ramble through the bronx

Wednesday, December 22, 2004

random stuff from after a low-key christmas get-together thing

Just up at my neighbours' having some nog and red wine as a last-ditch holiday party, before folks head off to visit family. Some folks are then back in town real soon, or heading off to the APA (American Philosophical Association) meeting at the end of December, or whatever. I feel kind of weird that I'm flying home tomorrow and won't be back in NYC until the 11th of January, but I really need to get away and recharge.

I've wondered this before -- what counts as home? If I were still dating Richard, given that he's going to be here all during the holidays, then here would feel like home. At least -- I wouldn't stay in Canada as long. But, at the same time, it still feels like I won't be back for that long - 5 days with my mom, 5 days in Ottawa (hometown!) with the crew there, a week in Toronto with the college friends -- it's not a long time to spend with people who are, in a very real sense, constitutive of who I am today. I think that I was formed a lot more by my university and high school friends than by my grad school friends, no matter how much I've been learning since I got to nyc, and no matter how many of their mannerisms & musical tastes I pick up.

.,.. but who knows?

So lately I've been spending a lot of time lurking on MetaFilter, which I realize all the cool kids started hangin' out on years ago, but whatever. It was strange -- I saw a couple comments by an old friend of mine from Ottawa on there, and emailed him to say hi. Hopefully we'll go for coffee in Ottawa & catch up a bit.

Hm. I've had some wine and am feeling maudlin, and want to ramble on about my feelings, but don't really want anyone to read them, particularly Richard, who is liable to wander over and read this nonsense. Ex-boyfriends kind of take the fun out of a blog. Note to self -- blogs should be friends-only; no boyfriends allowed. (given that they'll always turn into ex-boyfriends).



P.S. added January 2, 2005: apparently maudlin ramblings on blogs have effects, since apparently people do read them, including people mentioned in them... but he says he won't be reading anymore.

So I can come out of the closet with my crush on Justin Timberlake.

No, well, oh well. Anyway. Happy New Year.

jane 1:03 AM [+]

neat!

Check this out:

Pierced Eyeglasses. A brilliant idea. Attaching eyeglasses to a bridge piercing. Fantastic. So subtle. So lovely.

I'm all super-excited about them (not necessarily for me, but as something I'd love to see all over the place, like iPods).

In other news, here's an article about how we all (good lefties, good anti-consumerists, rebels to the end, baby*) can't stop buying things (like me with my new iPod).

Check it out, yo:

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What american beauty illustrates, with extraordinary clarity, is that rebelling against mass society is not the same thing as rebelling against consumer society. Through his rebellion, Lester goes from being right-angle square to dead cool. This is reflected in his consumption choices. Apart from the new car, he develops a taste for very expensive marijuana—$2,000 an ounce, we are told, and very good. “This is all I ever smoke,” his teenaged dealer assures him. Welcome to the club, where admission is restricted to clients with the most discriminating taste. How is this any different from Frasier and Niles at their wine club?

What we need to see is that consumption is not about conformity, it’s about distinction. People consume in order to set themselves apart from others. To show that they are cooler (Nike shoes), better connected (the latest nightclub), better informed (single-malt Scotch), morally superior (Guatemalan handcrafts), or just plain richer (bmws).

The problem is that all of these comparative preferences generate competitive consumption. “Keeping up with the Joneses,” in today’s world, does not always mean buying a tract home in the suburbs. It means buying a loft downtown, eating at the right restaurants, listening to obscure bands, having a pile of Mountain Equipment Co-op gear and vacationing in Thailand. It doesn’t matter how much people spend on these things, what matters is the competitive structure of the consumption. Once too many people get on the bandwagon, it forces the early adopters to get off, in order to preserve their distinction. This is what generates the cycles of obsolescence and waste that we condemn as “consumerism.”

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Anyway. Some holiday reading. I really should be working on that paper, shouldn't I?

* Not "rebel to the end" in the sense of a Southern rebel, of course. Far, far from it. Obviously.

jane 11:02 AM [+]

So instead of writing my paper, what am I doing?

OK, so if you haven't taken a look at the Anne Rice Amazon thing by now, you're really missing out. Particularly if you've liked her books in the past. The whole thing is about her having posted a "rebuttal" on Amazon to the readers who trashed her latest book. (Google "anne rice comments amazon" to get the whole story, including her statement about it on her own website).

But the comments by the other readers are what is priceless. For example:

this post from November 3, 2004, written by a 13-year old:

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Okay, for the controversy, Blood Canticle was an awesome book. For those of you giving it bad ratings, you are so incompetent that you don't understand anything about the book. I've e-mailed Ms. Rice, and to me she seemed disappointed with you people for being so inhumane and unforgiving. I very much agree!

I understand the character of Lestat more than all the other books now. Ms. Rice has really nailed him this time. He exactly as she describes him, arrogant, sophisticated, fun-loving, well-dressed, savvy, hilarious, insane, wanting-to-be-a-saint, chararismatic and smart! If you want the old Lestat back, whatever, go for it. I personally like the hip Lestat better.

However, Ms. Rice is almost at her best in this book. It is deeply detailed, perfectly portrayed, and a sensational hit! I do agree with those you say it isn't right for children. Children are too immature, and they don't understand the concept, just like some of these adults. I myself am thirteen, yet I understand the book completely. So mature a little, then go ahead and re-read this lovely novel.

I've been reading the Chronicles since I was 11, and I'm am totally enamored of Lestat's character. I have also read The Witching Hour, Lasher, Taltos, Pandora, and Vittorio the Vampire. I read at college level, so I know good books when I read them.

The perversion of these attacks personally affect me and all others who are fans of Anne Rice. You insult her, you insult me. Is it not enough that her husband has died, and that she is under enormous pressure from these worthless fiends who write obscene comments about her? Guess not. Why don't you just take a baseball bat to her and work her over a while? That ought to satisfy your cruelty.

And for the record, this is probably just a waste of time. You people are so wrapped up in yourselves that you care
non-whatsoever for others. You don't even deserve the right to apologize to Ms. Rice. You utterly disgust me.

Also, you attack Ms. Rice herself with comments such as ,"Go mourn your dead husband." or "Good thing she stopped writing." You know what? YOU try dealing with the death of a loved one and stil continuing your career. Anne Rice is writing for a living, so why don't you insult some business owner or a cashier at a store? Hmmm???

You can bite me for all I care! You are pathetic imbeciles just looking for attention! Leave this poor woman alone! Just don't mess with her!

However, it is unfair of me to insult you if I don't even know you that well.(Might want to take THAT hint...) Anyways, I apologize. Blood Canticle was a really great book! It was my favorite of all the Chronicles. It really does hurt me that people would say such nasty things like Ms. Rice didn't write the novel, or she could have done better. I was sorrowful to learn that this was the last of a series I enjoyed so much, but all good things must come to an end. You can't expect the author to live forever, or people to commit to the series.

That being said, I hope this will help reviewers out there to take in what I've said. Thank you for your time to read this, and please think this review over.

P.S. Lestat is not a wuss! He is a brave, compassionate, tortured soul!!!! He is my hero! I LOVE LESTAT!!!!!!

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Ahh, just a good reminder that precocious reading abilities do not equal good literary discernment. (And I'm not being mean -- I seem to recall myself being much the same at that age, and equally sentimental.... although about Les Miserables.... I think I waited until I was 14 to get into the Anne Rice.

(I particularly enjoyed, so I'll quote it again: "I do agree with those you say it isn't right for children. Children are too immature, and they don't understand the concept, just like some of these adults. I myself am thirteen, yet I understand the book completely. So mature a little, then go ahead and re-read this lovely novel." It's just too good)

jane 10:23 AM [+]

aaarrrggghhh

There is a trolley (trolley on wheels, not a refined Toronto or San Francisco streetcar/cablecar) that is operated by the family owning a nearby pharmacy, which from 9am to 5pm drives circles around my neighbourhood, not only playing Christmas carols, but having an obnoxious goon in a Santa hat sing along to them and exhort everyone else to sing.

I can hear it with the windows shut.

Even worse, since my apartment is a blazing furnace, I have to hear it with the windows open.

Argh.

I have one paper left to write, no desire to write it, no interest in any of this. I just want to come home!

Oh well. Off to proctor an exam later on this afternoon. Maybe I can get some work done before then? I just want to relax, clean and decorate my apartment*, and maybe go to the gym with my iPod.

* For my birthday party on Saturday!

PS - oh, I forgot to mention... the only songs the trolley plays are "Rudolph" and "Feliz Navidad." Somebody end the pain!!

jane 9:45 AM [+]