it's NATIONAL PUPPY DAY.
no, srsly, though, adoption, s'a good thing.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Saturday, March 21, 2009
brain-food playlist
yeah. i'm buried in work. having slacked off during (everyone else's) spring break, i'm paying the price this weekend. for whatever reason, i've discovered a certain loosely similar (in my head anyway) brand of dance-y electronic-ish music is keeping me focused (um, despite blog breaks?), so i thought i'd share (in alphabetical, not aural/aesthetic order).
chairlift bruises
chairlift evident utensil
cut copy far away (gold filter remix)
friendly fires lovesick
friendly fires jump in the pool
kid sister get fresh
matt and kim daylight
MGMT kids
miike snow burial (dj mehdi remix)
miike snow animal (original or either remix)
MSTRKRFT bounce
sonny j can't stop moving
chairlift bruises
chairlift evident utensil
cut copy far away (gold filter remix)
friendly fires lovesick
friendly fires jump in the pool
kid sister get fresh
matt and kim daylight
MGMT kids
miike snow burial (dj mehdi remix)
miike snow animal (original or either remix)
MSTRKRFT bounce
sonny j can't stop moving
happy 1388!
happy nowruz...from president obama?
that's right.
aaand those would be subtitles in farsi.
reaction has been mixed, but it's worth noting the contrast to bush's last nowruz message. now that's some saavy bridge-building, and culturally sensitive diplomatic manuevering circa 2000-2008...woof.
what a difference a year makes.
update: from my farsi-fluent friend june's blog, a quick rundown of iranian blogosphere reaction.
that's right.
aaand those would be subtitles in farsi.
reaction has been mixed, but it's worth noting the contrast to bush's last nowruz message. now that's some saavy bridge-building, and culturally sensitive diplomatic manuevering circa 2000-2008...woof.
what a difference a year makes.
update: from my farsi-fluent friend june's blog, a quick rundown of iranian blogosphere reaction.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
from guinea to yale and back again
i got a little vicarious thrill in coming across a quote from my anthro advisor, currently on leave and doing field work, at the end of this article about the military coup in guinea.
the first time i met mike was when i came to the first day of his class (his first class at yale, i think) "anthropologies of insurgency". my skepticism about his choice of facial hair (a little soul-patch paired a predilection for black turtlenecks) was short lived. by the end of the semester, i decided that any guy who mentions offhandedly anecdotes like "this one time i was talking to some insurgents in the niger delta. they had this new remote car-bombing technology they were really excited about. i think they got it from jihadis, but they wouldn't tell me for sure" can wear his beard any damn way he pleases.
yes, mike is a scary scary man (especially when he's critiquing your senior thesis), but he's also exactly the kind of anthropologist i want to be when i grow up. it's not just his subject matter (political violence, conflict, reconstruction), but his approach. while maintaining a proper anthropological dedication to deep understandings of local particularities, he doesn't fear the comparative or political economic. most importantly, he wants to make anthropology accessible to policy (he was west africa project director at international crisis group, one of my all-time favorite NGOs, before returning to academia at yale).
at the end of this post on guinea, he poses some questions that i think, disastrously, for many years went without serious consideration in COIN and other policy planning (eg applicability of an iraq-style surge in afghanistan): "How can we take into account the particularities of a country and also the predictability of experiences from other countries in roughly comparable situations? How can we take seriously local actors’ just concerns with short-term considerations while underlining the medium-to-long term risks being built into the situation by present compromises?". i'm not saying that these questions aren't posed, but rather that the importance of anthropology (or, rather, the vital local knowledge that the discipline is in the unique position to provide) in answering them was for a long time ignored by policymakers. in return, the discipline obliged policy-makers by basically uninviting them to its birthday party. and so both groups skipped along for most of the 20th century, happily writing off the other as detached from reality on the ground (in their own ways).
since the american military finally caught wise to what they were missing in the wars in afghanistan and iraq, we've seen a new debate born among in social science (and especially anthro) around the human terrain system (HTS)program, which embeds social scientists with the military in the field. quite rightly, the american anthropological association, has decided that researchers collaborating with the military can not maintain a responsible, "first, do no harm" relationship with their informants, and may simultaneously do irreparable harm to the discipline (you can read the AAA resolution here and the full report here).
now, i think the resolution is absolutely right. HTS, as it currently functions, is fundamentally contradictory to responsible anthropology. besides being, arguably, deeply unethical, the results that you get are just not reliable the way non-embedded anthropology is; HTT anthropologists can't build the bonds of trust or develop the subtle back-of-the-house understanding of local dynamics that are precisely what (should) make anthro invaluable to responsible policy making. a not-unreasonable analogy is to the fundamental unreliability of intelligence gathered by torture. on the other hand, i think this debate forces open a conversation about what role anthropology should play in informing policy. the statement in the AAA resolution says, "anthropology can and in fact is obliged to help improve U.S. government policies through the widest possible circulation of anthropological understanding in the public sphere, so as to contribute to a transparent and informed development and implementation of U.S. policy by robustly democratic processes of fact-finding, debate, dialogue, and deliberation." however, i don't think the discipline can rest on this statement alone. the HTS debacle(s) must force a deeper examination about how anthropologists can remain true to professional ethics while REALLY engaging policy makers with the knowledge that they need.
...anyway. i never meant for this post to devolve into what it did...long story short, it's time that policy makers got re-invited to our birthday party. work like mike's and international crisis group's are good examples of vitally important bridge building among disciplines and between academia and policy making.
the first time i met mike was when i came to the first day of his class (his first class at yale, i think) "anthropologies of insurgency". my skepticism about his choice of facial hair (a little soul-patch paired a predilection for black turtlenecks) was short lived. by the end of the semester, i decided that any guy who mentions offhandedly anecdotes like "this one time i was talking to some insurgents in the niger delta. they had this new remote car-bombing technology they were really excited about. i think they got it from jihadis, but they wouldn't tell me for sure" can wear his beard any damn way he pleases.
yes, mike is a scary scary man (especially when he's critiquing your senior thesis), but he's also exactly the kind of anthropologist i want to be when i grow up. it's not just his subject matter (political violence, conflict, reconstruction), but his approach. while maintaining a proper anthropological dedication to deep understandings of local particularities, he doesn't fear the comparative or political economic. most importantly, he wants to make anthropology accessible to policy (he was west africa project director at international crisis group, one of my all-time favorite NGOs, before returning to academia at yale).
at the end of this post on guinea, he poses some questions that i think, disastrously, for many years went without serious consideration in COIN and other policy planning (eg applicability of an iraq-style surge in afghanistan): "How can we take into account the particularities of a country and also the predictability of experiences from other countries in roughly comparable situations? How can we take seriously local actors’ just concerns with short-term considerations while underlining the medium-to-long term risks being built into the situation by present compromises?". i'm not saying that these questions aren't posed, but rather that the importance of anthropology (or, rather, the vital local knowledge that the discipline is in the unique position to provide) in answering them was for a long time ignored by policymakers. in return, the discipline obliged policy-makers by basically uninviting them to its birthday party. and so both groups skipped along for most of the 20th century, happily writing off the other as detached from reality on the ground (in their own ways).
since the american military finally caught wise to what they were missing in the wars in afghanistan and iraq, we've seen a new debate born among in social science (and especially anthro) around the human terrain system (HTS)program, which embeds social scientists with the military in the field. quite rightly, the american anthropological association, has decided that researchers collaborating with the military can not maintain a responsible, "first, do no harm" relationship with their informants, and may simultaneously do irreparable harm to the discipline (you can read the AAA resolution here and the full report here).
now, i think the resolution is absolutely right. HTS, as it currently functions, is fundamentally contradictory to responsible anthropology. besides being, arguably, deeply unethical, the results that you get are just not reliable the way non-embedded anthropology is; HTT anthropologists can't build the bonds of trust or develop the subtle back-of-the-house understanding of local dynamics that are precisely what (should) make anthro invaluable to responsible policy making. a not-unreasonable analogy is to the fundamental unreliability of intelligence gathered by torture. on the other hand, i think this debate forces open a conversation about what role anthropology should play in informing policy. the statement in the AAA resolution says, "anthropology can and in fact is obliged to help improve U.S. government policies through the widest possible circulation of anthropological understanding in the public sphere, so as to contribute to a transparent and informed development and implementation of U.S. policy by robustly democratic processes of fact-finding, debate, dialogue, and deliberation." however, i don't think the discipline can rest on this statement alone. the HTS debacle(s) must force a deeper examination about how anthropologists can remain true to professional ethics while REALLY engaging policy makers with the knowledge that they need.
...anyway. i never meant for this post to devolve into what it did...long story short, it's time that policy makers got re-invited to our birthday party. work like mike's and international crisis group's are good examples of vitally important bridge building among disciplines and between academia and policy making.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
thai shrimp soup of the gods
this one was a family collaborative effort from this weekend. my brother brought home the recipe, and my mom and uncle cooked it. i was cooking other things ( gingery brussel sprouts and spiced goat cheese wontons), so, er, i supervised.the smell of this cooking is pretty near heaven. it's tangy and spicy and sweet in that way only SE asian food is...just. the. best.
the version made was probably lighter than the recipe below, since we used light coconut milk instead of regular. we also cooked it without any meat in it, to accommodate my brother and me. instead, we had shrimp and chicken cooked seperately, to be added in later. apparently, my brother and his friends made it at school with no meat but extra mushrooms, which is also yummy.
4 cups chicken stock
5 cloves garlic , peeled and cut into large chunks
2 inches fresh ginger , peeled and cut into large chunks
1 tablespoon Thai green curry paste
2 teaspoons whole coriander seeds
1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
3/4 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves and stems, plus additional 1/2 cup chopped for garnish
1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
3/4 cup thinly sliced shallots
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 (4- to 6-ounce) boneless chicken breast , cut into 1/4-inch strips
2 tablespoons Asian fish sauce (nam pla)
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 jalapeno , sliced into rings (optional)
1 small tomato , seeded and diced, for garnish
1/2 cup freshly shaved coconut or unsweetened coconut flakes , toasted, for garnish
In a large heavy-bottom pot over high heat, combine chicken stock, garlic, ginger, curry paste, coriander, cumin, peppercorns and cilantro. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes. Strain broth over a bowl through a fine-mesh sieve; discard solids. Return broth to pot; add coconut milk, shallots, mushrooms and chicken. Return to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and cook until chicken is cooked through, 5 to 7 minutes.
In a small bowl, combine fish sauce, lime juice, brown sugar and jalapeño, if desired; stir until sugar is dissolved, then add mixture to soup. Garnish with tomato, coconut shavings and cilantro; serve hot.
a children's treasury of my mom's culinary staples (or: why i go home)
so i've been inactive on the blog for a little while, because i was home for a long weekend, and while i'm there, i like to pretend that there is nothing but walks on the shore, reading on the couch, beers at grumpy's, and my mom's cooking....
...especially the cooking. for a woman who will happily eat unspeakable, week-old leftovers all mushed up together in a bowl, my mom is an incredible cook. the best. and we never really stop eating in my house. we're a family of grazers; i would wager that most of our calories are consumed just before dinner, with the eternal cheese and roasted veggie and hummus and toast and deliciousness that goes out before we actually consider ourselves ready to consume the real meal.
below is a collection of her old standards (or variations on them), with my pictures and instructions in her own words.
roasted red peppers
ellen sez: "wash and dry them. Put them on a baking sheet (I line it with foil, since sticky juice leaks out when the peppers cook, and it's hell to clean up. Broil them, turning until all sides are charred but not so charred that the meat is all desiccated. It's fine if the charred skin cracks. Let them cool completely. Peel and remove seeds. Juice will come out, and it--or at least some of it--is yummy to keep the peppers in. Cut, douse with some good olive oil, and balsamic if you want, and a slice of garlic if you want, and some basil leaves if you want"
molly sez:"eat with everything, especially soft cheeses and toast."
rumanian eggplant
ellen sez: "wash, dry, prick a couple of times on all sides. Broil, again on foil and again until charred all over and collapsed. remove from oven, make a slit from one end to the other, squirt plenty of lemon juice in, and let cool. Scrape into a bowl, chop, add olive oil, salt and pepper, and in the true rumanian style, some very finely chopped oninons, but I don't like the onions."
molly sez: "ONIONS. and yeah, kinda looks like boogers, but as someone who missed out for the first 20 year of her life due to squeemishness, i can tell you: sack up."
roasted tomatoes
ellen sez: "Buy the Roma (Plum) tomatoes. Cut in half the long way and with your index and middle fingers (or in my case, kielbasas), dig out the seeds and the juicy stuff the seeds are in; leave the pulp, though. Line a baking sheet w/parchment, put tomatoes cut side up, drizzle with olive oil, balsamic, salt, pepper, and chopped garlic. Roast at 275 for 2 hours."
molly sez: "new favorite."
salmon
ellen sez: "get a slab of salmon fillet, put it on a baking sheet on top of parchment. Brush with olive oil and salt and pepper. Cover with another sheet of parchment and press so it sticks to the fish. Bake at 400-ish --maybe 10 minutes--until fish flakes and is as done as you like it. I don't know how to determine that except dig a fork into the middle and look. The rule of thumb seems to be 10 minutes/inch of fish."
molly sez: "not her usual preparation, but just as good. serve with tsatsiki"
fruit pie
ellen sez: "4 cups of fruit, 2/3-ish cup of sugar, 1/4cup flour, lemon juice and peel (but not pith, of course), 1/4 tsp cinnamon, anything else (nuts? craisins?) and if juicy, 2 tsp quick-cooking tapioca sprinkled over the top. Stir gently. Let sit 15 min. Preheat oven to 450. I use the Pillsbury or store brand pie dough that comes in the long rectangular box in dairy sections. Put fruit filling in shell, dot with butter, put top layer of crust on. Brush top crust with milk or cream and dust with sugar. make several slits. bake at 450 for 10 minutes, lower heat to 350 for 35-40 min. If the edges start to get too brown, you can do that tin foil trick."
molly sez: "i put a little half and half on, but if you wanna be all european, finish with cheese"
...especially the cooking. for a woman who will happily eat unspeakable, week-old leftovers all mushed up together in a bowl, my mom is an incredible cook. the best. and we never really stop eating in my house. we're a family of grazers; i would wager that most of our calories are consumed just before dinner, with the eternal cheese and roasted veggie and hummus and toast and deliciousness that goes out before we actually consider ourselves ready to consume the real meal.
below is a collection of her old standards (or variations on them), with my pictures and instructions in her own words.
roasted red peppers
ellen sez: "wash and dry them. Put them on a baking sheet (I line it with foil, since sticky juice leaks out when the peppers cook, and it's hell to clean up. Broil them, turning until all sides are charred but not so charred that the meat is all desiccated. It's fine if the charred skin cracks. Let them cool completely. Peel and remove seeds. Juice will come out, and it--or at least some of it--is yummy to keep the peppers in. Cut, douse with some good olive oil, and balsamic if you want, and a slice of garlic if you want, and some basil leaves if you want"molly sez:"eat with everything, especially soft cheeses and toast."
rumanian eggplant
ellen sez: "wash, dry, prick a couple of times on all sides. Broil, again on foil and again until charred all over and collapsed. remove from oven, make a slit from one end to the other, squirt plenty of lemon juice in, and let cool. Scrape into a bowl, chop, add olive oil, salt and pepper, and in the true rumanian style, some very finely chopped oninons, but I don't like the onions."molly sez: "ONIONS. and yeah, kinda looks like boogers, but as someone who missed out for the first 20 year of her life due to squeemishness, i can tell you: sack up."
roasted tomatoes
ellen sez: "Buy the Roma (Plum) tomatoes. Cut in half the long way and with your index and middle fingers (or in my case, kielbasas), dig out the seeds and the juicy stuff the seeds are in; leave the pulp, though. Line a baking sheet w/parchment, put tomatoes cut side up, drizzle with olive oil, balsamic, salt, pepper, and chopped garlic. Roast at 275 for 2 hours."molly sez: "new favorite."
salmon
ellen sez: "get a slab of salmon fillet, put it on a baking sheet on top of parchment. Brush with olive oil and salt and pepper. Cover with another sheet of parchment and press so it sticks to the fish. Bake at 400-ish --maybe 10 minutes--until fish flakes and is as done as you like it. I don't know how to determine that except dig a fork into the middle and look. The rule of thumb seems to be 10 minutes/inch of fish."molly sez: "not her usual preparation, but just as good. serve with tsatsiki"
fruit pie
ellen sez: "4 cups of fruit, 2/3-ish cup of sugar, 1/4cup flour, lemon juice and peel (but not pith, of course), 1/4 tsp cinnamon, anything else (nuts? craisins?) and if juicy, 2 tsp quick-cooking tapioca sprinkled over the top. Stir gently. Let sit 15 min. Preheat oven to 450. I use the Pillsbury or store brand pie dough that comes in the long rectangular box in dairy sections. Put fruit filling in shell, dot with butter, put top layer of crust on. Brush top crust with milk or cream and dust with sugar. make several slits. bake at 450 for 10 minutes, lower heat to 350 for 35-40 min. If the edges start to get too brown, you can do that tin foil trick."molly sez: "i put a little half and half on, but if you wanna be all european, finish with cheese"
Monday, March 9, 2009
kitchen confidential
one of the best shows no longer on television.
it's a story about a brilliant chef and recovering mess of a human, jack bourdain (yes, as in loosely based on anthony bourdain and his book of the same title) given one last chance for redemption. he gathers together a motley crew of cooks and comedy ensues!
...seriously, though, it's wicked funny (and the source of one of my favorite cooking quotes ever*). although only four episodes ever aired in the US before fox canceled it (same season arrested development was canceled, in a perfect storm of poor judgment), all the episodes are available on dvd, as well as on hulu. at 13 episodes of 20 minutes each, it can be done in one slightly embarrassingly long sitting/binge.
*"cooking isn't about struggling. it's about pleasure. it's like sex, with a wider variety of sauces" -- steven
it's a story about a brilliant chef and recovering mess of a human, jack bourdain (yes, as in loosely based on anthony bourdain and his book of the same title) given one last chance for redemption. he gathers together a motley crew of cooks and comedy ensues!
...seriously, though, it's wicked funny (and the source of one of my favorite cooking quotes ever*). although only four episodes ever aired in the US before fox canceled it (same season arrested development was canceled, in a perfect storm of poor judgment), all the episodes are available on dvd, as well as on hulu. at 13 episodes of 20 minutes each, it can be done in one slightly embarrassingly long sitting/binge.
*"cooking isn't about struggling. it's about pleasure. it's like sex, with a wider variety of sauces" -- steven
facing the tattoo music
so i'm inching closer and closer, sideways and crab-like, to sacking up and getting a tattoo. i've had it designed for a while (nb: it is not, nor was it ever, going to be a gothic-lettered "LA LUCHA"...just to clear that up. i'm in no rush to get shanked by an ecuadorian gang member or harassed by east haven cops); i've narrowed down placement to ankle, lower back, or between shoulder blades (although: painful, tramp-stamp, and inclined to fat, respectively); and now i just have to figure out where to go. SO if you've had a good experience with a particular location or artist, preferably in an easily accessible place like new haven, boston, or new york, email me or let 'er rip in the comments.(it should be noted that this is not the design either, just a little something i whipped up for the cover of our intern protocols at my old internship. GENDER AND SECURITY: HOLLA BACK. UNSCR 1325 4LYFE)
Sunday, March 8, 2009
common concert post-game
caveat: this post is going to start a little negative, but IT WAS ALL WORTH IT BECAUSE LONNIE RASHID LYNN JR (aka common sense aka common) IS A GOD AMONG MEN.
so last night i went to a show at toad's for the first time in a while, because...well, who could pass up common playing within walking distance?? we sort of split the baby in terms of arrival- too late to get to the front, but early enough that we waited for an hour and a half for the opener, asher roth, to go on. (predictably, the show started about an hour late).
asher roth...
is a new artist from PA. i knew nothing about him before he came on, so i didn't immediately identify the lanky, tow-headed kid (he's 23) who loped on stage and snagged a floating joint from an audience member as the first act. he's kind of charming, actually, in that wanna pinch his cheeks way...but he's self-fashioned as a sort of chill party boy; his overall vibe says "smoke weed every day! in my mom's basement, in the suburbs". to be fair to him, it's not really his fault that i didn't respond well. first of all, when you show up for common, a man who writes lyrics about his daughter's eyes and redirecting hiphop in a positive direction, a song called "i love college" isn't exactly what you're in the mood for. on a personal note, as someone who's trying to scramble up the cliff-face of adulthood (one foot upwards, two feet back) lyrics like "that party last night was awfully crazy/i wish we taped it/i danced my ass off/i had this one girl completely naked/drink my beer/smoke my weed/with my good friends it's all i need"...not so much. it's to his credit that he doesn't posture and act like something he's not, but at the end of the day, he's sort of like the OAR of hiphop: fun if you're smashed at a party, but otherwise a bit grating and juvenile in all but the smallest doses.
COMMON
it says so much about this artist that he wiped away every trace of negativity that had built up for me in the interim between acts. as much as i love live music, i realize that i kind of hate concert-goers. i was surrounded by every terrible show attendee stereotype...EVER. the couple making out the whole time: to my right. the group of drunk, writing, attention-seeking 14 year old girls with the BRIGHTEST CAMERA FLASHES this side of a red carpet: to my left. the tallest guy in the room: directly in front of me. the guy shouting every lyric in budweiser breath: directly over my right shoulder. BUT in the middle of mentally composing hate letters to all of these people, common swooped onto stage in a blaze of energy, and i immediately loved everyone around me, and not just because of the ambient marijuana finally getting to me (i don't think...).
his set was pretty be heavy (which made me happy), including the title track, "the corner", "go", "testify", "love is", and "the food" (in his encore), but he also threw in older classics like "i used to love HER" (a scathing critique of hiphop's gangsta-turn, which spawned a brief battle with west-coast rappers, primarily ice cube), to which the crowd responded energetically. live-moment highlights included a quick sample from black star's "definition," when he decided to spotlight his INCREDIBLE dj, and an extended free-style, which, starting off a bit slow, made me wonder if he was beginning to show his age, but picked up considerably in the second half, where he offered shout-outs to new haven landmarks and a mini-praise song for obama (AMEN!)**.
this was my first real exposure to his neptunes-produced universal mind control material, which is a departure, especially lyrically, from the gravitas and fusion beats for which he's become known. however, the sheer danceability (less common for common) of "universal mind control" make truth of the lyric "you know you like it/it's calling your name". "punch drunk love" (the album version reprises the successful kanye/common partnership from be) isn't terrible either. i dug "gladiator"; its sky-high energy and horn-and-piano accented electronic beats make it great for a live show, but who invokes michael vick and nelson mandela in the same verse? common's famous and admirable moral compass seems to have gotten skewed there. unfortunately, "sex 4 sugar", weirdly salacious in a crappy club song kinda way, doesn't have the same musical highlights to redeem it.
but let's be real: it barely matters what a mixed bag his new stuff is. the man is a consummate performer. he reminds me of the kind of young, cool high school teacher who had the students completely in the palm of his hand. a commanding, but playful presence; earnest, but mischievous. he seemed like he was having as much fun as the audience was (which was LOT) whether he was bantering with his dj and keyboardist on stage, interacting with the crowd in front, or dancing with a fist-pumping, sweat-soaked energy on every inch of the stage. (it helps that common is not only a riveting performer, but easily one of the most attractive men i have ever been the the presence of; he is sexy in an irresistible, magnetic way. i'm (almost) not ashamed to admit that i would have sacrificed a digit to have been the girl he brought up on stage during "love is".)
bottom line:
there are shows that you leave feeling quizzical, with a sense of anti-climax (dave matthews).
there are shows that you leave feeling satisfied, but ultimately not overwhelmed (catch 22).
there are shows that you leave, drunk as a lord on smuggled nips of bourbon, eating cheez-fries, and having just made out with a celtics-jersey wearing plumber from quincy, in order to tow a distressed and equally drunk friend back to a red roof inn (steve miller band).
and then there are shows, like this one, that make you say to yourself, "i would give up [sex, chocolate, beer, lolcatz, etc] for a whole year, in a hiphop lent sort of way, if i could see that every saturday".... it's the food, baby.
aaanyway, to distract you from the fact that i've been to a steve miller band concert, here's a snippet of "go" from saturday:
**i, of course, got video of the first half of this, but, for no logical reason, stopped taping in the second half. kicking myself...but i'm having a hell of a time getting the videos posted, anyway...so maybe no harm done. i'll try to get something posted, soon, though, whether it's my own or something that pops up on youtube.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
blogrollcall
so i just wanted to make some brief plugs for friends' blogs.
'cause why not.
argument by spaghetti: dave is so sharp, he cuts himself, sometimes. this blog is great snippets of our mutual, geeky love of all things political, mostly in the IR/security studies realm, or, as he puts it, "random thoughts about order, conflict, violence, and anything else that sticks." he keeps wanting me to post more stuff in this vein, and who knows, maybe i will.
come on into my kitchen: my friend molly and i have been known collectively as "the molly mayhems", for good reason. check out her cooking blog, which is awesome, if a little sparse lately :(
diagonal limes: kai has this really annoying habit of being excellent at whatever he turns his hand to. this includes his music blog, which trends towards the electronic and electronic-heavy rock/pop genres. he knows his shit.
encyclopedia black: for the pop culture geek in all of us, i give you jay's blog. these days, he's actually mostly posting on forcesofgeek. (best blog name ever? possibly.)
traveling light: june's semester studying abroad in amman, and then (planned) summer working in beirut. june is a stellar photographer and journalist, and all around great world citizen, so it's always worth following her adventures, which she always relays with insight and eloquence.
are we friends? do i not know you have a blog? are you one of approx. three people who will see this post? send your blog to me and i'll shamelessly plug you.
'cause why not.
argument by spaghetti: dave is so sharp, he cuts himself, sometimes. this blog is great snippets of our mutual, geeky love of all things political, mostly in the IR/security studies realm, or, as he puts it, "random thoughts about order, conflict, violence, and anything else that sticks." he keeps wanting me to post more stuff in this vein, and who knows, maybe i will.
come on into my kitchen: my friend molly and i have been known collectively as "the molly mayhems", for good reason. check out her cooking blog, which is awesome, if a little sparse lately :(
diagonal limes: kai has this really annoying habit of being excellent at whatever he turns his hand to. this includes his music blog, which trends towards the electronic and electronic-heavy rock/pop genres. he knows his shit.
encyclopedia black: for the pop culture geek in all of us, i give you jay's blog. these days, he's actually mostly posting on forcesofgeek. (best blog name ever? possibly.)
traveling light: june's semester studying abroad in amman, and then (planned) summer working in beirut. june is a stellar photographer and journalist, and all around great world citizen, so it's always worth following her adventures, which she always relays with insight and eloquence.
are we friends? do i not know you have a blog? are you one of approx. three people who will see this post? send your blog to me and i'll shamelessly plug you.
off-season for a reason
maybe it's the economic downturn and the "staycation" trend that's only partially sweeping the nation...but whatever the motive behind this laura holson's nytimes travel section paean to the romance of the forbidding but icily beautiful winter on cape, it's abundantly clear that the author has never actually spent a whole. winter. on. the. cape.
having grown up there, i can tell you that the spring and fall right before and after the tourist season are vastly underrated...but you've pretty much got it right to avoid winter. winter on the cape is much like the rest of new england...gray and cold. if we actually get snow, it looks beautiful for about five minutes, then turns dingy and slushy, then freezes. you might have a couple of freak days in the 40s or even 50s (new england weather: toying with your shit since 1660), which will make it all melt before it drops back down to 15 with wind chill. rinse and repeat. on the cape, you also get the car-rusting salty rawness of the frigid sea air rolling off the shore...so, bonus!
and if i'm going to get self-righteous as well as mocking (and, really, when have i ever shied away from that), her brief portrait of the salty locals (look! they eat oysters, too!) glosses the reality of what happens in an economic crisis when "a drinking town with a fishing problem" overfished its two generations ago, and relies almost exclusively on tourism to sustain its economy.
having grown up there, i can tell you that the spring and fall right before and after the tourist season are vastly underrated...but you've pretty much got it right to avoid winter. winter on the cape is much like the rest of new england...gray and cold. if we actually get snow, it looks beautiful for about five minutes, then turns dingy and slushy, then freezes. you might have a couple of freak days in the 40s or even 50s (new england weather: toying with your shit since 1660), which will make it all melt before it drops back down to 15 with wind chill. rinse and repeat. on the cape, you also get the car-rusting salty rawness of the frigid sea air rolling off the shore...so, bonus!
and if i'm going to get self-righteous as well as mocking (and, really, when have i ever shied away from that), her brief portrait of the salty locals (look! they eat oysters, too!) glosses the reality of what happens in an economic crisis when "a drinking town with a fishing problem" overfished its two generations ago, and relies almost exclusively on tourism to sustain its economy.
march/april concert update
here are some more for ya:
3/10: let's wrestle and black lips @ music hall of williamsburg [<--anyone? anyone?]
AND/OR
3/13 let's wrestle w/ pains of being pure at heart @ the bell house [THIS will be an AWESOME show...that i tragically can't attend]
4/1 Brian Jonestown Massacre @ Terminal 5
4/1 Sebastien Tellier @ Le Poisson Rouge
4/3 Deadmau5 @ Roseland Ballroom
4/18 Yale FES Environmental Film Festival @GYPSCY
4/23 Simian Mobile Disco @ Highline Ballroom
3/10: let's wrestle and black lips @ music hall of williamsburg [<--anyone? anyone?]
AND/OR
3/13 let's wrestle w/ pains of being pure at heart @ the bell house [THIS will be an AWESOME show...that i tragically can't attend]
4/1 Brian Jonestown Massacre @ Terminal 5
4/1 Sebastien Tellier @ Le Poisson Rouge
4/3 Deadmau5 @ Roseland Ballroom
4/18 Yale FES Environmental Film Festival @GYPSCY
4/23 Simian Mobile Disco @ Highline Ballroom
Friday, March 6, 2009
CT police state
this article in the new haven independent documents what is looking like some truly egregious shit.
it's frustrating that it took the arrest of a (white) priest with a video camera to get people's attention about the east haven police harassment of latino business owners and the terrorization of their customers, but better late than never i guess.
any thoughts on ways to take action on this? if i had a car, i would go patronize these places (and i may try to do this anyway). anyone else have any ideas/has anyone heard of efforts that are already going on?
Thursday, March 5, 2009
everything's amazing.
...and nobody's happy.
every time i catch myself wanting to chuck my computer, dysfunctionanal microsoft visio free trial and all, out the window, i force myself to quote this in my head, like a mantra.
every time i catch myself wanting to chuck my computer, dysfunctionanal microsoft visio free trial and all, out the window, i force myself to quote this in my head, like a mantra.
nouveaux lentils and further adventures in flatbread
as much as i love my lentils (and my roommate does call me "lentil queen"), i've gotten sick of my usual curried-ish tomato-ish lentil recipe that i've relied on for most of the winter. so, i was understandably psyched when a friend sent me a lentil recipe that relies on winter greens and fresh herbs for a new take on this particular staple. i made some changes from the original to suit my taste, so it's still pretty spice heavy, but during a new england march, when you've pretty much run out of patience with winter, scenic snow-scapes or not, trust me, the this fresh-herb dependent recipe can make all the difference....nouveaux lentils
chop one large onion, and sautee in a large saucepan with a couple tablespoons of olive oil.
when the onion gets soft, add two minced cloves of garlic and some powdered ginger and cumin, as well as about a cup and a quarter of lentils.
mix together and add enough vegetable stock to cover the lentils with room to spare.
cover and cook until the lentils are tender, adding more stock as necessary.
throw in a generous amount (1/4 lb? 1/3 lb?) of kale (or any winter green...the recipe called for spinach, i used kale, and chard would probably work as well, besides adding nice color) with a little extra stock or water, and wilt the greens.
add red pepper, black pepper, salt, and more ginger and cumin if necessary, to taste.
when everything else is satisfactory, mix in a double handful, equal parts chopped mint and cilantro. serve with a dollop of yogurt.
first attempt at naan
so i've already blogged my shot at foccacia, and the naan i made tonight is really similar, just with more fat, and different seasoning.
mix 1 packet yeast and 2 tsps honey.add 3/4 cup warm (~110F) water to activate yeast, and leave covered for 5-10minutes, until frothy.
mix together 2tsps salt and 1 1/2 cups flour, and 2 cloves minced garlic.
add yeasty/honied water, along with 1/4 cup ghee and 3 generous tbsps greek yogurt.
mix, then knead, adding flour as needed to get to an elastic and not impossibly sticky dough.
oil a bowl and the dough, and cover. leave to rise to double its size (~1 hour).
punch down dough, remove from bowl.
preheat oven to 400F.
divide dough into 10 pieces, roll out, and place on oiled baking sheet.
cook until golden, flipping halfway through.
remove, glaze with more ghee, and serve.
just to go along with the theme, i decided to try a new beer:
otter creek brewery isn't my favorite (their copper ale tastes like a trip to the dentist), but, given the theme of my dinner, i couldn't resist trying their "world tour: sphinx" which is an "egyptian multigrain ale bewed with chamomile and honey". it very much tastes like if you were to make a beer out of a mug of chamomile tea with lemon and honey. it's actually not bad...unique, if likely to offend purists. on the other hand, it pairs pretty well with the spice/mint of the lentils and the buttery naan....and maybe more importantly, it's $2 for a 1pt 6oz bottle...so enjoy!
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
FML: john legend
so work this week is making flow charts/report writing until my eyes bleed. times like this, i'm really glad that few people work around me. we share our building with an eclectic group of yale organizations (the episcopal church at yale? the lgbt co-op? the yale angler's jounal?) each with few employees, so there's virtually no day to day contact with other people. given that the building seems to have been decorated in Early American Psych Ward, this can get a little, er, wearing. on the bright side, this means i can listen to music in my office, pretty much as loudly as i'd like.
lately, my music selection of choice has been my pandora quickmix of common, the temptations, and amy winehouse (a largely neo-soul/"conscious" hip-hop mix that only stufftwhitepeoplelike could love). from this, i've been reminded of why i originally purchased john legend's "get lifted". my roomate and i were just talking about how insufferable the contemporary r&b genre can be...which gave me the opportunity to rant about how so many artists who are put into the r&b/pop category today spit on the legacy of CLASSIC r&b that they've inherited. one exception that i think stands out is john legend, who, while unapologetically producing that babymakin' music, does it with style and originality: interesting collaborations, musical integrity, and honest to god throwback-to-motown sound.
anyway, that's all just my opinion, and really by way of dressing up how embarassed i was, nonetheless, to be caught by our cute wireless installer guy, singing along to slow dance and dancing around in my chair like a fool. FML.
at least it wasn't this one (it's even worse as you read the lyrics)...
lately, my music selection of choice has been my pandora quickmix of common, the temptations, and amy winehouse (a largely neo-soul/"conscious" hip-hop mix that only stufftwhitepeoplelike could love). from this, i've been reminded of why i originally purchased john legend's "get lifted". my roomate and i were just talking about how insufferable the contemporary r&b genre can be...which gave me the opportunity to rant about how so many artists who are put into the r&b/pop category today spit on the legacy of CLASSIC r&b that they've inherited. one exception that i think stands out is john legend, who, while unapologetically producing that babymakin' music, does it with style and originality: interesting collaborations, musical integrity, and honest to god throwback-to-motown sound.
anyway, that's all just my opinion, and really by way of dressing up how embarassed i was, nonetheless, to be caught by our cute wireless installer guy, singing along to slow dance and dancing around in my chair like a fool. FML.
at least it wasn't this one (it's even worse as you read the lyrics)...
Sunday, March 1, 2009
herbed apple pie
it's snowing out AGAIN...i am so done with winter...that said, it seemed appropriate to end my weekend with a little comfort food and a movie. so i cued up "can't hardly wait" (which i'd actually never seen before), and decided to use up some of the fresh thyme and mint that i had in my fridge.
i don't much like sweet things, so i decided to adapt an apple pie for my tastes. it's still kind of sweet, but uses honey and orange juice rather than sugar.
crust
2 cups white flour
1/2 cup wheat flour
2 sticks butter, cut up
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
ice water
mix the flour, sugar, and salt with a food processor, add the butter and pulse until the mixture is kind of crumbly. add the water, slowly, until you can make the mixture stick together. knead the dough until it forms a ball, and divide it into two discs. pop them in the fridge, wrapped in plastic, for about an hour.
filling
peel and dice some apples and mix them with lemon juice, orange juice, honey (only about a 1/4-1/3 of a cup), ginger, nutmeg, and cinnamon. let it hang out, covered, while the crust chills.
take the crusts out, let sit at room temp for about 10 minutes, then roll both out. line a pie pan with one. mix the apples with a handful of thyme and chopped mint. throw the filling in the crust and cap with the other. pinch the two crusts together and trim off the extra.
bake in an oven pre-heated to 400 degrees. when the edge of the crust starts to look brown, cover it with foil, turn down the oven to 375 and keep cooking until the rest of the top crust gets golden.
cool the pie for a while and serve with some cream (i didn't have heavy cream to whip, but that would be yummy), and maybe a little maple syrup.
notes for next time: i was a little heavy handed with the thyme. in the future, i'd be more judicious with that, and add a little more cinnamon, and maybe some cloves (which i didn't have tonight).
the new white house
i started my morning off with the videos posted below...and can i just say how glorious it is to be able to imagine the american president and his wife having sex without feeling physically ill?
our first couple is just so bangin'.
so, thanks for that, stevie wonder.
watch barry sing along...I LOVE THIS MAN.
our first couple is just so bangin'.
so, thanks for that, stevie wonder.
watch barry sing along...I LOVE THIS MAN.
march music dump.
happy march, everyone!
i realized i had a couple of posts i wanted to do: one on concerts i want to see, and one on my monthly binge/emusic purchase....and then realized that they could easily be combined in a single, convenient monthly format. so, i give you: monthly music dump, march edition.
march concerts
these are concerts i want to hit in the months of march and april. most are in new york, although some are in new haven (toad's turned out a surprisingly good lineup). i'm open to pretty much anything, though, so send me a concert and i'll update this post.
3/7 Toad's: Common
3/15 (Music Hall of Williamsburg) 3/16 NYC (Terminal 5): Ting Tings
3/16 Toad’ s: Less Than Jake
3/25 Terminal 5: Bloc Party
3/26 Music Hall of Williamsburg: The Harlem Shakes (nb: yale alums)
3/31 Toad's: Digable Planets (yeah, that's right)
3/31 Wellmont Theater: Ray Lamontagne
4/4 Mercury Lounge: Ra Ra Riot
4/8 Toad's: Margot and the Nuclear So and So's
4/9 Mercury Lounge: Someone Still Loves You, Boris Yeltsin
4/19 Toad's: Of Montreal
4/20 Toad's: Jedi Mind Tricks
4/21 Terminal 5: Ratatat
4/27 Toad's: KRS-One
emusic binge
so, as i've mentioned before, my personal music downloading venue of choice is emusic (and yes, i often, if not exclusively, BUY my music, like the sucker i am). emusic doesn't carry a lot of big contemporary names, which is what lets them get away with selling their music for what they do: anywhere between .60 and .25 per track, depending on your plan. what's great is that they sell by the track, so, for instance, i get 40 downloads a month, of any length, in any configuration. although it's not the place to find that one addictive radio single (you'll inevitably end up augmenting from itunes or similar), the price, eclectic selection, copious free downloads*, and smart (if self-consciously indie) editorials and features make it a no-contest win for my primary service. the only major downside is the monthly "refresh" function of your downloads: if you don't use 'em, you lose 'em. for me, this results in dawdling all month, then purchasing in one big binge...and hoping i don't lose track of the date...and all my downloads.
anyway, i got my shit together this month, so here goes:
jay-z reasonable doubt
those of us who came of age after 2000 know jay-z as much for his crossover efforts, entrepreneurship, and tumultuous romances as for his individual artistic efforts. i think we can lose sight of the fact that he's a brilliant lyricist and heir to the legacy of some of new york's greatest, as reasonable doubt, his debut album, attests.
the pains of being pure at heart the pains of being pure at heart
this album invites the inevitable comparisons to morrissey, velvet underground, the cure, etc [insert john hughes reference here]. but i'll go ahead and use the word "derivative" without any negative connotation (although you may not agree). regardless, as often happens, just when i feel like pop is dead (thanks, katy perry), emusic gives me a little something to hold on to.
beirut march of the zapotec & realpeople: holland
as usual, zach condon pulls together a whirling, swooping carnival of influences, from mexico to his usual balkan-inspired sounds. recorded half in oaxaca, mexico and half in his parents' basement...SO INDIE IT HURTS.
bon iver blood bank
a sort of amuse-oreille follow up to the wistful, sighing balladry of 2008's for emma, for ever. at 4 tracks, also rounds me out to 40 for the month.
free music haul: nacional records sampler 2009, wages of syntax (syntax records sampler from 2002), an introduction to truth and soul (great sampler, this one), and an ok remix album from the rosebuds.
see you next month: sharon jones and the dap kings, ted leo and the pharmacists.
*the free downloads can be a major mixed bag, but i've picked up a couple of new favorites artists from the samplers i've gotten there. they're always worth sifting through.
i realized i had a couple of posts i wanted to do: one on concerts i want to see, and one on my monthly binge/emusic purchase....and then realized that they could easily be combined in a single, convenient monthly format. so, i give you: monthly music dump, march edition.
march concerts
these are concerts i want to hit in the months of march and april. most are in new york, although some are in new haven (toad's turned out a surprisingly good lineup). i'm open to pretty much anything, though, so send me a concert and i'll update this post.
3/7 Toad's: Common
3/15 (Music Hall of Williamsburg) 3/16 NYC (Terminal 5): Ting Tings
3/16 Toad’ s: Less Than Jake
3/25 Terminal 5: Bloc Party
3/26 Music Hall of Williamsburg: The Harlem Shakes (nb: yale alums)
3/31 Toad's: Digable Planets (yeah, that's right)
3/31 Wellmont Theater: Ray Lamontagne
4/4 Mercury Lounge: Ra Ra Riot
4/8 Toad's: Margot and the Nuclear So and So's
4/9 Mercury Lounge: Someone Still Loves You, Boris Yeltsin
4/19 Toad's: Of Montreal
4/20 Toad's: Jedi Mind Tricks
4/21 Terminal 5: Ratatat
4/27 Toad's: KRS-One
emusic binge
so, as i've mentioned before, my personal music downloading venue of choice is emusic (and yes, i often, if not exclusively, BUY my music, like the sucker i am). emusic doesn't carry a lot of big contemporary names, which is what lets them get away with selling their music for what they do: anywhere between .60 and .25 per track, depending on your plan. what's great is that they sell by the track, so, for instance, i get 40 downloads a month, of any length, in any configuration. although it's not the place to find that one addictive radio single (you'll inevitably end up augmenting from itunes or similar), the price, eclectic selection, copious free downloads*, and smart (if self-consciously indie) editorials and features make it a no-contest win for my primary service. the only major downside is the monthly "refresh" function of your downloads: if you don't use 'em, you lose 'em. for me, this results in dawdling all month, then purchasing in one big binge...and hoping i don't lose track of the date...and all my downloads.
anyway, i got my shit together this month, so here goes:
jay-z reasonable doubt
those of us who came of age after 2000 know jay-z as much for his crossover efforts, entrepreneurship, and tumultuous romances as for his individual artistic efforts. i think we can lose sight of the fact that he's a brilliant lyricist and heir to the legacy of some of new york's greatest, as reasonable doubt, his debut album, attests.
the pains of being pure at heart the pains of being pure at heart
this album invites the inevitable comparisons to morrissey, velvet underground, the cure, etc [insert john hughes reference here]. but i'll go ahead and use the word "derivative" without any negative connotation (although you may not agree). regardless, as often happens, just when i feel like pop is dead (thanks, katy perry), emusic gives me a little something to hold on to.
beirut march of the zapotec & realpeople: holland
as usual, zach condon pulls together a whirling, swooping carnival of influences, from mexico to his usual balkan-inspired sounds. recorded half in oaxaca, mexico and half in his parents' basement...SO INDIE IT HURTS.
bon iver blood bank
a sort of amuse-oreille follow up to the wistful, sighing balladry of 2008's for emma, for ever. at 4 tracks, also rounds me out to 40 for the month.
free music haul: nacional records sampler 2009, wages of syntax (syntax records sampler from 2002), an introduction to truth and soul (great sampler, this one), and an ok remix album from the rosebuds.
see you next month: sharon jones and the dap kings, ted leo and the pharmacists.
*the free downloads can be a major mixed bag, but i've picked up a couple of new favorites artists from the samplers i've gotten there. they're always worth sifting through.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
