tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303102572024-03-07T03:29:50.796-05:00in Philadelphia write:'Cause I gotta have faith...
BABY!
I know you're asking me to stay';
Say please, please, please, don't go away,
You say I'm giving you the bluesUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger213125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30310257.post-57080286959322856842010-03-23T18:22:00.002-04:002010-03-23T18:27:15.680-04:00Japan, Hong Kong, BostonHi friends. It has been a very long time since I've posted here. I feel like the blog has wound down fairly permanently, but I decided I would post in case you happened to look here. I could update many friends on Facebook, but I currently have a deep hatred of fb and am trying to give it as little traffic as possible. <br /><br />So what's exciting? Some travel, some moving. Dude, I just checked at is was November that I put anything up here. Well, in December, I was in Barcelona for a conference. So, Spain is awesome -- at the conference dinner each place setting had like 5 distinct glasses (one for Cava, white wine, red wine... perhaps a water glass, etc.). I was hoping for some relief from the Canadian cold there, but 5 degrees feels really cold when you don't have your winter coat and it's windy.<br /><br />But up next is a 3 week trip to Asia at the end of June. I'm going to Japan, and Hong Kong. Thoughts?<br /><br />Finally, I've moving to Boston for about 10 months, going to be a visiting student at MIT for the 2010-11 school year. <br /><br />Updated.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30310257.post-66997495027499634402009-11-29T21:06:00.003-05:002009-11-29T21:06:57.611-05:00Daddy's fancy-boy<object width="400" height="319"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/SfOyKVlr-O4&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/SfOyKVlr-O4&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="400" height="319"></embed></object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30310257.post-64137605694826394442009-09-21T10:28:00.007-04:002009-09-21T10:50:11.272-04:00Cuzco?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy6QgvzRgZTA3w38hC5i0QvRbbS83D_BB_wMUx_kUVBHbVqBF18t2z3TL_xFbHnaBnyFt37F2DL5O4pdoj8wFaxL1WhWVISjpaBGdfSwSe8-BtgpKtruGd9auGBKuVnjM9BT0N-A/s1600-h/IMG_1295.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 290px; height: 217px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy6QgvzRgZTA3w38hC5i0QvRbbS83D_BB_wMUx_kUVBHbVqBF18t2z3TL_xFbHnaBnyFt37F2DL5O4pdoj8wFaxL1WhWVISjpaBGdfSwSe8-BtgpKtruGd9auGBKuVnjM9BT0N-A/s320/IMG_1295.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383931938636363410" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">(Photo taken in Montmarte)</span></span><br /><br />Hey there, sports fans. I know I'm a terrible blogger, terrible friend, terrible human being. I'm not sure I'm quite in the head space to regale you with all my Europe antics right now, but you know how I love music, and love copping out by posting youtube videos. So I've embedded some "videos" of some songs I've been listening to lately. Some are not new in general terms, some are, but they're all upbeat and I would say fun. I make no claims about the actual associated videos posted, as far as I care you can push play and go to another tab to get back to your email or... work. Some of them are just picture videos anyway, and one just an mp3.<br /><br />Anyway, let me know if you have any music you want to share with me, b/c I really love music and its not particularly easy to find new good music out of the wild blue yonder.<br /><br />I owe posts on Europe, and the continuation of my "what the heck is linguistics?" If I could stop napping in the afternoon I'm sure I could find the time.<br /><br />Gorillaz: DARE<br /><br /><object height="300" width="381"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/362t_A8R0Zg&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/362t_A8R0Zg&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="300" width="381"></embed></object><br /><br /><br />Metric: Help, I'm Alive<br /><br /><object height="300" width="381"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/KtA7YIFapnY&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/KtA7YIFapnY&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="300" width="381"></embed></object><br /><br /><br />MIA: 20 Dollar<br /><br /><object height="300" width="381"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/PQ0Yvvw8SUw&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/PQ0Yvvw8SUw&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="300" width="381"></embed></object><br /><br />Peter Bjorn & John: I Want You!<br /><br /><embed src="http://mp3.xalo.vn/res/music/passion/player/player.swf" menu="false" quality="high" name="index" allowscriptaccess="never" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" flashvars="&config=http://mp3.xalo.vn/res/music/passion/config.xml&file=http://mp3.xalo.vn/listsongv2.xalo?sid=147710923018" wmode="transparent" border="0" height="300" hspace="5" vspace="5" width="381"></embed><br /><a href="http://mp3.xalo.vn/nghebaihat/147710923018/I-Want-You-Peter-Bjorn--John.html"><b>Download bài hát I Want You</b></a><br /><br />Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Dull Life<br /><br /><object height="300" width="381"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/JGKefxnyT6E&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/JGKefxnyT6E&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="300" width="381"></embed></object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30310257.post-31396731992740384022009-08-26T05:48:00.003-04:002014-10-02T06:15:30.079-04:00Scandinavia<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbkd16Wey_FPfALOc_jW30Db8L_7olx0uN1v-13esL-Cnehv8NG-V6VRkwM93OrtRtlW6_9HJMxV9UUEv1n27Zgw_FygokB3lHoR3uBU03WPj83Fzbm-jkaLlqp26HGkahmj8v9g/s1600-h/IMG_0879.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbkd16Wey_FPfALOc_jW30Db8L_7olx0uN1v-13esL-Cnehv8NG-V6VRkwM93OrtRtlW6_9HJMxV9UUEv1n27Zgw_FygokB3lHoR3uBU03WPj83Fzbm-jkaLlqp26HGkahmj8v9g/s400/IMG_0879.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374207738493337794" border="0" /></a><br />Hi, its been an unforgivably long time since I've posted something decent. And I'm guessing it will be longer. I have to do the 2nd part of my trilogy in 5 parts about Linguistics and grad school for humanities students. My first part was a big hit, it seems, so no promises on the next ones.<br /><br />I'm in Sweden right now, got to Uppsala this morning, spent about a day and a half in Stockholm, but will go back there later. I was in Paris, Copenhagen and the south of Sweden before that.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30310257.post-56964054494654037822009-06-25T20:38:00.001-04:002009-06-25T20:40:43.449-04:00In the NewsSo it was a big day for celebrity news. Farrah Fawecett lost to cancer, Michael Jackson’s heart gave out. Very sad indeed, and the latter is quite shocking – and despite what your opinion is of the character of the man, he was a pop music genius. But some other news concerns me much more closely and deeply, and that’s <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2009/06/25/bc-pickton-appeal-ruling.html">the update on the Pickton trial appeal. </a><br /><br />A very brief <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Pickton">summary of the matter</a>, Pickton is a pig farmer in BC who murdered women from the streets of Vancouver and hid their dismantled bodies on his farm, and also fed the pieces to his pigs. He’s charged with 26 murders, but there were more that couldn’t be conclusively pinned on him.<br /><br />He lost an appeal today (by a split ruling) that claimed the judge responsible for the trial mis-instructed the jury. But what this also means is that he gets another appeal at the Supreme Court of Canada.<br /><br />When I lived in BC in 2002-03, every week I went with a group of students from my school to the downtown eastside of Vancouver, which is notorious for the drugs and sextrade. We walked around with big things of hot chocolate in oversized blue jackets giving away hot drinks, as well as candy and various other useful items (gave away the mittens I was wearing once, who could say no to that request?). I was part of the group (comprised only of women) who spoke to the women on the street. We gave hot chocolate to those who wanted it, left alone those who had no interest in us, and talked to those who would. Despite what you think about this kind of outreach, it has made a huge difference in my life, mainly because it allowed me to simply interact with these people. They are me, they are exactly the same – what is different is that I was born into a stable, loving middle class family and they were exposed to situations either of poverty, abuse, or other unfortunate circumstances. Talking to these women I learned of their hopes and dreams, which are like yours and mine. One woman wanted to be a marine biologist, others just wanted to care for their children and make sure they were ok. It seems to me that the drugs and prostitution are effects of the crap they’ve been given in their lives, but the hope and the smiles show the wonder of their human hearts and triggered compassion in me. They are the same.<br /><br />Many of the women we interacted with knew other women who had gone missing from East Hastings. They knew those women who were brutally murdered by Pickton. Some were afraid, because it could have easily been them.<br /><br />So I read the story about the appeal on CBC news and it really brought me to frustrated tears. Leaving Pickton himself aside, I’m astonished that there are people who are willing to be his lawyers and defend him so vehemently. I know that everyone deserves defense, and all that stuff, but the scale of evil we’re dealing with makes me forget what the logic behind these laws is. He is an unbelievably evil man, and should be in prison for the rest of his earthly days. Those women deserve whatever tiny shred of justice we can muster up for them. They deserve infinitely more. Remember that they are you and me, they did not deserve to die, they deserved to be loved. Remember that when you think about people on the streets, when you think about prostitutes. Please don’t condemn them in your mind, because we don’t know what they’ve had to deal with in their lives. Remember that they have children, they have friends, and they have dreams. Think of the dream to be a marine biologist.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30310257.post-71213125388137159982009-06-10T12:30:00.005-04:002009-06-10T22:49:13.695-04:00Linguistics: I'm gonna tell you what it is(1) What linguists actually do/care about<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSg6v5AbtxZ9_QS29iqCD5xlgCo90i67qum9XZyHQtabgYt2fAnR_ZGPJQTxJ6KVkHlpN_zLZXEPADG7YN8QdRuoGF2Zs0pPrELilijWCYsKXziBmRUIcuz-Dr_R0gMELUGhirrw/s1600-h/2007-12-17-daydreaming.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 230px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSg6v5AbtxZ9_QS29iqCD5xlgCo90i67qum9XZyHQtabgYt2fAnR_ZGPJQTxJ6KVkHlpN_zLZXEPADG7YN8QdRuoGF2Zs0pPrELilijWCYsKXziBmRUIcuz-Dr_R0gMELUGhirrw/s320/2007-12-17-daydreaming.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345746823289923842" border="0" /></a><br />Random linguistics thing to start out, I usually type in “inphil” to get to my own blog, which I always correlate with Infl, you know, like InflP? Ok, so we’re not there yet.<br /><br />To start, if you haven’t studied linguistics, you do not know what linguistics is. I don’t care if you think you do, because you really don’t. And if you’re one of those people who meets a linguist and then starts talking non-stop about everything linguistic you know, we hate that, b/c what you’re talking about is 99.9% of the time NOT what we do. If you think the Cyrillic alphabet is interesting, and that every modern English word can be traced back to Greek, or that technology will quickly lead to the abysmal end of all civilized communication, that’s nice for you, but that’s not linguistics.<br /><br />There are several subfields, and major divisions can take labels like “theoretical”, “applied” and “experimental” – really we’re not that different from other more traditionally scientific fields, we just don’t get credit for our scientific inquiry (and if psychology can pass as a science, linguistics is 5 times the science). What I do is theoretical, but applied and experimental are much more salient to the non-completely abstract minded.<br /><br />Sociolinguistics interests many a layperson, and involves the interaction between language and<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXfJfRhHei6Jrh5BEzRWh8EOwNW5Nmg_bUc8xtIXy7v3blMRSDyXlWs0TPO_W9wylspiGqBEYlgJ1d4xUaCxzAW4NMRX_Hp8pQCMf8Wj1gSMtKkYM670K5t5BGimd-RO5VsC_jFQ/s1600-h/LikeDuh.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 172px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXfJfRhHei6Jrh5BEzRWh8EOwNW5Nmg_bUc8xtIXy7v3blMRSDyXlWs0TPO_W9wylspiGqBEYlgJ1d4xUaCxzAW4NMRX_Hp8pQCMf8Wj1gSMtKkYM670K5t5BGimd-RO5VsC_jFQ/s200/LikeDuh.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345742865179332866" border="0" /></a> society (its like some sort of genius fit it all into one word or something!). Socio (for short) addresses things like how dialects of a language differentiate from one another, which can involve geographic and political factors (fun fact: Hindi and Urdu are the same language but b/c of political/religious reasons have different names and use two different writing systems Devanāgarī/Arabic). The usage of “like” in English (And he was all like, I’m like totally like going crazy… like), the frequency of thinking vs. thinkin’, and various words, phrases, intonations and sounds all fall under socio, correlating them to socio-economic class, age, gender, etc.<br /><br />Some experimental linguistics includes language acquisition, like watching babies and seeing how they start to talk – what sounds they can say first, what sentences they form and how old they are when the put it together. A classic example is the U-curve (I think that’s what it’s called…. I’m not an acquisitionist). This is where kids acquiring English, for example, will say something like “The rabbit went,” which sounds like a perfect sentence, but will a little later say “The rabbit goed”, and then again later return to “The rabbit went.” What this pattern is meant to indicate is that early on a child has rote memorization of verb forms including irregular ones (e.g. be/are, hold/held, teach/taught), but that in the second step the child has learned that if you add –ed to the end of verb you can make past tense (e.g. walk/walked, jump/jumped). This is actually a step forward in their development b/c the kid understands the base form of the verb and that it’s a separate piece of stuff, –ed, that makes it past tense. Then the final stage is where the child has sifted through the regular and irregular verbs to talk like a normal adult crazy English speaker.<br /><br />Having TA-ed an intro class is coming in handy here.<br /><br />Ok, but I don’t do <span style="font-style: italic;">those </span>kinds of linguistics. Theoretical breaks down into syntax, semantics, <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSj6H7t_uNUYAMKI5yts-xTQ6sO0jP4_hxBGpegotpNDv-zVI-8g3pDyCghx-JDW1w1nKeQQdled7dAajdLdNRCaCg1BauXE_LSFOc9Igq9X3TXdGEpXVBw1Ka37Rb8aNlJ2qH8A/s1600-h/2478757646_80d672670e.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSj6H7t_uNUYAMKI5yts-xTQ6sO0jP4_hxBGpegotpNDv-zVI-8g3pDyCghx-JDW1w1nKeQQdled7dAajdLdNRCaCg1BauXE_LSFOc9Igq9X3TXdGEpXVBw1Ka37Rb8aNlJ2qH8A/s320/2478757646_80d672670e.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345745049434331346" border="0" /></a>morphology, phonetics and phonology. Phonetics is the sounds that we make with language, and phonology is the sound patterns or systems of a language (for accessibility, pretty much all my examples will be from English here). For example, ever notice how you say “an iron” rather than “*a iron”? I’m sure you’re aware that you have to say ‘an’ before a word that begins in a vowel (if you’re the kind of person who says “an historic”, please leave my blog immediately), which is part of phonology – we don’t like to say too many vowel sounds in a row so the ‘n’ at the end of ‘an’ breaks it up. This subfield also includes things like stress patterns. Assuming you do trisyllabic laxing, say “divine”, then say “divinity” (serene/serenity, school/scholarly, profound/profundity). Same word, different sound (pay attention to the vowels – try saying “divine” normally, then add –ity the end, it’ll be weird). This is phonology, and you can predict how the sounds will change based on the number of syllables in the word and the nature of if suffix (e.g. –ity) that is added to a word.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjxS-Oew7bsY-Ql8ArM2fD79J-lu7b5uzcR_wkINHTZzDxRq3atweRzmBAdtOr0lGmbyJ2mu-Rjp7vNE6HLVXOh525ZF7XopKD9aqaHXgM-tYiAElomVzba4Vur4rrvPNN3sx-fw/s1600-h/sem.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 193px; height: 253px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjxS-Oew7bsY-Ql8ArM2fD79J-lu7b5uzcR_wkINHTZzDxRq3atweRzmBAdtOr0lGmbyJ2mu-Rjp7vNE6HLVXOh525ZF7XopKD9aqaHXgM-tYiAElomVzba4Vur4rrvPNN3sx-fw/s200/sem.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345743640446186914" border="0" /></a>Semantics is the meaning of language, slash the meaning of sentences. It tries to address how to get the meaning of a sentence by compositionally putting together all the words to get a truth value – closely related to philosophy. Again for examples, consider “Georgio bought an expensive BMW.” At first glance the sentence seems straightforward enough, but it really has two meanings. Meaning(1): Georgio bought theee most expensive BMW on the market (760il?). Meaning (2): BMW’s are expensive in terms of the average car, but Georgio actually bought the cheapest BMW money can buy. And semanticists care about how we get the two meanings, blah blah blah.<br /><br />Taking a breather at this point, understand that if you thought, for example, that sociolinguistics is the most or only important area of study in terms of language, you’re wrong. You need the theory behind it to even investigate such things. If all you’re interested in for language is how people use it, and what is meant by different usages, you and I are different people. You’re allowed to be interested in that but you are NOT allowed to think that the aspects you’re not interested in are unimportant, or even less important. Unless you want to be a huge jerk times a million forever. I personally don’t really care about how people use language in society, meaning I don’t spend any time researching it. Other people have got it covered as far as I’m concerned.<br /><br />What I work on is syntax and morphology. Morphology is the structure of words, like in antidisestablishmentarianism. This is multimorphemic <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWqioCIY37xKbw2aVhy7wZzEM7GKzFCE2yAeuMblqkEHhetpDToLadjmR-sxkgr8e-i7GcrKoxmkIOnOf7HZxybL2eSi8cak_9-RFWk20o5em-QKsQimRhYQaOrU3__OYQHwJY_w/s1600-h/flieslike.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 288px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWqioCIY37xKbw2aVhy7wZzEM7GKzFCE2yAeuMblqkEHhetpDToLadjmR-sxkgr8e-i7GcrKoxmkIOnOf7HZxybL2eSi8cak_9-RFWk20o5em-QKsQimRhYQaOrU3__OYQHwJY_w/s320/flieslike.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345746065708002610" border="0" /></a>word, meaning it’s made up of small pieces/affixes that all attach to the root, which is establish:<br />anti-dis-establish-ment-arian-ism<br />One question in this subfield is how do we restrict what affixes attach to which root. –ity, for example changes an adjective into a noun: stable/stability. But it can’t attach to just any adjective root: tall/*tallity. (It turns out –ity only likes the Latinate roots).<br /><br />Syntax is looking at sentence structure and word order (to the exclusion of meaning), which gives the following as a grammatical sentence even though it doesn’t have any clear pragmatic meaning:<br />Colourless green ideas sleep furiously. (props to Chomsky)<br />To understand a little syntax, and why I study it, I have an example with the contraction “wanna” for “want to”. One can say things like “I wanna go to the store.” Or “Do you wanna leave now?” It would seem that wherever you have “want to” you can replace it with “wanna”. Not so! One can form the question “Who do you want to go home?” from something like “I want Tim to go home.” But you CAN’T say “*Who do you wanna go home?” That’s b/c where Tim used to be (after ‘want’ and before ‘to’) before we turned him into ‘who’ and put him at the front, there is a gap, and you can’t make a contraction over a gap. Neat, eh? So syntacticians look at the underlying sentence structure, b/c if we just looked at the surface structure there’s no reason ‘wanna’ should be bad anywhere ‘want to’ occurs. Does this make sense?<br /><br />To finish off, a few things that many people think pertain to linguistics but don’t:<br />-We do not necessarily speak 12+ languages (although some do, but don’t ask me)<br />-We do not correct peoples’ grammar dependent on what your grade 10 English text book said you should say. We are interested in how people <span style="font-style: italic;">actually </span>talk, not how some stuffy librarian tells them to speak.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRDMWYfpSxnZcwZBIrp17MVC4mu3Q0UL7DUyJcV3EyLDQMO4Fa2LehIUPykvTHwqL_gM5beDjYnZ31krsDLW48GJbJ3Pq4qEorKvgt2qxTOneeDo0hyphenhyphencyl56OrxPGmugqko94cVA/s1600-h/PBF199-Missing_School.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 106px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRDMWYfpSxnZcwZBIrp17MVC4mu3Q0UL7DUyJcV3EyLDQMO4Fa2LehIUPykvTHwqL_gM5beDjYnZ31krsDLW48GJbJ3Pq4qEorKvgt2qxTOneeDo0hyphenhyphencyl56OrxPGmugqko94cVA/s320/PBF199-Missing_School.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345745428023069554" border="0" /></a>-Pretty much anything to do with spelling doesn’t apply to the average linguist – its not language, its orthography, i.e. a conventional representation of language.<br />-Most of us are not judging how you talk when you’re in conversation with us, if we’re paying attention at all we’ll probably just find you fascinating.<br />-We don’t discuss which languages or dialects are better than others, b/c we believe that all languages and dialects are equally complex and good – they all form natural languages.<br />-NO, I do NOT speak Tolkien’s elven language, or Klingon, or Esperanto – linguists are not about FAKE languages, we study REAL languages, and the fake ones never come close to cutting it in comparison with the real ones.<br />-We’re not translators.<br />-I’m sure there’s more, but I’m drawing a blank.<br /><br />We are concerned with how all languages are similar to each other at some level, and how language is represented in the brain. Language is specific to humans, and b/c of how children learn it so quickly and perfectly suggests that our brains are prewired to acquire any natural language. Me, I’m into patterns (getting back to my pure math roots), and systems and all such manner of thing.<br /><br />Questions?<br /><a href="http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/"><br />http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30310257.post-38053307978751085462009-05-26T20:08:00.000-04:002009-05-26T20:09:22.463-04:00Wow<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/VLM5ECY07nw&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/VLM5ECY07nw&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Also, I joined facebook.</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">*hang head in shame*</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30310257.post-49794538723252754232009-05-20T18:33:00.000-04:002009-05-20T18:34:23.846-04:00Mostly HarmlessWhew! Its been a whirlwind ladies and gentlemen. When was the last time I talked to you? Meh, I’m not going to check right now. Many things have been happening in the world of linguistics. Some that made me feel pretty certain that I wanted to quit; others that at least partially re-motivated me to hang on. I was thinking this weekend (as I’m wont to do) about how pretty much everyone doesn’t really know what I do, to the exception of my colleagues/peers who do the exact same stuff. And this is not your fault, no, it is my fault for neglecting to take the time to attempt an explanation of the abstract and nuanced world that I submerge myself in daily. So, in full on geek-copycat blogger style, I will present to you a trilogy in five parts:<br /><br />(1) What linguists actually do/care about (i.e. don’t treat us like English majors, we promote splitting infinitives and ending a sentence with a preposition)<br /><br />(2) How our grad program works/is different (and why it’s useless to compare it to grad programs within your general scope of knowledge).<br /><br />(3) The deal with linguistic conferences (they’re basically parties that we get universities to send us to at various coordinates on the surface of the globe)<br /><br />(4) Intra-linguist relations (because you know how warm and fuzzy we can all be)<br /><br />(5) How linguistics relates to/affects you (or more clearly, that it doesn’t)<br /><br />Hopefully the trilogy will set you up for an appreciation, or at least a clarification, for we linguists, and get you to stop asking how many languages we speak. <br /><br />But back to breaking news. I went Harvard & MIT for a conference this weekend. Two very different schools, for being 25 minutes walking distance from each other. Apparently MIT only has 10,000 students, and 7,000 of those are grad students, which I think means it’s a bigger achievement to be an undergrad there. Also, Cambridge/Boston has a sickening number of Starbucks (but I was reminded several times that the west coast/Washington-Oregon has waaay more), which sucks b/c Starbucks is really not my favourite (their coffee I got in the airport on Thursday was bitter and required an unnaturally high ratio of cream and sugar) and they seem to have eked out the smaller franchises and independents there. But Harvard is super fancy, as expected, but the campus has much less of a collegial feel than I expected. It was, however, painfully clear that pretty much everyone walking around Harvard Square was soaked in super saturated money water. I laughed out loud with a student who was helping at the conference expressed concern about the “cutbacks” that Harvard had to make because of the economic crisis. So don’t care! The Harvard kids will be fine – maybe they won’t have central air in their on-campus lockers or free foot massages or that new super high tech multi-media classroom, but I waste no tears for them.<br /><br />And MIT is less about the class and more about “what’s the craziest building we can create barely within the confines of physical laws?” I have pictures, I’ll have to upload them to my computer and share them (but if you’re impatient, google-image search the Stata Center). <br /><br />Today I had a defense for a major paper (first out of two) that I had to write for my program, and I passed! Yay! Now on to all the other work that needs to be done. So much fun. <br /><br />But keep an eye out for my super exciting series coming up. I’ll try to be faithful in writing it in good time.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30310257.post-46890305438181101042009-05-05T16:07:00.002-04:002009-05-05T16:09:04.225-04:00you make me touch your hands for stupid reasons<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/q2Hv-iVPvB0&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/q2Hv-iVPvB0&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Thanks, Lisa. Screw the hipsters. Emo is what I says it is.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30310257.post-89743673767303334822009-04-22T12:42:00.004-04:002009-04-22T13:16:48.319-04:00Emo playlistRecently emo has been coming back to me. I may have encountered much of the genre in high school, but it has that undeniable junior high quality to it. Its the kind of music that gives you free license to feel sorry for yourself for whatever real or ridiculous problems you're having, and it makes me feel better to feed that completely self-involved part of myself. If you're not in the mood for it, it can come off at totally pretentious and juvenille, but like I said, jr. high. There's even new stuff these days that maintians the late 90's/early 2000's emo tinge (yes yes, I know it started in the 80's, but then we just called it Punk), and it takes me back. I feel like a lot of music is reminding me of my younger years, before I could drive, when I was even worse at dealing with my hair, when I was too shy to talk to a clerk to find something in a store.<br /><br />I remember being in my friend's basement at her 15th birthday party and someone had a mix tape that had 'What's my Age Again?' that we kept rewinding and replaying... that's such an awesome song. One line is "nobody likes you when you're 23", and last year I took special note to that sentiment being in the midst of 23-ness. But I'm not sure I acted in the same manner as the blink boys at that age.<br /><br />Anyway, a small sampling... I'm sure many potential readers will wince and say "I know craploads more about emo and punk than this lame chick", and honestly I'm completely ok with that. I don't claim to be an expert or connoisseur. Its the sound and the corresponding response of the music that I'm referring to. Disagree with comments at will. <style>ont-face {font-family:SimSun; panose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1; mso-font-alt:宋体; mso-font-charset:134; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 135135232 16 0 262145 0;} @font-face {font-family:"\@SimSun"; panose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1; mso-font-charset:134; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 135135232 16 0 262145 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:justify; text-justify:inter-ideograph; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} -</style><span style=";font-family:";font-size:12;" ></span><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/iYEM68HIm0Y&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/iYEM68HIm0Y&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><div><object width="480" height="348"><param name="movie" value="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/x1lxqd_screaming-infidelities-dashboard-c_fun&related=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/x1lxqd_screaming-infidelities-dashboard-c_fun&related=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="348" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always"></embed></object><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1lxqd_screaming-infidelities-dashboard-c_fun">Screaming Infidelities - Dashboard C</a></b><br /><i>Uploaded by <a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/s_tancredi">s_tancredi</a></i></div><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/IEEpbRWhrVs&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/IEEpbRWhrVs&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Bllo6dHnZ70&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Bllo6dHnZ70&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object><br /><br />But what all this reminiscing really tells me is that I'm getting ooold. Some of the music I've been remembering is from 10 years ago or more. I make random 90's pop culture references to some of the students I TA, and I can't tell if they're laughing b/c they get it or b/c they feel sorry for me and the reference goes over their heads. Most people around me tell me that 24 is not very old, but when I was 17 I would have been like, dude! That is like so old! Its all relative.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMvMzQ4Vu-8">Anyway...</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30310257.post-58681266978058983092009-04-13T01:39:00.000-04:002009-04-13T01:40:06.951-04:00204 extravaganza!I didn't do anything particularly fun for the 200th post, and so I'm going to do a little bit o' that now for the big 204! What a momentous number. I wonder if there's anyone out there who has read them all... I can only think of <a href="http://dinahsaysnothing.blogspot.com/">one</a> possible candidate other than myself, but perhaps I flatter myself.<br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-family:courier new;" >If you're happy and you know it say a swear:</span><br />The theme will be... media! Including media I like, and random internet media (which are not actually non-intersecting subsets of media, but whatever). I know that I'm not a media guru compared to many, but I do have a pretty extensive music collection. If my iPod is any indication I currently have 3283 tracks, and I haven't added about 12 albums of music I got from a friend yet. Beginning with planet Beth's iPod (yes, that's what pops up in the iTunes sidebar... I already used up "Magnum" on my cell phone...) here are the top played songs, with associated play counts:<br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-family:courier new;" >boobs!</span><br />1. Casimir Pulaski Day - Sufjan Stevens (PC 145)<br />2. The District Sleeps Alone Tonight - The Postal Service (PC 128)<br />3. The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades - Sufjan Stevens (PC 112)<br />4. Optimistic - Radiohead (PC 109)<br />5. The Avalanche - Sufjan Stevens (PC 108)<br />6. ...Off By Heart - City and Colour (PC 105)<br />7. Mr Brightside - The Killers (PC 103)<br />8. Like Knives - City and Colour (PC 102)<br />9. Concerning the UFO Sighting - Sufjan Stevens (PC 97)<br />10. A Message - Coldplay (PC 96)<br />11. Kid A - Radiohead (PC 92)<br />12. Everything I Am - Kanye West (PC 90)<br />13. Warning Sign - Coldplay (PC 88)<br />14. Brand New Colony - The Postal Service (PC 87)<br />15. Got to Sleep (Little Man Being Erased) - Radiohead (PC 87)<br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-family:courier new;" >hiney!</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQrtG5K-vFK_GkAZiDE1hvHLqbk9Fq7cl9DlxHDij0o6WMoWulvKr8K_ZQ49w5iGR2fI2xjZPOSy_TVnnu-1y1a7a7NtPNkwpnz44VIDvlW2At-CZi_U2HLzzyVCMT97xubeyTCQ/s1600-h/itunes.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 244px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQrtG5K-vFK_GkAZiDE1hvHLqbk9Fq7cl9DlxHDij0o6WMoWulvKr8K_ZQ49w5iGR2fI2xjZPOSy_TVnnu-1y1a7a7NtPNkwpnz44VIDvlW2At-CZi_U2HLzzyVCMT97xubeyTCQ/s400/itunes.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5324040622657579010" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-family:courier new;" >Mittens!</span><br />Ok, so clearly I'm a creature of habit. But let me explain. First off, I do love The Postal Service 'Give Up', but another reason for the multiple high play count is that this was the first album I put onto my iPod. And for a while I only had like 5 albums, and that was the one most befitting of my mood during such a time period. Clearly the overwhelming winner is Sufjan Stevens, and only from two different (yet closely related) albums. I make no apologies for Casimir Pulaski Day, and if you knew it you'd know. But again I think this has something do with the fact that 'The Avalance' and 'Illinois' are also some of the oldest albums on my iPod (relative to the iPod, of course). I assure you my whole music collection is much more diverse than these top 15. Which I will now prove with 5 songs chosen faithfully from shuffle:<br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-family:arial;" >"Cheese eating surrender monkey's" is a derogatory term for the French.</span><br />1. Dum Diddly - Black Eyed Peas<br />2. Last Flowers to the Hospital - Radiohead<br />3. Smile - Weezer<br />4. Objects of my Affection - Peter Bjorn and John<br />5. Minus - Beck<br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-family:arial;" >And it took me a second to get the fishsticks/gay fish joke... it helps if you say it outloud</span><br />I do love my alt rock... or whatever it is that I've been calling "alt rock". I remember when 'Jagged Little Pill' and alternative was all the rage. But I was in grade school, so I just pretended to know what the cool kids who were in touch with current music were talking about. Music I actually knew when I was a kid was stuff like the Beach Boys and Patsy Cline that my parent's had. Also there were some Boney M and Puff the Magic Dragon records in there somewhere. But collecting (good) music is awesome. But never ask me what a song is "about", b/c its almost guaranteed that I have no freaking idea. At best I'll have some vague notion: "Love? No wait, a breakup... political commentary?"This is because the value I place on music is the actual <span style="font-style: italic;">sound</span> of the music rather than the lyric portion of this medium. Some people look down on others for projecting some deep interpretation onto the lyrical value of a song, only to later find out that the artist who created those lyrics had something rather shallow in mind. But when I projects, its as a true observer reappropriating the artform to my own purposes. Its how the sound makes me feel, and how I relate to the sound rather than the direct message a lyric might be trying to send. At least a lot of the time, not all of it.<br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-family:arial;" >You know who I've always loved? Phil Collins. </span><br />Recently I'm on a total 80's kick. And by total I mean Joy Division and The Smiths, both of which turn out to be awesome. A friend of mine, who's 80's experience is much more salient than mine said "The 80's are simply the best". Which makes me chuckle. I don't know anyone else who would utter that statement, given the general perception of that decade of music. I'm a little more up on the 90's music (does anyone remember how good Third Eye Blind was? b/c its really good) and I can actually tie those singles to my life experience. Like hearing "Hey Leonardo (she likes me for me)" and "She's so High" at Canada's Wonderland on a sweaty hot teenaged day.<br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-family:arial;" >I'm effectively procrastinating. Huge due date in 3 days. Going to die.</span><br />A small collection of things I've come across, such as webcomics and yoube-tube videos. The day I started writing this post seemed to be a good day for some of comics I frequent, at least at the time:<br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-family:arial;" >I secretly feel like an idiot when I don't get the math jokes, like I don't remember anything from my math degree anymore.</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgAv1KH39x1DbtppJAsVXvHvMeDOhEbJEFDNCqR965FDrbCaL9FIg4UJbCMvZZQqkq8l7NIDFsTydCDPuN_GxYjFyM9UCsvRk3D_fgvNMpqNWaBqAiNFdF3p3yJ_KbfWUKcjd4HQ/s1600-h/parking.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 81px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgAv1KH39x1DbtppJAsVXvHvMeDOhEbJEFDNCqR965FDrbCaL9FIg4UJbCMvZZQqkq8l7NIDFsTydCDPuN_GxYjFyM9UCsvRk3D_fgvNMpqNWaBqAiNFdF3p3yJ_KbfWUKcjd4HQ/s400/parking.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5324034163797576178" border="0" /></a><a style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" href="http://www.xkcd.com/562/">For the previously unconnected</a> <span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Rollover: Police reported three dozen cheerful bystanders, yet no one claims to have seen who did it.</span><br />On the PhD front, this is an issue almost every student I talk to has. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4j15Sj0S_exzuvrLfa8oj1zRWCo0S66oFqzCXim0M_dGc7nhaDd5zj1aeE0Je4sLodLBm2tSPsFLMB_0NFdtvmZzEplgMR-uRXkDQqjmY0igtpn-ah-BFeTrmN9FXiaS_9-c5mw/s1600-h/phd032709s.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 173px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4j15Sj0S_exzuvrLfa8oj1zRWCo0S66oFqzCXim0M_dGc7nhaDd5zj1aeE0Je4sLodLBm2tSPsFLMB_0NFdtvmZzEplgMR-uRXkDQqjmY0igtpn-ah-BFeTrmN9FXiaS_9-c5mw/s400/phd032709s.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5324035152563006066" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">My strategy used to be to avoid the use of a name or title altogether, until I got embarassingly called out by my supervisor who said his name is not 'Hi,' or 'Hello,'...</span><br />Right, so you know how I'm irrationally obsessed with Stephen Colbert (possibly on par with my irrational fear of a certain limbless animal), so I found this mega old clip from his Chicago days. I think Paul Dinello is trying to play some kind of teenager, but the squeak in his voice makes me believe.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/pXwny6VfFpg&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/pXwny6VfFpg&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-family:arial;" >Kinda hott, no? </span><br />Makes me laugh. C'mon, don't be so uptight.<br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-family:arial;" >Watch Strangers With Candy if you want to see Colbert and Dinello get their lovin' ooon. </span><br />Another kind of media (*brilliant and seamless segue*) is like newspapers! We get the Montreal Gazette for free at the gym (oddly, no one ever has been able to find it free anywhere else on campus... its only for those who, um, pay the gym membership? maybe there was a newspaper subscription somewhere in the fine print of the not-contract we didn't have to not sign). I used to <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwedKzc1qyaEIvXNE8I3uqaPHUA4kE1Qp9YHH0TA8Ny-gsTbPKTKjDJsXgA8zFP3l2g9UytT3d885b3D6l7IpK3JR_6iIFpmZoKq_va3vVlQHIqB1w6pqHdG4LWzxZwYDVMm2b4A/s1600-h/2009-04-12.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 198px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwedKzc1qyaEIvXNE8I3uqaPHUA4kE1Qp9YHH0TA8Ny-gsTbPKTKjDJsXgA8zFP3l2g9UytT3d885b3D6l7IpK3JR_6iIFpmZoKq_va3vVlQHIqB1w6pqHdG4LWzxZwYDVMm2b4A/s200/2009-04-12.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5324038946817400386" border="0" /></a>get the Toronto Star for free at U of T, which is where I started doing SuDoKu. It took me a couple times to actually figure out how it works, but don't worry, I've caught up to basic human functioning by now. And U of T's weekly <span style="font-style: italic;">the newspaper</span> had normal SuDoKu as well as a squiggly/kid one and a monster one (like 12x12 or 16x16, which takes way long, but the time is directly proportional to the feeling of satisfaction obtained).<br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-family:arial;" >I posted a completed hard monster sudoku on the ling lounge fridge.</span><br />Anyway, I've been planning for a long time now to write an angry letter to the Gazette editor because the SuDoKus are way to easy. Even the ones that are 'very hard' would only be so if the challenge was to do it in under 4 minutes, but I think I could still swing that. I don't even have to write little number in the corner for theirs. It makes me very angry. You can ask my office mates, they've heard the repeated rants. <a style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" href="http://www.dailysudoku.com/sudoku/index.shtml">dailysudoku</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQOPgh-beUfAYirSL0H3K_ZpO6qpak96xNlsmYtX3-afpjuGe49-7ph4bmVgtGSL1zuHMFOi2WqvtGi3H1c6LsXDQpcoQFfQb31oA-XG_dDkBOl9q5kSiVs-WsOkejkeSPSYA8hA/s1600-h/2009-04-12.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 343px; height: 347px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQOPgh-beUfAYirSL0H3K_ZpO6qpak96xNlsmYtX3-afpjuGe49-7ph4bmVgtGSL1zuHMFOi2WqvtGi3H1c6LsXDQpcoQFfQb31oA-XG_dDkBOl9q5kSiVs-WsOkejkeSPSYA8hA/s400/2009-04-12.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5324038409235027442" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-family:arial;" >Hugh Jackman is a beautiful man.</span><br />And my brother exposed me to The Show, which I wish I knew of at the time, but I'm a loser and am not up on the current type things. Here's one I like. <a style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" href="http://www.zefrank.com/theshow/">theshowwithzefrank</a><br /><br /><embed wmode="transparent" src="http://blip.tv/scripts/flash/blipplayer.swf?autoStart=false&file=http://blip.tv/file/get/Zefrank-082306693.flv%3Fsource%3D3" quality="high" name="movie" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" width="350" height="268"></embed><br /><br />I think I'm still missing "books". Honestly I haven't read any books recently, because linguistics articles are all the reading I get to do during the school year, but summer I usually catch up. Hmmm, what book should I tell you to read today? If you've never read Dickens, here's your chance, and if you want someone to mess with your head do up some Crime and Punishment, and if you want to feel completely desolate and hopeless read A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry, and if you want a crazy book with some humour but an underlying message that is serious and penetrating read Slaughterhouse V, and if you want to feel like shooting yourself read the 200 page account of the battle of Waterloo buried in Les Miserables, and if you want to the same plot cycling around itself, each time only undergoing minor detail alternations, read Pillars of the Earth, and if you want to suffer the terrible writing of an evil "philosopher" who can justify murder by industrial ideology read Atlas Shrugged.<br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-family:arial;" >I don't like "The curious incident of the dog in the nighttime"... I don't understand the kid's problem with synonyms...</span><br />But if you just want to read a really good book read Lord of the Rings. That's right, I said it.<br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-family:arial;" >You know Samwise is the real hero. And that Pippin's accent is way sexy.</span><br />Happy 204. <span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-family:arial;" >If you take out the "0" that's how old I be. </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30310257.post-58475817648672781952009-03-17T18:48:00.004-04:002009-03-17T18:51:16.848-04:00"Talk about your gigantic time-wasters"<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/7JkoVndaCgI&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/7JkoVndaCgI&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Anyone wanna play frisbee? Lets run around in the park and not do work. Yay!<br /><br />Also, I could really go for a mango based smoothie. And another 6 week backpacking trip. I'm totally in touch with reality.<br /><br />I wore my green hoodie today. SC is irish so this counts as fake holiday particip-action.<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Hal Johnson and Joanne Macleod. Oh wait, that's Bodybreak.<br /><br /><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30310257.post-68331449856700351962009-03-03T22:33:00.000-05:002009-03-03T22:35:01.904-05:00Today I am not a LinguistIt goes up and it goes down. I find that at least once a semester (since probably 2nd year) I have to console myself with the most comforting thought of dropping out. Now those of you who are caring and kindhearted people, fret not! Such thoughts never materialize, and in fact I stay in school until the end of all time. Its weird b/c yesterday and Sunday I actually thought “I’m in a really good mood.” Granted I was hella tired, but I spent Sunday walking around in the sunshine on the dry streets of Toronto. I honestly had to remind myself that it was not some kind of summer/spring hybrid day, although I felt like it was (between snow drifts piled into alleys) and that made me happy. Part of what brought on this contentment was reading week, where I got one of my rare releases from my life of academia to roam where the normal people roam, and to eat the normal people food. And to watch TV on a TV. The not doing work every day thing is sticking to me right now, so being back in the haze and craziness is not sitting well. Also I’ve had a few rejections come my way recently, which is part of the fully disclosed raw deal I agreed to, but still sucks. So today I feel more sad, but you know “sad is happy for deep people.” Aligning with this mood I’ve decided to watch Gattaca, which I love so much. It’s brilliant, and the last scene is just beautiful. LOVE. I’m just sorry Ethan Hawke is a jerk in real life. But pretend its 1997 and all we really care about is Gattaca and the geeky roommate from Dead Poets Society. We’ll let him off this time.<br /><br />I also came across Warning Sign by Coldplay on my iPod. It’s probably still my favourite song of theirs, and it makes me sad too. And when you’re in that kind of still, quiet, sad-like state, you want things that will feed the swirl of the paradoxical stillness to let it sink deeper so that you are in fact even happier in eddying sad. Ya know? Radiohead is good for that too. If it weren’t cold outside I might have gone for a slow walk under the winter trees by the damped sounds from the nearby ice rink. But it is cold, and I am tired. I could have fallen asleep in class today, which could have something to do with the lights being off for the power point, but also because I haven’t been giving the effort to care about classes recently. But don’t tell my prof, he’s a good guy who’s passionate about what he does.<br /><br />Now why would I tell you all of this… to satiate myself, to feed my own self-evaluation as someone who is insightful and entertaining. Usually my amusement factor comes from me being a dork and watching to see if you laugh while attempting to maintain a straight face. It’s funny when you make fun of yourself, but not in a depressing “I clearly have low self-esteem way”, more of a “I don’t give a crap what you think of me” delivery.<br /><br />I never understood those people who, in their mid 20’s, say moron things like “this is the way I will be, I’m not going to change now.” That’s total bull and you all know it. I’m a different person every year, perhaps even every month. In some ways I’m more clam, able to speak to store clerks in a non-frighteningly awkward manner, but in other ways I’m more of a freak out (although I’ve come to terms with the bus) and get hyper before I TA and have to resist the urge to do cartwheels down the aisle. But I change everyday, you change everyday. That means we never have an excuse saying we can’t change, because we do. Don’t be a wuss.<br /><br />If you haven’t seen Gattaca, you should. And if you think you’re too cool to admit to liking Coldplay, you’re not, you’re too lame. And if you take yourself too seriously, trust me, no one else does. Go find and eat some Easter candy, get a roll-up the rim coffee from Timmy Ho Ho’s and try to remember the last time you gave Ethan Hawke a thought. I bet it involved “Reality Bites”.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30310257.post-61207440336785724572009-01-31T13:55:00.003-05:002009-01-31T14:02:51.460-05:00Superman: Senior Year!Hey folks. It’s been a long long time. Many reasons for that, but I’m sure you won’t be convinced by any of them.<br /><br />The biggest news is that I now have a niece where I had no niece before. Her name is Anna, and all test results say that she’s perfect in every way.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju_fA6eeI2_zZt0KrS_LbQ04aSiq6GnX_ue2g1IW0fDPuCwKpfe_ABiqP2MZLRhbNvjy3nhkFl4V9SWMmU_z5W3qtVGjyz1LzKYUEsFJfTEjQgw2zWByDLYGL757kiT-wVjgsiew/s1600-h/IMG_0629.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju_fA6eeI2_zZt0KrS_LbQ04aSiq6GnX_ue2g1IW0fDPuCwKpfe_ABiqP2MZLRhbNvjy3nhkFl4V9SWMmU_z5W3qtVGjyz1LzKYUEsFJfTEjQgw2zWByDLYGL757kiT-wVjgsiew/s400/IMG_0629.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5297535054372886802" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Ain’t they sweet? Finnan is clearly the protective and supportive big brother so far. I can’t wait till the sibling torture begins. So that is very good news.<br /><br />Yes, as for the title, I used to watch Smallville (which may appear in old posts, I don’t remember). Tom Welling is really hot, and a little bit o’ sci fi/superhero is good for you. Makes you believe and in magic. (“Hey Oprah, wanna see a maaagic trick?”) Anyway, I bring this up because Smallville is still going. They’re in season 8, so with my useful science degree I did a little math. Season one involved freshman superboy (as many hopeful teen shows do – wanna get the most high school out of their main character). 8 years later I deduce that Clark should be rearing up for college graduation from good old Kansas A&M, or some other believable fake school name. I don’t watch the show anymore, as I age my enjoyment in/tolerance for cheese-corn decreases. But I still love the theme-song:<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/wDIJW6keFu4&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/wDIJW6keFu4&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Maybe a recap on Christmas. I was in the Sound for about 3 weeks, but the first week was all work. I did field work at the Cape, which is always awesome to do, it’s so neat to talk to the native elders at the reserve, they have such great stories and the more I talk to them, the more I understand. They’re really nice people, constantly working for the good of their community. And then I had a paper due so that was some more work after that. But then it was Christmas.<br /><br />My mom gave me a rice cooker, which is absolutely and totally magic (maybe magic is the theme of my post!). I will tell you why it’s magic. For one you just dump rice and water in it and it makes you rice (who knew!). For another, it knows when the rice is done! Ok, so this is amazing because you can have different amounts, different kinds of rice, and it just knows! The brown rice takes longer than the white rice, but the all knowing power of the rice cooker takes care of that. I seriously do not know how it works. There are no sensors inside where the rice is, and it can’t be a change in weight measurement. But I may have figured it out. There’s a little green man that no one but the rice cooker can see (like in the Flinstones) that flies into the pot and checks the rice and tells the cooker to shut off when its done. I told you, magic.<br /><br />Christmas weather kinda sucked. We had a bunch of snow storms in a row, and then it rained and everything melted. The park was completely flooded and there was a bridge from the path into a lake of water.<br /><br />Since I’ve been back at school it has been crazy busy, and I’m not exaggerating. I’m taking a couple classes, TAing one, applying to 6 conferences, doing a proceedings paper, and I’m supposed to be working on my big research paper due in April. I think things will calm down slightly now, but that will only be for a short time.<br /><br />Another fun fact is that I got a really bad cold right before Christmas, and then I was sick a gain a week ago. But that gave me a good excuse to buy Ben & Jerry’s, ya’know, to soothe the throat and all. Although I think they should have a Cookie-dough/screw-the-chocolate-chip ice cream flavour. Mmmmmm, cookie dough.<br /><br />Right on. Well, that’s it for today.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30310257.post-66531179630019487342008-11-25T12:19:00.003-05:002008-11-25T12:35:11.840-05:00200th Post!Maybe I'll do something special for 204.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyHZXr4QLwvkmQjNGg63yRL-uPi8R0S-6Rvnz_DuCpGv6X8Sw6kF8oxNlIMkhV1I7C2HKA0GnfMOa0M40DZmRjny-eBGAPPkCsIkDT0SKXzyT4ZFZG2aYXh4ot112SL32nciNqhA/s1600-h/slides.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 340px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyHZXr4QLwvkmQjNGg63yRL-uPi8R0S-6Rvnz_DuCpGv6X8Sw6kF8oxNlIMkhV1I7C2HKA0GnfMOa0M40DZmRjny-eBGAPPkCsIkDT0SKXzyT4ZFZG2aYXh4ot112SL32nciNqhA/s400/slides.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272646136038499618" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Finally, its all coming <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rickrolling">together</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30310257.post-72782925149819890152008-11-21T14:54:00.006-05:002008-11-21T15:16:05.864-05:00Booty Quake- Thrust - Booty Quake - Thrust<br /><br />Marie Curie sure is a good dancer!<br /><br /><div><object width="320" height="245"><param name="movie" value="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/k5QjgeEawvWvqRf77u&related=0&canvas=small"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/k5QjgeEawvWvqRf77u&related=0&canvas=small" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="320" height="245" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always"></embed></object><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x257jo_george-michael-faith_music">George Michael - Faith</a></b><br /><i>Uploaded by <a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/zocomoro">zocomoro</a></i></div><br /><br />Did you notice the volume of butt closeups? Man, the 80's sure was a corny time.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://animalshaveproblemstoo.com/pics/005.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 442px; height: 334px;" src="http://animalshaveproblemstoo.com/pics/005.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30310257.post-50418900123244103262008-11-16T13:01:00.014-05:002008-11-16T13:45:53.081-05:00The Gunpowder Treason and Plot<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWhx5PiFlphXSsttkkECcSYhWJnnHHQhMeEH0is46d4LARbXepjJbvFP2XrEMrfAW35UXwdYQhvGVFF7FiggVxxX2XYQHnr1Z8jeoU7_xDepaAz1Ow6wz8e9FuCWYkl7cUBAKY_g/s1600-h/V.bmp"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5269325604373729106" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWhx5PiFlphXSsttkkECcSYhWJnnHHQhMeEH0is46d4LARbXepjJbvFP2XrEMrfAW35UXwdYQhvGVFF7FiggVxxX2XYQHnr1Z8jeoU7_xDepaAz1Ow6wz8e9FuCWYkl7cUBAKY_g/s200/V.bmp" border="0" /></a>This is a kind of shout out to <a href="http://jonloch.blogspot.com/">my brother</a>, but he knew this was coming anyway. Pretend, for like 7 seconds (more or less dependent on how fast you read) that it is still November 5th. And I give you this:<br /><br /><div><div><div><div><div align="center"><em></em></div><div align="center"><em>Remember, remember the Fifth of November,<br />The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,<br />I can think of no reason<br />Why the Gunpowder Treason<br />Should ever be forgot.<br />Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t'was his intent<br />To blow up the King and Parli'ment.<br />Three-score barrels of powder below<br />To prove old England's overthrow;<br />By God's providence he was catch'd<br />With a dark lantern and burning match.<br />Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring.<br />Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!</em></div><div><br /></div><div></div><div>Ok, so maybe a little longer than 7 seconds on average. To be honest, the only reason I know anything about Guy Fawkes is because of <a href="http://vforvendetta.warnerbros.com/">V for Vendetta</a> which, because of its close kinship to <a href="http://whatisthematrix.warnerbros.com/">the Matrix</a>, I totally love. There's a certain kind of movie/story that I get really excited about, <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo7-tIl-9TcOAqJLhXqgUee_3bZWRI1ka2cIiKpe3LpLfY2r_0eFOaCeWWymJkhsvjvsDhkYTNC4RiwSlEq9C0OUSy_YtYTbYOI-iW9OtfKV_JQuf6KQUBbjyVoOVedksrqxYSjg/s1600-h/trinity.bmp"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5269325832483326754" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 159px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo7-tIl-9TcOAqJLhXqgUee_3bZWRI1ka2cIiKpe3LpLfY2r_0eFOaCeWWymJkhsvjvsDhkYTNC4RiwSlEq9C0OUSy_YtYTbYOI-iW9OtfKV_JQuf6KQUBbjyVoOVedksrqxYSjg/s320/trinity.bmp" border="0" /></a>and I would label that type epic (although I don't know if the literature people, who actually know what they're talking about, would argue with me). But not just epic, epic with hard core action and crazy surreal (surreal? I'll run with it) concepts woven deep into the plot. Anyway, if you haven't seen V for Vendetta or the Matrix, then we can't be friends. Call me when you've caught up on your awesome movies from several years ago. Please note that when I say "The Matrix" I'm refering to the "The Matrix" and not necessarily "The Matrix trilogy". The first one is by far the best, and people have varying opinion on Reloaded and Revolutions, but I don't want to get into that today. </div><div><br /></div><div>Ok, now for a few more seconds, we'll head back to Tuesday, which was Remeberance Day (au champs d'honneur les coquliqots sont parseme de lot en lot -- really bad spelling, I'm sure). I like to wear a poppy to represent for rememberance, but this year I could not find one anywhere. I <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguqgsvEx5-7hVnPSo0Iwil-mphDXnAnxrg2YVsM5Akyddqxwc-LwMfXmyDKvRfdGkmFga3fAQaiZupCKc9o1xIlNI5IrfyxitfWCvhqXW_ZCDCMyJIvN4bolKukLE5hqoyej0xqA/s1600-h/poppies.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5269326004119408562" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 220px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguqgsvEx5-7hVnPSo0Iwil-mphDXnAnxrg2YVsM5Akyddqxwc-LwMfXmyDKvRfdGkmFga3fAQaiZupCKc9o1xIlNI5IrfyxitfWCvhqXW_ZCDCMyJIvN4bolKukLE5hqoyej0xqA/s320/poppies.jpg" border="0" /></a>didn't see any at the cash counter at any stores, I didn't run into any veterans with the boxes of them on the street, I had no access to the little plastic/velveteen flowers. I usually lose them, too, in years past when I have gotten my hands on the poppies, always before Rememberance Day so I look like a terrible ignoramous who has no respect for the sacrifices of previous generations. But its not true! I try, oh how I try. So this year, on November 10th, I drew myself a cute little paper poppy and pinned it to my coat. From far away (like 27 metres or so) you totally can't tell that its just one that I made. I made the middle part green, b/c they all used to have little green centre parts, but then several years ago they changed it to black for some reason. Is it more botanically acurate? I'm not up on my poppies, at least not my non-opium ones. That was a joke. It is appropriate to chuckle/groan at this point. </div><div><br /></div><div></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC2yfZ-rtQsThQek7O-RhlL6GSwvDqRMIwcmIgMDqvBpyX86uSoF2ciyiF7STKEn5dvtYRcwh0dUkv38k6KztXc6Dh3PxIXXune82TH53DE_HvOk31roTuaAlPIQxTCCi2VwfoxA/s1600-h/robaxacet_guy.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5269326267175649602" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 98px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 171px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC2yfZ-rtQsThQek7O-RhlL6GSwvDqRMIwcmIgMDqvBpyX86uSoF2ciyiF7STKEn5dvtYRcwh0dUkv38k6KztXc6Dh3PxIXXune82TH53DE_HvOk31roTuaAlPIQxTCCi2VwfoxA/s200/robaxacet_guy.jpg" border="0" /></a>So today my back really hurts, I'm not entirely sure what I did, but its difficult to get up and down, pick up things off the floor, not wince and slight, normal movements, etc. My dad told me to get some Robaxacet to de-knotify the muscles, so if I can actually make it to the Pharmaprix or the Jean Coutu then I'll try that out. You know the marionettes for Robaxacet? Apparently <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1gOTAgQJQ4">this </a>is the original commercial, before they sold out and started doing it CG style. </div><div><br /> </div><div></div></div><div><div></div><div>Wow, school keeps me really busy. Well "school", it more like school/my full-time job. When I cross the border they're like "are you coming here for personal or business reasons?" And I'm like "Business." They're all like "What do you do?" And I say "I'm a PhD student in Linguistics, I'm going to present a paper at a conference." So then they're like "So its really for study, not business." And them I'm all "But my school <em>is</em> my business (and besides, the only options provided were 'personal' and 'business', so I didn't have much choice)." </div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5269326512957830866" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 194px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 206px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5TZ-iX5j7hrIdR6N7Yq-kE7sLvUo3iJrtFqgMB1COk1zcq8vZx_BXEhzbpmt4Qln5kCGaJSEgDWauwfaN2bLvFtxAVKWHL7zL-GusfdT0fKZn6dfeED7-ywxKJ9E-XU8hs065og/s320/customs.jpg" border="0" /> <div>Did I tell you about how I keep on getting chosen for random survey/searches by the American customs? Back when I was in Ottawa and flying to Santa Barbara for a conference, chich at the metal detector asked "Can I do a random search on you?" And its not like you can really say no, because then its suspicious and you end up getting tazered. So I give an enthusiastic "Sure!" Unfortunately, the customs guy is like 3.7 m from security in the American part of the Ottawa airport, so when I get over to him after getting a hand metal detector grazed over my entire body and having to unpack and repack all my luggage he says "They sure were taking an interest in you over there" implying that I was indeed suspicious and dangers to "Homeland security" (I hate that term, its so brainwash-y). I said "Dude-man, I was just a random search." And then it happened again when I went to Minnesota a few weeks ago. Guy comes over and pegs me for a "survey". I'm not sure what the Americans are looking for, but aparently blonde Canadian grad students are a big concern. Me and my carry on of books on linguistics are very suspicious. Survey-man tries to make small talk with me, which I find very awkward b/c I always feel like I have to be so serious and careful when going through customs. And again he asks me what I do, so I have to say linguistics, and people always think they know what linguistics is and then start explaining it to me. As if I didn't now. So I laugh and smile and try shrug off my threatening german milk-maid persona so that he'll let me board my flight. I wonder if they choose me b/c they know it will be easy, and they just need to fill their quota for random searches.</div><br /><div>Anyway, I do love Canada, and I love living in Canada, but I think in about 3 or 4 years time I'm going to have to break out of the Canadian bubble and actually live somewhere else. This is part of the transient in me. Sure, I travel and have been different places around the world, but nowhere I've actually <em>lived</em>. </div><div></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5269326648519194690" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 268px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2IF50HuP5oCLJgDe2eo2ZHPxTh-0sv7fJCpCFpkwVGMbyysfSukpyhnoYh_uic5KFa_ySkeLGKiqrpAOfja1_dbo0_I9qv9vhflso5GircZsbXDtPMKAptai1fHJns1179UJ8-w/s400/puppy.jpg" border="0" /> <div>Perhaps I've babbled on long enough. I think I'm going to look up some quasi-relevant pictures and tack them into the post in the hopes of keep you, the readers, interested. </div></div></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30310257.post-87990177976665151622008-11-09T22:22:00.003-05:002008-11-09T22:25:39.044-05:00Galatians 5:12Look it up.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4veN7B9NLEe4o2lWKk3rAp_OU9U4A_SPvv4cwm8CtdZ2iyEl6lai-1GDUlBZ5CS3f4zY7oUNofi5iu8fSGTErGY53bG-WW_VxL90hOt1MuswzXEzkCP1rW7zYqe_4nArOI3OjAA/s1600-h/workspouse.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 257px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4veN7B9NLEe4o2lWKk3rAp_OU9U4A_SPvv4cwm8CtdZ2iyEl6lai-1GDUlBZ5CS3f4zY7oUNofi5iu8fSGTErGY53bG-WW_VxL90hOt1MuswzXEzkCP1rW7zYqe_4nArOI3OjAA/s400/workspouse.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5266864306300619762" border="0" /></a>Teehee. 30 rock.<br /><br />"Sarcasm isn't a quirk. It's a skill." This was me, this summer, in response to my friends' observation of my character. I'm so clever.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30310257.post-49751082640717891642008-11-05T01:01:00.002-05:002008-11-05T01:25:26.946-05:00"History in the making"We were watching the election coverage and thought that it would be the perfect environment for a drinking game. Some phrases invoking shots would be "hope", "future", "change", "bless", and the number one inebriation inducing utterance, "history in the making" (and perhaps shortly after the results, "history made"). Its all so very cliche in the reporting, and Peter Mansbridge had quite a few flubs on CBC this evening. He said something to the effect of "and that's another point in Barak's O'column, sorry, Obama's column." I thought it was funny. Also there was this old reporter man in Washington DC saying (paraphrased, except for key phrase) "Students are gathering outside the Whitehouse for a demonstration, they have gotten on the <span style="font-weight: bold;">text-messaging machines</span> to inform one another of the event..." We couldn't stop laughing at that one.<br /><br />Jokes aside, I am so happy that Obama won. Maybe McCain is not the worst guy ever (clearly better than Bush, because to be worse would literally be breaking world records -- the Bush approval rating is now 20%, and they already reported it as a record low when it was 35%), but you want to vote for the BEST man for the job, which was so not McCain. And Palin is scary. And pretty stupid. So now she can go back to Alaska and gaze at Russia through her bay windows and deal will all those people who are suing her.<br /><br />Now we have to wait for Obama to get the troops out of Iraq and invest in their own country. There was a lot of "America is the best place in the universe" stuff during the acceptance and conceeding (conceedence?) speeches, which is hella annoying, but I think the States will be less and less hated now, and get back to their status in the Clinton years. Whether that's impressive or not doesn't matter, Bush is a mass murderer and really there's nothing worse for a reputation. (and yes, that is honestly what I think of Bush).<br /><br />A final piece of election reporting, I'd like to give a shout-out to a few "battleground" states. My props to Ohio, Virginia and Florida. Good on ya for not getting duped for 3 elections in a row. Specifically you, Florida. I guess with Jeb having lost his foothold, the cheating has been less rampant.<br /><br />So I watched the most recent episode of the Office last week (yes, I watch it regularly now), and I couldn't help but notice that they're huge stealer copy cats, specifcally from 30 rock. Dwight walks in wearing a Cornell sweatshirt, which bunches up Andy's underwear who declares that only true Cornell men can wear such sacred sweatshirts. They battle and Andy even pretends to be a beet farmer (something that Dwight is, to my understanding) and things escalate. Now hold up, am I have a weird Matrix glich moment of deja vu? No, no I am not. I saw this <span style="font-style: italic;">last </span>season on 30 rock. Frank comes into the writer's room one day wearing Harvard paraphanalia and Toofer freaks out, as the representative Harvard man. Eventually, Toofer starts dressing up like Frank, i.e. with baseball caps with catch phrases and ill fitting t-shirts and jeans. Thus, escalation. Direct carbon copy. In the same episode of the Office, Holly gets transferred faraway, and so her fledgling relationship with Michael is put in Jeopardy. They make plans to meet geographically between their two locations, but are disappointed to find there is nothing there but a creek. They then break up because the distance is just too hard (*sniff*). Oh wait a second! This already happened, on 30 ROCK! A full 2 episodes before the Harvard incident. Total ripoff.<br /><br />I want you all to keep an eye out for primetime shows that leech directly off other main stream media and think no one will notice. I know there's a lot more of it out there, and I'm not pointing out anything original, but 30 Rock is sacred in not yet cancelled good tv. You just don't mess with that.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30310257.post-71142386617133636712008-11-01T11:47:00.001-04:002008-11-01T11:49:25.234-04:00Day of the Dead<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg03__e4weIXhwwNMnbXqSlqpeK6naQZhxQXVI1tBt53OQLO6wjXVwgTE1QfCiYSrbEzIzCPNlN045qc339SXoB1VyjI5kCLBKdkWvo6SHK4aOHOycV-8egBsT3arN1f9PzMjVT-g/s1600-h/fandango02.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg03__e4weIXhwwNMnbXqSlqpeK6naQZhxQXVI1tBt53OQLO6wjXVwgTE1QfCiYSrbEzIzCPNlN045qc339SXoB1VyjI5kCLBKdkWvo6SHK4aOHOycV-8egBsT3arN1f9PzMjVT-g/s400/fandango02.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5263716696204312706" border="0" /></a><br />Happy DotD everyone.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30310257.post-73324554622244115102008-10-07T10:08:00.003-04:002008-10-07T10:11:55.800-04:00Guac-tastic<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw3iMfU8OhBkYFs6lQ2XkvSHzQtxoqYUVA7iFztl-JLugdFj0-tla_hgN8O4Ca8XhO3EEDhzKWxEILsg2sEV9FH_8m_tJz87OGfVdLbL5g907r8f4GYppB_2Yav1Nu8OrUPGwqeA/s1600-h/guac.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw3iMfU8OhBkYFs6lQ2XkvSHzQtxoqYUVA7iFztl-JLugdFj0-tla_hgN8O4Ca8XhO3EEDhzKWxEILsg2sEV9FH_8m_tJz87OGfVdLbL5g907r8f4GYppB_2Yav1Nu8OrUPGwqeA/s400/guac.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5254414117663234882" border="0" /></a>Yesterday was my B-day. Yes, I have now officially entered my mid-20’s at the ripe old age of 24. But seriously, if you ask like a random 15 year old they will tell you that 24 is hella old. Better yet, ask a 6 year old, and you might get a blank stare saying “Is such a thing even possible?!?” It is true, I have reached this tremendous landmark and will never be go back to the good old days of early 20’s. Depressing. Sorry.<br /><br />But, what I really wanted to tell you is how AWESOME my friends are! I got emails, phone calls, cards, chocolate, a picture frame and packages and an awesome, totally fun night at the Mexican restaurant. Complete with guacamole (in a crazy heavy lava rock bowl, like the one in the picture), enchiladas, a strawberry daiquiri and a huge-mongous slice of chocolate cake with a really skinny yellow candle in it. I also got calls from my family, including a little improvised birthday song from my nephew who will be 2 in like a week and a half. SUPER CUTE!<br /><br />Birthday success, now I get to go back to normal you-ain’t-so-special-today life, except from now on I have to do this as a 24 year old. Keeping in like with last year’s post, my prime factors are now 2 and 3 (2^3*3=24). I’m out of the full on prime numbers until I turn 29. But seriously, we’re not going to talk about that now.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30310257.post-24616881310185670422008-09-30T14:53:00.001-04:002008-09-30T14:55:39.061-04:00Worth a no-effort post<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyHTOxwwgYV5hqyVf8nge1poIT17HhY1Vcx6xzf4VhEX-hyB0xHHDUNPPHO_vFGRelNGdZvO4y4kyv4cUVzKG4e5srneNCb4hfPd5z8P0nucpbNlTZEJqYp4PAbd8lO8UBh2x3mQ/s1600-h/listen_to_yourself.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyHTOxwwgYV5hqyVf8nge1poIT17HhY1Vcx6xzf4VhEX-hyB0xHHDUNPPHO_vFGRelNGdZvO4y4kyv4cUVzKG4e5srneNCb4hfPd5z8P0nucpbNlTZEJqYp4PAbd8lO8UBh2x3mQ/s400/listen_to_yourself.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5251889907036695234" border="0" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30310257.post-60813633525087698892008-09-22T23:22:00.005-04:002008-09-22T23:49:27.330-04:00Prone to Obsession<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcCQH5m0jqs8KnD9BuLdi_DjiQjd4ZkDEOeNKP4rhGNQk64caaO2b9PsZ_mOf64h4w4OBrQmHMciQ6musHGa9dtc2aMpaJmErP1yUpZsnt2LVH1v8QB0XhcCZb_NN6YW6-I5PO6Q/s1600-h/obsession.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcCQH5m0jqs8KnD9BuLdi_DjiQjd4ZkDEOeNKP4rhGNQk64caaO2b9PsZ_mOf64h4w4OBrQmHMciQ6musHGa9dtc2aMpaJmErP1yUpZsnt2LVH1v8QB0XhcCZb_NN6YW6-I5PO6Q/s320/obsession.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5249052699313005666" border="0" /></a>I am the kind of person who gets ridiculously excited sometimes, like a little kid, freaking out for some reason or another. Apparently not everyone is like this, but I don’t care, its what I’m like, and I’m the one who can see my nose from the other side that YOU will never get to see it from. I feel particularly obsessed with several things at the moment, so I’m going to list these, with a little embellished commentary.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">Numba 1:</span> <span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 153, 0);">Coldplay</span></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzskykUEDZJ7nwjFMKHtjL1A4QKvtSEe5nUOOvNPVcVGsXYwhsjaSjKAW4Xiiv7uOUazwXCJa_we5uxOTYOp9t2hjMHKmCTsP13GzYZnRe2fU-5ngzZed_PJcSk_QsHHtm0erk2g/s1600-h/Coldplay-705392.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzskykUEDZJ7nwjFMKHtjL1A4QKvtSEe5nUOOvNPVcVGsXYwhsjaSjKAW4Xiiv7uOUazwXCJa_we5uxOTYOp9t2hjMHKmCTsP13GzYZnRe2fU-5ngzZed_PJcSk_QsHHtm0erk2g/s320/Coldplay-705392.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5249055260844227810" border="0" /></a>Today I bought tickets to the Coldplay concert in Ottawa on October 20th. I’ve seen them twice in concert before – Toronto 2003 and Montreal 2005. They’re amazing, they’re so freaking good. Even if Coldplay isn’t exactly your favourite band, you’d still like them in concert b/c they put on a good show. The lights, the energy, and let’s be honest, the music can’t hurt. I really love their new album “Viva la Vida or Death and all his friends”, it’s a very happy album, which is unique for Coldplay. Many have pegged their songs as melancholy and depressing, which, let’s face it, is a sure fire way to make good music. And no, I’m not actually being sarcastic with that remark, I LOOOVE depressing music. But now, when I’m walking down the street and “Life in Technicolour” is playing on my iPod, I just feel so happy, so good. Its AMAZING.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">Munber 2:</span> <span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Radiohead</span></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOYA3wbVwsEqskC-_TVlS8eAT9ZUd_nIZm9TSzp70r8Q11E1tNymz2wANJ6eirhSPUxMo3iWvbGKaHcxEWbdgqJvSDHB9C0CJgRb4tZJs0Cf7Ux0xS3-YhDaiRfj8Oyy-vdY9qug/s1600-h/Radiohead-KW22.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOYA3wbVwsEqskC-_TVlS8eAT9ZUd_nIZm9TSzp70r8Q11E1tNymz2wANJ6eirhSPUxMo3iWvbGKaHcxEWbdgqJvSDHB9C0CJgRb4tZJs0Cf7Ux0xS3-YhDaiRfj8Oyy-vdY9qug/s320/Radiohead-KW22.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5249055092138657234" border="0" /></a>Still in the realm of British bands, I love Ropiohead. Like blogged previously, I saw their concert here in Montreal back in August. Incredible, really incredible. There’s something almost indescribable about big live concerts (with good bands, of course), it makes you feel part of something, and you experience the music, you don’t just hear the music. Wow. I am so deep. I hope they never stop making albums, as long as Thom Yorke is avoidant and anti-social, the quality of music will never decline.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">Nummer 3: </span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">Stephen Colbert</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixret5BjDRxyejc9mdJSBTawWyV4cKU9ZFUWYm4o2ai-tiMdsgAirgkZovbtQ-L8HgAhAEFJmS09WOGSIuoTlZPesKhvjaLjpuk8i6_0Wo6du2WL16vzw-5Lwth9oALJtgBbocCg/s1600-h/colbert.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixret5BjDRxyejc9mdJSBTawWyV4cKU9ZFUWYm4o2ai-tiMdsgAirgkZovbtQ-L8HgAhAEFJmS09WOGSIuoTlZPesKhvjaLjpuk8i6_0Wo6du2WL16vzw-5Lwth9oALJtgBbocCg/s320/colbert.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5249054679702485314" border="0" /></a>One of the early posts of this blog was dedicated to my love for Stephen Colbert. That love remains, never ending like the motion of the tide. He recently won the Emmy for comedy writing. You’d think that a man who shamelessly plugs not only his own show, but really just himself would become unbearably annoying. But for some reason, we eat up his narcissism. I still think he’s pretty attractive for a forty-something. Love.<br /><br />If you need a movie suggestion, go get Strangers with Candy. Very R-rated, very strange, very very funny.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">Number 4:</span> <span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">Brad Pitt</span></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdubom5P6Cgi59uPuxZq4b9T3_QAgI_XZpI1Gb8mHvln_UgMqcg3Liqwq_8sO3TDeW7VS5Oa2ybADMshl1K1-wPvBnB4MSf0DMNb5WefKekxC4YIFZPiCnOxEqziH-yNgINo9yjQ/s1600-h/ca-ef0258c46fe1e662ee6e6a74644a1cc2.jpeg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 204px; height: 277px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdubom5P6Cgi59uPuxZq4b9T3_QAgI_XZpI1Gb8mHvln_UgMqcg3Liqwq_8sO3TDeW7VS5Oa2ybADMshl1K1-wPvBnB4MSf0DMNb5WefKekxC4YIFZPiCnOxEqziH-yNgINo9yjQ/s320/ca-ef0258c46fe1e662ee6e6a74644a1cc2.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5249054425800453394" border="0" /></a><br />Another forty-year-old. Come on people! He is hott! Hott with two t’s! HE’S HOTT!!! I love Snatch. This is Brad Pitt’s hottest movie ever, where he plays this Irish Gypsy bare knuckled boxer guy, and he’s got his shirt off with the tattoos. If there’s one thing he’s got, its abs. If he was completely stupid and couldn’t act at all (which perhaps is the opinion held by some) he’s still got the best abs ever. Drool. (TIFF pic.)<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">Bummer 5: </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 153, 0);">Adrien Brody</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPz9MWt_G020tEaerMnA8-9YDl__dfL1BgjCNjt5AvO0iA7WUhuhjRha0Lwdg_eEcvnOo9Ew_xt9VW4PUBgCNpXM-W3DIeVUsA1fGHd9uQbk-p5AIU7Upfh5wxPz3YNed8twiLQA/s1600-h/brody.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 191px; height: 227px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPz9MWt_G020tEaerMnA8-9YDl__dfL1BgjCNjt5AvO0iA7WUhuhjRha0Lwdg_eEcvnOo9Ew_xt9VW4PUBgCNpXM-W3DIeVUsA1fGHd9uQbk-p5AIU7Upfh5wxPz3YNed8twiLQA/s320/brody.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5249054046447539682" border="0" /></a>There’s a new movie coming out next month “The Brother’s Bloom”. Its another Wes Anderson flick, but the real reason I want to see it is Mr. Brody. This man is gorgeous. Yes yes, many have been surprised by my assessment of this lanky man, but look at his face. The dark brown eyes, the crooked nose – gorgeous. And there is no arguing that he can act. I mean he won the Oscar for Best Actor when he was 29, the youngest person to win this. Every time I see a movie that he’s in, my obsession is refreshed and I search imdb again seeing what new projects are coming out. I just can’t get enough (there’s something about you….. Name that lyric!).<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">Noomber 6:</span> <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 204);">Arrested Development & 30 Rock</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyzxUbW47Kf5Pi59X_UNeZ_2OeLgKqs2lZ1FwdRpEv6AF3mnbLUSDNsdf1phgwEcgUWvWJMU-2nG8VMYFJ1IzSvBD_6RnESGW2tdaYnxbeFur8mKiLqjMRBQ7uC3WgkOd_EfTD8Q/s1600-h/AD.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyzxUbW47Kf5Pi59X_UNeZ_2OeLgKqs2lZ1FwdRpEv6AF3mnbLUSDNsdf1phgwEcgUWvWJMU-2nG8VMYFJ1IzSvBD_6RnESGW2tdaYnxbeFur8mKiLqjMRBQ7uC3WgkOd_EfTD8Q/s320/AD.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5249053433093981618" border="0" /></a>In a way, 30 Rock has been the replacement for AD since its been canceled. They share certain features, but remain unique. I think AD will never be equaled, but 30 Rock is its whole own thing too. I can’t wait for the new episodes to come out. I’ve seen every episode of AD at least 5 times, and every released episode of 30 Rock probably 3 times. I’ve mentioned before that it takes a bit for me to get into a new show, thus the tendency to rewatch things I know I like.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi48yUTjRz8Qm7lJ1p26AvtmIPgYRvci119CFyissf1FEeOLzmrqM40b_1qhMxxA0ZNgY95BvYcNcXLbgiuvUPwy50acEw4qYEad8dcn-QenWnVVV3OhzuI5KvOiYElORJRyamLvA/s1600-h/30_rock-cast-5.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 262px; height: 183px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi48yUTjRz8Qm7lJ1p26AvtmIPgYRvci119CFyissf1FEeOLzmrqM40b_1qhMxxA0ZNgY95BvYcNcXLbgiuvUPwy50acEw4qYEad8dcn-QenWnVVV3OhzuI5KvOiYElORJRyamLvA/s320/30_rock-cast-5.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5249053730053285714" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">Numma 7: </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">David Tennant</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8kTQ2i1gFQFUDhjd4-4TZRhNigZHivtOs68bbUUNUo-j01S8lOJfFr8_OT_ygRavstCcjvaoiUrXnI84DUbhGe0H-PXIc3vk79_SAhjdF8R-OmdxD_7Xw0wfbkKrgK6YNb4vKVQ/s1600-h/david_tennant1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 158px; height: 230px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8kTQ2i1gFQFUDhjd4-4TZRhNigZHivtOs68bbUUNUo-j01S8lOJfFr8_OT_ygRavstCcjvaoiUrXnI84DUbhGe0H-PXIc3vk79_SAhjdF8R-OmdxD_7Xw0wfbkKrgK6YNb4vKVQ/s320/david_tennant1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5249052906659213106" border="0" /></a>I know I’m a lot of things. You’ve probably tagged me as a nerd, as many of my so-called friends have tagged me. They pull out some logic about me be a grad student, and only nerds would do that, but whatever. Anyway, in 2nd year, which was my first year at U of T, my friend Mich got me to watching Doctor Who – the new season started by the BBC in 2005. I actually really like the show, especially that first new season with Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor. If you think its just a low budget sci fi show then I cannot help to see<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivwZaUwGwmLnV4G-wmAj0E0b9hllXl-C7cveB7MddxZIMwXHxmmsfidR083tSl-q3SoSEW1uv9PL9bvyUXCjKObK_2ZV77nFZV8eYKaaIGtparR8qf9yIQWJI11cSFmF0uXUPWyA/s1600-h/DrWho_narrowweb__300x367,0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 197px; height: 241px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivwZaUwGwmLnV4G-wmAj0E0b9hllXl-C7cveB7MddxZIMwXHxmmsfidR083tSl-q3SoSEW1uv9PL9bvyUXCjKObK_2ZV77nFZV8eYKaaIGtparR8qf9yIQWJI11cSFmF0uXUPWyA/s320/DrWho_narrowweb__300x367,0.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5249052951290015410" border="0" /></a> past your snobbishness to the core entertainment of the show. Anyway, on to the obsession part, the 2nd through 4th seasons feature David Tennant as the Doctor. Although these seasons don’t really match up with the one that directly preceded them, DT is sexy. Also, even though he fakes the British accent on the show, his natural Scottish accent (I am partial to Scots, for obvious reasons) is really hot.<br /><br /><br />Enough with the numbering. I get excited about and obsessed with things all the time. One such instance is Tolkien. I read The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings when I was a teenager, before the movies came out. When you read a good book, you want to get to the end to find out what happens, but its so sad when it actually ends. The movies are fine, but it’s the books that really do it for me. I had a similar experience before then when reading the Chronicles of Narnia, which is also superb.<br /><br />I think my excitement and obsession comes from the high you get from feeling a part of something big or exceptional. Although past my formative years, my imagination is still quite impressive and so I can imagine myself in association to these people and things that make one feel a part of something big and famous and exciting. My life is way more exciting than it actually is.<br /><br />On that note, Samurai Jack:<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/QUaCtgto0fo&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/QUaCtgto0fo&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30310257.post-59314652454930925482008-09-18T19:57:00.005-04:002008-09-18T20:31:21.502-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2005/04/08/matrix_wideweb__430x326.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 292px; height: 222px;" src="http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2005/04/08/matrix_wideweb__430x326.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>I'm a little tired right now. I've started TAing an intro linguistics class this semester, and it makes me get up earlier on Thursdays than I do on most of the other days of the week. I'm not convinced that I'm a good teacher as of yet, I don't have the intuition for it. I go over the problem sets thoroughly, try to make sure everyone understands, but I don't get a ton of questions or dissent. That might be more interesting. I'm trying to keep in mind what it was like for me as a student back in the day (i.e. 2 years ago) and the things you always sit there thinking about the TA, like, "why do they always do this?", "Do they realize that they got a chalk line across their butt when they leaned against the board?" and "could she have any worse of a lisp?" Now I don't have a lisp, and have been able to use my fluent English in the class, but I have been talking ridiculously fast. I guess it must be because I'm nervous, and I try to slow myself down, but that only takes me from really fast to slightly less really fast. I'm hoping as time goes on I'll get the hang of this teaching thing. Its not terrible now, the kids aren't mean or rude or anything like that, some of them are kind of sweet at always say "bye" at the end of the conference. But most of them are so little, as little as my little brother. I shouldn't say to much about this, b/c this was me, 6 years ago. I was also 17 when I started university, so they're no younger than I was. But they were born in 1990. Shiver.<br /><br />Other things, interesting things, some-things..... hmm.<br /><br />So, things happen, sometimes I witness them. Sometimes I even participate in them. Often I walk to school. After about 25 minutes of this type of walking, I usually arrive at the Linguistics building, get out my keys and enter my office. I check my email fanatically. Seriously, send me something, its like a beautiful, wonderful, otherworldly drug. Other times I read. Articles, computer screen, emails. My eyes, they are dying in the reading. The tiny letters, the big letters, the 100 time photocopied letters, the symbols among the letters, the diagrams and useless ramble within the letters. My eyes, oh gosh my eyes. They are dissolving down into little pools of bluish gray pixie dust. Out over my lids, onto my cheeks, like tears, but not tears. More like pollutant sludge, leaving a vacant, colourless hole where my eyes used to be.<br />Too much?<br /><br />Continuation of the Gilmore Girls discussion. I actually like Jess. I know, he doesn't always do right by Rory or Luke, but he's one of those rough exterior-heart of gold types, who is secretly a genius. My major qualm with Jess is that he appears very short on the show. I looked up Milo on imdb and he's listed as 5 foot 9, so I am taller than he is, but only by a little bit. And yes, Paris deserves her recognition. She's crazy insane and intense, but sometimes you feel sorry for her. Her parents don't seem to care about her, so we can't blame her for too much of her lack of socialization. Also I feel the need to defend her since my lovely friends (sarcastic tone inserted) decided that if I were any GG's character, I would be Paris. I'll try to construe it in my mind somehow to make it a compliment, but my hair is curly, and I am waaaay taller than Paris is. Just so you know that we're no so similar.<br /><br />I've been watching Project Runway, and I'm a little confused. The whole goal of PR is to get to Bryant Park at the end of show and do the whole official runway show. It was my understanding that the fashion week shenanigans occur in February, or some such wintry month, but this season started in July, and the final show has already happened (although not aired). Maybe its a different, summer/fall fashion week. At first I thought Kenley was cute, but now she's just crazy psycho attitude teenager type. I think Leanne will win.<br /><br />As a guilty pleasure I've also been watching the new "cycle" of ANTM. I hate this show more and more every second I watch it. Tyra is so ridiculous and retarded. I can't even tell you how much she annoys me. Acts like the freaking guru of all things fashion and worthwhile in life.<br /><br />Tired still. Peanut butter? No, that was yesterday. I wish I had some smartfood. It think I will forgo these and just get some fru<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.valdostamuseum.org/hamsmith/MatrixCode.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 292px; height: 221px;" src="http://www.valdostamuseum.org/hamsmith/MatrixCode.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a>it juice. I do have microwave popcorn. Not the same. Lacks the white cheddar powder. I miss the pesto from Cinque Terre, it was unbelieveably good, no exaggeration, seriousness.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30310257.post-70178467246502544232008-09-11T20:33:00.003-04:002008-09-11T22:36:51.402-04:00Why I Love/Hate the Gilmore GirlsI started watching the Gilmore Girls (henceforth GG) during the good old days at U of T. Actually, I don’t even think I touched the show until 4<sup>th</sup> year when I needed new shows to watch since DC++ allowed all students in the know to watch entire series, in sequence. I had seen all the Smallville episodes, and various other shows I watched (it actually takes a lot for me to get into a show), so next came GG. I had previously trashed talked the brown-haired, blue-eyes, since it is one of those girl shows, but now I’m fairly sure I have seen every episode, possibly only missing a couple from the terrible 7<sup>th</sup> and final season. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cocoajava.com/graphics/GilmoreGirlsS3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://cocoajava.com/graphics/GilmoreGirlsS3.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">I thought I’d chronicle some of my feelings about the GG’s. Yes, sometimes I do love them, and enjoy the distraction they provide from my own non-Connecticut life, but so so often I hate hate hate them. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">Love </span>– I love how hot and tall Dean is.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-weight: bold;">Hate </span>– I hate Logan the jag and his half open eyes. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">Love </span>– I love that Lorelai and Luke are meant to be together.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-weight: bold;">Hate </span>– I hate that the show clearly complicates their relationship in ridiculous ways just to let the series continue. I mean, long lost 12 year old love child? I know April is supposed to be a genius, but could she talk through her nose any more forcibly? </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">(Note: It may be the case that you will only follow this post if you too Love/Hate the Gilmore Girls)</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">Love </span>– Kirk. What more could you ask for in outlandish comic relief? Naked running night terrors, driving through buildings, plummeting to earth from a plane, recording himself in a practice date, leaving rotting eggs in the town square, and on and on it goes. I wonder what the actor is like as a real guy. There’s no way he’s normal, no one acts that well.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-weight: bold;">Hate </span>– Taylor. I know he’s some kind of plot-moving-forward character, but he never does anything new. It’s the same annoying crap every time. NOBODY CARES WHAT YOU THINK, TAYLOR. GET A FREAKING LIFE. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">Love </span>– Lorelai more than Rory.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-weight: bold;">Hate </span>– Rory more than Lorelai.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">Love </span>– Lane’s blue rainbow shoulder sweater.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-weight: bold;">Hate </span>– That Lorelai expects everyone to do everything she asks. She torments people until they give in. Its like that “pretty girl” syndrome, where no one ever says no to them, so they think they can do whatever the hell they want. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">Love </span>– Rory’s short hair in season….. 3? 4? </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-weight: bold;">Hate </span>– The stupid puffy shoulder, short sleeved jackets that Rory wears in EVERY episode of season 7. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-weight: bold;">Hate </span>– How bad an actress Emily (grandma G) is. Also those weird, rectangular jackets she wears. She allegedly has impeccable taste, but all I can see is shoulder pads, floral print curtains and poufy hair. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-weight: bold;">Hate </span>– Pretty much all the rich people portrayed on the show. Even the endearing ones. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">I think the thing I hate most about the show is how nothing bad ever happens to Rory, and how everyone around her can’t stop telling her how perfect she is. The worst thing that ever happens is that she steals a yacht and decides to drop out of Yale. This doesn’t even count as “something bad happening to her”, since she does it completely to herself. I’m not going to feel sorry for her because she’s not sure what her identity is anymore. Everything always falls into place – she gets into Chilton, she’s class vice president, valedictorian, gets into Harvard, Princeton and Yale, becomes editor of the Yale Daily News and has various other achievements. The second “worst” thing that happens to her is that she doesn't get the job at the New York Times, oh no! BUT, this misfortune lasts for like an episode until she gets a killer job as a journalist for a magazine following the presidential race. She’s so whiny and selfish, and tramples on many a boy, including Dean who’s nothing but hot. Everyone tells her how pretty she is, how crazy intelligent she is, how nice she is (although its very clear that she’s the worst kind of nice, the nice that isn’t really nice at all but mean and spiteful without realizing it). There’s so many other things I hate about Rory, especially post 4<sup>rd</sup> season Rory (when she becomes a homewrecker), but its making me angry just thinking about it so I think I should cut myself off here. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Lorelai in comparison to her daughter is a saint. But she needs to get it together. Once you’re 40 you should be able to solve your problems without throwing temper tantrums and blaming it all on your parents. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">What are your thoughts on GG? Maybe you Love/HATE it more than I do. </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com16