Universal Rain

This morning when I logged on to my facebook account, it was quite interesting to see my friends posting status updates about the weather: it was raining in Perth Australia, Thessaloniki Greece, in Ohio, and Boston. All this global rain may make this planet a green one, giving a lush green hue, like the meadows of England…

Biting Fingernails

I just cannot stop biting my fingernails; it’s gross, it’s unhealthy, it’s unattractive. But I cannot stop it. Oh, yes, I have tried the bitter nail polish, and it’s not working, because I end up liking the bitter flavor. It’s a stupid, compulsive habit that I just can’t kick. HELP

Also, I don’t know, but to me, if you eat something you’re not supposed to eat and then get sick, you only got yourself to blame.

All Over The Place

Friday I was in the mood for something different. I wanted to be music related, so I was between Monteverdi’s Opera Poppea, Boston Gay Men’s Chorus: Boys Just Wanna Have Fun: Totally 80s, or Stile Antico’s Renaissance music. Well, the opera was sold out, and then I was thinking that I wanted something mellower than 80s music. So I went and saw Stile Antico at the Emmanuel Church.

The concert was part of the Boston Early Music Festival. The ensemble performed songs from the courts of Renaissance Europe. It was magnificent. It sure helps performing in a church, and I was feeling chills going through my body. Majestic songs, beautiful voices. I felt really good afterwards, slightly elevated in spirit.

Came back home around 11:30pm and I remembered the whole thing with the facebook usernames, which some started calling vanity URLs, and writing essays about. What was the big deal? Facebook was fueling the hype with a count down clock to 12:01am Saturday which was when you could claim your username. So f*ing what? I mean I did claim mine, just because I happened to be on-line, but why was it thought to be a big deal? After Saturday, I haven’t heard or read anything about it, which makes me wonder how many people actually bothered to do it. And actually who cares. I just find it very interesting how easy it is to create a hype.

What else? Tomorrow is a holiday for me, Bunker Hill Holiday. The weather’s supposed to be nice and I should find something interesting and outdoorsy to do. Meanwhile I have a f*load of work to do, and keep daydreaming. Staying focused is sometimes hard to do.

Oh, yeah, I also saw the movie “Away We Go”. Bloody hell, another movie that I was expecting it to be better than it actually was. Can’t somebody make a good, honest movie? Can’t filmmakers get over their unbearable pretentiousness, the unending conformity, the toning down? It’s like they wanted to make a funny movie, but not too funny. And they used so many lines that were supposed to be funny, but they weren’t, cause they weren’t bold enough. The movie was full of characters that are caricatures, but the main characters (Verona & Burt) aren’t. Verona and Burt are so much better than anybody else. Balance, anyone? Another detail that was irritating was that when Verona was supposedly crying, she was wiping away invisible tears. What’s the flippin’ matter? Can’t somebody get the fake tears? Oh, yes, and don’t let me forget the scene on the trampoline,  so sticky and ineffective. And it got tiresome and so painfully mediocre, so fake, so bloody pretentious. Now that I think about it the only thing I liked about the movie was Alexi Murdoch’s songs and “Ellen’s” name, which was spelled L N.

When the movie ended I was really hungry. It was around 9:30pm on a Sunday, and around Kendall Square there was nothing compelling to eat. The newly opened Friendly Toast was closed (as I learnt later they close at 3pm on Sundays), and Emma’s was closed too. What’s going on people? Kendall Square, you suck. We ended up going to Chez Henri and splitting a delicious veggie cuban sandwich, and I had a perfect Periodista.

Aerosol E-Book Enhancer

“Does your Kindle leave you feeling like there’s something missing from your reading experience? Have you been avoiding e-books because they just don’t smell right? But all of that is changing thanks to Smell of Books™, a revolutionary new aerosol e-book enhancer.”

Please make sure you check out the different aromas.   My favourite one “Eau, You Have Cats” :

“Specially engineered from the concentrated aromas of 20,000 second-hand books. This special scent is guaranteed to please animal lovers and avid book collectors alike. It’s just like borrowing a book from grandma’s house. So realistic you’ll think “Mr. Puss” is back again!”

(via)

How To Delete Yourself

In Mood For A Sad Song

This is how I feel today, like “a car without hope, too close to the ditch to go far”

I’m a car without hope / Too close to the ditch to go far / I showed you my field / I said this is my field / But you weren’t impressed / You said why are we here / Your motives are clear / In this room with a view / And so much of you / Is so far from here / It’s so far from here / Oh my heart / It just fell apart / And I wished I could show you / The same view of you by the window / And me feeling fine / And me just feeling fine / Yeah me just feeling fine

In Love With A View – Mojave 3

On Food

I wouldn’t call myself a “foodie”. I don’t really care about food. I can live for days eating junk, say potato chips for lunch and pop corn for dinner. And I don’t have to eat a lot either. We don’t really need all the food we eat. Less would be enough. There is this misconception that we need breakfast, lunch and dinner. Dinner is the most useless meal of the day, since  most of the time you don’t burn the calories you get from it. You stuff your gut and then go to bed; all the fat sits nicely in your butt and gut. We should be good with a good breakfast and lunch, and I can allow you fruit and yogurt for dinner. 

Having said that, I can really appreciate good food. I was brought up with mediterranean home-cooked food, you know, good olive oil and fresh ingredients. There was almost never candy or soda at home: the way it should be. Alas, I never liked cooking and, no, I don’t cook. So when I go out to eat, I really want to have something special, something that I cannot easily make on my own, like pasta or hard-boiled eggs.

Last Friday we went to dinner at Addis Red Sea in Cambridge, a supposedly authentic ethiopian cuisine restaurant. To be honest, ethiopian restaurant sounds a little weird to me: I grew up in the 80s with TV images of starving ethiopian children and humanitarian aid in my brain. So what food are you talking about?  But I am sure as a country they have authentic cuisine, as it was before it was turned into a european colony.

Anyway, I was willing to give it a try, and boy, was it a mistake. First of all the service was the slowest ever, I think it took them like 30 minutes to take our order. And then it took them forever to bring our drinks. I got the ethiopian medium-dry wine, which was apparently a euphemism for vinegar. We got the lentil sambusa for appetizer and it was OK. Then our main course came. You are supposed to eat with your fingers, scooping food with the spongy bread. Yes, spongy, but also moist and cold, like it had been accidentally tossed into water and then quickly served. I had ordered atakil, allegedly “mixed vegetables, green beans, potatoes, carrots and onions, sauteed in a blend of exotic herbs” (that’s a quote from their menu). What actually came was the blandest mix of, most likely steamed, carrots, potatoes and green beans. No onions (which is OK with me), no other mixed vegetables, and certainly no exotic herbs. I’d say no salt either, nothing. I put a bit in my mouth, and I thought I was going to spit it out. It was so awful, I had to chew it 100 times before I was barely able to swallow. That was worse than english boiled vegetables. I don’t think I’ve ever had worse food than that at a restaurant. 

On Saturday we went to brunch at the newly opened Friendly Toast in Kendall. A place so hyped, mainly because of the first one in Portsmouth, NH. I’d never been to the Portsmouth one, and so many people were raving about it, so I thought I’d give it a try. I talked about the kitschy decor before, which doesn’t really blend well with the hardwood floor and the generic ceiling. I wouldn’t call it cool, no. The place looked tired, it was already 1pm on a Saturday and as the waitress said the kitchen was running behind. I got the greek scramble, and I have to say scrambles are better than omelets. I was really starving and after I had finished 3/4 of my food, I realized there was no feta cheese in it, which explained the slight lack of flavor. But otherwise was good. Their bread comes in big slabs and it is delicious! We split the drunkard french toast with creamy Grand Marnier and raspberry sauce, which was too sweet and too artificially flavored. In summary, this is a good brunch place, but not verygood. Soundbites is still the king of the brunch.

Split/Signal – Silent Film/Scored Live @ The Armory

Last Saturday I attended Split/Signal, an event of silent films scored live. The venue was The Center for the Arts at the Armory, a recently created art space in a former armory on Highland Ave in Somerville. It was my first time visiting the Armory and I think they did a good job with the huge space. I liked the light pouring from the windows, but it was not such a good thing for the 7pm starting time as light found its way on the projection screen…

The musicians participating in the event composed original music for the silent shorts and overall the result was very good. There was also free snacks, beer and wine. The servers went around dressed as cigarette girls, carrying the glasses in trays. After trying to block the sun coming in from the high window, the event was off to a good start.

The first short film was by Jon Cianfrani and the score was done by the duo Mike Dunkley & Todd Brozman; the used their laptops to provide the electronic music score, and it was very good. Then it was time for Black Yodel’s music and Michael Maraden’s short. I liked the compact music. After that we saw Dado Ramadani’s short with ambient mostly music played by Arms & Sleepers, and right after that Devil Music provided the soundtrack for an animated Barrett Films short. Caspian was much better than I thought they would be and I liked Bryan Deblasio’s film. Roger Miller (of the Mission of Burma) composed a very fitting score for Handcranked Productions short full of scenes of american ruins; I really liked it, both visually and acoustically. The next band on was Cul De Sac with music for VJ Dziga’s film. The event ended with music by the Books and film by Rich Remsberg. They played a longer set than the others, and they were good too.

I read some complaints about the time forthe change of set up that the bands needed between acts, but I didn’t find it excessive. It gave you some time to seek more wine or beer, or go to the loo and receive compliments for the dress you were wearing (btw I liked the nice touch of mints in the women’s bathroom), or talk about the previous act, or walk around.

I was pleasantly surprised with the superb quality of sound. And I found the event to be well produced and it was something different. It’s not too common, I think, to see “silent films scored live” these days, and I totally appreciate the idea and the implementation. I was really happy I attended. I hope the Armory hosts more cool events like this, and Split / Signal put together their next project pretty soon. 

UPDATE: See more photos here

Dreamcatchers In Cars

I think that the most ridiculous car decoration is a dreamcatcher hanging from the rearview mirror. What’s the driver trying to tell me? That he plans on taking a nap, while driving, and he just wants to make sure that he won’t have any bad dreams? Thanks, dude, I feel much better if you’re taking a peaceful nap while you’re doing 85mph on I93.

Let’s remind ourselves again what a dreamcatcher is: a native american charm, hung above the bed to protect sleeping people from nightmares. The idea is that only good dreams are allowed to filter through, and bad dreams stay away in the net, disappearing with the light of the day.

So I don’t know what a dreamcatcher in a car really means. That the driver is delusional and thinks he’s in bed? What’s a dreamcatcher in a car good for? Is it going to protect you from “nightmares” like a police cruiser coming behind you flashing its lights in your rearview mirror? Is it going to make toll booths, erratic drivers, painfully slow drivers and mile-long traffic jams ”stay in the net and disappear”?

Oh, wake up, buddy, I don’t think so…

UPDATE: This is a dreamcatcher, tmb

“Former House Speaker Indicted” yawn

Oh, yes, this is how it is, politics in Massachusetts. DiMasi is the third House speaker in a row to be indicted.  DiMasi was indicted on raft of federal corruption charges for allegedly receiving $$ from a software company in exchange for securing state contracts for said company. And of course the majority of people around here who follow the MA politics were not surprised.

When DiMasi exited the federal court house he made this statement: 

My statement for today is that every decision that I have ever made as the speaker or as a state representative was always made in the best interests of my constituents and of the people of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Uh, yeah, which could be true, but does not mean that you are innocent, i.e. that you didn’t accept the money. Even if the software company was the best and cheapest, and the people of the Commonwealth benefited indeed, you still pocketed the money. If you were innocent, I think your first statement should have been something like “I haven’t done anything wrong”… I’m just saying…