So, I'm going to catch "Inception" somewhere after work. Haven't decided, yet. Someplace downtown. It's crazy-hot here today, and is likely to be so tomorrow, too. Ack. So glad I live next to the lake. One thing I will say about living in Chicago -- hug the shore! Don't go west. Stay by the shore, where it's about 10 degrees cooler than it is in the rest of the city. When it's mid-90s, it matters! Lordy, yes. Fucking HOT today.
I'll review "Inception" elsewhere.
Hopefully Exene won't be around this weekend. Bleah. Can't wait until I never have to say that again. Yeah! From "Bleah" to "Yeah!" in so many words! Baha!
My life actually is going to be so much better on my own. It's incredible to realize that. Maybe lonelier in some way, shape, and form, but since writing's "the loneliest profession" (wasn't it Hemingway who said that?) I'm really ready for that, honestly. I'll make use of that time to write -- that's the best thing about writing: you're never really alone. Hahah! But seriously, part of what drives me with my writing is building a better future for my boys -- that matters so much to me. If I can get things going with my fiction, I'll have single-handedly safeguarded their futures, and that matters more to me than anything I've done in my life. I want to do right by them.
It was the hardest thing for me to come to terms with splitting with Exene not because of her, but because of the boys. First I thought they'd be demolished by that reality, and worried that I needed to be there for them, but then I realized that being Happy Daddy was vital for their long-term health as much as it was for me -- they needed to see their dad happy and free and creative and vital, to be a good model for them. And in so being, I'll be able to create a good life for them, give them a head start, despite being a single parent.
I'm going to do better by them than I ever could as Exene's hired hand, truly. It's so clear to me. I'm free to be fully me, and there is power in that, and they'll see that and take heart in that, despite the change in their lives this will bring. I'm at peace with that.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Shrimps On Prozac?
Weird study I just saw today on SALON, basically showing that shrimp exposed to the main chemical in Prozac are more vulnerable to dying, for whatever reason. Several things about this -- I've been wondering for years about the role antidepressants play in suicides and murder-suicides, but the prospect of the chemical poisoning the environment by the way of urban runoff is creepy as well. The tip of the hat to brain parasites manipulating serotonin levels in shrimp is, of course, intriguing, too, given my lingering fascination with parasites. Parasites are tricky mofos. I'm forever amazed that dinosaurs had tapeworms, and those frickin' tapeworms survived the extinction of dinosaurs and migrated to mammalian species (no doubt because early mammals scavenged dinosaur remains and picked up the tapeworms, which then adapted themselves to mammalian bodies). That's an impressive (and horrifying) evolutionary feat. Don't underestimate parasites! Seriously. They. Will. Fuck. You. Up.
I've also long followed endocrine disruptors in the environment, too, which seem to come from plastics, creating false estrogens which may increase risks of cancer (and may be responsible for declining fertility in populations). Creepy shit.
I've also long followed endocrine disruptors in the environment, too, which seem to come from plastics, creating false estrogens which may increase risks of cancer (and may be responsible for declining fertility in populations). Creepy shit.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
That's Right!
Onion ha-ha
This ONION article (below), and the accompanying picture, made me snicker...
Kid Ready to Start Playdating Again
Bahaha!
Kind of timely, too, since the new episode of "Louie" the other night had a gag about playdates (only hinted at in the trailer -- Louie and the gal at the end have a playdate with their respective kids).
This older ONION article is amusing, too (the picture is my favorite part)...
Sorta Attractive Girl Halfheartedly Hit On
Kid Ready to Start Playdating Again
"The playdating scene can be shallow, and you meet a lot of kids who won't think twice before lying to your face, but there's got to be that special someone out there somewhere," Gallagher said. "Look, I'm not going to say that it's not hard, because it is. But what am I supposed to do? Sit in the corner and cry all day?"
Added Gallagher, "Trust me, I've done that already."
Bahaha!
Kind of timely, too, since the new episode of "Louie" the other night had a gag about playdates (only hinted at in the trailer -- Louie and the gal at the end have a playdate with their respective kids).
This older ONION article is amusing, too (the picture is my favorite part)...
Sorta Attractive Girl Halfheartedly Hit On
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Black & Blue
You know what I want? A black Timex and some blue Sperry Top-Siders. The Timex below isn't the exact one I want, but it's close. I will get the exact one I want, once I'm able to find it. The Top-Siders should be far easier to find. I want'em, and I'm gonna get'em.
I haven't worn any Top-Siders since high school, but I always liked'em. And the blue ones are awesome. I'm totally getting'em.
I haven't worn any Top-Siders since high school, but I always liked'em. And the blue ones are awesome. I'm totally getting'em.
Immutable Laws
I don't generally like the New Pornographers much, aside from this tune (below) and "Twin Cinema." But this video always amuses me -- crafted after an art film, I'm amused because several of the characters in it remind me of people I've known in my life...
The New Pornographers, "The Laws Have Changed"
Guy on Pedestal (particularly after he Mods up) = former coworker
Vixen Temptress = former classmate
Keyboardist = former coworker
Lead Singer Chick = former coworker
Guitarist = former coworker
Whey-faced Bartender = former coworker
Dancing Guy with Shades = former coworker
It just amuses me, how many people this video reminds me of, all in one place. I don't know of any other video that has so many!
The New Pornographers, "The Laws Have Changed"
Guy on Pedestal (particularly after he Mods up) = former coworker
Vixen Temptress = former classmate
Keyboardist = former coworker
Lead Singer Chick = former coworker
Guitarist = former coworker
Whey-faced Bartender = former coworker
Dancing Guy with Shades = former coworker
It just amuses me, how many people this video reminds me of, all in one place. I don't know of any other video that has so many!
Bahah
"Louie" on FX cracks me up. This bit is funny...
"You smell like dying. It's sexy."
"Dukakis? Who's that?"
*snicker*
"You smell like dying. It's sexy."
"Dukakis? Who's that?"
*snicker*
Sweaty, Wordy, Movie, Boring, Psyched, Enjoyable
Man, the dog days of Chicago summer are here. Hot and humid. Hazy! Argh! I sweat from 74 degrees on up, and we're way above that these days, with high humidity.
I got up early and banged out 1600 words on the book I'm doing right now. Pleased with that progress.
They're still apparently filming downtown. Leave it to Michael Bay to go over the top in his shooting downtown.
Editorial meeting in a few. Blech. Boring! Yawnsville!
I'm so stoked about having my own place -- I'm already plotting it out, carving out my own space. Paradise! Books! Plants! Art! Fun! Fun! Fun! So long overdue, but I'm in a great mood about it. Even with the career clouds on the horizon, I'm happy as can be, and getting happier. Getting Exene out of my mix is going to be so wonderful!
I'm taking the boys to see "Despicable Me" this weekend, since it got good reviews, and I think they'd enjoy it. And then a trip to the bookstore, and Jamba Juice. They'll have a good time, and I will, too. Those lil' guys are the best.
I got up early and banged out 1600 words on the book I'm doing right now. Pleased with that progress.
They're still apparently filming downtown. Leave it to Michael Bay to go over the top in his shooting downtown.
Editorial meeting in a few. Blech. Boring! Yawnsville!
I'm so stoked about having my own place -- I'm already plotting it out, carving out my own space. Paradise! Books! Plants! Art! Fun! Fun! Fun! So long overdue, but I'm in a great mood about it. Even with the career clouds on the horizon, I'm happy as can be, and getting happier. Getting Exene out of my mix is going to be so wonderful!
I'm taking the boys to see "Despicable Me" this weekend, since it got good reviews, and I think they'd enjoy it. And then a trip to the bookstore, and Jamba Juice. They'll have a good time, and I will, too. Those lil' guys are the best.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Transformation
Here are a couple of shots of the latest dressed-up part of downtown for the movie...
I don't know how many more days they're shooting in the city, but it's still funny, although it makes the commute a bit of a bitch. I'll definitely hop the El for the ride home, so I can avoid the devastation on Wacker Drive!
I don't know how many more days they're shooting in the city, but it's still funny, although it makes the commute a bit of a bitch. I'll definitely hop the El for the ride home, so I can avoid the devastation on Wacker Drive!
*eyeroll*
It's funny to think about the origins of the eyeroll (and the eyebrow raise). Or I think it is, anyway. Like somebody rolls their eyes at you (not that anybody has -- at least not in recent memory) -- anyway, you instantly understand what they're communicating, right? Nobody sees an eyeroll without understanding the meaning behind it.
So, how'd that evolve? It's clearly a facial mannerism, and is tied to emotions, so it is some kind of behavior that evolved over time, useful for communicating, what, scorn? Contempt? Exasperation? Useful information to convey for a social animal, so the efficacy of the eyeroll can't be questioned, although how precisely it arose fascinates me.
Like the smile has been studied pretty heavily in primates as a sign of non-aggression. Again, it operates on such a basic level that we react to it pretty instinctively. And the eyeroll does the same thing, in terms of that instinctive power it possesses.
It just amuses me to think of some primordial cavewoman looking at her caveman beau and thinking "CHRIST, what a fucktard." and she rolls her eyes. And, yes, I do think the first eyeroll was done by a woman. Moments like that just amuse me -- I'd enjoy being a time traveler and seeing esoterica like that.
The raised eyebrow likely has a similar provenance, but it communicates a more complicated kind of facial cue -- alternately ironic, flirty, mocking, amused, bemused, intrigued -- complex emotions in that simple gesture. And what fascinates me most about the raised eyebrow (and I think I've blogged about this before), anyway, is that some people can't do that at all. Some people can do the right eyebrow (me; cocking that eyebrow as I write this), some can do the left, some can do both, and some can do neither.
So, how the hell did that get passed on (or not), and why can some people do it, and some people are unable to? I mean, it just intrigues me. Like imagine this scenario...
URK: Gronk, have you tended the sheep?
GRONK: Yes, Urk, I have.
Simple exchange, no? And then let's try it with an eyebrow raised...
URK: Gronk, have you tended the sheep?
GRONK (raises eyebrow): Yes, Urk, I have.
or
GRONK: Yes, Urk, I have (raises eyebrow).
See? Nuance and mystery and complication and irony are thrown into the mix. What's Gronk up to? Is Gronk slyly mocking Urk in some way? Is Gronk up to something?
Somehow, evolutionarily, eyebrow-raising conferred some kind of edge to the people who have it (although I'm unsure of the actual numbers of people capable of doing it, and the distribution of right-, left-, and both-raised eyebrows). We'll have to wait until some swell at Harvard does this study and earns plaudits for it, but I'm here wondering it right fucking now, dammit!
Maybe the raised eyebrow was capable of angering one's enemies into doing something foolhardy. Or maybe the comic nature of it made one more desirable to one's prospective partners.
Certainly, however, the people who can raise both eyebrows look downright diabolical, having an almost impish bearing.
Exene can't really move either of her eyebrows -- unsurprising, really -- she's not one to be ironic or bemused about anything, particularly. In fact, the rheumo commented that her face wasn't nearly as lined as a woman of her age should be (she does have crow's feet, but that's about it), and he was concerned about that, relative to her overal condition, checked her face to see if there was swelling or whatever, drawing it out. The truth is that her face isn't overly wrinkled because she doesn't express much in the way of emotion. Duh! Heart of stone, face of stone. Her default expression is neutral and empty; not an animated face by any means. Anyway, she's one of the non-eyebrow raisers.
I am intrigued at how some people can do it, and when that mutation (?) or adaptation (?) proliferated in the human population.
ASHRAM: (raises eyebrow) The yaks are plentiful here, my brother.
AVRIM: A bit too plentiful, perhaps? (raises eyebrow)
RIA: Whatever are we to do? (rolls eyes)
Have you rolled your eyes, yet? Seriously, next time you do it, just think about the long evolutionary road that (or the eyebrow raise) took to get to you, and imagine your ancestors tapping into that emotional well with that arsenal of expressions.
So, how'd that evolve? It's clearly a facial mannerism, and is tied to emotions, so it is some kind of behavior that evolved over time, useful for communicating, what, scorn? Contempt? Exasperation? Useful information to convey for a social animal, so the efficacy of the eyeroll can't be questioned, although how precisely it arose fascinates me.
Like the smile has been studied pretty heavily in primates as a sign of non-aggression. Again, it operates on such a basic level that we react to it pretty instinctively. And the eyeroll does the same thing, in terms of that instinctive power it possesses.
It just amuses me to think of some primordial cavewoman looking at her caveman beau and thinking "CHRIST, what a fucktard." and she rolls her eyes. And, yes, I do think the first eyeroll was done by a woman. Moments like that just amuse me -- I'd enjoy being a time traveler and seeing esoterica like that.
The raised eyebrow likely has a similar provenance, but it communicates a more complicated kind of facial cue -- alternately ironic, flirty, mocking, amused, bemused, intrigued -- complex emotions in that simple gesture. And what fascinates me most about the raised eyebrow (and I think I've blogged about this before), anyway, is that some people can't do that at all. Some people can do the right eyebrow (me; cocking that eyebrow as I write this), some can do the left, some can do both, and some can do neither.
So, how the hell did that get passed on (or not), and why can some people do it, and some people are unable to? I mean, it just intrigues me. Like imagine this scenario...
URK: Gronk, have you tended the sheep?
GRONK: Yes, Urk, I have.
Simple exchange, no? And then let's try it with an eyebrow raised...
URK: Gronk, have you tended the sheep?
GRONK (raises eyebrow): Yes, Urk, I have.
or
GRONK: Yes, Urk, I have (raises eyebrow).
See? Nuance and mystery and complication and irony are thrown into the mix. What's Gronk up to? Is Gronk slyly mocking Urk in some way? Is Gronk up to something?
Somehow, evolutionarily, eyebrow-raising conferred some kind of edge to the people who have it (although I'm unsure of the actual numbers of people capable of doing it, and the distribution of right-, left-, and both-raised eyebrows). We'll have to wait until some swell at Harvard does this study and earns plaudits for it, but I'm here wondering it right fucking now, dammit!
Maybe the raised eyebrow was capable of angering one's enemies into doing something foolhardy. Or maybe the comic nature of it made one more desirable to one's prospective partners.
Certainly, however, the people who can raise both eyebrows look downright diabolical, having an almost impish bearing.
Exene can't really move either of her eyebrows -- unsurprising, really -- she's not one to be ironic or bemused about anything, particularly. In fact, the rheumo commented that her face wasn't nearly as lined as a woman of her age should be (she does have crow's feet, but that's about it), and he was concerned about that, relative to her overal condition, checked her face to see if there was swelling or whatever, drawing it out. The truth is that her face isn't overly wrinkled because she doesn't express much in the way of emotion. Duh! Heart of stone, face of stone. Her default expression is neutral and empty; not an animated face by any means. Anyway, she's one of the non-eyebrow raisers.
I am intrigued at how some people can do it, and when that mutation (?) or adaptation (?) proliferated in the human population.
ASHRAM: (raises eyebrow) The yaks are plentiful here, my brother.
AVRIM: A bit too plentiful, perhaps? (raises eyebrow)
RIA: Whatever are we to do? (rolls eyes)
Have you rolled your eyes, yet? Seriously, next time you do it, just think about the long evolutionary road that (or the eyebrow raise) took to get to you, and imagine your ancestors tapping into that emotional well with that arsenal of expressions.
Tooooosday
I banged out 2000 words this morning on the book I'm working on. I'm shooting to get it done by summer's end. It's coming along nicely, I think. I decided to give it 12 (or at most, 13 chapters). Long chapters, averaging about 7000 words -- which is a departure for me. I have a certain intuitive sense of rhythm with my fiction, and will write scenes with that in mind, so writing longer chapters "feels" different to me. It's an experiment for me.
I have several more books queued up in my head, will work on them in turn. The long drive south always triggers my creative juices -- the South just radiates "vibe" and inspires me.
(later, around noontime)
I got a Tuscan Chicken Melt from Subway (footlong flatbread, provolone, cucumber slices, lettuce, black olives, green peppers, red onions, oregano, black pepper, and their Tuscan sauce).
I was amused by yesterday's horoscopes in the Chicago Redeye...
Bahah! Some of the other ones are pretty funny, too. I'm tempted to share them. Muahah....
I don't think I'm having a midlife crisis, honestly; I used to joke about my quarterlife crisis back in the 90s -- so midlife is no big deal, and compared with the place I was in back in the 90s (or the 00s), I'm hunky-fucking-dory, honestly. The prospect of my own place is exciting as hell. And more writing time! Yay!
They're still filming scenes from "The Transformers 3" downtown. I saw more wreckage just south of the river, on Wacker Drive. And some armored personnel carriers. I snapped some pix of that.
"Louis" is on FX tonight, around 10:00 CST (11:00 EST). Louis CK is funny; definitely my kind of comic. I'll try to get caffeinated at the right moment this evening so I can stay up to watch it.
I have several more books queued up in my head, will work on them in turn. The long drive south always triggers my creative juices -- the South just radiates "vibe" and inspires me.
(later, around noontime)
I got a Tuscan Chicken Melt from Subway (footlong flatbread, provolone, cucumber slices, lettuce, black olives, green peppers, red onions, oregano, black pepper, and their Tuscan sauce).
I was amused by yesterday's horoscopes in the Chicago Redeye...
Aries: You're going through a midlife crisis, even if you're just 22. Saturn has you reconsidering every major life decision you've made in the past 10 years. Why did you marry a mortician? Why did you fall in love with a cougar who has 10 kids?
Bahah! Some of the other ones are pretty funny, too. I'm tempted to share them. Muahah....
I don't think I'm having a midlife crisis, honestly; I used to joke about my quarterlife crisis back in the 90s -- so midlife is no big deal, and compared with the place I was in back in the 90s (or the 00s), I'm hunky-fucking-dory, honestly. The prospect of my own place is exciting as hell. And more writing time! Yay!
They're still filming scenes from "The Transformers 3" downtown. I saw more wreckage just south of the river, on Wacker Drive. And some armored personnel carriers. I snapped some pix of that.
"Louis" is on FX tonight, around 10:00 CST (11:00 EST). Louis CK is funny; definitely my kind of comic. I'll try to get caffeinated at the right moment this evening so I can stay up to watch it.
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