goddesscafe

Friday, May 24, 2002 :::

File this under the self-promo dept, but I'm feeling rather cocky right now, after some prolonged low self-esteem about various things. I just got a really sweet compliment that took me by surprise.

So our video teacher Carl didn't feel like teaching tonight, and most of our class has done most of the assigned work much faster than he expected, so he sent me and another girl Jacquie (a N'Awlins gal, ex-drama major) downstairs to Starbucks to eavesdrop on other people's conversations and take notes (had to do with being observational about speech patterns) until dinner but no one was there so she and I just yapped it up. Earlier this week, we'd had to write a script for a short narrative film of our creation, and I cranked out this 8-page thing all in one take, faster than anyone else, and was like, how LAME, I am NOT a creative writer, this sucks, I don't know how to write scripts at ALL. So Carl comes back down to get us a couple hours later and looks at me with a grin and is like, "Laura, your script was GREAT! I thought you were going to be the DIFFICULT one, you acted like you had no idea what was going on!" "I DIDN'T! Everyone else's was so good, I don't know scriptwriting conventions!" "Your story was like this dark, existential, F.Scott Fitzgerald thing, with that funny twist ending. You did everything exactly right. And I'm a critical person, trust me. You're a good writer." So I was all blushing and feeling really good. (Even though, it turns out, all I was doing was re-telling an urban legend...Chris had told me this story that supposedly happened to his classmates when they were all studying in Italy, about how they'd found a Chihuahua in Paris, smuggled it back to the Italian dorm, and found out from a vet that it was a sewer rat. But I find out today that Tad's galpal says it's an urban myth. I told Chris, and he swears he heard it right from the girl it happened to, right after it happened, and now he wants to call her up and demand the truth. Hah! But Carl says all fiction writing comes from real life in some way, and that the story I wrote was really about the emptiness in rich people's lives, and human behavior.) And we got to talking, how Carl had noticed that there was this guy sitting near us who clearly was trying to hit on us, and how his arrival had killed the guy's buzz, and Jacquie was going on and on about what a goober he was, so I finally exclaimed "It was TOTALLY your fault! You were telling this story to ME, but you kept looking over at HIM, and you were ENGAGING him with your eyes, that's why he started talking to us." "I was looking at him because I thought it was weird he was sitting right near us all by himself!" And earlier I'd been telling Carl that the only eavesdropping I'd done was on Jacquie's phone conversation, where her voice was pitched all high and whiny and pleading, so I'd assumed she was talking to her boyfriend, even though the content of the conversation seemed like it might be like a coworker. So my teacher starts cracking up and says "Laura, everything that I've ever heard come out of your mouth is in a narrative form. You're a really good storyteller, you notice human patterns." Which is freaking hysterical to me, because I view myself as incredibly oblivious to other human beings, except being aware of their energy on a gut level. Anyway, so he leaves, and I'm feeling all confident, so I'm strutting around and I look at Jacquie and get all macho and say "Fuck yeah! F.Scott Fitzgerald, how about that?" To which she just rolls her eyes and says "OK, Zelda." Ha!

At any rate, I'm sure now I've completely shattered any possible impression that I'm anything but a tedious storyteller, but I had to share because it was really highlighting two things at once, the compliment that flattered me greatly, and also a few amusing sidebits. I'll be quiet now.

::: posted by alura allumeuse at 7:58 PM

Saw the Deviant Rhythms premiere last night. It was the 30-min version, not the hour-long one, so only Jonathan (sorry, Capital) got to be a big-screen star last night. (Matt's in the longer version, and Chris was in the background of one of the scenes doing African drumming, making it 3 for 3 for Col.Knowledge's world music projects) It was great, esp. for a first-time filmmaker. My man Cheb i Sabbah said that re-forming and fusing ancient music traditions into new sounds and beats wasn't taking anything away from them, it was introducing people to the source music that they wouldn't hear otherwise, and might bring them closer to the original sounds that way. There was a lot of talk of the evolution of music, and the rapid spread of information and culture in this age of globalization, but also a lot of talk of the loss of actual musicians who know how to play things, and how sampling and tweaking it on computers isn't the same as a live musician. But one guy compared DJs and musicians to photographers and portrait painters...just a different form of art that doesn't replace the former, and that it might just force a Picasso-like revolution among the pre-existing artists.

Here's your gender news for the day, for your friendly neighborhood women's studies major. It was interesting, last night I asked one of my video teachers what the gender breakdown in the video industry was, and he said it was one of the more female-dominated fields he could think of. He said it started happening with the advent of non-linear editing, which he thinks is more friendly to the way that women's brains work (i.e., more global and connected*, able to see the whole picture, not as specialized as men's brains). One classmate theorized that it was also the fact that the more computerized it gets (rather than heavy equipment, reels of tape, huge boards with knobs and buttons), the more it appeals to women who might shy away from something so mechanical. Huh.

Kristin just called, to tell me she was standing outside the Empire State Bldg, and that she had to call someone. ;) Last week she was in the Carribbean, since a friend of hers won a trip and no one else could go.

More on the intersection of fashion and technology. I think this beats Kristin and Emily's jokes about activity shirts (which they used to mean shirts with lots of words, or subway maps, etc...of course, with TV on your tits, McLuhan would agree that it's more user-interactive*).

I don't know where to put this link*, or what to say about it, other than that while I'm sure it's sickening, it's still about the free flow of information, right? Or is it the family's right to privacy?

"Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader and gladly so. How do I know? For this is what I have done. And I am Caesar." -Julius Caesar

::: posted by alura allumeuse at 9:38 AM

this morning on craig's list, a missed connection posted for elvis costello himself.

"dude, i saw you play at the roseland ballroom in '92 -- i waved, and you didn't wave back. what's up with that?"

also, thanks again to kurt for scoring two seventh-row tickets to elvis costello on june 9. happy birthday indeed...

::: posted by kevin seal at 8:06 AM

Thursday, May 23, 2002 :::

quickly blogging while on break from class, from random links I gathered earlier today and Mr. Seal insists I blog...

* Malkovich sez: kill the messenger.
* no, really. my friends are just plain old nuts. (actually, what's funny is that I e-mailed this to 3 associates...one of whom immediately called me and said he was actually taking part in this study and wanted to know where I'd found it. cripes.)
* is it breakfast, or is it art?
* this might be gone by the time you click it, but here's a funny but depressing story* about a Hearst media ass't who anonymously ripped her boss a new one on a website. they tracked her down and fired her ass, though.
* this is our "c-dev" homework (career development, one hour a week at MediaLink). might be useful for all the job-hunting bloggers...?

::: posted by alura allumeuse at 5:05 PM

No banana? Bad monkey!

I'm familiar with Ninja Tune, but not that particular band. I will investigate. And, speaking of the Griddle EPs, < plug>there's a fourth one out now which is an amalgamation of the three styles exploited on the Beaks and Feet trilogy. Just so you know... it's called Side by Each.< /plug>

Does Butch Kawasiki ever lurk these pale corridors? If so, Butch should read this Morrissey cartoon.

I forgot to mention the update on the CARP internet-radio battle: so far, so good.

::: posted by kevin seal at 12:37 PM

Wednesday, May 22, 2002 :::

Hello everyone. I will join in raising a glass to rogue.

Kev, so I was talking at lunch with the freelancer, Monica, here at work and she brought up a label called Ninja tune and a band they have called Up, Bustle and Out. Do you know of them? Anyways, she is describing how they are like 3 styles fused together and each song is sort of in a different position on a triangluar graph of their influences. So I told her about Griddle and its 3-CD set emphazising the different styles and sent her to the Griddle page.

"Oh god I'm so strung out oncoffeemy heart is palpitating what if i die? Just saw the Matrix Revolutions trailer at Ben's cool makes me want to go beat up an eighteen wheeler.
No banana?
Bad monkey!"

Allura, you pretty much have the Batman thing on the head. Real, hardcore Quebecois is a very harsh-sounding, gutteral language filled with weird liftings from english. It's a pretty ugly-sounding thing. The French in this is also hyper-sterotypical Parisian, and so is pretty funny as well. I think it is pretty cool you can tell them apart by tone.

If you ever want to try a taste of Paris without all the trouble, feel free to come here to Montreal. We're rude and all smoke as well.

As for our crazy Emporer Bush and what he knew, there are a lot of conspiracy buffs implying he knew the towers were going down and sacrificed all those people for oil. I don't think it is quite that simple. The one thing (besides secrecy and covering their own ass) that has defined this administration is arrogance. Absolute arrogance in the rightness of their god-given rule.
I think they ignored terrorism first because they were negotiating and it was a "Clinton foreign policy issue" (and therefore beneath their notice). Then the Taliban got stubborn about letting Unocal back in. That's when the threats to Afghanistan started. And I would not be at all surprised that as more Al Queda activity was noted, the administration figured they didn't have to pursue it because whatever happened would be an excuse to move in. After all, these were a bunch of primitive Arabs, what is the worst they could do? Attack another embassy? Maybe blow up a truck or a ship or something?

I think they arrogantly believed there was nothing too dangerous these guys could do, but whatever was done would be enough to work with. They had no idea something like the WTC attack was coming, it was beyond the scope of what they thought these people were capable of. (Although not beyond the scope of John O'Neill.)

On a lighter note: here is proof that Season 7 of Buffy The Vampire Slayer will be the last.

rogue, i'm sorry to hear about your employment travails... but i'm sure that someone with your degree of creativity will use the newfound time and freedom wisely. and yeah, it's good to flee a sinking ship anyway, especially if they give you good reason (and a pink slip is reason aplenty).

that makes two chicagoans for whom i would buy drinks were i there... wait, make that:
were i there, i would buy two chicagoans drinks. now. originally, there was only one. no. damn!

::: posted by kevin seal at 7:44 AM

Tuesday, May 21, 2002 :::

* New Tom Waits albums: very much in the same vein as the Black Rider and even Frank's Wild Years, his two previous theatrically purposed recordings. He seems to have a theatrical hat that he keeps on a slightly more Weill/Brechtian peg. Blood Money, so far, is edging out Alice as my favorite, though this is partially because I've had a copy of the original Alice demos for almost a year now. If you missed it, TW was on Fresh Aire with TG today, check out the archives.

::: posted by the boot at 6:59 PM

Hrm, that puts like half the bloggers as laid off, about to be, or questionably employed. Damn, that sucks. Someone tell me why we went to college again...? I should comb through the archives and find all of our posts about losing our jobs. Bwah ha ha! My current hope is to collect unemployment and babysit this summer. You know, have a summer break that involves taking classes and exploring SF with a small child.

I should be president. It would mean lots of vacation time. And people could just tutor me all day.

::: posted by alura allumeuse at 9:35 AM

And so - without much fanfare (though with plenty of warning) I joined the ranks of the unemployed yesterday.

I am undecided on how I really feel... on the one hand - working for the company sucked and prolly is going to fail under it's current management...and I get my freedom back... on the other hand - the paycheck was nice. Helas - at least I got enough severance to last a little while.

dunno about mac conflicts... were you on IE or Netscape?

Monday, May 20, 2002 :::

Felix's page won't do anything on this Flash-enabled Mac. ?!? Laurent, going back to Batman, is the diff between French and Quebecois dialect just that the latter is harsher, more urban, not spoken in that stereotypically snooty/effeminate way? Thanks for reminding me that my aural comprehension of French is nil, though. Although Emilie (front desk girl at snooty SF hotel where we were retrieving the Wiebe parental units) told me this weekend that I had a good accent when I was commanding my French-ignorant friend to sit down and be quiet. And she confirmed that Parisians were rude and that the entire country of France smokes. Heh. Gotta try living there anyway.

Just finished first MediaLink class. We had an overview of character development and pitching stories. Time to take my sore throat and snotty nose home.

added at 10pm: one of the pleasures of being a privileged American at the turn of the 21st century – standing your flu-aching body in an increasingly scalding hot shower until your poor water heater gives up, and then sliding your bright red skin into some silk boxers.

::: posted by alura allumeuse at 9:01 PM

file in the Promote Your Friends dep't: i keep stumbling upon cool shit that our friend felix has made. i especially love "round."

somebody in chicagoland buy that guy three fingers of whiskey. i'll reimburse you later.

also, for the radiohead fans: "i might be wrong," the seldom-seen video (slowlane and autobahn versions)

boot, what's the verdict on the new tom waits albums?

::: posted by kevin seal at 4:39 PM

I'll deal with the shame and dishonour of the double post later. Stephen Jay Gould is dead. He may have been a fat head who needed a good slap in person so he didn't seem so smug, but he was an interesting writer and always did throw an intriguing view on things.

::: posted by Laurent Castellucci at 3:48 PM

dan rather was always my favorite of the Big Three Nightly News White Guys -- a cannon that loose is fascinating -- but now i like him more.

::: posted by kevin seal at 8:55 AM

Sunday, May 19, 2002 :::

Laurent, you're right. Don't blog while drunk. Kevin has double-posted me before, but you double-posted yourself with the beliefnet quiz. Ha ha ha. Anyway, speaking of drunk, did I invent a drink tonight? Triple sec, irish cream and vanilla vodka. I call it the orange creamsicle. I also made whiskey, kahlua and irish cream (like an irish coffee?), which made me want to blow my brains through my nose, but my taste-tester enjoyed it.

I just finished my "California/Summertime mix" CD that I'm gonna mail to my friends just in time for Memorial Day. I was inspired to make it after hearing the terrible Casio-tinged rap "Oakland" by Too Short a few weeks ago. Yeahhhhhh. ;) So this mix is songs that are either about California, summertime, or remind me of those things. It's to make people want to move here or at least come visit me soon. ;)

::: posted by alura allumeuse at 10:47 PM

I've been devouring fruit. I swear if I could stomach orange rind I wouldn't even be peeling any of it. Just happy, caveman-like relish of tearing flesh and sucking juice. I must be deprived or something. (I hand made a pizza for myself and then couldn't eat it, I just needed more fruit.)

As long as we're talking of the Empire, here's a missing scene from Empire done in Lego.

OK, anyone else think that if a Democrat was in office, the timing of this warning would have the Republicans screaming "Wag the Dog"?

Trouble figuring out your spirituality? Try this. Or, for a more specific faith match, try the Belief-o-matic.

You guys probably won't find this that funny, but here is Batman in French and Quebecois. Worth it just for the accent.

I've always found eschatology interesting, since it is a more accurate term than apocalyptic (like evil bunnies). But, if you need to start a cult, here's a starter kit.