Saturday, August 16, 2008

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

mini-pin design contest!

I just started a mini-pin design contest for "Yes! on 2" You can join my group on Facebook here:

http://www.new.facebook.com/group.php?gid=26677883178&ref=mf


or just send your submissions to terribleshy@gmail.com

I'm going to pick ten of the best designs and produce the buttons myself in September. At that time I'll post information on how to get a bunch yourself to sport around town and hand out to hipster teenagers. They love mini-pins like whoa. (Who am I kidding, IIII love mini pins!)

no design or slogan will be used without permission, so please put in your email submission that you give your permission for me to reproduce your idea on a mini-pin.

thanks!

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

the potential for class action



So anyone is welcome to take me to task on this, or offer their own opinion, but I really feel like Netflix members who do not have a Windows computer should get a discount on their service.

I've been a Netflix member for a few years now, and I find that I go through these cycles, where I'm watching a lot of movies (I'm usually single during this cycle, or poor, or a combination of the two) or not really watching them at all. But I really honestly feel like, and other friends on Netflix agree, that if I were able to watch movies instantly on my computer and not wait for them in the mail, my usage would go through the roof!

I realize that Netflix is working to resolve the issue and cater to their Mac constituency, but I just don't think they should get away with charging me the same monthly fee as PC members who I know in my bones are getting triple the Netflix fun that I'm getting.

Just because I have the option to put some Windows platform program on my Mac shouldn't release Netflix from their responsibility to me to offer me the same value that PC users get for the same price. I don't want to put some crappy Windows program runner like Boot Camp on my computer. I feel like Windows is the devil, and will eat my computer alive. I cannot be convinced otherwise. I have a (perhaps) irrational fear of Windows trashing apart my beloved little Powerbook that I can't afford to replace.

I know, I know. A small little insignificant nuance of daily life, trite really in the grand scheme of things. But what about that guy who sued Airborne? Not that I'm terribly interested in suing any corporations, but isn't this kind of illustrative (on a tiny scale) of why we're in this big economic jumble right now?

Okay, so maybe not. But I'm sure you feel me. Especially if you're scared of PCs.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

missing eyes

I can't find my glasses, which means I can drive and work and brush my hair but I can't read very easily. So I've not read a thing in over two weeks, except for work emails.
How did I lose my eyes??

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Super Fat Tuesday

I loved this New York Times article about Super Tuesday, because it's kind of how I feel. I had to go to a few (yes, a few) different polling places this morning before I got to put in my two cents. Add placing-a-provisional-ballot-and-my-vote-being-pointless-fear to my list of irrational fears.

Also, I just had my first first culture shock in a couple years when I tried to explain Fat Tuesday to my Californian co-workers. So in honor of my Eastern/Irishness I'm putting in a recipe for Polish Paczki (people in Detroit call them poonch-key, which I am sure is correct but I'm like, incapable of saying it that way and so always murder the pronunciation.) Yes, they're Polish but I'm telling you, in my experience Irish-American Catholics are also way down.



Ingredients:

1 ½ cups milk
2 envelopes yeast
1 tsp. Salt
½ cup sugar
3 egg yolks
1 whole egg
1 tsp. vanilla
½ tsp. mace or ½ tsp. Nutmeg
½ cup butter or margarine
4 ½ cups flour
Procedure:

Scald milk and allow it to cool to lukewarm. Dissolve yeast in milk.
Add sugar and butter and beat until fluffy. Add eggs, salt, and flavoring.
Add flour and milk gradually, mixing well.
Cover with a damp towel and let rise in a warm place until double in size (about 2 ½ hours).
Punch down, knead, and let rise again for about 1 hour.
Place dough on lightly floured surface and knead.
Pinch off balls of dough about 1 ½” in diameter.
Deep fry in very hot oil, turning when needed. Fry until dark brown, or it won’t be cooked through.
Let cool and fill.


Filling:

You will need a pastry bag (bought cheaply at most stores…even dollar stores) with a long nozzle. Fill the bag with either jelly or the custard recipe below:

Ingredients:

½ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup flour
1 ½ cup milk
6 large egg yolks
2 tsp. Vanilla extract
Pinch of salt


Procedure:

In a saucepan, mix sugar and flour together.
Gradually whisk in milk, egg yolks, vanilla, and salt.
Bring to a boil over medium heat; boil for one minute, whisking constantly.
Strain through a sieve into a bowl to get out the clumps.
Press plastic wrap on the surface to prevent a film from forming. Chill for 30 minutes.
When chilled, place in pastry bag and fill Paczki.


Glaze:

Mix 2 ½ cups powdered sugar and 2 tblsp. honey. Add water until consistency is rather thick. Too much water and it will be runny. You want the glaze to stay on the Paczki as much as possible.,Spoon onto the Paczki and enjoy.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Autumn Reading (and watching) List

As promised, here are the books I was able to make it through on my wonderful vacation. I've also added in a couple of movies I saw. Ps. I know you're supposed to underline book titles but I don't know how to format that so you'll have to settle for quotes.


"The Street of A Thousand Blossoms" by Gail Tsukiyama

This was a really lovely fiction work that followed the life of one Tokyo family from the middle-end of the Second World War to around the sixties, with well incorporated side-stories scattered within relating to the supporting characters. Historically this was a nice piece of fiction, if not a little tame for my tastes (sometimes I worried the author was writing in a style anticipating a young child would accidentally pick it up.) There were times when I felt the story was consciously PG'd, if only because at others, like the passage concerning the night of the Tokyo firebombs was scathingly bleak and graphic. Overall, a quick and enjoyable read, and at times quite a page-turner.


"The Supreme Court: The Personalities and Rivalries that Shaped America" by Jeffrey Rosen

I ordered this from Barnes and Nobles after reading a great interview of Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens
The ordering was pretty painless; it cost me $2.50 but the book was discounted since I was ordering it so it worked out and also arrived pretty quickly. Basically in this book the author sets up three or four comparisons of two justices of the same era and makes examples of how their personalities played major roles in policy making, with the exception of Marshall vs. Jefferson, as Jefferson never sat on the court. I found this to also be a good read, accessible but still smart, with notes on the cases in the back in case you needed them. I always felt a little mystified by the Supreme Court and wanted to learn more about it as I never felt is was adequately covered in any of my classes. I think this was a good start on the subject for me, and I'll probably look for another title on the same subject as soon as I have some free time again.



"Life of A Poet: Rainer Maria Wilke" by Ralph Freedman

I bought this on impulse at the Hammer bookstore (they have a pretty great store with a great selection, albeit not so well organized or user friendly) as Wilke has always been among my most very favorite poets (coming to his works as a result of being a Rainer Maria fan- how lame and high school hipster is that!)
The work is definitely an academic, and not pop/mass market endeavor. The best part about it is that it makes a unique turn to combine critical investigation and interpretation of Wilke's prose with the influence of his life's events. The not so good part is the excruciating detail the account often veers into. Seriously though, I don't think Wilke's English muffin on Wednesday and his croissant on Friday made that big of a difference to his creative trajectory. Okay, so that's an exaggeration, but I promise you a not-too-far-off one. This was a much slower read than everything else I had my nose in last month, and to be perfectly honest I'm still a little shy of polishing it off. But that's probably because I got in the habit of always saving it for last (to help me fall asleep.)

I also picked up the latest installment of the art theory and criticism journal "October," looking forward to Rosalind Krauss' Sol leWitt tribute/investigation. The rest of the issue is related to Vertov, and I'd be a lame-o poser if I tried to pretend I was some kind of know-it-all Vertov enthusiast so that bit while intersting was a little wasted on me. The Krauss was good, dense, and interesting, as is, if you really want to get your nerd on, the Jeff Wall article in the most recent issue of "Afterall."


And a few oldies, newies, and in-betweenies that I liked/disliked that you might want to see/avoid:

Blame it on Fidel Thumbs-up
Transformers Thumbs-down, unfortunately :(
Mighty Heart Thumbs-in-between
The Chorus (French) Thumbs-up
Elizabeth (the newest) Thumbs-in-between
The Lives of Others Thumbs-way-up!

And I saw this ages ago, but if you haven't sent Kolya you should see it. You should rent it for Thanksgiving, and make your relatives suffer through it. That or Goodbye Lenin

Gobble gobble
xo r