204 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 one possible candidate other than myself, but perhaps I flatter myself.
If you're happy and you know it say a swear:
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:
boobs!
1. Casimir Pulaski Day - Sufjan Stevens (PC 145)
2. The District Sleeps Alone Tonight - The Postal Service (PC 128)
3. The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades - Sufjan Stevens (PC 112)
4. Optimistic - Radiohead (PC 109)
5. The Avalanche - Sufjan Stevens (PC 108)
6. ...Off By Heart - City and Colour (PC 105)
7. Mr Brightside - The Killers (PC 103)
8. Like Knives - City and Colour (PC 102)
9. Concerning the UFO Sighting - Sufjan Stevens (PC 97)
10. A Message - Coldplay (PC 96)
11. Kid A - Radiohead (PC 92)
12. Everything I Am - Kanye West (PC 90)
13. Warning Sign - Coldplay (PC 88)
14. Brand New Colony - The Postal Service (PC 87)
15. Got to Sleep (Little Man Being Erased) - Radiohead (PC 87)
hiney!
Mittens!
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:
"Cheese eating surrender monkey's" is a derogatory term for the French.
1. Dum Diddly - Black Eyed Peas
2. Last Flowers to the Hospital - Radiohead
3. Smile - Weezer
4. Objects of my Affection - Peter Bjorn and John
5. Minus - Beck
And it took me a second to get the fishsticks/gay fish joke... it helps if you say it outloud
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 sound 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.
You know who I've always loved? Phil Collins.
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.
I'm effectively procrastinating. Huge due date in 3 days. Going to die.
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:
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.
For the previously unconnected Rollover: Police reported three dozen cheerful bystanders, yet no one claims to have seen who did it.
On the PhD front, this is an issue almost every student I talk to has. 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,'...
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.


Kinda hott, no?
Makes me laugh. C'mon, don't be so uptight.
Watch Strangers With Candy if you want to see Colbert and Dinello get their lovin' ooon.
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 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 the newspaper 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).
I posted a completed hard monster sudoku on the ling lounge fridge.
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. dailysudoku

Hugh Jackman is a beautiful man.
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. theshowwithzefrank



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.
I don't like "The curious incident of the dog in the nighttime"... I don't understand the kid's problem with synonyms...
But if you just want to read a really good book read Lord of the Rings. That's right, I said it.
You know Samwise is the real hero. And that Pippin's accent is way sexy.
Happy 204. If you take out the "0" that's how old I be.

"Talk about your gigantic time-wasters"

Anyone wanna play frisbee? Lets run around in the park and not do work. Yay!

Also, I could really go for a mango based smoothie. And another 6 week backpacking trip. I'm totally in touch with reality.

I wore my green hoodie today. SC is irish so this counts as fake holiday particip-action.



Hal Johnson and Joanne Macleod. Oh wait, that's Bodybreak.

Today I am not a Linguist

It 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.

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.

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.

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.

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”.

Superman: 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.

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.



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.

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:



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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Right on. Well, that’s it for today.

200th Post!

Maybe I'll do something special for 204.



Finally, its all coming together.