reports of people watching, mostly

Caught the plane, okay, and some of the westerns turned out.

Today was Cookie Day. What that means is that all of the girl cousins (who didn't have work today) came by my mother's house this morning, and we baked what ended up being double batches of about 6 types of cookies plus a pie. i wore my kitchen warfare shirt (the woot one with a design that appears to be a gun until you see that it's made up of kitchen utensils). It was appropriate? The morning featured both Lady Antebellum albums drowned out by the cousins all singing along, and about 4 lbs of butter (plus various other lipids). Woo!

Last night, my best friend Shaw and i saw Bruce Robison at Floore's Country Store (actually a dancehall). It was purely awesome; i would reference a youtube clip here but there aren't any that match how good his shows are. Plus, dancing's so fun to observe. Parents teach kids to two step (a 7-year old in a cowboy hat and his grandmother, father and 12-year-old daughter, etc), teenagers spin around the floor, and older couples glide past who've obviously been dancing together the past 20 years (perfectly matched steps). It's wonderful to be home.

While retrieving my brother from the airport today (YAY!), my mother and i people-watched. His flight was about a half-hour late, so that gave us plenty of time. One of the more interesting scenes involved a young lady being met at the airport by a woman who looked to be her mother. The mother handed her a posted package, containing a pair of shoes. The daughter promptly sat down right there in baggage and tried them on. She had our entire attention, as this unfolded directly in front of where Mom and i were waiting, plus the shoes were this gorgeous pair of Louboutins. Delicately removed the right shoe from its fetters, slipped it on directly over a kelly green sock, strutted a half-length around the terminal (with her left foot still encased in a boot), and then carefully unbuckled and re-wrapped the shoe, brushing off the sole before returning it to its parcel box. This was narrated by my astonished whispering/freaking out to my mother on exactly what sort of shoe that was and various attributes - hidden platform, red sole, ridiculous price, the whole bit. Mom was like, 'i don't know that i've ever seen a shoe that cost that much in person', a sentiment which i share. i wanted to give the girl a thumbs-up, but didn't want to be so obvious a creeper.

Granted, trying on a pair of $1000+ shoes in an airport baggage terminal is a tiny bit odd, and i like to think it would have caught the attention of anyone instead of being an(other) indication that i have a shoe problem.

BARBECUE FOR CHRISTMAS DINNER!! The males of my family prepared it today. You may all be jealous (because, let's be honest, it's one million times better than just about anything else, ofcoursei'mnotacompletelybiasedTexanwhocannearlyconsumeherwieghtinbrisket).

Barbecue or barbeque? Also, interesting New Yorker article from years ago regarding the genre.

Long story short, at lunch today with some friends i ended up taking a personality test. i am reasonably convinced that instead of the 16-or so types, there really are indeed only 4 that people get (at least by taking these online tests), as supported by the fact that one of my labmates and i got the same type. i also posited the theory that perhaps a commonality of grad school has a skewing effect; it selects for a few particular types. Anyway, if you get curious and end up taking the test, let me know what you are said to be, to add to the data for my theories?

It's 11:20 pm and i'm still in lab the day before i go home for Christmas, having developed 8 westerns today and run/transferred 8 more for tomorrow. Here's hoping some of tomorrow's turn out. No idea when i'll pack. It's moments like this when i really just wish i'd chose to drive (as i'll get home and be sans vehicle, anyway).

Also in a funk of frustration/envy/hopelessness. Argh.

i do all of this to myself, but i don't know any other way to be.

pictures

And then there's this article, where apparently H&M is photoshopping model heads onto digitally created bodies.
People have been airbrushing the hell out of fashion photos already, so while they were once real people wearing real clothes, this hasn't been the case in a very long while. The only thing i see wrong with this is the idea that they're trying to pass it off as real (females/social pressure/body issues aside here).  Photoshop is the devil.

Which brings us to the fact that i finally decided on a camera (a Canon Rebel EOS T3i, prolly bundled with a decent lens). At a recent holiday party (for the floor which my lab shares with another lab), we had to state what we wanted for Christmas. It took me a minute to get over my embarrassment at being the center of attention (i walked in late, and had no idea what was going on), but i said i wanted a camera and a passport. Everyone laughed, and i guess that IS a striking combination, but that's what i want. i'm just going to have to somehow make it happen. (Pony up the dough, cupcake, and just do it.) My parents are intensely against my getting a passport and it's already led to 3 arguments that ended only by my backing down, but this is getting ridiculous. Back to the camera; apparently i'm a Canon girl, for better or worse. The pictures are just prettier. Yes, the frames-per-second are slower, yes, there's chromatic aberration/fringing issues, i don't care.

Which brings us to a topic of the weekend: just because you can do it, that doesn't necessarily meant that you should(?).

"i'm talking to my proteins.""it's thursday."

This experiment, where a world famous violinist stands in a DC subway and plays to observe the reactions of people passing, is really interesting. i'd read of it months ago and then came across it again in this article, regarding how thing must be properly framed for people to pay attention to them. Sort of like how without the appropriate settings, those mashed potatoes were only okay and that supermodel's a little trampy, actually, with her shirt cut that low.

i suppose this contrasts with the flash mobbing of the last post, as the lack of framing is what makes the piece.

This clip on urban skiiing has been bouncing around the intarwebs for the past week and is really worth watching. For one thing, the shots are GORGEOUS - i' like to know what equipment they used or how they got some of the shots so incredibly clean. Plus, the idea is phenomenal. The trailers for the movie from which it's derived pretty, too, but very much trailers. Also, it turns out that i really like LCD Soundsystem. i feel bad when i come across bands after they've been around forever (to the point of having disbanded; concerts are obviously out) but the music is still fantastic. (Kar, his voice reminds me a tiny bit of Blue October's Justin.)

Which brings us around to dancing. i got to swing dance tonight, with Chris M and Katherine RM. YAY!!! East coast swing, okay, and lots of fun. Anyone know how to lindy hop? i will learn one day. Ohmygoodnessyes.

Flash mobs

This weekend i was (off-the-cuff) asked to explain flash mobs to a large group of colleagues. i feel a tiny bit odd that i'm the one explaining these - i'm not nearly cool enough. Anyway, flash mobs are a large group of people (a 'mob') dancing to a particular song played over a speaker in a public area, to the surprise of passers-by. The flash part is that this is very sudden; the music starts and mob-folk (from the crowd) coalesce into a dancing group.  It is planned for the dancers - the song is usually known, as well as the dance, and obviously the time and place. Some mobs take this further and plan costumes, etc. After the song is done, the mob usually melts back into the crowd. A popular song for this might be M. Jackson's Thriller, as most people already know that dance. Anyway, this can all be for a particular reason (commercial/advertisement/political statement), or just for the hell of it.

A good example of this is 100 ladies dancing to Beyonce's Single Ladies at Piccadilly Circus in London, apparently to promote Trident gum.

Sometimes passers-by know the song/dance combo and join in, which is AWESOME. This might be best demonstrated by a clip from my undergrad institution. My favorite part of this are the Corps (ROTC) guys around 3:50, hanging in there. Thanks and gig 'em.

i myself am strongly considering staging, in conjunction with LZ and as many of you as i can get to participate, a flash mob next spring, somewhere on State street to a Italian song (start around 1:23) which is apparently an approximation of English. i think i'm really just in love with the '70s-ness of this song - every time i see it i wonder WHY AM I NOT WEARING PANTS LIKE THAT?! Wow. Honestly, people, if i was forced to pick a single era from which to dress, it would be the 1970s, easy. Plus, the song is all limb-waving. You all can handle that, no problem.

As i mentioned this morning to Katherine RM, this business is seriously getting out of hand.


Also, i bought a ridiculous watch for myself while i was out Christmas shopping. i feel the need to justify this because, again, it's pretty darn ridiculous. First, i can ethanol it. Second, it will stay on my upper arm when i'm wearing gloves at the bench. Third, it was pretty cheap. We'll see how well it actually holds up?

waving along.

An extension of a link from a Holly link, this memorable music video.

i check this every day. i don't know that i should admit to that, and he's not my cup of tea, looks-wise, but the lines are spectacular. Tripped over this equally spectacular site on facebook today, and the original internet meme is here. Awesome.

The old livejournal had a song of the day option. i like(d) that. Today's might be KOL's Pyro, in all its lush overproduced glory. (Certain songs remind me of a particular place i've heard them, usually at a time when i needed to hear whatever the message of that song is. In short, they evoke that place-in-time upon further hearings. This one's good for a running along a particular stretch of neighborhood consisting mainly of undergrad houses near the football stadium, in late fall. "Once this all gets started, it's bound to be a sight to see.")

"i just flew in from a biology lab"

Competing with the Black Keys channel that recently comprised my mp3 player playlist is a song by the venerable Rolling Stones.

Also, looking up the holiday tune Here Comes Santa Claus to reference in an email netted this flashy piece of work. Awesome, and it also left a ton of speculation on what the neighborhood reaction must have been?


Linked from LZ today, 10 Things 90s Kids Will Have To Explain... Lisa Frank, holy cow. 4th/5th grade female status cachet was totally Lisa Frank-related. My mother was not a fan and encountering this as an adult, i'm more sympathetic to her than my 4th grade-self. Furthermore, Fern Gully's Batty Rap.  Yes. YES. How did this make it into a kid's movie?

blue jean arc

Most of you have seen this, but i find it to be slight fascinating and had to reference it this afternoon: the no-wash blue jean phenomena. It's apparently a thing, as i tripped over it in a NY Times story about reducing the amount of water required to produce a pair of blue jeans. Perhaps i find this fascinating as i myself have broken in (and subsequently broken too far) many pairs of jeans, including my favorite pair from college with apple and cross patches, one on either knee. (The dualistic nature of man? Sinner and redeemed? Always good for a non-sober dancehall discussion.) This continues and is exacerbated by the fact that i now mainly purchase thrifted jeans, further decreasing their lifespans. And jeans are expensive, eesh. However, this  may be taking things too far.

Instead of an arc, it's actually more of a continuum, perhaps?

Other things up on the docket: nomenclature. Goober as a term of... endearment? Mary Sue as a projection of oneself in fan fiction? Tall Poppies which may or may not require leveling?