March 2013
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A quick tally of my 5 in 5 books so far
I’ll do proper write-ups eventually, maybe. ^^;
Fantasy: Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman; arguably Santa Olivia by Jacqueline Care; 3 to go
Classics: In A German Pension by Katherine Mansfield; 4 to go
Cyberpunk or Hard Sci-Fi: Pirate Cinema by Cory Doctorow; 4 to go
Travelogues: Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain; The Best of Unbrave Girl by Sally Thelen; Hitch-22: A...
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Hey, you know what is an excellent thing to do? Call your flatmates at work to haggle over trivial amounts of money. That is fabulous.
>_<
Actually, calling your flatmates for any reason when you’re both at work and won’t be seeing each other for six more whole hours is a super thing to do. I definitely encourage it!
>.<
In fact, using your phone to make calls is just...
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“As he faced the firing squad, Ishmael, a single man in possession of a good...”
– Not actually my submission to Query Quagmire’s new game.
(From One Hundred Years of Solitude, Moby Dick, Pride and Prejudice, and Neuromancer.)
February 2013
13 posts
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Katherine Mansfield died in 1923
Actually, it’s really sad—I knew she lived a tragically short life, but I didn’t realize it was that tragically short. She was only 34 when she died. But even in our era of copyright ridiculousness, 2013-(1923+70)=plenty of time for this.
(Although I was hoping for her complete works. But that should do for now…)
I read “The Woman at the Store” and about half...
A Tempest off Matiu-Somes Island →
Mystical creatures and grotesque monsters - created by award-winning makeup artists and costume designers - will take audience members on a journey over turbulent seas and through the massive labyrinthine Animal Quarantine Station on Matiu-Somes Island.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SHAKESPEARE’S THE TEMPEST PERFORMED ON AN ISLAND YOU GUYS!!!
The season sold...
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"Life of Pi"
It’s so beautiful.
Of course, everyone knew it was going to be beautiful, but that isn’t necessarily the same thing as good. So is it good? Yes! Of course, YMMV depending on your opinion of the book. I liked the book, so there you go. That said, I found the theosophical aspects of it to be silly rather than inspiring, and it certainly didn’t make me believe in god. What it did...
The other side of the world: Where are my togs,... →
wazup-kiwis:
How is it going?^^ I know, I know I’ve already posted a link to a website about the kiwi-slang, but today in school (NZ-experience) we had this theme again. So sorry guys :D Here’s a little glossary for the ones who plan to come to New Zealand in the next time: barbie = Barbecue cuppa = Cup of…
Bach or crib?
Cool post!
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À Francesa – The French Way →
The second instance of the term was when someone at a get-together told me later on that I had left the party the French way… all I did was to just sneak out.
A while back my Brazilian dad and my cousin’s French husband were discussing this term, which led to my dad producing this gem:
Quand on part en France, on doit baiser tout le monde.
When you leave in France, you have to...
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Be Reasonable – Episode #001: Anita Ikonen
New...
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(Mine may be “apparently.” Or “awesome.” I’m not yet fit company for the writers mentioned in the last post…apparently.)
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New addition to my growing collection of writers'...
China Mieville’s is “pugnaciously.”
Mark Twain’s is “picturesque.”
And now—Steven Novella’s is “therefore.”
I love it!
Apparently Christopher Hitchens’ is “perhaps,” although I didn’t really get that from reading his stuff. Also this list is based on nothing other than me being silly.
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Adulting: A pre-trip checklist →
adulting:
Have you … 1.) Made a packing list, and then packed all of it?
2.) Put up an out-of-office email message, and sent a brief note to people who regularly contact you (read: your mom) to let them know you’re away?
3.) Made sure you’ve done everything necessary at work and/or laid out ground…
Responsible pre-travel preparations? What nonsense is this? (Okay, these are good things...
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Bikram – is it too hot to handle? - Telegraph →
Just when you thought yoga couldn’t get any hotter – because it seems everyone is doing it – here comes a New York insider’s guide to the practice that is causing devotees to think again. In his investigation into Bikram, the most fashionable and extreme form of yoga…writer Benjamin Lorr warns that potential followers must go into it with eyes open[. … I]f you do as he did and...
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Cognitive dissonance re:weather
New Zealand is cold. Not warm. Cold. As a traveler, if you come here without sweaters and jackets and long pants, you are not going to have fun. (Or rather, you’ll have proportionally less fun after blowing a chunk of your budget on overpriced overcoats.) Luckily, I’m awesome and on-the-ball* enough to know this and pack accordingly. However, I’m also gullible enough to leave...
January 2013
24 posts
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Today I moved into a flat.
Well, not really a flat. One of those casual, furnished, communal kitchen long-stay-ish places. I got here, I looked around, and then I realized something. I have this dream. It’s a very humble dream, but it’s a dream, and I have it. My dream is that someday I’ll live in a place where I can leave my toothbrush in the bathroom.
Like I said, it’s...
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Under the Influence: Radio Is Dead. Long Live...
I am lying on my headphones: A modern retelling of...
…right?
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MonsterTalk: WITCH YOU TALKIN’ ABOUT?
...
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…apparently Mark Twain was a fan of the word “picturesque.” That would almost make me reevaluate my opinion of it, except that he also uses “picturesqueness.” There’s really no excuse for that kind of language.
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Freethought Radio: January 10, 2013: Atheist...
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Guesswhatguesswhatguesswhat?!
Instead of finding a place to live, like I should be doing, I went up to Rotorua for two days and took a tour of the Hobbiton set! It was AMAZING. Pictures to follow shortly, and after that I promise I’ll stop bothering everyone about how COMPLETELY FANTASTIC all things Tolkien-related are.
(Maybe.)
(Probably not.)
Rotorua is also the Maori cultural capital...
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Wired: Read a Lawyer’s Amazingly Detailed Analysis... →
Brilliance.
But wait:
In the margins we see some more relevant terms:
Burglar acknowledges and agrees that each item of the Company’s valuables, goods, money or merchandise which he recovers from the Lonely Mountain [the ‘Recovered Goods’] during the term of his engagement with the Company, shall remain the Property of the Company at all times, and in all respects, without...
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I keep glancing in the wrong direction when I’m crossing the street (that is, jaywalking) and nearly getting hit by trucks. To my fellow Americans: never travel abroad. Shit’s dangerous.
Anyway, I’m not dead (yet) and I have a job! Which involves climbing a giant outdoor staircase! But I met a really friendly kitteh on the staircase! And the view is absolutely beautiful as long...
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Boing Boing: Website lists all the free ebooks... →
*happy dance*
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My reading in 2013 so far:
Pirate Cinema by Cory Doctorow: good.
Child of the Northern Spring by Persia Woolley: bad.
Hitch-22 by Christopher Hitchens: ugly also good.
I will (probably) write long posts about each of these. But I lost everything I wrote about Hitchens, and trying to explain in a kind, thoughtful way why I disliked Woolley is taking too long. (I’ll eventually give up and just snark.) I have lots and...
I just spent 3 hours trying to say something intelligent about Christopher Hitchens, hit save, and was then reminded that the free wifi I’m using logs me out every half-hour, and this site doesn’t always save things automatically even when you’re connected. Never draft straight into tumblr. FML.
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Last night I had a long conversation with two Portuguese journalists and a Spanish/Catalan guy about the economic crisis and Catalonia’s bid for independence. As much as I’m disliking my current hostel, it’s meetings like that remind me that my fellow travelers are pretty awesome, and the whole thing is worthwhile.
I exchanged a few sentences in Portuguese with the journalists...
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Bullshit in New Zealand
My second-favorite Christmas present, and the first one I finished, was Double Happiness: How Bullshit Works by Joe Bennett. (My favorite present, the second one I finished, was an obscene amount of chocolate. I forgot to take it with me to the farm.) Bennett is New Zealand’s most popular newspaper columnist, and also appears in a series of TV comedy sketches, so it was pretty great to learn...
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5 Categories. 25 Books. 1 Year. The 5 in 5... →
Oh, I am so doing this! Let’s see…
5 in Fantasy, because I’ll be doing that anyway so I might as well get credit for it.
5 Classics.
5 in Cyberpunk or Hard Sci-Fi, because I should be a lot more familiar with those subgenres than I actually am.
5 Travelogues: in late October or early November I went to see Michael Palin’s talk on his new book/documentary about...
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I made the mistake of trying to listen to this episode of The Sporkful on the way to Kaikoura…on a windy, bumpy road. It’s a pretty interesting discussion, but when I got to the part about adding palatal complexity to otherwise bland desserts using salt and pepper I made an “urk” noise and had to spend the rest of the trip breathing very deeply and trying not to look out...
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…so that last post was literally me complaining about people being nice. I also have moral objections to cookies, sunshine, and puppies. And I melt in the rain.
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My new misanthropic travel philosophy
This can’t just be me, right?:
I feel like sharing my plans too far in advance can end up ruining them. In the name of encouragement, my family will rehash every detail, offering unwanted advice and completely unnecessary assistance, until the thing I was looking forward to as a great adventure becomes just another obligation. So, over Christmas I soured somewhat on my original idea of...
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December 2012
7 posts
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Over the course of two days spent on a “farm,” I read The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold, Double Happiness: How Bullshit Works by Joe Bennett, half of Why Are You Atheists So Angry? by Greta Christina, three chapters of Child of the Northern Spring by Persia Woolley, an issue of Fantasy & Science Fiction Free Digest, and participated in the “herding” of some...
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A Very Scottish Hanukkah
I just gave my mom’s side of the family a crash course in the Hanukkah tradition, using an improvised menorah made out of a birthday cake. The conclusion of my 30-second lecture on candlelighting procedure was the following: ”…and then you let the candles burn down. But I’m not going to do that, because it’s a waste of candles and would ruin the cake.”
After a...
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The Titanium Physicists Podcast: Episode 26: Black...
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The only possible ending to "Perdido Street...
…and then every character died of sepsis. Pugnaciously.
November 2012
1 post
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MonsterTalk: Beowulf: It’s verse than you think →
Every time I think Blake Smith’s puns have hit bottom, he comes up with a verse one. I mean a worse one! Aah, I’m infected!
October 2012
14 posts
1 tag
(By “extremely cold” I meant 60˚F, for anyone who was wondering.)
