David Strathairn was nominated today for an Academy Award. How fantastic that now lots of people will see this gorgeous, talented, nice man. And he'll get a wider audience and lots more attention and praise. No one deserves it more. He's a principled, generous, consistent, committed, kind person. When Philip Seymour Hoffman accepted his S.A.G. award for Capote the other night, the first thing he said was "And I wanted to say, David Straithairn, I saw you last night, and I wanted to say to you that I looked up to you when I was younger, and I still look up to you. And I think a lot of people in this room feel the same way." There are a lot of websites about David (one of my favorites is this) and there's a good interview with him on at Green Cine but the main point is: yeeha!!!

Technorati tags: friends, theater, academy awards

Labels: movies, people

Wendy Wasserstein died early this morning at the ridiculously young age of 55. She always conveyed such cheer, intelligence and energy, such enthusiasm, especially for theater. She is quoted in the announcement on Yahoo as having said that "A play is a piece of art . . . [and] we're going to throw it out there, and we're not going to do it because we've taken 47 market polls on what the audience wants. We're doing this because this is how we see it. Theatre isn't prefabricated." Her work and her life conveyed enormous passion and delight and will be hugely missed. (And, listen. Did you see last night's SAG tribute to those who died in 2005? I'm getting sick of so many good people leaving, in case anyone cares. Who should we speak to about this?)

Technorati tags: writing, theater

Labels: farewells, writing

On this 50+ degree (winter?) day in the northeast, I read the Russian Dilettante's post from last week about winter in Moscow, which I recommend for several reasons (and found by Sweet Familiar Dissonance's link to Deleted By Tomorrow which in turn has much worth reading, self-deprecation to the contrary notwithstanding) but the gem therein is this -er- joke:

"It's a pity no foreign army is approaching Moscow. What excellent frost is being wasted!"

Technorati tags: humor, winter

Labels: great link(s), silliness

Could someone explain to me why the media cover Cindy Sheehan so much? Her son clearly understood and, on some level, accepted the danger he would be in since he volunteered for a third tour. I wish they'd talk about how much she continues to show him disrespect as she trades on her (very understandable) emotions. Plus, her amazingly old-school presentation seems so anachronistic, with her girly breathy whiny voice and valley-girl chatter. Hey, I'm glad about the modern world in which anyone can do anything if they want to and work hard enough, but I also strongly believe that intelligence and experience are vital (of which she has very little of either). I suppose media writers think viewers and readers find her as amusing as they do, but not me. I think she's mean and scary.

Technorati tags: politics, modern culture, raising children

Labels: huh?, modern culture

Two smart, funny, verbal and (almost) indefatigable brothers. Read this tribute by Marcel's brother, Charles, whose writing I admire and whose columns always provoke and interest. (Also read this and this, via Andrew Sullivan.)

Technorati tags: disabilities, triumph, writers

Labels: farewells, writing

Today is Mozart's 250th birthday. What a lucky thing that we've lived in the years since then. There are over 5,000 celebrations around the world and on the internet - how cool is that in this peculiar and difficult world of ours. Check out the Mozart project and the official birthday site, especially. The Washington Post has a lovely piece on his music with recommendations for pieces to enhance different occasions and/or times of day. Even Forbes gets in on it. Aside from the sheer fabulousness of his music, think of a toddler coming home from church or a concert and just sitting down and playing the music he just heard. Wolfgang did that at 3 years old! Can you imagine!? He wrote his first symphony when he was 9 and a still-respected opera when he was 12. It must have been wild to be his parents, don't you think? What music student doesn't play some of his 700 pieces? Don't miss Byzantium Shore's post.

If I had to, had to pick a favorite, I'd be torn between The Magic Flute and the Requiem. What's your favorite?

P.S. A Sweet Familiar Dissonance points out that January 27th is also the anniversary of Verdi's death in 1901 and links to an interesting article at vilaine file. Quite the musical day, eh?!

Technorati tags: raising children, classical music, composers

Labels: anniversaries, music

Baby blanket made with four strands of Shepherd's baby wool held together. It's interesting to see which colors work together and which don't. I was thinking of including primary colors but it looked really bad and none of the colors showed up. Anyway, this is an interesting pattern created by Knittingsmith, a wonderful yarn store in Cold Spring, NY (they don't have a website) in which you use large knitting needles (13 or 15, depending on how you want it to look) and also use your thumb. One side has this nifty basket-y look and the other side has a garter stitch sort of look, so neither is a "right" or "wrong" side. It's really textural looking and feeling.

Technorati tags: knitting, abc-along (I'm caught up! Yeah)

Labels: knitting, writing

One of T2CGITW shares her first initial A with her mom and therefore they (or, more accurately, the hats, etc. that I made for them) qualify for the first ABC entry. I mixed and adapted two or three patterns for these pieces in order to display the yarns and their colors to the best. On the left, the little A models her momma's Noro Silver Thaw hat. Silver Thaw is such a gorgeous wool and angora mix - it expands and fills out the stitches and makes everything look great. On the right, she's modeling her own hat and poncho which are in Karbella Aurora 8 yarn that's really greener than the grey showing here. (And yes, I know I need a better camera - I'm working on it!)

Technorati tags: knitting, abc-along

Labels: about me, family, knitting, writing

In the interests of not having snap reactions, I am willing to hear what google's reasoning is in being willing to censor searches in China (article here) but it's mighty hard to think of an explanation that makes any sense from any point of view except sucking up to someone who's paying you.

Labels: huh?

Stuff to do today and Friday morning, then away for the rest of the weekend. I owe the "A" post for ABC-A-Long so that'll be my first priority when I'm back. Feel free to weigh in on whatever you want, in the meantime.

Labels: about me

There's a "the best blonde joke ever" somewhere out there that lots of people are mentioning but after clicking link after link after link you get to a site that says it's shut down due to too many hits. Or maybe I'm just not blonde enough (or I'm too blonde). Anyway, it reminded me of this, for which it helps to know British scifi:

Knock, knock.
Who's there?
Doctor.
answer yourself . . . you got it !

Labels: silliness

So first, the template blew up over the weekend - disappeared briefly and then reappeared after I'd begun reconstructing it. (One wonders why that happens at odd moments and when one feels as if nothing at all challenging is going on. Maybe sun spots?) Anyway, by then I'd (a) seen a couple of sites with textured backgrounds and (b) decided to honor my fledgling weaving efforts by adding one here. I tried a harris tweed but it looked too neat-and-tidy and also too busy. I may try something else eventually such as the very fabric I'm weaving but the denim feels comfy now so it'll stay for a while. Update: the denim texture background made reading some text impossible and I don't feel like changing font colors and styles right now. So today a different, smoother fabric. What do you think?

Technorati tags: web design, html background

Labels: blogs (mine), web design

Back in the good old days - a phrase meaning any time period one remembers fondly, not necessarily a time that was good or even old - the networks scheduled shows on Saturday that people enjoyed watching together. Popular, new shows (remember them?). Mary Tyler Moore's show was a Saturday show, for example. Nowadays it's repeatsville for series shows and the eight zillionth showing of movies one has seen already. Thank goodness for my local PBS and their BritComs, at least. You know, more than one or two of us stay home on Saturdays - and it's not "the loneliest night of the week" (cf. Frank Sinatra) but it sure is the boringest night of the television week.

Technorati tags: television, british comedies

Labels: fun, tv

If you got to design it, what system would you put in place to assess whether someone is qualified to serve on the Supreme Court? The person needs to be smart and be able to stay calm when everyone is tugging at them, literally or verbally. Needs to know lots about the way the U.S. legal system works (precedent, dependence on statute, etc.). I'm not sure if experience as a lawyer or judge is necessary - what do you think? And it gets stickier when emotional / religious / philosophical issues come into it. Since candidates are likely to be over 45 or so, they'll have done a lot of living and having opinions. Does that mean the person will inevitably be on one side or another of most issues? Is it even possible to be neutral on important issues? And what questions would be useful to ask to determine any of this? Clearly chewing on his head and attacking his schools and his character are poor ways of doing it. The idea is to find out if his or her points of view have ever, and therefore might ever again, sway him or her to decide differently as a judge than the law and the Constitution dictate. But how to find out?

Technorati tags: character, supreme court

Labels: politics, reflections

Let me say up front that I don't agree with Alito on a number of issues. (And that his name is not Alioto, as many newscasters keep calling him.) On the other hand, I'm not sure that my agreement or lack thereof has any bearing on anything. What I am sure of is that some politicians have become energetic players in blood games on the simplistic and brutal level of cock fighting and gladiator bouts, and it's disgusting whoever is attacking and whoever is being attacked.

Even Joe Biden, recent record-holder for speaking three words for every one he allowed Alito to answer, believes that the current system in which Supreme Court nominees must answer questions from the Judiciay Committee is "kind of broken" in that it doesn't bring out relevant information and that maybe a person's viewpoints have nothing to do with their qualifications to be a good Supreme Court justice. What does matter is a person's ability to reason well, knowledge of the U.S. legal process, and thinking clearly without being influenced (as much as possible) by one's own points of view. Yes, invariably the Court takes on a certain character at different times because of who has appointed justices especially if one president appoints more than one justice, but that's the nature of the animal (cf. FDR's "stacked" court).

Name-calling and asking people the intellectual equivalent of whether they've stopped beating their wife are extremely and unecessarily rude and, more to the point, irrelevant. And, as polls and conversations show, Americans are appalled and disgusted by our so-called leaders as they attack like rabid curs. Perhaps even more to the point, those so-called leaders should have more faith in the set-up provided by our Constitution. Then they could stop gnawing on candidates' and candidates' families' emotional and intellectual flesh.

Technorati tags: politics, kindness

Labels: politics, reflections

So there I was, reading DevraDoWrite's post called Today, Yesterday, or Tomorrow? in which she talks about "living in the moment, enjoying, savoring and fully experiencing the now" and issues a (well-advised) conclusion that we should "remember and learn from yesterday, live for today, and hope for tomorrow". As I was reading, what to my wondering eye should appear but an alert that I had an email . . . which turned out to be from someone who had been a very close friend and pretty much broke my heart when he married someone else. But he was awesome and he's apparently been married all these decades and holding grudges isn't good for you (right?) so I can't wait to talk with him again. And may I say how odd it is to be old enough to say things like "thirty years ago"? Serendipity really is real. And amazing.

Technorati tags: serendipity, psychology

Labels: blogs (others'), juxtapositions

Wednesday I'll begin an 8-week weaving class. People are always telling me that if I had lower expectations I would rarely feel disappointed but it's hard to be anything except thrilled and excited about the idea of being able to make a piece of fabric (blanket, scarf, wall-hanging . . . ).

Technorati tags: textiles, learning, weaving

Labels: knitting, schooling

Recently, someone I respect and with whom I enjoy conversing on many topics called me a "republican". I'm pretty sure she meant it as an insult, kind of like calling me a snake, and I'm pretty sure there was a capital "r" on her accusation since historically speaking it would be a compliment with lower case "r". Three things particularly bother me about this paintbrush. One is that I think it's a shame that we think of the two parties as "good guys" and "bad guys" (depending on the speaker). Another is that I wish people could think and talk about a wide range of topics, even political ones, without worrying about being labelled a good guy or a bad guy (depending on the listener). What wonderful discussions we could have, how much we might learn from each other. The third is that it feels to me as if we're acting like teenagers who have discovered the big world outside the family home in that, as we learn about and come to understand other cultures (excellent and good impulses) we have become intolerant of our own; we say we believe in diversity, tolerance and freedom but too often curtail, or seem to curtail, us. For example, we used to scorn what was unusual and/or different (organic food, for example) and only accept what we knew; now we adopt what's different (my store finally carries organic bananas and they're awesome, by the way) and scorn or outright reject what we know. It's understandable societally just as it is in a family, but it's unfortunate.

Anyway, historically it's hard to characterize the current two political parties according to points of view. Current party lines in America are inaccurate for many people and the nastiness with which they converse (if you can call it that) has reached an extraordinary level. And "good" and "bad" are inaccurate appellations anyway, since things change so much. During the Civil War, then-Republicans supported abolition; for nearly a century thereafter, southern Democrats supported segregation. In general, totalitarians and dictators are referred to as fascists and tagged as right-wing (a/k/a conservative, a/k/a on the same side as Republicans) but abolition is not conservative any more than starting a whole new country. Communism is labelled as left-wing (a/k/a liberal, a/k/a on the same side as Democrats) and yet its trail of political murder and repression is indistinguishable from Nazi Germany's. Does communism's verbalized goals of fairness and equality ameliorate its brutality? Okay, these are extremes. But it's helpful to sharpen our thoughts on extremes because then we can bring out more clearly the nuances in our own less extreme heads. In the end, my hope/preference would be to ignore party labels (until there's one called the "live and let live" party). The social contract is so complicated and there are so darn many people milling about this world of ours nowadays and nearly every one of them (us) has a point of view about nearly everything. What we really need are more parties and fewer paintbrushes.

Technorati tags: politics, philosophy, social contract

Labels: people, reflections

The story of the miners is horrible enough, the stuff of which heart-wrenching folk songs and movies are made. Mining is vital work but really really difficult and nasty and dangerous. For news people to compound all that and ignore rigor about verifying sources, let alone accuracy, is simply beyond the pale. (Anyone know what that reference means, by the way?) To Janet Malcolm, Joseph Ellis, Jason Blair, Mike Barnacle, Dan Rather/Mary Mapes and the memo, the Jeffrey Starr letter and what the NY Times didn't include, the Today Show and the canoe, the wildly untrue reports from New Orleans, etc., add the rushed, inaccurate and therefore inhumane reporting from Tallmansville, West Virginia. Haven't mainstream journalists learned from the self-aggrandizing and rush to scoop impulses that imperiled other illustrious writers? What will it take for them to take three deep breaths and check sources (as they are taught to do, for heaven's sake) before going to press? And just out of curiosity, when was the last time you read or saw entirely correct reporting about a story you knew well? If we're going to continue to keep informed about our ever-smaller world, shouldn't those telling us the details be sure to get the details right? How shall we show that we expect no less?

Technorati tags: disasters, msm

Labels: hypocrisy, reflections

What a way to start a year. Profoundly gray weather, sloshing stuff on the ground, a major cold or something in my head and elsewhere (please pardon my whining), ice on the roads and cars, fires in the midwest (see, this isn't just about me), missing TTCGITW . . . I hope the good news is that it'll all be uphill from here (although I guess I mean downhill since I mean 'easier').

Technorati tags: weather, me

Labels: weather, whining

The year is less than two days old and already a big snowstorm is coming. The last two days have been grayer than gray - very cheery - and now they're predicting at least 4 inches, which isn't too bad, but maybe 12 or more. Overnight, too, so we won't know until we wake up whether it will be impossible even to get out of the driveway, or just really difficult. The last few years have been so full of weather that it's hard not to wonder which god we've irritated and what we can do to soothe him (her?). (I don't really believe that, by the way.)

Technorati tags: weather, daily life

Labels: weather

Another January, another crisis. This time it's the scary and devastating wildfires in Texas and Oklahoma. Thanks to Michelle Malkin for mentioning Feed the Children, a quarter-century-old charity based in Oklahoma which has done astonishingly good work all that time. Since they're right there, they seem a good place to start. I can't imagine watching fire be so destructive of personal property - it's so beautiful and mesmerizing to watch in a fireplace.

Technorati tags: disasters, charity

Labels: great link(s)