goddesscafe

Friday, March 22, 2002 :::

not feeling creative and am distracted by talking to the goddess herself, but i finally have access here, so hello!

i'm not usually into star wars humor, but this may amuse y'all. happyrobot is kristen cardozo's recommendation of the day, and there's some funniness there.

glad you liked ethnotechno -- i was looking for a radio station to leave on for Kurt (i was leaving the office, he was arriving), and happened upon that one. as for the picture, we have camellia to thank for that recommendation -- she's way into those mexican surrealists.

it's a proud day to be an IU alum, yo. they beat duke (considered by most to be the top-ranked basketball team in the country, and the favorites to win the whole tournament), and mike davis rocks. but enough self-congratulatory backslapping.

::: posted by kevin seal at 7:26 AM

Thursday, March 21, 2002 :::

I cannot thank the scruffy musician enough for pointing me to ethnotechno.com. I want everything on their playlist. Tomorrow at work, I'm plugging into their streaming radio station all day. Wow. Fuckin' A. Right now they've got some fast techno thing with sampled Native American chants and flutes. Hopefully they'll have ethnotechno stuff for sale at Rakkasah* this weekend.

And speaking of things that rock my world: non-linear video editing. We learned a bit of Final Cut Pro tonight in class, and I am thoroughly excited. It's so weird, juggling video and audio around like a freaking word processor. Much more difficult and real-time, unlike words, which I can write and edit in a flash. I'm so curious how this all plays out, telling a story visually and aurally. It's so foreign to me, this much deeper medium with so much potential. I feel like I've added another layer to my brain this month, learning Flash and now this, understanding how things move in time, rather than just throwing words down on a page. I am happy tonight.

p.s. Rodrigo and Valerie are off to the Yucatan tomorrow. Insert jealous gnashing of teeth here.

::: posted by alura allumeuse at 11:13 PM

Nice pic-swap, Seal! You know I like that dark, dreamlike stuff.

Academic, yet titillating. A defense of a movie that shows female ejaculation, which Brit authorities censored because they said it was urine, which is illegal to show. I just like that it includes phrases like Squirt Queens along with Microparticle Enzyme Immunoassy. ;)

::: posted by alura allumeuse at 5:10 PM

Gee, the glasses question. I feel like some sort of authority on nightline….

Yes, I do wear glasses and I worked at a contact store in fashionable Christopher Street…In homage to Walter Benjamin’s The Arcades Project (thought why I am not sure), tidbits and observations...

In an evolutionary perspective, glasses were technology’s first retaliation to Darwinian theory-Without glasses people in need of correcting their vision would have been tiger lunch long ago.

Having sold glasses frames that run up to $375 (without the lenses), I never want to dance the dance of sales seduction again. However, yes, glasses are the first thing people look at on your face, so if you need them, spend the extra money if you can. Some people can’t afford them much less contacts.

As per wearing glasses when you do not need them: it does border on the vain. In my sales days I would have said come on in… Now perhaps I should not care, do what you want. I am worried about getting a tired perspective in my old age. However, will this diminish the validity of those who do need them? If more people wore them without needing then, the prices could go up with an increased market.

Note also that if you get pulled over while driving the cop might ask why he saw you with glasses and no corrected vision required on your driver’s license. You might feel a bit silly “ no really officer, try them on..”

Like any article of clothing of course, they come with their own cultural and social attachment. What do they signify, how will people react? It can vary.

::: posted by Rodrigo Diaz at 1:48 PM

Actually, of all the bloggers listed above, only Kevin (and Kurt?) don't require vision correction. How did that happen? Something in the Cincy water in '75? Rodrigo used to work in a glasses store and advise people, I want to hear what he thinks. Speaking of vanity, they got a new scale at the Y swimming pool which now measures kilograms as well. So I was standing on it for a bit yesterday, trying to figure out the weird tic marks, and this little old lady came up behind me and declared "You weigh too much!!!", which cracked me up. (I think she was teasing me for standing there so long, but even if she wasn't, it still startled me into laughing) 58kgs. (58 kevinguyseals?) I dunno, it just sounds so British, like I should be measuring my weight in pints of Guinness or something. Anyway...on to the relevant stuff.

Wednesday, March 20, 2002 :::

An anti-SSSCA petition. Glasses/No Glasses: I admit that I'm relieved to not need glasses. Mr. Stephenson talked about getting glasses as a fashion accessory this weekend. I wouldn't want that. I figure that people peg me as a geek quickly enough just by my natural speech patterns (not that that's a bad thing); no need to heighten that with plastic and lenses.

Our friend Cheshire -- well, more Mark's friend, as he was his housemate for years in Emeryville -- won "Best Personal/Online Diary" at South by Southwest this week. Huzzahs to Cheshire.

As for Bono... if he can use his pulpit of celebrity to improve American foreign policy, then I'm all for it.

Journalists should not carry guns. And, the "oil money supports terrorists" ad parody was excellent. One of the Lumpen newsbits: the Northern Alliance is much more closely involved with heroin trafficking than the Taliban was, fwiw. The Taliban burned a lot of the NA's poppy fields.

Tuesday, March 19, 2002 :::

Glasses/No Glasses: At first it was a necessity, do they even make contacts for 8 year olds? It became identity. And now, nearly 20 years into glasses, I'm beginning to question it (I began last summer). People peg me as some kind of smarty within seconds, and the glasses have got to be part of it. I want to usher in a new fun Boot, a sporty Boot, an active Boot: I will don contacts by summer, fuck glasses.

Bush announced his plans for the millennium fund with rock singer Bono at his side. Bono, of the group U2, has lent his celebrity to the issue of global development. Bush aides said they talked with Bono while formulating Bush's plan and Bush met with the singer in the Oval Office before making his speech. The two were driven to the event in Bush's limousine.

"Bono, I appreciate your heart," Bush said at the event. "And to tell you what an influence you have had, [Vice President] Dick Cheney walked into the Oval Office. He said, `Jesse Helms wants us to listen to Bono's ideas.'"

(I quoted here so that you guys wouldn't have to register on the Tribune's site. FAIR USE, I think.)

So, what the hell do you make of that? I'm severely nonplussed and cannot have an opinion for the time being.

::: posted by the boot at 5:47 PM

Music bits, brought to you by DJ Fotzepolitic: the future of music, and a new excuse* for Guy. (either that, or a biz plan for Tunesmith...don't go for the video games market, go for the bow-chicka-bow-now!) Speaking of slap bass, I am currently listening to a Flattus demo CD from way back! (mostly live recordings from '94-'96) Unbelievably, I found it last night in the stunning Mission former-crackhouse-currently-chic apartment of the aforeblogged random friend, gentrifying slumlord, and my sleeping-pill-pusher. (you know, maybe my insomnia is caused by this*?) He said his cousin from Chicago left it there a long time ago, so now it's mine. Tres amusant, these small degrees of separation, eh?

* because you can never have enough Naomi, here's her going off on the Bush admin hiring a marketing consultant to improve the USA Brand.
* here's a guy who's fighting media monopolies with DIY publication
* should journalists arm themselves?
* my fave parody yet on that f&*king Superbowl anti-drug ad.
* your scholarly reading for the day...the history of the clitoris and a discourse on dildoes.
* And, er, news from the homeland*.

You know, I just have to mention this, not out of vanity but because it's on my mind. When I wear my glasses, I feel like I'm in Clark Kent mode, that no one notices me, esp. with my new darker hair color, that I can pass through the world invisible. It makes me feel safe to feel hidden, I like it. They're like my little shield against the world. But last night my bellydancing teacher was telling everyone how pretty I was when she saw me on Friday, that I had the whole "naughty librarian*" thing going on. Which is exactly what another friend of mine told me, that he started having naughty librarian fantasies after seeing me (I don't imagine he mentioned that to his girlfriend, though) and how the glasses draw more attention to my face now. So for years I wanted people to notice me and they didn't, and now I change my looks in order to hide more, which has the opposite effect? I'm not sure how to feel about this. Erica said she definitely got less attention from guys when she wore glasses. Dear myopic bloggers, what makes you choose glasses or contacts? Does it work differently for guys and girls? Is it an energy thing, or an appearance thing?

::: posted by alura allumeuse at 10:59 AM

Monday, March 18, 2002 :::

once again reminded of the coolness of chicago and its denizens. fun weekend. grabbed a copy of lumpen*, the free, lefty chicago monthly. (their site lacks the best content from the magazine, unfortunately... the "diary of george bush" juxtaposed plenty of interesting threads about argentina and unocal.)

a nice little freeware bit for anyone else on this blog stuck on a Windows terminal: get rid of spyware.

and more of that nifty little tool that can turn a human skull into an amplifier (or a mac into a bong).

::: posted by kevin seal at 4:51 PM

I SLEPT last night! Ha-HA! (hence the new blog pic) First time in weeks that I slept more than 5 or 6 hrs! Fri night was the culmination of insomnia misery...2 hrs of half-sleep while a little drunk. (BUT, that night we saw our bellydancing teacher perform at the middle eastern drum and bass thing, which rocked, and I had a nice conversation with a doudouk player on where to find good doudouks and whether I should take lessons) Sat all day we shot video in N.Beach for class (how I stayed upright and conscious, I'm not sure), which was actually incredibly entertaining, we got some interesting interviews with a wide range of people, looking all authoritative with our $12k camera.

Of course, now I'm not tired. Fuck. Oh well...wonderful day of avoiding LSAT homework and laundry and bills by going to the brunch at Rodrigo and Valerie's (where Jennifer and Mark were...I've decided, because Jennifer's advice is always so useful to me, I'm gonna start wearing a WWJD? bracelet...hyuk hyuk hyuk), then out to see Monsoon Wedding with Erica and Joel (and a new random friend...otherwise it woulda been a day entirely full of hanging out with couples, ~gag~)...very amusing day. I dig my friends. Back to the grind tomorrow, nonstop classes and such.

::: posted by alura allumeuse at 12:39 AM