I'm feeling a lot less cynical than usual right now.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
i am woman, hear me drum.
I spent 7 hours at the San Telmo street fair today. Highlights/people observations I enjoyed:
- Finding a vintage Argentine dress, buying it and having it fit perfectly without trying it on first.
- The beautiful dreadlocked artist who spattered paint on a black canvas with his hands while jamming to Amy Winehouse and somehow ending up with a perfect neon-colored portrait of her.
- Elle calling me. I so badly miss sporadic phone calls.
- How excited everyone in this country is about today being International Women’s Day. A huge parade of girls in bright colors wound through the crowds wildly dancing and playing drums. Each girl had on a sash that proudly proclaimed ‘Mujer.’ The spectrum of women watching this was incredible. A blonde curly haired baby wearing all pink in a pink stroller was equally engrossed as the ancient, wrinkled Argentine woman holding two roses next to her. Observing smiles on the faces of the diverse crowd around me watching this spectacle gave a whole new meaning to the idea of international sisterhood.
- The chubby five year old boy solemnly feeding the pigeons. He would throw a huge handful of corn into the middle of a crowd of people and watch intently as the awful, overly aggressive pigeons here dive-bombed the group of people to get their kernels. After making sure these pigeons had got their fill, he would repeat the action with a new group of people. These adults were obviously not pleased with the pigeon situation, but nobody could say anything and ruin the boy’s quest for country-wide pigeon obesity.
- A grandma was trying to take pictures of her young grandson in front of a flowerbed in the park. She posed him for about 5 minutes, and when she was finally ready to take the picture, he would not stop scratching his crotch. Grandma would go try to have a word with him, and he would do it again. Muy muy comico.
- Dirty hippies. Everywhere. In my next life, I am going to braid hemp necklaces on the street while listening to jazz music.
- Infinite couples holding hands. Love is everywhere here.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
the pope goes viral.
In a move that I find a bit ridiculous, Roman Catholic bishops in Italy have asked Catholics to go on a technology fast for Lent. (Read the full story here)
A few Catholic groups in Italy have called for a ban on text messaging every Friday during Lent. The diocese in Turin doesn't want its followers to watch television. In the city of Trento, the church has created a "new lifestyles" calendar with different ideas for each week. These include not driving cars, recycling waste and abandoning both iPods and the Internet for a week.
Interestingly enough, the Vatican launched its own YouTube channel in January, available in 4 different languages. Pope Benedict XVI is an advocate of social networking sites for forging friendships and understanding, but also thinks that online networking can isolate people from real social interaction.
I understand the ideas behind this: get rid of some of the noise/clutter in your life, get closer to God and other human beings, but I think it's unrealistic and outdated. The Church itself is using the Internet as a new outlet to bring people together. Much of our world revolves around these means of communication. How does giving up text messaging improve your relationship with a higher being? Also, shouldn't giving something up be your personal decision, not something decreed by the Church?
Personally, I've always struggled with the idea of giving something up for Lent. Most of the people I know give up eating some sort of food. A few members of my study abroad program were discussing giving up swearing, which is another conversation altogether. (Words are arbitrary, John!) To me, it just seems like a sort of micro New Year's resolution. I'm going to give up cookies for 5 weeks to reaffirm my devotion! Slash lose 5 pounds.
Call me a heretic, but I don't believe in a God who would be intensely gratified by me giving up my iPod. Especially since I agree with Sara's fantastic blog post that music is the closest I've ever been to religion.
I don't know.
A few Catholic groups in Italy have called for a ban on text messaging every Friday during Lent. The diocese in Turin doesn't want its followers to watch television. In the city of Trento, the church has created a "new lifestyles" calendar with different ideas for each week. These include not driving cars, recycling waste and abandoning both iPods and the Internet for a week.
Interestingly enough, the Vatican launched its own YouTube channel in January, available in 4 different languages. Pope Benedict XVI is an advocate of social networking sites for forging friendships and understanding, but also thinks that online networking can isolate people from real social interaction.
I understand the ideas behind this: get rid of some of the noise/clutter in your life, get closer to God and other human beings, but I think it's unrealistic and outdated. The Church itself is using the Internet as a new outlet to bring people together. Much of our world revolves around these means of communication. How does giving up text messaging improve your relationship with a higher being? Also, shouldn't giving something up be your personal decision, not something decreed by the Church?
Personally, I've always struggled with the idea of giving something up for Lent. Most of the people I know give up eating some sort of food. A few members of my study abroad program were discussing giving up swearing, which is another conversation altogether. (Words are arbitrary, John!) To me, it just seems like a sort of micro New Year's resolution. I'm going to give up cookies for 5 weeks to reaffirm my devotion! Slash lose 5 pounds.
Call me a heretic, but I don't believe in a God who would be intensely gratified by me giving up my iPod. Especially since I agree with Sara's fantastic blog post that music is the closest I've ever been to religion.
I don't know.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
i can haz bigger vocabulary?
The Oxford University Corpus is a database compiled of the most overused buzzwords in books, magazines, broadcast, online media and other sources.
Officially, the top 10 phrases that are being used to death right now are:
(The fact that 'shouldn't of,' instead of 'shouldn't have' is being overused makes me very sad about the current state of America's grammar.)
Flavorwire added these additional words and phrases to the list:
Some I would like (need) to add:
Officially, the top 10 phrases that are being used to death right now are:
1. At the end of the day
2. Fairly unique
3. I personally
4. At this moment in time
5. With all due respect
6. Absolutely
7. It's a nightmare
8. Shouldn't of
9. 24/7
10. It's not rocket science
(The fact that 'shouldn't of,' instead of 'shouldn't have' is being overused makes me very sad about the current state of America's grammar.)
Flavorwire added these additional words and phrases to the list:
1. For the win
2. I can has
3. OMG
4. dot com
5. Actually
6. Snarky
7. Hipster (any derivative)
8. Literally
9. Fashionista
10. Organic
Some I would like (need) to add:
1. Word
2. Dark
3. Totes
4. Mos def
5. Hell yeah.
6. Lol
7. Go green
8. Fail
9. That's what she said.
10. Male usage of 'Dude' and 'Man'
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
sufjan is for lovers. and smart kids.
A 25 year old named Virgil Griffith has been using aggregated Facebook data about the favorite bands and books among students of various colleges and plotting them against the average SAT scores at those schools, to take statistical look at taste and intelligence.
Interestingly, the smartest of the smart dig Beethoven, with an average SAT score of 1371.
Also on the "smart" end of the scale were Sufjan Stevens (1260), Counting Crows (1247), Radiohead (1220), Guster and Ben Folds.
Enjoying Lil Wayne's music is associated with SAT scores dropping like they're hot. These listeners were the least intelligent, with an average SAT of 889.
I might agree with this after googling Lil' Wayne lyrics in class. Go do it, the song titles are humorous. (I felt slightly foolish that everyone behind me in class could see me doing this.)
He had to adjust measurements and weigh schools according to the number of enrolled students, as small, exclusive liberal arts colleges were dominating the rankings.
Once again, I'm not sure how valid this correlation is (even though I think Virgil Griffith is a genius). I wanted to look at his website and the entire chart, but it crashed from too much traffic the past few days.
Interestingly, the smartest of the smart dig Beethoven, with an average SAT score of 1371.
Also on the "smart" end of the scale were Sufjan Stevens (1260), Counting Crows (1247), Radiohead (1220), Guster and Ben Folds.
Enjoying Lil Wayne's music is associated with SAT scores dropping like they're hot. These listeners were the least intelligent, with an average SAT of 889.
I might agree with this after googling Lil' Wayne lyrics in class. Go do it, the song titles are humorous. (I felt slightly foolish that everyone behind me in class could see me doing this.)
He had to adjust measurements and weigh schools according to the number of enrolled students, as small, exclusive liberal arts colleges were dominating the rankings.
Once again, I'm not sure how valid this correlation is (even though I think Virgil Griffith is a genius). I wanted to look at his website and the entire chart, but it crashed from too much traffic the past few days.
Monday, March 2, 2009
daily musings.
Random thoughts/comments from the last few days:
1. Carneval in Gualeguaychu was crazy, but exhausting. I would have been a much happier camper if I'd gotten more than 3 hours of sleep the night before after a pub crawl to benefit Club Acorn. (Drink for the children. Rah rah.)
2. Americans starting a dance party on the beach and in the water are not inconspicuous.
3. These aforementioned Americans do very much love dance parties though.
4. Renee and I had dinner at a small family-owned Italian place with live saxophone, piano and guitar. I loved this. I ordered the one kind of pasta on the tiny menu, 'raviolone con calabaza' figuring that calabaza was some kind of cheese. Turns out that calabaza is squash. I did not love this.
5. I talked to a 7 year old girl named Maria at this restaurant. It was very rewarding to finally find someone on the same conversation level as me.
6. I walked into Subway today and it smelled exactly the same as it does in the United States. This fast food restaurant brought on a very unexpected wave of nostalgia.
7. I think I talk too much about the food I have here, but much of my day is planned around my next meal, so food is an imperative part of my Argentine experience.
8. Summer jobs and housing for next year are currently stressing me out.
9. I'm still trying to find 'my place' in this city, somewhere I can become a regular at.
10. I now somewhat understand why everyone is so nice to me here, even with my broken Spanish. I was at the laundromat today when a couple walked in and the charming husband bellowed...'Does anyone here speak ENGLISH?'. Later, the guy was badgering the cashier for a 50 cent piece, which she did not have. 'Well then, DO YOU HAVE DOS-CINCOS?' (asking for two 25 cent pieces while making a 2 with one hand and a 5 with the other) I was embarrassed. Moral of the story: you are in a different country. Try to speak the language.
1. Carneval in Gualeguaychu was crazy, but exhausting. I would have been a much happier camper if I'd gotten more than 3 hours of sleep the night before after a pub crawl to benefit Club Acorn. (Drink for the children. Rah rah.)
2. Americans starting a dance party on the beach and in the water are not inconspicuous.
3. These aforementioned Americans do very much love dance parties though.
4. Renee and I had dinner at a small family-owned Italian place with live saxophone, piano and guitar. I loved this. I ordered the one kind of pasta on the tiny menu, 'raviolone con calabaza' figuring that calabaza was some kind of cheese. Turns out that calabaza is squash. I did not love this.
5. I talked to a 7 year old girl named Maria at this restaurant. It was very rewarding to finally find someone on the same conversation level as me.
6. I walked into Subway today and it smelled exactly the same as it does in the United States. This fast food restaurant brought on a very unexpected wave of nostalgia.
7. I think I talk too much about the food I have here, but much of my day is planned around my next meal, so food is an imperative part of my Argentine experience.
8. Summer jobs and housing for next year are currently stressing me out.
9. I'm still trying to find 'my place' in this city, somewhere I can become a regular at.
10. I now somewhat understand why everyone is so nice to me here, even with my broken Spanish. I was at the laundromat today when a couple walked in and the charming husband bellowed...'Does anyone here speak ENGLISH?'. Later, the guy was badgering the cashier for a 50 cent piece, which she did not have. 'Well then, DO YOU HAVE DOS-CINCOS?' (asking for two 25 cent pieces while making a 2 with one hand and a 5 with the other) I was embarrassed. Moral of the story: you are in a different country. Try to speak the language.
The guys in our group were all about the costumes.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
holy shit.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to make a proclamation that the first week of March is officially No Cussing Week in L.A.
15 year old, McKay Hatch, started this movement with his No Cussing Club (as a sidenote, the website is hideous) in South Pasadena. This club, which now boasts over 20,000 members in 25 countries worldwide, is based on The No Cussing Challenge:
I won't cuss, swear, use bad language, or tell dirty jokes. Clean language is a sign of intelligence and always demands respect. I will use my language to uplift, encourage and motivate. I will Leave People Better Than I Found Them!
One week of no cussing grants you the title of Apprentice, one month is a Journeyman and one whole year of a clean mouth officially dubs you No Cussing Master.
Hatch's hometown of South Pasadena declared itself a cuss-free zone for a week last March, and two years ago a high school in Canada threatened to suspend repeat cussers.
His goal is to get California to have a cuss-free week next year, and to eventually have a worldwide week ban on swear words.
While his club is gaining popularity, it has met resistance. 'When his No Cussing Club meets at South Pasadena High School on Wednesdays it's not unusual for a nonmember to throw open the door and fire off a torrent of four-letter words. He's also been the target of organized harassment by pro-cussers."
Assholes.
before i die.
I spent a good majority of the last half hour of my life on this site. Two artists are conducting a project where they go around the country, take Polaroid pictures of people (laame that Polaroid is being discontinued, btw) and ask them the question "What do you want to do before you die?"
In a number of years, the participants are going to be contacted to see if they accomplished their goal and why or why not they didn't.
The artists hope that 'by asking people to state out loud/write down something they want to do before they die and to be aware we will be checking up on them in a number of years, we believe that this will add significantly to their motivation to accomplish their goal.'
A human connection that shows someone cares, if you will.
The responses fascinated me. Countless people want to
What do you want to do before you die?
In a number of years, the participants are going to be contacted to see if they accomplished their goal and why or why not they didn't.
The artists hope that 'by asking people to state out loud/write down something they want to do before they die and to be aware we will be checking up on them in a number of years, we believe that this will add significantly to their motivation to accomplish their goal.'
A human connection that shows someone cares, if you will.
The responses fascinated me. Countless people want to
- have kids
- fall in love
- be happy
- be a millionaire
- travel the world
- write a book
What do you want to do before you die?
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