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Allo, allo. I've been very quiet over here, I know (which doesn't mean that I haven't been watching...), and my only real excuse is that I've been putting a lot of effort into the blog. I mean, I've still got absolutely no traffic and my only consistently regular reader is my mother (who still doesn't really get the whole automatic update e-mail deal and will ask me why in the world I sent her such-and-such, it doesn't make any sense, she doesn't understand), but it still feels good to put effort into something. I've embarked on a project to completely redo my room, so I've been doing a lot of brainstorming on that front.
But one of the big by-products of my having this blog is an increasing dissatisfaction with the quality of the photos my camera takes. Don't get me wrong, it's a great little bugger, fantastic for on-the-go point and shoot photography. With my history and love of travel, it makes sense to have something small like that (my brother's even taking it to Spain with him). As great as it is, though, it doesn't have the capacity to take the detailed, high-focus photos I've been craving. With that in mind, I trawled craigslist and came up with gold. A Canon EOS 20D, 4 years old, previously used as a back-up camera by a professional photographer, with an EF 24-85mm lens. I have no clue what I'm doing, but I am having fun with this camera.
 My lovely friend Peter, who has much to say on many subjects (and built this fantastic website without any prior training).  Best buddy Adam, who is disturbed by this photo despite the fact that I love it.  And it wouldn't be me if I hadn't broken in a camera with photos of dogs, hence the lovely Lani. She hates this camera, by the way, and will remove herself from the room if I aim it at her. So I can only get good photos of her if she's asleep. My cat, however, gets all glamorous as soon as I pick the new camera up.
So ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) buttfacemakani did this first, and I love the idea, so I'm doin' it too.
The rules:
1. Go to www.flickr.com
2. Type in your answer to the question in the "search" box
3. Use only the first page
4. Copy the html and paste for the answer.
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After months of waiting, today I received word: I've been accepted into the Corcoran's History of Decorative Arts MA program! I'll begin in the fall. I honestly had no idea whether they would find me to be "grad student material," as even I have trouble imagining myself as such. But we'll see how it goes. At least the commute is simple, considering the school's in DC (which is a big plus for lazy, lazy me). Anyway, yay!
To celebrate, Adam took me to dinner along with some friends. We went to the Lost Dog Cafe in Arlington, which has great pizza, more varieties of sandwich than you can shake a stick at, and the money goes to a great cause, lostdogrescue.org, from which we adopted Leilani. After dinner and dessert (between the five of us we managed to order the "Good Dog," "Bad Dog," and "Blond Dog" brownies), we headed to Ballston Common Mall, where the presence of a photobooth had been purported. Well, we found the booth, but it was off. It seemed like a bust, but Peter grabbed my camera and insisted we get a picture anyway. So, here's to new beginnings, I guess.
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| Sunday, 13th April 2008 7:04 |
| Photodump |
| Public |
| Home |
 nostalgic |
| photos |
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Because you all wanted to know what I looked like when I was young and ugly.
Speaking of photos...my most recent blog post is about old-fashioned photobooths:  Drop in and say hi!
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Alright, so I'm not unemployed per se, but I am without a job for all intents and purposes (at my instigation, so it's cool), and having to wait at least a week more to know whether I'm a student again or what. WHAT.
I actually did stuff today, so I'm in a goofy mood. What stuff? I'M GLAD YOU ASKED. I got rid of maybe one-tenth of my belongings, discovered I did still have that broken lamp I loved stashed somewhere, did mondo research for my next blog post (drop in! say hi!), chased a squirrel off of the "squirrel-proof" bird-feeder, and bought two new video games (used, so they was cheap!). See that? Doin' stuff! Then I decided to take a page from Marley's book (sorry if you can't see it) and post photos of my good buddies when we were young and ugly on the internets, too! I dug out my photo box, sorted out the best of the worst (well, almost, I did censor myself a little bit), and started scanning. At which point, my scanner looked me in the eye and said "NO." So now I'm not speaking to it and it's blinking a mysterious orange light angrily at me. Bitch.
Anyway. I will share videos which have made me laugh today:
Oh, man. It's stuff that that that illustrates why I love the Stargate franchise, its creators, and its actors so damned much. And this next one illustrates David Hewlett's individual awesomeness:
Finally, a comic because I love snails and imagine that much of their short, slimy lives involve moments of "WTF."
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| Monday, 24th March 2008 11:53 |
| Shutterbug |
| Public |
| Home |
 nerdy |
| "Other Side of the World" - KT Tunstall |
| leilani, photos |
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One of the pretty things I bought for myself this past year was a new camera, as the lens on my trusty world-traveled Sony somehow became jammed during my move out of the dorms. I bought a Sony Cybershot DSC-W200, which is essentially an updated version of my old one. They're both pocket-type point and click cameras, which has suited my purposes fine, as I was using them while traveling. Now, however, I've been increasingly frustrated with the quality of the photos it takes. Of course, I've also been spending a lot of time looking at the quality photos Heather at dooce takes. So I grilled my friend Marley, who also takes amazing photographs, and she found a couple of tutorials about how to use non-SLR cameras to take Macro photos. So, I've been experimenting. I still haven't figured out how to focus so that everything behind the main subject goes fuzzy, but it might just not be possible with my camera. Darn.
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| Sunday, 23rd March 2008 11:37 |
| It's not you, it's me |
| Public |
| Home |
 good |
| "Lachlom" - Yael Naim |
| adam, livejournal |
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Wow, I'm coming dangerously close to daily posts. Scary.
So I've had this livejournal for a long time, as evidenced by my username. It was 2003, the guy I was crazy about had just introduced me to Mahler, and I was listening to melodramatic German symphonies all the time. I still think Mahler's an OK guy, but he's not number one on the playlist anymore. My best friend, Adam, started an LJ around the same time I did, then later deleted it, purging his "youthful foolishness" from the internets. I've never been able to do that. I mean, my early posts are all blah blah angst angst MEMES (and I'm not linking to any of them, thank you), and as ridiculous as they are, as embarrassed as I am by many of them, I cannot seem to be able to leave them behind.
Adam has since made another LJ (thestraymutt), and it's all webcomic link this, funny quote that, so power to him. He also has a blog, and man, oh man, does he love that thing. I've come to think of it as the place where he stores all of his obscure knowledge and interests (and by obscure, I of course mean the things which are completely and utterly foreign and incomprehensible to me). I, however, cling tenaciously to my adolescent angst-filled piece of the internet, thankyouverymuch, and that's that. Apparently.
Anyway, this is all building up to saying that I've made a new blog. I've creatively titled it "Have Degree, Will Travel" (which is pretty much how I feel all the time these days), and its purpose will be to give me an outlet for my bits of random interests and dorkiness. Not that I don't post on such things here, but I'm feeling the need to separate these bits of things which will (hopefully) make up my future from that adolescent past. This is not to say that I won't continue to post here, since I don't intend to drag much (if any) of my personal life into the new site except as how is relates to art, and doors, and retro refrigerators.
In short, LiveJournal, I think we should see other people. God knows you've got TONS of affairs on the side, but let's make it official. It's not you, it's me. Really.
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| Saturday, 22nd March 2008 11:43 |
| Field trip! |
| Public |
| Home |
 accomplished |
| "Endless Song of Happiness" - Yael Naim |
| art, books, links, sg-1, summer |
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I'm so much of a homebody that virtually any outing I make (aside from going to work) is a cause for celebration. That said, today Summer and I went on a quest.
We began simply enough, by dropping my prescriptions off at the store. Then we kicked it up a notch: we went to the Borders in Fairfax to pick up a new toy I'd put on hold (more on that in a bit) and the Yael Naim CD (which I highly recommend, even if most of the songs are in Hebrew and French--perfect rainy day music). Then things got so unbearably exciting that Summer could hardly contain herself: we went to Petco. I'm serious, she made these terrible high-pitched squeaks the entire time we were there. The errand was to get cat food, but Summer picked up a delicious green milkbone, too. For me, there was an Asiago cheese bagel from Panera. Yay field trip!
Anyway, onto the NEW TOYS (for me, not Summer).
I leave you with what I found to be a very interesting blog: The World Heritage Site. It accounts the travels of primarily one man to as many of the places in the UNESCO World Heritage list as he can. Features information, traveling tips, and fantastic photos.
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| Monday, 17th March 2008 1:16 |
| Breaking news |
| Public |
| home |
 sore |
| snoring Summer |
| sg-1 |
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Novelists' Strike Fails to Affect Nation Whatsoever
"The strike kicked off last fall when the NGA announced it had hit a roadblock in negotiations with the Alliance of Printed Fiction and Literature Producers, failing to resolve certain key issues concerning online distribution, digital media rights, and readers just not getting what writers were trying to do with a number of important allegorical devices."
h/t Neil
In other non-news, I've made it to Season 5 of SG-1 and have four days off beginning today. Now I'm off to walk my dogs.
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I've been in a bad place of late. By which I mean that I've been more depressed than I can ever recall being before. At 10, I was told that I had Bipolar Disorder and put on Prozac. Since then, the medication has varied some, but the results have been largely uniform: I've been calm and as happy as anybody else, all but entirely unaffected by the disorder. The last time I needed my meds adjusted, I was primarily sleep-deprived. This recent engulfing sadness has been rather more extreme, and likely has something to do with where I am in my life. That is to say, in a job which I don't enjoy, with a degree I'm not using, living at home where it's extremely easy to be lazy, waiting to hear from a school I'm no longer certain is the right place for me. Yeah. Just wanted to put that in words.
Adam has proven himself (unsuprisingly) a truly wonderful, steadfast friend. He's been there for me every spare second he's had, distracting me with humor, Mario Party, Brawl (which is awesome, by the way), and Stargate SG-1. As you may know, SG-1 recently ended after 10 seasons (and the first of its two movies, Ark of Truth was released Tuesday). Adam was into season 6 when I expressed interest. I am currently on season 4. I've watched a lot in a week. The distraction has helped. I've become enamored of the fanart of Hito, an artist I discovered on devantart. She's French, so I'm limited to enjoying her art and not her fics, which is disappointing.
 Click on the image for a link to her website, then on "dessins" to find the art. I loves it.
Now I must eat and go to work.
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| Saturday, 23rd February 2008 12:08 |
| That's one way to put it |
| Public |
| home |
 awake |
| space heater buzz buzz |
| webcomics |
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I was hoping that it would snow last night--really snow, but no. We got flurries and ice. Ice is nice if it keeps you off the roads, but our damnably competent county has apparently seen to that. It's not that I don't want to go places, my car can get through pretty much anything, it's more that I don't want other people to be able to go places. Namely, the bookstore. So that we can get things done and then close early. Maybe as it gets icier tonight, business will slow to the point of closing. Cross your fingers!
Anyway, I do have things to share. I lent my copy of American Gods to a friend from work, which has led to comments of "So Kelly's spreading the Gaiman love, huh?" But on the subject of Gaiman, Neil has posted the first teaser trailer for Coraline on his site. He recommends you view the Quicktime version. The art looks awesome, Henry Selick is the man, but Teri Hatcher's voice there at the end sort of cancels out the spookiness. I hope it doesn't do such to the movie, as Other Mother is pretty much the creepiest character ever, right down to her button eyes. Check it out, anyway.
The biggest bit of news in my life, however, is that I am apparently doing a play. I haven't acted since my first year at Mason, in 2005, so I'm a bit nervous. Especially since I've been given the lead sight unseen, based entirely on the recommendation of a friend. Not that I don't trust said friend to be utterly (painfully) honest in her descriptions of my talents, I do, but I'm still nervous. Anyway, it's an adaptation for a children's theatre of this play:
 Any guesses? The illustration is by Kay Nielsen, one of the great Gilded Age illustrators. It's one of my favourite fairy tales, so I am excited to be involved, even if I don't like my character as she appears in the script all that much.
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Well, it's a bit late, but in belated honor of Valentine's Day, I give you one of my favourite poems from when I was little.
I don't know what that says about me or my love of sweet things (a great deal, I imagine), but to this day I frequently use "more than applesauce" as a qualifier of how much I love something or someone. After all, I do love applesauce. So! I have news: I bought a Wii. Well, more like I hunted it down in the wild, lay a cunning trap and then waited, silently, for two months before springing it. The poor Gamestop employee never knew what hit him. So I got the Wii, plus Zelda, Mario Galaxy, and Mario Party 8. I've already beaten Zelda, but must own it in order to replay it until its entirety is burned into my mind. Super Mario Galaxy is simply the brightest, bounciest, more ridiculously fun and addicting game ever. I'll get so frustrated that I'm cursing at the top of my lungs and sending my cat running for shelter, but I just can't stop smiling. The thing is just so bleeding happy. I remarked upon this to my coworker Brandon today, who is also in the process of playing it, and he responded with exclamations of "Whoa!", "Aiee!" and every other hilarious startled Mario noise he could think of. And really, enough said. I mentioned that following the Boy's and my parting of the ways, I had been reading voraciously, and it continues. I have read everything written thus far by Shannon Hale and continue to reread each night as I fall asleep. I recommended Austenland to my mother and she read it in a day (which is an unbelievable feat, for her). I've recently moved on to the Young Wizard's series by Diane Duane. It's enormously original (and it predates HP, even) and amusing. She's created a wizardly world as different from and yet creative and original as Rowling's, plus the books don't take me 3 millennia to read. I am still waiting on word from my grad school of choice, although they've recently taken to giving me heart attacks by sending me invoices and such in very small envelopes which, as everyone who's ever received one knows, could not possibly contain an acceptance of any kind. In the meantime, I am apparently returning to the world of acting in the form of a role in a community production of East of the Sun and West of the Moon, a favourite of mine. It sort of fell into my lap via text message, so we'll see where it goes. I've only just received the script. Finally: I knew I loved the Bitches, but this proves it. If you've not yet seen the magnificent piece of internet genius they're promoting, for God's sake watch it!
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Hi. To begin at the beginning: my first "adult" (i.e. not high school) relationship ended at about 5 1/2 months. It was lovely, it really, really, was and The Boy is truly a wonderful guy. Just not my guy, it seems. So that was hard and yes, I've been hiding ever since. I needed to finish my grad school application, so it's not like I haven't been doing anything, but I have been hiding.
In good news, I started reading again after what seemed like months. It has also facilitated the hiding. I started with one of the books uselessplayback gave me for Christmas (Sorcery and Cecelia by Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer), which easily lead to the subsequent books in the series (all of which I highly recommend), which in turn has lead to a massive young adult fantasy reading kick. Both Wrede and Stevermer are quite good (although their works can be a tad tough to find), but the author I cannot recommend highly enough is Shannon Hale. I picked up her Book of a Thousand Days and since have been finding and buy everything of hers I can. She is so, so good.
Neil posted an e-mail he received about this fellow's work, and I have one thing to say: I WANT ONE.
 At the very least, I want one of his keyboards. They're making me rethink my love of laptops entirely. Yum, yum, yum. More linksy goodness: From the same post, another e-mail containing the link to this delightful site: http://lolthulhu.com/ For lovers of H.P. Lovecraft and the plain ridiculous alike. For lovers of cuteness and/or polar bears, I give you Flocke. She is all that is cute and carnivorous, but is yet too small to be anything but cute. One of my coworkers insists on a daily "Flocke Break," which she will announce loudly, usually around 3pm, before going to the website and cooing at the photos in German. It's especially hilarious because this woman, if she set her mind to it, could break me. Or you, or anyone. As it is, you'd better agree to Flocke's perfection or it's your hide. Anyway, I was involved in a massive RISK game last Saturday and am now doing my damnedest to get another one going tonight. I'll see you on the other side of victory.
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So, way back in June I fell in love with the blog Smart Bitches Who Love Trashy Books and linked specifically to a review Smart Bitch Sarah had written about Savage Moon by Cassie Edwards, which had earned itself the grade of "F." In fact, in the Bitches' article comparing romance writers to foods, their comment was "Cassie Edwards: Potted Meat Food product. It's marketed as food, and it tries very, very hard to be food, but ultimately, it's Food Product. Frighteningly ubiquitous, and therefore even more terrifying." At that point, I laughed, decided that I never, ever wanted to read a book by Cassie Edwards, and forgot about it.
Apparently, as a writer, she's also a plagiarist. The other Smart Bitch reviewers, Candy, gave a Cassie Edwards book to a friend to read as an example of the worst of the romance genre. This friend is apparently very observant, and she noted that some of the passages in the book seemed a little...off. Now, the Bitches have commented before on how Edwards' writing often seems to quote Wikipedia articles, but apparently it's worse than that. This friend went to Google for help and hit gold. The whole process begins with this entry, follows up with investigations of four other books, then gives Signet's official statement after having been sent their findings. The next, was the AP article which showed up containing Ms. Edwards' response. Or rather, her husband's response, since the lady apparently can't talk without a man to hold her hand. The AP article was cool enough, but then Nora Roberts, herself a Smart Bitches reader, waded into the fray and--lo and behold--the New York Times and USA Today picked up the story.
The most recent development is Signet's revised statement.
The thing that gets me is that apparently no one in the publishing industry knows what plagiarism is or why, morally if not legally, it might be wrong. Dur, dur, dur. Not that these things haven't happened before, but apparently people only care when the victim in the matter is a powerful, wealthy, publishing and book-selling machine...well, only when it's Nora Roberts. Of course, the best part of that fiasco was this quote: '''I recently learned that my essentially random and non-pervasive acts of copying are attributable to a psychological problem that I never even suspected I had,' Mrs. Dailey said. 'I have already begun treatment for the disorder and have been assured that, with treatment, this behavior can be prevented in the future.'''
In a big departure from that, I just had to stick a plug in here for the Forbes Fictional Fifteen, which lists the 15 wealthiest fictional characters, from Montgomery Burns, to Lucius Malfoy, to Princess Peach. Scroll through, I guarantee a giggle. (h/t buttfacemakani)
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Woo memes. Yay. So Christmas was fun. Small, just my family of four, the Boy, and my aunt. In terms of loot, I made out like a bandit, which is always fun, and picked well for other people, which is generally even more fun. The big update is that I've decided to go to grad school and am applying for the History of Decorative Arts MA at the Corcoran College of Art and Design. It's in DC, which means I can still live at home and commute, although I was sort of hoping to leave the area. It's about the best program for my interests I've found, though, so staying it will be. Assuming I get accepted. (There's a lot of crossing of fingers and such happening over here.) In my spare time, I've been reading a lot of things about the Arts and Crafts Movement. Seriously, I've been gobbling up these books. They're not terrible easy to come by, however, as I am likely one of a very, very small percentage of the population of this area with my interests. I stumbled across this beauty while wandering The Strand in New York, and this was the only good-looking arts & crafts book in my bookstore. I had some money to spend, however, and decided to see about ordering a new A&C book. I did some research on the Arts & Crafts Society page, decided that I wanted to know more about William Morris, and chose William Morris and the Arts and Crafts Home by Pamela Todd. To make this story short, I'll leave it that not only did we have two copies of the book in the store, but they were in the bargain section, priced at $5.99 (I was prepared to pay $40). That's pretty much made my week. Speaking of, I have about half of the book left to read and am eager to use up the remainder of my day off. Farewell, sweet readers. Leilani and I bid you goodnight!!
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Hello again, internet. I know it's been a bit of a while, but I'm still alive. Honest.
Things which are happening/have happened:
- The Boy and I are going strong and just celebrated 3 months. Go us!
- The holiday season is in full swing at the bookstore and I'm swamped. If I never have to see Daniel Radcliffe's face again, I'd probably be okay with that.
- Took a little pre-holiday trip to NYC. We stayed with the lovely Miss Laura and visited much with the Boy's brother. (See photos here) I got to swan around the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Met, and the Strand, so that alone was awesome. Not to mention buying art in Union Square!
That's really all there is. Work is my life, it seems, and come January I will begin looking in earnest for a more art-related job. Yay! Speaking of art-related things, apparently a Gauguin sculpture at the Art Institute of Chicago is not so much a Gauguin as it is a fake. The Art Newspaper has an awesome article which includes many art historians and dealers saying ridiculous things about said sculpture. Now I may be an art historian, but if I ever say anything like: the “potentially phallic tail, but parted legs reveal the absence of the often flaunted sign of a faun’s virility, resulting in an aura of impotence. Gauguin evidently linked this iconography to his failing relationship with [his wife] Mette,” would somebody please shoot me? Thanks. In closing, I would like to note that the Lonely Planet Signspotting books are the funniest things ever. If you're at a loss for a gift and said person enjoys to laugh--these are a good bet. You see? My job is my life. In this case, however, I happen to just freaking love these books.
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After spending an extremely lazy weekend, I of course was sick today. Bleah. Yesterday, uselessplayback and I visited a couple of model apartments and discussed our meager finances over lunch. Then I got to come home and try to figure out which health insurance I want and pay my property taxes. Ugh, no money.
Today I was good for maybe 2 hours, then suffered an attack of nausea which lasted all day. I didn't eat much of anything, so I had this persistent headache, as well. On the upside, I received my first postcard from The Boy. It features a list of discussion questions I am to ask him to prompt stories as well as a small drawing of stick figure mountain climbers. If it didn't make my day, it came close. I also bought the new Nancy Drew game for the DS and played it through. It was short, but cute and amusing and it didn't make me sick to play it. I got it to kill time until my PC game arrives, but I got sick looking at the monitor for extended periods of time, so it worked out.
Here are some links I rustled up today:
The new frontier of LOLBatman, which is maybe the funniest thing ever. (h/t Smart Bitches)
Behold the power of the webcomic!
Some one needs to design a carousel full of these and other random animals:
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Bored, bored, bored. I really wish I had The Office season 3 to watch right about now, but I didn't buy it because The Boy did, damnit. And it's at his place, while he's in California. Bah.
Speaking of him, he called last night to rave about Into the Wild, the new Sean Penn film based on the Jon Krakauer book. It was also exciting because they filmed in some locations near where the Boy had lived in Alaska. Anyway, Ann Hornaday at the Post had some very beautiful things to say about it as well, for those who might be interested. It's not an easy film, so I hear, but it is an affecting one.
I, meanwhile, am stuck here with two dogs, no family, and a stack of books I don't know why I wanted to read in the first place. I feel like I'm going through a non-reading phase, much like the Super Librarian recently did. My new Nancy Drew game has shipped, and it would be incredible to get it today when I have nothing to do, but I won't, of course. I'm dying to get Lauren Royal's Art of Temptation and Lisa Kleypas' Mine Till Midnight (to say nothing of Iron and Wine's newest album and a Dropkick Murphys singles cd) but I am determined to wait it out til October, when I'll be able to use Rewards money. Those bucks can only cover so much, though. I mean, really. I could go buy a book and still have them to use on one of the cds. Right, I'm terrible at denying myself anything.
We'll see how long Dynasty Warriors can distract me until I cave.
Hope y'all's Saturdays are just as careless (and hopefully not as boring) as mine!
Ps: Caught the SGA premier last night--yay! It was, of course, a two-parter. Booo. Also watched Doctor Who for the first time in a while, having missed about 5 episodes, including Captain Jack's triumphant return. I tuned back in just in time for the finale next week, though. Go me.
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meh
happy
dorky
discontent
grumpy
contemplative
recumbent
amused
cheerful
nauseated