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moving, etc. [06 Jun 2008|01:23am] [ mood | drained ] [ music | Librivox-Jane Eyre ] Most of you have probably heard that natbudin and I are moving out of our brothel (a domicile housing more than four unrelated persons) and into a little townhouse in Fitchburg (i.e. the devil's ass-crack). I have mixed feelings about this move, even if I am the principal cause of it. I quickly realized that commuting to Keene, NH from Somerville to attend classes wasn't going to work, as it is a 2+ hour slog, so we looked to find something in between Cambridge (natbudin's place of work) and Keene. The solution presented itself in the form of Fitchburg, which is equidistant from both termination points, which is where it's advantages end. I always found it amusing that most of my friends would talk about areas of Somerville or even Boston as dangerous, or sketchy, and unfit for residence. I think this is because I spent so much time in Baltimore and so developed different ideas about what a sketchy neighborhood is. Dorchester, where I worked for a year and a half, did not rate as sketchy. Neither did JP or Southie or any other place in Boston. Let me tell you, Fitchburg is sketchy. Also depressing as all hell. Driving through it ( I wouldn't walk there) you can see that once this was a busy thriving industrial city, and I mean a real city, not "city" in the way Somerville is. Now it presents a tableau of poverty, idleness, waste and decay. The city aside, especially since our place is on the edge of it, almost in Leominster, which is a nice suburban town, the apartment is quite nice. It is only a few years old and meticulously kept up, and really a lot of space for two people. The only things I don't like about the place are that the ceilings are rather low (lower than the normal 8 feet) and that the bathroom fixtures and tile are a strange shade of dirty grey. In anticipation of the move date (17th), I somehow got it in my head to paint the place. Like most of my projects, it is something I have never done, and have never seen done, and had no clear idea of how one might go about doing it. I figured that plenty of people paint their own places, so how hard could it be? As it turns out, the difficulty is not in the painting, which is merely time-consuming and dreadfully boring, but in the choosing of colors. I was never previously aware of the existence of quite so many shades of white. I finally did choose a color for my bedroom, which I think turned out splendidly. Pic Before Pic After more to probably follow. 7 comments|post comment

romance lives [29 Apr 2008|03:23am] Oh man. As usual I am way behind when it comes to music. I usually fall in love with a band after its broken up and/or members of it have died. I just discovered Ludo and wow. Awesome. I wish I could have seen The Broken Bride on stage. It almost makes me want to get back to theater, to try and put on a production of it. a couple of observations I make on a meta level. (yes, I have a running track of meta thoughts) -it is clear by my instantaneous infatuation with this band that I have been letting my romantic side run wild. last time that happened, i almost became a goth. hmm. -listening to Love me Dead, I am struck immediately by recognition of where this song fits into the soundtrack for my life. one of these days I really need to compile this soundtrack. I know I haven't posted in a long time. I have mostly been writing things and realizing that I can't/don't want to share them with the world. I've been in an odd frame of mind lately. I'll post real updates soon, but for people who care, I will be in Baltimore May 2nd.-10th. 2 comments|post comment

[04 Mar 2008|04:31pm] [ mood | relieved ] OMG! I'm so happy I could vomit. I just got (unofficial) word that I got accepted to the doctoral program at Antioch New England. I still have two other interviews and if I get in elsewhere i'm not sure what I will do, but at the very least I will definitely be starting grad school this fall. Yay! 27 comments|post comment

[03 Mar 2008|01:55am] Oh, wow. I have to share this. 3-iron Hee Jae's early work with the acclaimed writer and director Kim Ki-Duk. This one actually was released in the US and is a little gem. Really worth the 90 minutes. It made me happy in a way that is reminiscent of Amelie, with the same reliance on pure visual sumptuousness, but a complete lack of the quirky colorful narration. It is replaced with an almost verbose silence. Hee Jae is wonderful as always, though I still like him better as a comedic actor. Kim Ki-Duk's lightest film, it is wistful and otherworldly, while being a fairly simple love story. And just underneath all that mist is an existential parable. post comment

Bujold and Card [21 Feb 2008|11:38am] [ mood | infuriated ] I've said it once and I will say it again and again, writers should not be allowed to write their own fanfiction. If a fan wants to go slashing every character he or she wants to, that is ok, because it does nothing to take away from the original work, but when the author him/herself decides to write a fanfic in his/her own universe...it really damages the entire universe. And if they are going to write fanfic, they should never ever write Christmas stories. Seriously. I was a little annoyed reading Bujold's "Winterfair Gifts," because it was crappily written, with characters acting entirely out of character, and the whole point of the story seemed to be a background love affair. It is the sort of story that had I found it on fanfiction.net, I wouldn't have read it. But at least I understand why Bujold would write it. She just got attached to a character that comes off pretty tragic in the series, and wanted to give her a little bit of happiness. OK. She still should have written a better story but ok. Card on the other hand, infuriates me. It is entirely obvious now that his goal in writing is only to make money, and the way he found to do that is by sewing everything he writes now to Ender's coattails. The latest travesty is "A War of Gifts: An Ender Story." So first of all, it is a short story published as a Hardcover which is sketchy enough as it is. Second of all, it is a Christmas story set at the Battle School, within the timeline of "Ender's Game," and the plot....wait for it.... Ender Wiggin teaches another boy the true meaning of Christmas. Yup. I kid you not. I might throw up on you a little, but I am certainly not joking. 5 comments|post comment

[12 Feb 2008|09:33am] [ music | 다가 가고 싶어 -Kim Jeong-eun ] For language nerds, this made me laugh On learning the Awful Korean Language by Antonio Graceffo few thoughts: 1.What the hell am I getting myself into? 2.I think there is a parallel universe somewhere out there where I am a linguist 3.Phonetic Keyboard Input for Hangul is the most retardedly awesome thing ever, even if it makes for bizarre spelling mistakes (I actually dont know if they are mistakes or not. I have yet to figure out if putting syllables together from letters is as simple as just that or a bizarre art form. If former then the same word can be written in a variety of ways, and if the latter then I will likely never learn to write but still adore the idea.) 4.grrr. After reading the article the idea of the Chinese writing system finally makes sense tome, and now I really want to learn it. I absolutely love the idea of written characters actually looking like what they mean. It really is a beautiful solution to the problem, and so very arrogantly Chinese. Hehe. Of course the solution to everyone speaking different languages and not understanding each other is not to all learn one language. That is just a recipe for wars over which language is superior. No, clearly the solution is to invent a ridiculously complex system of drawing pictures at each other and go on speaking different languages. It really is no surprise that they adopted Communism. Gotta do everything ass-backwards and with impeccable style. (Russians just like doing things ass-backwards though I'm really grateful that they didn't try to get too creative with the language.) 2 comments|post comment

pics [11 Feb 2008|05:39pm] IMG_1939 Originally uploaded by mangomama15 IMG_1915 Originally uploaded by mangomama15 IMG_1932 Originally uploaded by mangomama15 post comment

eep [09 Feb 2008|05:17am] [ music | Opening Theme from The Vineyard Man ] They say you shouldn't make decisions in the middle of the night. They also say that you shouldn't cut your own hair. Oh well. I just cut off about 14 inches and my hair is the shortest its been since the 7th grade. Im not sure yet how I feel about it. Its not even long enough to braid anymore. Sorry natbudin. EDIT: (7:50 AM) The verdict is that I like it. It still needs something, which i think is like side-swept bangs or something to that effect, but I don't think I will do that myself. But its not bad, and goes a long way towards getting rid of the bleached parts. And I can still ponytail it if need be, and knowing me there will be need. Of course I am vain enough that I think I shouldn't have been so scared of haircuts all these years. I'd probably like it no matter what I look like. I think I have some sort of an inverse body dysmorphic disorder where no matter what I look like, when I look in the mirror I see somebody much better looking than I could possibly be in reality. Thankfully its a lot less debilitating than delusions in the other direction, though perhaps harder to live with for everyone around me. 12 comments|post comment

How do you say "Sweet Transvestite" in Korean? [07 Feb 2008|09:49pm] Apparently the video I linked to earlier with Oh Man Seok singing "The Origin of Love" wasn't an example of Asian pop culture liking to just pull random bits from other pop cultures and present them willy nilly (like one of the Princes on Goong S apparently being responsible for the writing of "More than Words," or how according to "Snow White," Korean fashion designers love T.A.T.U, or how that entire part of the continent has gone apeshit for Vitas). Apparently he received a "Best Musical Actor" award in the Korean equivalent of the Tony Awards for his performance in the Korean version of the musical "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" and seeing some clips from his actual performance, I have just that much more respect for his acting talent. Every time he takes a role, it seems, it is something entirely unlike anything else he has done, and he manages to do such a great job every time. That is really what I like to see from an actor, and its so rare bot in the US and Korea, and I imagine everywhere else as well. Ok maybe less so in Britain, but that is because they only seem to have like 10 actors in the entire country, so those ten have to fill every part. For those who care, the answer to the above question is 그립다 복장도착자 which if I am correct in reading it is pronounced something like "go-rip-da bok-jang-do-chak-ja." I am not at all sure if this is correct phrase formation. mmm, yes I broke down and figured out how to read Hongul. I'm a geek, but what are you gonna do? 4 comments|post comment

Meteorology [07 Feb 2008|11:05am] I always like current weather reports. There you should always have certainty and that can really give you renewed faith. Right now, however, I look at the weather report, and it asserts a beautiful winter day, 51 degrees and sunny. It fills me with hope and a strange excitement, especially as it gives me a reason to disregard what my delusional brain is claiming my eyes are seeing, which is a dreary gray day with snow and wind. Sometimes I think that maybe meteorology is a bit too much a science and not enough common sense. You'd thing they'd be able to at least report current weather, if only they owned such rare and expensive equipment as windows. A pity. 5 comments|post comment

Excuse for Craftiness! (like I ever bother with one) [06 Feb 2008|02:10pm] Game/Exchange/Memething from roguesylph The idea of the exchange is I will send a handmade gift to the first three people who leave a comment on this blog post requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet, and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog - this means you must have a blog, sorry blogless readers. 2 comments|post comment

[05 Feb 2008|03:19am] If anyone else is interested in joining the book club I was talking about earlier, check out abookclubofdoom post comment

From the department of Vickie doesn't sleep [04 Feb 2008|10:41am] [ music | The Origin of Love - Oh Man Seok ] This is Oh Man Seok singing "The Origin of Love" from "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" ...in Korean naturally. Don't ask me why he is singing this song, but he has a very sexy voice and is a fabulously talented actor besides, and oh yes, I am a KDrama fangirl. While I'm on the subject, there seems to be some sort of a fixation on this song in Korea or something, because this is like the third time its cropped up. They actually play the clip from the movie on Soulmate, because the whole show is based on the concept described in the song. In any case, I wish Oh Man Seok was in more series. His latest one is a historical drama where he plays a eunuch. I am not sure I quite want to see that...He also has a movie out where he plays a copycat serial killer alongside Lee Sun Gyun. I will definitely need to watch that, because I love them both. Though I generally prefer them in comedic roles, especially if they are making out with Yoon Eun Hye. For now, I guess I'll just have to re-watch The Vineyard Man and keep laughing. 6 comments|post comment

[29 Jan 2008|09:30pm] ( meme ) 5 comments|post comment

memage [29 Jan 2008|03:22am] The Ultimate LiveJournal Obsession Test Category Your Score Average LJer Community Attachment 23.66% You've got pals to cheer you up when you're down, but no audience to applaud you... Yet. 22.76% MemeSheepage 14.04% Only trendy when it's sufficiently entertaining 27.77% Original Content 41.94% Some stories must be told - and you're the one to tell them 38% Psychodrama Quotient 10.84% Had a comment taken out of context once or twice 16.69% Attention Whoring 18.18% Slothfully Seeking Susan 20.67% Take The Ultimate LiveJournal Obsession Test and see how you match up! (By The Ferrett) 6 comments|post comment

[25 Jan 2008|03:36pm] Does anyone know of any job openings that I would be qualified for? I have experience in research and customer service, as well as regular office skills, I have a college degree in psych and am kind of getting desperate for some sort of work. 12 comments|post comment

[24 Jan 2008|05:45pm] I seems google is being wonky, so im posting here. Im hosting a Crafts Day this Sunday at 1pm at my place. All crafts welcome. post comment

[23 Jan 2008|07:37pm] It seems that I have been posting here more frequently than usual and that I have been writing rather lengthy entries and on topics other than "news." It occurs to me that most people here probably don't care and that maybe I should either put more things under cuts, post these things in a separate blog, or have some sort of a "literary" filter, so as to not take over people's friends pages. What do you think? 7 comments|post comment

More literary musings [23 Jan 2008|07:21pm] Hmm...just finished Lady Chatterly's Lover by D.H. Lawrence. Some thoughts: -I really do wonder if the criticism and the censorship and the actual trial actually had as much to do with the supposed obscenity as it was supposed to have. It seems that the social commentary may have been a lot more objectionable, but maybe censorship on those grounds would have been harder to push through in the socio-political climate of the time. -I am really very shocked and disturbed by the book. Much more so than I expected. I expected that is would be "racy" at least for 1928, and that all the sex would probably be a bit gratuitous with the goal of shocking and offending. In reality, the sex is actually quite important for the plot and the themes, and really not particularly racy. That is, it is not written to arouse. The quality of the sex is often disturbing, but only because the author dares to talk about sex as having qualities, as having meaning and that meaning being different in different situations. Bad sex is as meaningful and revealing of the nature and state of the characters as the good. And that is novel. -The really shocking and disturbing thing to me was the sense of time. Or rather lack thereof. The novel is written very deliberately to be as dated as possible, around relationships that are timeless, and yet, I felt like it was written yesterday. Eighty years go by, and so much change, and so much "progress," and yet I hear all the same discussions and complaints and the same sense of foreboding and nihilism in my own living room. When Lawrence was writing, those feelings and concerns were new, and due to the major shifts in civilization, but they feel just as new now and just as bleeding. -Another striking aspect is that the characters, the main characters, do not wish to change anything about the world around them. Once they are done being horrified by what they see, once they are done complaining and wishing the world would just go away, they do not attempt to change anything. It is a strange position for fictional characters who are generally expected to move worlds, or maybe I have just been reading too much science fiction. In the end, they simply accept the horrors as being there, and resolve to do what they can to live life, their own private life, the way they think it aught to be lived, to believe in something that is real to them, and not let the meanies bite their heads off. This conclusions is comforting in some way, because its exactly what most of us end up doing in reality. But it is also disturbing, because it highlights just how much that sort of a decision actually feeds into the original problem. -Of course all of this is so wonderfully and quintessentially English it really just blows my mind. It really does clarify for me why Great Britain never had a proper socialist revolution, the way Marx expected it to. Poor Karl clearly should have done more to understand the culture and psychology of the English and then he wouldn't have made that mistake. I also see a lot of that Englishness now among Americans, and I wonder if that is a good thing or a bad thing. I am very glad I read this book, and I may read more of Lawrence in the future. It was a fairly rich and rewarding experience as far as novels go. I am still disturbed by it, but in a warm fuzzy sort of way. ( A few quotes that grabbed my attention: ) And this one really struck me as interesting specifically because of what captainecchi has been discussing on Frugal in the Fruitlands, and what I have been thinking about as a result. "If you could only tell them that living and spending isn't the same thing! But it's no good. If only they were educated to LIVE instead of earn and spend, they could manage very happily on twenty-five shillings. If the men wore scarlet trousers as I said, they wouldn't think so much of money: if they could dance and hop and skip, and sing and swagger and be handsome, they could do with very little cash. And amuse the women themselves, and be amused by the women. They ought to learn to be naked and handsome, and to sing in a mass and dance the old group dances, and carve the stools they sit on, and embroider their own emblems. Then they wouldn't need money. And that's the only way to solve the industrial problem: train the people to be able to live and live in handsomeness, without needing to spend. But you can't do it. They're all one-track minds nowadays. Whereas the mass of people oughtn't even to try to think, because they can't. They should be alive and frisky, and acknowledge the great god Pan. He's the only god for the masses, forever. The few can go in for higher cults if they like. But let the mass be forever pagan." post comment

Week 1 and 2 of the Complete Jane Austen on WGBH [22 Jan 2008|12:52am] The much anticipated Complete Jane Austen collection on Masterpiece Theater is at last here, and I decided that as I watch, I will review. Week 1 ( Persuasion ) Week 2 ( Northanger Abbey ) Now to continue on the subject of English literature, which has for some reason captivated my attention of late, I have been looking around and doing some research on other English writers trying to put together a reading list for myself. I very much enjoyed Jane Eyre, though it really could have benefitted from a good editor especially at the end, and I wish that Rivers character was never written at all. I can just see Bronte sitting and thinking "Now, what I really need is another male character to offset Mr.Rochester. He needs to be both much better than Rochester in every way to be seriously tempting to Jane, and yet to be such a man that the reader would much rather Jane chose Rochester." That is indeed a tall order, and Rivers satisfies it very awkwardly and given the power of Rochester and Jane's characters he falls flat and drags the story down with him. I still cannot decide how I feel about Richardson's "Pamela." For sure I enjoyed reading it, and devoured it in two days, but it is such a ridiculous story, and the characters are so unrealistic, and the style is so over the top with the moral instruction, that I really couldn't tell you why I even finished it. It does contain some really good ideas, and plenty of food for thought, and ultimately I am glad I read it, but I wouldn't dream of recommending it to anyone else. So as I said, I've been looking around at what is available, and put together a short reading list for myself. -Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte -The Professor by Charlotte Bronte -Tess of the D'Ubervilles by Thomas Hardy -The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins -The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (I read this one a long long time ago, but I was hardly old enough to appreciate it i think, also I was reading it in translations which just wont do) -Evelina by Frances Burney (also maybe "Cecilia" if I like it) -Middlemarch by George Eliot (I am indeed very ignorant and have always thought George Eliot was a man. Doh!) This really only covers late 18th century and on, and I have purposefully omitted Charles Dickens, whom I cannot stand (at least I have not yet gotten over my issues with him) and Virginia Wolf who I feel might be a bit too depressing for me right now. I am also completely disregarding poetry, but I know that. Please do let me know if you think there is something I should add to the list, as this is a topic I know little about as of yet. 5 comments|post comment

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