The Spinto Band -- Later On (Live from a kitchen)
Saturday, November 01, 2008
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Friday, October 24, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Friday, October 10, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
Journalist Thomas Friedman to speak at 7:30 p.m. Friday
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Thomas L. Friedman, the foreign affairs columnist for the New York Times, will speak at Purdue University on Sept. 19 about his upcoming book "Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution - and How It Can Renew America."
Friedman, whose talk will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Elliot Hall of Music, has reported on the current Middle East conflicts, the end of the Cold War, U.S. domestic politics and foreign policy, international economics, and the worldwide impact of the terrorist threat. The College of Engineering - including its Division of Environmental and Ecological Engineering, Global Engineering Program, and School of Mechanical Engineering - has partnered with the Center for the Environment, Energy Center, Office of the Provost and Purdue Climate Change Research Center in sponsoring his speech and related activities that week.
The speech is free and open to the public, but tickets are required in order to reserve a seat. Tickets can be picked up at the Elliott Hall of Music after Aug. 25.
"Tom Friedman has won three Pulitzer Prizes for his work with the New York Times and is one of our country's foremost journalists on energy and how that has affected our foreign policy," said event organizer E. Dan Hirleman, the William E. and Florence E. Perry Head of the School of Mechanical Engineering. "He is one of the world's preeminent commentators on international affairs."
In 2005 Friedman's book "The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century" was an international bestseller and given the first Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award, and Friedman was named one of America's Best Leaders by U.S.News & World Report.
His book "The Lexus and the Olive Tree" was one of the best-selling books in 1999 and winner of the 2000 Overseas Press Club Award for the best nonfiction book on foreign policy. It's now available in 20 languages. Friedman's 2002 book "Longitudes and Attitudes: Exploring the World After September 11" consists of columns Friedman wrote about Sept. 11, as well as a diary of his private experiences and reflections during his reporting on the post-September world as he traveled in 2005 from Afghanistan to Israel, Europe, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia.
Friedman is author of "From Beirut to Jerusalem," which won both the National Book Award and the Overseas Press Club Award in 1989 and was on the New York Times' bestseller list for nearly a year. It is now used as a basic textbook on the Middle East in many high schools and universities and has been published in 27 languages.
Friedman graduated summa cum laude from Brandeis University with a bachelor's degree in Mediterranean studies and received a master's degree in modern Middle East studies from Oxford University. He has served as a visiting professor at Harvard University and has been awarded honorary degrees from several U.S. universities. He lives in Bethesda, Md., with his wife Ann and their two daughters.
The College of Engineering serves more than 8,500 undergraduate and graduate students with a wide range of academic programs and interdisciplinary projects, including many related to environment, energy and global issues. The Center for the Environment, Energy Center and Purdue Climate Change Research Center coordinate campuswide activities involving the colleges of Agriculture, Engineering, Liberal Arts, Science, Technology and the Krannert School of Management.
Writer: Clyde Hughes, (765) 494-2073, jchughes@purdue.edu
Source: E. Dan Hirleman, (765) 494-5688, hirleman@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
Friedman, whose talk will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Elliot Hall of Music, has reported on the current Middle East conflicts, the end of the Cold War, U.S. domestic politics and foreign policy, international economics, and the worldwide impact of the terrorist threat. The College of Engineering - including its Division of Environmental and Ecological Engineering, Global Engineering Program, and School of Mechanical Engineering - has partnered with the Center for the Environment, Energy Center, Office of the Provost and Purdue Climate Change Research Center in sponsoring his speech and related activities that week.
The speech is free and open to the public, but tickets are required in order to reserve a seat. Tickets can be picked up at the Elliott Hall of Music after Aug. 25.
"Tom Friedman has won three Pulitzer Prizes for his work with the New York Times and is one of our country's foremost journalists on energy and how that has affected our foreign policy," said event organizer E. Dan Hirleman, the William E. and Florence E. Perry Head of the School of Mechanical Engineering. "He is one of the world's preeminent commentators on international affairs."
In 2005 Friedman's book "The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century" was an international bestseller and given the first Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award, and Friedman was named one of America's Best Leaders by U.S.News & World Report.
His book "The Lexus and the Olive Tree" was one of the best-selling books in 1999 and winner of the 2000 Overseas Press Club Award for the best nonfiction book on foreign policy. It's now available in 20 languages. Friedman's 2002 book "Longitudes and Attitudes: Exploring the World After September 11" consists of columns Friedman wrote about Sept. 11, as well as a diary of his private experiences and reflections during his reporting on the post-September world as he traveled in 2005 from Afghanistan to Israel, Europe, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia.
Friedman is author of "From Beirut to Jerusalem," which won both the National Book Award and the Overseas Press Club Award in 1989 and was on the New York Times' bestseller list for nearly a year. It is now used as a basic textbook on the Middle East in many high schools and universities and has been published in 27 languages.
Friedman graduated summa cum laude from Brandeis University with a bachelor's degree in Mediterranean studies and received a master's degree in modern Middle East studies from Oxford University. He has served as a visiting professor at Harvard University and has been awarded honorary degrees from several U.S. universities. He lives in Bethesda, Md., with his wife Ann and their two daughters.
The College of Engineering serves more than 8,500 undergraduate and graduate students with a wide range of academic programs and interdisciplinary projects, including many related to environment, energy and global issues. The Center for the Environment, Energy Center and Purdue Climate Change Research Center coordinate campuswide activities involving the colleges of Agriculture, Engineering, Liberal Arts, Science, Technology and the Krannert School of Management.
Writer: Clyde Hughes, (765) 494-2073, jchughes@purdue.edu
Source: E. Dan Hirleman, (765) 494-5688, hirleman@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Preview two albums that I am eager to get my hands on within the next few weeks!
Noah and the Whale -- Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down (Sept. 16)
Jenny Lewis -- Acid Tongue (Sept. 23)
Noah and the Whale -- Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down (Sept. 16)
Jenny Lewis -- Acid Tongue (Sept. 23)
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
Friday, August 22, 2008
there will be snacks
Yet another post from Pitchfork that I need to bring attention to.
And, if all goes as planned, I'll get to see Andrew Bird in less than two weeks...yay!
And, if all goes as planned, I'll get to see Andrew Bird in less than two weeks...yay!
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Monday, July 07, 2008
July 6, 2008
Op-Ed Columnist
An Ideal Husband
By MAUREEN DOWD
This weekend, we celebrate our great American pastime: messy celebrity divorces.
There’s the Christie Brinkley/Peter Cook fireworks on Long Island and the Madonna/Guy Ritchie/A-Rod Roman candle in New York.
So how do you avoid a relationship where you end up saying, “The man who I was living with, I just didn’t know who he was” — as Brinkley did in court when talking about her husband’s $3,000-a-month Internet porn and swinger site habit? (Not to mention the 18-year-old mistress/assistant.)
Father Pat Connor, a 79-year-old Catholic priest born in Australia and based in Bordentown, N.J., has spent his celibate life — including nine years as a missionary in India — mulling connubial bliss. His decades of marriage counseling led him to distill some “mostly common sense” advice about how to dodge mates who would maul your happiness.
“Hollywood says you can be deeply in love with someone and then your marriage will work,” the twinkly eyed, white-haired priest says. “But you can be deeply in love with someone to whom you cannot be successfully married.”
For 40 years, he has been giving a lecture — “Whom Not to Marry” — to high school seniors, mostly girls because they’re more interested.
“It’s important to do it before they fall seriously in love, because then it will be too late,” he explains. “Infatuation trumps judgment.”
I asked him to summarize his talk:
“Never marry a man who has no friends,” he starts. “This usually means that he will be incapable of the intimacy that marriage demands. I am always amazed at the number of men I have counseled who have no friends. Since, as the Hebrew Scriptures say, ‘Iron shapes iron and friend shapes friend,’ what are his friends like? What do your friends and family members think of him? Sometimes, your friends can’t render an impartial judgment because they are envious that you are beating them in the race to the altar. Envy beclouds judgment.
“Does he use money responsibly? Is he stingy? Most marriages that founder do so because of money — she’s thrifty, he’s on his 10th credit card.
“Steer clear of someone whose life you can run, who never makes demands counter to yours. It’s good to have a doormat in the home, but not if it’s your husband.
“Is he overly attached to his mother and her mythical apron strings? When he wants to make a decision, say, about where you should go on your honeymoon, he doesn’t consult you, he consults his mother. (I’ve known cases where the mother accompanies the couple on their honeymoon!)
“Does he have a sense of humor? That covers a multitude of sins. My mother was once asked how she managed to live harmoniously with three men — my father, brother and me. Her answer, delivered with awesome arrogance, was: ‘You simply operate on the assumption that no man matures after the age of 11.’ My father fell about laughing.
“A therapist friend insists that ‘more marriages are killed by silence than by violence.’ The strong, silent type can be charming but ultimately destructive. That world-class misogynist, Paul of Tarsus, got it right when he said, ‘In all your dealings with one another, speak the truth to one another in love that you may grow up.’
“Don’t marry a problem character thinking you will change him. He’s a heavy drinker, or some other kind of addict, but if he marries a good woman, he’ll settle down. People are the same after marriage as before, only more so.
“Take a good, unsentimental look at his family — you’ll learn a lot about him and his attitude towards women. Kay made a monstrous mistake marrying Michael Corleone! Is there a history of divorce in the family? An atmosphere of racism, sexism or prejudice in his home? Are his goals and deepest beliefs worthy and similar to yours? I remember counseling a pious Catholic woman that it might not be prudent to marry a pious Muslim, whose attitude about women was very different. Love trumped prudence; the annulment process was instigated by her six months later.
“Imagine a religious fundamentalist married to an agnostic. One would have to pray that the fundamentalist doesn’t open the Bible and hit the page in which Abraham is willing to obey God and slit his son’s throat.
“Finally: Does he possess those character traits that add up to a good human being — the
willingness to forgive, praise, be courteous? Or is he inclined to be a fibber, to fits of rage, to be a control freak, to be envious of you, to be secretive?
“After I regale a group with this talk, the despairing cry goes up: ‘But you’ve eliminated everyone!’ Life is unfair.”
Op-Ed Columnist
An Ideal Husband
By MAUREEN DOWD
This weekend, we celebrate our great American pastime: messy celebrity divorces.
There’s the Christie Brinkley/Peter Cook fireworks on Long Island and the Madonna/Guy Ritchie/A-Rod Roman candle in New York.
So how do you avoid a relationship where you end up saying, “The man who I was living with, I just didn’t know who he was” — as Brinkley did in court when talking about her husband’s $3,000-a-month Internet porn and swinger site habit? (Not to mention the 18-year-old mistress/assistant.)
Father Pat Connor, a 79-year-old Catholic priest born in Australia and based in Bordentown, N.J., has spent his celibate life — including nine years as a missionary in India — mulling connubial bliss. His decades of marriage counseling led him to distill some “mostly common sense” advice about how to dodge mates who would maul your happiness.
“Hollywood says you can be deeply in love with someone and then your marriage will work,” the twinkly eyed, white-haired priest says. “But you can be deeply in love with someone to whom you cannot be successfully married.”
For 40 years, he has been giving a lecture — “Whom Not to Marry” — to high school seniors, mostly girls because they’re more interested.
“It’s important to do it before they fall seriously in love, because then it will be too late,” he explains. “Infatuation trumps judgment.”
I asked him to summarize his talk:
“Never marry a man who has no friends,” he starts. “This usually means that he will be incapable of the intimacy that marriage demands. I am always amazed at the number of men I have counseled who have no friends. Since, as the Hebrew Scriptures say, ‘Iron shapes iron and friend shapes friend,’ what are his friends like? What do your friends and family members think of him? Sometimes, your friends can’t render an impartial judgment because they are envious that you are beating them in the race to the altar. Envy beclouds judgment.
“Does he use money responsibly? Is he stingy? Most marriages that founder do so because of money — she’s thrifty, he’s on his 10th credit card.
“Steer clear of someone whose life you can run, who never makes demands counter to yours. It’s good to have a doormat in the home, but not if it’s your husband.
“Is he overly attached to his mother and her mythical apron strings? When he wants to make a decision, say, about where you should go on your honeymoon, he doesn’t consult you, he consults his mother. (I’ve known cases where the mother accompanies the couple on their honeymoon!)
“Does he have a sense of humor? That covers a multitude of sins. My mother was once asked how she managed to live harmoniously with three men — my father, brother and me. Her answer, delivered with awesome arrogance, was: ‘You simply operate on the assumption that no man matures after the age of 11.’ My father fell about laughing.
“A therapist friend insists that ‘more marriages are killed by silence than by violence.’ The strong, silent type can be charming but ultimately destructive. That world-class misogynist, Paul of Tarsus, got it right when he said, ‘In all your dealings with one another, speak the truth to one another in love that you may grow up.’
“Don’t marry a problem character thinking you will change him. He’s a heavy drinker, or some other kind of addict, but if he marries a good woman, he’ll settle down. People are the same after marriage as before, only more so.
“Take a good, unsentimental look at his family — you’ll learn a lot about him and his attitude towards women. Kay made a monstrous mistake marrying Michael Corleone! Is there a history of divorce in the family? An atmosphere of racism, sexism or prejudice in his home? Are his goals and deepest beliefs worthy and similar to yours? I remember counseling a pious Catholic woman that it might not be prudent to marry a pious Muslim, whose attitude about women was very different. Love trumped prudence; the annulment process was instigated by her six months later.
“Imagine a religious fundamentalist married to an agnostic. One would have to pray that the fundamentalist doesn’t open the Bible and hit the page in which Abraham is willing to obey God and slit his son’s throat.
“Finally: Does he possess those character traits that add up to a good human being — the
willingness to forgive, praise, be courteous? Or is he inclined to be a fibber, to fits of rage, to be a control freak, to be envious of you, to be secretive?
“After I regale a group with this talk, the despairing cry goes up: ‘But you’ve eliminated everyone!’ Life is unfair.”
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Hey Fool
I watched Eagle vs. Shark about a month or so ago -- I highly recommend it. Good movie plus a good soundtrack, featuring New Zealand band, The Phoenix Foundation, and a cover of David Bowie's "Let's Dance" by M. Ward.
"Going Fishing" - The Phoenix Foundation
"Going Fishing" - The Phoenix Foundation
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Rilo Kiley
Christina and I saw Rilo Kiley last night at The Riviera in Chicago. Opening were Nik Freitas and The Spinto Band.
In case you were wondering, yes, I found a new crush at the show. Nik Freitas. He played a few songs solo, the rest with Jason Boesel and Pierre de Reeder. The first thing I noticed was his voice being a little bit Bob Dylan-ish, but it didn't sound contrived. Out of the handful of songs he played,"Sophie" and "Sun Down" were my favorites.
The Spinto Band wasn't so bad, minus an incredibly annoying bassist. Christina and I joked that the band was going to have a sit-down at some point to kick him out of the band.
An hour or so later, Rilo Kiley started up. With what song, I can't remember. I think it was one from Under the Blacklight, which they played quite a bit from, as well as More Adventurous and The Execution of All Things. And now that I think about it, I don't think they played any songs from Takeoffs and Landings. The set seemed short, mostly because we waited so long for Rilo Kiley to take the stage, but all in all, it was a really good show.
Afterwards, Christina and I hung out by the tour bus to see if we could meet the band. I don't know how long we waited, I just remember us watching all of the equipment get loaded into various trucks/tour vans. At some point a group of three teenaged girls came over to sit by us since the security guards told them they couldn't wait outside the loading doors for the band.
Before the night was over we got to meet Blake Sennett, Jenny Lewis and Pierre de Reeder. Maybe next time Rilo Kiley goes on tour we'll get to meet Jason Boesel.
I don't remember the order, but here are the songs that Rilo Kiley played during the set (listed by album)...
The Moneymaker
Breakin' Up
Dreamworld
15
Silver Lining
Close Call
It's a Hit
Does He Love You?
Ripchord
I Never
The Absence of God
Hail to Whatever You Found in The Sunlight That Surrounds You
With Arms Outstretched
Capturing Moods
Encore
A Better Son/Daughter, Portions for Foxes, Spectacular Views
[fun side note: Ellen Page was at this show, too!]
In case you were wondering, yes, I found a new crush at the show. Nik Freitas. He played a few songs solo, the rest with Jason Boesel and Pierre de Reeder. The first thing I noticed was his voice being a little bit Bob Dylan-ish, but it didn't sound contrived. Out of the handful of songs he played,"Sophie" and "Sun Down" were my favorites.
The Spinto Band wasn't so bad, minus an incredibly annoying bassist. Christina and I joked that the band was going to have a sit-down at some point to kick him out of the band.
An hour or so later, Rilo Kiley started up. With what song, I can't remember. I think it was one from Under the Blacklight, which they played quite a bit from, as well as More Adventurous and The Execution of All Things. And now that I think about it, I don't think they played any songs from Takeoffs and Landings. The set seemed short, mostly because we waited so long for Rilo Kiley to take the stage, but all in all, it was a really good show.
Afterwards, Christina and I hung out by the tour bus to see if we could meet the band. I don't know how long we waited, I just remember us watching all of the equipment get loaded into various trucks/tour vans. At some point a group of three teenaged girls came over to sit by us since the security guards told them they couldn't wait outside the loading doors for the band.
Before the night was over we got to meet Blake Sennett, Jenny Lewis and Pierre de Reeder. Maybe next time Rilo Kiley goes on tour we'll get to meet Jason Boesel.
I don't remember the order, but here are the songs that Rilo Kiley played during the set (listed by album)...
The Moneymaker
Breakin' Up
Dreamworld
15
Silver Lining
Close Call
It's a Hit
Does He Love You?
Ripchord
I Never
The Absence of God
Hail to Whatever You Found in The Sunlight That Surrounds You
With Arms Outstretched
Capturing Moods
Encore
A Better Son/Daughter, Portions for Foxes, Spectacular Views
[fun side note: Ellen Page was at this show, too!]
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Obama-rama has officially hit Lafayette, Ind., with less than an hour to go before his speech scheduled for 6 p.m. at Jefferson High School.
Currently, Gen. Wesley Clark is in West Lafayette at American Legion Post 492 campaigning on behalf of Hillary Rodham Clinton.
If Barack can make a stop into Lafayette, the Clinton campaign should probably take note and schedule her a visit, especially since Bill and Chelsea have already done so.
It's exciting to work in a place where I get to hear news before it's posted online or printed in the paper, but the downside is that being part of the newsroom excludes me from attending or being active in any type of political event. Who knew the race for the Democratic presidential nomination would be so close that Indiana would get so much attention?
Live video of the event at jconline.com from now until the end of the speech.
Currently, Gen. Wesley Clark is in West Lafayette at American Legion Post 492 campaigning on behalf of Hillary Rodham Clinton.
If Barack can make a stop into Lafayette, the Clinton campaign should probably take note and schedule her a visit, especially since Bill and Chelsea have already done so.
It's exciting to work in a place where I get to hear news before it's posted online or printed in the paper, but the downside is that being part of the newsroom excludes me from attending or being active in any type of political event. Who knew the race for the Democratic presidential nomination would be so close that Indiana would get so much attention?
Live video of the event at jconline.com from now until the end of the speech.
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
You say James Patterson, I say buh-bye...
Some years ago, I was awakened early one morning by a phone call from a friend. She had just broken up with a boyfriend she still loved and was desperate to justify her decision. “Can you believe it!” she shouted into the phone. “He hadn’t even heard of Pushkin!”
We’ve all been there. Or some of us have. Anyone who cares about books has at some point confronted the Pushkin problem: when a missed — or misguided — literary reference makes it chillingly clear that a romance is going nowhere fast. At least since Dante’s Paolo and Francesca fell in love over tales of Lancelot, literary taste has been a good shorthand for gauging compatibility. These days, thanks to social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, listing your favorite books and authors is a crucial, if risky, part of self-branding. When it comes to online dating, even casual references can turn into deal breakers. Sussing out a date’s taste in books is “actually a pretty good way — as a sort of first pass — of getting a sense of someone,” said Anna Fels, a Manhattan psychiatrist and the author of “Necessary Dreams: Ambition in Women’s Changing Lives.” “It’s a bit of a Rorschach test.” To Fels (who happens to be married to the literary publisher and writer James Atlas), reading habits can be a rough indicator of other qualities. “It tells something about ... their level of intellectual curiosity, what their style is,” Fels said. “It speaks to class, educational level.”
Pity the would-be Romeo who earnestly confesses middlebrow tastes: sometimes, it’s the Howard Roark problem as much as the Pushkin one. “I did have to break up with one guy because he was very keen on Ayn Rand,” said Laura Miller, a book critic for Salon. “He was sweet and incredibly decent despite all the grandiosely heartless ‘philosophy’ he espoused, but it wasn’t even the ideology that did it. I just thought Rand was a hilariously bad writer, and past a certain point I couldn’t hide my amusement.” (Members of theatlasphere.com, a dating and fan site for devotees of “Atlas Shrugged” and “The Fountainhead,” might disagree.)
Judy Heiblum, a literary agent at Sterling Lord Literistic, shudders at the memory of some attempted date-talk about Robert Pirsig’s 1974 cult classic “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance,” beloved of searching young men. “When a guy tells me it changed his life, I wish he’d saved us both the embarrassment,” Heiblum said, adding that “life-changing experiences” are a “tedious conversational topic at best.”
Let’s face it — this may be a gender issue. Brainy women are probably more sensitive to literary deal breakers than are brainy men. (Rare is the guy who’d throw a pretty girl out of bed for revealing her imperfect taste in books.) After all, women read more, especially when it comes to fiction. “It’s really great if you find a guy that reads, period,” said Beverly West, an author of “Bibliotherapy: The Girl’s Guide to Books for Every Phase of Our Lives.” Jessa Crispin, a blogger at the literary site Bookslut.com, agrees. “Most of my friends and men in my life are nonreaders,” she said, but “now that you mention it, if I went over to a man’s house and there were those books about life’s lessons learned from dogs, I would probably keep my clothes on.”
Still, to some reading men, literary taste does matter. “I’ve broken up with girls saying, ‘She doesn’t read, we had nothing to talk about,’” said Christian Lorentzen, an editor at Harper’s. Lorentzen recalls giving one girlfriend Nabokov’s “Ada” — since it’s “funny and long and very heterosexual, even though I guess incest is at its core.” The relationship didn’t last, but now, he added, “I think it’s on her Friendster profile as her favorite book.”
James Collins, whose new novel, “Beginner’s Greek,” is about a man who falls for a woman he sees reading “The Magic Mountain” on a plane, recalled that after college, he was “infatuated” with a woman who had a copy of “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” on her bedside table. “I basically knew nothing about Kundera, but I remember thinking, ‘Uh-oh; trendy, bogus metaphysics, sex involving a bowler hat,’ and I never did think about the person the same way (and nothing ever happened),” he wrote in an e-mail message. “I know there were occasions when I just wrote people off completely because of what they were reading long before it ever got near the point of falling in or out of love: Baudrillard (way too pretentious), John Irving, Virginia Woolf (way too Virginia Woolf).” Come to think of it, Collins added, “I do know people who almost broke up” over “The Corrections” by Jonathan Franzen: “‘Overrated!’ ‘Brilliant!’ ‘Overrated!’ ‘Brilliant!’” (way too middlebrow),
Naming a favorite book or author can be fraught. Go too low, and you risk looking dumb. Go too high, and you risk looking like a bore — or a phony. “Manhattan dating is a highly competitive, ruthlessly selective sport,” Augusten Burroughs, the author of “Running With Scissors” and other vivid memoirs, said. “Generally, if a guy had read a book in the last year, or ever, that was good enough.” The author recalled a date with one Michael, a “robust blond from Germany.” As he walked to meet him outside Dean & DeLuca, “I saw, to my horror, an artfully worn, older-than-me copy of ‘Proust’ by Samuel Beckett.” That, Burroughs claims, was a deal breaker. “If there existed a more hackneyed, achingly obvious method of telegraphing one’s education, literary standards and general intelligence, I couldn’t imagine it.”
But how much of all this agonizing is really about the books? Often, divergent literary taste is a shorthand for other problems or defenses. “I had a boyfriend I was crazy about, and it didn’t work out,” Nora Ephron said. “Twenty-five years later he accused me of not having laughed while reading ‘Candy’ by Terry Southern. This was not the reason it didn’t work out, I promise you.” Sloane Crosley, a publicist at Vintage/Anchor Books and the author of “I Was Told There’d Be Cake,” essays about single life in New York, put it this way: “If you’re a person who loves Alice Munro and you’re going out with someone whose favorite book is ‘The Da Vinci Code,’ perhaps the flags of incompatibility were there prior to the big reveal.”
Some people just prefer to compartmentalize. “As a writer, the last thing I want in my personal life is somebody who is overly focused on the whole literary world in general,” said Ariel Levy, the author of “Female Chauvinist Pigs” and a contributing writer at The New Yorker. Her partner, a green-building consultant, “doesn’t like to read,” Levy said. When she wants to talk about books, she goes to her book group. Compatibility in reading taste is a “luxury” and kind of irrelevant, Levy said. The goal, she added, is “to find somebody where your perversions match and who you can stand.”
Marco Roth, an editor at the magazine n+1, said: “I think sometimes it’s better if books are just books. It’s part of the romantic tragedy of our age that our partners must be seen as compatible on every level.” Besides, he added, “sometimes people can end up liking the same things for vastly different reasons, and they build up these whole private fantasy lives around the meaning of these supposedly shared books, only to discover, too late, that the other person had a different fantasy completely.” After all, a couple may love “The Portrait of a Lady,” but if one half identifies with Gilbert Osmond and the other with Isabel Archer, they may have radically different ideas about the relationship.
For most people, love conquers literary taste. “Most of my friends are indeed quite shallow, but not so shallow as to break up with someone over a literary difference,” said Ben Karlin, a former executive producer of “The Daily Show” and the editor of the new anthology “Things I’ve Learned From Women Who’ve Dumped Me.” “If that person slept with the novelist in question, that would probably be a deal breaker — more than, ‘I don’t like Don DeLillo, therefore we’re not dating anymore.’”
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Bill Clinton visits West Lafayette High School
Here's the main article covering last night's event with links on the page for more election-related news for the Greater Lafayette area...
and a video highlighting part of Mr. Clinton's speech last night. My favorite part is former gov. Joe Kernan's intro for Mr. Clinton, "Mr. President, welcome to Boilermaker heaven!!"
Oh! and this photo from the event gallery.
By John Terhune/Journal & Courier--An elderly woman rips a pro-Obama sign from the hands of another woman before former President Bill Clinton spoke to a packed gymnasium Monday, March 24, 2008, in West Lafayette High School. The women, neither of whom wished to be identified, scuffled briefly before being separated. The former president was campaigning for his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.
and a video highlighting part of Mr. Clinton's speech last night. My favorite part is former gov. Joe Kernan's intro for Mr. Clinton, "Mr. President, welcome to Boilermaker heaven!!"
Oh! and this photo from the event gallery.
By John Terhune/Journal & Courier--An elderly woman rips a pro-Obama sign from the hands of another woman before former President Bill Clinton spoke to a packed gymnasium Monday, March 24, 2008, in West Lafayette High School. The women, neither of whom wished to be identified, scuffled briefly before being separated. The former president was campaigning for his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Bill Clinton to visit West Lafayette High School
It's about 6:40 p.m. and rumor in the office has it that the line for the ex-pres. is 2,000 deep at least. Some folks are in for disappointment since the capacity is 1,800 for the event. Jconline.com didn't update until Saturday afternoon that Bill Clinton would be visiting the high school, so there was no way for me to get the day off.
It seems our education reporter is live-blogging during the wait. Only 20 more minutes until doors open! I'll link the story later when it pops up online.
Happy Monday!
It seems our education reporter is live-blogging during the wait. Only 20 more minutes until doors open! I'll link the story later when it pops up online.
Happy Monday!
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Wha?!
hmm...I'm wondering how I missed that Ellen Page hosted SNL with musical guest Wilco...
Seems Miss Modern Age didn't care much for Wilco's choice of songs, but it's Wilco and I'm still a fan either way;)
All work and no play makes me quite the dull lady. *sigh*
Seems Miss Modern Age didn't care much for Wilco's choice of songs, but it's Wilco and I'm still a fan either way;)
All work and no play makes me quite the dull lady. *sigh*
Saturday, March 01, 2008
Ben Folds makes visit to local Starbucks
And I missed him again! I got a text and phone call from two different people working Friday night that Ben Folds stopped by Wabash Landing Starbucks after his show at Elliott Hall and ordered a soy no water chai. He visited Sagamore back in 2004 when Eric Fisher was working. And Eric, the cool guy that he is, told me he didn't make any conversation with Mr. Folds since he is a "celebrity" and all celebrities are jerks. Great logic there.
Anywho. Back to work.
p.s. Boiler Up! The Purdue men's basketball team is 24-23 over Northwestern at halftime!
Anywho. Back to work.
p.s. Boiler Up! The Purdue men's basketball team is 24-23 over Northwestern at halftime!
Thursday, February 28, 2008
*sigh* this week is almost over which means the week of krazy, but fun stuff towards the end, is almost here. I'll be working Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at both jobs (thanks Michael U. for taking the Monday SB shift!) so everyone should expect that I'll be pretty incoherent when Thursday evening rolls around. If I make it that long=P The fun stuff includes Lisa getting into town on Friday, which means lunch and/or dinner at Scotty's and much talk about ourselves, books, music and who knows what else. Then on Saturday, Adrienne and I are on a 5:35 p.m. standby flight out of O'Hare to Seattle to visit Kelly. And I'll probably be sleeping during most of the flight there. The flight home on Wednesday should get us back to Lafayette around 11 p.m./12 a.m. I'm sure I'll have plenty of Seattle excursions and photos to blog about.
I'm counting down the minutes until I get the obits page to edit this evening. I've stayed over the past few nights and I'm hoping to get out before 9:30/10 p.m. With starting work at noon, that makes for a long day. I have tomorrow off, thank goodness, but have plans to go to T-town and play maid in my parents house. They left today on a 10-day cruise and in the meantime are letting their church's new pastor and fam stay in their house until they find a house of their own in Tipton. That's two adults, plus four children ranging from ages two to 10. Oy. Anywho, I agreed to change all the beds and lay out towels on each of them, clean each room up a bit and other small random things my mom asked me to do. Here's hoping everything goes smoothly so that when my parents get back, their house will be in sorta the same shape they left it!
I've also had my parents cat this past week while they are on vacay. She is so freakin' cute. She's sorta chubs, okay, just chubs, and black and white with these huge eyes that look at you and say, "Please pet me." I'll hopefully post a picture of her later this evening.
Well, time to get back to work now that the obits page has been printed. Let's hope I can finish in a timely manner and not have any mistakes to read/hear about on Saturday.
I'm counting down the minutes until I get the obits page to edit this evening. I've stayed over the past few nights and I'm hoping to get out before 9:30/10 p.m. With starting work at noon, that makes for a long day. I have tomorrow off, thank goodness, but have plans to go to T-town and play maid in my parents house. They left today on a 10-day cruise and in the meantime are letting their church's new pastor and fam stay in their house until they find a house of their own in Tipton. That's two adults, plus four children ranging from ages two to 10. Oy. Anywho, I agreed to change all the beds and lay out towels on each of them, clean each room up a bit and other small random things my mom asked me to do. Here's hoping everything goes smoothly so that when my parents get back, their house will be in sorta the same shape they left it!
I've also had my parents cat this past week while they are on vacay. She is so freakin' cute. She's sorta chubs, okay, just chubs, and black and white with these huge eyes that look at you and say, "Please pet me." I'll hopefully post a picture of her later this evening.
Well, time to get back to work now that the obits page has been printed. Let's hope I can finish in a timely manner and not have any mistakes to read/hear about on Saturday.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Arrested Development Film Officially In The Works
Writer: Julia Reidy
News, Published online on 04 Feb 2008
News, Published online on 04 Feb 2008
Jason Bateman of the ridiculous and ridiculously awesome/deceased Arrested Development has finally confirmed rumors that an AD major motion picture is in the works. E! reports that two of the show's masterminds, Mitch Hurwitz and Ron Howard, are talking with the cast and Universal about getting a project moving after the conclusion of the writers' strike. All seem interested and enthusiastic.
No word yet on when the Bluth family might take to the big screen, but Bateman says, "I can confirm a round of sniffing has started." Optimistic words, considering how much we've missed the crew since it left the little screen after the show was pulled from Fox in 2005.
Thanks to reader Blake Detherage for the tip!
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Star Trek
Hmm...Simon Pegg ("Shaun of the Dead" and "Hot Fuzz") being cast as a young Scotty, John Cho (Harold from "Harold and Kumar go to White Castle") as a young Sulu and Karl Urban (Eomer from Lord of the Rings) as young Bones...lots of surprises to come December 25, 2008. Can't wait!
Entrepreneur Unveils New Tourist Spacecraft
Hmm...Simon Pegg ("Shaun of the Dead" and "Hot Fuzz") being cast as a young Scotty, John Cho (Harold from "Harold and Kumar go to White Castle") as a young Sulu and Karl Urban (Eomer from Lord of the Rings) as young Bones...lots of surprises to come December 25, 2008. Can't wait!
Entrepreneur Unveils New Tourist Spacecraft
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Monday, January 14, 2008
Monday, January 07, 2008
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
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