Just when you thought it might be normal... and CW Roelle art news

First things first, opening one week from Saturday - June 4 - CW Roelle's solo show in Woonsocket! site
Mom and J and I are going for the opening - it should be fun!

Second - I can't get the season finale of Alias out of my (currently aching)head. Most of it was an almost normal episode - fighting really big evil but not out of the ordinary for the show, not edge of the seat sort of stuff. Until the very end. WHAM!!! Doubled! I mean - I never thought I'd hear Vaughn say "First of all, my name isn't Michael Vaughn" and then the SUV nails them. Yikes. And now I'll likely have to wait until January or so until it comes back. I'm sure it will be worth the wait....

PS - Reading Wicked by Gregory Maguire - really enjoying it.

More likely to be hit on the head by falling airplane parts

In high school, I did a research report on Marine Life. I had a ton of fun and I think I showed researcher talents at that early stage - because I got a whole boatload of data from almost as many sources. One of my favorite stats was that you are "more likely to be hit on the head by falling airplane parts than attacked by a shark" - same for stung by a killer bee, struck by lightning, and now...

More people are killed every year by pigs than by sharks, which shows you how good we are at evaluating risk.
SECURITY EXPERT BRUCE SCHNEIER, AUTHOR OF “BEYOND FEAR” (SPRINGER 2003), IT CONVERSATIONS 5.2.05

First bunnies, now ninjas!

I've been suffering from 30 Second Bunny Theatre withdrawal of late - but the site tells me there will be stuff available soon!

In the meantime, I've found Tiny Ninja Theatre -

Tiny Ninja Theater is a New York City-based company dedicated to the principle that “there are no small parts, only small actors.” It was founded in 1999 by company director Dov Weinstein. “I had noticed that there were these tiny plastic ninjas in vending machines all across the city,” says Weinstein, “but no one was using them to perform classical theater. Something had to be done.”

This sounds like fun! I would like the job of casting. Except instead of vending machines I'd hit flea markets... (found via Bookslut)

Theophilus on a winning streak!

From an email from Dan:

we competed last night against 5 bands at Bethel
church for a spot on the Kingdom Bound festival at
Darien Lake this year. It was a judged showcase. We
now advance to the semi-finals near buffalo on July 25th.

winners!

Theophilus wins this round - with 61 of 89 votes!!!!:)

I love this stat:

"Studies conducted by Yahoo! and Starcom Media have led to what is being called the “38-hour day,” where women indicate their total time spent on individual activities in one day added up to 38 hours of activity inside a 24-hour period. BRANDWEEK 4.25.05"

No, not math error, the multi-tasking that is so necessary in our lives!

Finally, I think I need to move Episode 2 up in my queue so I can see Episode 3 on the big screen. Our local critic says it's better than Return of the Jedi - I'm highly intrigued!!! These were so integral to childhood for the 3 of us, I'm pretty excited. And word has it Tom Stoppard helped with dialogue!! That's gotta be cool!

Miscellany

Last night I thought to myself "I'm a social soul in a bashful shell" - (I was hitting my head for not actually having a conversation with interesting folks, just giving the short answer, bowing my head, and ducking out the door.)

Sonny's website has been updated!!! More CW Roelle philosophy, and more art! Go see!

I've been a bad sister and I've failed to adequately hype the next round of the Battle of the Bands for Theophilus (Dan). Of course, he could have done it himself, grumble grumble - no it's not a chore, I've just been in a different space. And I probably won't make it (Milestone's 10pm Tonight!) myself, as I am leaving work not on time (although that's not unusual, really) and have a killer day ahead tomorrow.

Out 'til midnight and Guiness and loud music (tho' good) don't mesh with a day holed up in a conference room, trying to pull hundreds of pages of data across 10 different people's areas from 20 different sources into one story to be told on 4 slides.

Well, good luck to all. Here's hoping I survive tomorrow!

And the mood today is....

I feel like the string on a weedwacker - spinning at such an out of control speed that at any moment I could break off and go hurdling through space.......

I have soooo much to do!!!

But it's an 85 degree, sunny day in early May in Rochester and all I really WANT to do is lie on my lawn, occasionally getting up to find more fruit, milkshake, or fruity shakes.....

The sacrifices I make. I have to watch the sugar today, though, cause I'm liable to go into scary hyper mode - fingers shaking so they can't type, head and feet dancing around, trying to create presentations while sitting on my desk because I just can't sit in the chair any more - and typing way too many words that leadership won't want to swim through...

Signs of life in the new yard

Spring! 

I love spring! I know I'll be taking a lot of pictures of the various stages of life in our yard this year, too - very exciting! I really like this one of the little tree (J thinks it's a cherry tree) out front. It looks much less sad with flowers on it!

Speaking of signs of life - how about swimming in a sea of bioluminescent micro-organisms? This sounds way super cool. I would think, though, that the abundance would draw cool predators, but this article doesn't really dwell on that. Whatever - I want to go!

Book #11

Book #11 was Letters from the Flesh. I don't know. It was enjoyable - a short book that pulled along from chapter to chapter, especially with the alternating narratives or letter streams. Let me back up. This book is written in 2 series of letters, one from a dis-embodied alien that lands in Saul/Paul of Tarsus at the time of his name change, the other from a scientist/fruit-fly researcher to her cousin. It was fun and amusing and I was very interested in where it was going ... until it got there.
I don't know. The way it wrapped up threw me off. I don't think I was offended. Disappointed a bit - it seemed to push too far and too neatly? It's hard to say just what it was, but I wandered the house a bit last night thinking "that just wasn't right".

Good deeds and good book

Drop City - I really enjoyed Boyle's tone in this tale of a commune's transition to the wilderness. There are two categories of perspective in the tale - hippie and Alaskan settler - and each captures the essence of those communities. Mainly simply a well-written story to enjoy as you flip through - I did get a sense of the message of "to each his own" - that each person's definition of freedom, peace, living in the wild is a bit different, but that there's nothing necessarily wrong with that. Highly entertaining, some great characters - leaves you wanting more.

For the Day of Caring on Friday I worked on the "Give a kid a healthy smile" campaign - we canvassed a neighborhood in a rough section of the city, getting the word out about the importance of good dental care in young kids, trying to get people to come get their kids' teeth photographed and evaluated. The issue of Early Childhood Carries, or baby-bottle tooth decay, is real and scary. Kids 6 and under with rotting, broken, abcessed teeth - and an 8 month backlog on corrective surgery because demand is so high. A HIGHLY satisfying day and kudos to Moka for organizing this. Typically we do yardwork at a group home and that's nice, they appreciate it. This was on such a different scale, you almost can't compare.

Watch for flying entrails

Man, I would NOT want to be in Hamburg right now. Talk about creepiness!!! What could cause this? I like the evil curse theory, or potentially a pissed off local spirit/ deity better than the "scared by crows" one offered in the article.

I'll talk about Drop City tomorrow - have to run now...

listen up people

if you do anything this week, it will be going to see Kung Fu Hustle, right? right.
trust me. that is what you will do and that will be why this is a good week for you.

Thanks to science ...

I am so relieved to know that the elusive issue of unpopped popcorn has been resolved!!!
"Popcorn breeder" sounds like not your everyday, run of the mill career....

Stairway to nowhere

Sonny took me to a building in Providence. Inside the door, you ascend a few steps to a landing, from which the stairway curves off to the left and right. Only the left stair goes anywhere - the right runs smack dab into the floor of the 2nd story landing. I found this highly curious and it keeps coming back to me since. I wonder if you closed your eyes, took a deep breath and ran up it - would you end up with a concussion and possibly more from tumbling back down after impact or could you possibly bust the illusion and end up...somewhere else? That would be soooooooo cool.

So, the trip to Providence! I had a great time. Sonny was still fighting a cold so we weren't in a frenzy of activity, but we still did quite a bit and I enjoy hanging out with Sonny anyway. Hanging with him, you're almost forced to drop some of the limitations you put on yourself in everyday life - to exist at a more spontaneous level. I actually found myself a little lost when I got home because of that.

We went to two art shows: the one at the Gallery Agniel where Sonny has a piece, and Catherine Hamilton's show at the Providence Art Club. Very cool - both.

Lunch on Thursday at Cuban Revolution - where I had a mango-strawberry milkshake, a cheese empanada, and black beans & rice. Diet schmiet, I was visiting my brother! Yum and fun atmoshpere. Dinner at an Italian joint, Sicilia's - good stuffed pizza and garlic bread.

Thursday night we went to see M Ward. Good show, but a bit mellow for me being so tired. I have to admit I almost dozed a couple of times.

Oh, yeah and we saw Sin City Thursday, too! Quite the movie, and Sonny and I had the theatre to ourselves for it! Not that we wanted to talk much, but it was almost like having a really awesome living room.... Liked the movie, probably would have understood it a bit more if I had read the comics. Definitely wanted to know more about the stories and characters.
With Sin City was a preview for The Skeleton Key - the movie J and I saw filming in New Orleans - it's due out this summer - a ghost/voodoo bayou movie that looks pretty cool....

Friday, we had brunch at Julian's - really good French toast with real maple syrup...
Did some antiquing, visited with Will, hung out and made CDs.

Good trip - as always wish it was longer, but we'll do it again soon...

Oh, and Book #10 was Catcher in the Rye - hadn't read this since high school. Now, it doesn't seem all that outrageous to me, even if he was only 16. Not great stuff for a 16 year old to do, but not really shocking. I'm tending to think about it more from the perspective of why he was so depressed, what might make him happy, if he had that, what would his approach to things be. Has me thinking, that's a good thing.

Gotta run.

feelin better

so i guess that if you stay upp late every night for over two weeks to get work done (by late i mean 2 or 3am) and get up at 7, then you get sick. like i did last week, which was my first week "off". it lasted all week which im sure was no fun for aprille when she was here. we still did a bunch of stuff (sin city, m. ward, goin out to eat, couple a art shows). then i worked a bunch this weekend and went on a long bike ride in nice weather and now i am well(er) and working on pieces for my show coming up in june.
thats all.

Trip part1 - follow the red brick line....

Tuesday and Wednesday in Boston - bummer that the nice weekend weather we'd been having didn't extend to MA for this trip, but a few cold fingers on the way to an awesome supper never really hurt anyone....

Stayed at the Club Quarters downtown. I think of Boston as a "recently quit smoking" town - the 2 times I've been the rental cars and this hotel room have smelled of stale cigarette smoke - the smell you can't quite get out of fabrics after years of exposure. That made me a little ill.

I love the streets of downtown Boston. They twist and turn and the buildings are piled right on top of the curves, so they are really like canyons. I would love to take time to explore more - when it's not quite so cold so I'll be more in a picture taking mood....

Had a raucous dinner at Prezza. Met Kat' for a quick round of catch up at South Station - in life, when decisions are made it is best to proceed boldly and with style - Kat' has done that well and I applaud her. When we were in high school and college, I'd often write Kat' to deal with tough things, to clear my head -it always helped. It was good to have a chance to chat, to see that that same bond still holds, for me at least. Have to do it more often, though.

Then, off to the train and Part2, which I'll write about tomorrow, along with Book #10 and whatever else begs to be typed. 'night

First they take....

Poor Cookie Monster! He'll lose his whole identity!

"Even Cookie Monster is learning to control his cookie cravings," Frist told me by e-mail. "His sage advice opened our eyes to the simple joys of a tasty cookie and now reminds us that moderation is the key to healthy living."

Cookie Monster was not available for comment. (I'm hoping he hasn't gone too Hollywood.)

"We are not putting him on a diet," said his spokesman, Truglio. "And we would never take the position of no sugar. We're teaching him moderation."

It's just soooo wrong - Cookie was all about excess - teaching him moderation is like teaching Big Bird to face the facts that Snuffy isn't "real"!

Poor kids nowadays. Nothing is sacred.

Local flavors, of sorts

This weekend, J and I had some great food.
Saturday afternoon, we went to Simply Crepes for lunch -I had a small Simply Salad (walnuts, blue cheese, strawberries, etc.) and a Raspberry Gulee (yummm) and J had a Smoked Salmon crepe.


Then, we stopped at the Pittsford Dairy - got fresh milk and red pepper/ mozzarella raviolis from the Ravioli Shop (yumm yumm). One thing I really liked about the dairy was that a lot of the "other" merchandise they carried but did not make was made by local small vendors - supporting local food "artisans"!
J also got "home state" pop - Vermont Maple Soda - kinda' freaky, but it's like drinking a whole bunch of maple sugar candy with each sip - sugary fun!

Sunday, we walked up to I Scream - the ice cream parlor near our place - J got a Mocha Malted and I got the full-burn Chocolate Malted with homemade chocolate sauce. The guy there is really cool and makes really good real malteds - I think we'll visit often.

In the vein of supporting local food folks, here's a site to help you find local cafe's with just a zip code.

Book #9 - Drop City by T.C. Boyle - will discuss more after book club....

Off to Boston and a visit with Sonny in Providence tomorrow - taking Catcher in the Rye, Bouzi by Jennifer Robin (a U of R grad), and The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.

Correction

The tulips weren't stolen - sorry to smear the squirrels.... They coming up strong - also a lot of curious looking bits and pieces sprouting around the yard - can't wait to see what they turn into!

Catching up

Wow, I haven't been able to post in a bit - things are once again, and as always, crazy at work and I don't have time to write. What's been up? Shopping and a visit from Mom, awesome malted milkshakes, Adaptation finally finished, Easter, a leaky window, a dying dryer, mouse #4, Dan's birthday (Happy Birthday Dan!), and other adventures.

It's cool to see the yard again after all the snow. Now starts the adventure of discovering what the previous owners planted that will come back this year. The bulbs I planted in the fall were all stolen by squirrels - nasty rodents....

Book #8 - The Subterraneans-by Jack Kerouac. I love Kerouac's tone and rhythm. At times the long drawn out sentences that carry you back and forth in time, from one event or conversation to another, threatened to sweep me away in the flood of thoughts pouring forth. This flow conveys excitement, passion, regret, despair. It makes the story so much more real. I had to fight a bit of depression at the constant gloom that hung over the city, but Percepied found ways of escaping it that once again swept you along. In terms of the story - I had not realized this was based on an actual affair in Kerouac's life, though I think I may have guessed at it. A sad tale of the inability to trust yourself or your love - of a constant burning desire to be at the center of everything that ends up driving those you truly care for away... Good read...