“It is (to describe it figuratively) as if an author were to make a slip of the pen, as if this clerical error became conscious of being such. Perhaps this was no error, but in a far higher sense was an essential part of the whole exposition. It is, then, as if this clerical error were to revolt against the author, out of hatred for him, were to forbid him to correct it, and were to say, ‘no, I will not be erased, I will stand as a witness against thee, that thou art a very poor writer.’” -J.D. Salinger. Seymour, An Introduction
Kate McGarrigle died yesterday. Being sort of obsessed with the Wainwright family, this was very sad news to me. Here’s a song that was one of my favorites by Loudon Wainwright until I found out that it was written by Kate & Anna! Such talented ladies:
Also, I just saw this ADORABLE video for the first time. Rufus and Martha acting out their mom and aunt’s career.
We went to our second annual attendance of what has become my favorite New Year’s tradition: Sing-a-long Sound of Music. It is SO fun to sing along to this movie with John Curley and a theater full of costumed fanatics. They should really include this clip at the end though:
Sure it’s been the “decade from hell” and the “worst year ever,” but at least I got some of my 23 things done! My birthday was this week, and I’m sorry to report that my list did not get completed. Here’s an update:
1. Go to Mount Rainer 2. Watch an entire movie with the director’s commentary on 3. Read a 600+ page book (again) 4. Watch the sunrise from Kerry Park 5. Make an entire raw food meal (like..a real meal. not just a salad) 6. Try using a shampoo bar 7. Take a one night wonder class 8. Make an entire meal out of food from the farmer’s market 9. Go swimming in a river with at least one B.F.F.E. 10. Go to the My Sweet Lord Cafe 11. Try tai chi 12. Go to a beer garden 13. Learn how to play a delta blues song on guitar 14. Eat Tibetan food 15. See the real overlook hotel 16. Watch a 3-D movie 17. Go to a SIFF movie not during the festival 18. Go to a midnight showing of a movie 19. Do the bus game–where you take a random bus somewhere and get lost 20. Go skydiving 21. See Kurt Cobain’s old house 22. Drive the Mountain Loop Highway (or sit in the passenger seat while someone else drives) 23. Go to SAAM
9 unfinished tasks!! I’m not gonna lie, I’m pretty disappointed in myself. The only upside is that I did the things that I was most excited about, i.e. skydiving, trying tai chi, going to Mount Rainier, and watching the sunrise from Kerry Park. In order to make myself feel better, here’s a list of some pretty awesome things I did this year (you should make one too, it makes you feel really good!)
A few days ago, I finished Midnight’s Children (over 600 pages meant that I got to cross another one of my 23 things off the list). I was pretty blown away by it! The way he weaves historical facts with his magical narrative is both unique and impressive. Check it out!
“From the moment I was old enough to play board games, I fell in love with Snakes and Ladders. O perfect balance of rewards and penalties! O seemingly random choices made by tumbling dice! Clambering up ladders, slithering down snakes, I spent some of the happiest days of my life…
All games have morals; and the game of Snakes and Ladders captures, as no other activity can hope to do, the eternal truth that for every ladder you climb, a snake is waiting just around the corner; and for every snake, a ladder will compensate. But it’s more than that; no mere carrot-and-stick affair; because implicit in the game is the unchanging twoness of things, the duality of up against down, good against evil; the solid rationality of ladders balances the occult sinuosities of the serpent; in the opposition of staircase and cobra we can see, metaphorically, all conceivable oppositions, Alpha against Omega, father against mother, here is the war of Marry and Musa, and the polarities of knees and nose…but I found, very early in my life, that the game lacked one crucial dimension, that of ambiguity–because, as events are about to show, it is also possible to slither down a ladder and climb to triumph on the venom of a snake…Keeping things simple for the moment, however, I record that no sooner had my mother discovered the ladder to victory represented by the racecourse luck than she was reminded that the gutters of the country were still teeming with snakes.” p.180
Can you believe it’s December already? For me, the past couple of weeks have been full of holiday celebrating, test taking, writing, applying, and visiting relatives in other parts of the country. Busy, but good.
"Here's to the few who forgive what you do, and the fewer who don't even care"- Leonard Cohen
Pitchfork is streaming this documentary absolutely free for one week only. It’s a really interesting glimpse into the life of a very young Leonard Cohen. You even get to see him in his tighty whities! Who would turn down that opportunity?
"Old friends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days. An old day passes, a new day arrives. The important thing is to make it meaningful: a meaningful friend — or a meaningful day." -Dalai Lama XIV
young Leonard Cohen. You even get to see him in his tighty whities! Who would turn down that opportunity?
