I just can't stop...

This linking and posting is getting out of control up in here (but I'm having such a good time!), so just one more. I promise. A Small Victory takes on the question, "Is there a right way to blog?". Personally, I don't think there's a right way and a wrong way to go about it. There are good blogs and there are sub-par blogs full of "dull musings" (a memorable dig) that I can't imagine are entertaining and/or edifying anyone, but I don't think the problem arises from the fact that those bloggers aren't sticking to The Rules of Proper Blogging (like, "thou shalt not write posts with emoting and personal news."). It's quite possible I'm wrong, but I just don't think a blog has to be tackling Important Issues to be worthwhile--people can do that in this medium and that's a fantastic idea, but let's not limit what's going on here.

meta-blogging

The NY Times has an interesting article on blogging and the future of politics: campaign-trail blogging (go here for one of the cited bloggers take on the article). On her blog Hey Y'all, Watch This!, clara wrote a post about the art of protesting and wondered where the spirit of revolution that was rampant during the Vietnam War era has gone. I think that desire for change, that hunger for things to be different, to be better, to have our voices heard is still around. It's just around in a different form. And it just might be possible that the way we protest now (e.g., blogging) is a better than some of what was done back then, as Kitty pointed out in her comment. I suppose time will tell. However, we can't ever have too much of a good thing, so: if you're not letting people know how you feel about this election, if you're not letting the candidates know what you want to see (should we really be thrilled about Bush just because he's "not as bad" as Kerry?), if you're not registered to vote, if you're not standing up what's good and true, then get up off you ass and do so! That is all.

food news for nyc

A great website with food news and eating out tips for those residing in NYC. Drool-worthy photos, too.

influential food

An interesting list of products that have "profoundly impacted the specialty foods industry."

the fantastic (online) world of food

What to do today: check out this beautifully designed foodie blog with a ton of recipes and get inspired!

it's pretty popular, this blogging thing

Author blogs! According to the AP, you can now be all voyeuristic and check out the innermost thoughts of your favorite authors. Well, probably not all of them, but some of them are posting away.

gratis

That's right, free. Like this nifty cookbook that you can download onto your computer without paying a cent. Check it out.

vote

If you haven't registered to vote yet and/or need an absentee ballot, please go here.

now playing in my head

the (current) songs that just won't leave (and that you should hear, too):

lover--sweetback
bird stealing bread--iron and wine
helpless--kd lang covering neil young
I got your man--lady saw
some yo yo ma, some norah jones...

so weird to be back here

Sometimes I think everything about the Left Coast sucks and I get very frustrated and experience a tight feeling in my chest. And then I go have lunch outside on a sunny afternoon at The Summit with a friend and eat one of the best burgers I've ever had, after a tire-squealing drive on a twisty road that winds through orchards and ranch lands encircled by breathtaking mountains. Or I watch a Shakespeare play outside on a mild evening when the palm trees are framed against a violet sky, and on the way back we drive down the PCH and the moon is on the water and we stop in Carpinteria and they go swimming fully clothed as waves taste the shore and Scorpio burns aboves the horizon. Or, at 12 am I watch a brilliant fireball fall against a backdrop of thousands of stars as I sit on the hood of a car up in the mountains, on a warm night when the wind smells like sage and someone plays the guitar softly. Maybe I have the best of both worlds. (Well, sometimes, anyway.)

nostalgia

With a host of furious fancies,
Whereof I am commander,
With a flaming spear, and a horse of air,
Through the wilderness I wander

A knight of ghosts and shadows,
I summoned am to tourney,
Ten leagues beyond the world's wide end,
Methinks it is no journey.

sexa-what?!

Ptolemy in the mornings (in what universe do I sign up for math at 8:30 am four days a week?). The sexagesimal system is so cool; I wasn't expecting it at all, but nothing gets me as excited as some geocentric astronomy. Base 60 all the way. Then exegetics, which involves much table-thumping and raised voices. Lunch = Mexican food, again. Latin. I try to stay awake and feel guilty for not participating more, especially after how that last quiz went. Food prep for two hours snapping the ends off of two cases worth of haricots vert. Dinner = spaghetti with the thickest meat sauce ever. Talking on the smoker's patio with the cool kids as the sun goes down. Pool (I win). And now homework. Maybe I'll actually get some sleep tonight.