now I know what a fool I've been, but if you kissed me now I know you'd fool me again
Apparently "Last Christmas" has been covered over a hundred times. Maybe I'll cover it when I release my cover album that will probably never happen. But at Iggy's Karaoke in New York, many people totally said I should be a pro. And if you can't trust the bartenders and drunken regulars at a karaoke bar, who can you trust?
...
There's any number of things I could say about what I've learned over the past year. So many people to thank, so much luck to appreciate. There were bad points ... there are always bad points. But I'm in an amazing place right now -- I am a little afraid of myself, in fact. I feel so powerful and productive, I am riding such a wave, that I am afraid I must inevitably go under!
It's so hard to pick out the "most important lesson of the past year", but I think maybe I have it. It's something I mostly owe Ex-Boyfriend Brett for, I think (thanks Brett), though there are undeniably other influences. Brett's remarkably good at getting things done outside an established framework; I'm glad I got the chance to see him in action. (Of course, he also shattered my heart, but these things happen.)
Anyway, here's the lesson: There's always a way to do it. Whatever it is. The tricks are: knowing what you want to do, being flexible about the implementation, and being willing to do the research. And yes, in the end it might be too expensive or time-consuming or confusing; you simply might not have the money/time/inclination. But why wouldn't you, at the least, look into it? Only because you're lazy and/or afraid ... and neither laziness nor fear are things to cherish.
In the course of your research, you'll learn a lot of unrelated stuff -- but that's not a waste of mental space, that's inspiration! In the course of your implementation, you'll go down blind alleys -- but that's not a waste of time, that's evolution!
The best example of this (a wholly ridiculous example, but still) is the lighthouse incident. It all started with me and Brett sitting on a beach looking at a lighthouse. And while I idly speculated about how awesome it would be to live in a lighthouse, I wouldn't have implemented such a project under my own power. By the time Brett was done researching lighthouses, though -- he made living in a lighthouse look easy. (As, it turns out, it is.)
It's a simple lesson. Really, I should have understood it before; I've often done absurd -- sometimes extensive -- projects under my own power. (And who hasn't heard: "Just do it"?) Maybe it's silly for me to give Brett so much credit, but I feel like ... I don't know, somehow, I feel like I didn't really internalize this until now. Not on a large scale. Not on the scale of my life. I think he helped me put it in perspective.
It's like I've been living wrapped in cotton, and suddenly I feel unbound and clear. There's always a way to do it. There's always been a way to do it.
I just had to be willing to want, to grow, to learn, to change, to run. To recognize fear and face it down, to be ruthless in my motivation.
The vista of my life has never looked so tempting.
...
Most people's experience of eggnog is limited to that horrible store-bought stuff, so most people think they don't like eggnog. But my family boasts the finest of eggnog recipes, handed down from parent to child over hundreds of years (seriously). My uncle says it's fine if I tell everyone about it, so I am. Here you go. It's the best thing ever. Try it. Your life is incomplete until you do.
Lydia's Family Eggnog
2 dozen eggs
24 tablespoons sugar
1 quart (or a fifth or 750 ml) rye whiskey (Old Overholt preferred, but any good rye or good bourbon will work)
1 pint cognac
1 half-pint dark rum (Myers preferred, but any good dark rum will work)
1 quart milk
1 quart heavy whipping cream
1 quart light cream or half and half
Ground nutmeg
Large bowl
Small bowl
Medium bowl
Hand mixer
# Separate the eggs (yolks in large bowl, whites in small bowl).
# With the hand-mixer on low, mix the sugar into the yolks one tablespoon at a time.
# Slowly and in small amounts, use the hand-mixer (still on low) to mix the alcohol into the sugary yolks. If you add the alcohol too quickly you will "cook" the yolks and ruin the eggnog, so be careful.
# Nod politely as Uncle asserts that Dad is not very masculine and has no idea what true manliness is, viz., sitting in a tree for many hours with a shotgun awaiting the perfect chance to shoot a deer in the head.
# In medium bowl, whip the milk products.
# Add the milk products slowly to the yolks.
# Set the mixer on high. In the small bowl, mix the egg whites until fluffy.
# Slowly mix the whites into the large bowl's contents.
# Enjoy the first glass of eggnog, lightly sprinkled with nutmeg. This sample will be sharper and rawer than the eggnog eventually becomes, but it is traditional to sip it and then fervently agree when Uncle pronounces store-bought eggnog to be "sacrilege -- a mortal sin".
# Cover eggnog with tinfoil and leave outdoors in the snow overnight.
# The next day, haul in the eggnog and mix it up some more. It will have mellowed somewhat, but will not be at its perfect flavor quite yet. Still, it is delicious. In several days -- it will be ambrosia.
# Spend several days drunkenly playing vicious bouts of card games and Scrabble.
...
The Yes Men
Impersonating big-time criminals in order to publicly humiliate them. Targets are leaders and big corporations who put profits ahead of everything else.
A person (male or female) becomes a Yes Man by exposing, perhaps deviously, the nastiness of powerful evildoers.
NYTimes: Current progress on the Netflix contest to improve CineMatch
Cinematch is the bit of software embedded in the Netflix Web site that analyzes each customer’s movie-viewing habits and recommends other movies that the customer might enjoy. (Did you like the legal thriller “The Firm”? Well, maybe you’d like “Michael Clayton.” Or perhaps “A Few Good Men.”) The Netflix Prize goes to anyone who can make Cinematch’s predictions 10 percent more accurate. One million dollars might sound like an awfully big prize for such a small improvement. But in fact, Netflix’s founders tried for years to improve Cinematch, with only incremental results, and they knew that a 10 percent bump would be a challenge for even the most deft programmer. They also knew that, as Reed Hastings, the chief executive of Netflix, told me recently, “getting to 10 percent would certainly be worth well in excess of $1 million” to the company. The competition was announced in October 2006, and no one has won yet.
I've noticed some surprising things going under my "cyberpunk" Delicious tag recently.
The Vertigo Tarot
Illustrated by Dave McKean (of "Sandman" fame), and pretty.
from lindensphinx.
The new Burger King beef-scented body spray
The home of the Whopper has launched a new men's body spray called "Flame." The company describes the spray as "the scent of seduction with a hint of flame-broiled meat."
The fragrance is on sale at New York City retailer Ricky's NYC in stores and online for a limited time for $3.99.
I think this came from Housemate Mike, but I've seen a lot of people talking about it. Burger King's got some other more distasteful ad campaigns going on, too. This body spray thing, though, I like. It appeals to my absurd quotient.
"She is More to be Pitied than Censured": Women, Sexuality and Murder in 19th Century America
The exhibition at the John Hay Library focuses on sexual scandals and murders in 19th century America that involved women in a significant way: as victims, as perpetrators, or as involved bystanders. The books, pamphlets, and broadsides on display reflect period attitudes on adultery, abortion and contraception, domestic abuse, and illegitimacy. Most noteworthy, perhaps, is how closely many of these events mirror contemporary issues concerning women, sexuality, and murder.
Hilarious: "Pride and Prejudice", Facebook-style
thanks, potatocubed!
New historical romance line: Gay fiction line written by straight women
I'm not sure how troubling I find this. I feel like a kink for watching/imagining gay people have sex is acceptable, even if you're straight. But I also feel like there's something ... borderline imperialistic? ... definitely exoticizing ... about a bunch of straight people writing erotic fiction about gay people specifically "created to mirror romance novels, not gay erotica." If Sexuality A gets off on imagining Sexuality B but does not identify as Sexuality B, are there any boundaries on how Sexuality A "ought" to depict Sexuality B? I guess we've already somewhat thought about this issue in, for instance, lesbian porn made by and for men.
Someone I know makes the point that it's more okay because of "the old PTBarnum deal 'no press is bad press' as in, gay stuff being out there for folks to read means that its no longer in the closet = progress." Maybe.
Lawsuit over copyrighted ampersand
Abercrombie & Kent obtained a temporary restraining order to prevent the former CC Africa from using the ampersand (“&”) in its new name “&Beyond” pending resolution of a trademark infringement suit over the right to use the ampersand as a trademark.
This also reminded me of a 2004 Malcolm Gladwell article that I recently read: Should a Charge of Plagiarism Ruin Your Life? which is one of the clearest, most eloquent discussions of copyright I've read (and I've read a lot about the whole copyright thing).
...
There's any number of things I could say about what I've learned over the past year. So many people to thank, so much luck to appreciate. There were bad points ... there are always bad points. But I'm in an amazing place right now -- I am a little afraid of myself, in fact. I feel so powerful and productive, I am riding such a wave, that I am afraid I must inevitably go under!
It's so hard to pick out the "most important lesson of the past year", but I think maybe I have it. It's something I mostly owe Ex-Boyfriend Brett for, I think (thanks Brett), though there are undeniably other influences. Brett's remarkably good at getting things done outside an established framework; I'm glad I got the chance to see him in action. (Of course, he also shattered my heart, but these things happen.)
Anyway, here's the lesson: There's always a way to do it. Whatever it is. The tricks are: knowing what you want to do, being flexible about the implementation, and being willing to do the research. And yes, in the end it might be too expensive or time-consuming or confusing; you simply might not have the money/time/inclination. But why wouldn't you, at the least, look into it? Only because you're lazy and/or afraid ... and neither laziness nor fear are things to cherish.
In the course of your research, you'll learn a lot of unrelated stuff -- but that's not a waste of mental space, that's inspiration! In the course of your implementation, you'll go down blind alleys -- but that's not a waste of time, that's evolution!
The best example of this (a wholly ridiculous example, but still) is the lighthouse incident. It all started with me and Brett sitting on a beach looking at a lighthouse. And while I idly speculated about how awesome it would be to live in a lighthouse, I wouldn't have implemented such a project under my own power. By the time Brett was done researching lighthouses, though -- he made living in a lighthouse look easy. (As, it turns out, it is.)
It's a simple lesson. Really, I should have understood it before; I've often done absurd -- sometimes extensive -- projects under my own power. (And who hasn't heard: "Just do it"?) Maybe it's silly for me to give Brett so much credit, but I feel like ... I don't know, somehow, I feel like I didn't really internalize this until now. Not on a large scale. Not on the scale of my life. I think he helped me put it in perspective.
It's like I've been living wrapped in cotton, and suddenly I feel unbound and clear. There's always a way to do it. There's always been a way to do it.
I just had to be willing to want, to grow, to learn, to change, to run. To recognize fear and face it down, to be ruthless in my motivation.
The vista of my life has never looked so tempting.
...
Most people's experience of eggnog is limited to that horrible store-bought stuff, so most people think they don't like eggnog. But my family boasts the finest of eggnog recipes, handed down from parent to child over hundreds of years (seriously). My uncle says it's fine if I tell everyone about it, so I am. Here you go. It's the best thing ever. Try it. Your life is incomplete until you do.
Lydia's Family Eggnog
2 dozen eggs
24 tablespoons sugar
1 quart (or a fifth or 750 ml) rye whiskey (Old Overholt preferred, but any good rye or good bourbon will work)
1 pint cognac
1 half-pint dark rum (Myers preferred, but any good dark rum will work)
1 quart milk
1 quart heavy whipping cream
1 quart light cream or half and half
Ground nutmeg
Large bowl
Small bowl
Medium bowl
Hand mixer
# Separate the eggs (yolks in large bowl, whites in small bowl).
# With the hand-mixer on low, mix the sugar into the yolks one tablespoon at a time.
# Slowly and in small amounts, use the hand-mixer (still on low) to mix the alcohol into the sugary yolks. If you add the alcohol too quickly you will "cook" the yolks and ruin the eggnog, so be careful.
# Nod politely as Uncle asserts that Dad is not very masculine and has no idea what true manliness is, viz., sitting in a tree for many hours with a shotgun awaiting the perfect chance to shoot a deer in the head.
# In medium bowl, whip the milk products.
# Add the milk products slowly to the yolks.
# Set the mixer on high. In the small bowl, mix the egg whites until fluffy.
# Slowly mix the whites into the large bowl's contents.
# Enjoy the first glass of eggnog, lightly sprinkled with nutmeg. This sample will be sharper and rawer than the eggnog eventually becomes, but it is traditional to sip it and then fervently agree when Uncle pronounces store-bought eggnog to be "sacrilege -- a mortal sin".
# Cover eggnog with tinfoil and leave outdoors in the snow overnight.
# The next day, haul in the eggnog and mix it up some more. It will have mellowed somewhat, but will not be at its perfect flavor quite yet. Still, it is delicious. In several days -- it will be ambrosia.
# Spend several days drunkenly playing vicious bouts of card games and Scrabble.
...
The Yes Men
Impersonating big-time criminals in order to publicly humiliate them. Targets are leaders and big corporations who put profits ahead of everything else.
A person (male or female) becomes a Yes Man by exposing, perhaps deviously, the nastiness of powerful evildoers.
NYTimes: Current progress on the Netflix contest to improve CineMatch
Cinematch is the bit of software embedded in the Netflix Web site that analyzes each customer’s movie-viewing habits and recommends other movies that the customer might enjoy. (Did you like the legal thriller “The Firm”? Well, maybe you’d like “Michael Clayton.” Or perhaps “A Few Good Men.”) The Netflix Prize goes to anyone who can make Cinematch’s predictions 10 percent more accurate. One million dollars might sound like an awfully big prize for such a small improvement. But in fact, Netflix’s founders tried for years to improve Cinematch, with only incremental results, and they knew that a 10 percent bump would be a challenge for even the most deft programmer. They also knew that, as Reed Hastings, the chief executive of Netflix, told me recently, “getting to 10 percent would certainly be worth well in excess of $1 million” to the company. The competition was announced in October 2006, and no one has won yet.
I've noticed some surprising things going under my "cyberpunk" Delicious tag recently.
The Vertigo Tarot
Illustrated by Dave McKean (of "Sandman" fame), and pretty.
from lindensphinx.
The new Burger King beef-scented body spray
The home of the Whopper has launched a new men's body spray called "Flame." The company describes the spray as "the scent of seduction with a hint of flame-broiled meat."
The fragrance is on sale at New York City retailer Ricky's NYC in stores and online for a limited time for $3.99.
I think this came from Housemate Mike, but I've seen a lot of people talking about it. Burger King's got some other more distasteful ad campaigns going on, too. This body spray thing, though, I like. It appeals to my absurd quotient.
"She is More to be Pitied than Censured": Women, Sexuality and Murder in 19th Century America
The exhibition at the John Hay Library focuses on sexual scandals and murders in 19th century America that involved women in a significant way: as victims, as perpetrators, or as involved bystanders. The books, pamphlets, and broadsides on display reflect period attitudes on adultery, abortion and contraception, domestic abuse, and illegitimacy. Most noteworthy, perhaps, is how closely many of these events mirror contemporary issues concerning women, sexuality, and murder.
Hilarious: "Pride and Prejudice", Facebook-style
thanks, potatocubed!
New historical romance line: Gay fiction line written by straight women
I'm not sure how troubling I find this. I feel like a kink for watching/imagining gay people have sex is acceptable, even if you're straight. But I also feel like there's something ... borderline imperialistic? ... definitely exoticizing ... about a bunch of straight people writing erotic fiction about gay people specifically "created to mirror romance novels, not gay erotica." If Sexuality A gets off on imagining Sexuality B but does not identify as Sexuality B, are there any boundaries on how Sexuality A "ought" to depict Sexuality B? I guess we've already somewhat thought about this issue in, for instance, lesbian porn made by and for men.
Someone I know makes the point that it's more okay because of "the old PTBarnum deal 'no press is bad press' as in, gay stuff being out there for folks to read means that its no longer in the closet = progress." Maybe.
Lawsuit over copyrighted ampersand
Abercrombie & Kent obtained a temporary restraining order to prevent the former CC Africa from using the ampersand (“&”) in its new name “&Beyond” pending resolution of a trademark infringement suit over the right to use the ampersand as a trademark.
This also reminded me of a 2004 Malcolm Gladwell article that I recently read: Should a Charge of Plagiarism Ruin Your Life? which is one of the clearest, most eloquent discussions of copyright I've read (and I've read a lot about the whole copyright thing).