I'm looking to buy small amounts of very basic spices for baking along the lines of cinnamon, nutmeg etc. I'm in the Bronx, so anywhere around here or in Manhattan would be great. Thanks!

• 17:14 can't bounce back from this cold. I bet if I were in cancer remission I'd pretend to be on chemo. #
• 17:19 RT @thelmagazine Dude Liked Roberto Bolaño Before You Did, Says You Are Waaay Lame bit.ly/36DFcJ #
• 02:00 persuade me harder #

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http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/11/note-to-self-nights-are-for-sleeping.html

Still trying to get back onto a diurnal schedule. (And, I should add, failing.)
And, of course, although I posted it before, it bears repeating that you can watch the film that Steven-Charles Jaffe made of the "Dark and Silly Night" comic Gahan and I did for art spiegelman and Francoise Mouly's Little Lit at the New Yorker site, or here:



And if I'd been here for Hallowe'en I would have posted it here then. Which reminds me, The Graveyard Book party season is over. Over thirty independent bookshops had Graveyard Book parties (The ABA's Bookselling This Week reports on thirteen of the parties -- and the shops -- at http://news.bookweb.org/7149.html.) The very best one of all will get me in their shop doing a signing in December and, looking at these thirteen, I am very glad I am not any kind of a judge for the awards.

My only hope is that the shop that wins will be somewhere warm. But most of the places on the party map will be just as cold by December as my house. (Vague and only climate-based relief that HarperCollins said No to Alaska in the rules mingles with vague and selfish disappointment that they also said No to Hawaii.)

It looks like the CBS Sunday Morning profile on me is going out this Sunday, the 8th, 9:00-10:30 AM, ET. According to this website:

Correspondent Serena Altschul visits author Neil Gaiman -- the tender-hearted master of the macabre -- whose books, including Coraline and The Graveyard Book have topped best-seller lists for 25 years.

.. which left me wanting to go "I am NOT a tender-hearted master of the macabre, I am in fact VERY SCARY INDEED," but I suspect I would convince nobody.

Thrilled to see that Odd and the Frost Giants was listed as one of Amazon.com's Best Books of 2009. While I was in China The Graveyard Book was listed as one of the ALA's teens top ten for 2009 as well, an award voted on by over 11,000 teens. (And I made it onto the list with lots of other good people.)

Also, Fragile Things was awarded the French 2010 Les Grands Prix de l’Imaginaire Award for translated short fiction. My thanks to the judges, but mostly to the translator, who in this case is the incredibly talented Michel Pagel. If I ever look good, do well, sell books or am popular in a foreign country, it's because of the translators, and they never get enough thanks or acclaim. And I think I'll post the cover here, because I never have.

You're welcome. I think this link has everything for sale in the auction: http://shop.ebay.co.uk/scrawldog/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686

MIGHTY TINY opening for That 1 Guy!
Friday, November 13
Harper's Ferry, 8:00 PM, $12


You've heard me gush about the former. If you've paid attention over the past few years, you've also heard me gush about Mike Silverman every time he's come around.

If you really pay attention, you know that the first time I saw Mighty Tiny was when they opened for Mike last Spring. A total chance experience. My head spins at everything that tumbled forth from that one experience.


Anyway. You should come out.



I know I don't need to introduce my friends' band to you for the zillionth time, but in case you've skimmed my That 1 Guy adulation in the past, this is my favorite song:







Classically trained double bassist who invented a one man band contraption called The Magic Pipe, a seven-foot tall collection of steel plumbing pipes and joints, orchestral bass strings, and electronics. His songs range the subjects of raining meat, how the moon is disgusting [it's made of cheese!], various fruits and moustaches.... and he will break your heart when he plays Somewhere Over The Rainbow on a saw.

He is also deeply gracious and humble and obviously genuinely adores his work. He's so many kinds of amazing in such a completely lovable way I've always been too shy to talk to him post-show. I did write him a fannish myspace message once, though, and he was super sweet and told me to come by for hugs next time. Ahhhhhhhh. I didn't.


A week from tomorrow!

Mighty Tiny!

That 1 Guy!


Come!

OK, once again I'm behind on posting. This time my reason is that I've been in a training course all week, 9-5. It's interesting and fun, and sometimes frustrating, but always exhausting. Oy.

ANYway...Halloween was a blast. Having it on a Saturday was great. In the morning we went to a Halloween party (thinly disguised as a "fall festival") at Ruthie's preschool, where the kids had a blast. Then to mom's house for nap, where Ruthie and Baz napped together and mom managed to capture a picture of same, which is undeniably the cutest thing ever.

( The totally adorable picture )

Then we went to a party at Baz and metafrantic and sandykidd's house, which was fun, and then home and trick-or-treating. Isaac was a Transformer and Ruthie was a duck, and sandykidd did a great job of painting their faces to go with their costumes, but alas I don't think I got any pictures! :( Oh well.

It was a freakishly warm night, which was nice. The neighbors were all hanging out on their front steps/porches waiting for us. The kids got QUITE the haul of candy. After a while their bags got so heavy that they asked me to carry them, whereupon I decided that enough was enough. ;)

Anyway, so that was fun. And then came the Halloween Witch! (Also known as the Switch Witch, but I don't like that one.)

Have you guys heard of this? I had never heard of the idea until a few weeks ago. Basically the "Switch Witch" is like the tooth fairy, except that instead of taking teeth she takes kids' Halloween candy, and instead of leaving money she leaves a toy. The idea, obviously, is to get them to give up some of their candy. ;)

Well, I wasn't at all sure how my kids would react to this idea, since they both LOVE candy, and especially since I had said they couldn't eat any candy for 5 days before Halloween and then eat as much as they wanted on the day (which my mom always used to do with me and metafrantic and I think it worked out pretty well).

Anyway, so I decided to just give it a shot and see what happened. If they didn't go for it, fine, but it couldn't hurt to try, right?

( Our 'Switch Witch' Story )

Whee! So that was fun. We're definitely doing that again next year.

Tags: halloween, minutia, picspam, shout-outs, what i did today, work
Current Mood: tired

Fuckin' credit reports. So confusing. Three different numbers. Three different numbers?! I have to check my own credit [are we pretending people don't have Photoshop? I mean, I'm honest, but really, people...] for an apartment I'm interested in. I'll give her the best one, I guess. Since I have my pick. So bizarre.


In other news, my credit isn't awesome [o hai, debt], but it's still pretty damned good. That's a relief.

You lack any sense of structure, character or the Aristotelian unities. --Wednesday Addams/Christina Ricci, Addams Family Values

I just saw this in one of my LJ communities and had to share:



I'm still deeply skeptical about Nathan Lane as Gomez, but I must admit he does look the part. I'm also slightly amused that with each incarnation featuring live actors the children seem to get older and older. Adam Riegler (Puglsey) appears to be about the same age that Jimmy Workman was in the movies (although he was a few years older than Ken Weatherwax was in the original TV series)... But Wednesday! In the old black and white series, Lisa Loring was only about 5 when the show started. When Christina Ricci played her in the 90's, Wednesday was not only six years older, but suddenly the older of the two children* (although the actors were about the same age). And here, Krysta Rodriguez appears to be well into her teens, at the very least. Also, am I imagining things, or have they done away with her trademark braids?

On an related note, while checking ages on IMDB, I discovered that Jodie Foster voiced "Pugsly" in the 1973 cartoon series. Random.

*In fairness, Charles Addams's comics never gave anything resembling a clear family tree (or even character names) and the movies--while taking a lot of character cues from the series--also clearly returned to the original comics for inspiration, and wrote their own version of the Addams family tree.

Tags: addams family, pictures, public, theater
Current Mood: tired

notloB Folk Concerts presents....

LISSA SCHNECKENBURGER
New England Fiddler and Folk Singer
http://www.lissafiddle.com

"World class fiddler... far from just offering one dance tune after another, simple settings allow the true beauty of the music to shine through" - Sing Out

Opening: ARI & MIA FRIEDMAN
http://www.ariandmiafriedman.com/

"...adventurous and lyrical...They have a unique style and approach, engaging original compositions...[Their CD] is a strong first impression for the Friedman sisters." - Dirty Linen Magazine 

Friday November 6, 2009
Doors 7:45 pm, concert 8:00pm
Unity Church
6 William St (@ College Ave, just 3 blocks north of Davis Square)

Suggested minimum donation $12-15

Complete info @ http://notlobmusic.googlepages.com

notloB Folk Concerts are volunteer run.  After expenses, 100% of the donations go to the artists.
Mailing list  ~ http://groups.google.com/group/notlobmusic
Facebook ~ http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=38565709718&ref=ts

Dinner and a Show.  Concert patrons can dine at the House of Tibet Kitchen in nearby Teele Square and save 10%!
 
House of Tibet Kitchen
235 Holland Street
Somerville, Ma 02144
617-629-7567

Patrons who make a dinner reservation and show proof of concert attendance (printed reservation confirmation) will be entitled to 10% off their dinner bill.  Please identify yourself to the staff as attending the “notloB concert”.

Next concert: Friday, December 04:  National Award-Winning Performer of Scottish, Irish, Jazz, & American Music ~ Jeremy Kittel Band (featuring Tristan Clarridge, Simon Chrisman & Bodek Janke)

Tags: community announcements, entertainment, events, teele square
Current Music: New England folk

Hey! Its me again (I know, I know, you're sick of me and my requests already. I just don't particullarly care. ; D)!! This time, although my ferverent search for an artist still stands my main goal infact lies elswhere. This time I'm looking for.      .        . (insert drum roll here)
a mythology expert!!!
any kind- faeries, folklore, greek/roman deities, norse myths, Irish folklore (a personal fave). As long as you're well versed in your particular area of expertise, I'm happy. competence is more important than the area of subject matter. Thanks a ton. Also, if you are a fan of fantasy, magical realism, sci-fi or any sort of high fantasy (or really anything involving magic) follow these tfour steps:

1. follow this link: http://howtoneverletgo.livejournal.com/tag/book

2. check out my other random posts here :http://howtoneverletgo.livejournal.com/

3. add me as a friend or comment (as a small, itsy bitsy inconsequnetial favor please?)

4. get all of your buddies to follow steps 1-3

If you're interested in the book, I have more info readily available so throw me a line! If you're an expert (as advertised for above) .    .      .what are you waiting for?!?!?! comment already!!!! XD

Gwennan, out!

Current Music: these things i'll never say by avril lavigne

Prezant Auto Ocks...

Amethyst Center is a group of alternative and complementary medicine practitioners, right in the heart of Davis Square. This weekend, Saturday November 7, we'll be holding an open house, to benefit the Somerville Homeless Coalition. For $10 (or a new blanket), we're offering a brief version of the treatments that we do: acupuncture, zero balancing, trigger point therapy, massage, craniosacral therapy, Jin Shin Jyutsu, naturopathic medicine, ARCH energy work. You can call to set up a time, or just drop by (though we've filled up in previous years).

Saturday November 7
1:00-5:00
Amethyst Center
259 Elm St, 3rd Floor
Davis Square, Somerville
617-591-9200

Refreshments, and a chance to meet us and get to know what we do. Hope to see you there.

Tags: acupuncture, donation, massage

1) If you're in the Philadelphia area, I'm going to see trillian_stars's play The Weir tomorrow, that's Friday. If you'd like to come along, order a ticket, it may sell out. It will be awesome fun. Ghosts and beer. Seriously. Play's at 8. If you want to meetup beforehand, drop a note in the comments.

2) You awesome people donated more than $300 to City Kitties in our names -- thank you so much. Every dollar goes right to saving kittehz.

3) Our good buddy Vitalij Kuprij just joined The Freaking Trans Freaking Siberian Freaking Orchestra. I wasn't sure if it was Top Secret still but he's up there on the web page now. I said I'd never go see a concert in a stadium again, but SWEET BARKING CHEESE this is like the heavy metal Cirque de Sole!! Two shows at the Wachovia Center in Philly. (Bets on whether or not yagathai has fainted yet?)

4) Via silveringridd: Live near Fullerton California? Check out lunarmoths' photography show Nov 13th. chadruin is showing there too. At least check out the photos on her lj.

5) Every year in some fit of mad glee Mattel makes a Barbie to celebrate my birthday. A few years ago I started picking them up There are a lot of them visible in my post to Saucy Dwellings back in March. I don't know why I do it. But this year, since I was in Ohio on Halloween, it somehow slipped my mind. Well, just today a package showed up in the mail, addressed to trillian_stars "Oh," I said jokingly, "it must be the present you ordered for me." With a wink and a smile she said "It must be, why don't you open it up?"

Ladies and Gentlemen, the 2009 Kyle's Birthday Barbie!



How exciting.

( Roswell discovered that she couldn't eat it, but she did bat it around for a bit )




Add me as a friend on LiveJournal, Add me on Facebook, Follow me on Twitter.

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: trans siberian orchestra: ode to joy

Me: Ruthie, are you done with your noodles?
Ruthie: Uh-huh.
Me: Do you want something else to eat?
R: No.
Me: Do you want something to drink?
R: No.
Me: Well, do you want grass and mud? [this is our code phrase for "don't want anything"]
R: Yeah.
Me: Do you want a million dollars?
R: No!! I don't even take dollars!
Me: You don't?
R: No!! Dollars are money. I don't take money!
Me: Well, what do you take?
R: I take toys!

Well, duh! Silly mama!

Tags: ruth, things they say
Current Mood: enthralled

I have a 5 month-old daughter, and just got it in my head that I want to knit her a Christmas stocking. Trouble is, I don't know how to knit. Any idea of a place I could go to learn? Or anyone want to teach me for some kind of nominal fee or a barter of some kind? I'm a lefty, if that matters. Thanks!

Tags: classes, crafts

Calling all actors!

Theatre@First is staging the play "Dracula" in February.

Please visit our website at http://www.theatreatfirst.org
for more information and to sign up for an audition slot
on December 1 or 2!

( Read more... )

Tags: theatre@first

Where can I buy a capon for Thanksgiving?
Sheepshead Bay is good. So is Bushwick/Williamsburg. Certain parts of Manhattan along the F/J or Q/B lines are good, tambien, as long as it's reasonably priced and of good quality.
My boyfriend really wants one and Whole Foods aint carrying 'em anymore. Something about castration being "inhumane"?

I am bringing my god daughter to New York for her 23rd birthday and she would like to go to http://www.awesome80sprom.com/. Is the really worth paying for? What can you tell me about Webster Hall?

Science says that matter can neither be created or destroyed. It is broken down into other things, re-purposed, transfigured, otherwise dismantled.

I often wonder - are there set limits on everything; happiness, fame, fortune, talent, stability?

Often times, before this instant in my life, I would find myself at a loss for what to do with the rest of my life - there were so many things I was good at, that I could do proficiently, that how could I possibly choose just this one thing to do for the rest of my life?

I wonder if the universe looked down on me, in my gray-and-white flannel pajamas, wasting away another Tuesday afternoon in a Bed-Stuy brownstone, and thought to itself: "There is talent I have given that is not being used. I should give it to someone who needs this."

I woke up this morning, panicked, uncomfortable, thinking far too much about things I really can't do anything about. I fell back asleep, reassuring myself "This will play out as it should."

But what if it is, and I just haven't realized it yet???

I have withered, and I fear it is not because of the deepening gray clouds, or the unwelcoming billows of 30 degree winds, or the lack of sunlight I have shown myself.



I have done it to myself. . . and now I find myself wondering:



What now?

Tags: life, the universe, things that happened, thoughts
Current Mood: indescribable

Hello all,
I recently moved here from Pittsburgh, and was wondering if anyone knew where I could buy Iron City for a decent price? I found 6-packs of IC Light bottles at a Morton Williams near NYU for $10 (ha), and the Iron City site says there is a beer distributor in Greenpoint. Does anyone know of any other places where I can find 6-packs or cases, preferably in lower Manhattan or Brooklyn (I live in Park Slope)? I know Iron City tastes awful, but I miss Pittsburgh tons. Thanks!

Hey people!

I am passing a message along for somebody without an LJ account that they have two kitties available for adoption. She originally adopted these two kitties out to another person who guaranteed they would be able to care for them. Unfortunately, that person is now reneging on the deal so she is back to square one in finding these two adorable kitties a new home. Under the cut is a pic of the two and their story in my friend's words...

( Read more... )


If you are interested or know anybody who may be, please send me a private message and I'll provide you with her email address.

Hope somebody can take them into a good home!

The empire strikes back

In recent weeks, we've taken huge steps towards blocking spam accounts on LiveJournal. In fact, we've suspended as many as 30,000 accounts in a single day! We've implemented several pre-emptive measures to prevent the creation of spam accounts, and we've honed our detection of suspicious content. Spam bots are a crafty lot, so we'll continue to refine our tactics and keep up the good fight to keep you safe from spam attacks on LiveJournal.

RSS feeds again

If you're addicted to xkcd_rss, icanhaschzbrgr, or other syndicated feeds, we're pleased to report that we've resolved the update error that was mucking up your RSS feeds. While content was being pulled correctly, it wasn't being posted to the feeds themselves. Late last week, we finally nailed down what we hope was the root problem, so content should post properly. We thank you for your patience.

Wii have killer CSI Deadly Intent contests!

c_s_i

If you're a gamer who loves CSI, have Wii got news for you! c_s_i is sponsoring killer contests. Simply post a question to a member of the CSI crew. The winner will get a free copy of CSI: Deadly Intent for Nintendo Wii (with a retail value of $39.99) and get their question answered by a member of the CSI writing team! There's also a fantastic monthly contest. To enter, join c_s_i, play the online version of CSI: Deadly Intent, and respond to a two-part query for a chance to win a Wii! Entries will be judged on composition and originality. Sorry, but you must be a U.S. resident and over 18 years old to participate. Check out the rules here.

Enveloped in postcards

Last week, we asked you to send in postcards to help us decorate our drab concrete walls. Here's a photo of the results so far! Thank you so much and please keep them coming! You can mail them to Frank the Goat, Esq., c/o LiveJournal, Inc., 539 Bryant Street, Suite 210, San Francisco, CA 94107. Be sure to include your username, since we'll be giving ten random users paid account credits.

Photos of the week

If you haven't visited our new LiveJournal photo community, you're in for an amazing visual trip. LiveJournal users from around the world will take you on a scenic journey to everywhere. Post your own pictures or kick back and enjoy at lj_photophile. You can view some of this week's awesome photos after the jump. Please start tagging with geographic location, since we'd like to track all the places around the world represented in this community. Keep on commenting too!
( Read more... )

Tags: csi, photos of the week, postcards, rss, spam, writer's block

Hello newyorkers,

I have a very large, warm, and comfy down winter jacket that was unfortunately barbecued on the front of a space heater inside a bar. On the back of the coat at the bottom seam, a roughly 5" x 5" patch of fabric was totally melted by the heat. I love this coat, and I definitely can't afford a new one.

Can someone recommend a place where I could have it repaired, or an individual who could do the job? I highly doubt it will ever look like new again, which is why I'm searching for someone to get a little creative with some sort of patch or stitching on the back. It will need to hold up to the elements, but other than that I'm open to ideas.

Thank you!

Hi guys—I'm interested in learning more about that now-hibernating Maypole. If you took it down (or know who did), can you let me know via message or at djdreilinger /at/ comcast /dot/ net?

As I've said in a previous posts, I am a journalist. I am not a schmuck.

Tags: holidays, local landscape, parks, religion

I've been having a tough time with my body lately. I missed a whole week of school last week because of the flu and it's been tough trying to catch up with everyone.


Today (thursday) I was suppose to take two tests and make up a test I missed last week. Unfortunately, my body was not feeling good so I could not go to school. (diarrhea and menstrual cramps) :/ So now I have to make up two tests in Biology and two tests in Economics.

I'm just afraid that my teacher thinks that I didn't go to school today because I was not ready and wanted to skip. I feel so guilty for making them do extra work just for me.

asdfaskdfj ): ...

ENSMB is filming this Saturday for a show that will air on CCTV in Dec. and we're allowed to bring along our own studio audience. this is you! we need folks to help make the shoot as fun and exuberant as possible, so please come and get on air with us. we can only take 15 people in, so it's going to be first come first served. dressing up is certainly encouraged, but not required. you would need to show up at 4:15 and stay for about an hour and a half at their studio in Central Square.

comment here or email info@ENSMB.com to sign up and get more info.

Tags: tv

Duck boat hit a car on Mass Ave btwn Boylston and Newbury (northbound side of the street). Traffic is messy.

picture here

Gone. Not much interest on LJ, but 17 takers from Craig's List! :) I forgot I had a second TV in the basement to get rid of and now that one's gone, too. :)

No, really. It's a 27" Philips TV. There's nothing wrong with it except that it's big and a roommate moved in with a flat-screen TV, and no body is buying used CRTs.

If you can come get it today it's yours for the asking. I'll post it to Craig's List tonight.

ETA: It *is* new enough to be able to handle digital signals, BTW, (not that anyone watches anything that's not on cable anyway).

Does anyone know where I can find British-style remembrance poppies in NYC, similar to those seen here? Manhattan preferred, but will travel if necessary.

So I thought I'd put this out there and see if anyone was interested in attending. 

The Joint Committee on Revenue, of which I am a staff member, is doing a statewide Listening Tour on state tax policy.    Our last stop is at the Cambridge City Hall in Central Sq tonight from 6-8pm!   The topic for the evening is Tax Policy & Working Families, but all questions/comments on any aspect of state tax policy is up for discussion.

Rep. Jay Kaufman from Lexington (House Chair), will give a brief overview of current state tax policy with a focus on state & local revenues.  After that we'll have an expert give a brief presentation on tax policy and its impact on low and middle income families/individuals.  And then we'll open it up for about an hour & a half for questions/comments from all of you.

Anyways, feel free to come on down and see what I've been doing with myself for the last 6 months or so.  It'd be great to see folks!  Sorry for the late notice :P  I meant to post this ages ago.

Tags: local government, public services

so, i haven't slept in almost 40 hours. i went to the house concert/fire jam at the House of Real Toys. so incredibly beautiful. the musicians were soothing. most of my friends were there, spinning fire into such beautiful patterns. conversations over such important things.

and i realized...i don't want to scale back on my weekly gatherings with my Party Liberation Front family. a lot of us are moving away next year. i don't want to miss much time with them.

so, i've got to figure out other ways to gain time and sleep so that i can handle these projects from hell, the disciplined training i've set for myself regarding the bet and my other 2010 goals, etc. just like i need to figure out my money budget so that i can move to japan ok next year...so, i'm giving up facebook, twitter, blog reading, hulu, basically any internet that doesn't have to do with me improving my Japanese and Spanish skills, or reaching my other goals like moving to Japan and finishing my stories.

i’ll be writing blog entries as that fits into my goals..which i need to post here. i need to write about japan, too. so many journeys. so much planning to do.

life is beautiful, even if i’m a bit sore and bruised at the moment.

Current Music: VNV Nation---Perpetual

Where can I buy unpasteurized apple cider?

I haven't seen any in the Davis Square farmers' market all season. I saw it once last month at the Harvard Science Center farmers' market, didn't buy it then, and never saw it there again. Pemberton Farms doesn't sell it, though they used to. Who does?

Tags: local food

Anyone know where I can get a desk with a hollow hutch? (A desk with a hutch that has no backing)

( Tear it all down. (#207) )

( Scale it all down. (#208) )

Started writing last night and almost finished before I collapsed. I'm almost back to a normal schedule. Whatever has a grip on me is slowly loosening up. That's good. I need to hit things hard starting next week.

As much as I enjoy belitting the so-called Tea Party movement, it occurs to me that this is the perfect example of why liberals are, for now at least, doomed to screw things up. Think about it. As far back as I can remember, people have complained about the common man being more and more marginalized by the elites. Some of it is true of any period in history but things have been ratcheted up since Reagan declared government to be the problem. Over the course of 30 years, millions of jobs have been slashed, burned and fed to the dogs in the name of efficiency, sky-high profits and whatever else makes elites happy. You'd better believe there's a lot of resentment in many areas.

Here's the rub. One would think these people would be a prime target for a populist liberal movement. (We'll set aside the cold, hard fact that Democrats are just as bought and paid for by the elites as the Republicans.) Really, populism is the only way in which things get done. For example, Kansas used to be a hotbed of populism, where working conditions we take for granted found some of their roots generations ago. Now, Kansas is rife with right-wingers ready to play the victim card on behalf of the people so that right-wingers can get their way. It's ingenious, really.

Take the current health care debate, for example. One would think people would be giving "Town Hell" to anybody opposed to meaningful health care reform. Instead, we have wingnuts proclaiming Obama the reincarnation of Hitler and people crying about the potential cost of the plans, nevermind that trillions of dollars spent blowing up Arabs and creating a never-ending supply of terrorists is apparently okay.

What went wrong? Liberals gave up and ceded the populist ball to the likes of Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity, etc. Hell, liberals have just plain ceded their balls. The only quasi-liberal pocket of blue collar support left is with unions and they're getting sold out left and right. Either way, everybody gets exposed to stuffy academics speaking about matters that don't seem to apply to one's everyday life and rage-filled goons who at least try to point out why everyday folk should care (or, if all else fails, warns that T.H.E.Y.™ are coming). Who do you think will appeal more to the married couple that's barely covering their bills?

With all this concern over our skyrocketing debt, and with all the anger over Wall Street being too big to fail while the little guy gets shafted, and with all this fear for the future in general, where the hell are people supposed to turn? Obama is a first-rate speaker but he has dropped the ball when it comes to selling his policies to blue collar types. If they feel like they've been sold out yet again, they'll just turn right back to the bullies, who have recently felt emboldened enough to threaten any conservative who doesn't pass the hard-right litmus test, fiscal and social. Even if Palin decides to stick to the conservative money train and pass up the '12 election, somebody just as virulent and just as appealing to blue collar types could easily come along and win the primary.

The bottom line: until liberals start harnessing the rage that's out there, nothing's going to change for the better. There need to be a dozen more people like Michael Moore out there, pushing buttons and giving people a reason to think that maybe - just maybe - liberals really do have the best interests of the nation in mind, have a sack and have a gameplan to help everybody live a better life, all without mortgaging our futures along the way. Alas, that's too low-brow or "groupthink" for many liberals these days. For now, we're stuck with the right-wing screaming victim machine. This doesn't give me much faith for the near future.





That being said, I reserve the right to call the likes of Palin, Limbaugh, etc. teabaggers. Their goals in life are to milk every last dollar out of their listeners via deception. Fuck all of them. In an election night filled with sad results (and, in some cases, sad participants), watching the teabaggers push aside a locally palatable Republican and lose in the process was the only silver lining. It'll be interesting to see if the teabaggers push the Republicans further into obscurity or if they're unmasked as paper tigers and pushed to the sidelines. For the sake of the country, I hope the latter occurs.

---
In more personal news, I'm very tentatively leaning towards going to Afghanistan in spring/summer 2011. Why tentative?

-Only a fool would attempt to predict what Afghanistan will be like five minutes from now, much less 18 months from now. That's part of the appeal of going!
-My mind bounces around like that. Surely you've noticed.
-Part of the appeal of such a trip would be to really drop off the radar for awhile. Maybe my head won't be in that particular space when the time comes.
-Building up enough vacation time to make a long-haul trek out there (3-4 weeks) will take time. Even if I decide to make it part of a larger trek (Pakistan, China, wherever), time has to be set aside for potential glitches (impassable roads, security snafus, etc.).
-Having built up a lot of frequent flier miles from the Thai trip, I'm sorely tempted to hit keep hitting southeast Asia (or at least an affiliate airline's destination) over the next two years. With a little luck (and a lot more miles), that would mean a free trip to Japan in 2011/2. :) Who can pass up such a proposition?

Then again, while I'm not terribly eager to visit, Israel might be a good idea. My passport's expiring soon and some Muslim countries won't let you in if there's evidence of a visit to Israel. I might as well hit up Israel and get a fresh start immediately. (I know there are ways to cheat but I'd prefer to get the stamp in my actual passport.)

More Rollins travelogues also arrived yesterday. Part of me feels like a glutton for punishment, considering how depressing his writings are. Part of me is happy to read so many interesting anecdotes about life elsewhere in the world, along with general sketches of everyday life found by wandering the streets. I enjoy doing that too, and just like Henry, I typically get bored after a day or two and want to move on to the next place. Either way, I think I'll tackle the '06 book first (I'm curious why Henry's so angry about the final Rollins Band tour), then the Black Flag book, then either the '07 book or the book about Joe Cole, the roommate and close friend who Henry watched get gunned down.

I'm still working on the Thai photos. I have a batch I like and want to toss up but the SLR ones need some cleanup. (Why does my point-and-shoot have relatively accurate colors from the getgo? Arrrgh.) Sickness, a sore body, possible jetlag and/or something else has been draining my will to work since I got home, unfortunately. That and I need to edit the footage but don't have an appropriate editor yet. Oh well. I'll get there and might also transcribe some journal entries I wrote during the trek. (I wrote ~40 pages worth of entries, some of which are actually decent.)

A half-marathon in February? It might happen! Stay tuned....

I did my monthly check-in on Meow and discovered she'll be in NY next month. Can you believe it's been almost two years since I saw her perform? Scandalous. Either way, it looks like I'll be spending my pre-Christmas weekend in NY. Hopefully it won't be a fiasco like the last one. Nobody wanted to participate - cue Doug's repeated stage appearances - and some old guy harassed her the entire time. He breathed heavily and appeared to have brought a male escort. Creeeeeeeeeeepyyyyyyyyyyyy.

Speaking of Meow, what the hell was up with her doing a secret show in Hong Kong and Amanda & Neil doing some last-minute thing in Singapore right after I left Thailand? Oh well. I'll worry if the Afghan trip happens and they follow me there. Then again, we could all go on a guided tour together, scare the locals and drive each other mad along the way! Now that would be a travelogue worth publishing. Meow could try to maintain her glamor, Amanda could provide color commentary, Neil could write about it all and I could insert "Fucking hell!" at random points in Neil's transcript.

Later, gators.

Tags: elections, meow meow, ninjas, photo of the day, politics, thailand, the right-wing victim card, travel

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/11/author-comes-home-and-displays-many.html

I went to XinjiangProvince in Western China to continue researching my Monkey/China book. This is the photo I took of a scenic building that, I discovered when the men came out to arrest us, turned out to be a police station. If you're in Kashgar do not take pictures of this building. Trust me on this.



... or discussion of the pomegranate crop, counted as politics. It made my journey even stranger than it might have been already.
More photos of China and Singapore in my next post, I hope. In summary: Singapore was wonderful, but the visit was much much too short: we were there for about 50 hours altogether. Once again, the food was amazing and the people delightful.


(Middle photo of the amazing bubble by Miss Holly Gaiman. Who is fundraising.)

My bras don't fit. They've never fit. I really want them to fit.

I want to go to a lingerie shop with really, really good fitters. I want a bra that will change my life. Can you help me, newyorkers?

Current Mood: discontent

Sleep, Katherine, please, sleep.

I'm coming up on two of four years complete in my Rubenfeld Synergy training, and am in need of more volunteers to work on. If you're interested or have questions after reading the below, please drop me a line!

Practice clients will receive relaxing and self-awareness-enhancing sessions that include gentle hands-on and dialogue about what you're experiencing in your body, but do not (at this point in my training) explore deep emotions or life issues. The client is always fully clothed and is welcomed to stop or modify the session at any time if they feel uncomfortable.

My own background includes a Diploma in Counselling from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland (which teaches Client-Centered Therapy, aka Rogerian), as well as a 2-year program at the Muscular Therapy Institute in nearby Cambridge. Today I'm a Licensed Massage Therapist with a private practice based in my home office. My intention is to practice a healing discipline that makes use my talents both for "talking cure" therapy and for bodywork -- and Rubenfeld Synergy is definitely the most well developed discipline in that space.

Sessions at this point in my training are free of charge. Sometime in 2010 I will be able to get certified as a "Level 1" practitioner of Rubenfeld Synergy enabling me to set my own professional rates -- they're still working out the timeline.

To be eligible to be a practice client, a person:
- Can't be a "good friend". (eg one of us has visited the other's home, or we're on "hugs hello" terms.)
- Can't have seen me before in either my Massage Therapy or Counselling practices.
- Has not been hospitalized for a mental health issue or recent major injury.

My home office is near Ball Square in Somerville, a 12 minute walk east up the bike path from Davis. Please send an email to [mattryan at pobox dot com] if you'd like to discuss more. Or feel free to comment here if you'd like to post your questions publicly.

-------------
Diligent davis_square readers may recall a similar post from dietrich back in June -- we're in the same training program together. :-)

Tags: health care, massage

$950, heat and hot water included, "elevated first floor" [first floor, but we're on a slope, so my windows are too high for anyone to ever get in], facing a contained courtyard [if Icarus makes a flying leap out a window, he ain't goin' nowhere], laundry in basement. Gordon Street, on the B line, between a Whole Foods and a Shaws but closer to the WF, near all the restaurants and cafes I love on Brighton, a short walk and a bus ride from Harvard. Literally the only bad thing is a wonky shower head, regarding which I can put a "must be replaced" contingency on the lease. Barely any closet space, but what can you do? It's enough room for me and my kitty to live happily. I can paint the walls should I choose...

I'm seeing another place, coincidentally on the same street, tomorrow, and depending on how I feel about that landlord, I'll probably submit an application either way on Friday.

I could potentially be able to move as early as the beginning of next week. It won't happen that way, because of All The Other Life Stuff, but... wow.

The Tufts Global Lens Film Series picks up after a week off. The films are top notch, free, open to the public and you won't have to fight a crowd (I got a private screening last week). The movies are the type you won't get an easy chance to see again.

http://ase.tufts.edu/ir/eventsGlobalLens.htm

Here's the schedule for this weekend:

Those Three (Iran) - 8 pm, Thurs., Mugar 200 (Cabot/Fletcher)

Sleepwalking Land (Mozambique) - 8 pm, Friday, Mugar 200

Getting Home (China) - 8 pm, Saturday, Mugar 200

Song from the Southern Seas (Kazhakstan) - 2 pm, Sunday, Mugar 200


Also this weekend at Tufts: State of Play and The Hurt Locker. Part of Tufts Film Series.

x-post to freescreenings

Tags: entertainment, events, free stuff

I have noticed this trend at busy intersections, particularly post-daylight-savings (because apparently, nobody here knows how to drive in the dark). I thought that if I could influence just a single driver to change his/her driving habits, it would save many other drivers a few minutes of frustration.

When a light turns yellow, and there is no space for you on the other side of the traffic light, please do not race forth into the middle of the intersection. The cars in front of you will not magically disappear when the light turns red.

Instead, you'll be the a$$hole blocking the intersection. And the drivers who now have a green light will hate your guts because they can't be going on their merry way, and they've already had to wait several rounds of lights because of other a$$holes just like you.

So please, if a light turns yellow and there's no space for you ahead, be patient and wait for the next green light. You'll end up in the same space 15 feet in front of you anyway, and at least you won't be the a$$hole blocking the intersection.

Thank you.

Tags: cars

After reading the MBTA report, I got a bit worried, since I take the red line between Davis Sq and Harvard Sq a lot...  Page 26 of this report (www.boston.com/multimedia/2009/11/04mbta/mbta_review.pdf) talks about it.

The Boston Globe has an article on the report (www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/11/04/report_finds_ts_riders_at_risk/ ) saying: "One delayed project highlighted in the report, which has been deemed critical to public safety, involves repair of a water leak on the Red Line between Alewife and Harvard stations. The $80 million project would replace a system of slabs and disks, designed to absorb train vibrations, that has been damaged by water leaks. In some areas, fasteners are corroding and the tracks are moving out of alignment, the report states, presenting “the possibility of train derailment.’’

If it's critical for public safety, does it mean it's not safe, currently?

Tags: mbta
Current Mood: scared

heyyyy boston,

anyone need tickets to the islands tonight at the middle east? $15! all ages!

doors are at 8pm.
Toro Y Moi at 9.
Jemina Pearl at 10.
Islands at 11.

i am excited about the show but am being a wahhhbaby about the time.

please let me know.

thanks,
jen

Current Mood: working

Join the Boston Sunday Night Film Club this Sunday, Nov 8th at 7pm for Up in the Air (Free Screening) at the AMC Boston Common 19 . Look for Audra wearing a nametag in the theatre lobby about 15 minutes before the film. As always, after the film we will descend on a local establishment for dinner/drinks/discussion.

Note: This is a free screening and is first-come, first-serve. Audra will be in the theatre lobby around 6pm with the passes. Director Jason Reitman will be in attendance and a Q&A session shall follow the screening.

( Film Synopsis )

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

It's time for a "where can I buy?" question!

Does anyone know, positively, where to buy the foam shapes that are generally sold as wreath bases? I need to find a large heart-shaped one.

I've searched a bit for this, but it's a hard item to search for specifically... I know there's a Michaels in Astoria but I would like to find something closer to Manhattan. I wonder if Canal Rubber or Pearl Paint has this, but don't have much time to go hunt. Thanks, crafty New York!

I have a question ( and probably dumb one).
I will be moving to NYC next year 2010 and I don't know how to drive. Will I make it in NYC. my family says I need to learn how to drive before I move anywhere, but I know that NYC has Taxi, bus, train etc. 
Do people take transportation more than driving on their own?

Current Mood: aggravated

What's your favorite thing to do on your own in the city (or a short trip outside it)? I have Saturday off from work for the first time in a while, and I want to come up with a day of fun for just me, myself and I. I'm open to a day trip too, but I also don't have a ton of money. I've done loads of googling but I think I'm going to be struck by someone's personal favorites... I've lived here for six years but there are so many things I know I haven't done!

Highbrow or lowbrow- I'm thankful for any and all suggestions!

Joe Curtatone, while winning the election for mayor, was voted in by less than 8% of Somerville's human population.

Tags: local government, local politics

Hi, Folks. I've been a page-bound poet forever, with about a dozen poems published in the past couple of years (professional writer/editor for 30 years). Now I want to do web poems using flash, DHTML, java, etc. but I am code-clueless. I've downloaded programs to try and learn enough code to create what I see in my head, but it would take me years to match skill with inspiration. So I need somebody, a collaborator, and preferably somebody who wants help being a writer. Then we can trade. I've trained writers professionally for years.

Who are you, my hero? You may not be much of a poet, but you have the keyboard fingers of a superhero and plenty of creativity and artistry. Me, I have the tongue of a poet but the code capacities of a toad. Let's get together. I have text and ideas; you can add code and images. Or you have snazzy code and I can add text and suggest images, etc. Or we can start from scratch on a poem that could only exist on the web--integrated all the way along.

Beauty is the goal, and subtlety. No pantomimes--like when the mention of "water" in a poem is matched with a wavy line of text. Too obvious. Like playing charades. The goal is to be literature, class, the true, the good and the beautiful. What would Shakespeare do if he could code? . . . . "Be thou my MP3......" (Well, maybe not.)

For example, a poem about a fellow sitting alone by a lake: when the reader finishes a stanza a click will send the words skipping across the surface of the lake like a stone, leaving lonely circles criss-crossing each other.

Or a poem about a lady who won't plant ivy because she doesn't want it spreading too fast, and vines slowly penetrate the space of the words.

Or a poem about a gymnast whose spine is studded with lights. Impressionistic.

Or a poem about a girl who dreams of talking like the birds, and there's a mouseover effect to play bird calls on specific words.

I need the other half of a team. The world needs more mutual assured creation.

Tom
noe.words@gmail.com

Tags: digital art, editing, graphic art, graphic design, poetry, programming, visual art, writing
Current Location: The Wilds of Indiana

I'm going abroad to Ghana and am looking to get yellow fever and typhoid vaccinations. I'm going to look at the CDC website for clinics, but in your experience what is the cheapest place to get them?

Thanks!