Normally I am amused/depressed that our society, having reached the apex of technological development in human history, so often devotes this unbelievable technology to looking at videos of kittens on the internet. I would love to have to explain LOLcats to my great-grandparents who risked everything and sacrificed to come to this country, determined to labor their whole lives, to create new and better opportunities for their children, grandchildren and me, wherein I explain to them that all that was just preamble to cute things on the internet and illiterate people typing comments with no editorial discretion in this magic contraption (consarnit!) It’s bleak yet very pursuit of happinessy. Then I saw this, which wouldn’t make any sense at all to anyone just a few years ago (home video? vacuum cleaner? ROOMBA? kittens?), but which speaks to us in an instantly recognizable language now, and more importantly, made me giggle out loud. My heart can’t stop giggling when the roomba slides into the kitten, and he remains unfazed and befuddled. This is the world we’ve made.
Way more people watched that kittens video than signed up for our end torture petition.
Winter Songs: It’s cold again, so Buckingham Nicks’ Frozen Love (get it?), and Races Are Run.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
We Can Haz Mission Accomplished Hubris Now?
BIG NEWS THIS WEEK! Yes, that’s right, the Oscar Nominations have been announced! Pretty boring/whatever stuff (nice tries, Kate Winslet, nice boring, Brad Pitt in the Curious Case of Benjamin Boring), but I will attempt to stir some controversy: Shouldn’t Wall-E be considered a Best Picture nominee (and not relegated to the ghetto of ANIMATED Picture nominee)? How weird is it that Robert Downey Jr. garnered a nomination for Tropic Thunder? Um, why is the Academy otherwise so snobby about comedy?
Oh, wait, did something else happen this week?
The exclamation point quota has been filled for this edition of my life, so I’ll just refer you to the blog, which has been updated constantly lately. One thing to add: not only is this a victory for U.S. policy, and for the human rights world, but this is a really HumanRightsFirsty victory. As Obama signed the executive orders, he was flanked by our bffs the military leaders, and he talked about how they (in meetings organized by us) had met with him as a candidate, and really made an extraordinary impression on him. Organizing and amplifying these military leaders has been our project for some time now, and it truly is extraordinary to see the measurable difference they have made in this debate, in the way the world now looks.
I’m reading The Best and the Brightest, watching my grandparents get older, and I’m finding myself learning a lot and quickly. How come I still don’t know how the world works?
Winter Songs: I knew from the first time I heard it this morning that this McVie song, Hold Me, would make today’s list. And you know? It’s pretty nice out. Not the right day for slow songs about it being cold. It’s very nearly Spring out there (don’t remind me about interminable February when it’s this nice out plus we just ended torture). This season isn’t even close to over, but luckily I’ve got plenty more FM to share, like this awesome outtake that was released in bonus materials a few years ago, Think About It. Perfect for singing along to on headphones while getting coffee in the HRF kitchen. The other night I ran into an old friend and while drinking beer we were talking about Fleetwood Mac, and then he confused Rhiannon, the classic Stevie Nicks song, and Rihanna, the spritely dance-pop sensation from Barbados, unsure which was the song. Imagine the possibilities! I’d love a Lindsey Buckingham-Rihanna collaboration. Or maybe a Stevie Nicks-T.I. mash-up?
We Can Haz Mission Accomplished Hubris Now?
Oh, wait, did something else happen this week?
The exclamation point quota has been filled for this edition of my life, so I’ll just refer you to the blog, which has been updated constantly lately. One thing to add: not only is this a victory for U.S. policy, and for the human rights world, but this is a really HumanRightsFirsty victory. As Obama signed the executive orders, he was flanked by our bffs the military leaders, and he talked about how they (in meetings organized by us) had met with him as a candidate, and really made an extraordinary impression on him. Organizing and amplifying these military leaders has been our project for some time now, and it truly is extraordinary to see the measurable difference they have made in this debate, in the way the world now looks.
I’m reading The Best and the Brightest, watching my grandparents get older, and I’m finding myself learning a lot and quickly. How come I still don’t know how the world works?
Winter Songs: I knew from the first time I heard it this morning that this McVie song, Hold Me, would make today’s list. And you know? It’s pretty nice out. Not the right day for slow songs about it being cold. It’s very nearly Spring out there (don’t remind me about interminable February when it’s this nice out plus we just ended torture). This season isn’t even close to over, but luckily I’ve got plenty more FM to share, like this awesome outtake that was released in bonus materials a few years ago, Think About It. Perfect for singing along to on headphones while getting coffee in the HRF kitchen. The other night I ran into an old friend and while drinking beer we were talking about Fleetwood Mac, and then he confused Rhiannon, the classic Stevie Nicks song, and Rihanna, the spritely dance-pop sensation from Barbados, unsure which was the song. Imagine the possibilities! I’d love a Lindsey Buckingham-Rihanna collaboration. Or maybe a Stevie Nicks-T.I. mash-up?
We Can Haz Mission Accomplished Hubris Now?
Friday, January 16, 2009
Way too cold, and blogging
YES WE CAN blog torture now. We are blogging like New Year’s Resolution gym-joiners who crowd the stationary bikes for the first few weeks of January and then never again. In other words, there’s a lot to read on our blog – many posts each day! Of course it’s been a busy week, full of confirmation hearings, exit interviews from outgoing administration people, admissions of torture by others, and rumors about what Obama will do.
Reading more Halberstam, many parallels to our lives. Will read further, analyze, and report back shortly.
Winter Songs: This is what I meant about winter getting tough. I hope none of you get the cabin fever when you are nestled inside eating food and watching tv and reading books and playing internet all weekend. For songs, how about Little Lies, characterized by its cold 80s production values. And Landslide, making a repeat appearance, is most suitable to this temperature.
Reading more Halberstam, many parallels to our lives. Will read further, analyze, and report back shortly.
Winter Songs: This is what I meant about winter getting tough. I hope none of you get the cabin fever when you are nestled inside eating food and watching tv and reading books and playing internet all weekend. For songs, how about Little Lies, characterized by its cold 80s production values. And Landslide, making a repeat appearance, is most suitable to this temperature.
Friday, January 9, 2009
The Ferdinand de Lesseps of Brooklyn Girls
So I finished this totally awesome book, The Path Between the Seas, David McCullough’s comprehensive history of the creation of the Panama Canal. Loved it. In awe of both the canal itself and the construction and writing of this history. I found it actually thrilling at moments, a real page-turner despite its heft. Human vision and ingenuity, creativity in the broadest sense… sometimes, it seems, they actually outpace our capacity for destruction. How cool.
Winter Songs: Ok, this is when winter gets tough. No more holidays, warm hearths, family, comfort food to look forward to. Just grey sunshine-free bitter cold until, let’s be honest, April. Winter songs are more important than ever. Until the return of Liz Jordan, I’m on Fleetwood Mac break, but how about some Simon and Garfunkel? Recently I was trying to hike in Panama, but found the trail (sendero) obliterated by mudslides. You know the nearer your destination, the more you’re slip slidin’ away. Eventually, of course, I was homeward bound.
Winter Songs: Ok, this is when winter gets tough. No more holidays, warm hearths, family, comfort food to look forward to. Just grey sunshine-free bitter cold until, let’s be honest, April. Winter songs are more important than ever. Until the return of Liz Jordan, I’m on Fleetwood Mac break, but how about some Simon and Garfunkel? Recently I was trying to hike in Panama, but found the trail (sendero) obliterated by mudslides. You know the nearer your destination, the more you’re slip slidin’ away. Eventually, of course, I was homeward bound.
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