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August 30, 2005

Entourage Rocks

Little slow on the uptake with this week's ep. Life got in the way, but here's some great dialogue from "Entourage."

The scene: Mr. Ari Gold just quit / was fired from his job. He's trying to get his car from the valet service in the agency's building. The valet explains that he's under strict orders not to give Mr. Gold the car because it is company property.

ARI GOLD:Can't give it to me? Ernesto, how many fucking pesos did I give you for Christmas? Huh, Ernesto? Every Christmas for the past decade; half of Mexico is eating on my tips that I have given you. Now bring my mother fucking car..now. Por favor.

ERNESTO: Sorry, Mr. Gold, I can't do it. Oh, and Mr. Gold - I'm from Guatemala. And our currency is the quetzal.

Gotta love the writers of Entourage.

Posted by cj at 08:28 PM | Comments (1)

August 29, 2005

You Say TomaTO, I Say ToMAto

Mi chavo and I had an interesting convo tonight about Ladino.

I know Ladino as the language of Spanish Jews - a mixture of Spanish and Hebrew with some words from other languages thrown in for good measure.

He knows Ladino as a term for Mayan-European mestizos. (Link is in Spanish)

Turns out, we're both right. We just have different points of reference.

Posted by cj at 10:15 PM | Comments (0)

August 28, 2005

It is Raining in Chile

This might be useless knowledge to you, but it's particularly important to me, since mi chavo is in Santiago.

Check out this AP photo on Yahoo News.

Apparently, the buses to Mendoza, Argentina wont be running until next Saturday. Please send encouraging thoughts towards Chile, both for the safety of the Chileans who have fled their homes, and for mi chavo to realize he needs to spend the extra money and get a flight out of there.

Posted by cj at 09:58 PM | Comments (0)

August 27, 2005

I Just Lost The Game!

An ode to The Aardvark, an amusing Brit who keeps sending people to this site, prompting me to stop making excuses and actually post. (We've all got work and radical peace activities that keep us busy, but hell random cultural musings are *way* more important.)

I just lost The Game.

Posted by cj at 11:40 AM | Comments (2)

Freelance Writing Not a Great Career Move

Ben Yagoda wrote "My Life as a Hack - It was glorious. Now it's over." in Slate.

Its a precautionary tale about the decline and fall of freelance writing. Not that the writing has gone downhill - just that magazines aren't paying enough money to make it a viable career option.

Chalk this up as more proof that my fantasy careers are best left to dreamland. (Other fantasy careers include fulltime peace activist and Creator of Viable Movements for Social Change and singer and actress...the final one being a dream given up long ago in high school when I was firmly told I had no acting abilities.)

Posted by cj at 11:10 AM | Comments (0)

August 20, 2005

My Night in Rockford

So all week I thought I was going to Rockford College. Partially because I'm an idiot and thought the only thing in Rockford, IL was Rockford College. Partially, because when I asked my friend where we were going for this concert, I thought she agreed we were going to Rockford College. Oh, and add in a touch of WILPF mania, and you'll understand why I thought I was going to Jane Addams' alma mater.

Instead, I drove past my friend's flat and had to drive back the other way. I was anxious, since my driving tour of Chicago made me later than our agreed upon meeting time. Little did I know we couldn't leave on time anyway - someone needed to find the perfect outfit.

So then there was the mad dash to Rockford. With a driver-decided pit stop for gas and food. Then I felt guilty the rest of the way to Rockford, since the band we were going to see started at 9pm and the stop I thought would take 10 minutes ended up taking closer to 25.

So we got to Rockford and despite my turn into Rockford College's driveway, managed to get to the decidely un-college-like setting, Elixir night club. As soon as my phone rang, I knew it was mi chavo. Primarily because no one else calls me, especially not at night. But I missed the call. At about 9:05, we got to the front of the club line. And my phone rang again. I answered and told mi chavo I was at a club with my friend and her fam and would talk to him tomorrow. Then we went inside to hear the best band of the night - Blackmaker.

Their music was unique and yet reminds you of the great rock you never hear anymore on commercial radio. It has an infectious beat and pure rock presence on stage. And I'm not just writing this because one of my friends dates the drummer. I really did enjoy their music the most.

There were three other bands that night. And lots of drinking and chatting and spilling beer. I was primarily responsible for the spilling beer part (my inner klutz always shines through). It was sorta a surreal experience. To explain how I knew my friend, I had to mention my boyfriend (they used to work together), which leads to conversations that seem uncomfortable to me. As much as I love mi chavo, I want to be able to meet people as an individual and not always proclaim my couple-ness. Anyway, after an extremely full week of getting reacquainted with Central Standard Time, work, and my father's birthday, I had forgotten that today is my anniversary. Which I remembered last night at a rock concert.

In any event, there was a lot of rock music last night. Blackmaker opened for Theory of a Dead Man. Since ToaDM's website doesn't allow you to view info on their old shows, I can't tell you the names of the other bands that played last night.

At the end of the night, we were caught in a thunder storm. Anyone who knows me knows I hate driving in rain (my one real accident happened in the rain) and I hate driving long distances (bad wrist problems). After driving my grey whale alone most of the time, it was weird to have five other ppl with me. At first, people chatted but then they all started falling asleep. Since I am horrible at staying awake past 2am, I started rambling to my friend about her office's politics...which is weird since its been months since it was actually a concern for me. Back to my own reality. I'm off to write a proposal for WCUSP - Women Challenge U.S. Policy: Building Peace on Justice in the Middle East, a national campaign of Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF).

Posted by cj at 02:15 PM | Comments (0)

Happy Anniversary To Us

or me as the case may be.

Mi chavo and I have been together for a year from our agreed upon beginning (our second date).

I have never had a better year in my life. Thank you for completing my world.

I have never been closer to another person. And yet, I've never been farther apart from someone I care about this much. Happy anniversary, mi amor. Have fun in Chile and Argentina and get your gorgeous ass back to Chicago soon!

Posted by cj at 01:38 PM | Comments (0)

August 18, 2005

Boston Common: Cultural Touchstone or Commercial Brand?

One of the sentiments that stuck with me from the WILPF Congress was the question - what is a resource for all and what is private property? Someone suggested that everyone should visit the Boston Common for an experience of a true communal area. I didn't refute the point, but I did remember the Common being an area surrounded by extrememly high-priced buildings, where the Boston Brahmins hung out.

So I'm curious as to why there isn't a Boston luxury magazine named Boston Brahmins. Instead, there's one named Boston Common. The Boston Globe reports an expansion of New England regional affluent magazines, now that New Englanders have thrown off their silly habit of shunning ostentatious materialism.

I've gotta say I'm not here to shun an expansion of the print industry. But what moron thought it was a perfect selling point to call an exclusive, top 5% net worth readership magazine "Boston Common"???? Talk about a revolting reversal of word meaning. I don't have a problem with luxury magazines per se - I think its healthy for us plebes to understand what the mega-rich are truly about - but for goodness sake, shouldn't the people of Boston revolt against this abuse of their heritage?

More info:
Boston Common Magazine official website. Its part of Niche Media - which gives its mags away to a "highly targeted audience" and has relatively dirt cheap ad rates.

Posted by cj at 09:35 PM | Comments (0)

I'm getting shaky....

I had an intense week last week in San Francisco, participating in the US WILPF Triennial Congress. More on that over there.

Then I came home with very little sleep. Spent some time after midnight Sunday night / Monday morning chatting with my cousin. Read some of the Sunday New York Times. Woke up rather early to go to a chiropractor appt before work. And went to work. And that cycle repeated most of the week - with the inclusion of a trip to Trader Joe's and laundry tonight (must stop writing and go get it).

Here's the thing that's really throwing me off - I stopped smoking or drinking soda. I've been struggling with smoking for the past dozen years. I have quit several times, but never permanently. Often something sucks me in - really long drives (like across country alone), drinking alcohol, hanging out with smokers, etc. And I've been addicted to soda longer than I've been addicted to nicotine. I distinctly remember being home from college for a week or two and only drinking coffee and Coke. What a health nut I am!

So this week, it was cold turkey. I never really meant to do both at the same time, but I got sick of lugging soda up to my third floor apt and paying for it and feeling guilty about drinking it afterwards. (Guilty because of the sugar content, not because of the probably valid problems people have with the Coca-Cola corporation.) And I left college thinking I would quit smoking then. I've always known the smoking kills line, since I lost three grandparents to it, but that doesn't really connect with the part of me that just enjoys the sweet release of the deep inhale of that completely addictive carcinogen. I'm not sure if I'll be able to stay on the wagon when I go out - wont I just tell myself its okay to drink soda as long as I don't smoke? And wont I just bum a smoke once I get drunk? I dunno the answers. All I know is that I'm itchin for a fix.

So far, I've gotten through the headaches with lots of water and tea and some strawberries. I think I need to buy more ice cream - but everything I put in my crappy freezer gets freezer burn instantaneously (its the small type within a refridgerator that isn't made for actual freezing, just occasional storing).

That's my story. Thanks for indulging my self-involved tendencies and reading this post despite the fact that its not directly related to culture (the true theme of this blog).

Posted by cj at 08:55 PM | Comments (0)

August 08, 2005

Sadness and Apologies

First, apologies for not writing more frequently. I've been frightfully busy at work and with Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. I'm off to San Francisco tomorrow morning for our Leadership Institute and Triennial Congress and wont be back till Sunday night. I'm going to take my laptop with me, because word on the street is that internet access is available in my accomodations free of charge.

I'm so sad, having finished the new Harry Potter. Its the first time I've really ended one of the books eager for more. I really appreciate the way the female characters were portrayed - something I've complained about in previous books. The ending shocked me and seemed to echo the first Spiderman movie a lil too much. But that's just me. Apparently, a website is offering a t-shirt that gives away the exact page where a significant event happens at the end of the book. Very sad indeed.

Posted by cj at 07:30 PM | Comments (0)