With less than a week to go before the new semester, I decided to clean my Chucks*. I took a picture of them because the last time I decided to clean the white parts of a pair of Chuck Taylors, I ended up with what I fondly refer to as "my icky bar shoes." That is the difference between using a Clorox Pen (pink spots abound) and a Magic Eraser (no spots, don't know how it get things so clean, don't care). You might ask, why not just get new shoes? Because, my friends, we are in a recession and I am in grad school. Also, I can't decide on a new color.
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*This is a good indicator that break has gone on a bit too long for me. I have - and am - enjoyed the time away, but any time I think to myself, "Hey, it's been awhile since I've cleaned ________________," when "________________" is something slightly outside my normally rigorous cleaning schedule, I probably need something better to do.
Included in my set of mental master plans is a scheme for developing a method of storyboarding my blog topics so that when I sit down to write everything is easy-peasy and smooth sailing. This is an excellent idea. In this ideal world I would have clear goals and set assignments. Right now, I have ideas to work on, stories to share, words to publish into the void but no way to really hold myself accountable for writing one thing and not writing another. Unfortunately, I haven't found a good calendar yet to for sketching out these ideas. Someday I'll discuss my co-dependent relationship with office supplies, but until then you'll have to bear with me and understand that the fact that I haven't been to Staples yet is crippling. On a related note, this is also why my dissertation writing schedule is, as of this afternoon, also a bit scattershot. I do plan, however, on getting to the store within the next day or two, so things will be far more organized and thus me-like soon. Until then, however, I invite you to enjoy more randomness based on my whims.
First up, I miss television. Yes, I know it still exists and that all I have to do is press the power button, but my shows are all on the same weird haitus that I am between semesters. And for both myself and television, this break is starting to feel a bit endless (remind me I said that in February when I'm acting like a ginormous ingrate). So, since I'm missing television so very much, I thought I'd share one of my favorite clips from a show that won't be coming back - Flight of the Conchords. While I think that the first season of the show wasa bit stronger than the second (the length of time spent with the material did show occasionally), one of my absolute favorite episodes is Season 2's "Unnatural Love," that features the song "Carol Brown."
(I posted that through the magic of Google help and the YouTube. Bow down to me as I am soon to take over the internet and all its tubes.)
Secondly, I thought I'd draw attention to some of my favorite pop culture criticism because I spent most of my time in my office this afternoon catching up on it. Don't worry, I did some other stuff, too. But anyway, since my office is quiet and I tend to need distractions as a general rule, I like to listen to the podcasts - known as Gabfests - that Slateoffers on a weekly basis. While I like all of them, from the original Political Gabfest to Hang Up and Listen, the Sport podcast, and will even listen to an Audio Book Club about something I haven't read (it's called being a responsible graduate student in the field of English), my most favorite Gabfest is the Culture Gabfest (you can click that). It's very well rounded, funny, and informative. This week we learned about sex scenes in literature, the changing status of the online magazine, competing theories about what happened to Van Gogh's ear, and much, much more. Like a good number of things I like, it's slightly nerdy and eclectic, but it's also worth a listen.
I don't have a third thing right now, but when I get that calendar I will.
Here we go - I found the article on Slate where Dahlia Lithwick explains her book project and sets her parameters - where she's thinking about engaging chick-lit conventions, where she refuses to go, her acknowledgment of the debate between serious and non-serious literature (something near and dear to my own academic heart and my recreational impulses), and her time limit (she goes back to reporting on the Supreme Court beat October 1, so the book ends then whether it's truly finished or not). You can read her description here.
Since I'm not yet comfortable enough in my new office to hold private dance parties when I don't feel like working, I tend to take to the Internet. This morning, I was spending my time with Dahlia Lithwick's real-time romance novel, Saving Face, on Slate.com. The novel itself is a good read so far (with only two installments down, it's kind of hard to tell, but I already like the characters I've met so far, so that's a good sign) and it's an interesting Internet experiment. Lithwick is writing in one of Slate's short formats, which tends to work well for commentary in general and she's taking reader advice from Facebook. So, in some senses, it's in real-time and collaborative. What's even more interesting is that she gives readers credit where it's due. Little plus signs give us readers' information and suggestions that Lithwick has used to help shape or improve her story. Also, at the end of every post, Lithwick gives us a general idea of where the next installment is going and solicits reader feedback; so, she's got the plot skeleton, but she knows the experiment will be more efficient and the finished product more interesting if many minds help shape the novel.
I'm pretty sure I'm going to join her Facebook page as soon as I'm done writing. I'd like to get more information about the genesis of the project and Lithwick's general vision for what she sees the project doing (or maybe that's the writing teacher in me coming out). The fact is that this romance novel experiment is a well-written, smart, collaborative piece of writing about the love lives and neuroses of professionals in a college town has me somewhat intrigued. So, obviously, I'll be needing to know more about it.
