overheard (or, i know this much is pru)

(the Prudential building in Boston and the building next to it that one of my friends thinks is supposed to look like a chess queen)

"That the Pru and the building next to it are supposed to look like the King and Queen from a chess set (far right in this picture) -- did you make that up? I've twice mentioned this idea to other people and they didn't believe me."
"You were the one who told that to me. Seriously."
"No way! You were totally the one who told me. You are always mixing me up with other people. Totally."
"I have no idea who told me this if you didn't. I certainly don't vouch for it being true. I didn't even believe it when you told me about it."
"That's so weird. I didn't believe you when you told me about it either."

coitical mass

E-mail from a special JFW correspondent:

Just had tea with friends who were at this week's Moynihan Conference at Harvard. Among the speakers at the conference was Karl Zinsmeister, Bush's assistant for domestic policy. Apparently, his talk focused on the institution of marriage as the "cure to all of society's ills" - drug use, incarceration, teenage pregnancy, etc. In fact, says Zinsmeister, strengthening the institution of marriage is the single most important thing we can do for our country. Having some appreciation of the fact that he was talking to a room full of social scientists, Zinsmeister was careful to specify the causal mechanism which makes this so, stating that the reason that marriage is so important is that it "harnesses the nuclear reactor of male sexual energy."

I suppose we should all be thankful that boys make it through adolescence without vaporizing everyone for hundreds of miles and poisoning the groundwater for generations.

Pamela Anderson and Rick Solomon get marriage license

Pamela Anderson and Rick Solomon have applied for and obtained a marriage license. The pair got the license Saturday afternoon in Las Vegas.

Solomon dated Paris Hilton in the past and is known for starring in her sex tape, ‘One Night in Paris.’ Solomon wed Elizabeth Dailey in 1995 and divorced her in 2002. He married ‘90210’ actress Shannen Doherty in 2002, but their marriage was annulled after 9 months.

Anderson also has two marriages under her belt. She married Motley Crue singer Tommy Lee in 1995, and later divorce him. She then married Kid Rock in 2006 and filed for divorce the same year.

She recently spoke about falling in love with a poker player who asked for sexual favors instead of paying him a $250,000 debt. It is now believed she was referring to Solomon, as he is a poker player.

making money making money

NYT has a story about a couple that was arrested following their attempted use of "Liberty Dollars" at a restaurant. The couple has a blog about their arrest. I've just now spent several minutes reading the website for Liberty Dollars, "America's second most popular currency." This guy is making his own money and selling it. The pitch is that the money is backed by actual silver, although the silver it is backed by is only about half what silver trades for on the open market. Since buying these dollars is a purchase that fundamentally makes no sense--other than the mirth of having a coin with Ron Paul's face on it--the guy has to come up with reasons why one should do it anyway, and he does it with gusto. Wrap your head around these consecutive sentences:

Just imagine, while your US Dollars are losing purchasing power, the Liberty Dollars are appreciating in value and rewarding everyone holding the new gold and silver currency that keeps pace with inflation.

Plus the Liberty Dollar is easy for merchants and customers use because it functions dollar-for-dollar with the US dollar as its "unit of account" is exactly the same.

Anyway, I don't think much was gained by arresting the couple in the NYT story, but I might support keeping them in jail anyway just to keep them from breeding.

Thursday's first,

skipped school.
attended private dinner @ hotel @ night.
discussed events and all.
and so,
im going to be the emcee on that day.
supposedly for both English and Chinese.
THUS,
GLENYS SOH WANLING! i need your help,
for the chinese part.
Help me be the emcee for chinese(:(:(:(:.

AND i might get a one night stay in the hotel room/suite
for FREE!

and the best part,
i may celebrate my birthday in the hotel then.(:
HAHAHAHAHA(:

Friday:
FUCK HELL.
just reached the gate when bell rang.
They got me to unpick my skirt again.
2 times in a week.
GRRRRR,
waste my money on taxi to school.


TODAY:

FUNFAIR!
went to school at normal time.
left school @ 9 plus.
went home with sheevonne and shuen.
brought porsche down to play with him.
took photos(:
hahaha.
then left my hse at arnd 12.
wanted to take cab.
but obviously,
the can couldnt fit 6 pple.
so decided to bus back to school instead.

Nat and his 3 other friends came at arnd 1 plus.
cheryl, some butch and a guy.
The butch has like so many piercing.
AND, i didnt get to see their tatoo!
RAH.
OH&&&!
cheryl is damn sick.
Me: buy brownies.
cheryl: LOOKS at my chest and says,where's your brownie?

PERVOOOOOOOOOO.

sat arnd,
waited for weijie and gang to come.

they came at arnd 2.
after his dragon boating training.
weijie, chris, poon and i cant rmb, John or smth.
walked arnd.
deciding whether they wanted to play the gladator fight.

then my brother was tired and grumpy,
cos he wanted the fish.
So we went FISHING *.*.
caught 4 fishes.
poon, weijie and nat caught abt 3-4 each also.
and they gave all to my brother.(:

Walked arnd somemore,
then slacked at the canteen area,
infront of our stall.
asked them to buy brownies and all.
talked,
played with my brother and all.
AND he was still grumpy.*.*.

at 3,
i had to go to the stall.
And my brother refused to go with weijie and the rest.
Like he was scared of their muscles or smth.
OR
Because he kept asking my brother to drink his CHOC MILK.HAHAHA.
so went back to the canteen to sit.

After that Ethan and his gf, pearlyn came,
asked them to buy more.
like icecream and all.
HAHAHA.
weijie went to buy more tickets.
& bought 3 fighting fish for caleb.*.*
and they bought meesiam and all,

leaving only 1 buck for me to buy drink.
RAH.

after that they all left to watch balls of fury.
packed up and all,
counted money,
IF ONLY IT WAS REAL CASH $.$
HAHAHA.

GUESS WHAT.
I FOUND ANOTHER 7 BUCKS WORTH OF TICKETS IN MY WALLET.
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR,
wasted mney buying more tickets.

ALL TGT I SOLD/BOUGHT 14 Tickets= 140 bucks.
and i still have 7 BUCKS LEFT.
RAHRAHRAH.


YUPX,
THANKS FOR COMING(:

FYRB♥
-------------
ITS ALL WITHIN YOUR MIND,
REMEMBER WHAT YOUR C ,TOLD YOU,
DO NOT LET YOUR FEELINGS n EMOTIONS CONTROL YOU.
SO AS NOT TO AFFECT YOU.
WHAT YOU THINK IS HOW YOU WILL REACT.
LOVE,
___ ____.

geometry

If there was anything about math that I had vaguely liked, it was geometry.

There is something about the order, balance, symmetry, form and pattern in geometry that is pleasurable, even poetic. Maybe because these are qualities mirrored in nature, with its own bag of patterns and form, its own rhythmns, cycles and hierarchies that order life. If nature is the work of a perfect Creator, then in art - man's creative outcome - the principles of geometry have often held both their aesthetic and spiritual grounds on what could be considered perfect or beautiful.

I finally watched the Louis Kahn documentary My Architect that L had passed to J some time ago and had J talking about Louis Kahn virtually non-stop for days. Like J, I too had these scenes, images and ideas from the documentary that refused to leave my mind. And if there's a word to sum up these post-viewing thoughts, it would probably be geometry.

The documentary was made by 1 of 2 illegitimate children that Kahn had. Nathaniel Kahn knew his father through weekly visits up until his death when the filmmaker was 11. As such, his search and quest to understand his late father forms the other narrative of the documentary. For all the order and public monumentality of Kahn's most famous buildings that the filmmaker's eyes (and camera) scan, these views are balanced by the seeming disorder of the relationships in the intensely private personal life of the architect. And in a relationship between parent and child - a relationship not by choice, a relationship of inheritance and hence repetition/pattern - the need for order All of this makes the narrative of Nathaniel Kahn's search for his father among his work all the more poignant.

You could say that there is a similar pattern of contradiction yet beauty in Kahn's works. For all the austerity and grand scale of Kahn's works, they seem (at least to my untrained eyes) premised on the simple geometry of forms and planes - a circle, a triangle, a square, their intersections - and by extension, the geometry of nature in play with the structures. There is seldom any ornamentation. Instead, there is only the space itself, or the patterns inherent in nature/materials or the process of creation, or the forms and patterns and sense of space created by the falling or bodies of water.

What more, for the cold austerity and grand scale of Kahn's works, they also appear to have touched individuals at a personal and almost spiritual level. The documentary ends, for instance, with Kahn's last work - Bangladesh's parliamentary building in the capital Dhaka. (R above- photo by Karl E Roehl). The interviews with the Bangladeshi architects who had worked with Kahn on the project were strangely very moving. Both in fact spoke with tears in their eyes! After all, it was on Kahn's return journey from a working visit for this project (the buildings were completed some 9 years after Kahn's death) that he died of a heart attack in a train station and lay unclaimed in the city morgue for 3 days since the address in his passport was deliberately crossed out.

A man who spent his life creating spaces with a sense of place dies without an address, alone despite having 3 families, and bankrupt despite the wealth of meaning he has created for the users of his buildings. If irony had a geometric value, one could call it a dark symmetry.

MARIAH CAREY THINKS YOU WANT TO WATCH

Ask yourself a question. Would you ever want to watch Mariah Carey using the loo? Presumably the answer is no (if it's yes, get help, now), but Mariah thinks she's so bloody wonderful it's just the kind of thing any normal, heterosexual woman would want to witness.

Having drunk a little too much at a recent VH1 Music Cares event, according to Rush & Molloy, Madam Mariah needed to empty her swollen bladder. Rather than behaving like a normal human being and discretely nipping off for a slash, she sent two of her burly bodyguards into the ladies ahead of her demanding that everyone in there left.

Two women, to their eternal credit, refused and stood their ground, in response to which one of Mariah's 'people' barked the ridiculous order: "If you're going to stay, you better not watch Mariah pee."
Which does make you wonder whether she usually leaves the door wide open or maybe just pisses in the sink.

carpe podium

WSJ article on "Last Lecture Series," in which professors are asked to deliver a lecture as if hypothetically it was the last one they would ever give, with a story about a public lecture by a professor for whom the Last Lecture was not hypothetical [HT:RPS].

Denise Richards and Pamela Anderson consider posing nude together for Playboy

Pamela Anderson and Denise Richards have reportedly been offered $1 million to pose nude together for the January 2008 issue of Playboy. The women, who became good friends while filming ‘Blonde and Blonder,’ are said to be considering the offer from Playboy boss Hugh Hefner.

Both women have posed nude for the magazine in the past. “Neither Pam nor Denise has committed yet, but they’re seriously considering it,” a source says.

Meanwhile, Richards is involved in a messy custody battle with ex-husband Charlie Sheen. The couple is fighting over visitation rights of their two daughters. Richards alleges Sheen is inappropriately attracted to underage girls and reveals his “private parts” on the internet. A former nanny for Sheen claims she has seen the actor inappropriately touching his daughters.

breaches

Northwestern's policy makes it technically breach of contract if faculty members discover an incident of academic misconduct and try to handle it themselves rather than refer it immediately to the Dean's office. I like this idea so much more than Wisconsin's policy, which required you first to meet one-on-one with the student and only pass it forward if you intended to implement any punishment. An interesting twist is that if a lecturer or junior faculty member at Northwestern and tried to handle it The Wisconsin Way, the student could turn around and try to blackmail the teacher for their misconduct-misconduct.

First incident of undergraduate plagiarism that I had at Wisconsin involved a class where the TA caught the student. I don't remember if this was the case where the undergrad's reference to their "35 years of experience in the field" was the giveaway that perhaps the student had not written the text in question, or the one whose paper included "(see map on page 537)." Anyway, the TA was convinced this was an anomalous experience. "Good student; sociology major" he said, more than once.* I had to meet with her and she had a story for how some emergency had happened and she was scared about turning in the assignment late and so took something quick off the Internet. I believed her. After all, she looked really remoseful and scared. But there was another assignment out and ten seconds of Googling revealed that one to be plagiarized as well. Turns out, she had even been lying about being a sociology major.**

* No, I didn't really understand why the idea of her being a sociology major was supposed to make her less like to commit misconduct, either.

** All that evidence that people in positions of authority aren't any better at detecting when people are lying, but they do believe that they are: you don't believe it applies to you until confronted with the fact that it does.

they bother you up, your mum and dad. and if they don't get you...

...writing a book regarded as wildly brilliant in one's late twenties or early thirties surely will. Case in point: Douglas Hofstadter, whose I Am A Strange Loop I started reading last night. I remember reading Hofstadter's 1979 Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid when I was a senior in college and thinking this was the most miraculously clever book I had ever read in my life. Hofstadter says readers mostly missed the real point of GEB--regarding consciousness--and that he is going to take a second try at the heart of the matter at IAASL. He also says "I would characterize I Am A Strange Loop as being my own best shot at describing what 'the human condition' is." A hundred pages in, the human condition is apparently wildly disorganized and as much about indulging the self-admiration of Douglas Hofstadter as anything else. I remember there being a current of that in GEB, but now it has gone from current to a scorching thermonucleoelectro wave.

At least I think this is what's happened. I was a lot younger when I read GEB, and so I'm wondering if I would be less enamored of it if I read it now. This is when you know an Established Brilliant Person has really bothered up a book, when you not only want to discard the book at hand, but it makes you question the work that led you to conclude they were brilliant in the first place.

Update: OK, now I just went back and started looking at my copy of GEB and, particularly, my mark-ups in the margins. The new hypothesis is that I am misremembering GEB--specifically, I recalled the good parts of the book and forgot how many problems I had with the character of many of his arguments, even back them. Plus, the cleverness of Godel, Cantor, Turing, etc., rubbed off onto my assessment of him much more then than now, perhaps. It bothers you up, aging does.

Jessica Biel: The Next Wonder Woman?

Jessica Biel is in talks to play Wonder Woman in Warner Bros.' upcoming Justice League of America, with the superhero all-star flick possibly serving to launch Biel's own comic-book movie franchise, according to Variety.

The live-action film aims to bring together several of DC Comics biggest stars: Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman, Aquaman and the Flash.

A studio rep declined to comment on Tuesday, saying Warners would rather make one big announcement regarding the ensemble. So far, Biel is the first big-name actor linked to the highly anticipated—at least among fanboys—project.

(London's Guardian newspaper has reported that producers have also done a screen test with up-and-coming Australian actress Victoria Hill.)

If Biel ends up being cast in as Diana, the busty Amazonian princess warrior turned American icon, the 25-year-old actress would also be in line to star in a series of Wonder Woman feature-film spinoffs. Warners is reportedly envisioning JLA as a means to kick start both Wonder Woman and Flash stand-alone features.

A Wonder Woman flick has long been a passion of the studio. At one point, Buffy the Vampire Slayer mastermind Joss Whedon was on board to write and direct, but he pulled out last February, criting creative differences and leaving the project in limbo.

Whedon and the studio had apparently clashed over the casting the lead role. And although former Buffy stars Sarah Michelle Gellar and Charisma Carpenter were among those rumored to be in contention to don the tiara, Whedon said he had not settled on his dream Wonder Woman.

JLA had also been on the drawing board for years, but things began to pick up steam when director George Miller, best known for his Mad Max and Babe franchises as well as last year's Oscar-winning 'toon Happy Feet, had come aboard to direct the superfriends film.

Studio executives are reportedly eager to get JLA before cameras before a potential Hollywood strike by writers and actors next summer.

After breaking out as minister's daughter Mary Camden on the long-running WB series 7th Heaven, Biel transitioned to feature films, including the 2003 remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Blade: Trinity, Stealth with Jamie Foxx and The Illusionist, opposite Edward Norton.

Her most recent credits include the Iraq War drama Home of the Brave, the sci-fi thriller Next with Nicolas Cage and the summer's hit Adam Sandler-Kevin James comedy, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. After Biel wraps Powder Blue with Forrest Whitaker and Ray Liotta, she'll segue to A Woman of No Importance, Bruce Beresford's upcoming film based on the Oscar Wilde play.

If Warner Bros. can get the casting situation resolved quickly, JLA could start shooting by early next year, enough time to beat the strike deadline, and be in theaters by 2009.

But finding the right people to fill the tights has always proven problematic, especially when it comes to the Man of Steel and the Caped Crusader.

Neither Superman Returns star Brandon Routh nor Batman Begins hero Christian Bale will appear in JLA—both have expressed concerns that the new film will dilute their already successful franchises.

Production on the next Superman film is expected to proceed as soon as director Bryan Singer completes work on Valkyrie, his World War II drama starring Tom Cruise.

Meanwhile, Christopher Nolan has been shooting his Batman sequel, The Dark Knight, for a July 18, 2008 release.

went to Elaine's hse after school.
tgt with Sheevonne, Hilly and Pepsie.
watched the hills have eyes 2.
i was damn scared initially,
so i did my maths.
However, after that,
i want scraed anymore,
so i watched like most of it.
except for parts whereby Hilly sudden screamed,
or jumped or whatever.
HAHAHAHA.
After that, watched high school Musical 2 also.
heh.
we left her hse arnd 5.30pm.

so, ive got back all my papers.
improved slightly for certain subjects(:
&&&suprisingly,
POA(:(:(:(:(:
i even thought that i would fail(:
Oh&, my outline of the unseen poetry was correct(:
the story was exactly what i thought, happened between the charaters.
not luck,but more of ______.

i'm still left with friday, saturday, next tue and maybe wed.
RAHHHHHHHHHHHHHh.

everlasting pain of the previous loss remains.
the hole it had left,
left a great mark.

i just need time.

FYRB♥
------------------------

: CHARMAINE LEONG!!!!!!!!,
YOU DONT HAVE TO FUCKING SPARE A THOUGHT FOR OTHERS ALREADY.
WHAT FOR? AND GET SHIT IN RETURN?
ITS NOT WORTH IT, MY DEAR.
JUST REMEMBER THIS,
YOU DONT OWE ANYONE ANYTHING,
LASTLY,
EVERYONE HAS FREEWILL,
LET THEM DO WHATEVER THEY WANT.
JUST KNOW THAT EVERY DECISION LEADS TO CONSEQUENCES.
FUCKING DON'T GET INVOLVE IN ANYTHING WILL DO.
WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND,
THE TRUTH,
YOU'RE DYING TO FIND OUT EVERYTHING,
DON'T RUSH,
JUST WAIT.

VENGENCE IS NOT FROM YOU,
ITS FROM GOD,

BEAR THIS IN MIND, MY DEAR.
3673837,
LOVE,
9687 26435 :)

his dark materials

My next-door colleague Gary Alan Fine has a restaurant blog, running for more than a couple years now. How did I not know this?

Also, in the annals of "Oops, I Did It Again," I hypothesized that I would have better motivation to perseverate while exercising if I listened to an audiobook rather than music. So I bought The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials, Book 1) on iTunes. I did listen to it while I exercised, then I also spent 9 more hours over the last two days not exercising but listening to it all the way to the end. (Very highly recommended, btw, at least in audiobook form.) Says a friend, "You should just decide you are only going to listen to it while you are exercising." Yeah, right. Those stories about women suddenly having the strength to lift cars off of their children are more plausible than the idea of me suddenly having a burst of will-muscle that would allow me to do that once I am into a story.

Still not as bad as when I sat around listening straight through to the final 12 hours of the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix audiobook, my least favorite of the HP series anyway.

Brat – Not Quite Right

Brat – Not Quite Right/ Long Time Away –Red Rooster Records (1974 US)

This is in fact the first release by Artful Dodger prior to signing to Columbia and to big shot management team Leber-Krebs. Artful Dodger never really made it, but were big favourites as they really hit the spot with their special mix of Power Pop /Byrdsian jangle and upfront raspy Faces rock. All 4 albums are worth seeking out –but I especially recommend their first two ( self-titled and Honor Amongst The Thieves) as well as their later album as a four piece on Ariola (Rave On). Not Quite Right finds the band at the boogier edge of the spectrum, although the intro is reminiscent of Wayside and there’s enough melodicism to elevate them way above being average boogie merchants. Long time Away is simply gorgeous and is very different to the version found on their first album.

Click below for edits of Not Quite Right and Long Time Away

there is nothing in sports journalism more delicious than reading cricket news when you know hardly anything about cricket

Actual paragraph, encountered just now:

The architects of the Indian triumph were the two left-armers, Rudra Pratap Singh and Irfan Pathan, both of whom scalped three wickets to scupper the chase. Singh struck in both his opening overs, having Mohammad Hafeez caught at slip and knocking Kamran Akmal's off stump out of the ground, but Imran Nazir played a blinder at the other end to keep his side ahead of the asking rate.

Left-armer! Wicket-scalper! Chase-scupperer! Slip-catcher! Stump-knocker! Blinder-player! Ahead-of-the-asking-rate-keeper!

overheard plus

This one was actually submitted by JFW premium subscriber from Dwarfamor, ME:

"I really think I want to do something to make a difference this year."
"Me, too. The difference I am committed to making is that I'm going to go to my classes."

Another friend e-mailed me to say that her department has decided that this fall they will have a retreat. The idea being to talk about some larger and weightier issues about structure and collegiality. Northwestern sociology had a retreat this summer, although it was held in a conference room and was not that different from how you'd imagine a seven-hour faculty meeting. In the case of my friend's retreat, they are having a professional moderator--intriguing occupation, that--and they are talking about going to a lodge. As my friend was telling me about all this, I just kept thinking one thing: this is the best premise for an academic murder mystery novel that I have ever heard in my life. Sort of like Straight Man meets And Then There Were None.

Meg White Sex Tape Scandal: Reason For Canceled White Stripes Gigs?

The Meg White Sex Tape has caused quite a stir. Meg White of The White Stripes, a band known for their raw low-fidelity sound, appears to have a sex tape blazing up bandwidth on the internet.

In the stills below, it sure does look like Meg but one cannot be 100% certain. And given the climate of fakes these days, one has to question the authenticity first.

On Sept 11, 2007 The White Stripes canceled their forthcoming engagements because Meg White was suffering from "acute anxiety". We can't help but wonder if the anxiety is due to this sex tape that has splashed onto the web.

To Download the video click here

the honeymooners

"Mom, have you ever been to Chicago?"
"We went there for our honeymoon. It was awful."
"What happened?"
"Before we went, my father said to me 'You go there, you look straight ahead. You don't look at anyone, or they'll stab you'."
"."
"And then we were staying on the nineteenth floor of this hotel and it had a fire."
"."
"That wasn't really so bad. What was bad was the entire time I was there I just kept thinking somebody is going to kill me."
"Well, that was 54 years ago."
"Yes, that was back when there wasn't as much crime."
"If you come visit, I promise you won't get stabbed."

did hair dressing and make-up-ing for my
VALUED CUSTOMER ystr(:




so Peng's name is Julian.
isnt Julian better.?
Why must call Peng?
like olden days lol.
anw,
Monday,
8pm,
channel U,
Hey!gorgeous(:

Party downstairs now.
NOISY
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

norms of engagement, 2

So, the discussion of the norms about blogging conferences, colloquia, seminars, etc., has extended into one of the longer threads Orgtheory has had, and I appear there to be staking out a lonely position. Most of the other participants seem much into the idea that "manners" provide the overriding principle for academic discourse. I see manners more as superstructure and other principles as constituting the base. Asking for permission is an action done with different kinds of ideas about the obligations of the other person to respond favorably. Sometimes, one asks permission with the understanding that it really is entirely the right of the other person to decline. Other times, one "asks permission" with the idea that the other person ought to have a good reason if they are going to decline, or else they are practicing bad manners themselves.

When I talk about a specific situation being "fair game" for blogging, perhaps one can say that courtesy implies a ritual exchange of asking permission and having it granted--in other words, "asking permission" in the second sense above. Whatever. I would prefer a world in which faculty feel comfortable engaging in discourse about ideas rather than feeling they have to go through some mutual grooming exercise beforehand, but others clearly disagree.

Still, in terms of the idea of what is genuinely within a speaker's discretion to squelch public commentary about, I am surprised at how some of the commentators regard things as private that seem to me obviously not private. While I still believe in the basic heuristics that anything that can be put on a CV is fair game for blogging, I think three other heuristics are even harder to argue with, although maybe one can say a person should "ask permission" with the presumption it will be granted:

1. If a talk is fully open to the public, it is fair game for blogging.

2. If a talk is open to individuals with media credentials, it is fair game for blogging.

3. If a talk is recorded and made available publicly on the Internet, it is fair game for blogging.

I mean, come on. Again, none of this means people should not be "polite" in offering criticism of others' work, etc..

More generally, I think another way I diverge from the other commentators is that I'm not just concerned about what's right for the speaker. The academic blogger wants to write about something because they have a reaction, and their prerogative to be able to share that reaction with others should not be regarded lightly.

Paris Hilton’s Boyfriend Delivers… Pizza!

Well, if this doesn’t surprise the heck out of you, nothing will! In her quest for a mate, Paris Hilton didn’t have to look any further than her local Pizza Hut.

That’s right, the heiress has fallen in love with a pizza delivery guy. Alex Vaggo made the acquaintance of the heiress while the two were partying at the same Vegas nightclub.

All in all, it’s a pretty fortunate series of events for Vaggo. According to one of his friends, “He decided to fly to LA for a holiday and spent much of the summer working as a pizza delivery boy to raise extra money. We were amazed to see how quickly he hooked up with Paris.”

But Alex’s pals don’t have much hope for the relationship long term. They said, “He’s quite a shy, laid-back kind of guy. Paris will probably eat him alive.”

norms of engagement

A post on orgtheory about a seminar talk has led to a discussion thread about the appropriateness of blogging seminar talks. I offer my reaction there. I think a pithier statement of part of my stance is "If it's vitable, it's bloggable," meaning that any scholarly product that can be reported on somebody's CV is something that can be blogged about. "Invited presentation at xxx university" regularly goes on the CV, and thus is fair game, at least by default. The allowance I would give for a "research seminar" versus a "department colloquium" is that with the former one should--at least under most circumstances--respect some kind of statement like "Please do not engage in public commentary on this paper without the author’s permission." The default, though, is that it's bloggable.* A colloquium, on the other hand, is in my mind just like a conference presentation, where asking the audience to refrain from public commentary is an out-of-bounds request.

Northwestern sociology has a colloquium in which the department takes much pride. I assure you that if I feel like blogging about something that's presented there, I will.

Also, I just feel like I have to restate here: Public discussion about sociology ideas and about projects on the leading edge of the discipline is a good thing that should be encouraged as much as possible.

* At least if the presenter is a faculty member.

8 random things about me, continued!

To this day, sometimes I will be walking down the street, and I will suddenly stop and say out loud, incredulously, "Dan Myers has 279 Kiss songs on his iPod." Then I will smile, shake my head, and continue walking.

Six more!

Angelina Jolie says she’s slept with four men

Actress tells magazine she married two of those guys; no word on women.

For all the talk and insinuations of her promiscuity, Angelina Jolie says she’s only slept with four men.

In an interview with Britain’s Cosmopolitan magazine, the sexy star said she has only “slept with four men in my life — and I married two of them!”

Of course, Angelina has also been linked to various women over the years, including her former “Foxfire” co-star Jenny Shimizu.

In a 2004 interview with Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush, Angelina talked about her seemingly very public love life.

“I have been involved with a few men over the years. But not the ones that are in the paper,” she revealed.

“Do you find it hard to live up to this image of being Angelina Jolie? Of being a sexual woman?” Billy asked her.

“I can be silly and awkward and I’m a mom most of the time, but when I’m with a lover I think I’m quite confident,” laughed Angelina.

“On that note, are you dating anyone or just seeing a lover?” asked Billy, long before Brad entered the fray.

“I have lovers,” she confided. “I’m not bringing anyone to my son so I’m not involved too closely.”

But when it comes to her current bedmate, it appears Brad and Angelina plan on keeping themselves plenty busy.

“We’re not done,” Brad told reporters when asked if the couple planned to have more kids. “They say, ‘Any plans for a fifth?’ And I say, ‘And a sixth, and a seventh, and an eighth, and a ninth.’ That’s my answer.”

Fred Cass And His Fabulous Cassettes – At The Weekend

Fred Cass And His Fabulous Cassettes –At The Weekend/ Donny & Marie (The Disco Queen) –The Fred Cassette Co (1980 AUS)

Ok, here’s a little something to end the week…The A side is a cracking rockin’ ode to the weekend, which would sit perfectly next to Eddie And The Hot Rods or Stanley Frank. Recorded in the summer of 1976 with The Sports’ Stephen Cummings on lead vocals, it features a great Glitter drum break and blazing dual lead guitars. The packaging on this DIY single includes an insert that’s pretty hilarious and if you believe the credits, the A side was used in a movie called Hot Throat. Whatever the truth, here is a link to a film clip of the band miming the song in the studio: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_hFJUoYgY4
The B side, Donny & Marie somehow manages to be pure filth without a sheep or ewe within hearing distance …

Click on title for a soundclip of At The Weekend

(ongoing series) things i used to have disdain for but now do without remorse

3,657. Gratuitous self-citation.

school of hard knocks - an annual report

the new Lasalle College of the Arts building - it makes you wish you were a student there - image by J taken at last Saturday's Rojak.

Secretary Amps: Boss, it's been 368 days since you became boss...
Boss Amps: ...er, yes, and you want a pay raise?
Sec Amps: For that I'll ask my real boss! No, just want to do a little interview about the past year, see if anything has changed.
Boss Amps: Oh, ask difficult questions.
Sec Amps: No lah, just wondering if there was one thing that really stood out in the last year - whether it was something you learnt, or thought about, or was most significant. Just one thing.
Boss Amps: [pauses and wanders off to watch America's Next Supermodel for the next 30mins instead] I think...it's become really clear, especially when I think of the people I've met who are so unhappy doing what they are doing, that it's quite important knowing what you like and just doing it - not thinking too much. I've also met so many people who are doing just that. Taking that one step, then seeing where it leads, before taking the next. There's the uncertainty, of course. But for me, that also means getting back my own time. Although there are some really busy intense times, there are times - like this afternoon - when I can take some time off to watch a documentary about Louis Kahn... And that's another thing, getting to read and learn a lot more - about architecture especially. Louis Kahn, Alvar Aalto - I really like their work. And being able to think about the links between architecture and graphic design... What about you? What do you see?
Sec Amps: Hmm, maybe because I'm looking in from the outside, but I am just envious, jealous almost. I think it's been a great year for you, and some good work. Plus all the people you've worked and made friends with.
Boss Amps: But it's not all that rosy. There's the uncertainty -
Sec Amps:Yes yes, I know, growing the company etc...but you've got your own Mirra chair to sit on!

So ends our annual report. Friends, there are many other lessons of course, "practical ones" learnt the hard way about financials, production, deadlines, outsourcing, collaborations, competition, IPR... but for those, we'll leave it for the 4th, 5th, hey 10th anniversary.


portraits taken for the company's annual report at the train station.

Christina Aguilera: It's a Boy!

Now that Paris Hilton has unofficially told the world that Xtina is pregnant the guessing game begins on the sex of the little baby. According to OK! Magazine the news is in. For Christina Aguilera - it's a boy! Or at least it will be when he pops out.

OK! reports that it has learned that Xtina's closest pals are all shopping for some pretty gender-specific gifts. "They're all boy-themed, all blue," a source reveals to OK!. While Christina and hubby Jordan Bratman have yet to confirm that her growing belly bump is actually a baby, the magazine notes that it wasn't just Paris that spilled.

Ken Ehrlich, Executive Producer of this year's Emmy telecast, let it slip to OK! last week when he said, "We're very sensitive to her pregnancy." And ley's faceit - there was really no hiding that baby bump at the ceremony. She looked stunning and very buxom as she wore figure-hugging, pearl dress.

A few days earlier, Paris Hilton called Christina "the most beautiful pregnant woman in the world" at a pre-VMA party hosted by the mom-to-be.

Slowbone – Oh Man

Slowbone – Oh Man/Get What You’re Given – Rare Earth RES 119 (1974 UK)

Slowbone were an East End combo formed by Barry Hart and Jeff Peters from 60s Psych band Turquoise. They released 2 other singles at the time on Rare Earth: Happy Birthday Sweet 16 and Hot California Beach (under the name Rough Riders). They were also the backing band on the Sonny And The Sovereigns single –School Is Out (also on Rare Earth, check out the October 30th 2006 post ).
Oh Man is a snappy uptempo Teen/Glam/Boogie workout much in the same vein as The Bo’ Flyers or April, while Get What You’re Given sounds more grown up and is in Freaky/Prog/Rock mode and I assume this is more in keeping with the material found on their posthumous Tales Of A Crooked Man and a Live at The Greyhound albums.

Oh Man is bound to bring a smile to your face and get your feet tapping…

From left to right: Keith Shepherd (drums), Jeff Peters (bass), Lea Hart(guitar,vocals) and Jim Hunter (keys)

Click below for a full version of Oh Man

don't forget, mateys!

Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. So get out your eyepatch and your fake hand hook and threaten to swash the buckle of those you love today. Remember if you are low on inspiration and need to see some buccaneers, all you need to do is look on the sides of your buccanhead.*

Why am I not talking like a pirate in this post? Because I'm not talking in this post, and it's not International Type Like A Pirate Day. And I'd sooner slice off me dubloon with a cutlass than make ye a podcast.

(Speaking of which, TMZ.com now has this feature where you can leave audio comments on posts and listen to other people's audio comments. I'm not sure if I fully get podcasting, but I certainly do not get what would be fun about listening to random stranger's audio comments. I think I must place a higher premium on the efficiency gains from the 'skim' affordances of reading than many other people do.)

* Joke stolen from CC. Today is all about piracy, after all.

omg.
Isnt X the one who played scissors-paper-stone with me
the other day.?
the if-you-win-me-i'll-give-you-two-prizes.
!GIRL!!right or not.?
hahahaha.
eeeeeeee,
small small world eh.
scary.


mum gave me money for studying ystr(:(:(:
but i told her, study doesnt mean i'll pass.
free money, who doesnt want!?!

End of prelims today.
out with sheevonne, shuen and hilly.
went to get my gift first.
so outram referred to Holiday Inn Hotel.
RAHH.
took bus to Queens condo that side,
then down to orchard.
walked and collected many stuff.
hahaha.
went out without spending much money today(:
great accomplishment.
SAW MANY SIGHTINGS IN THE MRT.
hahaha.


EFF.
Sumaeus.
&wdjf,g.

eh, shuen..
s. t. r. i. p.
hahaha.
touchy touchy.
hahaha.
i was like touching her back the other day
at elaine's hse.
and i asked shuen to shave away her hair,
leaving only a blop of hair on top of her head.
HAHAHAHA.

the promiscuous girl song played through my head during assembly.
and i thought of that blue thingy, in epic movie.
hahaha.
and told Shuen abt the goat.
AND she said it wasnt a goat, but a errrrrr, dunno what.
i forgot agn.
lol.


AFTER O LEVELS, I WANNA...
Dye my hair in many colours,
play like mad ,
go out late every night.
till i go crazy,
& maybe laugh till fall into the river @ esplanade.
earn easy money(meaning PLAN: TANG)
strike off till decided(:

oh &&&&&
most imptly!
i wanna go to noth/south pole to play with POLAR BEARS.
I LOVE POLAR BEARS.
cute,fluffy,huggable,soft.
and nice climate there
GRAHHHHHHHHHhhh.
though playing with them,is highly impossible.
but as i told shuen,
i'll keep a little baby one.
and train it(:


short post=compehension skills and analysis needed=LOLOLOL.
HAHAHAHAS.



FYRB♥

8 random things about me!

Normally I don't do memes, but Jim tagged me for this one asking me to provide eight random things about myself and I thought why not. So I've spent the entire day today working on the list of everything about me from which I would sample. Sometime during my second hour of just typing "I am typing right now (still)" over and over again, I looked at the lists that Jim and other people who have done this meme have made, and I realized they weren't serious about the "random" part. They were choosing "arbitrary" things that were disproportionately "quirky" and/or "interesting."*

So, now I don't know if I'll do my eight arbitrary, potentially quirky/interesting things or not. One pseudorandom thing about me, though, is that if you want to see my face scrunch uncomfortably, all you need to do is make me listen to a pop song that conspicuously uses an unnatural, Chaucerly sentence construction in order to make a line rhyme. Examples:

From "Hey There Delilah", by the Plain White T's:

Hey there Delilah
I've got so much left to say
If every simple song I wrote to you
Would take your breath away
I'd write it all
Even more in love with me you'd fall
We'd have it all

From "Dream Vacation" by the Gear Daddies:

And late at night when the kids is all asleep
Then off to the lounge for a nightcap we can sneak
I know our lives they ain't the stuff of dreams
But for one full week we can live like kings and queens

Seven more!

* I reserve the right to write an entire future post about Wicked Anomie's #3 random thing.

Lindsay Lohan Is Suffering From Sex Addiction

Reportedly actress Lindsay Lohan is suffering from a sex addiction during her stay in rehab.

Lindsay, who is currently undergoing treatment for her drugs and alcohol habits, has found herself repeatedly thinking about her ex-boyfriends and erotic situations as a side effect of her rehab at the Cirque Lodge.

An insider has said that “She’s been having erotic dreams about her former lovers, like Calum Best, Wilmer Valderama and Jared Leto. Her counsellors are trying to get her to understand that she’s substituting one addiction for another. Besides the obvious dangers of STDs, having indiscriminate sex can lead to emotional heartbreak, and that can lead to drug and alcohol abuse.”

keeping the room like this would have taken my aspiration for an uncluttered lifestyle too far

(eszter's photo of me working away in my living room before my furniture arrives)

The Casuals –Tara Tiger Girl

The Casuals –Tara Tiger Girl/Nature’s Child –Parlophone R5959 (1972 UK)

Tara Tiger Girl was sandwiched between The Casuals’ Decca period and The Witch on Dawn in 1974.
The Casuals at this time were most likely Ex-World of Oz Chris Evans and his Kansas Hook/ American Jam Band cronies in full-on Pure Pop mode. Nature’s Child also appeared as the B side of The American Jam Band’s American Jam single.
Tara Tiger Girl is a fine Psych/Pop number very much like The Move circa 1968 albeit with a vocalist sounding a lot like Anthony Newley in very tight loons! The tune is damn catchy anyhow, with some nice Psych touches. Enjoy the fun!

Click below for a full version of Tara Tiger Girl

dispatch from the syracuse airport

My talk went okay, as these things go. My tendency not to sleep well when I travel continued, and so I was tired. I'll be happy to be back in Chicago, where I won't be doing any plane travel for a month and have a good chance to settle in and find a productive equilibrium.

Before the talk, I got an e-mail saying that it was a good thing I wasn't giving the talk two days later, as Wednesday is International Talk Like A Pirate Day. Although having a parrot on my shoulder might have added some color to otherwise bland slides.

After the talk, someone came up and asked me if I knew that four out of the five people who voted to delete my Wikipedia entry are, according to their profiles, members of the Singaporean Defense Forces. (?!)

In perhaps a related phenomenon to how you only get free wireless anymore in cheap hotels, free wireless here in the Syracuse airport.

Pam Anderson: Sex Tapes, Prostitution and Gambling Debts!

Pamela Anderson, now in her 40’s,has been caught in the spotlight for many reasons. Many of the controversies have been based on the amazing sexual appeal she obviously has, that which came naturally, and that which was bought and paid for, fair and square. Evidently no one is immune, including professional poker players.

In an interview on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, Pam Anderson allegedly revealed that she recently owed a poker debt of 125 thousand dollars to a casino in Las Vegas. She acknowledge met a man there, who paid her gambling debt in exchange for sexual favors. She claims to have fallen in love with this new man, who she is currently dating as well.

As she described the debt, she said that the man offered to settle the debt if she would ‘make out with him’ and Anderson accepted his proposal immediately. She followed the statement saying that the entire affair felt romantic to her.

It worked out, I liked it. … I paid off a poker debt with sexual favors and fell in love. It’s so romantic.” - San Francisco Gate

Initially Pamela Anderson did not want to reveal the name of her mysteryRick Solomon man, but ultimately she did give his name. She said the man was poker player Rick Solomon. The popular starlet and former playboy model may be seen as a rail bird at the next major event – the audience will watch and see.

He’s also known for a sexy tape that was leaked to the media of himself and notorious diva Paris Hilton, while he was married to Beverly Hills 90210, and Charmed’s Shannen Doherty.

Cure.

stupid/dumb/whatever.

watched it started with a kiss in elaine's hse today.
for 3 hrs.

for whom the belle trolls

First, my Wikipedia entry gets deleted for lack of notability. Then, I discover that the mysterious troll prone to leaving especially abusive comments on this blog isn't even my troll at all, but someone else's troll who just comments here because the other person doesn't allow anonymous comments and summarily deletes all of hers. (I did some investigating after the troll's penchant from using details I've revealed about my family to criticize me escalated to invoking my deceased sister. Batbother crazy, I know.*) So, anonymous comments are off, permanently, and any comments from Mary or a Mary-like substance will be immediately and forever deleted, as however bad it is to have an abusive troll, it's way worse to feel like some abusive troll's sloppy seconds.

Hmph. I now feel even more stupid for whatever mental energy was used up contemplating this person's past remarks (or, even, writing this post). It's one thing to wonder why somebody could go from reading various innocuous things you post to drawing all kinds of negative conclusions about you as a human being; it's another just to realize that all along the person only baits you because of your perceived connection to someone else. Oh, well, I suppose I can keep pining for a mentally imbalanced person to walk into my blog life who will hate me for me and be trolly-true to me alone. A boy can dream.

To certain people that I value as commenters but who stop commenting when I turn off anonymous comments because they are too lazy to set up a Blogger account: come on, I can help you set one up if you want.

Another thing I really liked about having anonymous commenters was that, when I would talk about academia, graduate students would comment anonymously because they didn't feel comfortable posting under blogger-identities. I regret this, as many of those comments were insightful and instructive. But, even setting one psycho troll aside, it's probably time to stop anonymous comments. I'm starting a new chapter of my life, and have uncertainty where this blog fits in it anyway, but I might as well scale back on providing opportunities for defamation by complete strangers.

I'm otherwise happily visiting Cornell, btw, where I am giving a talk later today on health disparities. I'm staying in the hotel that is run by the hotel management program, which means especially energetic service from fresh-faced college kids. Three people immediately greeted me as I got out of the car that brought me from the airport, and the person who came around for turndown service was oddly persistent when I said I did not need turndown service (which I've never understood anyway) or any extra water. Even so, it hasn't been as striking here as at the equivalent institution at Penn State, where the servers for breakfast looked so nervous about making a mistake that I would not have been surprised to learn they were wearing shock collars under their uniform.

* "Batbother crazy" is one of my two favorite expressions for insanity that we used back on the farm; the other is "Kookier than a cack-handed cricket bat."

50 Cent defends Britney against Kanye

Rapper 50 Cent has hit back at Kanye West for criticising Britney Spears' lacklustre performance at the MTV Video Music Awards, insisting the hip-hop star should not take out his anger on the troubled singer.

West recently slammed MTV's decision to let Spears open Sunday's awards ceremony ahead of himself, claiming the Toxic hitmaker was "not ready" to make her pop comeback.

But 50 Cent believes West is just jealous of all the attention Spears has been receiving.


He tells American DJ Ryan Seacrest: "(West) was upset, he's not used to being recognised. Period.

"Kanye expressed that he felt that Britney shouldn't be actually opening the show - almost like he forgot that Britney Spears sold 50 million records. She did.

"He is not thinking about her full body of work. She deserved to headline the show better than anybody else that was on it - even in the state that she is in."

my diploma is all boxed up and ready to drop in the mail

My Hawkeyes are losing to Iowa State 12-0 at halftime. The same Iowa State that was schooled last week by the University of Northern Iowa, and the week before that by Kent State.

Plus we blew an opportunity just before the half due to poor clock management. As much as I believe in Hawkeye coach Kirk Ferentz, I am amazed that someone who makes $2.7 million as a football coach chronically handles end-of-game situation. The Hawkeyes greatest and most exciting victory in recent years, in fact, resulted from the team managing the clock in so badly at the end of the game that it confused the opposing defense.

I'm glad we don't have to play Michigan this year, as I don't think we would beat them.

BTW, I used to not have anything against Iowa State, and would root for them against anyone other than my Hawkeyes. After all, the state between two rivers is sufficiently small and belittled by outsiders that we have to stick together. Then I realized that the was no way the state of Iowa could support two quality BCS football programs when states like Ohio only have one. Thus my magnamity was gutted by demography. The Hawkeyes and Cyclones are like Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort, while they are intertwined by a common blood of funding, one must die for the other to live. I would be all for a merger, giving Iowa State basketball while Iowa gets football. So long as the resulting program plays in the Big 10 and doesn't use that godawful cardinal color.

you asked for it: why is sociology commonly an "easy" major?

A couple of commenters asked for my "take" on why sociology is reputed to be a relatively easy major at many colleges and universities. Okay, why not? I'm just to going to write it as a series of observations and conjectures, though:

1. The intrinsic substantive difficulty of a field, whatever that means, is not a good place to look for the explanation of why some majors are easier than others, as instructors have the capacity to vary greatly the difficulty of courses on the same topic. There was a minor scandal many years ago at the University of Iowa over all the athletes who were talking "Watercolor" because it was an easy course to get a good grade in. The craft of watercolor itself is (I hear) very difficult and a course on it presumably could be made extremely hard.

2. That said, so many people are so resolutely incorrigible and freaked out about math, it's probably safe to assert a tendency in which the more a substantive enterprise involves math, the more difficult a major in that enterprise will be perceived as being. Most sociology dissertations are not quantitative, so it's not surprising there tends to be minimal math in sociology classes.

3. With varying directness at different universities, majors are a source of revenue for departments, so one might expect the "equilibrium difficulty" of a major to be whatever maximizes the number of students. All else being equal, it might be simpler to explain why an easy major would attract more students than a hard one, so perhaps difficult majors are bigger explanatory puzzles than easy ones.

4. One reason a student might choose a hard major over an easy one is that the hard major is perceived as offering greater career rewards. Any major that has to put up bulletin boards for undergraduates about "What can you do with an X major?" is more likely to be an easy major.

5. I'll conjecture that departments less dependent on students for revenue because of grants and other revenue streams tend to offer harder majors. Sociology has only modest funding from grants. BTW, if true, an implication might be variation in difficulty of majors is higher at research universities with considerable grant revenue (spread wildly disproportionately around departments), than at liberal arts colleges.

6. "Sociology" is sufficiently mysterious to high school students that very few enter college with the idea of majoring in sociology. Sociology commonly picks up many majors who only decide to major in sociology relatively late, and after taking some course after intro. For this reason, sociology has a greater cost to trying to impose any kind of prerequisites on students. Multicourse sequences are more difficult than courses with no prerequisites, especially as the latter often have to offer redundant conceptual content with one another.

7. Professors differ in the psychic rewards they derive from being seen as tough, presiding over a tough course, telling classes on the first day that a third of them will either drop or fail, etc.. Sociologists tend to be less stoked to give large numbers of students bad grades than practitioners of some other disciplines I could name.

8. Sociologists are, professionally, better at generating non-individualistic explanations for individual failures. So they tend to be constitutionally more squeamish about making distinctions among students, which inflates grades and makes the major easier.

9. Consistent with a broader aversion to hierarchy, sociology draws disproportionately from the pool of those who would be fine abolishing grades altogether. I'll conjecture the prevalence of this attitude in a discipline is correlated with how easy it tends to be. Any discipline in which a leading textbook is titled "Down-To-Earth X," or something equally hippie-friendly, is more likely to be an easy major.

10. Even after all the foregoing, I would want more evidence before I conceded that sociology is typically an easier major than most majors in the humanities or fine arts. Sociology is identified as a "social science," though, so when people call it an easy major, the humanities are not the comparison group in mind.

Jessica Alba Sex Tape? Dane Cook, A Penguin & Oral Sex...WTF?!

Dane Cook and Jessica Alba Sex Tape? Ok, so it's kind of a sex tape. Dane Cook gives some stuffed penguin rough oral sex while Jessica Alba moans along as the penguin's voice.

Ok, this tape is seriously...just plain weird. It's from 'Funny or Die', and Dane Cook kind of scares me. He says things like, "Do you want me to eat your penguin ass?!"

"You like that, don't you?"

He's quite the grunter! IDLYITW quips: Jessica Alba and Dane Cook have a sex tape. Well, not really. It's just Dane Cook raping a penguin and Jessica Alba begging for oral sex. This looks like a lot more fun that what I did this weekend. I just can't seem to make a decent batch of lemon cookies to save my life.

Click here to view the video!

overheard

1.
"She's kind of nosy."
"That doesn't surprise me."
"It would surprise her. She's the kind of nosy where she would be appalled to hear that someone else was saying she was nosy."
"That's exactly the kind of nosy I am."

2.
"[Prominent sociologist] says that if you see a coincidence and you don't know how to explain it, there's a social network operating."
"I know a woman who has dated two dwarves. Is that a social network?"
"Did the dwarves know each other?"
"No, different cities, completely unrelated. If they knew each other, it wouldn't be much of a coincidence, would it?"

3.
"I heard you can play shoots and ladders online. But it's not S-H-O-O-T-S, is it?"
"It's C-H-U-T-E-S."
"What's a chute?"
"What do you mean, what's a chute?"
"I don't know what a chute is."
"It's like, um. It's like a slide. My apartment has a garbage chute down the hall."
"Yeah, but you don't call it that."
"Of course that's what I call it. It's not a garbage slide. It's not a trash tunnel."
"You haven't called it a chute before."
"That's true, but that's just because this is the first conversation I've had about it, ever."

yo, berkeley folks: don't go lecturing gwen

Or else she'll open up a jar of whoop-bother from her well-stocked cupboard of family stories, like she did yesterday.

Toggle –Little Green Men

Toggle –Tiger Woman/ Little Green Men –Decca 85.029 (1974 French issue)

Another fun and near-genius creation from the Tony Atkins/Gerry Morris partnership. It shares a sci-fi theme with Galahad’s Rocket Summer (Bell) , but with a more naïve Joe Meek-like sense of innocence . Musically this is a perfect example of BubbleGlam with its dual sustained guitars and killer chorus coming in nice and early around the 30 second mark. The A side is more straightforward and is a top Boogie/Glam number, again with nice sustained guitar plus handclaps and a neo/pseudo-Rockabilly vocal delivery.

Hear edits of Little Green Men and Tiger Woman

am i the only one who cannot see a headline about hurricane humberto without thinking about lolita?

At least it's not Hurricane Humberto Humberto.

BTW: The Wikipedia entry for Lolita includes the following statement by Nabokov: "I am probably responsible for the odd fact that people don't seem to name their daughters Lolita any more." Nor, to my knowledge, are hurricanes named Lolita, although who wouldn't rather have their home wrecked by Hurricane Lolita rather than Hurricane Humberto? Anyway, if Nabakov's statement is true, I'm trying to think if there are other candidates for novels that killed off a first name?

get lost!

image by J

"The street is not perceived as a complete entity in itself, with a beginning and an end, so it doesn't have a name...Instead, aside from the name of the township, indicated by the suffix 'ku' or 'shi', addresses only have three numbers: the 'chome', a sort of nieighbourhood or small quarter subdivided into different blocks; the block and the building itself, which is often numbered chronologically according to the date it was built, and not gradually, by physical position.

This unusual system did not escape Barthes, who wrote, 'The roads of this city do not have names. Of course, there is a written address, but it only has a postal value...and will make sense to the postman but not to the visitor...This residential annulment seems quite inconveninet to us, as we are used to thinkning that what is most practical is also most rational...Tokyo, instead, tells us to once more that rationality is just one of several systems...This city cannot be known except through some sort of ethnographic activity: you need to find your bearings...by walking its streets, by looking around you, through habit and experience: each discovery is both intense and fragile, it cannot be repeated, and only its trace can be left in our memory: in this sense, visiting a place for the first time is like starting to write about it: as the address has not been written down, it has to found its own writing.' "
- Tokyo: City and Architecture, Livio Sacchi (Skira Editoire, 2004), pp95-96.

In a way, we find our bearings in all cities or neighbourhoods through habit and experience - since habit, experience and memory are all part of how we know. But actually numbering buildings chronologically...only Tokyo! If on our island we numbered buildings Tokyo-style, all the "smaller" numbers would not exist.

Well, it's been 4 years since both J and I were lost wandering those kus and shis and chomes. And it'll be 29 days later when we next do!

Is Vanessa Hudgens a Girl Gone Wild?

She’s gotta be devastated that her nudie pics were leaked onto the Internet last week. But according to Joe Francis, founder of Girls Gone Wild, Vanessa Hudgens should be thrilled, and looking forward to a lucrative career with his company.

Francis has offered Vanessa $500,000 to star in a video and commercial for Girls Gone Wild. And as outlandish as that may sound to you and I, according to Joe it’s entirely logical.

From a Las Vegas prison, Joe told press, “There’s a little Girls Gone Wild in every woman. And this should be embraced as a positive, not a negative.” And Francis says that Hudgens is the perfect type of girl for his videos.

“Vanessa Hudgens is the classic girl next door gone wild. Being sexual is not a crime. She took a picture, it was leaked, and now it is time to move forward with her career. She is gorgeous, fun, talented and outgoing, which are exactly the attributes that Girls Gone Wild and its fans appreciate. We certainly hope Vanessa jumps on the Girls Gone Wild Bus and joins the best-selling late night videos in the world as a host.”

Hmmm… High School Musical millions, or five hundred grand to look like a skank? Is it really a tough decision?

there for everyone to see

New faculty orientation at Northwestern yesterday. Most interesting part was the description of how NU has a system of online course evaluations in which anybody with northwestern.edu domain access can read all your evaluations from students. In fact, when students are registering for courses, there is a link to a course's previous evaluations right next to the link where they would sign up for it.

So: at UW-Madison, your salary is public but your course evaluations are private, and at Northwestern, your salary is private but your course evaluations are public. Which would you prefer?*

Anyway, upon completing this post, I am going to block out everything else today, including you, dear readers, and get some writing done. My authorial back is against the wall with a couple of paper deadlines I have coming up, and that doesn't even include the talk I am giving at Cornell on Monday. (The world is laughing at Britney Spears for a disaster borne of underpreparation. I am not. At least I won't be wearing a sequined bikini-thing in Ithaca.)

I am set up here at the dining room table of my apartment. I spent a good deal of time yesterday unpacking my boxes, but it was like trying to ladle out a lake, especially as presently there is not nearly enough shelf space for all the books I brought with me. Plus, it's unclear whether the computer whose specs I worked out with an IT person in July has yet been ordered.

* "Public" to any user within the university's respective domain, and public in the sense that anyone with copy-and-paste capability can circulate more broadly. Prior to last fall, Wisconsin's salary information was on the web, and memorably one commenter posted a link to my own salary. Wisconsin changed to making salaries public only within the UW domain--in a strange moment of official candor, the spokesperson's stated that the reason for the change was that having the salaries accessible to all on the web made it too easy for other universities to poach UW faculty members because of how low the university's salaries are (at least, how low they are prior to receiving a retention offer).

you live up to your name, b.
Whao.

Smiley –I know What I Want

Smiley –Penelope/ I Know What I Want –LMCE LM 78008 (1972 French issue)

Post Creation single featuring Bob Garner. Although the A side is written by Kenny Pickett, I am unsure if he actually appears on the record. I Know What I Want ( written by Bob Garner) is an atmospheric semi-Glam/Late Fuzzbeat Stomper. As a further link to The Creation; both sides were co-produced by Shel Talmy, but strangely the production lacks a bit of power and bite. The A side is pretty hard to take: It’s a seriously grating piece of 70s Bubblegum, with obnoxious kiddie vocals . Anyone have confirmation of the line up on this single?

Click below for an edit of I Know What I Want and a snippet of Penelope (for information purposes only!)