Friday, March 06, 2009

Random Linkiness

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Books I'm loving right now

An Illustrated Life by Danny Gregory

What It Is by Lynda Barry

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi and various other graphic novels. I'm loving Julie Doucet, Enki Bilal and others whose names I can't recall right here

The Principles of Uncertainty by Maira Kalman - recommended by that most talented blogger Blue Poppy who is also the founder of the Squam Art Workshops where I so want to go in September. Unfortunately, my prosaic side always seems to win out over my artsy, spontaneous side so it probably won't happen this year again...

Stiff by Mary Roach. The first paragraph of the introduction reads: The way I see it, death is not terribly far off from being on a cruise ship. Most of your time is spent lying on your back. The brain has shut down. The flesh begins to soften. Nothing much new happens and nothing is expected of you.

That pretty much sets the tone of the book.


Websites I'm loving

TED - is an invitation-only event where the world's leading thinkers and doers gather to find inspiration. The talks are available at the website.

Lileks - it's hilarilous, it's wonderful and the guaranteed source of a chuckle when you need one.

A cool 1800s ephemera site - I love looking at the photos and documents. I could waste hours there.

Crazy Dolls - A store Mr. Jazz and I discovered yesterday on our way to the theatre. Their dolls are wonderfully creepy. I need some of them. Absolutely.


Various other things I'm loving

This collage, sent to me by Mary Buek which I won in a giveaway on her blog. I love Mary's art. And this collage makes me happy every time I look at it.

Theatre: Mr. Jazz and I made a resolution in September to see at least 4 plays this year since we're always saying, "Oh, I'd like to see that", and never do anything about it. So far we're at 8 and counting. We've become addicted to theatre. I love the immediacy of it. I love that you have real people performing. We've seen some brilliant plays this season. The Pillowman (hopefully the embed below will work - we saw it in French though...) was definitely one of the best.

Things I've learned

I've definitely passed the age when I can party during the week and still feel human at work the next day.

This is something I'll probably forget again. Thank god I can blame hormones. For the forgetfulness, not the partying.

Sometimes you just feel too bleah to blog - and sometimes you feel bleh but you blog anyway just to see whether you can.

That's about it. I'm not learning much of anything these days.



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13 comments:

Dumdad said...

There's so much stuff here to do that I'll need the whole weekend!

I wish I could get to the theatre more. I rarely go because of circumstances (kids, house, work, lack of money, life etc) but when I do I always can't fathom out why I don't go more often. I adore films but the theatre is unique - it's live, there are real people up there and anything can happen from a brilliant performance to someone dropping down dead; although that would then not be live theatre. Whatever.

furiousBall said...

Persepolis is a fantastic movie too!

Jill said...

I'm loving that "1800's Ephemera" site. It totally feeds into my genealogy obsession. I'm pretty sure I'm going to lose a few hours there this weekend.

Anonymous said...

I agree with furiousBall: Persepolis is a terrific movie. I've not seen the graphic novel of it, though.

Like you, I'm a recent live theatre fan. PG and I have season tickets to one of the playhouses downtown, so we see 4 or 5 plays a season, and it's always a great night out. Also, I now get to say stuff like, "Well, the movie version of 'Doubt' is fine, but the play was so much more emotional and thought-provoking!"

VioletSky said...

I love to check out TED and Lileks, not familiar with the other two - yet.

I also enjoy the theatre and go to the local one 2 - 3 times a year. We are getting a new Arts Centre which is quite exciting as the old location is seriously lacking.

Leslie Avon Miller said...

I always have a good time when I visit here!

Voyager said...

So much culcha my deah Jazz. While you pursue your classy and laudable pursuits, I plan to watch a chick flick on T.V. with a bowl of cheesies and a beer. Then maybe I'll get a Danielle Steel paperback and read all day in my pajamas.
V.

Mary Buek said...

Jazz: Thanks so much for the mention. Danny Gregory is good; and Stiff cracked me up. I'm in good company here.

Anonymous said...

If only I didn't have to spend so much damn time working, I could fill my days with fun stuff like this. Stupid working.

Anonymous said...

Wow, where do you fnd the time? I can hardly keep up with the blogs I read!

Susan English Mason said...

I love this post; there are so many new things for me to explore. Thanks for the books you listed. I was just trying to decide what to read next and "What It Is" looks like a winner.

geewits said...

I found that link to the old American motel postcards from the 50's and it made me look for the ones my Dad had and I had a nice and nostalgic look through his box of stuff that I kept. Thanks for sending me there.

Jazz said...

DD - well there you go, now you have something to do with your weekend.

Fuball - yeah, it is. I saw it before i got the book. It's pretty much exactly the same.

Jill - You will. I tend to get lost when I go there too...

Pink - Damn, I have to find a way to place that type of sentence in a conversation.

Violet - If you're into ephemera, you'll love that site. There's so much stuff on there...

Leslie - I'm glad. I love the eye candy on your blog...

Voyager - Culcha? Me? Oh god... how little you know me! Oh and the cheesies (which y'all Americans call Cheetos I believe)? You have to eat cheeesies with Black Cherry soda.

Mary - We're obviously from the same mold you and I, 'cept you got all the artistic talent.

XUP - Sometimes one needs a brain break. No one can fault you for taking a brain break.

Citizen - It's not so bad really, Most of the links are to blogs or books... Besides, I don't have kids to gobble my time, so I can waste it on the net.

Pouty - What it is is definitely a winner.

Geewits - Isn't that cool? I love Lileks!