I want to share with you all one the millions of reasons I love my Faebala. She wrote this for me last night:
Mango No. 5
By Fae
To break this artichoke's heart
has sent me into a fit of sage.
As you kicked me to the carb,
you set this clockwork orange off
like a ticking thyme bomb-o.
So you can keep your Vitamin C:
I'll take the bread and mustache combo.
Doesn't make sense to you? That's okay. No one really gets it but us, and we're ridiculously amused by ourselves. This is from a series of poems, lovingly called The Grocery Line, written by both of us, usually to make the other laugh on a bad day.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Sunday, February 8, 2009
He's Just Not That Into You
My review of He's Just Not That Into You, which I saw with Kaitlyn today, for the Charlatan. It should appear in the Features section on Thursday, though most likely in a better form as the Features editor will fix it up nicely!
Can six simple words change your life, and your friend’s lives, forever? According to He’s Just Not That Into You, yes, they can. Based on the book by the same title, this movie puts the theories behind the bestselling self help book to work on a bunch of unsuspecting fictional characters. The rules?
1)No man wants to get married. And the ones who cave are all just thinking about all the women they won’t get to sleep with now. Except the guy who really wants to get married, and the guy who doesn’t believe in marriage. Oh, and the other guy who thinks he doesn’t want to get married. Right, so it’s just the guy who’s unhappily married, then?
2)Women over analyze relationships. Not a new concept. The movie assumes that women sit around talking about their relationships when they should be working, that we script phone messages before we leave them and that we see life altering meaning in small signs. This is all baffling to men, because men simply just make a relationship happen if they’re into a girl. For Gigi, the main character, this epiphany leads her to stop obsessing about break ups. For me, this just seemed stereotypical.
3)You need to ask for what you want from a relationship. Finally, a worthwhile idea. Yes, you can demand to be treated the way you want to and stand up for what’s important to you! I can feel the self helping effects already!
4)Ultimately, all of the rules and exceptions are wrong and it’s about love. Yup. Whether you’re a hopeless romantic, unhappily married, eternally single or just plain tired of being strung around by someone whose just not that into you, as long as you keep believing in love, it’s all worth it in the end.
This movie has all the typical pieces of a romantic comedy, from the hilarious dating mishaps to the final “aww” moments. A movie about guys not being into Ginnifer Goodwin, Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Connelly and Drew Barrymore (of course everyone’s into Scarlett Johansson) is obviously purely fictional. So, watch it as it is, another romantic comedy fairy tale, and try not to take it as self help. It’s good date movie, but maybe awkward for a first date, especially if he’s looking for a way to tell you he’s just not that into you.
Can six simple words change your life, and your friend’s lives, forever? According to He’s Just Not That Into You, yes, they can. Based on the book by the same title, this movie puts the theories behind the bestselling self help book to work on a bunch of unsuspecting fictional characters. The rules?
1)No man wants to get married. And the ones who cave are all just thinking about all the women they won’t get to sleep with now. Except the guy who really wants to get married, and the guy who doesn’t believe in marriage. Oh, and the other guy who thinks he doesn’t want to get married. Right, so it’s just the guy who’s unhappily married, then?
2)Women over analyze relationships. Not a new concept. The movie assumes that women sit around talking about their relationships when they should be working, that we script phone messages before we leave them and that we see life altering meaning in small signs. This is all baffling to men, because men simply just make a relationship happen if they’re into a girl. For Gigi, the main character, this epiphany leads her to stop obsessing about break ups. For me, this just seemed stereotypical.
3)You need to ask for what you want from a relationship. Finally, a worthwhile idea. Yes, you can demand to be treated the way you want to and stand up for what’s important to you! I can feel the self helping effects already!
4)Ultimately, all of the rules and exceptions are wrong and it’s about love. Yup. Whether you’re a hopeless romantic, unhappily married, eternally single or just plain tired of being strung around by someone whose just not that into you, as long as you keep believing in love, it’s all worth it in the end.
This movie has all the typical pieces of a romantic comedy, from the hilarious dating mishaps to the final “aww” moments. A movie about guys not being into Ginnifer Goodwin, Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Connelly and Drew Barrymore (of course everyone’s into Scarlett Johansson) is obviously purely fictional. So, watch it as it is, another romantic comedy fairy tale, and try not to take it as self help. It’s good date movie, but maybe awkward for a first date, especially if he’s looking for a way to tell you he’s just not that into you.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Phaëton
In class today we were reading parts of Seneca's Medea, and the prof started talking about decedents of the sun. And none of us could remember Phaëton's name. I was severely disappointed in myself, and decided I needed to brush up on my knowledge of obscure names from mythology. Which led me to thinking that you all need to brush up on your knowledge of Greek mythology! Which undoubtedly led me to a promise to myself to post something mythology related once a week.
Phaëton is the son of Helios¹, the god of the sun, and Clymene. In Ovid, Phaëton likes to brag about this, and is taunted by Epaphus, son of Zeus and Io. Phaëton begs his mother to give him "some token that that parentage was true."² Eventually, Clymene tells him how
to get to the place where Helios begins his journey each day.³ When he arrives, Helios confirms that he's Phaëton's father, and swears on the river Styx⁴ that he will give him anything he wants to prove this is the truth. Phaëton decides that he wishes to ride his father's chariot. Helios protests that only he, not even Zeus himself, can control the horses, and Phaëton is a mere mortal. But his is bound by his oath and cannot disuade his son. Needless to say, as he mounts the chariot and attempts to drive off, he is in over his head. "Phaëton, dazed with fear, could neither use the reins nor find the road, nor were it found could make the team obey."⁵ He ends up losing control and flying so close to the earth that he sets it on fire. Zeus, then, is forced to knock him out of the chariot, and to his death, with a lightning bolt.
"Here Phaëton lies, his father's charioteer; Great was his fall, yet he did greatly dare."
There is a tradition with the sun causing great catastrophe in Greek mythology. Phaëton. Icarus. Clytie. The sun, it seems, is this great untainable power. And those who are foolish and arrogant enough to try to reach that high, inevitably fall as far.
¹ Also known as Phoebus, often associated with Apollo. Apollo Phoebus is Apollo of the sun, thus making Helios sort of obsolete. The Greek gods often fail to have definitive roles.
² Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book I.
³ India. It's the eastern most part of the known world during that time.
⁴ The only oath that can bind a God.
⁵ Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book II
Phaëton is the son of Helios¹, the god of the sun, and Clymene. In Ovid, Phaëton likes to brag about this, and is taunted by Epaphus, son of Zeus and Io. Phaëton begs his mother to give him "some token that that parentage was true."² Eventually, Clymene tells him how
to get to the place where Helios begins his journey each day.³ When he arrives, Helios confirms that he's Phaëton's father, and swears on the river Styx⁴ that he will give him anything he wants to prove this is the truth. Phaëton decides that he wishes to ride his father's chariot. Helios protests that only he, not even Zeus himself, can control the horses, and Phaëton is a mere mortal. But his is bound by his oath and cannot disuade his son. Needless to say, as he mounts the chariot and attempts to drive off, he is in over his head. "Phaëton, dazed with fear, could neither use the reins nor find the road, nor were it found could make the team obey."⁵ He ends up losing control and flying so close to the earth that he sets it on fire. Zeus, then, is forced to knock him out of the chariot, and to his death, with a lightning bolt."Here Phaëton lies, his father's charioteer; Great was his fall, yet he did greatly dare."
There is a tradition with the sun causing great catastrophe in Greek mythology. Phaëton. Icarus. Clytie. The sun, it seems, is this great untainable power. And those who are foolish and arrogant enough to try to reach that high, inevitably fall as far.
¹ Also known as Phoebus, often associated with Apollo. Apollo Phoebus is Apollo of the sun, thus making Helios sort of obsolete. The Greek gods often fail to have definitive roles.
² Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book I.
³ India. It's the eastern most part of the known world during that time.
⁴ The only oath that can bind a God.
⁵ Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book II
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Analytics
I have a site tracker on my blog, from Google Analytics. It's hidden in the code, so you can't see it but I can find out how many people see my blog each day¹, how people find my blog, my most popular posts, what they look at while they're on there², what part of the world people come from³, even ISPs. It's quite awesome, I waste an infinite amount of time on it.
So, a sign that people facebook stalk? I posted my blog address in my facebook status on Sunday night, after I changed my layout. And my visitation went up by 83% in two days. That's awesome! Who knew so many people stalked me on Facebook?
I also find it very interesting to see what people google to find me. Recently, I've had a couple of hits for "a complicated kindness." Other book reviews like "Not Quite What I was Planning" and various Jeanette Winterson books have gotten some hits too. I've had a lot of traffic from people searching "adam bly." Another big one is song lyrics, such as "leave me your stardust to remember you by" and "lets see how fast this thing can go." The creepiest ones are people searching "heather montgomery blog" and randomly someone searching "I got this from someone on Facebook... and I thought I wasn't going to do it, but I've decided to give it a try. I'm going to read 50 books in a year! Do it with me!" Which is odd. My favourite searches though are "flood myth" and "phaedra/roman" because I really like my random historical posts. Oh, and "Stephen Harper Spongebob" because it still amuses me to no end, though I can't take credit for the theory.
For your entertainment, if you're looking for something to procrastinate with like me, instead of writing essays or studying for midterms, here are my top five most read posts.
1. Google goggles
When you post about something in one of Google's blogs, it automatically links to you. With this post, I surprisingly got over 100 unique hits in one day. It's my record. 190 views total.
2. Not Quite What I Was Planning
My "review" of the book. Apparently it can be found by googling the title! 106 views total.
3. Just Leave Me Your Stardust to Remember You By
A sad post with lyrics by Gregory and the Hawk. I assume it was the lyrics that got the hits, but I do like this post. It sums up what I feel quite nicely. 58 views total.
4. Flood Myth
As I started to write my book (still stalled in progress) I wrote about the nature of flood myths. I love mythology in all forms, and I'm so happy people have actually read this! 47 views total.
5. Journalism as Activism
When my Science Reporting j-school class saw Adam Bly speak, I talked about the nature of journalism and my disenchantment with the profession after going through four years of training for it. Also, comes up (waaaay down in the list) when you google Adam Bly, and I bet his PR people google him constantly. 38 views total.
In two weeks, it will be the one year anniversary of my blog, which Fae and I both decided to start the last time I visited her, and I have to say that I'm really enjoying it. It's definitely an outlet for me, it gives me a chance to write more often, even if it's about trivial things. For me, it's never mattered whether someone reads it or not. It's therapy.
¹Average about 10 each day, 15 or more on days that I post something.
² That's right, if you search your name on my blog, I know about it!
³Everywhere! India, Australia, Iran... it's quite amazing!
So, a sign that people facebook stalk? I posted my blog address in my facebook status on Sunday night, after I changed my layout. And my visitation went up by 83% in two days. That's awesome! Who knew so many people stalked me on Facebook?
I also find it very interesting to see what people google to find me. Recently, I've had a couple of hits for "a complicated kindness." Other book reviews like "Not Quite What I was Planning" and various Jeanette Winterson books have gotten some hits too. I've had a lot of traffic from people searching "adam bly." Another big one is song lyrics, such as "leave me your stardust to remember you by" and "lets see how fast this thing can go." The creepiest ones are people searching "heather montgomery blog" and randomly someone searching "I got this from someone on Facebook... and I thought I wasn't going to do it, but I've decided to give it a try. I'm going to read 50 books in a year! Do it with me!" Which is odd. My favourite searches though are "flood myth" and "phaedra/roman" because I really like my random historical posts. Oh, and "Stephen Harper Spongebob" because it still amuses me to no end, though I can't take credit for the theory.
For your entertainment, if you're looking for something to procrastinate with like me, instead of writing essays or studying for midterms, here are my top five most read posts.
1. Google goggles
When you post about something in one of Google's blogs, it automatically links to you. With this post, I surprisingly got over 100 unique hits in one day. It's my record. 190 views total.
2. Not Quite What I Was Planning
My "review" of the book. Apparently it can be found by googling the title! 106 views total.
3. Just Leave Me Your Stardust to Remember You By
A sad post with lyrics by Gregory and the Hawk. I assume it was the lyrics that got the hits, but I do like this post. It sums up what I feel quite nicely. 58 views total.
4. Flood Myth
As I started to write my book (still stalled in progress) I wrote about the nature of flood myths. I love mythology in all forms, and I'm so happy people have actually read this! 47 views total.
5. Journalism as Activism
When my Science Reporting j-school class saw Adam Bly speak, I talked about the nature of journalism and my disenchantment with the profession after going through four years of training for it. Also, comes up (waaaay down in the list) when you google Adam Bly, and I bet his PR people google him constantly. 38 views total.
In two weeks, it will be the one year anniversary of my blog, which Fae and I both decided to start the last time I visited her, and I have to say that I'm really enjoying it. It's definitely an outlet for me, it gives me a chance to write more often, even if it's about trivial things. For me, it's never mattered whether someone reads it or not. It's therapy.
¹Average about 10 each day, 15 or more on days that I post something.
² That's right, if you search your name on my blog, I know about it!
³Everywhere! India, Australia, Iran... it's quite amazing!
Monday, February 2, 2009
Hit me baby one more time
We had the best night on Friday. We went to the Dance Mix 95 party at the Cabin. T
he Cabin is NOT a place I would normally go¹ but this was a ticketed special event. The theme was obviously the 90s, and we put a lot of thought into our costumes. We bought white tshirts and tie-dyed them on Wednesday night. I bought magenta leg warmers, scrunchies and had my parents bring over my converses.
The night went really well. Needless to say we all got really drunk, as we have a tendency to do.² They played the best music. Britney.³ Spice Girls. Backstreet Boys. Cotton-eyed Joe. It was awesome. We danced all night. And I wasn't even too hungover for work the next day. Anyway. These pics are the result. I have such a good time going out with my girls!
¹ The only other time I've been was years ago. I was not impressed, the floors were sticky.
² Especially this month. Every single weekend.
³ From back when she was entertaining, if not good.
he Cabin is NOT a place I would normally go¹ but this was a ticketed special event. The theme was obviously the 90s, and we put a lot of thought into our costumes. We bought white tshirts and tie-dyed them on Wednesday night. I bought magenta leg warmers, scrunchies and had my parents bring over my converses.The night went really well. Needless to say we all got really drunk, as we have a tendency to do.² They played the best music. Britney.³ Spice Girls. Backstreet Boys. Cotton-eyed Joe. It was awesome. We danced all night. And I wasn't even too hungover for work the next day. Anyway. These pics are the result. I have such a good time going out with my girls!
¹ The only other time I've been was years ago. I was not impressed, the floors were sticky.
² Especially this month. Every single weekend.
³ From back when she was entertaining, if not good.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Ummm Chili...
A few weeks ago I made a wonderful chili recipe from the cookbook my mommy 
bought me for my birthday. We ate it for two weeks, and it was awesome. Usually, when it's just Kristen and I, we have soup and grilled cheese. But last week we got to have chili instead! Then, on Friday I ate the last of it for lunch at work. So I decided I had to make more this weekend. Today, I made more.
This really is the best chili recipe. It doesn't have any meat, and it has chickpeas. It tastes even better after it's frozen. I love having something good to eat throughout the week. It's well worth the work on Sunday. This picture doesn't really do it justice (Kristen thinks it looks gross here) but it really is good!
bought me for my birthday. We ate it for two weeks, and it was awesome. Usually, when it's just Kristen and I, we have soup and grilled cheese. But last week we got to have chili instead! Then, on Friday I ate the last of it for lunch at work. So I decided I had to make more this weekend. Today, I made more.This really is the best chili recipe. It doesn't have any meat, and it has chickpeas. It tastes even better after it's frozen. I love having something good to eat throughout the week. It's well worth the work on Sunday. This picture doesn't really do it justice (Kristen thinks it looks gross here) but it really is good!
Gnome you didn't!
So, this is my new blog design. It took me three hours¹ of photoshop (that was the easy part) and coding (my god that sucked) to get it this way but I think it is beautiful and I love it muchly.
I do want to say, however, that blogger is not at all user friendly when it comes to redesigning your blog. I know enough about computers and coding that it should NOT have taken me that long.
The pictures are mine, from my various travels. The textures are taken from some free clipart sites.
¹I'm supposed to be working from home today, for the museum. Clearly, that isn't happening so much.
I do want to say, however, that blogger is not at all user friendly when it comes to redesigning your blog. I know enough about computers and coding that it should NOT have taken me that long.
The pictures are mine, from my various travels. The textures are taken from some free clipart sites.
¹I'm supposed to be working from home today, for the museum. Clearly, that isn't happening so much.
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