The Calamity, a book review with which some of you will disagree

Posted on July 30, 2008
Filed Under Blather, Literary, friends, me and my brain, rant | 2 Comments

A few days ago I finished Special Topics in Calamity Physics. It was a strange book for me, because it was a page-turner (at least, some of it was), but the writing style annoyed me, and overall I ended up really disappointed.


I didn’t believe any of the characters. There’s little in the story that I could relate to my own life–and I don’t just mean in terms of things that happen, because lots of things happen in lots of books that have nothing to do with my life. I feel like the author tried too hard to describe everything so that she didn’t leave room to fill in anything–at least, nothing superficial. Somehow, even after all of that, I felt like the characters lacked any sort of depth. With all the glowing reviews at the front of the book, I would have guessed that the main character would be appealing. She’s not. I found her annoying, not very believable, and pretty stupid for how smart she’s supposed to be. I kept trying to give a lot of characters a pass, because they’re supposed to be smarty-pants high schoolers, but it just doesn’t work. And the adults don’t act like adults, either. The things they say and do with the young people are just totally implausible. Okay, maybe one or two oddball characters would act strangely with kids, but all of them? It just doesn’t work.

And the similes!! No, the LISTS of similes. It was painful.

Shortly before I finished the book, I was talking to Amy, who read and enjoyed the book–though she had some issues with it, too. We were talking about bad similes in books, and she said something about a book she’d read (not this one, or so she thought, anyway) having a ridiculous simile that compared someone’s eyes to olives. Well, lo and behold, toward the end of Special Topics, the narrator compares someone’s eyes to olives. I guess maybe in this case it’s supposed to be funny. It isn’t the worst bit of the book, though. It isn’t even so much that all the similes are bad, it’s that there are too many of them… The author couldn’t just pick a few of the most poetic and spot-on ones or find some other way of describing things.

And all the endless referencing and faux referencing… it isn’t clever, it’s annoying. I hate all that b.s..

For all of the supposed unpredictability of the book, I feel like I totally nailed the ending long before it happened.

It isn’t a painful read in that somehow most of the time it flows (except in the part where the main character is supposedly figuring everything out–which to me felt too convenient and very boring), but her writing is often painful in other ways. There’s something self-congratulatory about it that’s really off-putting. I can’t recommend it. Read Donna Tartt or something instead.

More proof that Amy is among the best EVER

Posted on July 14, 2008
Filed Under Blather, art, friends, photography, the interweb | 6 Comments

So dear pal Amy has been tagging some of my flickr photos to Bostonist, which has put them in consideration for photo of the day… and today the first photo in my previous post got the nod! Thanks so much, Amy my star!

I’ll have more for you soon, I promise!

Some pictures of Savannah

Posted on May 22, 2008
Filed Under Blather, Gastronomie, dining, friends, photography, wide world of vacation | Leave a Comment

Our visit to Savannah was great–very relaxing. We even went to the beach! I don’t have much time to write about it here as we’re off to see the Flemings in Virginia later on today, but I can share a few pictures to give you a feel for the trip.

birdie
Adorable baby birdie sitting on the wheel of a baby buggy


Monday morning in Savannah


The Jepson Art Museum


Nora and Jim at the Jepson on Mother’s Day. Note Nora’s sunburn from the previous day’s beach outing. She’s on the phone with her mom here.


Nora and Ezra on the path to the water at Tybee Beach (Jim had to work that day)


Scrumpy dinner courtesy of chef Jim Lewis

Summit Springs Farm, hittin’ the big time!

Posted on May 21, 2008
Filed Under Blather, friends, the telly | Leave a Comment

Well, sort of.

Our friends John and Sonya have started an organic farm in Poland, ME. They’re being profiled by a local newscaster and they were on TV (woohoo!). It’s good stuff. Clicky here and follow the link to “Play Video” in the upper right. You’ll need Windows Media Player.

And the weekend goes out with a bang

Posted on May 18, 2008
Filed Under Blather, Gastronomie, cooking, dining, friends, sports in general | 3 Comments

I bring you glad tidings from the Terri sports world, as the Celtics, the Penguins, and the Red Sox all won big today.

I bring you glad tidings from the baby world, wherein Nora and Jim found out a few days ago that they are having a little boy, and wherein John and Sonya have just told us that they are due to have their first on Christmas Day.

And I bring you glad tidings from the kitchen, wherein Ez and I conjured up ridiculously delicious-smelling goat cheese enchiladas with red chile mole. Picture to come.

A few things to share

Posted on May 6, 2008
Filed Under Blather, art, family, friends, photography | 3 Comments

So I haven’t felt very blog-worthy lately, as I suppose is apparent.

A few possibly blogworthy notes:

The Letterpress Guild of New England January Potluck at Albertine Press

Posted on January 30, 2008
Filed Under Blather, art, cooking, craft, friends | Leave a Comment

Sunday, January 20th was a busy day, and a little tiny landmark for Ez and me as well, as it was our first official meeting with the folks of The Letterpress Guild of New England (and the first time Ez paid his dues). Our friend Shelley at Albertine Press hosted, and she urged Ez and I to come. It was a potluck, so we whipped up a big batch of our guacamole to share.

Shelley
Shelley of Albertine Press


Stacks of colored paper at Albertine Press

After a lot of nibbling and chatting with various people, most of them folks I’d never met before but all generally very nice, we settled down to talk about an agenda for the year. Ez and I volunteered (or got volunteered, depending) to put together a sort of press crawl of the Boston area where LGNE members will spend a day checking out various area presses. We offered to print something as well, though I can’t remember what (dear me!)–Ez wrote it down.


Guild Members. The woman in dark blue–I think her name is Cynthia–was in one of my bookbinding workshops.

LGNE
Guild Members. The woman in the green scarf does amazing work with Italian papers and bookbinding.

It was interesting just to see what the LGNE is really all about. It’s an interesting mix of people. There’s sort of the old guard, a few people who are quite serious about their craft and have been doing this for a while, some younger folks who work at larger area presses, some people like Ez and I who do this sort of thing as a semi-serious hobby, and then some people who have interned or done workshops who are especially interested in getting more involved in the community. I know we can get a lot out of it… lately, of course, it’s been a little bit of a challenge just to get to the studio, but the print will go on!

This reminds me of all the related things I’d like to take a crack at… There’s a bit in the latest Craft magazine about making paper out of recycled mail. I’d love to try that as we get tons of junk mail and it might be cool to attempt to print on our own paper. There are a couple of marblers in the LGNE and I’d love to do that, too. I tried a sort of lame version of it once a LONG time ago and it came out OK, but I think I need better materials and some actual instruction. And then of course I need to try bookbinding on my own. I now have lots of materials thanks to some generous and lovely birthday and Christmas gifts. So many possibilities!

Start as you mean to go on… Christmas

Posted on January 15, 2008
Filed Under Blather, Gastronomie, Pennsylvania, christmas, daytripping, dining, family, friends, photography, the pusses | Leave a Comment

OK, so my updates are going to have to stretch back into time here. I’ll get up to the present eventually!

This year felt even more busy at Christmas than usual. Between the Bazaar Bizarre, our party, getting ready to go to Berlin and Nice after Christmas, and the usual Christmas festivities, we were in a bit of a tizzy. I’m not complaining, mind you, though I do hope we can spread things out a little more next year somehow.

Our party was super fun. We had SO MUCH food. Our friends really are the best chefs ever, and this year we were even treated to fabulous homemade bread courtesy of John and Sonya, who made it down for their first (hopefully the first of many) Terri and Ezra holiday party. We were also pleased that the Breens could join us, as we hadn’t seen them for a while.


The Breens: Christie, Elizabeth, Jeffrey, and Patricia

We spent Christmas in State College with my parents and Kim, Glenn, and Hope. The Saturday before Christmas we got a sitter for Hope and went to the State Theatre to see It’s a Wonderful Life on the big screen. Ez and I have seen it several times at The Brattle here in Cambridge, but Mom, Dad, Kim, and Glenn had never seen it on the big screen before. I think the screen at The State is actually bigger than the one at the Brattle. Anyway, it was great. Afterwards Ez and I caught up with our friend John Kenyon for a couple of drinks.

During the day on Saturday Kim and I did a big antiquing extravaganza at Big Valley Antiques and Dairyland. For those of you who don’t know, those are big antique co-ops practically across the highway from each other near Lewistown, PA (I think they’re technically in Milroy??). I love our trips over there. We always make delightful discoveries, and I almost always find some additions for my collection of vintage Christmas postcards. Between Big Valley, Dairyland, and Apple Hill Antiques in State College, I ended up with some new goodies again this time. I’ve promised Kim that I’ll do a post about my collection, so stay tuned.

Sunday we went over to Lewistown to see the aunts and uncles and cousins. Hope wore an adorable dress Kim and Glenn bought her on their trip to Italy and was just generally entertaining and cute as always.


Hope with Nana at Aunt Kay’s house

My Aunt Kay and Uncle Larry had been taking care of a sweet kitty and her five baby kittens, and we got to see them. They were SO ADORABLE. How I wished I could have taken one or two of them, but with Suki and Edie it just didn’t seem like the best idea. I seriously considered it, though! They were the sweetest!

Since we celebrated with the families on Sunday, we spent all of Christmas Day at home in State College. I stretched my toes by the fire and had lots of time to gaze at my new Garbo book, eat holiday M&Ms, and play with the point and shoot camera Ez gave me. Hope made out like a bandit, of course. She spent a little time enjoying her new maracas before becoming enraptured by her new Play-Doh set. Ez and I had lots of fun with her and the Play-Doh.

We had to scurry back to Massachusetts the day after Christmas, which felt a bit weird and rushed, but we made the most of it. Then it was two days at home with the cats and packing before cabbing it to the airport for Eurotrip 2007-2008!

The Mostest

Posted on October 21, 2007
Filed Under Red Sox, craft, friends, knitting | 3 Comments

Ez and I are pals with two of the nicest people on the planet. Maybe I’ve mentioned…

Yesterday Amy and I took a longstitch journal workshop at Paper Source in Cambridge. Once again, the gluing was a little challenging, but I’m quite pleased with the results, and it was fun. Amy’s is really nice. Here’s mine:

After bookbinding, we grabbed a warm drink and had a lovely chat. It just goes to show how wonderful Amy is… she let me babble away and actually seemed interested and was listening to all of my random thoughts. They amount to something in the end, I hope.

We joined forces with Ezra and Doug for a relaxed dinner at Cambridge Common, and then because they are the most hospitable ever and because our place is still a wreck we headed over to Amy and Doug’s comfy home to visit with Theo of the big fluffy paws and to watch the Red Sox…er… sock it to the Indians. Doug let me wear his Ortiz jersey so I could feel that I was doing my part apparel-wise. Amy was working on her knitting–a super soft looking pale purple piece that looks positively edible. During the 2004 season I was working on the throw blanket I made for our living room, and the act of knitting helped me channel my nervous energy in a productive way–especially during the playoffs. Last night I didn’t anticipate wanting to knit, so I didn’t bring any knitting with me. Well, Amy, the knitting angel, offered to let me dig through her stash! I picked a couple of beautiful blue, green, and light purple variegated skeins and started knitting away. It turned into a spur of the moment moss stitch and wide rib scarf. On size 11 needles (which she was kind enough to let me borrow!), it’s going ridiculously quickly. Needless to say, I am deeply indebted to Ms. Lewis!! Amy, I owe you a serious stash raid!!

Oh, and since the Sox kicked some booty, Ez and I are going to Game 7 tonight!!! Whoop!

Chicago… with even more Interpol

Posted on October 13, 2007
Filed Under Blather, friends, music, wide world of vacation | 5 Comments

On Wednesday I flew out to Chicago to meet up with some friends and to see Interpol. It’s kind of a long story, but the trip was originally going to be a bit more friend-oriented and ended up being largely Interpol-oriented.

They played at the Aragon, which is right across from the train station–it was impossible to miss it. When I got there I wandered around and only saw three other people hanging out on the side of the building. The band’s tour bus had just arrived and was maneuvering to back into this little driveway area when I got there. I set my stuff down at the front entrance, but a security guy came out and told me that people were lined up in the alley. The alley turned out to be this shitty little weed-filled lane full of broken glass and weeds and smelling faintly of piss–the things I do for Interpol. There were about 8-10 people in front of me, which was OK. The Aragon is big enough that we all ended up in the front.

I met some super nice people in line and had fun chatting, chattering (it got quite chilly when the sun ducked behind the clouds and the wind picked up), and generally hanging out. I got to meet my friend Rachel from Ohio and her friends Kim (from Atlanta) and LeAnne (from Oklahoma), who were both really nice. At one point Sam, Christy, and Mickey (their dog) waved to us on their way into the venue (yes, the dog waved to us!).

We wandered over to the other side of the building in the afternoon to hear soundcheck (at that point our spots in line were safe), and we could hear it really well. They played Take You On a Cruise, Specialist, Pace Is the Trick, Who Do You Think?, The Scale, and Pioneer to the Falls–a pretty great soundcheck.

Me and Lacinda
Me and Lacinda waiting in line

After a harrowing journey, my friend Lacinda from DC arrived a bit after four. It was really great to see her. We’d met at the Portland show in 2005, but in Chicago we really had a chance to chat more. She’s great! At one point as we were chatting she stopped mid-sentence, turned to the guys standing behind us and was like, “You are not playing pattycake.” But they were. Not too long after she arrived, a DJ from a local station (or so I’m told) handed out a few black and white promotional posters. I got one (yay!), but it’s a bit mangled after the journey back on the plane (sniff!).

Around 6:00 security finally let us in. I was very happy to stake out my spot on Daniel’s side. There were little sort of balcony boxes on either side of the stage (or so it seemed from where I was standing), and I could see various crew and band people (including Sam) up there filling up plates from a catering spread before the show.

Liars’ went on around 8:00. Their set was pretty good, though I definitely enjoyed the first time I saw them the best. Angus said that it was his best friend’s birthday and motioned to the drummer/vocalist, revealing that he was turning 30. I was tempted to sing happy birthday. There seemed to be something wrong with Angus’s microphone for most of their set.

A bit before 9:00, Interpol’s crew taped down their setlists, but then just a few minutes later they came back and ripped them all up again. It’s hard not to wonder what was on that original setlist. My guess is that they switched up the encore at the last minute. Hm… Anyway, they came back with the new setlists and shortly after that the lights went down and the guys took the stage.

As I said, it was great to be back at home on Daniel’s side of the stage. When he really hams it up I can’t help laughing, and the rest of the time I feel like I’m right there with him in the song. The stage was really elevated above the crowd, probably because the venue is pretty big, but totally flat, so that if the stage weren’t high off the floor people standing in the back would have no chance of seeing anything. Because of how high the stage was and where I was standing, I couldn’t see Sam very well. I had a good view of the others, though. Carlos is definitely more into it now than he was a few weeks back. It’s good to see. He just seems much more engaged–like he’s enjoying himself and interacting with the crowd a lot more.

Here’s the setlist:

Pioneer to the Falls
Obstacle 1
C’mere
Narc
Say Hello to the Angels
The Scale
Mammoth
Take You On A Cruise
No I in Threesome
Slow Hands
Rest My Chemistry
The Heinrich Maneuver
Evil
Not Even Jail

Untitled
Stella
PDA

A big cheer went up when they started playing Obstacle 1. Narc and Say Hello to the Angels were great as always. I got a little smile of recognition from Daniel during The Scale (as Lacinda is my witness!). He was definitely giving a lot of looks and smiles to people in the crowd. I think Paul sent a grin my way later on in the show, but with his bangs down in his face it’s hard to know exactly what he’s looking at sometimes. I was glad to hear The Scale because I haven’t heard it live in a while. Same with Take You on a Cruise. I was actually kind of hoping they’d play both of those. Once again, Evil sounded amazing. They are playing the hell out of that song every night.

When I saw Daniel return on his own for the encore I knew we were getting Untitled (yay!). I would have liked to have heard Specialist, but I absolutely can’t complain a jot about getting Untitled instead. And since they played Specialist at soundcheck it was all good. Stella was great, and was again followed by a wandering little “jam” before they kicked into PDA. Daniel’s singing sounded particularly good to me during PDA–better maybe than it usually does.

Sometime during the encore I noticed that Christy was sitting at a little cocktail table up in one of the balcony boxes, taking pictures. She waved down at the band at least once, and I think I saw Paul make a funny face at her when he played a high note on his guitar during Stella or PDA.

At the end of the show Sam threw his sticks way back into the crowd. A security guy up front kindly picked up and gave me one of Daniel’s used guitar picks (he’s still flicking them onto the floor throughout the show, bless him).

Getting out of the venue was a bit nightmarish. I hate bottlenecks! I was starting to feel a little claustrophobic and suffocated when Lacinda urged me to just push on through, so we made a human train and got the heck outta there.

There were fliers all over the place and a guy out on the street advertising an “afterparty” across the road at another club, but it was just a promotional thing and had nothing at all to do with the band. I’d never gone out to the buses after a show, but I wanted to hang out with my new friends, I wasn’t sure what to do next, and I was a bit curious. Well, it was surreal. The buses were parked in this little lot behind the theater surrounded by buildings and a chain-link fence lined at the top with barbed wire. Before the show, the fence gate was open, but afterwards it was closed up. There was a huddled mass pressed up against the fence waiting for the guys. When we got back there Daniel was signing things through the gaps in the fence. People were making a ton of noise and it was just really bizarre to me. It was like they were in a cage or at the zoo. I don’t want to take anything away from anybody who was excited to say hi to the guys after the show, but it kind of creeped me out. Carlos came out after Daniel went back to the bus and he was out for a little while saying hello and signing things. We found a skinny gap at the side of the fence and we were like, “Carlos! Over here! You can escape!”

A girl who’d waited in line with us asked us if we were going to the secret show at the Empty Bottle. I hadn’t heard about it before (the show, not the bar) and as I thought it was pretty far away, I was skeptical. I’m kicking myself now for not going. Another lesson learned… EDIT:  Just discovered that the secret thing was sold out ahead of time, so I wouldn’t have been able to get in anyway, which is a sort of relief.

There wasn’t much open that looked appealing around the venue, so after that (and after I found an Interpol sticker on the ground) we bid farewell (too hastily, I’m afraid) to our new friends, and Lacinda and I got a cab back to our hotel, where we immediately went to IHOP. We were starved!

I found out that Lacinda does a lot of writing (I didn’t realize) and that, like me, she is a smart and creative person who sometimes watches ESPN. Yes, I’m not the only one.

I don’t have many pictures to share because I didn’t take my camera. I didn’t want to check any luggage, and I’d heard that the venue was very strict about cameras (which they were). My new friend Kim took a picture of me and Lacinda (above), and I think there’s a picture of me, Rachel, Kim, and LeAnne, too, but I don’t have that yet.

keep looking »

Song of the Day

Devo-It’s Not Right 

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The Knitting Turnip

On My Needles

Rhapsody in Tweed cabled pullover for Ezra! using Tahki Donegal Tweed in Forest, from Fall 2004 Interweave Knits. I've just picked this one up again, so it's moving up in the queue!

Sweater with Cable Patterns pullover using Araucania Nature Wool Chunky in Mauve, from Rebecca Magazine Number 28

Heather Pullover using Classic Elite Wings in Larkspur, from Rowan’s A Season’s Tale... This needs the knit doctor. I'm going to have to frog back a little bit and redo the shoulder area. Long story.

Hush Pullover using Jo Sharp DK wool in Wine, from Rowan’s Calmer Collection

Recently Finished Projects

In the Groove boatneck pullover using Manos del Uruguay in Black and Cheek (pale pink), from Fall 2006 issue of knitscene. SWEATER IS DONE!

Stash Stealer Scarf for me, using delicious yarn that darling Amy let me raid from her stash. I made up the pattern--a couple of wide ribs rimmed in moss stitch. It's soft and fuzzy and DONE!

Moss Stitch Jacket with Collar for Hope using Classic Elite Wool Bam Boo in Ivy, from Quick Baby Knits by Debbie Bliss. JACKET IS DONE!

Next in line

Brompton cardigan using Noro Cash Iroha in Jewel Green (my name for shade #100)

Eyelet Yoke Pullover using Debbie Bliss Merino Aran

Under consideration

Loads!

More scoop on my knitting endeavors can be found at my home on Ravelry (clicky here).

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