Stalin's daughter

You can’t regret your fate, although I do regret my mother didn’t marry a carpenter.

sometimes it just takes one line of an article to hook me. the above quote was by Lana Peters, the last surviving child of Josef Stalin. she died last week in small town Wisconsin, of all places. this NY Times obituary (where the above photo is from) is a wild ride, chronicling the "twisted, bewildering road that took her from Stalin’s Kremlin, where she was the “little princess,” to the West in a celebrated defection, then back to the Soviet Union in a puzzling homecoming, and finally to decades of obscurity, wandering and poverty." definitely worth a read.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret

i like to imagine that the world is one big machine. you know, machines never have any extra parts. they have the exact number and type of parts they need. so i figure if the entire world is a big machine, i have to be here for some reason. and that means you have to be here for some reason, too.

i'm late to discover Brian Selznick- by the time i had heard of him, Martin Scorsese was directing the movie adaptation of his fourth book, and his fifth was set to debut. i heard an interview with him on NPR and was intrigued by the idea of a young adult novel that was half illustrations, so i put it on hold at the library. i was a little suprised to discover that it's over 500 pages long, but it probably only took me 2-3 hours to read the whole thing, due to the sparse text, illustrations, and the fact that it was really quite good.

it's a young adult novel but the story is much less sophisticated, and more suitable for younger readers than say, the Harry Potter series. i'm guessing you've seen the commercials for the movie- young boy lives in Paris train station, discovers magical things, life is changed. the movie was pretty faithful to the story but the book is so much better. my favorite part of both is the incorporation of real life silent filmmaker Georges Méliès. not that i knew anything about him before, but it was cool to see a forgotten pioneer resurrected to bring life to a new story. Stills from his movies are printed in the book alongside Selznick's drawings, and actual footage appears in the Scorsese movie. easily the best part.

Lean into the door.

You are what you learn. If all you know is how to be a gang member, that’s what you’ll be, at least until you learn something else. If you go to law school, you’ll see the world as a competition. If you study engineering, you’ll start to see the world as a complicated machine that needs tweaking. A person changes at a fundamental level as he or she merges with a particular field of knowledge. If you don’t like who you are, you have the option of learning until you become someone else. There’s almost nothing you can’t learn your way out of. Life is like a jail with an unlocked, heavy door. You’re free the minute you realize the door will open if you simply lean into it.

Scott Adams (seen here)

Octopus walks on land. No, really.

unbelievable. it's like my 9th grade biology textbook came to life right before my eyes...

you can't handle this cute.

from the itty bitty kitty committee (best blog name ever)


Happy Thanksgiving from me and this opposable-thumbed kitty!

my Metrodome debut

photo from here

so, i've been running off and on for the last decade-ish. in college i chose running as my go-to exercise because you don't need anything to run other than running shoes and... outside. (i.e. the "no excuses" approach) however, when you live in a climate that routinely has 0 degree days in the winter, outside doesn't really cut it anymore. (i'm sure there are crazies here that run straight into that madness. props to them and their frostbitten fingers.) in the past i've had memberships to gyms with indoor tracks, so this is the first time i haven't had a viable indoor running option. last winter i took a break from running, and this spring i had to start all over again, which resulted in an injury that sidelined my running for a couple months. so this year my goal is to become a 4 season runner, somehow.

i was happily running outside until Daylight Savings hit in early November, causing me to lose that last hour of light that i reserved for my post-workday runs. (don't even think about suggesting i run in the mornings.) it was then that i remembered something i had heard about last year- running at the Metrodome. yep, the one that collapsed last year. i did a little Googling and found the info- every Tuesday and Thursday evening from now until spring, you can pay a dollar to run inside the Metrodome. having never set foot inside ye ole dome, i was intrigued and decided to give it a shot... and it was great! you run around the concourse on the 200 level of the dome. i don't know why, but before i got there i had visions of myself sprinting alongside the field in some sort of Adrian Peterson fantasy. in reality it's more like running past coolers stocked with Budweiser and the lingering smell of dome dogs. i also thought it would be all elite runners and i would be the lone, lame novice shuffling along off to the side while everyone lapped me. but it was a nice mix of ages and abilities, and i actually passed some runners that weren't octogenarians, so bonus for my ego.

the details:
almost every Tuesday and Thursday from 5-8pm (full list of dates here)
cost- $1.00 each time
free parking in the Metrodome parking lot at 5th St and 11th Ave
some bathrooms are open for changing and well, using the bathroom. people just plop their coats and bags along the edge of the concourse.

My nightmares aren't as scary as this.

seen here

Mall of America.
on Black Friday.
with Michele Bachmann.

three things i like to avoid, all smooshed together in a triumvirate of omggetmeouttahere.

side note- M.Bach was on Jimmy Fallon this week, and The Roots played some.... interesting intro music for her.

moose latte

seen here

Owl of the Month Club.

i've been at my current job for 3.5 years, but i've done next to nothing to personalize my workspace. other than a photo of me & Matt from our Vienna trip, there's not much decor on display. i've got a cubicle with fabric walls to which things can be pinned, and they are mostly covered with boring 8.5 x 11 white sheets of paper chronicling things like colleagues' phone extensions, procedures, and days the office is closed. (i work at a Jewish agency so we get major Jewish holidays off. they change year to year so you never know what day they will fall on... everyone crosses their fingers for weekdays!)

i needed a calendar that showed all the months at a glance, so i opened Microsoft Publisher and printed off the most basic 2011 calendar they offer. behold, the majesty:

suddenly, i just couldn't bear being surrounded by one more 8.5 x 11 piece of white paper. after looking around on the internet for something that had a little more life to it, i came across this nifty site. it's a website devoted to all things owl, and they rounded up 30 artists to create little pieces of owl art, from which you can create your own FREE calendar. you get to choose which pieces you want, what month they represent, and it all downloads as a three page PDF. i cut out each month and stapled them together, garland-style, as evidenced by this awesome photo from my archaic cellphone:

cute, right? luckily, they decided to offer a 2012 calendar as well. i just finished choosing my new owl pictures and am getting ready to craft it up in this cubicle. i was thinking about cutting the calendars off my 2011 garland and keeping it up for even more decoration. but i'm worried people would think i am REALLY into owls and all i would get for Merry Mitzvah (Jewish agency version of Secret Santa) is owl stuff. and you know how that goes- you feel obligated to put the owl stuff up, which only furthers the misconception. and then you're the Owl Girl.

anyway, if you're looking for a free calendar to liven up your office/cube/kitchen/craft room, this is a great option. here are some of the pieces i chose for 2012:

Travel Wardrobe

dresses made from old maps. for looking at, not wearing. still lovely, though. see more here.

Two Kisses for Maddy.

i've been reading Matt Logelin's blog for a few years now, after he became well-known but before he became a NY Times best-selling author. he and his wife Liz were high school sweethearts and had been together for 12 years. they grew up in Minneapolis (!) and had moved out to L.A. where they bought a home with dreams of starting a family. They became pregnant and Liz had a difficult pregnancy with weeks of bed rest. their daughter Madeline was born 7 weeks early on March 24, 2008. 27 hours later, Liz was dead. on her way to hold her daughter for the first time, a freak blood clot in her leg shot up to her lungs and ended her life. Matt was suddenly a widower with a very premature baby girl.

while some would've just totally given up on life, Matt pressed into the pain, fought through it, and made a pact with himself to become the best f*cking dad ever (his words). his blog became a way for him to show his family in MN that he and Madeline were surviving, and later it became an online community where he sought parenting advice, and others sought grieving advice. (it's also a place to share his photographs and talk about music & travel... you know, normal blog fodder.)

it's fair to say that his life has completely changed, and not in all terrible ways. he's started a non-profit in Liz's honor to help other widows/widowers, and he was able to quit his job at Yahoo! in order to write a memoir about his experience. i finally got it from the library this week and it's really great. had i not known his story, i'm sure i would have passed it up. i'm totally guilty of judging books by their covers, and this one looks way too precious for me. but Matt's voice is honest, sarcastic, darkly humorous, and not at all afraid of the F word. also, the material is pretty unique from the blog, i don't feel like much content had been recycled. i would recommend visiting his blog and getting to know a little more of the story as it unfolded in real time, and then reading the book. both are well worth your time.

(random thing- Liz's MN memorial service took place at Lakewood Memorial Chapel, where Matt and i were married a year later. i feel like we were in good company.)

Ron. always bet on Ron.

seen here.

Murmuration

Murmuration from Sophie Windsor Clive on Vimeo.

critter APB

Missing: one tiny mouse body

Last Seen: presumably attached to the severed mouse head, which was found under the dining room table around 4:30pm yesterday

Suspects: this guy.

(i'll spare you the photo i took of the bloody mouse head. you're welcome.)

Sufjan, The Roots, and The Wire.

i originally clicked on the link because of the title- "Sufjan Stevens to Appear on The Roots' New Album." how very Justin Vernon/Kanye West, i thought. but the article was quite a bit more interesting than that:

...in a recent interview with SPIN, Roots drummer ?uestlove mentioned that Sufjan Stevens’ song “Redford” influenced the identity of the album’s main protagonist, Redford Stevens.

“But we named the character after the Sufjan Stevens song ‘Redford’ from his Michigan record. We imagined Redford as being like Avon Barksdale from The Wire. He’s a good guy who could have just gone to college and been a great engineer or something. But he makes a bad decision and pays for it.”

and a longer excerpt from the SPIN article:

How does the story on undun unfold?
It's basically a tale about someone who makes one decision that completely undoes their entire life. And we tell the story backwards, so when you hear the record it starts at the very end of this character's life. We wanted to tell a cautionary tale but didn't want to do the cliché tale of a 'hood kid who does the wrong shit and then just dies.

So who, exactly, is the protagonist Redford Stephens?
...We imagined Redford as being like Avon Barksdale from The Wire. He's a good guy who could have just gone to college and been a great engineer or something. But he makes a bad decision and pays for it. We tell that story in 10 songs, under 44 minutes. Actually, Sufjan makes an appearance on the album, too.

Really?
We've always loved the song "Redford" from Michigan. So we close the new album with a cover of "Redford." We stretched it out into this four-part movement. Part 1 is Sufjan at the piano performing it. And then Part 2 is a string quartet that we had interpret it. Part 3 is myself and D.D. Jackson, who is an avant-garde piano player....The final movement, which ends the record, is essentially the beginning of the story. But it's the last thing you hear. It's a very powerful piece of work.

don't remember the song Redford? me neither, i had to pull out the iPod for a refresher. it's a sparse, 2 minute long instrumental... some might call it a filler song. it's unexpected enough that The Roots are sitting down and giving Michigan a listen, but even more surprising that Redford is the song that they love, so much that they include on their album an extended 4-part closing cover featuring Mr. Stevens himself.

also unexpected is the idea of an Avon Barksdale kind of guy named after Sufjan and his work. the two could not be ANY more disparate.

i've always vaguely liked The Roots. i have one of their albums and i never choose to listen to it, but i'm always happy when one of the songs comes up on my iPod. i think i'll pay a little more attention to this upcoming release.


PS- there is a website where ?uestlove re-counts his many celebrity encounters. it's worth digging around in, there are some real gems in there...

PPS- if you're not familiar with Avon Barksdale, you need to get thee to a video store and rent all 5 seasons of The Wire. we held out for a long time but finally forged ahead and committed to it, even though the first season isn't all that great. the main character is the city of Baltimore, and each season focuses on one aspect of her urban existence- drug wars, the ports, politics, public education, and the media. it is by far the best, most realistic cop show i have ever seen. (although it's not really a cop show) it's a hard watch at times, but so, so worth it.

cute overload for saturday

wink!

These little guys are apparently endangered, so when they were found in the jaws of a house cat, they were rescued and nursed back to health. oh and they live in the pumpkin. squee!

my favorite so far

Photo essay education

there are a bajillion photo essay websites, but the 2 that i follow are In Focus and The Big Picture. (i've posted their photos before) They collect AP photos from all over the world, on a vast array of topics and events, and arrange them into a cohesive, informative essay. i find them both quite educational, and 2 photos & their accompanying stories recently jumped out at me.

This is from a series of historical photos about the aftermath of WWII. the photo's not particularly remarkable, but check out the story:

In March of 1974, some 29 years after the official end of World War II, Hiroo Onoda, a former Japanese Army intelligence officer, walks out of the jungle of Lubang Island in the Philippines, where he was finally relieved of duty. He handed over his sword (hanging from his hip in photo), his rifle, ammunition and several hand grenades. Onoda had been sent to Lubang Island in December of 1944 to join an existing group of soldiers and hamper any enemy attacks. Allied forces overtook the island just a few months later, capturing or killing all but Onoda and three other Japanese soldiers. The four ran into the hills and began a decades-long insurgency extending well past the end of the war. Several times they found or were handed leaflets notifying them that the war had ended, but they refused to believe it. In 1950, one of the soldiers turned himself in to Philippine authorities. By 1972, Onoda's two other compatriots were dead, killed during guerrilla activities, leaving Onoda alone. In 1974, Onoda met a Japanese college dropout, Norio Suzuki, who was traveling the world, and through their friendship, Onoda's former commanding officer was located and flew to Lubang Island to formally relieve Onoda of duty, and bring him home to Japan. Over the years, the small group had killed some 30 Filipinos in various attacks, but Onoda ended up going free, after he received a pardon from President Ferdinand Marcos.

uh, what? i love learning crazy little stories like this.


this one is from an ongoing series about Afghanistan and the military involvement there. the caption:

Aziz Ahmad, 25, who believes he has mental problems, is chained to a wall during his 40-day incarceration at the Mia Ali Baba Shrine in Jalalabad on October 11, 2011. It is believed that 40 days in chains and a diet of bread and water at the 300-year old shrine can cure mentally ill people. Ahmad was chained by the shrine keeper at the request of his family.

i know stuff like this still happens, but it never ceases to amaze me. the composition of the photo definitely helps tell the story.

Oldest working lightbulb

this lightbulb has been on the job for over 110 years. it's at a fire station in California. someone donated it to the station in 1901 and it was left on to serve as a nightlight over the fire trucks.

there's an entire website dedicated to the light bulb, including a "bulb cam" where you can see the bulb in action!

the artist's way

this book and i have circled each other for years, like boxers dancing around each other, looking to make the first punch. it shows up in conversations, online articles & blog posts, celebrity interviews (Jenna Fischer loves it). i've checked it out from the library several times. each time i would rifle through the pages, and i would just know that it wasn't the right time to read it.

Matt and i were at a friend's house tuesday night, and once again, the book came up in conversation. i mentioned my non-history with the title, and she walked over to her bookshelf, handed me her used copy and said, "here... now whenever the right time comes, you'll have a copy waiting for you."

i think her generosity was the motivation i needed to make it "the right time"...

#occupyCUTEstreet

clever

seen here

so subtle, but so brilliant. the artist did a small series of these:

Plumbing Pipe Bookshelf

Matt and i bought a house together in 2008, about 6 months before we got engaged. (how's that for coy?) since then, i have slowly been sucked into the online void of home decor websites and blogs. one of my favorites is The Brick House. her style is spare, modern, and desert-y. it's not exactly what i want my house to look like, but i appreciate her aesthetic, sense of humor, thrifting/Craigslisting skills, and DIY gusto.

back in 2009, she posted about a wall unit she made out of plumbing pipe, and my proverbial jaw dropped. what a cool, cool idea. she got inspiration from the Ace Hotel and wrote up a little tutorial for anyone else brazen enough to stride into the plumbing aisle at Home Depot for home decor purposes. (after i told the sweet Somali employee who custom cut my pipes what i was making, he smiled and said, "i didn't think you were a plumber!")

so after months of looking at her shelves, seeing a few other examples online, and determining that building one of these in our dining room would not, in fact, make the room look totally schizophrenic, we decided to go for it.

i'm pretty sure this bookshelf is cooler than me.

this project was relatively simple, as long as you aren't afraid of math. instead of going with an exact replica of a unit someone else had made, i decided to design ours to perfectly fit the wall space in our dining room. this required a lot of specific, precise calculations, and triple checking our list of pipes and fittings to buy. even then, our initial Home Depot run (one of several) lasted over an hour and we left feeling pretty exhausted. the materials sat in our basement for several weeks before i regained enough motivation to get going, already. the posts i found online were immensely helpful, so i defer to them (especially this one) if you're looking to make your own. but if you want to replicate ours exactly, here's the specs and supplies list.

SPECS:
Our particular unit is 6' wide, 7' 3" tall, and the shelves are 12" deep.

SUPPLIES:
wood:
6 – 1″x12″x6′ pine planks

pipes and fittings:
All pipes and fittings are 1/2″. i don't think it matters whether you use galvanized or black steel. we used galvanized because that seems to be what most people did.

27 – 90° elbows
21 – 3-way tees
8 – base flanges

4 – 5″ pipes (i think)
22 – 8″ pipes
4 – 9″ pipes (custom cut)
20 – 12″ pipes
1 – 25.5″ pipe (custom cut)

paint/stain/poly:
2 cans Rustoleum Spray Paint – Black Gloss
1 can Minwax Wood Stain – Dark Walnut (first coat)
1 can Minwax Wood Stain – Red Mahogany (we wanted our shelves a little redder, so we did a second coat with this)
1 can Minwax Polyurethane

misc:
7/8" drill bit (we originally bought a 3/4" bit but it was too small)
150 (sanding before stain) and 220 (sanding between coats of poly) grit sandpaper
2" brushes (bristle and foam)
16 anchors and screws
4 – 3" diameter round felt pads to go under the bottom base flanges
other things we used but already owned: skill saw, power drill, saw horses, lots of rags, ladder, level

A VERY BASIC HOW-TO:
- wash the pipes/fittings with dish soap
- spray paint them black (2 light coats and some touch ups)
- cut the smaller shelf to 26" long and drill holes into the shelves
- sand them with 150 grit sandpaper (always with the grain)
- 2 coats of stain with a day or two in between to dry (brush with the grain as well)
- 1 coat of poly
- lightly sand with 220 grit sandpaper
- second coat of poly
- bring it all inside and put it together from the ground up
- make sure it's all level and then secure to wall with anchors and screws

the only problem is now i want to make everything out of plumbing pipe: coffee table, side table, bed frame, towel bars, etc. the list goes on and on...

the lowcountry.

from here

i know exactly what this photograph feels like.
the chilly wet air, the salty smell.
i've seen similar views many times.
even in winter, it's a welcome sight... it means the ocean is near.

this particular view is Savannah but i imagine it's the same lowcountry feel as South Carolina...

Sweet potato...scramble?

so, i've come up with this awesome recipe that Matt and i both love. however, it's not the best looking dish (hence no pics finally was able to get decent pictures, although there's no chorizo in this version) and i can't think of an accurate name for it. the closest i have come is to call it a scramble... except no eggs are involved. ah well. feel free to suggest a better name!

Sweet Potato Scramble
serves 2

1 large sweet potato, cut into 3/4" chunks
1/2 an onion, diced
half a container of mushrooms, sliced
1 chorizo sausage, halved longways and sliced
uh, a lot of raw spinach
2 oz goat cheese, crumbled
1/4 cup of pine nuts if you have 'em
olive oil
kosher salt and pepper

preheat your oven to 450. toss the sweet potato chunks in a bowl with a splash of olive oil and dump onto the cookie sheet. sprinkle salt and pepper over the bits and put 'em in the oven for about 8-10 minutes.

while that's cooking, do all your veggie washing, slicing and dicing.

after 8 minutes, take the sweet potato bits out of the oven, turn them over and put them back in for another 8-ish minutes.

get out your big pan and heat up some olive oil on low. sauté your mushrooms, onion, and chorizo. when there's just a minute left with the sweet potato, add the spinach to the pan. fold the spinach in so it gets hot and coated with olive oil, but cook just long enough for the spinach to barely wilt. this is important- you don't want mushy spinach.

take your pan of sautéed goodness and divide into portions onto 2 plates. take out the sweet potato- divide into 2 portions and dump on top of the veggies. sprinkle the goat cheese and pine nuts on top, and salt and pepper to taste.

vegetarians- it's also quite tasty without the chorizo.
vegans- you're on your own. i can't give up my goat cheese.

Docs to see before you go.

A list found in the NY Times of 50 documentaries to see before you die.... this is such a weird list. i understand the distinction between "the best documentaries" and "documentaries to see before you die." some of the best documentaries i've seen, i wouldn't consider them required viewing before death. and skimming this list, i see docs about subject matter that yes, you probably should expose yourself to, whether or not the film is one of the best. but Exit Through the Gift Shop? King of Kong? great movies, but not exactly required viewing before passing on to the great beyond.

i bolded the ones i've seen, and italicized the ones i want to see. (yes, i am the last person in the free world who has not seen March of the Penguins)

50. Spellbound (2002)
49. Truth or Dare (1991)
48. The Kid Stays in the Picture (2002)
47. One Day in September (1999)
46. Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1998)
45. The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years (1988)
44. Burma VJ (2008)
43. When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts (2006)
42. Catfish (2010)- i've never heard of this one but it sounds crazy pants
41. The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007)
40. When We Were Kings (1996)
39. Biggie & Tupac (2002)
38. March of the Penguins (2005)
37. Inside Job (2010)
36. Taxi to the Dark Side (2007)
35. Paragraph 175 (2000)
34. Brother’s Keeper (1992)
33. Tongues Untied (1989)
32. Dogtown and Z-Boys (2001)
31. Jesus Camp (2006)
30. Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)
29. Man on Wire (2008)
28. Gasland (2010)
27. Tarnation (2003)
26. Murderball (2005)
25. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)
24. Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (1996)
23. The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2000)
22. Shut Up & Sing (2006)
21. Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010)
20. Capturing the Friedmans (2003)
19. Touching the Void (2003)
18. Food, Inc. (2008)
17. Street Fight (2005)
16. Bus 174 (2002)
15. Crumb (1994)
14. Dark Days (2000)
13. The Fog of War (2003)
12. Bowling for Columbine (2002)
11. Paris Is Burning (1991)
10. Grizzly Man (2005)
9. Trouble the Water (2008)
8. An Inconvenient Truth (2006)
7. The Celluloid Closet (1995)
6. The War Room (1993)
5. Supersize Me (2004)
4. Waltz With Bashir (2008)
3. Roger & Me (1989)
2. The Thin Blue Line (1988)
1. Hoop Dreams (1994)

*here's another list from 2010 that includes much older, less story/issue driven docs (the NY Times' main beef with the list above). i still haven't seen some of my favorites... maybe i'll make my own list one of these days.