Miscellany

1. I had a weird dream last night. In it, there was this cutting-edge fanfic software program which would read your mind for fanfic ideas and show them on the screen, with the original sets and actors and everything. I don't know how it worked, maybe using one of those bioports like in eXistenZ or something? Anyway, my crossover was Lost and Firefly, in which Serenity's crew came to the island to help the survivors fight The Others. I woke up when it got too violent and they started turning on each other. Kaylee and Sun were hitting each other with hammers and kicking each other, and I got too disturbed.

2. If there are any southern literature folks reading: I want to read a novel by Lee Smith. Which one should I start with? I'm guessing either Fair and Tender Ladies or Oral History, but is there another possibility?

I'll soon be leaving for CCCC in Chicago. If you're around and want to meet up, consider attending Jo(e)'s Breakfast with Bloggers, or if you can't make that, just send me an email and maybe we can organize something else.

• Internet That Was: Are there any great things you remember from the web that aren't available anymore? Some of these aren't necessarily great, but I harbor nostalgia for them nonetheless, such as Cartoon Over-Analyzations. The proprietor of the site knew that "analyzations" wasn't a word but used it anyway, and it was filled with off-the-wall interpretations of the Smurfs, Scooby-Doo, etc. Another is the Burn Maker. Gah, I weep for that thing; it was so wonderful. The third and final one I can think of is from 1997, on the AOL discussion boards. It was a poem that was intended to be a tribute to the recently deceased John Denver. I was over at a friend's house and we were perusing the boards. Someone had written this poem that went on and on and on for what would have been pages and pages had we printed the poem out. It was sad, but we were laughing at the earnestness and epic quality of it. The poem had the refrain: "O where have you gone, beautiful singer of songs?"
• Terrible TV: Did anyone else watch the series premiere of Free Ride on Fox? It's a shameless ripoff of Arrested Development: painful to watch.
• French in Action: Sometimes I think about Robert and Mireille.

  

  Ah yes, in this scene they're having le troisième kir. They should do some kind of reunion series.

Out in front of the elevator on the third floor of my apartment building: a box of clothes with a sign stuck on the wall above it reading "Free!" That's a common area for people to stick stuff they're getting rid of, and usually I don't take a second glance at it. This time, though, I snatched the box and brought it back to my apartment for review.

I went through the box, and many of the garments were surprisingly nice and looked like they had barely been worn at all. (What's the catch? Is there asbestos all up in 'em?) I ended up with thirteen absolutely free sweaters, mostly Liz Claiborne Villager brand, almost all turtlenecks. Can't beat that, huh? Comfortable, 100% cotton, free sweaters in my size. I couldn't help but observe, though, that this was a person who liked something and bought it in every color and style.

You've probably noticed that I did a redesign of my site. "Redesign" here refers to a change in my banner image and color changes on my stylesheet, not a real redesign, since I never really do that. I created the image in Comic Life and edited it in GIMP. I believe the font is called Marker Felt. I like the design, so I'm loath to make any changes to it, but still, let me know if it's giving you trouble. I haven't tested it except in Mac OS 10.4 with Firefox.

Can anyone guess where the image comes from, and give the context for it (the two people in the picture and their relationship with each other)?

It's similar to Flickr for videos, and I found it courtesy of Chuck. Some of the videos I've watched today:

The Scientist

The Gun Show (not really the title, but it amused me)

Random Reggae Moment

The Life of Eoin Griffin, which totally took me back to high school, hanging out with my friends listening to Yaz, Upstairs at Eric's. Inside, you can feel the dif- Outside, you can see the difference. Inside, stop. Outside, stop. Out- stop.

Also: The emO.C.

Want to know what my voice sounds like? Download this mp3 and find out. It's my response to Jenny's call:

A call to y’all: your voice (and feet). My podcast piece for 4Cs–titled “On Foot Composition”–will involve a reflection on mobile writings. My hope is to assemble many voices talking about writing through and with mobility. The assemblage on assemblage, in other words.

All you have to do is record a 30-second (or shorter) description of the last time you “wrote” on foot. By this I mean the last time you puzzled something out, or figured yourself into a problem, or composed an email you would love to send, etc. Were you walking, sitting on the bus, shopping? No meta reflection necessary. Just a description. You can record this in Garage Band or any other format you’d like. Then send it my way to: edbauer [at] psu [dot] edu. No background music or anything fancy.

I put background music in my recording just for fun, but I can always re-record it if the music is disruptive in some way.

Oh yeah, and here's how I look as a Simpson (via Brendan):

Edited: This one is probably more accurate:

The low tonight is -18! Who knows what it will "feel like."

Eh, who am I kidding. Of course I'm going to go outside today. It's an opportunity to experience the sublime. Plus I want to pick up a couple of copies of the paper.