So I don’t really have time this month to update the blog on account of it being National Novel Writing Month but I thought I’d put in a widget for my word count:
I am down for the day, alas but hopefully will do 1,000 after my mini vegan quiches get out of the oven.
Today has really been a Petes party in my apt. What is a Petes Party you ask? Well, have I told you that Pete and the Pirates are my new favorite band? Because they are. After seeing them multiple times at CMJ they have grown on me like a fine wine or something like that. A friend asked me to describe them but I’m not really good at comparing bands to other ones. Some songs are rather quiet, like they wrote them while feeling rather down because of some girl. But others are far more raucous and make you imagine with the right crowd there would be lots of fist pumping. In UK, I bet they mosh (they like moshing over there, I’ve always suspected a lot of pent up emotions are the cause).
The Petes’ve got 2-3 guitarists and sometimes two of the Petes sing (only two of them are actually named Pete and the singer is not one of them but I’ve decided to call them all Pete because it’s easier and funnier) so you get a nice array of sounds. They do not talk like pirates. Or carry parrots on their shoulders, I’m sorry to disappoint some of you. But they’re website has cute little skulls. I might knit them some tiny pirates if they come visit the US again, who know? Check them out, especially the songs “Jennifer” and “Mr. Understanding”. And “Knots“. And “Lost in the Woods”. And “Come on Feet”. You can download the whole album for $6 right now on Amazon, woo!
All the Petes @ Crash Mansion on 10/23/09
Singer Pete
Bass playing Pete (an actual Pete!)
Another actual Pete with a faux Pete, alas the other guitarist has gone behind the actual Pete and you can’t see him. But he is there in spirit.
Of course there were other good bands at CMJ, which is only ever as good as the bands, eh? But I’m not listening to their albums on repeat. I also didn’t bring my camera for Surf City, Bang Bang Eche, pow wow, and Answering Machine. But I did bring my camera from that fine band out of Queens, the Freelance Whales.
I like that they all sing together
And that they banged on watering cans
They said they don’t normally play acoustically (they had loads of instruments), maybe because it was a small stage? Or tail end of CMJ? They’ll be touring with Fanfarlo next month (who I swear I just saw last month or beginning of this month) so perhaps I’ll check it out. You should too. I mean being a Freelance Whale is almost as good as being a Profound Elephant, eh?
Back in the day of books on tape, I always disliked audiobooks. I remember my friend raving about Jim Dale reading Harry Potter and grudgingly taking out Prisoner of Azkaban on audio CD and getting through maybe a minute of listening to it on my CD player and feeling incredibly embarrassed. I was sure the rather full of himself trans guy across the hall could hear me and KNEW that I was listening to dorky Harry Potter. Or the cool, smarty pants Mormon on the other side of the bathroom, doing her no doubt complicated science readings could hear me and thought I was lame as well. I must have had a discman (remember those?), but I don’t think I bought my first Sandisk MP3 player yet. I’m one of those weird people who could take a four hour bus ride listening to 2-3 cds over and over again. Back in the day when we did things like that, of course.
Everyone I knew back then, who listened to audiobooks, I felt, had cars like my friend who loved Harry Potter, or had a long commute to work like my mom and listened to it on the way. Or then there was that weird girl I studied abroad with who was obsessed with Apple and listened to Harry Potter clips at random on her old school iPod to help her fall asleep. I had none of those things.
Then, I started work at a trade publisher last year and started to listen to audiobooks for work related things. Finally, I put *gasp* The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters on my iPod. It was a big step for me. My iPod is a rather old nano that I’ve only ever used to music. I didn’t even know I have the space for an entire audiobook on it and so I painstakingly uploaded each CD, named each track because charmingly Grace Notes didn’t recognize it.
I have since uploaded the last Harry Potter from CD to my iPod to hear the fabled Jim Dale. But it was really the discovery of E-Audiobooks that won me over to the audiobook. (Yea, I know you saw that coming a mile away, that’s what we call foreshadowing).
My first, possibly (as in I don’t remember, eep!), was Terrier by Tamora Pierce. I forgot how much I used to love her books when I was in middle school. There’s something to be said for YA audiobooks, that’s for sure. They do fun accents, it’s a lot like radio theater…if I had ever listened to the radio.
My big step was giving audible a chance. I discovered that the audiobooks for C.J. Sansom’s Matthew Shardlake series are not commonly available on audio, who knew? Not I. He’s such an excellent writer and I really love his characters, but his first book Dissolution was rather long and the library only seemed so have the hardcover books, not good for train commuting. So using a free download, I started listening to Dark Fire and I found myself listening to it even when I wasn’t on the subway.
Who knew? Me an e-audiobook listener! Now I’ve got to go start the third Shardlake mystery. I’m hooked, I really hope he keeps the semi-Jewish guy Jack Barak as the sidekick. He’s cool. Shhh! Don’t tell me if you’ve read/listened to it already.
Last week I finally saw the Manic Street Preachers. When I was in high school I bought tix to see them twice at the Paradise in Boston. Both times they cancelled. All my Manics albums are at my parents’ apartment as I never really figured they’d come around so there was no need to prepare by re-memorizing song lyrics. Well, ten years later they decided they were ready to visit us over here.
The Webster Hall sound was a bit crackily and made it hard to hear but they played some of my fave songs of theirs: Faster, If You Tolerate This Then Your Children Will Be Next, The Everlasting, Let Robeson Sing, Motorcycle Emptiness and Little Baby Nothing. They also played a lot of songs I didn’t know. Figures, you give up on a band and suddenly, they have like 2 new albums you never even knew about.
The side of stage I ended up on had no members of the band. I can only imagine it was reserved for the ghost of Richey. Using my not spectacular camera I did manage to get some OK pics.
I like this one ’cause they’re jumping, weee!
James getting into The Everlasting
Note stuffed Tiger on Welsh flag covered amp. This is prob my best shot of Nicky since he was so frickin’ far away.
Guitars en face.
Note the Welsh boa colors.
I love James, he just got so into it. He may not be as tall as Nicky but he’s a total showman…and a teddy bear! I wanted to hug him. I missed my chance though because when I saw them walking down 11th St. I was too stunned to say anything, doh.
Look! Webster Hall is already getting ready for their meat market! I mean Halloween party.
Ahhh, felt like a truly historical event: me! Finally seeing the Manics and reclaiming my love of the Welsh men.
Meet Mr. Foster. He is a Knitpicks monkey. A few months back I bought a kit to make his cute little monkey self.
However, a few problems arose when last night I tried to start on him.
-I don’t own size 1 double pointed needles. The smallest I own are size 2 and they are all in half finished socks at the moment. Yes, I guess I should finish the socks but socks are not as cute as sock monkeys. Fact.
-I did not understand the direction to how to cast on and create more stitches, presumably so you have a nice fold where his hands end. Luckily, the Knitpicks forum had a knit-a -long for this and there are lots of helpful posts and videos so I can learn how to do this cast own known as the “backward loop” cast-on method. It is in fact described in one of my knitting books, One Skein Wonders but seriously? I need to see this cast on IN ACTION! Yes, I did mean to emphasize that point.
-I think these were enough problems to prevent my starting but tonight! I plan to end the sock that is way too big for my size six feet and reclaim the size 2 needles with the intent of just trying to knit extra tightly.
Score: Mr. Foster remaining balls of yarn forever 1, Julie O
I know I just posted about Ms. Stewart but I for some reason also wanted to compile a list of books I’m reading right now and my progress:
God’s Harvard by Hanna Roisin: about this crazy Christian college that wants to create a new generation of Bushes, this is for a reading group
The Divorce Party by Laura Dave: Total chick lit, just started it and sort of want to hate it because I don’t really do love stories but the author lived in Northampton for awhile in the same building as Kurt Vonnegut and I really like one of her characters (she alternates between two perspectives)
The Big Rich by Bryan Burrough: It’s about Texas and oil, not the fastest read but interesting enough
Mistress Shakespeare by Karen Harper: Total historical romance, I stopped in the middle of the plague and hope to finish it this weekend when I visit the folks
Just finished: The Coffee Trader by David Liss: Interesting but I’ve noticed he tends to have stories where you have no idea what’s happening until the last third and everything turns out to be not as it seems
Last week, I went to the Martha Stewart show. I kept meaning to write about it but naturally became far too busy 
And then a new year happened somewhere in there. But here’s your serving of Martha (or rather my long-winded reflections on her):
I am not a huge Martha fan. I have never seen her show and I’ve only glanced at her magazine. But I’ve always like the idea of Martha. When I told my aunt and grandmother that I was going to see Martha, not just see her but use a half day off of work (egads!) they both emphatically said they hated her. I was a little surprised but the more I thought about their intense dislike of the woman known as Martha Stewart, the more it occurred to me that maybe it is really a generational thing. I grew up not believing I would ever do well in the domestic sphere and I didn’t particularly care.
Now what is Martha but a glorification of the domestic? I think amongst my generation there is some kitsch value to Martha. Martha cooks with people, she gets Jennifer Garner to give you crafting advice (no, I did not see JG when I was there but apparently she was on later in the week), it’s cute and something I’d certainly never take a huge interest in on my own.
Since most of us don’t have to do home ec anymore, Martha is kinda like modern home ec squared. She does everything so much better then the rest of us. Except when she went to jail. Going to jail was maybe one of the best things that happened for her career because suddenly, she had street cred. I guess maybe her going to jail was to my generation what Paris Hilton’s short stint in the slammer was like for teenagers. I have no respect for Paris but her popularity just grows and grows. Then so does Martha’s.
I’m still not a huge Martha fan but I enjoyed seeing her set and watching her make fun of someone like Serena Williams as an aside. And she seems like she knows what she’s doing as she helps the recipes along and does her spots for TV shows around the country. I certainly do not aspire to be like her, I don’t think I would ever like being on TV. But if she wants to make me cupcakes, I’m not gonna turn them down.
The thing I loved about her studio was that it was on the third floor of a building in Chelsea but she had fake windows that gave the appearance of an always sunny Manhattan skyline.
Martha Stewart
I really did want to write a cooking blog today but I realized something about myself, I’m not a foodie. I like cooking because I find it relaxing, I suppose. You follow the directions and sooner or later you have a meal. It’s also my non-computer screen or book staring time. I don’t have the best eyesight and my eyes get rather tired/dry/whatever from staring at screens for many hours. This sort of sucks because my entire work is computer based as is my general entertainment be it TV, Gchat, or online window shopping.
But in this day in age, cooking is like lo fi. The most technology I use in the event of cooking is my Cuisinart food processor. My kitchen is extremely narrow, like maybe 4 feet across tops, so I generally navigate it by walking sideways. I have a greeting card I framed hanging on the wall that says “WWJD? What Would Julia Do?” Seems appropriate enough. I guess Julia Child was into winging it with cooking. The thing I learned the most from her (in high school cooking class when our teacher was away she’d have us watch episodes where Julia cooked meat since public schools can’t really buy the kind of meat Julia cooked) was measuring isn’t really that important. Now I kinda just eyeball everything. Of course, when Julia wasn’t measuring something, it was usually cognac. I’ve never cooked with cognac. I did once make some overly acoholic rum balls for the office holiday party. They were not exactly a hit. Very potent.
Note for next time: my mother wants to be name-checked. The only way she really fits into the above post is I have childhood memories of our making sugar cookies from a Sesame Street recipe. Now that was a good recipe!
I decided to start this blog with a post about yesterday. It was rainy and horrible like it’s been all week. Worst of all, the end of summer hours had been upon us all week at work. Sure, that’s fine when you get out at 5 M-Th instead of 5:45 but come Friday with no half day, well the rain just made it all seem the worse.
Except! Half way into the first hour of the working day, my lovely co-worker sends me an email that Vampire Academy author, Richelle Mead, is going to be in the office for, of all things, lunch and a champagne toast before she goes to Australia. Suddenly, it was like Rex Manning Day at work. Only, I don’t work at a record store and I was certainly not going to go all Corey on the author of a fabulous teen vamp series. That would just be weird. (Note: if you haven’t seen Empire Records then you will have no idea who Rex Manning and therefore the reference means nothing. Suffice it to say that I was quite happy.)
Now, my co-worker wanted to go for the food (Note: I haven’t said her name lest she ever read this and be like, “Why are you making me sound like a glutton?”) but she knew I would want to go for the love of Vampire Academy. Yes, I know you are rolling your eyes because you think, “Aren’t vampires so last year?” Well, to you I say “phooey!” I mean that was quite nice of me, vs. some other things I could say, right? The series is awesome, the heroine Rose is kick-ass. I mean, if adults can like Gossip Girl (which we do!), why can’t we like teenie books other than Harry Potter? OK, enough with the self-defence, if you are reading this you probably already indulge me enough.
Basically, I couldn’t drink the champagne on an empty stomach and I really have nothing to say to people who I think are awesome. I mean, I guess they might not know they are awesome and I should help boost their ego but if your publisher is toasting you with champagne, you probably have some knowledge that you are awesome. When I was 16, I had a whirlwind year of being a fan girl and getting my favorite bands like Placebo, Super Furry Animals, Idlewild, etc. to sign things for me. And being a teenager (though, of course, I was very against the term “teenybopper”, I mean I never really listened to bop worth music) I had very little to say to the bands except “I love you! Can you sign this? Can I get a picture?” And my ever suffering dad or friends would take the pics. But now in my advanced years of the latter 20s I’m not into that so much. People are people, though some are awesomer than others. What else is there to say?
In fact, I almost never get books signed. But since it was suddenly Richelle Mead Day in my world I went the whole hog, I got the book signed from the stack of books other people were having signed mostly for their children or younger siblings. I vaguely tried to converse with the fire engine red-headed authoress. As a pale skinned person, I possibly turned beet red while trying to act cool and disinterested (ha!). I hate when that happens ><
But it was fun. And I could say more but this is already probably longer then most wish to read. So welcome to the inaugural post of The Profound Elephant, pull up a chair, stay awhile!
Up next: A feast for the week, cooking with Julie! (Haha, OK maybe not, just throwing an idea around, you know?)
