taking it personally – Page 18

September 16, 2007

Cheesemas, and directional

Today was cheesemas. Cheeses were bought and brought – drunken goat, mozzarella, robiola, explorateur (?! – hokey name, but most excellent cheese), some other alcohol- (port-)laced semisoft cheese, Valdeon (a Spanish blue), raclette and half a dozen others. Someone even brought raclette ice cream which, really, was much milder than it had any right to be. Add to that fruit, bread, fig-and-vidalia jam, wine, beer, sprakly non-alc cider, fifteen folk or more and two mostly happy and social toddlers, and it’s cheesemas in the neighborhood. My undying gratitude and love to my cheesemas-elf conspirator.

Unrelatedly, I thought some this evening, and wrote down the following:

north is triangular, steady, monument-al

east is rounded, exotic, otherworldly

south is light, scintillating, hot

west is radio, diagonal, big

the center is small, sensitive, reactive

September 15, 2007

Turnabout.

Once again I keep getting these flashes of “should really blog that!” and then immediately “but there’s so much unsaid over there.” So, in short:

I defended and graduated.* To paraphrase my landlady, I’m Vika Zafrin, Ph.uckin’ D. That paraphrase involved changing fewer letters than you might imagine. For the first time in my adult life I am not a student pursuing a degree full-time at an institution. Mostly there’s a giant feeling of relief, but I already miss research. Although that balances out, because I sure don’t miss the constant insecurity, the “not good enough”ness, the 24/7 feeling like I have to be working.

OK, I still mostly feel like I should be working. But it’s getting easier to compartmentalize, and you know what? There’s a whole big life out there, with books and spiritual practice and cooking and friends and friends’ children and visits with mom, who lives in driving distance for the first time in thirteen years. Who knew?

Ethan and I have moved up to Boston. Best move we could’ve made. Wanderlust is tugging at my pants leg already, but I could be happy living in Boston for a long while. Given that wanderlust is my muse and near-constant companion, that’s a hefty statement to make.

The house we live in has seven human residents, five cats, a dog and (temporarily) a bird. Gods bless the marvel that is modern allergy medicine. Our two cats have established relationships with the three who have lived here for long. Nochka the tiny black cat has a hissy fit any time DJ Spooky, the black boycat thrice her size, comes into our bedroom seeking food. And there’s the impossibly beautiful lynx-y Winter, who is afraid of almost everyone. Other than that, feline people are chill. Humans are also mostly chill, and really, how bad can it get when you live with geeks and musicians (and a funny man who inexplicably deals with insurance all day)? A circus band occasionally practices in my living room. Beat that with a stick.

The past three months have been spent largely acclimating to the new house, the new life rhythms, the big questions like where to go from here and how to plan out the long term. I’m working outside of academe now, but who knows how long I’ll be able to stay away?

So much is changing. Mostly I like it. Some of it is hard growth, but on the whole I feel like I’m stretching after a long sleep.

*Oh, and my work? Here, in its entirety. Get yourself Firefox and enjoy. It’ll take half a minute or so to load, but is thereafter very fast.

February 15, 2007

Wired interviews David Deutsch

Here‘s an interview Wired conducted with David Deutsch, the father of quantum computing. Deutsch explains what it is and why it’s useful in a very accessible way. The whole thing is fascinating and nifty; do check out the gorgeous chip in the photos. It can’t function unless its temperature is near zero Kelvin! I can’t wait to see where this goes, whether it will open any doors that our current thought paradigms haven’t been able to reach, only imagine.

In other news, and thanks to a friend’s formulation, this whole week up through today is totally fired.

February 9, 2007

China Miéville and the Vikings

Not at the same time, mind.

There’s a review in Wired of China Miéville’s new book Un Dun Lun, which looks fun. Though I never quite got into the third book (The Iron Council) of his trilogy, I more or less swallowed up Perdido Street Station and The Scar. And, right now I’m reading Looking for Jake – a collection of his short stories that, all except one, are Miéville distilled, without the buildup. Fabulous, in both senses. He’s like a slightly more creepy Neil Gaiman, and boy does he have a way with words.

Aaand, check out these Viking-era gaming pieces that someone just dug up-and-out.

February 9, 2007

Hey, Boston: lunch?

Bawstinites,

I’ll be working at Diesel in Davis Square (again) tomorrow (Friday) from 10ish to 6ish, with a possible break in-between to wander: last time I got a bit of cabin fever there. Lunch, anyone? It has to be inexpensive, and Diesel food is great; I’ll just be up for company in the afternoon. Hours flexible. Do call my cell, or if you don’t have the number, email or comment on Words’ End, not LiveJournal.

Everyone else, sorry for the narrow-audience PSA. Carry on.

February 6, 2007

Peter and Sean need your help. Yes, you.

On a mailing list someone wrote:

Our good friends are still in real and serious danger.

This hit home — again — when I read the AP news article sent around on the same list.

I hadn’t made any phone calls since I live in Providence, but the article – dated today – made me do it. So I just called the attorney general, the mayor and the governor. My main question to them was: the two were arrested (more or less) before Turner made their statement; Turner has since taken the blame and a settlement has been reached; Mayor Menino said pretty definitively that Turner/Interference was the culprit; Peter and Sean are contractors twice removed. So why are they still on the hook, but more importantly, why has there been no public statement as to their fate? Will their prosecution just quietly go on its merry way, regardless of the above? That doesn’t make sense to me.

The phrasing was different, but this is the gist. I was pleasantly surprised by their taking my comments seriously and courteously, even though I am not part of their voter base. So make your calls, y’all, regardless of where you live, and ask that the charges against Peter Berdovsky and Sean Stevens be publicly dropped.

Attorney General Martha Coakley: (617) 727-2200

Mayor Thomas Menino: (617) 635-4500

Governor Deval Patrick: (617) 725-4005

February 2, 2007

Charges dropped!

4 February: the below is wrong. The charges haven’t officially been dropped. MSNBC, screw you for the misinformation. Everyone else, I’m sorry for spreading it further.

Here, watch this. Turner’s apologized to citizenry; they’re in negotiations as to $1M that they’re purportedly wishing to pay out (nice of them to cover costs and a little more), and the charges against Sean and Peter have been dropped. “Now,” the news anchor said (I’m paraphrasing), “all that’s left is for Boston to apologize to its citizenry for overreacting.”

I especially love the way the anchor talks about Philadelphia, where 56 of these things have been delighting audiences for “two weeks.” Ever so slight hint at “I can’t believe this is even a news story.”

Yay!!

February 1, 2007

Update on Sean and Peter.

They’re released on bail. The judge reportedly (I didn’t get there until the arraignment was just over) seemed to think the whole thing is ridiculous. There’s a whole bunch of media coverage, so I’ll let y’all google, but I can’t resist one link. Best. press conference. EVER.

(I mean, really, this wasn’t about the young men not taking things seriously. It’s about the pushy bunch of media assholes who don’t seem to be able to accept “we can’t talk about this case” for an answer.)

We wait until March 7th to know what happens next. I hope someone Turner-related steps up in their defense, but am not exactly holding my breath.

February 1, 2007

Device update: I was wrong.

They’re not AA batteries, they’re D batteries. And there’s a photosensitivity sensor, too. And it might not be possible to actually see through the circuit boards.

This information brought to you by eBay.

February 1, 2007

Artists arrested in Boston for LED “bomb” scare.

Did you hear about the Boston “bomb” scare?

Here’s a CNN article that tells about it. BBC has reported on it, too. Lots of coverage.

They were art pieces advertising Aqua Teen Hunger Force. They were put up by a member of the Glitch Crew video art collective, who was contracted to do so by Turner Broadcasting. Some people thought they were bombs; bomb squads went berserk.

A good friend of mine, also a member of Glitch, was helping Peter put them up. He’s in jail too, with a $100,000 bail on his head. Arraignment is tomorrow morning, and I hope they’ll just be let go.

They got arrested after Turner owned up. As far as I know, Turner is letting them spend the night in jail. Which, as far as I’m concerned, may be easier but is… a bit assinine on the part of one of the richest media companies in the U.S.

I’ll post again after I know what happens at the arraignment. Meanwhile, here’s a link to a Grand Text Auto post that mentions other instances in which artists have gotten in trouble because we’re now scared of EVERYTHING.

Edited to add: no, wait. I’m taking issue with some stuff in the CNN article. (I’m sure other news sources are no better, by the way, just picking up on their wording.)

Peter Berdovsky, 27, a freelance video artist from Arlington, Massachusetts, was facing charges of placing a hoax device in a way that results in panic, as well as one count of disorderly conduct, said Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley. The charge is a felony, she said.

According to his Web site, Berdovsky is a graduate of the Massachusetts College of Art and a founding member of a video artists group called Glitch who goes by the nickname “Zebbler” and sings in a band called “Superfiction.”

Authorities believe Berdovsky was “in the employ of other individuals” as part of the marketing campaign, Coakley said. “How exactly this was executed, we are still investigating.” Berdovsky is scheduled for arraignment at 9 a.m. Thursday in Charlestown District Court.

“In the employ of other individuals”? YES, YOU DIPSHITS, HE WAS IN THE EMPLOY OF TURNER. And also, stop calling them “suspicious packages.” They’re not packages. They’re CIRCUIT BOARDS WITH LIGHTS AND THREE AA BATTERIES IN THEM. If you hold them up, you can see through the holes in them. Nothing was ever hidden from view in them. So stop fucking scaremongering now that you know what they are.

Gah. News media.

Edited again: Oh, good. Now CNN has updated the article to include “Sean Stevens, 28” in the two-name list of the people arrested. Now I don’t feel quite as weird about talking about Sean by name.

Also, ha! NOBODY IS SAFE. CNN again: “Turner Broadcasting said the devices had been in place for two to three weeks in Boston; New York; Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; Atlanta, Georgia; Seattle, Washington; Portland, Oregon; Austin, Texas; San Francisco, California; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.”