I'm heading to Pennsylvania early tomorrow morning to volunteer with the Obama campaign for two days.
I have voted in every Presidential election since I've been old enough to vote (my first vote was for Clinton in 1996 - remember Rock the Vote? Ah, memories)...but this election is the first one that has me motivated to get involved in the campaign process. I want Obama to win too much to just show up and vote on election day. This year, I feel the need to do more. The last thing I want is for McCain to win and to find myself saying, "Is there anything else I could have done to prevent this?"
So I'm pretty glad I'm able to get to PA tomorrow...looking forward to it!
On a side note...my lovely, lovely new cable was having problems all week (oh no!)...my first box didn't work correctly, and then my replacement box was on the fritz all week... I am now on my third cable box, and I think this one's the charm...no trouble yet! So great! I am watching the Rachel Maddow show on MSNBC as I write this. I have never seen the Rachel Maddow show before...and, hey, I know that MSNBC is completely in the tank for Obama and definitely biased (which can be a bit annoying - I like my news a bit more balanced...um, not FoxNews, no), but...this is totally entertaining. I am loving having all this political coverage right before the election. Yay!
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Cable!
Oh man oh man...for the first time in my life, I have cable.
The CableVision technician came to my apartment yesterday. He arrived over an hour later than my scheduled 3-hour installation block, and he had to return an hour after he finished when I discovered that the first cable box he'd given me was defective...but I forgive all of this, for I now have cable.
It's almost overkill y'all...I mean, I now have, I think, over a hundred channels. And they all come through clearly!!!
Two days ago, I had to hold my broken rabbit ears antenna in my hand at a certain angle in the hopes that I'd get lucky and be able to recognize facial features on the programs of couple network channels.
Wow.
And I don't even have premium cable. I don't have any of that "pause live TV!" or "save your programs and watch 'em later!" hooey, either. I think if I had all of that, I might just explode.
Yes, I know that eventually the thrill will probably fade, and that I will become aware of just how much nothing can be found on 100+ channels.
But tonight? Tonight, I am celebrating. And vegging out. A lot.
The CableVision technician came to my apartment yesterday. He arrived over an hour later than my scheduled 3-hour installation block, and he had to return an hour after he finished when I discovered that the first cable box he'd given me was defective...but I forgive all of this, for I now have cable.
It's almost overkill y'all...I mean, I now have, I think, over a hundred channels. And they all come through clearly!!!
Two days ago, I had to hold my broken rabbit ears antenna in my hand at a certain angle in the hopes that I'd get lucky and be able to recognize facial features on the programs of couple network channels.
Wow.
And I don't even have premium cable. I don't have any of that "pause live TV!" or "save your programs and watch 'em later!" hooey, either. I think if I had all of that, I might just explode.
Yes, I know that eventually the thrill will probably fade, and that I will become aware of just how much nothing can be found on 100+ channels.
But tonight? Tonight, I am celebrating. And vegging out. A lot.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Wow.
Have y'all seen this photo? It was taken as the candidates were taking their seats at the last Presidential debate:
Thursday, October 16, 2008
John McCain will adopt your babies...
Oh, my goodness. Last night's Presidential Debate.
I will have to find the quotes from the transcript later, but can I just say now that I found two of McCain's comments last night to be highly amusing (because of how confusing they were):
1) In the Roe v Wade portion of the debate, McCain made a comment that an unwanted pregnancy is a difficult thing for a woman to deal with, but that he would make sure all of the children of unwanted pregnancies were taken care of. Don't you worry...John and Cindy are going to adopt all your unwanted babies.
2) In the education portion of the debate, McCain said that he would get rid of bad teachers, and that he would get those bad teachers other jobs. Huh? Is he worried about offending the bad teacher vote? I assume he plans on hiring the bad teachers to be nannies for all the babies he's going to be adopting.
I will have to find the quotes from the transcript later, but can I just say now that I found two of McCain's comments last night to be highly amusing (because of how confusing they were):
1) In the Roe v Wade portion of the debate, McCain made a comment that an unwanted pregnancy is a difficult thing for a woman to deal with, but that he would make sure all of the children of unwanted pregnancies were taken care of. Don't you worry...John and Cindy are going to adopt all your unwanted babies.
2) In the education portion of the debate, McCain said that he would get rid of bad teachers, and that he would get those bad teachers other jobs. Huh? Is he worried about offending the bad teacher vote? I assume he plans on hiring the bad teachers to be nannies for all the babies he's going to be adopting.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Late Bloomers
I've been in a bit of a creative funk lately. Creative block, maybe? Creative hiatus? Creative laziness?
In any case, I haven't been making things like I've wanted to (this includes music, writing, art, etc), and I've been worried that I'm spinning my wheels yet again, succumbing to the mild depression that has reared its head in my life ever since high school.
Today I got a nice creative kick in the butt by having tea with one of my ex-professors-turned-friends. Just getting out of the house and talking to someone who has taught me about art and who still believes in my ability to do something significant was pretty inspiring.
So I went right out and purchased myself a mic stand, which I've been meaning to do for months, went home and recorded rough demos of two songs I wrote in August. It's amazing how much easier my life feels all of a sudden with a cheap $40 boom microphone stand.
Sometimes, you just gotta spend a few bucks and do something simple to get the ball rolling.
I now feel like I am prepared to record new ideas anytime they come to me, which is very liberating.
And just to seal my improved outlook this evening...I received the latest issue of New Yorker magazine in my mailbox today, and in the issue was an article called "Late Bloomers (Why do we equate genius with precocity?)," which I just finished reading.
Malcolm Gladwell, the article's author, presents a theory on creative people that was developed by David Galenson, an economist at the University of Chicago. Galenson had come to the conclusion, through his research, that creative people can be divided into two types:
1) prodigies, who produce their best work early in their career and tend to be "conceptual"
2) late bloomers, who are "experimental" and produce their best work only after years and maybe decades of work
Anyhoo... it was liberating to read this article, and somehow made me feel a bit less like I've been flailing around for the past ten years, somehow wasting my time.
I have a lot of work to do, creatively, but I feel hopeful, which is an important step towards moving forward.
I highly recommend the article.
In any case, I haven't been making things like I've wanted to (this includes music, writing, art, etc), and I've been worried that I'm spinning my wheels yet again, succumbing to the mild depression that has reared its head in my life ever since high school.
Today I got a nice creative kick in the butt by having tea with one of my ex-professors-turned-friends. Just getting out of the house and talking to someone who has taught me about art and who still believes in my ability to do something significant was pretty inspiring.
So I went right out and purchased myself a mic stand, which I've been meaning to do for months, went home and recorded rough demos of two songs I wrote in August. It's amazing how much easier my life feels all of a sudden with a cheap $40 boom microphone stand.
Sometimes, you just gotta spend a few bucks and do something simple to get the ball rolling.
I now feel like I am prepared to record new ideas anytime they come to me, which is very liberating.
And just to seal my improved outlook this evening...I received the latest issue of New Yorker magazine in my mailbox today, and in the issue was an article called "Late Bloomers (Why do we equate genius with precocity?)," which I just finished reading.
Malcolm Gladwell, the article's author, presents a theory on creative people that was developed by David Galenson, an economist at the University of Chicago. Galenson had come to the conclusion, through his research, that creative people can be divided into two types:
1) prodigies, who produce their best work early in their career and tend to be "conceptual"
2) late bloomers, who are "experimental" and produce their best work only after years and maybe decades of work
Anyhoo... it was liberating to read this article, and somehow made me feel a bit less like I've been flailing around for the past ten years, somehow wasting my time.
I have a lot of work to do, creatively, but I feel hopeful, which is an important step towards moving forward.
I highly recommend the article.
Monday, October 13, 2008
I have a new life motto...
...and it is:
"If you don't have to work tomorrow, then fuck with your neurons."
(My previous life motto, for those keeping track, was "Get the fuck over yourself." It seems I have a penchant for including the word "fuck" in my life mottos. Sorry, Mom.)
Anyhoo...
I realize my new life motto could be interpreted in any number of ways, depending on one's preferred method of fucking with one's neurons. In my case, this evening, I preferred an entirely wholesome, nerdy, intellectual approach to my motto.
I got it into my head, during a brief phone call with my dear buddy Beth, that it would be a good idea to whip out some of the art criticism I haven't glanced at since grad school, to give it another go. My brain is a bit out of practice, art-criticism-apprehension-wise, and I thought it might be illuminating to revisit some stuff I haven't thought about in years, to see if my accumulated experience since grad school has provided me with new and/or improved methods of understanding (others') ideas.
I was a bit scared to open up the cobwebs of my art brain, but then I thought, "Hey, fuck it. I have the day off tomorrow...and I can choose to stay up late trying to understand cryptic art critical text all I wanna. Yeah!"
Party. Fucking with my neurons.
Hence, my new life motto.
And I *did* go through some old photocopied handouts from grad school for my possible reading pleasure, and I settled on "Grids" by Rosalind Krauss, from her collection of essays The Originality of the Avant-Garde and Other Modernist Myths.
Yep.
It was a tiny bit of a struggle to get through the entire text, but I tried not to let small moments of incomprehension stop me from plowing through til the end. I was helped along by a glass of red wine. Fuck those neurons.
"If you don't have to work tomorrow, then fuck with your neurons."
(My previous life motto, for those keeping track, was "Get the fuck over yourself." It seems I have a penchant for including the word "fuck" in my life mottos. Sorry, Mom.)
Anyhoo...
I realize my new life motto could be interpreted in any number of ways, depending on one's preferred method of fucking with one's neurons. In my case, this evening, I preferred an entirely wholesome, nerdy, intellectual approach to my motto.
I got it into my head, during a brief phone call with my dear buddy Beth, that it would be a good idea to whip out some of the art criticism I haven't glanced at since grad school, to give it another go. My brain is a bit out of practice, art-criticism-apprehension-wise, and I thought it might be illuminating to revisit some stuff I haven't thought about in years, to see if my accumulated experience since grad school has provided me with new and/or improved methods of understanding (others') ideas.
I was a bit scared to open up the cobwebs of my art brain, but then I thought, "Hey, fuck it. I have the day off tomorrow...and I can choose to stay up late trying to understand cryptic art critical text all I wanna. Yeah!"
Party. Fucking with my neurons.
Hence, my new life motto.
And I *did* go through some old photocopied handouts from grad school for my possible reading pleasure, and I settled on "Grids" by Rosalind Krauss, from her collection of essays The Originality of the Avant-Garde and Other Modernist Myths.
Yep.
It was a tiny bit of a struggle to get through the entire text, but I tried not to let small moments of incomprehension stop me from plowing through til the end. I was helped along by a glass of red wine. Fuck those neurons.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Long overdue response: Brooklyn style
A couple of months ago, I sent out a challenge to my readers: I asked anyone to give me a topic, and I promised I would write a post about that topic.
I have already addressed the three topics provided by my verbose sister, but I have neglected (until now) to respond to the one topic proposed by Sarah B., an old friend of mine from back in the day (elementary school, that is).
Here is what Sarah B. wrote to me:
"Here's a topic - Brooklyn style. Is there one? Thoughts? Are beards ironic? "
ANSWER:
This is a tricky subject, Sarah B. It is difficult for me to feel justified in any attempt to define "Brooklyn style," as Brooklyn is such a massive NYC borough, with widely varying modes of dress and grooming. Also, I've only lived here for nine years. I suppose nine years is a decent amount of time to get a read on a place, but I am well aware that there are tons of folks who've lived here longer than myself.
And... having lived here through most of my 20s, I can't really say how fashion/style differs here from other locations. I have developed my own style, and my friends have developed their own styles, while living inside an NYC bubble, for the most part.
I am most familiar with the 20s-30s demographic, specifically college-educated kids who moved to Brooklyn after graduation and have now lived here for 5-15 years. I am describing most of my friends here:
-On the whole, we dress stylishly but with comfort in mind. Lots of jeans. Lots of second-hand clothes from hip second-hand stores, lots of mixing and matching carefully chosen items from less expensive stores like Uniqlo and H&M. Most of us are artists, so there's not a lot of disposable income for sartorial indulgences, but we can be creative with what we've got. I've seen my friends grow into their own styles over the years without even realizing it. Personally, I splurge on nice jeans (I live in jeans), but top off most of my outfits with $7 shirts from Old Navy.
-Brooklyn is definitely more casual than Manhattan. There seems to be less of a need to impress here. Folks wanna look good, but they do it mostly, I think, for themselves. Trends and brand names are less important than personal taste.
I think style has a lot to do with how you present yourself with body language, etc. You have to have some level of confidence to stick it out in NYC for any length of time, and I think that translates into personal style. You can get away with a lot, clothing-choices-wise, if you believe you look good and present yourself that way.
As far as beards go...I will say that an inordinate number of the males in my life were found sporting beards this past winter - a couple of them even retained the facial hair into the spring and summer.
I don't think the beard choice was an ironic one for most of them. And if it were, I'd be likely to make fun of them for it. I do think, however, that the sudden beard-sprouting was possibly influenced by the likes of music groups such as Band of Horses (I'm not kidding - I really believe this).
If you start venturing into certain Brookyn neighborhoods where the ratio of hipsters to everone else is high (think: Williamsburg), then it's quite likely that you'll run into some irony (or plain stupidity) in grooming choices. I tend to avoid those neighborhoods.
Final thought:
I think the beard is a totally justified winter option in Brooklyn. We don't live out in the country or anything here, but we do spend a helluva lotta time walking around outside - more so, I am sure, than in many other parts of the country - and a little face protection couldn't hurt in that daily cold walk from the apartment to the subway to the job to the subway to the drinks with friends to the subway to the apartment, etc.
Was this a more straight-ahead approach to your question than you were expecting, Sarah B.? I suppose I am in a very non-ironic frame of mind these days, and that's a good thing. Eh, I've never been a big fan of irony.
-
I have already addressed the three topics provided by my verbose sister, but I have neglected (until now) to respond to the one topic proposed by Sarah B., an old friend of mine from back in the day (elementary school, that is).
Here is what Sarah B. wrote to me:
"Here's a topic - Brooklyn style. Is there one? Thoughts? Are beards ironic? "
ANSWER:
This is a tricky subject, Sarah B. It is difficult for me to feel justified in any attempt to define "Brooklyn style," as Brooklyn is such a massive NYC borough, with widely varying modes of dress and grooming. Also, I've only lived here for nine years. I suppose nine years is a decent amount of time to get a read on a place, but I am well aware that there are tons of folks who've lived here longer than myself.
And... having lived here through most of my 20s, I can't really say how fashion/style differs here from other locations. I have developed my own style, and my friends have developed their own styles, while living inside an NYC bubble, for the most part.
I am most familiar with the 20s-30s demographic, specifically college-educated kids who moved to Brooklyn after graduation and have now lived here for 5-15 years. I am describing most of my friends here:
-On the whole, we dress stylishly but with comfort in mind. Lots of jeans. Lots of second-hand clothes from hip second-hand stores, lots of mixing and matching carefully chosen items from less expensive stores like Uniqlo and H&M. Most of us are artists, so there's not a lot of disposable income for sartorial indulgences, but we can be creative with what we've got. I've seen my friends grow into their own styles over the years without even realizing it. Personally, I splurge on nice jeans (I live in jeans), but top off most of my outfits with $7 shirts from Old Navy.
-Brooklyn is definitely more casual than Manhattan. There seems to be less of a need to impress here. Folks wanna look good, but they do it mostly, I think, for themselves. Trends and brand names are less important than personal taste.
I think style has a lot to do with how you present yourself with body language, etc. You have to have some level of confidence to stick it out in NYC for any length of time, and I think that translates into personal style. You can get away with a lot, clothing-choices-wise, if you believe you look good and present yourself that way.
As far as beards go...I will say that an inordinate number of the males in my life were found sporting beards this past winter - a couple of them even retained the facial hair into the spring and summer.
I don't think the beard choice was an ironic one for most of them. And if it were, I'd be likely to make fun of them for it. I do think, however, that the sudden beard-sprouting was possibly influenced by the likes of music groups such as Band of Horses (I'm not kidding - I really believe this).
If you start venturing into certain Brookyn neighborhoods where the ratio of hipsters to everone else is high (think: Williamsburg), then it's quite likely that you'll run into some irony (or plain stupidity) in grooming choices. I tend to avoid those neighborhoods.
Final thought:
I think the beard is a totally justified winter option in Brooklyn. We don't live out in the country or anything here, but we do spend a helluva lotta time walking around outside - more so, I am sure, than in many other parts of the country - and a little face protection couldn't hurt in that daily cold walk from the apartment to the subway to the job to the subway to the drinks with friends to the subway to the apartment, etc.
Was this a more straight-ahead approach to your question than you were expecting, Sarah B.? I suppose I am in a very non-ironic frame of mind these days, and that's a good thing. Eh, I've never been a big fan of irony.
-
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