Question of the Day: Wakey wakey!

What time did you wake up today?

Post your answer as a comment.

Answers I've received already:
~ 10:30 a.m.
~ 8 a.m.
~ 2 (ish) p.m.

My answer:
I was up at 8 a.m. but went back to bed for a couple hours. (Hey, don't judge me! Sunday's my only day off!)

Some yogurt with your beetles, sir?

Vegans wouldn't eat yogurt, of course, but perhaps vegetarians should stay away from yogurt, too -- especially the strawberry kind. Apparently, the yummy pink stuff gets its color from crushed female cochineal beetles and their eggs.

See a crushed beetle, and the resulting red liquid, below. Yum.

Question of the Day: Tattoos

How many tattoos do you have?

Post your answer as a comment.

Answers I've already received:
~ None yet
~ Three
~ Eight (this was a popular number)

My answer:
One so far.

(Post your answer as a comment.)

Swear Jar

I have a jar like this every Lent. Unfortunately, you really try not to curse when the money's going to charity instead of something more fun.

Question of the Day: Sheets

What color are your sheets?

Post your answer as a comment.

Answers I've received so far:
~ Leopard
~ Sky blue
~ I don't have any 'cuz I sleep on the sofa.

My answer:
Light peach.

(Post your answer as a comment.)

Today's Trifecta

Sing.



Dance.



Tell a joke.

Have a look

Locals find respite from the scorching heat of Amritsar, India. Thank God for air conditioning. Really. (BBC)



Children play in the rubble of demolished homes in Shanghai. What imaginations they must have to find fun in such a place. Yet rich American kids live their lives forever "booooored." (BBC, again)



Main Street in Concord, NH, feels electric sans the neon. Ben McLeod's Flickr.com

Word of the day

in·fin·i·tes·i·mal
[in-fin-i-tes-uh-muhl]

adjective
1. indefinitely or exceedingly small; minute: infinitesimal vessels in the circulatory system.
2. immeasurably small; less than an assignable quantity: to an infinitesimal degree.
3. of, pertaining to, or involving infinitesimals.

noun
4. an infinitesimal quantity.
5. Mathematics. a variable having zero as a limit.

"Infintesimal gradations" is one of the many suggested solutions-to-any-problem provided by the deck of cards known as Oblique Strategies. Others suggest, "Use filters," ""Go slowly all the way round the outside," and, one of my personal favorites, "Trust in the you of now." Hmm, fairly deep for a deck of cards, no?

Just Like Honey

A raw goodbye.

Set in Tokyo, to the tune "Just Like Honey" by Jesus and Mary Chain, in one of my favorite films, "Lost in Translation."

TV on the Radio

TV on the Radio:

Rich and full, but not obtuse.
Complex and thoughtful, but easily absorbed.
The lyrics and videos are honest-to-goodness art.
The guys are bright, socially aware and innately funky - everything one really wants a band to be, no?

Well, my words won't do the music or the band justice.
So, nevermind all you've read. Just listen.

Rock. For real.
"Staring at the Sun"



Mellow and contemplative.
"Province"


P.S. David Bowie, Peter Murphy of Bauhaus, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and others are involved in one way or another - big endorsement. Oh, and they're from Brooklyn. 'Nuff said.

Prettier in person

Don't look directly at it.

Bait and tackle

Crazy random: a tiny, silver fish laying dead in a suburban office building's parking lot.
Thinking of opening a bait and tackle shop.

Clogged pipes

Even the cleanest public restrooms are lacking.
Here, someone decided the drain was 'lacking' a stopper and added one quickly.
No paper towels for the rest of us!

Bring back love!

Hand-written sign says, 'Bring back love!'
Downtown Boca Raton isn't exactly a haven for revolutionaries (or even deep thinkers for that matter), so this sight was worth capturing.

Tune of the Day

Sondre Lerche's spunky Norwegian pop with groovy guitar melodies is my latest find. Score!


Phantom Punch

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(checkered Vans = icing)

Could you write a novel in one month?

Some industrious fools, er, artists challenge themselves to write entire novels in a single month. Others try to create a script, draw 30 pages of a comic, or complete 10 works of art during those four weeks.

Why? As part of The Office of Letters and Light's National Novel Writing Month and its sister projects. What, you haven't heard of it? (Of course you haven't. Neither had I.) Well, according to Wikipedia:

NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, is a creative writing project originating in the United States in which each participant attempts to write a 50,000 word novel in a single month. Despite the name, the project is now international in scope. Nearly 80,000 participants registered in 2006, with almost 13,000 winners verifying their novels as meeting the goal. The cumulative word total for all participants in 2006 was 982,564,701.

When I was a reporter, I cranked out at least one story per day, and I'm not sure I reached 10,000 words a month, let alone the required 50,000. Makes me wonder if most of the participants are freelancers (that is, work for themselves from home) and thus have the time to pursue such a challenge.

I don't know how other writers might feel, but I find the idea of this project intimidating for yet another reason: I often fall into the mindset (a.k.a. trap) that I can only write when inspiration strikes, only when that "flow of consciousness" (a.k.a. creative vomiting) allows me to.

But working as a reporter forced me to look at writing as something one can do on cue. To this day, even after years of writing on cue for professors and editors, I doubt my abilities. I scowl at the final product, comparing it to some imaginary piece of work I would have created if I'd simply not been put under pressure. Truth is, perhaps I only look at those essays and news stories that way because they don't really fall under the "Writing Topics I Chose Myself" umbrella.

In the end, it's all subjective: the writing itself, the place it comes from, and the way we judge and absorb it. So, I remind myself everyday to not hesitate, to just let it flow, spit it out, puke it up, let it go, and maybe, someplace in the rubble that is my copious notes, I'll find something worthwhile, a clause or even an entire paragraph that speaks to me, to you or to somebody out there, where ever "there" is -- seems that's exactly my target market anyhow.

Regardless, it's an inspiring thought, the idea of making yourself just sit down and get on with it already. Here I was, thinking I barely had time to eat dinner, do a load of wash, and post a blog or two this evening. I better get cracking...

Fantastical

"Poof Kisslets" by Klar, who does beautiful, fantastical drawings.

This shall be added to my collection of kissing images (that is, images of kisses, not images that kiss one another, though that could be interesting).

"Don't be a douche. Stop piracy."

That's one of my favorite lines from this short film, which is ridiculous, funny, and all the better because it's Irish (if I do say so myself).

Another is, "Oh, I'll walk your plank!"

Gay flamingos adopt a chick

Carlos and Fernando, a gay flamingo couple in England, have adopted their first chick. CNN reports on the new, and quite adorable, family:

I'm listening to...

"Lazy Eye" ~ Silversun Pickups

"Words" ~ Lucinda Williams

"Flathead" ~ The Fratellis

"Split Needles" ~ The Shins

"Wait and Bleed" ~ Slipknot

"Mojo" ~ Peeping Tom

"Simmer Down" ~ Mighty Mighty Bosstones

"Waiting Room" ~ Fugazi


And you should, too!