did I forget to mention...

I went to the NY Times building a couple of months ago? No, I don't mean I stood outside, or even that I just stood in the really cool lobby... I went upstairs. Okay, okay, say what you want about the fading glow of newspaper journalism, but going inside the beehive of the NY Times was pretty cool. I was one of the people from my office there to meet with one of the multimedia guys about multimedia stuff (I won't bore you...). Anyway, if you've ever been in a newsroom, you'd note this too: It was ridiculously quiet in the newsroom. So quiet, I'm pretty sure Bill Keller heard our guy when he whispered "Yeah, that's Keller. Whatever you do, don't mention The Daily Show..." The cubicles were only waist-high — which is bad if you'd like to be out of your neighbors' site lines for even a second. And apparently you have to go 20 blocks to find "anywhere decent" to eat. (Also, there were several full-grown trees in their courtyard. A feat in New York, New York.).

Actual academic thing learned (from the horses' mouth): If you want to see some great online media (minus the frickin' awesome typeface in its print version), go to The Guardian — where ny times online media guys find inspiration.

Acadia, Mount Desert Island, Maine

Recipe for regrouping: grab some friends, your dog, and head back to nature. Headed up to Acadia National Park this past weekend with some friends. We camped at Blackwoods Campground with two tents, and managed to not get wet ("Stay away from the sides of the tent!"), eat some delicious food (despite some harrowing hibachi cooking, and Diane's efforts in the dark), and find all of Lucca's poo (a very necessary thing in a campground).

Met up with some other friends for some barbecue, and one of my best Fourth of July's. There were some amazing moments driving out of our misty campground, and being enveloped in sunshine — and vice versa. The weather this summer has definitely made an impact on everyone's moods. You can tell when it's finally sunny. Believe me.

We managed to hike the Acadia Mountain Trail (rated strenuous), most of the Cadillac Mountain South Ridge Trail (also rated strenuous, and booty-defying, considering how slippery the face was due to all. the. rain.), and swim in Echo Lake. Of course, there were jaunts into Bar Harbor for ice cream and parades, and an amazing ferry ride, or mail-boat ride depending on who you asked, to Cranberry Island — beautiful until the mosquitoes came out of hiding.

some such thing

this semester, I've been taking a sign language class. yes, yes, it's all fine and dandy to be taking a sign language course, and learning your ABC's,
but then you're expected to be thrust into the world of the deaf social, and then write a paper about it. and this paper will say: How awkward. For me, not for those forced to interact with me. It's like walking into a theoretical math seminar, in French, and being able to say, "Bonjour. Je m'appelle Kim."

crazy busy = no time to blog = silly

wow, wow, wow. practically all of november has passed me by... well not really, but it's passed the blog by. poor blog. but let me do some appeasing.

m and I went to see Tom Stoppard's play, Rock 'n' Roll at the BU Theatre a couple of weeks ago. It takes place in Cambridge, England, and pre-Velvet Revolution Prague (and, to be fair, a little post-velvet, too) following a Stoppard-ish character who is definitely more into his records, than the politics around him. Anyway, once again, the women in the cast blew me away.

Last night, m and I went to see our friend's documentary, journeying to Taiwan. She and her coworker produced, edited, and starred in the film -- a pretty big feat! We were totally impressed, not only by the amount of work they did, but the end product. I'm set to go to Taiwan... ride the train, little some candles, and eat spicy shrimp.

Headed to hang out with the folks for Thanksgiving, so if I don't write again today (entirely possible) have a great turkey day!

halloween costume #1

still appropriate to wear to work... the wicked witch of the east, before the house dropped on her.

tonight is more dressing up, party-going. and then, tomorrow, I get in some nat time! hurray!

happy halloween, kids!

moment of zen... oh wait...

oh jon stewart, before you were on comedy central, you introduced some pretty wicked/radical/freakin' awesome bands.

including this one.

kisses.

communist dracula pageant

communists, vlad the impaler, and bears, oh my! Perfectly fitting for Halloween, The Communist Dracula Pageant, written by Anne Washburn and directed by Anne Kauffman, is an eastern bloc circus, drawing parallels between the notorious Romanian regime of Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu, and frickin' Vlad the Impaler, another vicious Romanian, otherwise known as Dracula. although hundreds of years apart, both seemed to suck the life out of the Romanian people. go figure.

my absolute favorite was Karen MacDonald, who played the fake-scientist know-it-all Elena Ceausescu perfectly (not that I knew Elena), especially her post-dead monologue, complete with bullet holes.

The disillusioned dictators were perfect characters in their own reality, and the Communist Dracula Pageant makes their reality better than fiction.

needless to say, m and I enjoyed it, and the A.R.T. venue (a place we've wanted to go to for awhile.). good thing i won those tickets.

sigh. if only this were out now...

people. it's been one of those days. so i need me some truffle shuffle, and johnny depp. and i need it now. Goonies in the Caribbean. genius.

changing appearances

new banner, by marie.

beautiful photos of mannequins in a chinatown storefront window.

just in time for halloween. hopefully, i can snag one of these hot happening hairdos myself...

the globs. cd releasing. in all their glory

glowing lollipops! giant, inflatable balls! duct tape dresses and suits! giant puppets! it's not a night at the circus, but The Globs' cd release gig at Harper's Ferry October 14. spectacular, spectacular, indeed.

happy to be alive. by marie.

reflections in the bar casino tv thing at harper's ferry in brighton. if you look verrrry carefully you'll see me next to the pool table. by marie.

flip flop break dance

all i need is my huge boombox, some old-school reeboks, and a little "rappers delight" and we'd be set for some '80s breakdancing. these kids today. i tell ya.

p.s. what's some sugar hill without some grand master?

unraveling

i've noticed something... whenever i write down a goal, project, something-i'd-like-to-try thingamajig in here, i tend to get it done... or at least attempt to get it done.

i've had a sew/craft/art idea rummaging around in my head for weeks now, and i'm hoping this theory will work. because it sucks not being in a creative rut, but being in a doing rut. procrastination, once again.

last night, m and i spent a significant amount of time boning up on our flash expertise. sitting in front of a computer for hours, playing with all the tools, we started to vegetable-ize. it became necessary to put in the witches of eastwick. halloween is coming, after all.

speaking of which, what am i going to be for halloween? creative juices, start working. now. do it.

the photo above is of a sweater that i borrowed from my mom's discard pile. the hearts are unraveling, but i still love it.

wiggle room

sometimes, after all the hectic happenings (and the impending hecticness... this weekend is going to be a blurrr!), you need to work in some downtime. so we headed to the Blue Hills Reservation, just a hop, skip, and a jump outside of boston for some hiking. And much needed doggie time (sidenote: his energy is endless. I'm not kidding. after hiking up and down, over rocky terrain, and slippery roads, he was still bouncing.).

The hike was beautiful, even though the fall foliage promised wasn't as eventful — still plenty green last weekend! We sat by Houghton's Pond afterwards to guzzle the last bit of relaxation before heading home. Sunday was cold, drizzly, and we lost our soccer game. boo. hiss.

But with the Boston Latino Film Fest, Open Studios, and free music throughout, we'll be wishing for that drizzly day, I'm sure. shmoozing, no matter what the cause, is never as fun as one would hope...

delicious samosas, horrid photo

well, since i'm about to eat this ridiculously tasty treat, i figured i'd photograph it for posterity... however, my computer sucks photography-wise. it just wasn't meant to go there, for quality, i mean.

anyway, i made samosas this weekend for a party, and decided to recreate the magic last night for m. and i to indulge in for ourselves. (plus I had leftover ingredients...).

Anyway, here's my wanky samosa recipe directions. I tend to eyeball it a lot, but I'll try my best:

fillo dough (keep refrigerated until ready to use)
1 cup peas (I used frozen organic ones)
1 carrot, chopped finely
2 small potatoes, boiled until soft
1/2 onion (or more, depending on how onion-y you like it)
1 section of garlic, minced (is it a clove?)
1 cup chopped cilantro
a little fresh ginger, chopped
juice of half of a lime
spices to dash in: paprika, cumin, pepper, salt, curry, cinnamon

boil the potatoes until soft, meanwhile sauté the onions and garlic on a medium heat (add some water to not burn the garlic). add the carrots, peas, cilantro, and ginger. add the potatoes. put into a bowl, and let cool while you ready your "fillo dough filling station."

pre-heat oven to 425.
put some olive oil in a bowl, and ready a brush, or a teaspoon (I use the back of the spoon to spread the olive oil onto the fillo dough). ready a nonstick baking pan, or grease.
open the fillo dough package, and select two sheets together. (you can cut them in half, length wise, or fold in half to get the right size. I'm definitely not an expert, it's just my way of getting that really delicate fillo dough to stay together).
Put a tablespoons-worth of filling on one end, then fold the dough back and forth, into a triangle. (like folding a flag for all you boyscouts out there). seal the end with some olive oil.
put on the pan, and repeat with the rest of the filling.

bake the samosas for 15 minutes, or until brown.
then eat.

quote of the day, y'all

At a BU Q&A with Susan Sarandon last week, this question was posed:

Is Sarah Palin a feminist?

I don’t understand how anyone can claim that she’s a feminist. Is it because she’s cute and feisty and spunky? Is it because she carries a gun and shoots animals from a helicopter? That’s not feminism — that’s the worst aspect of violent male behavior. I think she completely compromises the idea of feminism. And I think it’s a cheap shot to compare her to Hillary Clinton. They don’t have anything in common.

I mean, when you get a woman in government, you want the right woman. You don’t want just any vagina!

travel imminent...

by mfc

crossing my fingers that our turkey day travel plans aren't going to mimic this movie (classic, though it may be). although, now that I think about it, we will probably take the T, get on the plane, and be picked up in a car. well then, i guess it's inevitable! all we need is steve martin, and there'll be no stopping us.

anyway, i know it's a long way off, but we've already booked that flight, and are definitely heading to portugal in january, but except for a hostel booking, that's it. we did listen to a bit of portuguese last night, and i have to say, it's easy to hear how daunting the language can seem.

read this. since no one else is covering it

thank god for k.p. (and boom boom, i guess). at least she's covering the gas-crisis-that-wasn't. check it out. and report back.

oh snap, lindsay.

Ro.Lo. Like the candy.
Apparently, (since I'm not really in the know, but she intrigues me so I read this stuff) Lindsay Lohan wanted to stump for Barack Obama, but was turned down with a polite ''thanks, but no thanks,'' according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

She offered to host events for younger voters, but the Obama's people said uh uh. Frankly, it seems she's gotten a lot more into politics since she claimed her minority status. now it's not all fun and games, huh lindsay? well, actually, it probably is more fun... and unfortunately more games, considering women. well, some women.

And riding right onto the baby train, big news, of course, Lohan wants to get preggers and raise the baby with Samantha Ronson, according to British newspaper The News of The World. way to rock it, l-lo.

p.s. Here's a parting smack — that Lohan ''is not exactly the kind of high-profile star who would be a positive for us," an Obama team member said.

p.p.s. i'll stop now. i promise i'll be back to other things in the next post. or maybe not! time to join the paparazzi bandwagon, right?

rockport, ma. sept 13

halibut point, cape ann, ma. photo by d.

if you're coming from ohio, and worried about leaving your brethren back home, don't worry — rockport is chock full of ohioans (including a few of us, by birth... oddly enough). we saw the license plates first, followed by the natty dress rocked by ohio retirees (trust me, i can say this, because i know).

so, the nat-ster, m., and our friend, d., took a road trip up to halibut point state park, with a stop at a little cove along 127. the quarry at halibut looked really, really, familiar, but that could have just been a coincidence. then, we headed to rockport, to check out motif #1, eat lunch, and enjoy the lovely, non-walmarty commerce of bearksin neck. and eat ice cream.

rockport is a mere hop, skip, and a jump from boston, up route 1, and it's on the commuter rail line, so if we want to go back (which we do) and take our bikes (which we do), we can — without worrying about parking.

reflections

dumplings. dumplings. by m.
this was a weekend to point to and say, 'ha! there is such a thing as true, continuous happiness. so there.' in the midst of work, and getting ready for m's photography show (which is amazing!), i think we were walking around in a stupor. but, the opening on friday was fabulous — friends coming from out of town, enjoying each other's company — and the weekend just flowed from there, with nat and our friend from nashville heading to rockport, missing the ridiculous rain somehow, sailing on sunday, and another jaunt to chinatown with henry and sofy. love.

sun sun market, by m.