March 05, 2005
Suitable for Arabs and old gentlemen
I started on Andrew Lang's edition of The Arabian Nights Entertainments, which provides a child-safe retelling of the classic shenanigans: "In this book the stories are shortened here and there, and omissions are made of pieces only suitable for Arabs and old gentlemen." The ribald pieces omitted, the anthology still makes riveting reading, and Ford's pen-and-ink elegantly illustrates the adventues of Sinbad. However, I'd like a more thorough, and unexpurgated edition.
Some of the breathless reporting seems drawn straight from Herodotus, Homer, or Marco Polo: "In one place I saw a tortoise which was twenty cubits long and as many broad, also a fish that was like a cow and had skin so thick that it was used to make shields."
March 04, 2005
Like a giraffe needs a pie
Everybody gets some of the good stuff in the adorable animated video for Mr Scruff's funky "Sweetsmoke" tune. Yum!
March 03, 2005
March 02, 2005
The tide is high
Mavericks took place today: Greg and I took a jaunt down there in the beautiful, sunny, warm morning to stand on the bluff and watch 30-foot waves break over rocks (and the odd surfboard). Greg's hungover humour ("that's a hellacopter!") notwithstanding, the morning was completely awesome.
I was at the jetty about a year ago, but didn't see these sort of waves.
March 01, 2005
Congregate, devastate
June of '44, a band that knocked my socks off when I first saw them (either Mpls or Chicago, '94), have an excellent "In The Fishtank" EP, to which my ears have been stuck all day. The bass is delectable, and the song structure makes word problems out of math rock (duh).
February 28, 2005
Pay to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge?
I need to come up with a good argument to stick in the comments box here, where the Golden Gate Bridge Authority is requesting feedback for its proposed bicycle / pedestrian toll. I love the Golden Gate Bridge, but do not want to pay a toll to amble or pedal it. Why?
February 27, 2005
But of course!
crème, as in "crème fraîche", has an accent grave, not an acute, nor a circumflex (as I initially, stupidly thought). Which letter might have disappeared from crème? Nary a one.