"Even after all this, one hardly knows what Sam Spade looked like. But everyone knows what Humphrey Bogart looked like. A reader of unillustrated fiction completes the work in his mind; the reader of a comic book or the viewer of a movie is passive. That is why kids lose a lot when they don't read fiction, even when the movies and television that they watch are aesthetically superior."
- Gaiman v McFarlane, 360 F.3d 644 (7th Cir. 2004)

"Eloise shook Mary Jane's arm. 'I was a nice girl,' she pleaded, 'wasn't I?'"
- J.D. Salinger, "Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut", Nine Stories

"From the situation where I now am, I see a scene of ambition beyond all my former suspicions or imagination… Jealousies and rivalries… never stared me in the face in such horrid forms as in the present."
- John Adams, as quoted in David McCullough's John Adams

"Rather, the point is that most people have experienced what might be referred to as compromising moments of identity performance – moments in which a person's performance of identity contradicts some political or social image that person has of herself."
- Devon Carbado & Mitu Gulati, Working Identity, 85 Cornell L. Rev. 1259

A common thread: the disconcerting confrontations of the present.

In the 11th grade, near the end of our unit on The Catcher in the Rye, I made a "serious" mix with a tracklisting and description of how each track related to something in the book. My friend H made one as well. Both our mixes had "Rollerskate Skinny" by The Old 97's on it because that was one of the phrases Holden uses to describe his sister. The last track on mine was "Lowdown" by My Morning Jacket because the gentle tune and leisurely drums reminded me of the carousel spinning around and around near the end of the book. A soundtrack for the final scene in the film adaptation in my head. Just one of those earnest things you do as a kid.

There's a line in Catcher about how Holden thinks the best authors are the ones you'd like to hear more from: "What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it." From what I've read about Salinger in his later years, I probably wouldn't have wanted to know him as he was, but based on what I've read from the man, I'd have liked to call him up. Not Holden, but the guy who wrote Catcher and all those other words that comfort people for some reason or another. Sometimes you'll read something and it's so damn nice that you just want to check out everything else the author's done, because if they've already come up with something that resonates with you, who knows what else they have up their sleeve? Enlighten me, man. Tell me more.

I'd still like to believe that this is all an elaborate hoax by a cantankerous old coot who just wants everyone off his back, but it's drawing far too much attention for someone who made a point of becoming a recluse for the rest of his life.

Anyway. R.I.P., Salinger, and thanks.

• Nov 8th: a clip about friendship from "The Inbetweeners." (NSFW if your workplace cares about f-bombs, but you probably shouldn't be watching Youtube at work anyway.) Hilarious stuff, though a bit sad. "Ooh, a friend? Since when do you have other friends?" Teens have enough concerns without worrying about whether their friends approve of their other friends. It's almost tragic, really. Jay, the kid who's mocked for making a friend outside of his usual group, ends up shredding his new friendship with the kind of adolescent rage that evokes The Lord of the Flies in its suddenness and absurdity. I was never a big fan of Golding.
• Nov 9th: Make a gift bow from a magazine page. Sure to come in handy for future wrapping needs. It's a simple tutorial, which means I'll probably actually use it, as opposed to just admiring the results of how other people use it. I like drawing and I like putting things together by hand, but I've never really been a craftsy etsy kind of person.
• Nov 10th: No Brain – 해변으로 가요 (Keyboys cover). A music video for a cover of the classic Korean karaoke staple, "Let's Go to the Beach," sung in a raspy growl. I still stand by my initial evaluation: It’s like… Korean ska dipped into rainbows and kool-aid and magic?! a.k.a. AWESOME.
• Nov 11th: One Book, Many Readings – a pretty visualization of data from the Choose Your Own Adventure book series, which Wikipedia tells me is a "gamebook" series due to the participatory nature of the stories. How's that for interacting with the text? Don't forget to check out the animations and the gallery. You can even experience a CYOA book on the site as well.
• Nov 12th: suggestions from Ask Metafilter about vegetables to dip in hummus. My tub of cilantro and jalapeno hummus from Trader Joe's was about to expire and I didn't have any chips left. Dilemma. This AskMe question pointed me to some interesting directions for roasted vegetables (kale chips sound great), but, more importantly, it reminded me that raw mushrooms were good for dipping purposes. I happened to have some mushrooms in the fridge, so I washed them, dipped them, and enjoyed them. They were pleasantly crunchy.
• Nov 13th: Excellent Metafilter comment regarding various ways to respond to a command of "Smile!" from a stranger. My favorite is this:
  

  When I really want to rant (if the tone and body language of the man is particularly condescending), I'll say "Ask a man. (again, I get 'what?') Ask a man to smile. Go on. I'll wait." He never knows what to do with that. "Why do you think you have the right to tell me, a complete stranger, how I should look and feel, when you would never, *ever* ask a complete stranger to smile if that stranger were a man."

  I don't have much to add to that. It's just a great counterpoint to an absolutely ridiculous and arrogant notion that some people have regarding other people's faces. Absurd is the word. The only person who should be able to command you to smile is the photographer at your family gathering. (Friends usually don't have to command smiles, they can obtain them easily.)

I still regret not buying this and finding out what was inside the box. Beetle-shaped candy? Candy inspired by fighting beetles? Licorice? Fightin' licorice?!

Hey. It's been just over a year since President Obama got elected.

Timing for uploading the picture I took of an Obama air freshener that I found on my hard drive this afternoon: Not Bad!

This picture of a young-ish Roland Barthes is unique for several reasons:

1. the robe
2. the MUSTACHE (nascent, faint, strange)
3. the grin

…all of which are absent from most other photos I've seen of him.

It's almost startling how different he looks here. The robe and the mustache add a sort of debonair douchiness that made me laugh at first sight. It's like looking at a friend's childhood photograph – the person you know is there, somewhere, hidden underneath youth and now-awkward fashion choices. Luckily for this photo, there's also the grin. It's a pretty great grin: easygoing, verging on cheek. He seems to have outgrown it, like the robe and mustache, in later photographs. Look at his dust jackets now and looking back are portraits of a serious elder whose thin-lipped smiles never show any teeth.

S'all right, though. We can't all be Foucault. (And that's a good thing!)

I liked the photographer's caption: "Too beautiful and too delicate to feel want to cry." But I wouldn't hesitate to eat these at all. They look delicious!

Sometimes I forget how much I enjoy drawing.

Still a sucker for cultural fusion of the "East meets West" variety, cliché as it can seem n' sound. Little musical morsels (with accompanying videos!) that stir-fry traditional influences into modern style. Oh, sap!

No, the king of joy is this unnamed delegate from Connecticut, throwing his hands (and papers!) in the air like he just don't care.

If only we could all be so thrilled!

ETA: After some sleuthing, have determined this enthusiastic character is Oliver Wolcott, as portrayed by character actor Peter Forster. Keep an eye out for Oliver during the Adams and Dickinson fight scene – he's the one with one foot on top of the Connecticut table, slapping papers against his palm in excitement.