Grammar

From Hal Hartley's Henry Fool.

Stuck in the Wick of It

I'd like to spend a few moments talking about microfiber. It has a creepy sort of ubiquity that could potentially alter our culture - think Velcro or polyester. How easy is it to find 100% cotton socks? (Right. I thought so.) If Buck Henry wrote The Graduate today, he'd substitute microfiber for plastic.

Sure microfiber is made of some magic substance that somehow deflects sticky kid fingers and it's made from fibers 200 times finer than human hair. But is it attractive? Does it feel remotely of this earth. No mssr's et madames, it does not. Still, we just bought two couches made of the stuff. Did I say resistance is futile (or in this case- resistance is textile? Oh. Boo.)

But, you say- those microfiber towels and sponges are groovy because they naturally attract dirt and dust. Well, I've found that they only do that when your hand is moving the cloth in the general direction of the dust. Like it doesn't work if the cloth is in the closet with the cleaning products and the dust is in the living room. See: not as magical as you might think. Still, you say, they're good for the planet, no more using all those paper towels. Okay. I'll give you that one. Oh, don't forget it's great for performance apparel because of it's amazing wicking ability. Right. If I had amazing wicking ability I'd be popular too.

Pushing Daisies

I watched Pushing Daisies for the first time last week because it was recommended here. I love it. One: because Ned, who can touch things and bring them back to life, runs a pie shop. Not only that it's called the Pie Hole. Isn't that great? Two: it's an opportunity to visit the set of the my beloved Gilmore Girls. Yes! That's right. The whole set is there- lock, stock and gazebo. Three: the writing and the surrealistic style. It's on Wednesdays at 8pm.

The Possibilities are Endless

My 3 year old daughter, Olivia, has a couple of new catch phrases. The first is, "don't try this at home." Say she's wearing her dad's slippers and hanging upside down from the rocking footstool - that would be an instance where this phrase applies. Say she's on the dining room floor trying to slide her legs up the wall while holding onto a balloon or a baby or a bag of cereal - again, the phrase would apply.


The other new phrase is a bit more complicated in nature and in execution (so to speak). Say I tell her she can't jump on the new couch. She'll reply, "When you die, and Dad dies, and everyone in the world dies, and they don't come back: Carter, Marshall, and I will jump on the couch." Or say she's riding in her car seat and we're on the way to her Dad's office she might say something like, "When you die, and Dad dies, and everyone in the world dies, and my baby pretends to die, and no one comes back: I'm going to Taco Bell." She coined this phrase today and this is her accumulated list for the past 3 hours, plus the following - eat oatmeal cookies, eat a chocolate lollipop, buy a Barbie, sleep on all the beds at the mattress store. She's going to be one busy girl.

Today's Pie is Envy.

And an American dollop (and we know how big those dollops are, don't we?) of admiration for Chris Boyd's 3 part interview with Laurie Anderson. Lucky, lucky boy.

Here.

Here.

Here.

Stanford Storytelling Project

I don't usually listen to the radio. If I do, I search for those obscure stations that have a broadcast radius of about a mile. So. College and high school radio mostly. Tonight I found or rather rediscovered 90.1 (KZSU) - the Stanford radio station. The program was from the Stanford Storytelling Project and tonight's topic was about the roles animals play in our lives. It's on every Monday at 6pm or you can get the podcast on itunes. If you haven't checked out Stanford itunes- well my friend, you don't know what you're missing. There are lectures by Frances Moore Lappé, the Dalai Lama, Al Gore, Calvin Trillin, Henry David Hwang, and Wallace Stegner among others. And it's free! How great is that?