Lady Crumpet's Armoire
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- The Surreal World
Certain headlines have caught my eye in the last few days:
Swiss Accidentally Invade Liechtenstein - "What began as a routine training exercise almost ended in an embarrassing diplomatic incident after a company of Swiss soldiers got lost at night and marched into neighboring Liechtenstein." Guess the map must have been full of holes.
Geico's Cavemen May Get Own TV Series - "The potential series, one of 14 pilots that will be produced by Touchstone Television this spring, features the cavemen as they 'struggle with prejudice on a daily basis as they strive to live the lives of normal thirty-somethings in 2007 Atlanta.'" I can already see it - the cavemen will be the normal people surrounded by wacky Southerners with thick antebellum or redneck accents. Antics ensue.
Sat, 03 Mar 2007 08:13:24 -0500 - today's links
Stain Teacup: Age is Beautiful? [Gizmodo] - An artist has created teacups that are meant to stain over time,ultimately revealing a pattern that's dependent on how a person drinks her tea.
52 Proven Stress Reducers - This list is geared towards college students, but it's pretty useful for everybody. One thing that always stresses me out is being late, and so I need to just plan on being on time or even early, whether it's for an appointment or going to work or meeting up with friends.
StolenIDSearch.com - I read about this site in a recent NY Times article about identity theft. The site allows people to check, at no cost, whether their Social Security numbers are floating somewhere in the public domain. I've tried it out - so far, so good. It's useful, but the usual precautions (monitoring credit card and bank statements, shredding, periodic reviews of one's credit report) are always a good idea.
Mon, 26 Feb 2007 18:51:45 -0500 - Holiday! Celebrate!
Back from spending a long weekend in NYC. Mainly I was there to see The Coast of Utopia, which was wonderful. There were dazzling performances and dizzying dialogue. Highlights for me were the various turns by Jennifer Ehle, especially as Natalie Herzen, Billy Crudup as Vissarion Belinsky, Martha Plimpton, and Ethan Hawke as the loud, obnoxious, unruly, undisciplined Michael Bakunin.
In the bit of spare time we had, there was a trip to MoMA, dinner at Otto (including olive oil gelato for dessert), brunch with Zeebah and Lauren, and drinks and nibbles with Paul F., who was game enough to meet up with us on a last minute's notice. There was also some wandering along Avenue A for shopping in little boutiques. In one of them I overheard the shopgirls talking about spotting members of The Strokes, including what appeared to be one of them with Kirsten Dunst on a double date. This is about as close as I'll get to spotting anybody famous, so it was a minor shallow vicarious thrill.
I was in the subway when I spotted someone reading the Daily News, whose front page headline was "Britney Shears." And every time we waited on the platform for the L at Sixth Avenue, there was a cute little blonde with a boombox, singing 80s Madonna songs. She had the right voice, but it drove me a little crazy that she was messing up the lyrics. But I was happy enough to give her some change, since she's much braver than I am, singing and dancing on a subway platform.
Minor travel delays. No one confiscated my toiletries and there were no unreasonable sojourns on the tarmac, so it all worked out and we made it back home Sunday night.
Had the day off on Monday, so it was good day to recuperate and do some laundry.
Wed, 21 Feb 2007 17:33:23 -0500 - Just a guess
At the end of the world only roaches and spam will survive.
Wed, 21 Feb 2007 16:10:27 -0500 - today's links
Tivo Shortcut Tips [GeekSugar]
Top Web 2.0 Search Engines [OEDb]
Great Poems About Sex [Slate]
The Genius of Dick Cavett [Slate]
Wed, 14 Feb 2007 17:32:12 -0500 - Writing for Money
One Saturday afternoon I was shopping with my family at Upton’s, a now-defunct regional chain. While my dad and I stood in line at the register, he found a flyer for an essay contest co-sponsored by the store and a clothing manufacturer. The winning essay would address the subject “WHAT BUGLE BOY JEANS MEAN TO ME.” Inwardly I cringed, but the prize was a thousand-dollar scholarship. I folded up the flyer and slipped it into my pocket.
I did not then nor have I ever owned a pair of Bugle Boy jeans. It's possible I had a shirt from that brand at some point. I was inclined to throw out the notice and forget about it, but I felt obligated to try, despite my mortification. I waited until the night before the deadline, and then wrote a story in the vein of "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty." Sporting my (imaginary) Bugle Boy jeans, I experienced adventurous flights of fancy, only to come back down to earth, usually at the behest of an annoyed younger sister. There was even an ending with romantic potential as I met the boy next door, while wearing, of course, my incredibly awesome imaginary Bugle Boy jeans. I remember that the boy's eyes were the color of "deep green pools." Awful, embarrassing stuff from a girl who was trying to write poetry like e.e. cummings.
I mailed in the essay and then promptly forgot about it, only to get a letter months later telling me I had won the scholarship.
Tue, 13 Feb 2007 17:47:47 -0500 - Crash Course
Next weekend I will be immersed in nine hours of theater when I attend performances of The Coast of Utopia. The trilogy explores a group of friends who come of age under the Tsarist autocracy of Nicholas I. Playwright Tom Stoppard says it's not necessary to do any pre-theater study, but I'd like to have a fighting chance of taking in as much as I can when I actually attend the plays. Of course, I've had the tickets for some time but only now am I doing any reading.
Stoppard appears in tonight's Charlie Rose. Check your local PBS station for listings - the episode airs here at 12:30 a.m.
The official website for the plays also features some brief notes, and the current issue of the Lincoln Center Theater Review features a conversation with Stoppard as well as a few essays.
At some point I'd picked up a book on Russian history, but I've misplaced it during the move. It will suffice as post-theater reading.
Wed, 07 Feb 2007 12:37:28 -0500 - today's links
Online Photo Editing Overview - A survey of several web-based photo editors.
The Top 100 Alternative Search Engines - Alternatives to Google. Something I need to check out...
Mon, 05 Feb 2007 17:33:44 -0500 - Mooninite in East Atlanta
I spotted this dangerous fellow back in April 2006 at the Flatiron. If only I'd known that I should've run screaming into the hills.
Thu, 01 Feb 2007 16:06:39 -0500 - Dear Boston
Dear Boston,Why are you being such a hysterical girl? Get over yourself and stop being such an idiot.
Sincerely,
Lady Crumpet
Thu, 01 Feb 2007 10:10:27 -0500 - Things that have unnerved me
A tv ad from the AARP features a song by the Buzzcocks.
Daniel Radcliffe, the actor who's been playing Harry Potter, is in a stage production of Equus. The promotional photos are rather highly charged, featuring young Daniel without a shirt. While I am not old enough for the AARP, I feel a bit pervy after seeing those images.
Tue, 30 Jan 2007 22:22:39 -0500 - A little too ironic
Tuesday the 16th was only slightly out of the ordinary for me. I had a long overdue doctor's appointment, the kind that involves wearing a paper gown and sticking one's heels into stirrups. With that obligatory unpleasantness out of the way, I drove back home and took the train into work.
That weekend I received a message from Stylefeeder that I had won their daily random drawing for Tuesday, the 16th. Stylefeed allows you to build your own wishlist as you browse the web and come across items that strike your fancy. I noticed Paul's Stylefeed on his blog, and decided to try it out. So thanks to Stylefeeder and ultimately to Paul, I am now the happy owner of a brass handcuff lariat necklace, designed by Erica Weiner.
Getting home from work Friday night, there's a letter from the city police department, telling me that I was ticketed for turning on a red light. There are pictures of the car, turning while the light has been red for .77 seconds, completing the turn in under two seconds. I check the date and time in my calendar, and realize it was Tuesday the 16th, when I'd gone in for my appointment. In my rush to get home to park the car to get on the train to go to work, I turned just after the left turn arrow had disappeared and now I have my first ticket. Arrgh.
So in one day I have been ticketed and won a necklace featuring tiny handcuffs.
Sun, 28 Jan 2007 22:32:00 -0500 - It's official: Crowded House comes back to life
While we're still waiting for the announcement from the band and its management, I think an article in Billboard Magazine seems enough of a public confirmation:
Crowded House will reform after a 10-year-plus hiatus for a tour this year, including a stop at California's Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in late April. The reunion, which was first reported by several Australian newspapers and confirmed by the webmaster of the Neil Finn site Frenz.com, will coincide with a new studio album.
So between this, and the fact that - ahem - yesterday I pre-ordered a copy of the new album through the fan club, seems official enough for me!Finn had previously maintained he would never revive Crowded House following the 2005 suicide of drummer Paul Hester. "It's an instant knee-jerk reaction, 'no Paul no Crowded House' for some, and you, know that's actually okay," webmaster Peter Green wrote on the Frenz.com message board. "Simply don't see them or play the new record. But there is a good chance you might be missing out on something special. Sometimes it's worth taking a leap of faith and giving something a chance."
"Neil has had a hankering to play in a band again and what better band to do this in but the one he had the most joy with," he continued.
The solo album Finn previously told Billboard.com would feature Crowded House bassist Nick Seymour has morphed into a Crowded House release, although it is unknown when it will hit stores. Also unclear is who will replace Hester; auditions are said to be underway to fill the slot. Multi-instrumentalist Mark Hart, who joined Crowded House full time in 1992, will be back in the fold for the live dates.
I don't know how long they'll stay together this time around; it may be a fleeting reunion. But I will be happy to hear the new songs and see the band live again, for however long they want to make music together.
Mon, 22 Jan 2007 13:58:20 -0500 - Together Again
Holy cats! The official announcement is still in the works, but it's looking very definite that Crowded House will reunite. The lineup will be Neil Finn, Nick Seymour, Mark Hart, and a new drummer. Auditions for the drummer are said to be taking place. From the Daily Telegraph (Australia):
CROWDED House, one of Australia's biggest ever musical exports, is reforming for a world tour.
It won't be the same without Paul Hester, but I'm glad that the guys will be making music together again. Please please please come to Atlanta when you tour!The band's former frontman Neil Finn and bassist Nick Seymour will hold auditions for a new drummer in Melbourne this week.
Paul Hester, the band's founding drummer, took his own life two years ago.
Sources say Finn will commit 12 months to a world tour by Crowded House. Rehearsals will begin when Finn and Seymour find their drummer.
Finn's UK-based management group are expected to make an official announcement this week.
The surprise re-forming comes 10 years after the band's emotional farewell performance on the Sydney Opera House steps.
Just released this past Tuesday (finally!) are the DVD and CD releases of Farewell to the World, Crowded House's final concert back in 1996. This is great news, especially for those of us who have had to be content with tracking down PAL-format videos and bootleg CDs of the concert. Waiting for my official releases in the mail!
Crowded House Rebuilt [Daily Telegraph (Aus)]
Addendum: Full text of news article after the jump.
Sun, 21 Jan 2007 16:22:25 -0500 - The Children of Men - P.D. James
This book was extraordinary. Another book I would like to revisit. Puts me in mind of The Handmaid's Tale. The near future is dystopic and humanity faces extinction, having suddenly become infertile in 1995, the year that became known as the Omega. Great Britain, one of the few countries where civilization still seems to survive, although it too is crumbling into chaos, is now run by a dictator known as the Warden of England. People have resorted to watching old movies and television shows about the young, keeping dolls in prams and having their kittens christened in order to cope with the loss of children in the world. There are state sponsored porn shops, the regular checkups of selected men and women for possible fertility, official mass suicides of the old - not necessarily of their own free will - in the effort to sustain remaining resources. Omegas, the last generation to be born, are exceptionally beautiful, cruel and selfish.
Theodore Faron, the main character, happens to be cousin to the Warden of England. He's an Oxford historian, whose area of expertise is the nineteenth century. He has his own loss, his own failures, and has never been able to connect with others in any meaningful way. He becomes drawn in with a group of revolutionaries, and ends up finding the salvation he realizes that he needs. But even at the novel's end, we are left both elated and chilled, wondering what will become of these people.
Thu, 18 Jan 2007 12:43:41 -0500
