Archive for December, 2006

Andrew, Ivy, Bond

Published December 27th, 2006 View Comment »
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I may be three weeks late, but at least I’m faithful. Here’s a writeup about the night of the previous post. The day was indeed saved.

I dislike falling into a stereotypical bucket, but Andrew had no such qualms: he was decked out in an MIT cardigan over a Firefox t-shirt.

ivy.jpg

At Ivy we had:

  • Herb frites (shared; they were overfried.)
  • Lamb rip chops with bean ragù (for me; they were ok.)
  • Arancini stuffed with prosciutto and fontina (for Andrew.)
  • Chicken alla Puttanesca (shared; delicious: “sauteéd chicken served over penne pasta in a puttanesca style sauce of capers, garlic, olives, and artichoke hearts”.)
  • Tiramisu (shared; great.)

We were done by just 9:30pm so we walked over to Loews Theatres to see if anything interesting was playing. I pointed to the dark Boston Common bordered with Christmas lights—“it’s the oldest public park in the country.” To which, Andrew remarked that the Greater Boston area seems to be full of superlatives :) It’s true, though—take one of the first places settled by European civilization out here, add in a ridiculously high number of educational institutions, and you’ll get some magic going. Overachieving college kids and researchers, a thriving business community, even pseudo-aristocrats: Boston has it.

quizlet.jpg

While we waited for Casino Royale to begin, Andrew pulled out his laptop and demoed the app he’s been working on for over an year: Quizlet. Quizlet helps with the practice and learning of vocabulary. It’s really quite cool; I remarked about half a dozen times that I was impressed. He’s paid fabulous attention to detail in the user experience, including a gorgeous design.

You can trust my opinion when it comes to web development, and I’m telling you, this guy is hot. Apparently, others agree—he’s just halfway through 11th grade and has been offered a job at the MIT Media Lab for summer ’07.

007.jpg

I’m not a Bond devotee, but for what it’s worth, I agree with the critics—Casino Royale rocks. The opening scenes are almost film noir, and the art direction in the rest of the movie doesn’t disappoint.

The movie’s full of exceptional dialogue—“I would ask you if you could remain emotionally detached”, asks 007′s boss, “but that’s not your problem, is it, Bond?” (Although there’s a slice of pillow talk so clunky, you’d have thought you were watching a George Lucas film: after musing that she always falls for ‘bad men’, a woman asks, “Why can’t nice guys be more like you?” Bond replies: “Then, they’d be bad.” ¿Que?)

Choosing to watch Casino Royale at that time was a somewhat bad idea, because we missed the ending 40 minutes to catch the last train. On our way back to the subway stop, a generic drunk blonde coed swinging off her hands on a lamp post stopped inches from Andrew’s face and blared, “Do you know the way to Hennessey Street?”

Um, Miss? The kid’s jailbait!*

* Well, not really.


‘Snow can wait, I forgot my mittens…’

Published December 8th, 2006 Comment
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Oh my God, people! I nearly lost some extremities while spending most of today wandering around dark windswept roads in Downtown Boston and the North End—on an ultimately futile mission (quite the concoction of miseries.) In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if it turns out I’m currently missing a finger or three.

I’ve already spoken about my aversion to this weather (“Nothing drags down your spirits like waiting for a ridiculously delayed subway train on a gray morning while infernal cold seeps through your toes”). But I’ll admit that a bit more care about appropriate attire would rid most of my complaints—plus it’s not like I live in a place where “winter is an episode straight out of Ragnarök, that time of divine twilight, when an all-devouring wolf swallows the sun and the earth is ensheathed in a great veil of ice and other strange and unsettling things happen.”

Regardless, Ezra Pound’s parody of a summer-welcoming song captures my feelings on the matter:

Raineth drop and staineth slop,
And how the wind doth ramm!
    Sing: Goddamm.
Skiddeth bus and sloppeth us,
An ague hath my ham.
    Damm you; Sing: Goddamm.
Goddamm, Goddamm, ’tis why I am, Goddamm,
    So ‘gainst the winter’s balm.
—‘Ancient Music‘

Anyway—the cleverly-abbreviated ‘seasonal affective disorder’ be damned—I’m convinced that it’s just a matter of attitude. Aye, I’m resolved to spend this season in irritatingly high spirits. To that end, here’s a video of Tori Amos performing ‘Winter’ live (which is albeit so heavy on metaphor that you don’t really know whether she’s talking about winter per se. A quote attributed to her is “I’m a winter girl. I like coming out when things are desolate and everybody’s ready to slit their wrists.”)

The day might yet be saved, for I’m off to meet Andrew (aka Jalenack) at Ivy. Actually, I should have left by now. Gotta run!


‘Nancy Pelosi Wants Congress To *Want* To Pass Bill’

Published December 4th, 2006 Comment
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Ok, so I’m a big fan of Nancy Pelosi, and don’t usually go for crass gender stereotypes, but The Onion is on a roll: Nancy Pelosi Wants Congress To Want To Pass Bill (“Several representatives cited an outburst on the House floor in October during which Pelosi told the governing body that if they didn’t know what was on the weekly legislative agenda, then she certainly wasn’t going to tell them.”)

“I don’t understand what Speaker Pelosi expects from us, though I don’t dare say that to her,” Costello said. “I’ve been trying to be extra nice to her lately after she told me that my voting record on Medicare and prescription-drug issues has been ‘distant’ lately. ‘Distant?’ What does that even mean?”
[...]
Signs of Pelosi’s second-guessing began to show in September, after she first proposed the bill on the House floor. When Rep. Edward Markey (D–MA) called the bill a “good, common-sense measure,” Pelosi requested additional floor time to start her address over from the beginning, on the grounds that “the members present had obviously not paid attention to a single word.” While delivering the address a second time, she paused midway to request that Rep. Bill Shuster (R–PA) repeat what she just said.

“I remember once on the phone, when she called me trying to gather support for the bill, she got mad when I said, ‘Sure, I’ll vote for it,’” Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D–MD) said. “She said, ‘That’s all you can say, “Sure?” When you know how important this is to me?’ I told her I was on board with whatever she wanted and then she just made this exasperated groan and hung up.”


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