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Thursday, 30 June 2005

I'm really really nervous about something coming up later on in the day and I need a distraction, so I'm here. 

Remember how I mentioned my fear of Google's impending reign over the world.  Phase I of Googleocracy has begun: 

According to the DCist.com, Google Earth allows you to:
-- Fly from space to your neighborhood. Type in an address and zoom right in.
-- Search for schools, parks, restaurants, and hotels. Get driving directions.
-- Tilt and rotate the view to see 3D terrain and buildings.
-- Save and share your searches and favorites. Even add your own annotations. 

Google Earth!

Oh look, I just figured out the perfect trajectory straight to the White House. 


xxx, Luv, DJ Groovy Slug
by: DJGroovySlug at June 30, 2005 10:56 | link | comments (5) random thoughts

Wednesday, 29 June 2005

Wednesday Poetry: Twice the fun and Ilustrated, too!

So I found a way to combine poetry with my photoblog, which, up until now, has been fairly lame.  Pictures of books and sprouting plants aren't nearly as interesting as: Pictures of the White House!

 

The White House!

 

A nice older Asian lady manned this sign and an assortment of other doodads all right  in the President's backyard.  Do you ever think Mr. President looks outside his window, turns to his aides and says "This neighborhood is really falling apart."  While walking along the backside of the White House, I kept staring up at the trees hoping to see a sniper, but alas, no men (or women) with rifles.  I was too lazy to walk around front, and besides you never get as close to the House as you do from the back.

 

Contrary to Mr. President's beliefs, I would have to say the neighborhood is doing just fine:

 

     Park!

  Statue

 

And now, in celebration of the wonderful country we live in (and in celebration of the beautiful city that is it's capital) and since it's July 4th and all, I celebrate our ability to exercise free speech with two poems from the collection 101 Poems Against War.  Ironically, these poems were translated and the writers come from places where free speech may not be as valued as here. 

 

The Diameter of the Bomb

 

The diameter of the bomb was thirty centimetres

and the diameter of its effective

range — about seven metres.

And in it four dead and eleven wounded.

And around them in a greater circle

of pain and time are scattered

two hospitals and one cemetary.

But the young woman who was

buried where she came from

over a hundred kilometres away

enlarges the circle greatly.

And the lone man who weeps over her death

in a far corner of a distant country includes the whole world in the

circle. And I won't speak at all about the crying of orphans

that reaches to the seat of God

and from there onward,

making the circle without end and without God.

 

 

-Yehuda Amichai, translated from Hebrew by Yehuda Amichai and Ted Hughes, ©2000

 

 

Five Minutes after the Air Raid

 

 

In Pilsen,

twenty-six Station Road,

she climbed to the third floor

up stairs which were all that was left

of the whole house,

she opened her door

full on to the sky,

stood gaping over the edge.

 

For this was the place

the world ended.

 

Then

she locked up carefully

lest someone steal

Sirius

or Aldebran

from her kitchen,

went back downstairs

and settled herself

to wait for the house to rise again

and for her husband to rise from the ashes

and for her children's hands and feet to be stuck

        back in place.

 

In the morning they found her

still as stone,

sparrows pecking her hands.

 

 

-Miroslave Holub, translated from the Czech by George Theiner, ©1990

 

 

xxx, Luv, DJ Groovy Slug

by: DJGroovySlug at June 29, 2005 20:59 | link | comments (3) wednesday poetry, dj groovy slug takes some snaps

Tuesday, 28 June 2005

The Book Meme

 

I've been tagged by Vern.  I was hoping to get tagged for this one!

 

What is the total number of books you own?

 

I have no idea. Since I never officially moved out of my parents house and all my books I had at school usually found their way onto their shelves, there is really no way of knowing which are mine and which are my parents’.  I like to think of them as a collective whole; my parents like to think that the whole shebang is going out with me when I finally do leave the house.  Since this is PhotoBlog week at DJ Groovy Slug Spins, here is a photograph of one our bookcases. This is only one of many, but I couldn't fit them all into one shot. 

Bookcases!

(Notice the wooden breasts, I mean busts on the top shelf.  I love south east Asian Art. )

 

And the pile of books on the floor by my bed.

Book Pile!

 

What is the last book you bought? Correction: What are the last books that you bought? 

Mules and Men, Zora Neale Hurston

The Custom of the Country, Edith Wharton (and hopefully the first Wharton book I will finish)

Those Barren Leaves, Aldous Huxley (Huxley wrote books that weren’t about a dystopian future? Huxley wrote comedies??)

The Polysyllabic Spree, Nick Hornby

Much Ado about Nothing, Shakespeare

 

As you can probably ascertain, I consume mostly classics and very little contemporary literature.  That’s because I thrive on the safety of well known great work rather than gamble on the possibility of decent crap.  In short: there are too many opportunities to get total junk published simply because the nature of publishing has turned mostly to commercial ventures rather than the furthering of substantial, innovative work.  Blech. 

What is the last book you read?

The last couple of books I finished were Che Guevara’s The Motorcycle Diaries and Martin Amis’ Night Train which Mr. Amis so graciously signed for me.  The Amis was a much better read.  I’m not quite sure I understand all the hype about the Guevara book except for the fact that they made a movie about it (and I guess the fact that Guevara wrote it.) Amis is well aware of his status as “celebrity” (no longer writer or author) and it’s reflective in his later work, but Night Train is amazingly well written prose and, surprisingly, probably the first and only mystery novel I will ever and have ever read.

 

 

Five books that mean a lot to you.

I’m just going to vaguely interpret this as “Books that Changed My Life.”  Most of the books that mean a lot to me have to do with the sentimentality and the tangential nature of books, i.e. books from my childhood, slowly yellowing in the basement.  I love those books but not because they were great books, but because they were a part of my childhood.  The following books changed my life. I hope I can convince anyone else out there to go out and find these books for themselves!

 
To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee.  I know it looks like I stole this from Vern, who tagged me with this meme in the first place.  But I have read this book almost every year of my twenty two years on this earth.  Okay, I guess not, but ever since the fifth grade I have loved and cherished this book.  What a great story!  Sometimes I can’t believe that Harper Lee only wrote two novels (I haven’t read the other one).  When a person comes up with an amazing story and that’s it, was it just a fluke? Could I do it? And spend the rest of my life trying to beat that success?  Or was Lee lucky and got her big break with the first one? 

 
The House of Spirits, Isabel Allende.  I went through a romance novel phase right around the time I met my boyfriend.   His first gift to me, which was for my birthday, was a romance novel whose name I misremember now but I remember the absurd plot very well.  What does this have to do with Isabel Allende?  Well I stopped reading romance novels shortly after junior year, but I do love a good romance in any story.  This book is without a doubt my most favorite romance novel, has all the workings of a latino soap opera, is beautifully written and yet is amazingly substantial and isn’t just brain candy.  It’s everything at once and everyone should go out and read it.  (PS Don't see the movie.  It's awful and nothing like the book.  I mean, the characters are from Chile for goodness sake and it stars Winona Rider and Meryl Streep??)

 
Me Talk Pretty One Day.  Freshman year of college, I was young and impressionable (and I still am) and was reading lots of eighteenth and nineteenth century European literature.  I love that stuff - I chose to study it after all - but reading Sedaris was refreshing.  It taught me that someone could write, and write well, without using big words and fancy plots.  He is an amazing humor writer and one of my favorite contemporary authors. 

 
Black No More, George Schuyler.  This book is, without a doubt, absolutely amazing.  I should have written my senior thesis on George Schuyler.  Written at the end of the Harlem Renaissance, Schuyler writes a satire about a Doctor who created a process that removes pigmentation from skin, meaning that he can make an African American “black no more.”  Schuyler seems to suggest a very deep connection between race and economics, which, since the publication of this novel, is only recently beginning to be explored as economists and social experts realize the continual marketing of the image of the “cool” black male.  I would go to grad school for this book alone.

 

The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Alex Haley.  I’ve changed two other people’s lives with this book: my dad & my boyfriend.  To get a clear sense of how important this is, I’ll say that A) My dad takes years to finish books and his pile next to his bed is tall.  And stationary.  It grows moss like a pile of sloths.  He plowed through “Autobiography” and mentioned to me that it was “fascinating.”  The fact that he made it all the way through says enough for me.  B) My boyfriend does not read.  He’s an engineering major and spends most of his time reading his car or the words as they snake across the screen during PTI.  He finished “Autiobiography” in three days and wouldn’t shut up about it for about a week afterwards.  It's an amazing, well told biography of the man who very few Americans and even African-Americans are familiar with.  (PS See the movie after you've read the book.  One of Denzel's quality flicks. But don't see the movie without reading the book, the book is much much better.)

 

 runners up: Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen; No Exit, Sartre; The Mitford Series, Jan Karon; and The Giver, Lois Lowry.

I'm going to tag dpassmore (since he posted one of my quotes, but no worries, he isn't the famous quote generator stealer), Justme63 because I know he just loves these distractions, and the irrepresible moonglow.

 

xxx, Luv, DJ Groovy Slug

by: DJGroovySlug at June 28, 2005 20:38 | link | comments (1) random thoughts, dj groovy slug recommends, dj groovy slug takes some snaps

Monday, 27 June 2005

Introducing: PhotoBlog Week at DJ Groovy Slug Spins...

So I'm debating whether or not to buy a new camera.  I am, admittedly, one of the world's worst photographers, a gene that has been passed on through generations of my family (we are also the ones who always forget to bring the camera to special events and never get a roll developed.  We frequently have whole years of pictures on a single roll when the film finally gets used up).  I have always wanted to take photography lessons, but frankly I couldn't afford a new camera (a real camera, which I would never use anyway). 

 

But since I'm going to Ecuador for a few weeks - and since my Egypt pictures came out soooo bad that I had to steal shots from my friends' Webshots and claim them as my own - it has occured to me that a new camera might be in the works.  I can't quite put my finger one what's wrong with this one.  Sometimes the pictures come out blurry.  The flash seems to be inadequate.  And forget low light. 

 

But really, I need a reminder of how good/bad my camera really is.  So this week I will be taking my camera along with me to catch some shots and see if it can last another month while I'm in Ecuador.  While this not only will prove to me if a new camera is warranted, it also is sort of an interesting way of seeing the world through the eyes of DJ Groovy Slug.

 

Peppers!

 

Behold my pepper plant.  Look closely, can you see my two peppers? We only garden on our wooden deck (seen in the background), which means lots of potted plants.  My mother plants impatiens; I plant useful things, such as basil, oregano, and rosemary.  This year I grabbed a green pepper sprout in addition to the usual suspects.  I have no pets, so my plants generally serve as a substitute and I go out on the deck frequently to check on them. Don't worry, I never over water.  Generally, we almost never use what we produce, making us the worst environmenatlists in the world.  But I figure since the pepper is solid and not of the leafy, fragrant variety then maybe we will actually use it this year.

 

xxx, Luv, DJ Groovy Slug

by: DJGroovySlug at June 27, 2005 20:02 | link | comments dj groovy slug takes some snaps

Friday, 24 June 2005

Birthday Round Up and "Batman Begins" Review

http://www.balloons123.com/balloon_database/MF-M10031.html

Well, a happy belated birthday cupcake for myself.  I wish I had started off yesterday with this but frankly, that whole incident just upset and pissed me off.  I'm okay the rest of the time but I was really freaked on the ride into work this morning that it would happen again.  But I basically decided not tomake myself a victim and now that I know it can happen and if it happens again  I should simply say "Sir, you are making me very uncomfortable" and make them red in the face. I have to make peace with it.

Anywho, we had a really nice dinner last night of lobster and paella and lots of sangria.  It's just wonderful to be surrounded by the people you love and you begin to wonder why you don't get together with all of them more often.  Oh, and there was amazing chocolate hazelnut mouse cake (it had a fancy spanish name which I misremember now).  Afterwards, the boy and I headed over to a friend's house to watch Game 7, in which I predicted correctly that San Antonio would take it without overtime (even though, according to Bryan, I was supposed to want Detroit to win.  Whatever.)

The boy came home Wednesday evening just in time for my birthday and will be gone Sunday for more training camp type things.  On Wednesday we immediately headed out to see "Batman Begins."  I was really looking forward to it but heard from some other friends that it "sucked" (their word).  But I was determined to see it, if, for no other reason, I remember Christian Bale very fondly from his days of "Newsies" and "Little Women" so I wanted to support him in his big blockbuster endeavor.  One sentence review: It was excellent but I can see why people didn't like it.  It didn't have the same campy feel and cartoon environment of the four previous Batmans (especially the last two with Val & George). 

A lot of critics have been throwing around the term "dark" when describing this film, and it's really quite accurate.  I would also say it has substance, feels like an actual movie rather than simply watching brain candy.  The director and the characters and the set no longer feed you the story; it builds on itself.  In a sense, and I hesitate to say this, but  I think more intelligent people like this one better than those who expect goony evil doers and typical Batman one-liners - i.e. substance vs. no substance.  Sometimes watching a movie with no substance can be refreshing  when you're surrounded by your "Million Dollar Babys" and other Oscar contenders.  But when a viewer becomes so used to trash - the previous Batman films, esp. the last two - a new film that is substantial and provoking becomes refreshing.   Actually, Roger Ebert said it best: "This is the movie I did not realize I was waiting for, because I didn't realize that more emphasis on story and character and less emphasis on high-tech action was just what was needed."

The explanation of how Bruce became Batman is phenomenal.  Just wonderful.  Well timed, you don't feel rushed through the story (like with Star Wars & Anakin->Darth Vader, which really should have been spread over the three movies instead of into one film).  Secondly, the darkness is just wonderful.  You love Bruce, you love Batman, and you love the Evil Guys.  The scenery and environment felt real, which, as I said previously, is nothing like the campiness of the previous Batman movies. 

Let me also just take the time to say that Katie Holmes doesn't suck, which I think is good enough praise for right now.  The boy and I discussed it on the way home, and in terms of movie heroines, she ranks above Denise Richards in that James Bond Flick and Natalie Portman in Star Wars.  She is probably right on par with Kirsten Dunst in Spiderman (I love Kirsten but I would never go so far as to say the Spidey flicks were her strongest work). One critic in the WaPo said her part felt like an after thought and to me that says that he didn't want to admit that a girl who is clearly guillible and brainwashed managed to pump out a decent flick.  He should probably remember that Katie made this movie before she started dating Tom.  Her character was an instrumental part of the movie and whether you like it or not, she worked. 

Okay, enough rambling on for the day. Thanks for all the kind words from everyone who wrote about yesterday and congratulating me on my brithday!

xxx, Luv, DJ Groovy Slug
by: DJGroovySlug at June 24, 2005 10:37 | link | comments (4) random thoughts

Thursday, 23 June 2005

I was sitting on the metro this morning when this older gentleman in a business suit sat down next to me.  Close.  Closer than my boyfriend and I sit together.  Way too close.  But I can deal with that.  Until he started rubbing his elbow up and down my side.  I tried scooting closer to the window, just far enough away that I could feel he was out of reach.  And yet, after a few seconds, it started up again, as though he subtly shifted over to continue his rubbing.  I tried a few more times and it still kept happening.  I really started freaking out when I realized that there were other benches on the metro that had no one in them, that basically he chose to sit next to someone rather than by himself.  And he didn't appear all that interested in his paper.  His demeanor was just too strange and the petting wouldn't stop.  I almost had a panic attack right there on the train.  Instead, I got up and changed cars. 

Now I'm angry. I'm angry that this guy could be some sicko and I just sat there and took his perverted gestures.  I'm angry that I could have said something and everyone would think I'm just some stuck up snob who doesn't want anyone to sit next to her.  I'm angry that I didn't tell him to back off or stop touching me.  I'm angry that I may have gotten worked up over nothing and my belief that he was getting excited was just me being a terrified victimized female.  I'm angry that if I fool myself into believing there was nothing going on, I could be letting perverts touch and rub me all the time and I won't say anything because whether or not it's on purpose is just too hard to prove or know.  I'm angry because it's happening on my birthday. I'm angry that it made me afraid and I'm angry that I could become a victim of fear.   And I'm angry because I'm angry about it.


by: DJGroovySlug at June 23, 2005 10:25 | link | comments (3) random thoughts

Wednesday, 22 June 2005

Hump Day Distractions

1. Michael Jackson is free and thanks to double jeopardy, it looks like he, his children, the monkeys and everyone else at Neverland are in the clear.  As a reminder of what a cultural icon we have created, here is a brief history of Michael Jackson, America's favorite weirdo.    And a special Wack-o Jack-o bonus, a satellite image of Neverland, found through Google Maps. It looks magical even from space.

2. The knowledge of Google continues to amaze and terrify me.  Not only can you find satelitte images of my house, find my address with my phone number, but Google also has the answers to life's most pressing questions:
    who framed Roger Rabit?
    how much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
    how many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie roll pop?

Oh yeah, and here's a satellite image of Area 511, courtesy Google Maps.  I'm scared mommy.

3. Honest to God scientific site explaining the Top 10 ways to Destroy Earth.  Thankfully, it provides a list of materials and processes, like any regular apocalypse recipe would.  I'm quite partial to the "Earth's Final Resting Place" bit myself.

4. This week's Oldie-But-Goodie: Lecture Musical.  I would watch it again right now if I wasn't at work.  I miss college.

5. And this week's Food for Thought: A WaPo discussion from Shelby Knox, who was recently in the documentary "The Education of Shelby Knox" on PBS.  Now a sophomore in college, Shelby was 15 when she signed an abstinence pledge but was dissatisfied with the sex education in her small Texas  town.  She has since become an advocate for comprehensive sex education in the United States.  Her responses are thought provoking and insightful and she will definitely go very far. 

6. The highly popular Bunny Suicides.  They are just too morbidly cute.  I happened to be living in England when the first book was published and it was quite the deal over there.  I chalked it up to odd British humor, since I bought a book there entitled How to Create a Flawless Universe in Just Eight Days (refer to Distraction #3 for removal of said universe).

7. Legg mi am Åsch!  Yes indeed, it's Swearasaurus, the world's most comprehensive multi-language curse word/phrase dictionary. "How to insult, swear, cuss, and curse in 165 languages!"

Tsa mor kaka and enjoy your day!

 
xxx, Luv, DJ Groovy Slug
by: DJGroovySlug at June 22, 2005 14:16 | link | comments (1) random thoughts, dj groovy slug recommends

Wednesday, 22 June 2005

Keep a heads up for what I'm calling my "Poetry Double Header" later this evening.  I have a couple of really wonderful translated poems from a collection called 101 Poems Against War.

Otherwise, today at work I'm trying my damndest to get out two really great resume/cover letters and I have a lot on my plate today.  ¡Me cumpleaños está mañana!

Update 3:37pm 06/22/05: I've sent out two fabulous resumes.  I also contacted my old career counselor and asked if it was unethical to apply for jobs when I'm leaving for Ecuador in essentially three weeks.  She advises that it's okay but to make sure I make it very clear to employers that I'm leaving and also to try and schedule interviews as early as possible.  I haven't heard from anyone yet : (

 But on an unrelated note, the vacation time that some of these places give is AMAZING.  Case in point: I used to work at a financial institution and got exactly ten days off a year.  Some of the non-profits that I have been applying for start at 3 weeks.  One of them started at 4 weeks.  Hooray European influences! Unfortunately, the pay is lower with the better benefits, so I won't be able to afford to go anywhere cool during my month long vacation. 


by: DJGroovySlug at June 22, 2005 11:35 | link | comments random thoughts

Tuesday, 21 June 2005

What kind of Subway customer are you?

are you that annoying person who doesn't bother even thinking about what to order until it's your turn at the counter?  Or are you swift, moving with the efficiency of customers of the Soup Nazi on Seinfeld? 

Do you order the exact same thing every time? Or do you mix it up a bit?

For the first time in my three weeks here at work, I ventured out of the building for lunch. This is very big.  Normally I just go to the deli downstairs but the cost is getting to me (and so is the food selection).  So today I decided to explore the city.  Normally I would have been out dozens of times by now but I haven't here because I work through lunch so that I don't have to spend an extra half hour here to make up for it.  But today I decided to throw caution to the wind, especially because I was so cold thanks to the overzealous air conditioning system in our office.  I heard there was a Burger King down the road and while BK is never my first choice, it was better than not eating at all.  But when I got down there, on the other end of Farragut Square, my eyes beheld a mecca of dining options.  I had reached the holy land.

Naturally I picked Subway, the chosen Manna of lunchtime diners, sent down from the Food Gods.  I never mind waiting in line because of my inherent ability to space out, but there were two very young girls, undoubtedly interns, standing in front of me.  One was wearing very strong perfume that was permeating my bubble of personal space and offending my nose and head.  They giggled and gossiped and blabbed their way through the line.  But really, these points are moot.  The really irritating thing was when they slowed down the Subway line.  First they ordered three tuna subs.  But then it was four.  Then three. Then they decided that 6inch was too small and asked for footlong on all three subs.  Then, in an effort to make it all easier, they tried to consolidate by saying making them "With everything."  Except mayonnaise.  Except one did have mayonniase.  And all three have extra mustard. Two had no pickles.

"Is that all it comes with?" asked one, after watching them wrap up the first two. 

After being assured that they had layered on all the available free  toppings, they offered her a choice of "dressings" (the sandwich artist's word). 

Her exact words: "Dressing? Okay. Do you have blue cheese?"

 Blank Stare. 

"Ranch?"

"Ranch?" The sandwich artist picked up the tube of ranch so the girls turned away for more gossip about bad perfumes.  The two sandwich artists stood there exchanging  a look as one of them squirted ranch dressing on a tuna sub. Gross out.

xxx, Luv, DJ Groovy Slug


by: DJGroovySlug at June 21, 2005 14:50 | link | comments (3) random thoughts

Monday, 20 June 2005

New Work Desktop

Cezanne's Moint-Saint Victoire

 

My new desktop, Cezanne's Mont-Saint Victoire, which is most decidedly less raunchy than my last desktop.  A little happier, to bring a smile to my day.

 

xxx, Luv, DJ Groovy Slug

by: DJGroovySlug at June 20, 2005 13:52 | link | comments random thoughts