19 Thursday Apr 2007
Posted in culture, life stuff, miscellany, music, philosophy, video
An oldie but a goodie . . .
Once attributed to the late Kurt Vonnegut, though in fact written by Mary Schmich and published in the Chicago Tribune as a column in 1997, I was reminded of this when I recently advised Nog to do one thing every day that scared him (and no, living with me doesn’t count 😉 ).
Then today I found this rather nice video of the Baz Luhrmann version.
17 Tuesday Apr 2007
Posted in clothing, home, life stuff, miscellany
Gaaaaa I hate sewing!!!
Which may come as a surprise to those of you who have seen this place, but of course I have very talented seamstresses who sew the production for that – though I do sweat blood making up the first samples myself.
Anyhow, it is not only sandal weather but it turns out it is also suddenly no longer light jacket or sweater weather. Which means I’ve got to seriously revamp the summer wardrobe that sadly didn’t get revamped last year.
Which means I’ve got to sew myself some clothes!!!
*waits for the inspiration 
to come and visit*
17 Tuesday Apr 2007
Posted in books & writing, culture, health & happiness, life stuff, media
Waterstone’s now has a “Painful Lives” shelf which features the newest such examples; Borders has a “Real Lives” section.
What lies behind the speedy rise of the “misery memoir”? Is the popularity of these books a healthy sign that Britons are shaking off their stiff upper lips and finally talking out loud about painful events? Or is there an element of voyeurism, even salaciousness, in the snapping up of such memoirs?
I’m of two minds about this new ‘misery lit’ phenomenon. First of all, I do believe it can help people who have been abused to read about others who have gone through similar experiences – reading Alice Miller’s Drama of the Gifted Child when I was in my 20’s helped turn my life around at that time.
But having a section in a bookshop called “Painful Lives”??? Is it just me or is that more than somewhat cringemaking? And beyond the suggested elements of voyeurism or salaciousness involved in buying these books, what about the author’s ‘jumping on the abuse victim bandwagon and laughing all the way to the bank’ element?
15 Sunday Apr 2007
Posted in computers, home, life stuff, retail therapy
Here she is … in all her undented glory!
Unfortunately my eensy IKEA table doesn’t do her justice. But it makes it easy to keep the old desktop PC at hand and also to use a normal keyboard and mouse when I’m working. And of course, I can use her anywhere in the house at other times. I’m really glad the coin-flip turned out the way it did. Sure it was a bit of a hassle to wipe out all the programmes I’d installed, go back to the store and do the exchange and then reinstall everthing from scratch again.
On the other hand, there is a real pleasure having something so beautifully designed looking as it should.
And it does seem like this ‘spontaneous purchase’ happened at a good time as the ol’ Jag is acting weirder and weirder.
So let’s hope it’s an all’s well that ends well sorta thang . . .
09 Monday Apr 2007
Posted in life stuff, miscellany, weird
Can you read this?
If you can, apparently this means your brain is 50% faster than those who cannot.
if yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid, too.
Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe tuo fo 100 anc.i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno’t mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs forwrad it.
casa azahar 