Saturday, March 31, 2007

You've waited a long time...


Yes, it's finally here. A brand new Andrew Bird CD. Isn't it great when you find something you weren't even expecting? I challenge anyone to find a song on here they don't like.

I have seen Andrew perform live countless times either with his Bowl of Fire or with the Squirrel Nut Zippers. He is so freaking talented - like a David Byrne on ritalin. Some pics from shows downtown at the Black Cat. One show was on Halloween night - thus the french maid outfits. Notice a younger Ryan there also, trying to look cool amidst it all.








Also, I found this new stuff from Yo La Tengo. Its got some pretty decent stuff on it, like "Sometimes I Don't Get You" and "The Weakest Part", but mainly you gotta love an album titled "I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass". Mm hm.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Blogger Smackdown - Part II


Aesthetically, they seemed made for each other. Her red hair and creamy complexion were a natural complement to his boyishly freckled face. Put them in their ruddy-weather beach sweaters, and they looked like British Isle bookends. But the entirety of the cold North Atlantic stretched between their personalities. She was all shades of gray to his stark black and white. She was messy artist's palette; he was crisp, monochromatic filter. She wallowed in the complexities of even the simplest of things, while he maintained his clear, binary outlook on everything from politics to children. Its not that her reflection and indecision made him impatient. He just didn't understand it. Life was a series of zeros and ones to him; things either were, or they were not, and he spent very little time deciding which, and even less time reflecting.

Brian's side of the bed was still warm. In the kitchen, the girls were being leashed for their morning walk; he was talking to them as one might talk to firstborn grandchildren. She reached over for the receiver and dialed the number. Her eyes closed and she sank back into the linen, letting the words come to her in pictures. A messy bed on a lazy Sunday morning, running her fingers through his hair; cupping his cheek in the palm of her hand; kissing him. Lying in a thick patch of grass in the park, staring up and laughing at the faces in the clouds. Walking along the water near the beach house, picking up rocks and flinging them as far as they could into the surf. Scenes such as these visited her thoughts increasingly often, and they invited her to begin thinking of life on her own terms.

"Meg!"

She jerked around quickly, nearly flinging the receiver. "What?"

"I said, who are you talking to?"

"No one. I'm just picking up messages."

"Mm... I'm taking the girls out for their walk."

"K."

She waited until he'd closed the back door, and listened for the manic clicking of anxious paws down the back staircase. Then she leaned forward, pressed "1" for replay, and sank back into the pillow.


Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Strangers in the Night

In its long, downward spiral from erstwhile pillar of Academia, the Academy reached a new low last night when a wayward Blogger, searching for the terms "Spanking Bare Bible", was dropped at our virtual doorstep.

Its nice to know the Academy has found its little niche on the World Wide Web.

Isn't it troubling to reflect on what, exactly, might have motivated this person to go out searching for those terms in the dead of the night? Hm... perhaps our friend Tom can help us figure that one out.

Monday, March 12, 2007

Some reasons to love Qatar

Sorry about the recent photo-centric posts. I don't have time to write anything anymore!

These are pics from my trip to Qatar in 2004. I sure do miss 110 degrees in the shade. And working 18 hour days. Seven days a week. Sleeping in tents. With 200 snoring guys....



The waterfront - fish market
Three restaurants at the waterfront
Middle-class housing
A country built with TCNs
Water, water everywhere...
...not a drop to drink
Gorgeous buildings being constructed everywhere you turn
Strolling the waterfront
I loved the contrast of a power walk in an abaya/niqab with nike sneakers
No sneakers for you
Kids are kids, everywhere
More construction
Slight sandstorm
New Mosque
Good fences make good neighbors
Waterfront restaurant
McMansion
Poured concrete construction for everything
Hm.. this looks oddly familiar
Stare contest - GO
Non-descript highway
Pottery was dirt cheap


Sunday, March 11, 2007

Star Spangled Morning


Oh say can you see
By the dawn's dirty light
(especially in the radiation wavelength spectrum of 5-7 microns)
What so proudly we moved forward
At the twighlight's last gleaming....


I love this headline from this morning, as it so accurately captures the way we Amercians are viewed around the world:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Energy-guzzling Americans on the lookout for a painless path to conservation can celebrate this weekend when they will cut greenhouse gas emissions by simply pushing forward the hands on their clocks.


These are the solutions our government is creating? Ok, so maybe it will help. But is this the same government whose leader never misses an opportunity to snub world efforts at addressing the problem of emissions? The same leader who passed legislation crafted by utility lobbyists, and euphemistically called the "Clear Skies Act" (ref. "Turd Blossom")? The same leader who is in denial that greenhouse gas emissions are all the problem they're cracked up to be? That very same leader who said, just five years ago, that consumption was every American's right, and that conservation was not the American way?

I seriously don't know why the rest of the world dislikes us so.

(The views expressed here are not necessarily the views of the Academy, or its sponsors)

Thursday, March 08, 2007

Some reasons to love Maine

Aside from my kickass sister, here is what I love about Vacationland.




Friendly Locals


Town of Somes

(locals call this the "douche bridge" because, well, its a long story...)


Path to the water at Bass Harbor Lighthouse


Bass Harbor Lighthouse


Standing in the water at Bass Harbor


Path to Bass Harbor Lighthouse


Bar Harbor Fog


Schoodic Point


Ellsworth


Schoodic Point


Ice Cream on top of Cadillac Mountin


Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Betterer and Improvest

Blogger is broke, in case you hadn't noticed. Publishing is like firing a gun with only one bullet - next time you pull the trigger, nothing happens.

Creat post - only the title appears. Edit post - changes are lost.

There is no support infrastructure at blogger.com. Makes you wonder if there is a better place to blog.

Anyway, the only fix currently is to:
1 - delete your cookies
2 - clear your cache
3 - log out and back in (use www2.blogger.com/login.g)
4 - try again

sigh.... do I have to do EVERYTHING?!