Just the Bang and the Clatter

Meme

2007-03-26T03:29:34Z

Been a long time since I saw a meme that's simple, fun, and didn't tell me I was some anime character I've never heard of....

Courtesy of greenapple2004!

List seven songs you are into right now, no matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they're not any good but they must be songs you're really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your Live Journal along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they're listening to.

It's sakura time, so I am listening to my "Tokyo Babylon" mix--not for the faint of heart...

"Dead Souls" Joy Division
"Tomorrow, Wendy" Concrete Blonde

To keep from jumping off a bridge, one needs an antidote:

"Tonari no Totoro" Joe Hisaishi

A tip of the cap to the latest bunch of elderly irrelevants regrouping for a buck (ahkond, that should answer one question.)

"Spirits in the Material World" The Police

From the "how do I choose from this cornucopia?" category:

"Art Song (Something Good With Your Life)" Andy Partridge

Embarrassing but true:

"Girl's Psychology" Morning Musume

Even more embarrassing, but it's my sister's favorite so I couldn't help it:

"Celebrate Me Home" Kenny Loggins (Yep. And she usually listens to bluegrass. It's a mystery...)

Tagging isn't my thing, but if it looks fun, by all means join in. 8-)

Just practicing

2007-01-09T00:32:06Z

With kudos to ahkond for the HTML primer. 8-D

This is an image I need to post to a translation forum...

I'm hoping wiser heads can help me out with this!

pgrape @ 2006-12-01T16:00:00

2006-12-01T20:00:12Z

COMBAT CARDS 2.1

watch pgrape fight

CREATE YOUR CARD

No, really?

2005-04-03T16:43:01Z

I was reading a review of Kazuo Ishiguro's new novel in Newsweek. It's a one-page, three-column article, half of it graphics.

Column two: "Kazuo Ishiguro was born in Nagasaki in 1954."

Column three, a quotation from Ishiguro: "I became aware of how easy it was to exploit that--to say, 'Ah, you know, I come from Nagasaki and my mother was there when the bomb fell...'"

The Newsweek editor felt compelled to add, in a parenthetical clarification, "She survived."

Just catching up on a couple irresistable time-killers...

2004-01-15T07:26:02Z

I am The Fool

The Fool can signal a new beginning or change of direction - one that will guide you onto a path of adventure, wonder and personal growth. He also reminds you to keep your faith and trust your natural responses. If you are facing a decision or moment of doubt, the Fool tells you to believe in yourself and follow your heart no matter how crazy or foolish your impulses may seem.

For a full description of your card and other goodies, please visit LearnTarot.com

What tarot card are you? Enter your birthdate.

pgrape @ 2004-01-15T02:19:00

2004-01-15T07:24:06Z

Super!! You are WILLEM DE KOONING.
You think just like you paint: in the abstract. You
live well outside of the box and never know
where life will take you next. Your friends
admire your ability to fearlessly veer away
from the boundaries of society.

Which famous artist most reflects your personality?
brought to you by Quizilla

pgrape @ 2003-10-30T10:33:00

2003-10-30T15:35:37Z

I haven't even watched "Akira," but this looks about right to me...

I am Tetsuo, from "Akira." Leave me
alone, dammit!

Which Random Cult Movie Character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

How Apt

2003-10-13T18:07:20Z

I just wish the alignment in the code was a little better...!

pgrape @ 2003-10-02T10:21:00

2003-10-02T14:22:50Z

It gets worse...there's now a Harriet Klausner "never read a book that wasn't five stars" review up there. GACK.

Sign of Grace or Sign of the Apocalypse?

2003-10-02T14:13:35Z

Yesterday, in one of my usual twice-weekly visits to the Barnes and Noble on Fifth Avenue, I was looking for the new Terry Pratchett Discworld novel, "Monstrous Regiment," and was not disappointed.

Backing away from the shelf with my prize, however, my eye was caught by another title that had clearly just been placed on the shelf, because the books were piled awkwardly in that "Damnit there are only two more in the box and I ain't carrying them back to the stock room" fashion that I am familiar with from my own days of clerking in a bookstore.

And the book was...A NEW ROBIN MCKINLEY! This woman is the queen of stealth, she slides books into the marketplace without warning. If one went to her Amazon listing yesterday, there was not even the briefest of reviews from the pros or the amateurs to be found--just an extract from the jacket copy.

So--Robin McKinley, one of my favorite authors, new book--what could be wrong with this scenario? Well, two things-

1. It's a vampire story.

2. The publisher planted a big ol' blurb from Jayne Ann Krentz in the middle of the front cover.

Lord, I hope the book is worth it...

pgrape @ 2003-09-23T14:04:00

2003-09-23T18:17:56Z

This morning I noticed that the distinct eau de sewage that has permeated the lower level of Grand Central Terminal is now dissipated--only to be replaced by a new mystery. Why, "by order of the NYPD," has the exit to 48th Street been closed? And they are SERIOUS about this, a real human being is stationed at the bottom of the stairs to shout "This exit is closed!" at regular intervals and exchange badinage and insults with the commuters. If the city is willing to spend actual money to close a staircase, what horrors lie beyond??

This is what I will miss about New York. God knows the job sucks and I loathe the fact of commuting four hours per day. I am counting the days until this workaday world is behind me. But the sheer human-ness of the city and its ratio of oddities per block is delightful. I walk down the fourth-floor corridor every day to the vision of a gigantic eyeball peering in the window at the end of the hall. Just a balloon moored in Rockefeller Plaza, ma'am, no need for alarm. When I interviewed for this job, thirty cursed months ago, a gigantic bush trimmed in the shape of a puppy occupied that slot. Woof!

Why Am I Not Surprised?

2003-09-19T20:18:08Z

It's been a LONG week...

pgrape @ 2003-09-08T12:37:00

2003-09-08T16:37:55Z

You are the Sixth Doctor: Quite unstable and
aggressive from time to time, most certainly
stubborn and conceited all the time. You have a
bit of the First Doctor's piss and vinegar,
though you'd hate to hear what he would have to
say about your clothes. Despite your
shortcomings, you are a cunning, forceful, and
resolute do-gooder, constantly upstaging
adversaries that are openly disdainful of your
taste and abilities. The poor fools.

Which Incarnation of the Doctor Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Two out of Three Ain't Bad

2003-09-03T17:36:36Z

<td bgcolor="#000000">lj name</td><td bgcolor="#DDDDAA"></td></tr><td bgcolor="#000000">sex</td><td bgcolor="#DDDDAA"></td></tr><td bgcolor="#000000">age</td><td bgcolor="#DDDDAA"></td></tr><td bgcolor="#000000">your best friend thinks</td><td bgcolor="#DDDDAA">they could eat you up </td></tr><td bgcolor="#000000">your family think</td><td bgcolor="#DDDDAA">you took the last cookie </td></tr><td bgcolor="#000000">strangers think</td><td bgcolor="#DDDDAA">you're not quite sane </td></tr>

what do they really think of you by purple

Created with quill18's MemeGen!

The Man-Room

2003-08-28T15:06:02Z

This is a phenomenon I have only become aware of in recent years as I have spent more time with married people. I was enraged by it all over again yesterday after talking with a male colleague--forty-ish, an artist, very gentle yet very driven--who has just married his long-time girlfriend. It's a first marriage for both. Throughout the "long-time" they maintained separate apartments, but now they have bought a common residence of some sort and are, as he put it, "meshing." "I have been banished to the garage...it's a little awkward," he said wistfully.

Here's a guy who has done his own thing re: living space for twenty-some years, and clearly has strong ideas about the look and use of his environment. I've seen at least three other guys enter marriage from similar situations over the past couple years. But as soon as married life commences, all that experience of living and learning what constitutes comfort gets put aside. He is allocated a nook somewhere--the basement, the garage--and rigorously corralled there. The woman dictates the domestic space, to the near-exclusion of everything he has done before. I privately imagine the imposition of some homogenously-suburban House Beautiful decor, but of course I don't KNOW that's what she's doing--I just know she is very much doing it.

And if one asks, one almost invariably discovers that the man in such a situation has not done a thing to assert his own position--has not even articulated his position--has simply said, "All right, dear," and shuffled off to vent to third parties. It's easier, they tell me. Not worth fighting over. Not worth Making Her Angry.

When I was younger, it used to puzzle me why there were so many easy phrases like "seven-year itch" and "mid-life crisis" and "empty nest syndrome" that made relationship breakdown seem endemic, possibly inevitable. Nowadays, I can see why the phrases exist, but I still don't get why the behaviors that lead to it are so pervasive. Why on earth would you choose to spend your life with someone who can't tolerate your style or your stuff?

Testing: One, Two, Three...

2003-08-26T03:30:41Z

This would undoubtedly be easier if I knew anything at all about html.

LiveJournal Haiku!
Your name:	pgrape
Your haiku:	never read a book that wasn't sign of grace or sign of grace or sign of
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