Particle physicists plan to build a “neutrino factory” in the UK. I almost spent a summer in high school searching for neutrinos in a Spanish mine (as part of a mandatory science thesis), until at the last minute I switched to an astrophysics project instead. Examining cosmic background radiation for fractal patterns…very trendy at the time.
Category: Navel-Gazing
Reality Bites.
Andrew Leonard of Salon pretty much sums up my thoughts on the Winona Ryder trial. I too grew up a Winona teenager…after Princess Leia, she was my second crush (and between the two of them, they pretty much locked in my predisposition toward wry, witty brunettes.) She was definitely the female icon of a certain generation of brainy, awkward guys (all the more reason why I always thought John Crichton naming his gun thus was one of those grace notes that made Farscape such a wonderful show.) Ah, well. On the bright side, fellow eighties icon Mia Sara appears to be making something of a comeback these days, even if it is on a show as lousy as Birds of Prey.
Greetings from Vice City.
As I suspected, ever since last Tuesday GTA: VC has been seriously undermining my attempts to get anything of purpose done. But I just finished the main narrative arc of the game, leaving only the side missions, rampages, and such, so I might now be able to wrench my life back. Fortunately, Columbia students get the Monday and Tuesday of Election Week off, so I still have time to catch up on all the research I should’ve been doing over the weekend. At any rate, if you love GTA 3, you’ll love GTA: VC. It’s the same…but different.
Trust Elvis.
The Elvis Costello show at the Beacon the other evening was superb (set list here)…I was surprised how good he sounds live. I expected his voice to be a little more off, but he could hit all the notes and wavers from the studio versions. If I could pick three Elvis songs I had to hear, they’d be “Man Out of Time,” “Indoor Fireworks,” and – most importantly – “I Want You,” so I was not disappointed. (Yeah, “Alison,” “Beyond Belief,” or “Everyday I Write the Book” would’ve been cool too, but I’ll take what I can get.) The third encore in particular, the blue-lit, NIN-esque version of “I Want You” paired with “Almost Blue,” was truly a thing of beauty. As for Underworld the other night, I was underwhelmed…mostly by the venue, which was way too small and overbooked for a dance show. In fact, I’ve pretty much given up on the Hammerstein as a venue by this point. (More on the Underworld show in the comments of this post at Do You Feel Loved.) Did I mention that Elvis is King?
Born Slippy, Beyond Belief.
This appears to be the one week a year when I take advantage of living in NYC. A high school friend has procured me a ticket to see Underworld tonight at the Hammerstein, and then Tuesday I’m off to the Beacon to catch one of those acts on my must-see list for years, Elvis Costello and the Imposters. If the setlist is anything as ridiculous as Wednesday‘s, the show is going to be off the hook…Man Out of Time, Indoor Fireworks, Beyond Belief, Alison, Almost Blue, and I Want You?! Unbelievable.
Convalescing.
Ok, I think I’m a day away from beating this flu bug. Unfortunately, I appear to have infected a number of people in my program. If you’re reading this, my bad, y’all.
Sick as a Dog.
It’s been quiet around these parts again, hasn’t it? Well, I’ve been trying to beat the flu all of the past week, and the moments I haven’t spent in a Dayquil/Nyquil delirium have been centered on grad school type stuff. Feeling a bit better today, though…hopefully it’ll continue through the week.
Another week gone by…
…and I haven’t posted. I’ve been devoting most of my free time to completing the Henry Luce research. Now that that’s done, I should be around more often, although I do need to get cracking on my Herbert Croly seminar paper for this term. (I chose to write on Croly because I’m intrigued by what Sandel had to say about him in Democracy’s Discontent, but otherwise haven’t really defined the topic as of yet. That’s the task for this weekend.)
Sorry y’all.
Between the first week of classes, including my first two attempts at teaching undergrads (this is harder than it looks – one section went amazingly well and the other went…not-so-well), and trying to finish up the last vestiges of Luce research from the summer (not to mention, of course, the Save Farscape campaign – apparently we’re making progress…we’ll see), it’s been busy ’round these parts. Should be returning to normal posting in short order.
Back to School.
Hey y’all. As I suspected, I’ve been quite busy over here in the end-of-summer, back-to-school crunch. As it is, I’ve completed most of the Luce work, and now need to begin preparing for the upcoming semester – particularly as I’ll be overseeing two (US Hist to Civil War) sections this fall. Right now, it looks like my class schedule will also include a Civil War and Reconstruction colloquium with Eric Foner and a 20th century Intellectual History seminar with Casey Blake…but that may still be subject to change. Also met the new arrivals at a get-to-know-you happy hour and they all seem like a pleasant, well-adjusted bunch. Still haven’t picked out a new Trapper Keeper and lunch box yet…should I go N’Sync, Spongebob, or Lisa Frank?