Titled thus because I keep thinking of these as “brain fritters.” These are the digressions that I removed from an article I’m working on, because although deep fried, they’re also half baked. 1. When I was on vacation with my family in Hawaii in 1999, there was a feature on Heather Graham, who headlined whatever the positive version of their list was; a year or two later, she fell to their negative version with the sarcastic commentary, “What’s next? A… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Blog
Best to stay hydrated
I thought my days of not being able to open things were truly behind me. I know all the tricks – run the jar under hot water, use a towel for better grippage, puncture the lid’s seal with a can opener. But yesterday a bottle of seltzer had me thinking I might never experience the joy of bubbles on my tongue again. Never mind that I had only just returned from the store across the street where the seltzer was… Read more »
The Real Real
I’ve lately become especially attuned to and fascinated by the popularity of “behind the scenes” content – not the big-reveal-instagram-vs-reality flourish in which an influencer might show real life versus online projection, but the more straightforward “making of” (the podcast, the TV show, the writing process behind the essay…). The reasons for their popularity aren’t mystifying; people love to draw back the curtain and feel that they’re in on how the sausage is made. What intrigues me is the question… Read more »
Reduce, Reuse, Recital
Today I was in a recital for the first time since…probably age 18. I was in concerts/performances in college and I’ve played shows as an adult, but this was the first legitimate recital in quite some time. I did play harp on one piece during my cousin’s masters of music recital, but even that was more than a decade ago. And, actually, all of my recitals took place between the ages of 14 and 18, which meant I never experienced… Read more »
Not Zone (sorry)
I just finished watching The Hot Zone (obviously, I watched Outbreak back in the day – I think I’ve heard this referred to as a remake, which doesn’t make sense; it’s based on the same real events, yes, but they’re both fictionalized and thus don’t actually have the same plots, and this one is a miniseries rather than a movie). *ETA: Apparently it’s not a remake; there was supposed to be a movie based on The Hot Zone (the book… Read more »
Consider Yourself Spared of Nautical Puns
I went kayaking on Wednesday for the first time in a few years, and for the first time on a body of water more than three feet deep and on which I was not always traveling downstream. If I thought my arms were the weakest part of my body before, now I’m certain. The puniness of my arms forced all other sorts of body parts to take up for them: my back, my wrists, my neck. I don’t know how… Read more »
My Writing Process
I can’t write yet; I haven’t had coffee. Ooh, look at what came in the mail. I better try it on! I really need to take a shower before I get actual dressed for the day. If I write for an hour, I’ll let myself have another coffee. First I just need to read everything that’s been posted on the Previously TV Chernobyl message board. Okay, I’ve made a list of the three stories and three essays I want to… Read more »
Books of 2019, Part 4
Brain Bugs, by Dean Buonomano: I don’t usually have this specific a vision for the structure of a book, but I really think this one – which details some of the ways that [our brains evolving to function generally at their best] can lead to [unintended negative (or simply superfluous) consequences], e.g. optimizing for short term benefits (the way we might have needed to when our survival was much less certain) rather than long-term ones – would have benefited tremendously… Read more »
Sparkjoynotes
It seems like a fairly safe (if mundane) statement to make that America/the world’s obsession with Marie Kondo and downsizing has to do with both environmental concerns (not that getting rid of personal belongings does any good for the environment directly, but I think the impulse is connected) and a desire for control (in a world – and for Americans, a nation – whose survival seems more and more uncertain by the day). Owning fewer things seems like it should… Read more »
Sing song
Today I read this article with one of my students–it focuses on the role of repetition in listening to/enjoying music–and then started to make a list of things that felt analogous to the Diana Deutsch experiment described therein (to summarize, Deutsch recorded a spoken sentence, then looped a phrase “sometimes behave so strangely;” after hearing the loop numerous times, the original sentence (which on first lesson sounded wholly spoken if slightly melodic) now sounds like someone speaking before suddenly switching… Read more »
