What I'm reading: The Living Sea, by Jacques-Yves Cousteau. This, this is the good shit. I'll admit that I'd only thought of reading it after watching Life Aquatic (high five goes to whoever knows what other Wes Anderson movie makes a reference to Cousteau), but here's what I think about that: First, so what? Second, I like Wes Anderson and I like what he likes it seems, so it's only natural; Third, too often I read/watch/listen to something that refers to a previous book/movie/song/whatever and think the old thing is entirely imbibed in the new. Newton stood on the shoulder of giants, but you can't replicate what he saw without climbing from the bottom up. What this all amounts to is the fact that I am very much enjoying this book. Every time I open it up I'm excited to think of what ocean, what shipwreck, what reef, what exotic (and made up-sounding, fish is going to be explored next.
"Our godfather was the Napoleonic marshal Pierre Cambronne, whose portrait hung in the mess. We chose him because of his reply to Wellington's demand for the surrender of the Old Guard at Waterloo. 'Merde," said Cambronne. It had no nationalistic meaning for us; it simply expressed our attitude with which we tried to meet adversity."
"Merde," I'm told, translates to "shit."
What I'm listening to: My iTunes library is permanently set to shuffle, but when the mood strikes I make a playlist and, sometimes, stick with it for a while. Lately I've been listening to Wes Montgomery's Full House album. It's Jazz (if only Class and Snazz were also musical genres) and I like it. I have no idea where it stands in the pantheons of Jazz - I got it randomly on the internet in that way that we young'uns do - but I like it. My favorite track is Blue 'N' Boogie. That's just how I roll.
Which reminds me! Tune in to www.goucher-radio.net to listen to the Allow Me To Present the Chris Tritch and Dan B. Radio Show: What We Talk About When We Talk About Nothing radio show. We'll be ordering pizza and it'll be good times all around.
What I'm watching: I saw Quantum of Solace on Friday, it was pretty good. I don't know though, I have some mixed feelings about Daniel Craig. On the one hand that man is a flippin' TANK. On the other, James Bond isn't (hasn't been) about tankitude but suave-ocity. Pierce Brosnan's still who I see in my mind when I think of Bond. (I know, I know, but I grew up with him as Bond!)
What I'm playing: Rock Band! I love playing the drums, it's probably just an extension of my childhood habit of banging things against other things. I can't get the hang of the microphone though, when I try to sing high it goes low and when I do low it goes high. Maybe it's because I make up my own words... Also, sadly I have fallen to the videogame low of playing World of Warcraft. Don't worry just yet, it's just a 10-day trial, but it's amusing to follow people around and say "hi" randomly and ask to join groups just for the hell of it and see how these people react. People are surprisingly nice online, although I think this might just be because I'm in the low-level area and people are probably a little bit less conceited. I'm a troll and I have white hair.
What I'm doing: waiting for a book to come in to the library. The school's library has a very addicting feature - you can look up books that it doesn't have but is owned by libraries across the world. It is the most awesome thing I've ever seen. I read about obscure books and writers and out-of-print editions and then I go on the computer and a couple weeks later I have in my hands a book on loan from a library in Ontario! Right now I'm waiting for a book on Typography. That's right, the art of designing fonts. This is another thing I discovered through Wes Anderson (still not embarrassed how much of who I am I discovered from his movies). It IS embarrassing, however, how much time I've spent switching fonts in and out of various food-blog designs. And yes, I follow a typography blog - ILoveTypography. I'm probably the only one here who gave more than a passing thought to the fonts in Quantum of Solace each time Bond went to a new place. I've realized recently that I quite like graphic design. I suck at drawing and I suck at art (when I go to museums, no matter how much I hear about the power of traditional art I still get most pleasure from just the aesthetics), but graphic design is different, I think. I'm going to be the design editor for my college's newspaper next semester and I'm thinking of taking a class - we'll see how that all goes.
What I'm eating: as I type I'm waiting for a pizza to arrive. I'll probably be eating it during the radio show so sorry if I talk with my mouth full.
6 comments:
Dan Dan dan! This was wonderfull!!! So many new things.
Bill(Husband) is also into type. he knows names of them as hes looking at them. But he's a graphic artist, whatdyawant.
That is the coolest library story. I would love to go to the New York Library that Ghost Busters was filmed in. I can almost smell it(I owe the library money, I can't borrow) long story, I couldnt work for Obama.
anyway, Love this blogg. more like this, please
NOOOOO
WORLD OF WARCRAFT
BAD DAN BAD!
Oh yeah, merde does mean shit.
You could also say PUTE!, which literally means whore in French, but is just a general exclamation of discontent.
did you know doleful is a word?
Doleful - to be full of Dole when the apocalypse comes in 2012.
if only that;s what doleful meant. The actual translation is full of sorrow
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