small perfect moments need recording too

The house where I spent 12.5 years growing up.
The house where I spent 12.5 years growing up.

Dear Internet,
As I have some hours to burn before my contract ends, I’ve been arranging schedules to make the most of my last few months at work. Today was one of those such days where I took a half-day to spend the afternoon with TheHusband. You know, kind of like a date.
We recently purchased a membership to Meijer Gardens to get in on their summer concert extravaganza as it would be way cheaper to buy the tickets and save zillions on convenience fees. We ended up with tickets for Ben Harper & Charlie Musselwhite, Rodrigo y Gabriela, G. Love and Special Sauce & Keb’ Mo’ Band, and Lake Street Dive. We were looking at double that number to attend, but prices start to get crazy inflated. $150 per ticket for Santana? Do we look like DeVos’ here?1
While the shows don’t start until June, we decided to use our new membership to see the Butterflies in Bloom, the yearly exhibit at the Gardens, since this was the last day. It was — underwhelming. Except for the butterfly orgy, which was taking place everywhere. Then obviously I had to spend time looking up the mating rituals of butterflies and mind = blown that male butterflies have penises.
Do not ask me how I made it through high school science because seriously, half the time I do not know myself.
Spring is still struggling to get out of her own cocoon, but we’re getting there. Some early spring flowers were in bloom around the outside of the main buildings at the Gardens, but it was too wet and still too cold for serious walks, so we continued on with our day.
We made a trip to the YMCA to update our billing info and then headed to the Grand Rapids Public Museum, which was right down the street. I haven’t been to GRPM in almost a decade, and with the new LEGO exhibit, this seemed like a good time to go.
GRPM was also a bit underwhelming as many of the exhibits I saw ten years ago were still in use. The LEGO exhibit was neat in that a certified professional LEGO builder recreated famous architecture, but the supporting smaller exhibits were a bit meh. Ye Olde Tyme Grand Rapids is always a big kick to see what the city was like, but again, not much had been updated in the last decade. They did, however, do a more indepth “where are you from” to cover the different cultural groups around the city, and it was a pleasant surprise to see how diverse the city has become AND is getting. But the fact this place still remains run by old, crusty, white Dutch dudes tells you how the attitudes need to change even if the landscape has already shifted.
Since the walks through the two museums did not take long, we had time to hit the main branch of Grand Rapids Public Library for TheHusband to obtain his library card and me to pick up holds. They have been rearranging and cutting back so much at the main branch, I barely recognized some areas. The Dewey Cafe was completely gone, replaced by vending machines and the periodicals room seemed to be barely hanging on. I was there to mainly scout out materials I will miss when I leave MPOW, like BBC History Magazine. It seems GRPL does not carry the magazine, which means I have to get it elsewhere on the cheap.
Stopping at GRPL and not having the same services I’m used to at current position just underscores there will be four main things I will be desperate for when I leave MPOW:

  • Unlimited access to the OED
  • No fines
  • Magazine routing from the collection
  • Extended loan periods for materials

We headed over to the Downtown Market for dinner, but nothing was catching our interest so we headed over to our regular spot, Brewery Vivant, instead. After dinner was consumed and we headed home where we settled into our evening routines.
And here we are.
x0x0,
Lisa

This day in Lisa-Universe: 2012, 1998


1.Mayhap only people in the grand city of Grand Rapids will get this joke.

always on

Dear Internet,
I am growing sleepy and tonight is a perfect night to retire early. The last six weeks have been a travelling cornucopia of locations, time zones, and events. Surprisingly, I’ve mostly stable but the exhaustion of keeping myself normalized is wearing on me. These last few days I’ve been at home have been filled with lots of decompression. I still have THINGS TO DO but I’m pushing those things to the side for the moment to catch my breath.
There is a big announcement coming, from me, but I’m holding off for a final piece to fall into place before it happens. I already know the answer — thanks to Twitter — but I still need the official, OFFICIAL word so I can breathe a sigh of relief and move forward. TheHusband and I wrestled with what to do incase the answer shifted. While I could have seen us going in that direction, and it would have helped us grow in a lot of ways other than just my career, ditching everything and starting fresh yet again was slowly losing its appeal. Maybe that’s the sign I need to finally settle down: When the thought of a new adventure isn’t as golden as it perhaps seems.
While I know if we would have made that particular leap it would have been good, it is more that something was missing. Something is always missing and I feel like I’ve spent most of my life running to catch it. The big announcement itself is another adventure in its own right, but its an adventure I’ve been waiting on for years. So maybe then it is not about losing out on a golden adventure, but creating a perfect adventure specifically for me?
There is a whole wide world waiting for me and I bet it will look even better after I get some sleep.
xoxo,
Lisa

This day in Lisa-Universe:

 
 

Collectioun of Cunnynge Curioustes for April 26, 2014

Johann Georg Hainz's Cabinet of Curiosities, circa 1666. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Johann Georg Hainz’s Cabinet of Curiosities, circa 1666. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

During the Renaissance, cabinet of curiosities came into fashion as a collection of objects that would often defy classification. As a precursor to the modern museum, the cabinet referred to room(s), not actual furniture, of things that piqued the owners interest and would be collected and displayed in an aesthetically pleasing manner. Collectioun of Cunnynge Curioustes is my 21st century interpretation of that idea.
 
Dear Internet,
You can now follow me on Pinterest on what I’m readingwatching, and listening.

Reading

Finished
clarice-lispector-near-to-the-wild-heart-entrekin
Near to the Wild Heart by  Clarice Lispector
(Amazon | WorldCat GoodReads)
I haven’t swayed too much from my original impression of the book, but one thing I need to note is to take this in small bites. I was so intoxicated by her work, I was drowning in her words.

Watching

  • Nurse Jackie, Reign
    I decided I did not care enough about either show to continue watching, so I stopped. I couldn’t take another season of Jackie fucking up her life and the when it became pretty clear the producers of Reign gave no fucks based on the sheer amount of anachronisms, I decided I did not either.
  • Archer
    Drug lords, a baby, cocaine, and a budding country star. Only Archer can contain this much awesome in such a short amount of time span and I’m thrilled they are coming back for another season.
  • Dead Famous DNA
    This three part mini-series was interesting in the search for dead famous DNA, how we react (and collect) that DNA, and what we will and won’t do with it. Spoiler: Turns out Eva Braun (Hitler’s love) was Jewish.

Weekly watching:  Mad MenGame of ThronesSilicon ValleyVeep, Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey, Doctor Blake Mysteries, The Americans, Survivor: CagayanVikingsElementary
What have you read/watched/listened to this week?
x0x0,
lisa

This day in Lisa-Universe in: 2003

Transparency and Heartbleed

Heartbleed_logo.JPG

 

Dear Internet,

I was having conversations recently on Twitter about vendors and institutional responses, or lack thereof, to Heartbleed. To wit: MPOW’s response to my inquiry as to how they were handling it was the following (from two separate emails): 

I.T. does not have an official statement concerning the heartbleed bug. […]  I know my team and the ISO have addressed the OpenSSL issues and I’m sure they have it handled.

My original inquiry was via the I.T. ticketing system, which the first line of the quote comes from, and was immediately closed. I received a follow up email from the head of Infrastructure within minutes that included the second line of the quote and with a request to direct questions to him and his team directly rather than open up a ticket. So I did. 

No response.

TheHusband, when I reported this back to him that same evening, just shrugged and said some I.T. departments handle things differently. I, obviously, disagree. When you have a bug that is so permeated in everything we do and affects directly or indirectly damn near everyone who gets online, you would think transparency would be the utmost importance.

In the conversations that I alluded to at the beginning of this, many also agreed with me. We discussed who should be reporting to whom and in what situations, because it seemed there seemed to be no best practices in place. I am the contact for the library’s SSL certs from that vendor and they notified us immediately, but others like database, and other product vendors? Not a even a mention.

On the personal side, random emails were appearing from various sites I belong to, some forcing password resets to enhance security, but overall the responses being sent to users seems to be thin on the ground.
As I was working this out over Twitters, I realized I never made an update to my own blog about our patching of Heartbleed, which was done near instantaneous after its discovery. EPBaB and my professional site both have SSL integration, something TheHusband was insistent on when we migrated to our new host in the spring of 2013. While we may not be allowing accounts other than our own, thus not storing passwords or other personal data of others, having SSL does help protect against other forms of attacks. The only hiccup we ever found was the inability to add my sites to Feedburner as they do not support HTTPS sites.
In the upcoming week, I’m going to be moving through lists I’ve started of vendors I use for personal AND professional spaces to see who is reporting (or not) on Heartbleed and how. I am extremely curious as what the results will be and right now, from the cursory research I’ve done: it will not be pretty.  And what is worse, what it really says about the state of tech transparency today.
xoxo,
Lisa

This Day in Lisa-Universe: 2013

RDU: The Packing List

Dear Internet,
It’s been a crazy lately, and that’s putting it mildly. Tomorrow morning I head to my third trip in a month and I feel like I’m becoming such an old pro at this packing thing that is getting slightly ridiculous.
I must catch you up on where I’ve been!
In late March, I went to the Code4Lib conference in Raleigh, NC which was turned out to be pretty awesome. The conference itself was intense and I learned a lot AND met a lot of great people. I’m so enamoured of the community! I was co-running an all day pre-conference, which meant I had a lot more stuff, namely swag for 30 people, to haul in addition just my self and toiletries.
I was in RDU for five days/four nights with sketchy weather. The day before I flew in, it was 76 degrees and sunny. My entire stay, it was mid-50s and rainy.
Behold my packing prowess:

RDU: Before
RDU: Before

RDU: After
RDU: After

Since I’ve been fine tuning the packing process in the last few years, I thought it might be helpful to see what gear / gadgets / geegaws I’ve been using to help with the minimalist packing aesthetic:
Gear / Gadgets / Geegaws

The big AHA moment is realising that by converting as much of my toiletries to solids, such as shampoo/body soap/lotion, it does NOT need to go into ye olde quart bag, which is brilliant. Also, the Travel Smart Travel Bottle Set was a great investment because it allows me to take my favorite products such as hair manipulator, face lotions, and other products in travel sizes. It may have been a bit pricey, but we do not have a Container Store near me and I was having a hard time finding the jars and bottles in the sizes I wanted individually.
The New Trent iCarrier 12000mAh Portable Dual USB Port External Battery Charger/Power Pack has also been great investment since it will charge my iDevices simultaneously, which is a boon for long flights. I’ve been so in love with this product, I’ve bought it as gifts for friends and family.
In addition to the above, I also packed with me:

Tom Bihn bag:

  • 30 brown bags (for swag)
  • Nearly full gallon bag of pens/stickers/etc (swag)
  • Four mini Rubber Duckies (swag)
  • Jewelry box
  • Make up bag
  • Tissue paper (for swag bags)
  • Loofah
  • Ice pack
  • Umbrella
  • 1 Tieks
  • 1 Chucks
  • Dress boots (wearing)
  • 1  (2) Jeans
  • 1 (2) Bra
  • 2 (3) Socks
  • Drug case
  • Cardigan
  • 7 (8) T-shirts
  • 1 Skirt
  • 1 Dress
  • 6 (7) Underwear
  • Toothbrush
  • Toiletries bag
  • 1 Yoga pants
  • 1  pair of glasses
  • 1 tank tops
  • 2 pairs of tights
  • Spring jacket (wearing)
  • Gloom (card game)
  • Fluxx (card game)
  • Chrononauts (card game)
  • iRig microphone
Rickshaw bag:

  • Mac Air
  • iPad
  • Work notebook
  • Personal notebook
  • Fountain pens
  • Pencil case
  • Clutch with money
  • Bag o’cables for devices
  • Portable recharger brick
  • Quart bag with toiletries
  • Pouch with miscellany

Since I’m recreating this a month later, I’m sure I’m missing a few things, but this is the gist of the packing. And the best part? I could have made my clothes last for longer than a week AND since I was carrying of swag that I was going to hand out to people, my bag was going to be emptier coming back. SCORE!
xoxo,
Lisa

This day in Lisa-Universe:

On The Occasion of Shakespeare’s 450th Birthday

Happy birthday, Shakespeare!

By Lisa M. Rabey
Systems & Web Librarian
Did you know William Shakespeare coined the phrases, “too much of a good thing” or “kill with kindness”? Or that he invented over 3,000 words? How about that Shakespeare’s plays have been translated into more than 80 languages including Klingon? Even better, many movies and TV shows we love such as 10 Things I hate About You (The Taming of the Shrew), She’s the Man (Twelfth Night), Strange Brew (Hamlet), The Lion King (Hamlet), Sons of Anarchy (Hamlet), and Scotland, Pa (Macbeth) are either modern interpretations or heavily influenced by the Bard’s work?
Yep, it’s all (mostly) true!
Today is Shakespeare’s 450th birthday! To celebrate this momentous occassion, below are some ways you can celebrate:

making happy: to absterge

Dear Internet,
April is clutching winter to its bosom with the bony tips of its fingers and won’t let it go. I decided that I’ve had enough waiting for the signals to move on to the next season and decided to force the signs myself.
I’m referring, of course, to spring cleaning. Mainly my closet.
For the last couple of years, I’ve been steadily working on minimizing my life, with the emphasis on not buying crap. The projected I started in 2013 and planned to continue in 2014 has been fairly successful. In addition to credit card debt being way down, I’m making smarter choices on where my money is going.
While I may not be gorging on shopping sprees as I once did, it has not erased the fact that I own a lot of stuff like clothing and accoutrements, all with varying sizes and fits. My weight has remained within a 10lb range within the last few years (and I am still at my heaviest weight ever) but of course, when I’m at the higher end of that range, clothes do not fit as well as they do at the lower end. Footwear wise, while my second ankle surgery was over a year ago, and it is two years this summer since the first surgery, my foot has yet to stabilize in size and I’m stuck, still, wearing a limited range of shoes.
This whole project is about curating a personal style that represents me, regardless of weight and mobility. In my case, my style has barely changed since my early ’20s: T-shirts, jeans, a cardigan of some type, and Chucks/Docs.
And there is nothing wrong with my style, I’m rather fond of it actually, but there are times when I need to play at being a grown up and that is when I start failing. This past week I had an all day interview for a position in California and I needed to pull together interview outfit(s) that I can wear with panache while staying true to my aesthetic. But with having so much crap, I often forget — very easily — exactly what I own. So the goal was to pull together several outfits to wear without spending a dime on new clothes.
How could I do this? What I needed was an app that could replicate for me what Cher’s closet in Clueless did for her, except with less building construction.
You’d think this would be easy, yes? We’re deep into a world now that revolves around having an app for just about everything, the ability to catalog and mix up outfits from our existing closets should be a piece of cake.
Well, not exactly. This has been a to-do on my list for a couple of years to find such a creature. I started searching in late 2012, early 2013 for an app that could do the following for me:

  • Run natively in iPad/iPhone
  • Allow me to add/edit my own photos
  • Sync between devices
  • Allow me to organize by type/season/etc
  • The app didn’t have to be free, but it should be reasonably priced AND it should have been updated recently
  • A calendar to show what outfits I wore, when

There was hardly anything on the market that matched my criteria. The results of the same search in early 2014 was not much better.
While there are dozens of apps for the iPad and iPhone individually, the list for both was scant. While you can run iPhone apps on iPads, I rejected most of what was available due to inability to sync between devices, last time the app was updated, and if it was geared more for shopping on sites and creating outfits from those sites rather than uploading and creating your own. There were two choices: Stylebook and My Fashion Closet
My Fashion Closet has not been updated in nearly two years, you could not add photos from the camera roll, and overall it was poorly designed.
Stylebook, however, was actively being updated and enhanced. It was well regarded in the fashion blogosphere. It was attractively priced ($3.99) with no surprise in-app buyins.
I decided to give it a go.

My cardigans bring all the boys to the yard.
My cardigans bring all the boys to the yard.

 
The first thing this app did was cement how much shit I own: 17 cardigans?  24 dresses? 10 pairs of pants of all flavors? 14 pairs of tights? I have not added in shorts, shirts (of any flavor), skirts, shoes, leggings, and other items. I’m kind of afraid to, considering I organized my t-shirt pile the same weekend I started cataloging my closet and it is at 178 t-shirts and counting.
The second thing it did was force me to start culling items that were damaged, I have not worn or do not like from my closet. I found myself fixing repairs on rips and loose buttons, cleaning items that had not been washed in some time, and finally creating a pile of stuff to donate.
The third thing this app did for me was to show just how much flexibility my wardrobe actually was and that was a big surprise. The weekend I started using the app, I was also able to pull together a weeks worth of outfits without any repeats (which tend to be mainly pants). I was able to pull together three distinct outfits for the interview (and yep, packed all three).
Because I still have so much left to catalog, I decided to break it up so that it is not overwhelming. It took me about 6 hours to scan, edit, catalog, and organize nearly 80 items. I decided the best way to handle this is by scanning in items in chunks, and with my t-shirts, as I wear them. My new goal is now wear all t-shirts in my collection at least once before repeating them, which should take a little over six months.
When I mention this project, people think I’m slightly insane for cataloging my closet. But they are also slightly intrigued as well.
But this app is not perfect and it needs some under the hood fixing to make it perfect.

  • The syncing between devices only happens when you turn on “Wifi Accept,” which works by transmitting between like devices on the same network. Why not take advantage of iCloud to do this for you for the automatic sync? Wifi Accept is cumbersome and clunky.
  • iPad version does not work in landscape mode.
  • Image size does not scale well when building outfits. In theory, all items should be the same size once they are added into the database, but this is not true. One of my interview outfits, the tights are 3x the size of the dress and the cardigan is miniscule in looks mode.
  • Creation of categories and subcategories is not intuitive nor easy to figure out.
  • Editing items also not intuitive.
  • Sizes are not saved, but brands are. This is a pain in the tuckus when adding an item, sizing for brands varies (and I wear both men and women’s clothes so I need to be able to differentiate that).
  • The controls to manually edit images is flighty and seems to be hit or miss, even with their tutorials.
  • READ THE TUTORIALS.

Overall, even with the problems, I’m extremely happy with this app and how it is changing my perspective of clothes and fashion, and especially giving me room to play with my existing closet. If you’re looking for a cheap way to recharge your wardrobe, this is a great low-cost investment that allows you to play dress up without spending a dime on new clothes.
xoxo,
Lisa
P.S. This morning when I walked out to grab the newspaper, I saw crocuses sprouting in the front yard, their shoots a defiant shade of green against the brown mire of the leaves and yard. The gods, it seems, have also had enough of this dreary year.

This day in Lisa-Universe:2013, 2012

Collectioun of Cunnynge Curioustes for April 19, 2014

Johann Georg Hainz's Cabinet of Curiosities, circa 1666. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Johann Georg Hainz’s Cabinet of Curiosities, circa 1666. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

During the Renaissance, cabinet of curiosities came into fashion as a collection of objects that would often defy classification. As a precursor to the modern museum, the cabinet referred to room(s), not actual furniture, of things that piqued the owners interest and would be collected and displayed in an aesthetically pleasing manner. Collectioun of Cunnynge Curioustes is my 21st century interpretation of that idea.
 
Dear Internet,
You can now follow me on Pinterest on what I’m readingwatching, and listening.

Reading

Finished
panopticonThe Panopticon by Jenni Fagan
(Amazon | WorldCat | GoodReads)
Drugs. Cutting. Pedophilia. Prostitution. HIV/AIDS. Alcohol. Cunt. Fuck. Twat. Mental abuse. Death. Paranoia. Fights. Rape. Molestation. Zoophilia. Love. Human kindness. Hope. Survival.
15 year old Anais, 50 foster homes, three name changes, and a rap sheet taller than herself is here to give you a tour. A tour of the realities of the foster care system, of treatment against the mentally ill, of how once you’re locked into a system that is designed to spit you out and eat you alive, there is a shred of hope still alive for change. A world that while it may take place in Scotland, is not out of the ordinary here in the States. A reality in which only the strongest will survive, even if it means you have to become feral to do so.
Anais’ story is not pretty, it’s not easy to read, and is not for the weak stomached. But you will fall in with love her, even as she sniffs, sucks, snorts, and fights her way around her world. Anais is the mirror being held up to our world and while we may not be 15, we may not have a penchant for Dior lipsticks and pillbox hats, there are secrets within ourselves that help us cope with our day to day lives.
Think Charles Bukowski with a dash of Hunter S. Thompson with bits of Lisbeth Salander from The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo series mixed with Irvine Walsh, and you have The Panopticon.
This is a beautifully written and actualized story that while may be hard to swallow, needs to be said. Needs to be told. Needs to be read. It’s one of the best books I’ve read in a very long time.
Currently Reading
sexandrageSex and Rage: Advice To Young Ladies Eager For A Good Time by Eve Babitz
(Amazon | WorldCat | GoodReads)
I was introduced to Babitz recently via a recent article about her in Vanity Fair. The idea of an intellectual good-time girl intrigued me as it should, and I was dismayed to find that her work is not only largely unknown but also out of print. I was able to get a first edition copy of Sex and Rage via interlibrary loan to read and boy, am I ever glad I did. Babitz is glorious as a writer, the work hums with the fastness of the era, of the good time unapologetic choices that Jacaranda makes, doing so with such easy going nature you are desperate for the drugs she’s on.
beekepers
The Beekeeper’s Apprentice (Mary Russell, #1) by Laurie R. King
(Amazon | WorldCat | GoodReads)
One sentence review: Twee as fuck.
We meet precocious Mary Russell, who has a fairy tale background replete with wicked aunt, who happens one fine day in 1915 to stumble upon the now retired Sherlock Holmes in a random field near her home and bedazzles him with her skill of deduction. Much of the book is twinged with a bit of Mary Sue-isms (Mary goes on to Oxford to read theology, a nod to the author, but there was not one iota of set-up prior to this declaration of WHY she was studying theology, which makes the declaration much more Mary Sue). We meet the venerable Mrs. Hudson, Doctor Watson (Uncle John, natch), and so forth. We see Mary work with Sherlock on solving cases chapter by chapter that read like a crime report rather than a true whodunit.
While the series is turning 20 this year (and the earlier titles are being repubbed for the celebration), I can’t help but get the sense the Flavia de Luce series (which I adore) is much better handling the twee elements the Mary Russell series tries to emulate without being so sickeningly sweet. I have issues with tortured heroines who are completely unawares of their own folly and Russell is in that camp. Laurie R. King is a skilled and technically competent writer, but her characters development and building interest in wanting to like these worlds amateurish. Once I finish book 1, I may go on to book 2 to see if there is improvement but I don’t see myself making a huge investment in this series.

Watching

  • University Challenge
    Another season is over and Jeremy Paxman has sold us with his glamour shots portrait that thumbnails the show and his snide commentary when contestants get it wrong. Trinity College, Cambridge has won — surprise!
  • Under the Gunn
    Project Runway re-dux, but, with less tension and more drama. Nice filler, not too much of the stretch of the imagination to watch, and could be at times entertaining.
  • Nurse Jackie
    Beginning of the sixth season and Jackie’s tricks haven’t changed, only the players in her game. Even with an almost new cast injection that has been happening for the last few years, the show is a one trick pony. SOmething has to change, Jackie has to change, if the show wants to continue but it’s pretty clear they are milking the storylines for all the same bag of tricks to keep the series going. The show is not moving enough forward to really warrant a seventh season, but yet Showtime went ahead and ordered one anyway. Will I stick with season 6? Stay tuned and find out.
  • Mad Men
    My reactions via Twitter on the season opener: Mad Men is existential white people dude bro bullshit. It’s so tired, I can’t even summon up the anger for it anymore. And also, Don Draper’s “I have to go to work” is the Mad Men version of Patrick Bateman’s, “I have to return some video tapes.” Thank fuck this is the last fucking season. It’s pretty clear Don can’t handle the duopoly of his life and he is so worn down by the lying, scheming, and switching between selves, the ONLY redemption he will have is death by his own hand.

Weekly watching: Game of ThronesSilicon ValleyVeep, Dead Famous DNA, Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey, Doctor Blake Mysteries, The Americans, Survivor: CagayanVikings, Archer, Reign, Elementary
What have you read/watched/listened to this week?
x0x0,
lisa

This day in Lisa-Universe in: 2003, 1999

quote: Douglas Adams on Grand Rapids, MI

I’m a writer and I’m feeling like death, as you would too if you’d just flown into Grand Rapids, Michigan at some ungodly hour of the morning only to discover that you can’t get into your hotel room for another three hours. In fact it’s enough just to have flown into Grand Rapids, Michigan. If you are a native of Grand Rapids, Michigan, then please assume that I am just kidding. Anyone else will surely realise that I am not.

Collectioun of Cunnynge Curioustes for April 12, 2014

Johann Georg Hainz's Cabinet of Curiosities, circa 1666. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Johann Georg Hainz’s Cabinet of Curiosities, circa 1666. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

During the Renaissance, cabinet of curiosities came into fashion as a collection of objects that would often defy classification. As a precursor to the modern museum, the cabinet referred to room(s), not actual furniture, of things that piqued the owners interest and would be collected and displayed in an aesthetically pleasing manner. Collectioun of Cunnynge Curioustes is my 21st century interpretation of that idea.
 
Dear Internet,
You can now follow me on Pinterest on what I’m readingwatching, and listening.

Listening

I’ve been heavily listening to the Icelandic indie list that was generated on Spotify (embed below), so much so, I am beginning to think I can understand Icelandic. Who knew that a country with less than half a million peoples could rock out so hard?
Favorites: Samaris (Their write music to old Icelandic poetry), John Grant (an American living in Iceland, he is the greatest motherfucker that you’re ever gonna meet. Also: He’s opening for Elbow in May! Woo!), and FM Belfast (Twee disco pop).
[iframe src=”https://embed.spotify.com/?uri=spotify:user:icelandicmusic:playlist:2duvD05TtABniQdKkDSYfv” width=”300″ height=”380″ frameborder=”0″ allowtransparency=”true”]

Reading

seatingarrangements
Seating Arrangements by Maggie Shipstead
(Amazon | WorldCat | GoodReads)
Apparently it’s a thing to hate the output of alum from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, because as you skim through the reviews on GoodReads, the comments are peppered with snide remarks and tut-tutting of the decline of quality of IWW’s output. Who knew?
Was Seating Arrangements a tour de force and innovative? No. Was it sloppy and a bit amateurish at times? Absolutely. Was the language overwrought? At times. But is this a bad story? The short answer is no. It’s clunky, some of the plot points felt like they were thrown in at the last minute, and some of the characters were definitely there to fill a quota but there is something here. You just have to be patient as you dig through the muck and Shipstead can turn a beautiful phrase more often than not.
I could be a bit biased — I have a weakness for anything relating to farces surrounding blue bloods and their world. And this felt like someone had done their research and wrote as if they knew this particular world without ever having stepped into it. So think of this as if Whit Stillman and Bret Easton Ellis were high on acid, conceived Shipstead as their prodigal daughter in their ultra preppy way and you’ll have encompassed the writer completely.
enchantmentsEnchantments by Kathryn Harrison
(Amazon | WorldCat | GoodReads)
How a story that begins with the end of the Romanovs, the killing of Rasputin, and told from the viewpoint of a teenager who entices the beloved son could be yawn inducing is perhaps a mystery, but there you go. I made it through 67 pages before giving up as I was neither titillated nor engaged by the content. The characters are flat, the exposition was repetitive, and it felt like someone had whipped through Wikipedia to get descriptions and recarved them into their own words. Harrison has been applauded by her use of language and world building, but as this is my first introduction to her, I saw none of the magic that apparently makes her beloved.
Do not recommend.
mabBridget Jones: Mad About A Boy by Helen Fielding
(Amazon | WorldCat | GoodReads)
It’s Bridget Jones. People expecting a tour de force of impossible construct and setting need to get over themselves.
YES, shes’ the godmother of modern day women’s fiction, heavily influenced by herself Jane Austen. And YES, I swore when I heard this book was coming out (and having read the mini-come back Fielding did in the Independent in 2005 which describes how Bridg gets knocked up (is it Daniel’s? Or Mark’s? Of COURSE it’s Mark’s. Durrr, how can we be so silly??)), I would not read MAtB because who wants to their perfect fantasy destroyed?
But reader, I read it. It was a compulsion as it was available via eBook at my local library, so I could read it under the cover of Kindle with neither a fear or judgement to be made.
Helen Fielding is the Dan Brown of chick-lit world. Language and concepts are on an 10th grade level, plot is fairly dimmed, set-ups are noticeable a mile away. Some things in Bridg’s world will never change — and I wished she would remember her own history. Fielding seems to have forgotten Vile Richard was not actually vile and there is a scene in book 1 or 2 in which Richard gives Bridg a good over on her and their circle’s perception of him. That was all seemingly forgotten in book 3. Daniel is has become a caricature of himself, Shazzer is in LA, and the rest of the group seem to not be desperate to discover their world, but sad, pathetic shallower (if that is even possible) versions of themselves. There is no growth.
MAtB is similarly based on Fielding’s life — she too had children in her late 40s, she went through a breakup, she’s floundering on what to do next. Did she bring back Bridg, our beloved anti-herione because it was time to move Bridge forward or because Fielding was lacking in cash?
Does it matter, and more succinctly, do we care?

Watching

  • The Hill Farm
    A  tease of show that follows a working farm in Snowdonia, Wales beginning in January and ending December. Similar to other working farm shows, like Tudor Monastery Farm, the big difference is those shows are six to eight episodes long and about an hour long to capture all that happens in a year. In The HIll Farm, however, it is four 28 minute long episodes. This attempt to encapsulate an entire year in 2 hours is staggering. Its brief touches of family life, farm life, and community life were so minute, you’d blink and miss an important part. Even with that being said, there is something that calls to a community who have, with the upgrade of modern convenience, continue to farm in the same area for nearly four centuries. The emphasis on organic, free range, and farm to table experiences and connecting people back to where food comes from speaks to those of us who are done with ready meals and food by-products. Gareth Wyn Jones, the face of the farm, came up with the intriguing idea of a “local food aisle” in supermarkets, a scheme to showcase just what is available near you. I would love to see something like this take off here in the States.
  • Moone Boy
    Season 2 is coming to Hulu April 24, so I won’t spoil it for you. But I will say it looks like season 3 has already been filmed before season 2 started — so there’s my jumper.
  • Edge of Heaven
    Written by Welshman Robert Jones (who also plays Camp Gary in the show), it’s a Britcom around a family who own and operate an ’80s themed B&B in Margate. This show is 100% formulaic, the writing is often sloppy, and the characters are pastiches. But it’s got moxie and I think that is the point — it’s a send up of every other dramedy and it is not above on not taking itself seriously. Even if the send-ups make you roll your eyes at the obviousness of it all, it’s a froth of a drama that may not improve your knowledge or IQ, but will definitely keep you entertained.
  • The Bletchley Circle
    I apparently missed the last episode of season 2, which ties up the mystery at hand. Huh. I always feel like there is something wrong with this show — something is off, but I’m not quite sure what it is. I know it’s pretty beloved but while I watch it, I don’t actually yearn for it.
  • Veep
    Will POTUS run for re-election or won’t he? Will Selina be recognized for who she is? Will Jonah ever stop being Jonah?)
  • Silicon Valley
    New series, by Mike Judge, about the foibles of living in Silicon Valley. TheHusband found it to be pretty spot on to what he recalled those days while I thought it seemed a bit lacking. But it does present an interesting conundrum: Do you take the money and run OR do you follow your dream?
  • Game of Thrones
    Winter has arrived and Arya is counting down the Lannisters to kill. Welcome to season four.
  • House of Lies
    Marty, Marty, Marty. And Jeannie. What the ever living fuck.
  • Shetland
    A taut, 2-part thriller based on the northern Scottish islands of Shetland, who killed the grandmother in her croft? But of course, this being the remote isles of Shetland, nothing is ever done easily.  So much so, they came out with a second series.
  • Dead Famous DNA
    An intriguing look at finding, and genome categorizing, DNA of dead famous folk. There is apparently a huge trade in “famous body parts,” such as hair, nails, and other things by collectors worldwide. We’ve seen two episodes in and it’s actually kind of fascinating with the process, and the lines drawn, on sequencing. They apparently want to sequence Hitler, from DNA pulled from his reported here, but 65 labs in 25 countries said, “No.” Except for Belgium — so we’ll have to see what happens!
  • The Musketeers
    This is coming to BBCA this summer, so I won’t spoil it for you — BUT, I will say while it does not follow the book, it’s a fun, swashbuckling show with your standard simple story over arch and your freak of the week episodes thrown in for filler.
  • Justified
    Who really is the bad guy: Raylan or Boyd? And what the everloving fuck is Ava DOING?

Weekly watching: Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey, Doctor Blake Mysteries, The Americans, Survivor: CagayanVikingsUniversity Challenge,  Archer, Under the Gunn,  Reign, Elementary
What have you read/watched/listened to this week?
x0x0,
lisa

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