This is how I will NOT be decorating my future bathroom when I move out of my ancestral home.
http://whatnottocrochet.wordpress.com/2010/01/09/crochet-vs-installation/
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
The Art of Comparison
Like most people, I struggle with comparing myself to others. Facebook can be both a blessing and a curse in that respect. (And in other respects, too.)
On the one hand, you can find inspiration in what others are saying or doing. You might be inclined to pick up a book that one of your best friends lists as a favorite, for example. Surfing FB also gives you the chance to appreciate the vastly diverse personalities, interests, and ideas that your friends and "friends" reflect.
But en el otro mano, it's easy to fall into the trap of comparing your profile with other people's - both on the shallow level ("Her profile is so cute and funny, and mine is so horribly boring") and on the more meaningful level ("That person sounds so interesting and deep, and my interests don't matter as much as his do").
It's this deeper one that hit me today. Looking at the spiritually, intellectually rich books that one of my friends likes made me wonder about my own tastes in reading, and my own tastes in life activities. I have the tendency to mentally transplant the interests, passions, and views (particularly political, but also spiritual) of other people into my own life; to expend much emotional energy wondering if my fellow humans are more "right" than I myself am, and to agonize over the value of my own passions in comparison with theirs.
This weakness is one of the reasons I love the following passage from Gaudy Night, by Dorothy Sayers. The two speakers are Miss de Vine, an Oxford tutor, and Harriet Vane, an Oxford alum who has returned to her college for a class reunion (known as a "gaudy").
Here goes:
"'Detachment is a rare virtue...If you ever find a person who likes you in spite of it - still more, because of it - that liking has very great value, because it is perfectly sincere and because, with that person, you will never need to be anything but sincere yourself...I imagine you come across a number of people who are disconcerted by the difference between what you do feel and what they fancy you ought to feel. It is fatal to pay the smallest attention to them.'
'Yes,' said Harriet, 'but I am one of them. I disconcert myself very much. I never know what I do feel.'
'I don't think that matters, provided one doesn't try to persuade one's self into appropriate feelings.'
'But one has to make some sort of choice,' said Harriet. 'And between one desire and another, how is one to know which things are really of overmastering importance?'
'We can only know that,' said Miss de Vine, 'when they have overmastered us.'"
-Dorothy Sayers, Gaudy Night
So what has overmastered me? That is the question of the day. Rather, of the life. At least my life right now.
On the one hand, you can find inspiration in what others are saying or doing. You might be inclined to pick up a book that one of your best friends lists as a favorite, for example. Surfing FB also gives you the chance to appreciate the vastly diverse personalities, interests, and ideas that your friends and "friends" reflect.
But en el otro mano, it's easy to fall into the trap of comparing your profile with other people's - both on the shallow level ("Her profile is so cute and funny, and mine is so horribly boring") and on the more meaningful level ("That person sounds so interesting and deep, and my interests don't matter as much as his do").
It's this deeper one that hit me today. Looking at the spiritually, intellectually rich books that one of my friends likes made me wonder about my own tastes in reading, and my own tastes in life activities. I have the tendency to mentally transplant the interests, passions, and views (particularly political, but also spiritual) of other people into my own life; to expend much emotional energy wondering if my fellow humans are more "right" than I myself am, and to agonize over the value of my own passions in comparison with theirs.
This weakness is one of the reasons I love the following passage from Gaudy Night, by Dorothy Sayers. The two speakers are Miss de Vine, an Oxford tutor, and Harriet Vane, an Oxford alum who has returned to her college for a class reunion (known as a "gaudy").
Here goes:
"'Detachment is a rare virtue...If you ever find a person who likes you in spite of it - still more, because of it - that liking has very great value, because it is perfectly sincere and because, with that person, you will never need to be anything but sincere yourself...I imagine you come across a number of people who are disconcerted by the difference between what you do feel and what they fancy you ought to feel. It is fatal to pay the smallest attention to them.'
'Yes,' said Harriet, 'but I am one of them. I disconcert myself very much. I never know what I do feel.'
'I don't think that matters, provided one doesn't try to persuade one's self into appropriate feelings.'
'But one has to make some sort of choice,' said Harriet. 'And between one desire and another, how is one to know which things are really of overmastering importance?'
'We can only know that,' said Miss de Vine, 'when they have overmastered us.'"
-Dorothy Sayers, Gaudy Night
So what has overmastered me? That is the question of the day. Rather, of the life. At least my life right now.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
The future?
It's been a long time.
Soul searching has taken place.
Inner anguish has resulted.
Questions have ensued.
"What is the fate of my blog?" I ponder as I talk to my friend, crochet, and periodically watch little bits of Keeping Up Appearances.
Sadly, I do not have a clear answer. I have had ideas about what to do with this blog-thing, but for some reason I have trouble bringing to fruition the ideas that I entertain. Certainly when it comes to writing, I chicken and laze out, although I'm trying to do better at following through with ideas in other areas of my life.
Soul searching has taken place.
Inner anguish has resulted.
Questions have ensued.
"What is the fate of my blog?" I ponder as I talk to my friend, crochet, and periodically watch little bits of Keeping Up Appearances.
Sadly, I do not have a clear answer. I have had ideas about what to do with this blog-thing, but for some reason I have trouble bringing to fruition the ideas that I entertain. Certainly when it comes to writing, I chicken and laze out, although I'm trying to do better at following through with ideas in other areas of my life.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Inner anguish
My favorite blogs to read are about artsy/textile things...or celebrities. (I know, shame.) I wish I had enough to write about to have an artsy/textile blog of my own. Or that I felt able to share all the steps of my projects as I completed them. But I don't.
And I would feel like I was copying all these other cool sites. Like these: http://piaks.blogspot.com/
http://www.yarnballboogie.com/
Those are just two random ones I found. I've read better ones before.
I mean, my blog tagline doesn't even make sense, except in a weird way to me. Sort of a play on the whimsy / fun of cocktails, and the whimsy / fun of FRUIT cocktails. "Weeds" refer to mint, "juice bubbles" to pomegranate. I want to take the simple, the mundane, the disparate in life and make it all fun and beautiful and meaningful.
But that odd concoction of a tagline is a little too quirky for my own good, right?
*Self-doubt*
And I would feel like I was copying all these other cool sites. Like these: http://piaks.blogspot.com/
http://www.yarnballboogie.com/
Those are just two random ones I found. I've read better ones before.
I mean, my blog tagline doesn't even make sense, except in a weird way to me. Sort of a play on the whimsy / fun of cocktails, and the whimsy / fun of FRUIT cocktails. "Weeds" refer to mint, "juice bubbles" to pomegranate. I want to take the simple, the mundane, the disparate in life and make it all fun and beautiful and meaningful.
But that odd concoction of a tagline is a little too quirky for my own good, right?
*Self-doubt*
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Soundtrack of My Life: The Musical!: THE SEQUEL
Despite my attempt to make the best of the, shall we say, desultory songs on my life soundtrack in the last post, I'm still kind of bummed out about it. So I am going to see what the sequel of my life will sound like. (I'm not a believer in reincarnation...but maybe this can be an...alternate life?)
Same rules: iPod (or iTunes, or any MP3 program really) on shuffle...must write down the songs as they play, in sequence, to correspond with different life stages. IN ORDER.
Opening Credits:
The Crystal Lake - Grandaddy
Alternative intro...okay, I like it...
Waking Up:
I Wanna Be Your Man - The Beatles
First thought of the day?
First Day at School:
All the Trees of the Field Will Clap Their Hands - Sufjan Stevens
A folksy first day of school...better make this one high school.
Falling in Love:
Track One - Asle Bjorn (the "o" in her name has one of those little lines drawn through it)
(Okay, so this is kind of an interesting, "post-modern" style of falling in love. Trying to dig it...)
Breaking Up:
Don't Go Breaking My Heart - Elton John and Kiki Dee
Finally, something that kind of works! In a backwards sort of way...
Prom:
A Time to Love - Stevie Wonder (feat. India.Arie)
Okay, I could see this as a semi-slow prom song...if you take the title at face value. The song deals with oil, racism, the environment, etc., so not exactly a oh-my-goodness-i'm-in-love-with-you-and-this-is-the-best-night-of-my-life song.
Life’s Okay:
Sheng: 7 Tunes Heard in China-1: Seasons - Yo-Yo Ma
This song was pleasant, I suppose - meaning that it works okay.
Mental Breakdown:
Fur Elise - Vince Guaraldi Trio (A Charlie Brown Christmas)
Moody music for a mental breakdown...that could work! In fact, I think this could provide an effective backdrop for an emotional scene.
Driving:
Saturn - Stevie Wonder
(Again, like the driving song on the original soundtrack...this one would work best driving at night, with the moon roof open. It's got that planetary thing going on.)
Flashback:
Beautiful - Christina Aguilera
I see it! Or, rather, hear it.
Getting Back Together:
Nine Sixteen - Bruno Merz
Yay! Works. Cute song.
Wedding:
I Me Mine - The Beatles
I was hoping for something breathtakingly romantic. And of course that didn't happen.
Birth of Child:
Laden with Guilt - Caedmon's Call
Don't quite know how to interpret this one...unless you go the original sin route.
Final Battle:
The Diary of Jane (Single Version) - Breaking Benjamin
Appropriately epic!
Death Scene:
02p - chapter section from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
One of the characters in this scene dies later in the book...
Funeral Song:
09k - chapter section from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Ironic. This is leading up to the will-you-marry-me moment!
Nice One:
Despertar - Valeria Gastaldi
To be honest, I haven't taken the time to try to translate this one yet. But it sounds nice!
end credits:
When Do We Dance? - George Gershwin
Actually, this would make an adorable end. When do we dance, my love?
This soundtrack is still random, but a lot more fun than the last one. My alternate life will be filled with much better music than my real life!
Same rules: iPod (or iTunes, or any MP3 program really) on shuffle...must write down the songs as they play, in sequence, to correspond with different life stages. IN ORDER.
Opening Credits:
The Crystal Lake - Grandaddy
Alternative intro...okay, I like it...
Waking Up:
I Wanna Be Your Man - The Beatles
First thought of the day?
First Day at School:
All the Trees of the Field Will Clap Their Hands - Sufjan Stevens
A folksy first day of school...better make this one high school.
Falling in Love:
Track One - Asle Bjorn (the "o" in her name has one of those little lines drawn through it)
(Okay, so this is kind of an interesting, "post-modern" style of falling in love. Trying to dig it...)
Breaking Up:
Don't Go Breaking My Heart - Elton John and Kiki Dee
Finally, something that kind of works! In a backwards sort of way...
Prom:
A Time to Love - Stevie Wonder (feat. India.Arie)
Okay, I could see this as a semi-slow prom song...if you take the title at face value. The song deals with oil, racism, the environment, etc., so not exactly a oh-my-goodness-i'm-in-love-with-you-and-this-is-the-best-night-of-my-life song.
Life’s Okay:
Sheng: 7 Tunes Heard in China-1: Seasons - Yo-Yo Ma
This song was pleasant, I suppose - meaning that it works okay.
Mental Breakdown:
Fur Elise - Vince Guaraldi Trio (A Charlie Brown Christmas)
Moody music for a mental breakdown...that could work! In fact, I think this could provide an effective backdrop for an emotional scene.
Driving:
Saturn - Stevie Wonder
(Again, like the driving song on the original soundtrack...this one would work best driving at night, with the moon roof open. It's got that planetary thing going on.)
Flashback:
Beautiful - Christina Aguilera
I see it! Or, rather, hear it.
Getting Back Together:
Nine Sixteen - Bruno Merz
Yay! Works. Cute song.
Wedding:
I Me Mine - The Beatles
I was hoping for something breathtakingly romantic. And of course that didn't happen.
Birth of Child:
Laden with Guilt - Caedmon's Call
Don't quite know how to interpret this one...unless you go the original sin route.
Final Battle:
The Diary of Jane (Single Version) - Breaking Benjamin
Appropriately epic!
Death Scene:
02p - chapter section from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
One of the characters in this scene dies later in the book...
Funeral Song:
09k - chapter section from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Ironic. This is leading up to the will-you-marry-me moment!
Nice One:
Despertar - Valeria Gastaldi
To be honest, I haven't taken the time to try to translate this one yet. But it sounds nice!
end credits:
When Do We Dance? - George Gershwin
Actually, this would make an adorable end. When do we dance, my love?
This soundtrack is still random, but a lot more fun than the last one. My alternate life will be filled with much better music than my real life!
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Soundtrack of My Life: The Musical!
I'm going to follow the crowd, about seventeen gazillion years late, and do one of those "Soundtrack of My Life" surveys that everyone likes to post on their blogs and MySpaces. You know, the ones where you put your iPod on shuffle and put down whatever song comes up for the next sequence in your movielife. (No cheating.)
I mean, I've done them before, but this will be the "real" one that posterity will see. So this had better work.
Opening Credits:
Heaven for the Weather - The Streets
Waking Up:
My Will - DC Talk
First Day at School:
Spanish Fantasy - Phil Keaggy
Falling in Love:
Duart's Castle - one of those Atmosphere CDs of bagpipe music. (For falling in love? Ugh.)
Breaking Up:
The Sacred Romance (Instrumental) - Michael W. Smith
Prom:
Right Down the Line - Gerry Rafferty
Life’s Okay:
One Day - The Juan MacLean
Mental Breakdown:
New York's Not My Home - Jim Croce
Driving:
Luna Creciente (Waxing Moon) - Oscar Reynolds (Okay, this would be cool driving at night with the moon-roof open.)
Flashback:
Just Like Honey - The Jesus and Mary Chain
Getting Back Together:
Mood Rings - Relient K
Wedding:
Telephasic Workshop - Boards of Canada
Birth of Child:
Take it With Me - Tom Waits
Final Battle:
Ave Maria - The Canadian Brass and the Canadian Brass Jazz All-Stars
Death Scene:
The Walk - Stephen Curtis Chapman
Funeral Song:
Mansard Roof - Vampire Weekend
Nice One:
05m - chapter section from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
end credits:
Happy Christmas - The Canadian Brass and the Canadian Brass Jazz All-Stars
Well. So this soundtrack utterly stank. Epic failure. Though now that I think about it, I guess at least it would be an utterly bizarre movie, with COMPLETELY disjointed music selections...which goes along with my whole quirky schtick. So, not so much a failure after all! Huzzah!
I mean, I've done them before, but this will be the "real" one that posterity will see. So this had better work.
Opening Credits:
Heaven for the Weather - The Streets
Waking Up:
My Will - DC Talk
First Day at School:
Spanish Fantasy - Phil Keaggy
Falling in Love:
Duart's Castle - one of those Atmosphere CDs of bagpipe music. (For falling in love? Ugh.)
Breaking Up:
The Sacred Romance (Instrumental) - Michael W. Smith
Prom:
Right Down the Line - Gerry Rafferty
Life’s Okay:
One Day - The Juan MacLean
Mental Breakdown:
New York's Not My Home - Jim Croce
Driving:
Luna Creciente (Waxing Moon) - Oscar Reynolds (Okay, this would be cool driving at night with the moon-roof open.)
Flashback:
Just Like Honey - The Jesus and Mary Chain
Getting Back Together:
Mood Rings - Relient K
Wedding:
Telephasic Workshop - Boards of Canada
Birth of Child:
Take it With Me - Tom Waits
Final Battle:
Ave Maria - The Canadian Brass and the Canadian Brass Jazz All-Stars
Death Scene:
The Walk - Stephen Curtis Chapman
Funeral Song:
Mansard Roof - Vampire Weekend
Nice One:
05m - chapter section from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
end credits:
Happy Christmas - The Canadian Brass and the Canadian Brass Jazz All-Stars
Well. So this soundtrack utterly stank. Epic failure. Though now that I think about it, I guess at least it would be an utterly bizarre movie, with COMPLETELY disjointed music selections...which goes along with my whole quirky schtick. So, not so much a failure after all! Huzzah!
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and other Manic Works of Fantasy
I love things that are a tad "off."
Be they Tim Burton's over-stylized, gothic, twisted fantasies (SO excited for Alice in Wonderland, coming out March 2010), newly-conceptualized classic works such as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (and her sister classic, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters), or delightfully inventive, over-the-top, throwback cartoons such as The Venture Brothers, I eat that shizzle up.
But why?
Maybe I have an insatiable need to invent upon, to appreciate the kooky and creative, because it breaks the cliched and overdone. I laugh when people unconsciously conform to established modes of storytelling, lifestyle, and subculture, even when they think they are being dazzlingly original. (Cough. Look at how detached I am being. It's not like THAT has ever been done before.)
This is not at all to say that conventions are bad and to be avoided like the plague. Look at TV Tropes again, my friends, and see the fantastically perverse, utterly inventive conventions that people have come up with over time - many of which have proven themselves worthy of reuse. (Oh, how eco-friendly we are being!) But when people take their supposedly alternative, "original" creativity way too seriously...my eyebrows raise. And I desperately want to satirize them. A lot.
How mean and cynical I am. Which makes me the type of person who likes The Venture Brothers. Although I also love the whimsically effervescent, sunshine-y Spongebob Squarepants, so maybe that redeems me a bit.
Be they Tim Burton's over-stylized, gothic, twisted fantasies (SO excited for Alice in Wonderland, coming out March 2010), newly-conceptualized classic works such as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (and her sister classic, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters), or delightfully inventive, over-the-top, throwback cartoons such as The Venture Brothers, I eat that shizzle up.
But why?
Maybe I have an insatiable need to invent upon, to appreciate the kooky and creative, because it breaks the cliched and overdone. I laugh when people unconsciously conform to established modes of storytelling, lifestyle, and subculture, even when they think they are being dazzlingly original. (Cough. Look at how detached I am being. It's not like THAT has ever been done before.)
This is not at all to say that conventions are bad and to be avoided like the plague. Look at TV Tropes again, my friends, and see the fantastically perverse, utterly inventive conventions that people have come up with over time - many of which have proven themselves worthy of reuse. (Oh, how eco-friendly we are being!) But when people take their supposedly alternative, "original" creativity way too seriously...my eyebrows raise. And I desperately want to satirize them. A lot.
How mean and cynical I am. Which makes me the type of person who likes The Venture Brothers. Although I also love the whimsically effervescent, sunshine-y Spongebob Squarepants, so maybe that redeems me a bit.
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