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?

Anyone up for seeing the Muppet Movie at some point? One of my labbies linked several songs from it this afternoon, including something i'm going to refer to as 'what in the heck, Ryan?', and a cover of Forget you featuring Camilla and the fine feathered gals.


Other things of note include the fact that the football part of a 118-year rivalry between my alma mater (okay, the undergrad one) and another other massive university has recently come to an end. It was a heartbreaking final 20 seconds, during which my father and i stood directly in front of the television and became, err, highly animated. Loudly. It's going to be an interesting situation next Thanksgiving; will there be some sort of non-conference rematch?

hats and cups.

Hats at which to goggle, from the Royal wedding last summer. This is another instance of not being sure how i got to this link, and being amazed at what i found there.

Also, this Toby Keith song is about red solo cups. Things to appreciate here is that it seems to be fairly straightforward and honest: okay-i'm-drunk-and-i-wrote-this-unfortunately-catchy-song-and-i'm-famous-so-i-recorded-it.

Planking

And then there's planking. i don't know that i understand the concept, and apparently that's the case with the majority of the population. i have, however, been asked to plank on a number of occasions, the most recent being for my graduate program's retreat scavenger hunt, with the accompanying questions: 'Arms straight? Am i supposed to look up? Down? What the heck?' Followed by, and i'm sure this is the case in 80% of planking incidences, "Hurry up and take the picture already. Did you get it?!"

Owling, the act of perching and staring at things? i can get behind owling - i can typically be found perching and staring at things anyway. Batmanning (hanging upside down), that one actually has some pop-cultural and entertainment purpose.

Anyway.  From the canoe trip... i still don't understand.

"(they're) asleep/ i'm wide awake"

Because really, if i can't be honest about the song occupying my mind in the blog that only 2 other (known) people read, where can i?

It's probably the weather in combination with protein purification. Yeah.

'before this river becomes an ocean...'

i'll confess to a tiny obsession with Kermit the Frog's song Not Easy Being Green (particularly the Andrew Bird version, okayit'strueiloveitalot) which makes this NY Times article about Flight Of The Conchords singer Bret McKenzie highly relevant.

Linked from Ryan today at lunch, this, and i think it should officially be his theme song. Guy can eat.

Finally, the science tattoos. i go back and forth about actually getting a tattoo (i'll get a brand or equivalent first), but having a devotion to your work strong enough to get it permanently etched to your person is something i do support completely. Compilations about these things are getting around. Last June, this online article popped up, and Kelly AT left me a fb link today about the actual book. Also, recently, the NY Times also had a slideshow going 'round, viewable here, featuring the same book.

Also, how do semi-embarrassing though somewhat applicable '80s songs get stuck in my head, apropos of nothing?

NPR posted a Tiny Desk Concert today of Goat Rodeo, a collaboration between Chris Thile and a bunch of other guys (okay, the other guys happen to be YoYo Ma, Edgar Meyer, and Stuart Duncan). i saw a notice for the collaboration sometime in the past two weeks, probably around the beginning of last week, and meant to track it down as soon as it was out.

Leastways, i was THRILLED to see it show up on the excellent NPR music website today. Tiny Desk Concerts have long been favorites, and they bring in some phenomenal musicians...

Addendum: the NPR interview. Quite taken with:  "Upon hearing this, James Taylor goes down in his shop and builds a five-by-five riser for Chris [Thile] to sit on. You think about one of the world's greatest finger-picking guitarists with a power saw in his hand."

i was a huge fan of Nickel Creek since i saw them on PBS' Austin City Limits sometime in (early?) high school, and even dragged my best friend an hour plus's drive to see them live (Floore's, Helotes, TX), and was super sad to hear of their eventual disbanding. It's been interesting to follow each of the member's careers - Chris Thile most recently of the Punch Brothers, and Sara Watkins  recently with the Decemberists.

Yeah, those are all Tiny Desk Concert links. NPR's Music division is, again, awesome.

(Screaming and clapping my hands like a 16 year old groupie at a Beatles concert...)

Apparently Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake just did a History of Rap Part 3?! YES!

Quick references: History of Rap Part 1
History of Rap Part 2

Kelly AT and James, this just settles it. Few settings for these could be as epic as out at Devil's Lake having a climbing dance party with some awesome people; you guys gotta come visit in the spring.

Also, found this article on the Times the other day.  Girl Scouts was a no-go for me, but 4H fit completely despite my being possibly the most awkward child ever. This extended to FFA in high school.  i'm grateful for the work ethics and leadership opportunities garnered there, even if the only parliamentary procedure i've used in the last 5 years was to close an otherwise-informal planning meeting with friends in the most ridiculous manner possible.

Oh, i named a desk 'tensionball' cow Mildred the other day after the dedication in Robert's Rules of Order.

One more thing: the FFA creed totally can apply to science, too. Let's try this thing:

'i believe in the future of science, with faith born not of words but of deeds, achievements won by the past and present generations of Scientists, in the promise of better days through better ways, even as the better things we now enjoy have come to us through the struggles of former years...'  (with apologies to EM Tiffany)

"bathed in the dust of diamonds like a particularly fabulous sparrow"

From here, tripped over on Friday. Continuing that arc, via Holly, this, the original Old Spice commercial. Also of interest, the making of the commercial, and it's entertaining.

Appreciated:

Nuns as corporate activists? Awesome