being asked to do an amount of work that seems impossible, the amount of work actually IS impossible.

Today is the first of October, and therefore, we must celebrate the advent of my favorite month of the year. We will do so with one of my favorite poems, by one of my favorite poets, accompanied by a pretty amazing manuscript copy (from here (link)). Click on the images for a close-up.

John Keats, "To Autumn"





To Autumn

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,
Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

Where are the songs of spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too, -
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

Studying for exams. Lots of big words.

“At the beginning of the period of our concern, the reigning narrative epistemology involves a dependence on received authorities and a priori traditions; I will call this posture “romance idealism.” In the seventeenth century it is challenged and refuted by an empirical epistemology that derives from many sources, and this I will call “naïve empiricism.” But this negation of romance, having embarked on a journey for which it has no maps, at certain points loses its way. And it becomes vulnerable, in turn, to a countercritique that has been generated by its own over-enthusiasm. I will call this countercritique “extreme skepticism.” In refuting its empiricist progenitor, I will argue, extreme skepticism inevitably recapitulates some features of the romance idealism which it is equally committed to opposing. For questions of virtue, the terms alter, but the two-stage pattern of reversal is very much the same as for questions of truth. We begin with a relatively stratified social order supported by a reigning world view that I will call “aristocratic ideology.” Spurred by social change, this ideology is attacked and subverted by its prime antagonist, “progressive ideology.” But at a certain point, progressive ideology gives birth to its own critique, which is both more radical than itself, and harks back to the common, aristocratic enemy. I will call this countercritique “conservative ideology.” . . . The novel’s ability to incorporate both Richardson and Fielding “is the clearest sign of the new genre’s triumph as an explanatory and problem-solving mode, its powerful adaptability in mediating questions of truth and virtue from opposed points of view” (21).

Michael McKeon, The Origins of the English Novel. Sigh.

Oh. Mygod.

I don't know how I missed this before, someone sent it out to the department listserv and I didn't read it until today. (Probably you've all seen it already and I'm behind on the times as usual!).

The first part of this post I'm stealing from the blog "virtualpolitik" (http://virtualpolitik.blogspot.com/). Here we go:

"Now, thanks Professor Howard Winant of the Center for New Racial Studies, University of California faculty are enjoying the "poetry" of U.C. President Mark Yudof in a widely disseminated e-mail based on the rhetorically regrettable "Big Man on Campus" interview of Yudof in the New York Times."

I will follow up shortly with the "rhetorically regrettable" interview. To clarify, the following "found poem" is, for real, taken almost verbatim from an interview with the PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA.

Poem (author unknown):



POETIC VARIATIONS (AND EDITING) OF THE RECENT MARK YUDOF INTERVIEW

And education?

Let me ponder that

The shine is off of it
It’s really a question of being crowded out
by other priorities

I do not

This is a long-term secular trend across the entire country
Higher education is being squeezed out
It’s systemic
We have an aging population nationally
We have a lot of concern, as we should, with health care.

The faculty said furlough sounds more temporary
Than salary cut

And being president of the University of California is like being
Manager of a cemetery
there are many people under you, but no one is listening.

Look, I’m from West Philadelphia
My dad was an electrician
It wasn’t part of what we did
When I was growing up we didn’t debate

I listen to them
I listen to dead people

How did you get into education?
Are you in education?

I don't know
It’s all an accident

The stories of my compensation are greatly exaggerated

I’m there to— some of the things I do very well
I smile
I shake hands
I tell jokes


Okay, and below I'm including the text of the actual New York Times interview. (For better formatting, you can read at the Times website: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/magazine/27fob-q4-t.html?_r=2).

September 27, 2009
Questions for Mark Yudof
Big Man on Campus
By DEBORAH SOLOMON

As president of the University of California, the most prestigious of the state-university systems, you have proposed that in-state tuition be jacked up to more than $10,000, from $7,788. Are you pricing education beyond the reach of most students?
In 2009, U.C. adopted the Blue and Gold Program, guaranteeing that no student with a family income below $60,000 would pay any fees, and this guarantee will continue in 2010. That’s the short answer.

U.C. is facing a budget shortfall of at least $753 million, largely because of cuts in state financing. Do you blame Governor Schwarzenegger for your troubles?
I do not. This is a long-term secular trend across the entire country. Higher education is being squeezed out. It’s systemic. We have an aging population nationally. We have a lot of concern, as we should, with health care.

And education?
The shine is off of it. It’s really a question of being crowded out by other priorities.

Already professors on all 10 U.C. campuses are taking required “furloughs,” to use a buzzword.
Let me tell you why we used it. The faculty said “furlough” sounds more temporary than “salary cut,” and being president of the University of California is like being manager of a cemetery: there are many people under you, but no one is listening. I listen to them.

The word “furlough,” I recently read, comes from the Dutch word “verlof,” which means permission, as in soldiers’ getting permission to take a few days off. How has it come to be a euphemism for salary cuts?
Look, I’m from West Philadelphia. My dad was an electrician. We didn’t look up stuff like this. It wasn’t part of what we did. When I was growing up we didn’t debate the finer points of what the word “furlough” meant.

How did you get into education?
I don’t know. It’s all an accident. I thought I’d go work for a law firm.

Some people feel you could close the U.C. budget gap by cutting administrative salaries, including your own.
The stories of my compensation are greatly exaggerated.

When you began your job last year, your annual compensation was reportedly $828,000.
It actually was $600,000 until I cut my pay by $60,000. So my salary is $540,000, but it gets amplified because people say, “You have a pension plan.”

What about your housing allowance? How much is the rent on your home in Oakland?
It’s about $10,000 a month.

Does U.C. pay for that on top of your salary?
Yes, and the reason they do that is because they have a president’s house, it needed $8 million of repairs and I decided that was not the way to go. Why the heck would I ever authorize $8 million for a house I didn’t want to live in anyhow?

Why can’t you have architecture students repair the house for course credit?
Let me ponder that.

Do you raise a lot of income from private donations?
We don’t do it in the office of the president. The focus is campus by campus: Santa Cruz or U.C.L.A. or Berkeley or San Diego, Davis. They have their own development offices, and I’m there to — some of the things I do very well. I smile, I shake hands, I tell jokes.

Why can’t you raise money, too?
I’m out there hustling, but I go where the chancellors invite me. Otherwise they get upset.

What about Hollywood people? Do they just give to U.C.L.A. at the expense of the other campuses?
I don’t know where they give. I’ve only met a few. I met Marg Helgenberger from “C.S.I.” at a dinner for Nobel laureates. I don’t know how either one of us got invited, but I enjoyed that, sure.

What do you think of the idea that no administrator at a state university needs to earn more than the president of the United States, $400,000?
Will you throw in Air Force One and the White House?

Spotted at Anthropologie yesterday: pair of earrings $9.99, originally $58. Price inflation mistake, anyone? Also worth noting: even at $9.99, they were still too uninteresting to actually buy.

First: Masquerade

I'm trying to stop reading Terry Castle's Masquerade and Civilization, mainly because I realized that if I really read every word of everything on my lists I'm not going to finish. Unless I find my super-speed-boost-mario-cart version of my usual manner of reading (something like how fast I reread Harry Potter). But I can't *stop* because it's, well, a masquerade! Even from the Preface it's clearly kind of amazing:

"This book aims at two things: to re-create the historical phenomenon of the English masquerade and to outline its literary history, particularly in fiction, roughly between 1720 and 1790."

Re-create the masquerade? When I read this I was tired. I had finally just finished Imagining the Penitentiary. I laughed really hard. And I'm still waiting for the masquerade to pop out of the book with a lavish and chaotic parade of phantasmic identities led by Count Heidegger (yes! a real person!). About every other page my mind wanders into some other manifestation of Masquerade in my life, e.g., how to put together my yet-to-be-created Phedre costume if the person who said she'd make my dress never comes back from Venice (carnival!), or about my novel that I won't tell you about just like everyone else's novel they won't tell you about (you know), because I think there's a masquerade at the beginning and I just never fully realized what it was.

Also! I'm going to have to put together a syllabus for the NEXT English class I want to teach, before I've hardly started Poetry of Death, and I think it could be fun to do Drama of Carnivalesque as an antidote, so if anyone has any good ideas (I'm terrible with drama!) holler out or whatnot.

Along the lines of blog-reader-requests, I was thinking of including a creepy/hokey very Gothic poem around Halloween, but I can't think of any offhand (there MUST be some! will clear Gothic/Halloweeny imagery), so if one comes to mind, let me know.


Aaand now. . . update on the slow regurgitation of MTV nonsense. Taylor Swift is adorable, and even possibly became more adorable when I read the US Weekly "article" about what happened at the awards (the picture of her biting her lip was soooo endearing). So here is her video (can I say again how much I adore her?).

(n.b. the bitchy girlfriend CLEARLY is suffering from an excess of geometric cutouts).

Craziness! I will follow up more with my belated comments on the mtv music awards or whatever they're called later (I've never actually watched these on TV, but eventually they filter out to even me).

Lady Gaga - "Paparazzi (Live)"

Ostrich Racing!

triumph of the day:

not buying $270 boots!

hooray!

Great.

A $125 t-shirt that I can wear once before it falls apart. Beloved by "magazine editors" because they can publish pictures of it and we can revel at how obnoxious it is.

Thanks a lot, J. Crew.

I'll buy one when they're $30 + 20% off Final Sale. (Yeah I actually do mean that).

Hilarious. I mean awful. But hilarious and awful.

Wedding dresses:

This is one of the few I've seen that I really think looks right for me:



I like this one too, but it's hard to see in the photo (would you really pay $1000 for this dress without a better image?), and also I kind of like the fact that the first isn't strapless, which seems to be kind of a convention to excess these days. Not surprisingly, I don't spend a lot of time looking for wedding gowns, but you can't really help it if something jumps out at you. I also found a four-leaf clover today. Good luck? I've found about four four leaf clovers in my life total, I think. Does that square itself, so now I might get 16 four leaf clovers of good luck?



Actually when you get down to it I wouldn't want to buy either of these dresses (from Victorian Trading Co) without having more pictures or knowing the designer, you know?

Actually finding a vintage dress is probably asking too much. . .

A poor rendition of my future bedroom. With lots of clocks added for extra ambiance.

How to combine the two WORST things ever: Politics and Healthcare. (I suppose there's something I hate more than politics. And I hate no healthcare more than I hate healthcare itself, though I'd prefer simply not to need it altogether. FAR prefer.)

That all said, I actually READ this email from MoveOn. Sounds valid to me.


Top Five Health Care Reform Lies—and How to Fight Back

Lie #1: President Obama wants to euthanize your grandma!!!

The truth: These accusations—of "death panels" and forced euthanasia—are, of course, flatly untrue. As an article from the Associated Press puts it: "No 'death panel' in health care bill."4 What's the real deal? Reform legislation includes a provision, supported by the AARP, to offer senior citizens access to a professional medical counselor who will provide them with information on preparing a living will and other issues facing older Americans.5

Lie #2: Democrats are going to outlaw private insurance and force you into a government plan!!!

The truth: With reform, choices will increase, not decrease. Obama's reform plans will create a health insurance exchange, a one-stop shopping marketplace for affordable, high-quality insurance options.6 Included in the exchange is the public health insurance option—a nationwide plan with a broad network of providers—that will operate alongside private insurance companies, injecting competition into the market to drive quality up and costs down.7

If you're happy with your coverage and doctors, you can keep them.8 But the new public plan will expand choices to millions of businesses or individuals who choose to opt into it, including many who simply can't afford health care now.

Lie #3: President Obama wants to implement Soviet-style rationing!!!

The truth: Health care reform will expand access to high-quality health insurance, and give individuals, families, and businesses more choices for coverage. Right now, big corporations decide whether to give you coverage, what doctors you get to see, and whether a particular procedure or medicine is covered—that is rationed care. And a big part of reform is to stop that.

Health care reform will do away with some of the most nefarious aspects of this rationing: discrimination for pre-existing conditions, insurers that cancel coverage when you get sick, gender discrimination, and lifetime and yearly limits on coverage.9 And outside of that, as noted above, reform will increase insurance options, not force anyone into a rationed situation.

Lie #4: Obama is secretly plotting to cut senior citizens' Medicare benefits!!!

The truth: Health care reform plans will not reduce Medicare benefits.10 Reform includes savings from Medicare that are unrelated to patient care—in fact, the savings comes from cutting billions of dollars in overpayments to insurance companies and eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse.11

Lie #5: Obama's health care plan will bankrupt America!!!

The truth: We need health care reform now in order to prevent bankruptcy—to control spiraling costs that affect individuals, families, small businesses, and the American economy.

Right now, we spend more than $2 trillion dollars a year on health care.12 The average family premium is projected to rise to over $22,000 in the next decade13—and each year, nearly a million people face bankruptcy because of medical expenses.14 Reform, with an affordable, high-quality public option that can spur competition, is necessary to bring down skyrocketing costs. Also, President Obama's reform plans would be fully paid for over 10 years and not add a penny to the deficit.15

We're closer to real health care reform than we've ever been—and the next few weeks will decide whether it happens. We need to make sure the truth about health care reform is spread far and wide to combat right wing lies.

Can you forward this email to your friends today? And remember, also post it on Facebook by clicking here: http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51746. And on Twitter, by retweeting: @MoveOn Check out the Top 5 Health Care Lies—and How to Fight Back. http://bit.ly/Bncs5

Thanks for all you do.

–Nita, Kat, Ilya, Michael and the rest of the team

i fucked something up as usual

New procrastinating tool (or maybe everyone else already knew about it):

Item Not As Described

(yes that is a link)

The infamous video from Kamala, one of my hoop instructors. . . you know I don't get what's SO provocative about it (except, actually I have to retract that when I see the still image below), and so I can see why she didn't either (she told us about this in class because she was teaching us this move and said she'd been silly enough to put up a video of it WITHOUT the hoop, which. . . well. . . go to the youtube page and check out the comments. Or just imagine what they say, it's not too hard). I think it's far and away their most viewed video. youtube is hilarious.

I mean seriously. She's wearing way more clothes than she usually does in class. ;-)

iTunes

I assume other people also check out their iTunes Top 25 Most Played on occasion to see what, apparently, their favorite songs are? There are a few that are always up there, though they shift around a little. I thought I'd share mine, along with who led me to the music. I'm curious--do my readers know these songs? I kind of have no idea how this fits in with what other people listen to. Also, given this information, what should I tell people when they ask what kind of music I like?

These are the top 10, in order.


1) "True Affection," The Blow
Credits to: Elizabeth
I don't know quite how this made it to #1--I think I just add it to a lot of playlists and so it plays through a lot; I rarely actively "go after" it to hear it, but it's always welcome, you know? The video, btw, REALLY creepy.

2) "Mistress," Inara George
Credits to: Frank
This song encompasses more of my love life than I'd like it to. Or at least the angsty bits. I really like the part about her hair; it's just very sad but resigned? I often feel compelled to cut off my hair when I'm sad, and there is something about wanting the person who has hurt you to finalize that pain in a concrete way. This is going to go too far into my psychology if I talk about it more.

3) "Little Bit," Lykke Li
Credits to: Bill
Just LOVE. And how I feel all the time, about all sorts of people. And LOVE Lykke Li, though will eternally regret my mishap at her concert. I need to see her again--actually is it tonight she's in LA??

4) "You Turned My Head Around," Dean & Britta
Credits to: Bill
Dunno Bill, I hear you've dedicated this one to people other than me, but it seems I like it anyway ;-). And you took me to my second concert ever!

5) "Ceremony," New Order
Credits to: Dan
Again, LOVE. Just the first chords make my heart feel lighter. I have no idea what they're saying in half of it.

6) "Archipelago," Mirah
Credits to: Anthropologie
Makes me think of Phedre and the pirates :-D.

7) "Gone Under Sea," Electrelane
Credits to: Dan
Another like "True Affection"--not explicitly a "favorite song," but always fits nicely, so I suppose, again, have added it to a lot of playlists.

8) "Love Song," Lindsay West
Credits to: Dan
This is from an artist on a podcast by Tom (?) Ravenscroft, John Peel's son, which I downloaded from its website. She doesn't have any albums or really presence at all, as far as I can tell, but I love the three songs I have.

9) "Poker Face," Lady Gaga
Credits to: Sally
I am so embarrassed this is in my top 10. CURSE YOU, 39B! I know I listen to it a lot, but it's definitely 39B that tipped it over the edge, every time I read a paper about it I had to listen to it five times to get it out of my head. I can't believe it even beat out Shakira to get on this list.

10) "Meaningless," Magnetic Fields
Credits to: Jason
Yes Yes Yes, it was totally meaningless. I knew it.

Music

I do really want to know if there's a tool to upload songs by themselves on here--I often want to share music. . . I suppose Blogger can't deal with the memory required to actually upload the song? Is there a website that hosts music, like youtube? I suppose I should go to help or something and look this up myself. . .

Best lip balm ever, by Balmbastic (that is a link to the etsy site, though it's hard to tell).

OMG Marie, this is what you wanted, right?

The golden sunsets, the silver star of evening, lighted me on my way to new hopes and prospects. I was to visit Coleridge in the spring.

:-)

Or not: according to iTunes, Twilight "inspired a cool vampire movement" (gag), and the song ISN'T on the soundtrack.

I love Twilight, but jeez, Twilight people can get on my nerves.

Ok, re: below, I guess it IS on the Twilight soundtrack? Sigh.

Do you know the Muse song, "Time is Running Out"? It popped into my head today as, I think, a result of severe hypochondria (is it hypochondria if it turns out you really DO have something wrong with you?). Anyway I realized this both pretty much epitomizes the way I frequently feel about 1) relationships; 2) life; and 3) well, exams, kinda :-P.

I'm too lazy to look up the dates, but I'm thinking definitely pre-2005 at least. It's hard to take this song super seriously when I feel like it kind of reeks of teenagerhood, but you know, I think it took me about five extra years to become a teenager, which means I'm like, 21 now or something. Anyway so below are 1) the lyrics; and 2) the video. You'll prob remember the song.

What confuses me: HOW does this video have ANYTHING to do with the song? I should show this to my students as proof that a music video (e.g., Shakira) does *not* actually explain a song.

Secondly, the comments on youtube link it to TWILIGHT. And it's true the lyrics are super vampiric and Bella-like, but it's kind of hilarious that people grab a song from however many years ago and appropriately miss-apply it (in that it has nothing to do with Twilight literally, but it does thematically). Or maybe it's in the new movie or something, what do I know?

Actually, as I reread the lyrics and think "Twilight," it's kind of impossible *not* to see the connection. . . but seriously when it popped into my head I wasn't even thinking about vampires! Not literal ones anyway. . . (but love is vampiric read my undergrad honors thesis e.g. jane eyre + dracula symbolism blah).

"Time is Running Out"

I think I'm drowning
Asphyxiated
I wanna break this spell
That you've created

You're something beautiful
A contradiction
I wanna play the game
I want the friction

You will be the death of me
You will be the death of me

Bury it
I won't let you bury it
I won't let you smother it
I won't let you murder it

Our time is running out
Our time is running out
You can't push it underground
You can't stop it screaming out

I wanted freedom
Bound and restricted
I tried to give you up
But I'm addicted

Now that you know I'm trapped sense of elation
You'd never dream of
Breaking this fixation

You will squeeze the life out of me

Bury it
I won't let you bury it
I won't let you smother it
I won't let you murder it

Our time is running out
Our time is running out
You can't push it underground
You can't stop it screaming out
How did it come to this?
Oh

You will suck the life out of me

Bury it
I won't let you bury it
I won't let you smother it
I won't let you murder it

Our time is running out
Our time is running out
You can't push it underground
You can't stop it screaming out
How did it come to this?

For Marie's engagement party, don't you think?

;-)

Hooping

So. Wanna fund my hooping?

Fire Hoop: $170
Fire Workshop: $75
Hoop Camp (!!!): $400
Transport to Hoop Camp: $300ish

I need a sponsor.

I know you all think I'm crazy :-).

Children who can sing:

This girl apparently wrote the song herself (and is from Seattle where it snowed like crazy in December). It's actually kind of as catchy as any pop song?



And then there's the Folson Prison boy. At first I thought it was kind of dumb, but you know, it's also kinda cute. . .

If you recognize where the first picture below is, let me know? We're thinking somewhere north-bay-ish (is "north bay" a phrase?). It would be kind of cool to find out what the building itself is.

Old pictures from Berkeley. You see, I really am a California girl, despite my adamant denials.

Ok, back to True Blood: possibly the awesomest TV intro ever. Except that those of my readers who will like it have no doubt seen it long before me, and if you haven't, it's probably not your taste anyway. . . but what are blogs for!

I mean, maybe I shouldn't have bought the linen jcrew coverup a couple weeks ago (on final sale and actually cheap) that looks like a burlap bag? But it's linen, and I kind of love it anyway.



The thing is, it's all wrinkled. Can you just iron linen like anything else? Why don't I know this?

Does going on to amazon and desperately wanting to buy the first season of True Blood ($40ish), and instead, buying The Daring Muse: Augustan Poetry Revisited, by Margaret Doody ($40) and Philosophical Writing: Locke, Berkeley, Hume, by John Richetti ($10) count as a victory?

Ultimately, I'm not sure.

ok, this is kinda a filler because I realized I haven't been posting for awhile (chaos!) but it's also so true that it basically explains 50% of why I don't post (and yes, the other 50% is also significant). I should be more patient with people I care about when they ask these questions. . .



I'd really rather talk about my age, or weight. . .

I do really kind of want these for my exam reading.



(from Urban Outfitters, where else?)

Urban Outfitters Latest

1. "Black with [geometric] cutouts"? Alice Cullen, anyone? The wings add an. . . er. . . interesting touch?



2. When did nudity become a major aspect of U.O. catalogs? And on the cover? I don't have a strong feeling about this, I'm just a bit taken aback. A few years ago (the catalog I teach) it's all about prepubescent innocence, not, um, Lolitas.

How about this to make me feel better:

"US scientists reporting in the American Journal of Epidemiology found that pale-skinned women with high levels of sun exposure halved their risk of developing advanced breast cancer compared to those with low sun exposure."

http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/skinandhair/sunshine.htm

I cannot believe I am actually semi-allergic to sunlight.


It's basically as follows; luckily there aren't any like huge itchy blisters, you can just tell that there's a slight rash if you look carefully.

WTF. I was just starting to really enjoy lying in the sun. Maybe for one summer? Just one? Why aren't I just a vampire/victorian lady/ someone who doesn't live in Orange County??



Sun rash (solar dermatitis)

Reviewed by Dr John Pillinger, GP
What is sun rash?
NetDoctor/Justesen

Most of us enjoy the sun, but some people's skin can be very sensitive to the sun in spring and summer, especially those with pale skin and red hair. For them, exposure to sunlight results in a rash which may recur throughout the summer.
What are the symptoms of sun rash?

A sun rash is seen as small, reddish blisters or small or large spots in areas that have been exposed to sunlight. Some areas, for example, the face, can be spared. This rash usually appears after minutes' or hours' exposure to the sun and can be extremely itchy.
Who is at most risk of getting sun rash?

It is commonly seen in children and young women and tends to be recurrent. Those who suffer from it get relief only during the winter. The condition usually disappears as they get older and reach their 40s or 50s.
What can be done to prevent sun rash?

Over exposure to the sun may lead to premature ageing of the skin and an increased risk of skin cancer.

Use common sense and avoid the direct sunlight when it is most intense around midday and early afternoon. It is important to keep in the shade and to wear appropriate clothing, eg sun hats, sunglasses with proper UV protection and clothing material that doesn’t allow the sun through easily.

It is very annoying to return from a holiday with a skin rash instead of a nice tan. Unfortunately, we do not know why some people are so sensitive to sunlight. However, there is one preventive treatment that can be offered.

The only remedy is to use a sunscreen with a high sun protection factor (SPF). The SPF indicates how effectively the cream protects you from the more harmful light ultraviolet B wavelength (UBV) sunlight. A sunscreen with a SPF of 10 should in theory allow the individual using it, to remain in sunlight 10 times longer without burning.

Although ultraviolet B wavelengths (290-320nm) are mainly the cause of skin damage from the sun, ultraviolet A (UVA) wavelengths (320-400nm) can also cause damage and the majority of sunscreens available to purchase have blocking agents that act against both.

People who suffer from sun rash or sun spots should start with a cream with an SPF of 15 to 25 and higher (eg Uvistat Ultrablock).

You may be able to use a cream with a lower SPF after one or two weeks when the skin has had time to get used to sunlight.

For watersports use water-resistant emulsions.
What is photoallergic dermatitis or drug-induced photosensitivity?

Photoallergic dermatitis can be caused by the action of sunlight on skin exposed to certain chemicals. Some substances such as perfume or soap can make the skin extra sensitive to the sun.

Photoallergic dermatitis can be prevented by avoiding contact with the substances that cause it. You may discuss this with your doctor before going on a holiday.

Drug-induced photosensitivity occurs when an individual develops a rash on exposure to the sun while taking a certain drug. Medicines that may cause this include: thiazide diuretics, tetracycline antibiotics, NSAIDs (painkillers), etc. Your doctor or pharmacist will be able to provide advice about medicines that are likely to cause this reaction.

http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/diseases/facts/sunrash.htm

let's play, extract the wet (clean) bikini from under the cat

what to do after i finish pretending i can write a poetry syllabus

clean the bedroom?
clean the kitchen?
drink the rest of the vodka in the freezer?
slit my wrists?
burn my bookshelf of list reading?
do laundry?
call my psychologist?
cut off my hair and dye it blonde?
see if i can sell naked pictures of myself online and make up enough money to buy a jadeite citrus juicer?
kick my car out of frustration that i can't drive it to san francisco or las vegas?
make 25 sets of bead spider earrings?


study for my exams? no.

So, really, I'm not jealous, I'm just trying to figure out how this actually exists as a person:




I should definitely say "she," since she does, apparently, exist and therefore should probably not be objectified as a "this" even if her body seems to be actually impossible. According to Maxim:

"Seriously, do women get more painfully hot than this? Megan Fox has the face of an angel, a body so perfect that God may have carved it out of soap while in the shower, and sex appeal that could melt a unicorn’s horn. Plus, we hear she smells like clouds!"

Yeah. Clouds!!!

Dorothy Parker, 1926


Resume

Razors pain you;
Rivers are damp;
Acids stain you;
And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren't lawful;
Nooses give;
Gas smells awful;
You might as well live.



That about says it all.

Pretty things I shouldn't have bought:



Jadeite teacups! Hourglass! And they even match! (With numerous assorted other things I shouldn't have bought in the background!).

It's my two year broken back anniversary today!

On the upside, I got my back recently x-rayed at the chiropractor, and apparently the injury barely shows.

On the downside, I have all sorts of new things wrong with my back that have nothing to do with breaking it. . .

Oh, Byron, so true.

The poor, scorned Sultana:

"Her first thought was to cut off Juan's head;
Her second, to cut only his--acquaintance;
Her third, to ask him where he had been bred;
Her fourth, to rally him into repentance;
Her fifth, to call her maids and go to bed;
Her sixth, to stab herself; her seventh, to sentence
The lash to Baba:--but her grand resource
Was to sit down again, and cry of course.

"She thought to stab herself, but then she had
The dagger close at hand, which made it awkward;
For eastern stays are little made to pad,
So that a poniard pierces if 'tis stuck hard:
She thought of killing Juan--but, poor lad!
Though he deserved it well for being so backward,
The cutting off his head was not the art
Most likely to attain her aim--his heart."


From Don Juan, Canto V.

See, this is how I felt about it when I moved to California.



from explodingdog

Only $898 at Free People, YES!!!

People in the fifties were *REALLY* happy!



They knew they were moving towards an era of amazing kitchens!



Their refrigerators were overstuffed!



To be continued.

How do you pick a rosary? Or, more appropriately, how and why do I pick a rosary. I know this seems odd (and esp. to like half my friends who are actually Catholic) but I find these rosaries in particular reassuring. Yes, I am strange.

Natasha

My dad's friend Gloria, in Edmonds, has another white fluffy. Her name is Natasha, and she a . . . silver tipped Persian? Something like that. She's had a little trim is these photos. But oh, another precious!

Sigh. This is just too good. You know where it's from.



I think all indications point to the fact that I should be calling a certain committee member of mine "Jim" ("James?"). Unhhh.

Signs That You Are Going to Marry a PhD and Not a Person:

1. Triggering event: You briefly start to date a guy in your PhD program, who, a few days in, tells you it can't be serious because he's leaving in a month to go across the country for law school. Unprompted, the thought pops into your head: "Oh my God, I am going to get married to a PhD."

2. You are told that you are un-dateable because you can't have any idea where you're going to be living (like, ever).

3. Your mother tells you that your parents wanted to set aside $20,000 for your wedding but that the money is getting used up by helping you through grad school instead.

4. You expect your progeny to come in the form of 1) an article; 2) a dissertation; 3) a book; 4) another article or something; 5) an e-book for when books don't exist anymore, etc. . .

5. You buy a really big fluffy cat. And think about cloning it.

More to come, like as not. . .

The Prelude

I have now read all 200+ pages of Wordsworth's Prelude.

I now deserve congratulations.

Did you know that the Prelude was only meant as, well, a PRELUDE, a "Gothic antechamber" or some such to his "Cathedral" that was going to be The Recluse?

This is the kind of thing that puts me in perplexities; I study Romantic literature; I like Wordsworth; I am desperately grateful that he did not finish his Gothic Cathedral.

While I do wish that somehow, eighteenth and nineteenth century writers could have planned for the strange reading habits of graduate students of the twenty-first century (how DID they have so much time to read back then? I will never understand this), Wordsworth is really rather soothing, and after awhile you get used to and appreciate things like this (a bit of his conclusion):

". . . From love, for here
Do we begin and end, all grandeur comes,
All truth and beauty, from pervading love,
That gone, we are as dust. Behold the fields
In balmy spring-time, full of rising flowers
And happy creatures; see that Pair, the Lamb
And the Lamb's Mother, and their tender ways
Shall touch thee to the heart; in some green bower
Rest, and be not alone, but have thou there
The One who is they choice of all the world,
There linger, lulled and lost, and rapt away,
Be happy to thy fill; thou call'st this love
And so it is, but there is higher love
Than this, a love that comes into the heart
With awe and a diffusive sentiment;
Thy love is human merely; this proceeds
More from the brooding Soul, and is divine."

I know people don't like Wordsworth because he seems very solipsistic (as do a lot of the Romantics), but thinking of The Prelude in terms of a spiritual autobiography, as M.H. Abrams suggests, changes one's perspective, since you then read the poem as someone struggling to find his way, intellectually and morally (so naturally it's all about him--that's what an autobiography is). Yes, the whole poet-as-prophet thing seems fairly arrogant when you are the poet-as-prophet, but it seems like England of the time was truly in need of some kind of healing that Wordsworth did supply.

Life with Cats.



Marle has left now, however. Maybe she looked down, saw that white fluffy thing, and was like, it's time.

I don't really like mcsweenys but this is pretty good.

INTERNET-AGE
WRITING SYLLABUS AND
COURSE OVERVIEW.

BY ROBERT LANHAM

- - - -

ENG 371WR:
Writing for Nonreaders in the Postprint Era
M-W-F: 11:00 a.m.–12:15 p.m.
Instructor: Robert Lanham

Course Description

As print takes its place alongside smoke signals, cuneiform, and hollering, there has emerged a new literary age, one in which writers no longer need to feel encumbered by the paper cuts, reading, and excessive use of words traditionally associated with the writing trade. Writing for Nonreaders in the Postprint Era focuses on the creation of short-form prose that is not intended to be reproduced on pulp fibers.

Instant messaging. Twittering. Facebook updates. These 21st-century literary genres are defining a new "Lost Generation" of minimalists who would much rather watch Lost on their iPhones than toil over long-winded articles and short stories. Students will acquire the tools needed to make their tweets glimmer with a complete lack of forethought, their Facebook updates ring with self-importance, and their blog entries shimmer with literary pithiness. All without the restraints of writing in complete sentences. w00t! w00t! Throughout the course, a further paring down of the Hemingway/Stein school of minimalism will be emphasized, limiting the superfluous use of nouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, conjunctions, gerunds, and other literary pitfalls.

Prerequisites

Students must have completed at least two of the following.

ENG: 232WR—Advanced Tweeting: The Elements of Droll
LIT: 223—Early-21st-Century Literature: 140 Characters or Less
ENG: 102—Staring Blankly at Handheld Devices While Others Are Talking
ENG: 301—Advanced Blog and Book Skimming
ENG: 231WR—Facebook Wall Alliteration and Assonance
LIT: 202—The Literary Merits of Lolcats
LIT: 209—Internet-Age Surrealistic Narcissism and Self-Absorption

Hey, maybe if someone analyzed this in a more comprehensive way, *I* would stop getting blamed for it. Government, I'm all for it.

Huffington Post:
Federal Government Spends Half A Million Dollars For Study On Why Men Hate Condoms

I really do find this fairly wonderful.

Guess Where I live?! (Yeeep. ;-)

Best Places to Live

Money's list of America's best small cities

4. Irvine, CA

UC-Irvine's Aldrich Park is a magnet for students - and residents too.

WINNER

Top 100 rank: 4
Population: 193,900
Compare Irvine to Top 10 Best Places

Long before developers embraced the idea of mixed-use communities, there was Irvine. It was born in the 1960s, when the University of California commissioned architect William Pereira to design a new campus and town. Today, its population hovers around 200,000, yet it feels much smaller thanks to its tight-knit neighborhoods and more than 16,000 acres of green space.

Families say Irvine is pretty close to perfect. The school district has won national recognition for stellar test scores, innovative curriculums, year-round schedules and open-style classrooms. The university is the city's largest employer, but some two dozen companies, from Gateway to St. John's Knits, also call Irvine home.

A big drawback: the cost of housing. A typical three-bedroom, two-bath house can run about $700,000, says Cesi Pagano, a realtor with Keller Williams Realty. But prices in Irvine have held up better than those elsewhere in Orange County, and foreclosures aren't nearly as widespread.

Holderlin, Hyperion.

"Do you know, then, do you know what you are starving for, the one thing that you lack? It is a better age that you are seeking, a more beautiful world. It was that world alone that you embraced in your friends. . . It was no man that you wanted; believe me, you wanted a world. The loss of all the golden centuries. . . the spirit of all spirits of a better age--you wanted a single person, one man, to take their place for you."

For the days you want to be Pocahontas.



Seriously, I love Free People, but they do manage to baffle on a regular basis.

Borderline personality disorder in NYT.

Nietzsche

For the New Year. I still live, I still think: I still have to live, for I still have to think. Sum, ergo, cogito: cogito, ergo, sum. Today everybody permits himself the expression of his wish and his dearest thought; hence I, too, shall say what it is that I wish from myself today, and what was the first thought to run across my heart this year--what thought shall be for me the reason, warranty, and sweetness of my life henceforth. I want to learn more and more to see as beautiful what is necessary in things; then I shall be one of those who make things beautiful. Amor fati: let that be my love henceforth! I do not want to wage war against what is ugly. I do not want to accuse; I do not even want to accuse those who accuse. Looking away will be my only negation. And all in all and on the whole: some day I wish to be only a Yes-sayer.

Quotation courtesy of Rei Terada (and yes, Nietzsche). Find the book here: Looking Away: Phenomenality and Dissatisfaction, Kant to Adorno.

Credits to Erin Sweeney for (commenting? posting?) this on Facebook. . . looks good, doesn't it?

Hoop Dancing

Ok, so if you've been wondering about what this whole fire/hoop/dancing thing is about, or why I'm randomly driving to Hollywood when I hate driving to LA, or why I have ridiculous bruises on my hips, I have two forms of explanation:

#1:



#2:



Right. Make sense now?