| Twitter! |
[Dec. 21st, 2009|05:01 pm] |
Posted at Twitter, because it's really too short to post here...
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| Twitter! |
[Dec. 20th, 2009|05:03 pm] |
Posted at Twitter, because it's really too short to post here...
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| Twitter! |
[Dec. 19th, 2009|05:01 pm] |
Posted at Twitter, because it's really too short to post here...
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| Twitter! |
[Dec. 18th, 2009|05:01 pm] |
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| Reading comprehension FTW |
[Dec. 17th, 2009|06:46 pm] |
St. Louis American wrote a piece on the St. Louis actress in "The Princess & the Frog." First commenter to the article online posts a warning--the princess is (gasp!) black! False advertising!
I think maybe they are not familiar with the St. Louis American... |
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| Twitter! |
[Dec. 16th, 2009|05:00 pm] |
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| Twitter! |
[Dec. 15th, 2009|05:00 pm] |
Posted at Twitter, because it's really too short to post here...
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| Twitter! |
[Dec. 14th, 2009|05:00 pm] |
Posted at Twitter, because it's really too short to post here...
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| Twitter! |
[Dec. 11th, 2009|05:01 pm] |
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| And they'll celebrate by partying like it's 1099! |
[Dec. 11th, 2009|04:10 pm] |
So, in the news today: no new minarets in Switzerland!
From the aforelinked article:
Are Muslim immigrants threatening European values? This is a concern shared by many Europeans across the continent. Surveys last week revealed that 44 percent of Germans oppose the construction of minarets, followed by 41 percent of the French. Fifty-five percent of all Europeans see Islam as an intolerant religion.
Soak in that last line for a moment. Europe--Western Christian Europe, that is; one assumes nobody asked Eastern Europe, what with it having all those Muslim bits and all--Europe thinks Islam is an intolerant religion.
Meanwhile, Switzerland has banned an architectural element because a certain non-Christian religion finds it keen. Yes, nevermind the calls in various countries to ban the hijab* in public**--let's ban architecture!
Next week: selective stucco to take the Alhambra from an obvious Moorish fortress to a nice plain block.
What color is that kettle again?
* For, uh, security reasons, naturally. Or, if you're France, because you've taken separation of Church and State and made it an ultimatum! (Feel free to disagree with me on that, by the way.)
** Which is funny, given that their entire purpose is to be worn in public. It makes one want to compare and contrast the role of religion in the public and private spheres across various cultures, doesn't it? No? Okay, maybe it's just me... |
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| Not Tea! But Just as Good! |
[Dec. 10th, 2009|12:03 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  accomplished | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Sads - Porno Star | ] |
First up, it's probably a good thing that my favourite Sads song plays right as I'm writing this. Love them guitars. Never was able to figure out a thing they were saying in this song except, "Yes, porno star!", but that's probably the whole point.
This post has nothing to do with either porn or tea. What I did mean to say was that the first story I ever wrote in the Finches universe is finally seeing publication. Its new home is, appropriately enough, an anthology of poetry and fiction celebrating 150 years of The Origin of Species and Charles Darwin called Tangled Bank -- coming out in December 28, 2009.
It's been four years since I started scribbling on that story after a creative writing class on building characters with Professor Dibble, as seen from the perspective of evolutionary theory. And four years on, I'm still writing stories based around the idea. The original "Finches" has seen a lot of looking for a publisher since then. It's the hardest story from the series, too weird for lots of places, too open-ended for lots more places, and particularly close to my heart because it's given me a lot of hope, for my writing, and by extension, the hope to finish what the story began.
Finally knowing I'll get to see it print makes me happy, and it makes me feel vindicated for believing this tale would work out. |
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| It's About Cold Enough to Approach England, Isn't it? |
[Dec. 10th, 2009|11:39 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  hungry | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Yu Chyi - Having, Not Having, the Means to Say | ] |
Before the weather got bitterly cold, I managed to hike down to Lovejoy's for the first time to have tea with Allegra. We had lovely tea with real cream and sugar and tiny cucumber sandwiches with the crusts removed. Because it was that kind of tea room and we had to. When I was growing up, tiny cucumber sandwiches, which appeared at both school functions and at hotel buffets, were made of white bread, cucumbers and margarine. They weren't bad, but I definitely didn't see what the fuss was about. My mother often complained about these "stingy English people" who served cheap cucumbers on bread. Very many years later, I found out from an English friend that cucumbers were actually decadent vegetation to put on bread when they were introduced to Britain. They're a glass house plant from the mysterious tropics, and only the rich could really afford the effort required to raise them. So cucumbers, with butter, in the middle of winter, were a luxury item.
Lovejoy's makes cucumber sandwiches as I've never had them before. They were wonderful, filled with cream cheese and crunchy cucumber. A very simple pleasure, but a really profound one at that. We ordered the High Tea for Two set, and also got the Pear & Stilton, Egg & Onion and Artichoke Hummus sandwiches. I'm no fan of blue cheese, but the pear really balanced the strong flavour of, "Oh, my god! Cheese!" -- it was good, and interesting. I am a real sucker for egg salad sandwiches though, so I totally loved the egg and onion, which was done perfectly. Smooth egg cream peppered with sweet, crunchy onions. Mmm. The artichoke hummus was perhaps the only dull choice in the lot, its concept aside. They were delicious, but we tasted mostly hummus, and hardly any artichoke. We figured that the artichoke managed to soften the flavour of the hummus, but wasn't particularly a flavour in itself. Either that, or that wasn't terribly much artichoke in the sandwiches.
The real joy of the High Tea set though, were the homemade scones. Now, you're probably thinking, scones? But those are barely risen bread items that can sometimes be a little hard, like a potential projectile weapon. Lovejoy's makes awesome scones. Scones that redefine what scones should be. Scones that are warm and fluffy and the consistency of fresh corn bread, stuffed with raisins, and served with clotted cream and homemade strawberry jam with whole strawberries that makes you wish you were the right age to grab the little cups of devon cream and strawberry jam and scarf them down in a ladies' tea room. Scones that I might get cravings for every few weeks or so, resulting in me making scones at home. And real jam. I can make a conserve well enough, but then I would have to convince myself to eat more bread, which I don't.
Tea! Wondrous tea! Served on slightly chipped granny-style china, in an actual tea room. It's quite an experience. I had to keep reminding myself to sit up straight and lift my pinky and all those things. I shall stop now, or I will simply make myself hungry. |
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