Oh look...

It's been a ridiculously long time and I haven't written anything. Why? Ultimately, because I am lazy. It's very nice to be so in tune with one's inner nature. Also, I've been trying to read several books at one time, which is not that conducive to doing anything else. Prominent among them was Wolfe's Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, which I finally finished and which was brilliant and reinforced my belief that Carolyn Adams is my hero. I also finally managed to finish House of Leaves. House of Leaves is a strange book - ultimately, it's about a filmmaker who moves into a haunted house with his family. Haunted isn't the right word to describe it. There is no spectre chasing anyone in the night. The house is simply bigger on the inside than on the outside. Eventually much bigger. And it keeps growing. Half the book is footnotes, and the several different narrators oscillate between the dubiously pretentious and the crudely vulgar. Nevertheless it's a great book.

Czechmate.

Much has happened and I haven't written about it. Originally, my plan was to write about seeing Mrs. Obama speak live, but as I have a tendency not to like to stand waiting for things, ever, I dodged the queue and left prematurely to go be a human catapult (more on that eventually, maybe). Hence, I stood deprived of a blog topic, until browsing online brought up an old photoshoot by Michael Thompson called Czechmate. I am not extremely into fashion, mostly because I tend to refuse to buy things. Today I spent an hour and a half searching for pants to no avail, and it was not a trendy, glamourous experience. However, sometimes there is that undefinable element of je ne sais quoi that cannot be bought at a department store which to me validates the art of dressing oneself. I think this photoseries exemplifies it. Also, being Czech, the little references add a bit of authenticity to it. I'm not going to put all of it up, but here are a few photos:











Tastes differ, of course, and the annoying white margins detract from some of these, but, at the risk of sounding frivolous, I think these are aesthetically perfect.

All is not well on the hippie front

As a kid, I always prided myself on being a mountain girl, both like and unlike Carolyn Adams. I grew up, for a major part, in what the locals lovingly called mountains but what on the other side of the Great Puddle might be rather more accurately described as hills. When I was little my ideals were wilderness people and wild things in general, with a certain aversion to mainstream society, and as I grew up, this never completely died. Certainly I became somewhat interested in clothes and films and art, but I also became a climber and a fan of transcendentalism. That said, mainstream movies about the wilderness always make me a little sad, because to me it seems like bringing a raw, fringe ideal to the middle of the road in shiny plastic packaging. Into the Wild, which I saw with friends, was no different. It was a good film, an aesthetically pleasing film, but I'm not sure it maintained the ideals that Christopher McCandless believed in, whether he would have been happy with mainstream America getting entertainment out of a glossy version of his dreams. Still, it's worth a view.



The title is taken from an Into the Wild movie quote my friends and I found comical for some reason.

Alta is for skiers!

Due to a break in life when I went to the west coast to go ski among Mormons, my blogging has been less than regular of date. I suppose it depends on whether someone likes mountains and skiing, so some people might not find these things cool, but I grew up as a mountain person and will always be one.

So here is Alta in the twenties:

The old Collins lift (with the difference of the single chair, it looks the same today):

Ski jumping is badass. Ski jumping in the forties is even more badass:

Doesn't she look the picture of casual, athletic elegance? I wish I looked that feminine when I ski:


And my own, exceedingly less cool photos:

The glory that is High Rustler:

This could have been taken somewhere in New England, not outside of a cheap motel room on the highway:

Upton the friendly brontosaurus, upon further perusal not a great photo because of the windshield. I noticed though that for an uberconservative, working-class neighborhood there were a lot of strange references. I went running on Hemmingway Street and Woodstock Road. Sinclair is just a western company I think, I saw them many places:

Mountains, Gandalf, mountains! (I just out-nerded myself there, I am sorry, I'll go play Magic:The Gathering by myself in a corner)

Alta summed up:

Lindgren, Astrid

Her books were the essence of my childhood. I wanted to be Pippi Longstocking at one point. Last night I was rereading what had been one of my favourite books as a child, Seacrow Island. Imagine my dismay when I found out that it had originally been a TV show! Having one's childhood defined by a book isn't so bad. But having one's childhood defined by a written adaptation of a TV show, especially when one has an inherent hatred of television, well, it's a problem. Last night I tried very hard to watch the Oscars, but our television hasn't been used in about six months, so I couldn't even get it to work and thus my night was Oscarless. But, well, in any case, Astrid's idyllic countrysides and rambunctious youth still make me want to move to Sweden, buy a cow or two, and live on the fjord as a dairy farmer for the rest of my days.

Speaking of cool Swedish things, E. from http://lftec.blogspot.com (I can't get the hyperlink button to work, damnit!) writes a lovely blog as a continuation of the somewhat-famous Letters to Marc Jacobs. Photogenic, whimsical yet prosaic northerners! Read all about it!

the Oscars!

As someone who refuses to watch TV on principle, I make exceptions for two things: the Olympics (I'm an avid fan, especially if you are Czech, Canadian, or from Burkina Faso), and occasionally, and rather lukewarmly, the Oscars. I'll watch this time, because I don't feel like doing the stuff I should be doing, and also because Cate Blanchett was brilliant in I'm Not There, although of course the award will go to that lady who has been making films for sixty years and has never been nominated. I guess she deserves it. But still, Cate Blanchett makes a very attractive Bob Dylan.



Oscars weigh 8.5 lb. Maybe I'll win one. I need a new weight set.
But I'll always love the true Oscar of my heart:

On this day in 1861...

serfdom was abolished in Russia.

On this day in 2008...

Fidel Castro resigned as president of Cuba after almost 50 years of dictatorship.

How much either of those changed the status quo in their respective countries remains to be seen.

Juneau

Like the city in Alaska?
No.

As expected, Juno was a brilliant movie. Although I absolutely HATED Napoleon Dynamite, Juno was very cool, funny in a not-too-awkward way (I hate movies that simply ask you to laugh at awkward situations or someone making an idiot of themselves, it just kind of irritates me). Also, excellent soundtrack, although the Moldy Peaches is one band I will probably get sick of soon. For now they are vaguely good and amusing. Sorry for not putting more effort into this post, but, well, what the hell, no one reads this anyway and that's aight by me.

Dr. Seuss goes to war

Because of torrential downpours, my First Friday plans are cancelled, so instead I am going to see the movie Juno, which I've heard so much hype about that I cannot be completely lukewarm. Anyway, I was unaware until recently that Dr. Seuss (nee Theodor Geisel) also made a living making political cartoons. It's haunting, yet really cool, to see his commentary on Nazi agression and British pacifism done in the familiar "Horton Hears a Who", "Cat in the Hat" style:


<- My Hero. He is the Lorax and he speaks for the trees.

a desultory glance at the chaos that is my life right now

I wonder what happens when you type "chaos" into google images?
this:


While my life does not take the shape of sideways cool-looking stick things, it is pleasantly messy right now.

Things I am high on right now:
1. the elegance of physics and calculus
2. The fact that when you mix plain yogurt, sugar, and a slightly squashy orange together, awesome comes out
3. First Friday Art Exhibit tommorrow
4. The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe
5. endorphins
6. granola bars and lack of sleep

Life's been treating me quite well, thanks for asking.