Songs that Didn't Used to Exist

It's like 9/11 but for dolphins

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:38:00 +0000

Mysterious Porpoise Deaths Blamed On Berserk Dolphins
Deadly Attack On Lone Porpoise Caught On Camera

Posted: 12:42 pm PST November 6, 2009Updated: 3:34 pm PST November 7, 2009
MOSS LANDING, Calif. -- Marine biologists have figured out why a growing number of dead harbor porpoises have been found on California beaches in recent years: dolphin attacks.

Now they're trying to determine a reason for them.

Okeanis, a Moss Landing-based conservation group, shot video of bottlenose dolphins fatally attacking a porpoise. It helps explain why carcasses were found with internal bleeding, rake marks and broken bones.

"We saw severe beatings," said Okeanis Chief Scientist Daniela Maldini. "It was a mob of dolphins."

The video shows male dolphins coralling the porpoise, ramming it and drowning it, then bringing the carcass to researchers on a boat and swimming away.

Those images, taken for the first time last September, were the first to even depict dolphin-on-porpoise violence.

Dan Costa, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UC Santa Cruz, said such an act of violence is not as unusual as it might seem in the wild.

"Everybody thinks flipper is this nice, mellow animal," Costa said. "In the wild, there's interactions that occur and not all of them are friendly."

Scientists say about 74 dead porpoises washed up last year in the state.

Okeanis biologists are working with the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Marine Mammal Center and other groups to find evidence that will shed more light on the attacks.

One possible explanation for the violence, according to Maldini, could be pent up sexual angst on behalf of male dolphins.

"It could be a little sexual frustration," she said, "and a lot of males around for very few females. That's my favorite in terms of an explanation, but at this point we're fascinated by the behavior and trying to figure it out."

Scientists now want to test the testosterone levels of the male dolphins to see if higher levels could be playing a role.

Copyright 2009 by KTVU.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

http://www.ktvu.com/news/21543657/detail.html

Book Review: Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 15:30:00 +0000

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction Reading List, #4 (Winner, 2005)
I was a bit wary of this book -- knowing that it's steeped in the kind of American religiousness that I'm so often turned off by. Now, that was partly misconception. The book, about a dying 70-some year old minister with a young son, is written very much in the meditative, reflecting back on life style that I love. And this book treats one's own history as worthy of being told, which I like very much.

This was still not one of my favorite books that I have read in recent memory -- partly because the experience was a bit painful to me. The idea that a parent would care so much for their child as they die, worry over them -- is completely known to me, as I worry so much over the people that I care about. But something inside the book made me uncomfortable, and it wasn't the meditations on God. Anyway, I'm really glad to have read it and the words are insanely beautiful, and so well chosen. Onward and upward.

Book Review: March, by Geraldine Brooks

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 03:58:00 +0000

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction Reading List, #3 (Winner, 2006)

I read March in about 5 hours of low-grade feverish sickness. Leave it to a bad cold to allow me to burn through three books in two days. I could barely move or breath, but March seeped into me. A lover of Civil War history and Little Women already, it was probably meant to be -- but I'd already had one aborted attempt to read it, so I was scared, a bit, I guess.

Geraldine Brooks' prose is terrifically convincing, and pulls you into the book so swiftly you don't even notice that it's happened. The story, for me, was nearly an afterthought, so taken in was I by the language of it all. It reads, not like a book about the 1800's, but like a book written in the 1800's. That's no small feat, and many others' attempts to do just this are not only failures, but embarrassing ones at that. No failures here. The plot lays out in front of me even now as I sit here, thinking on it. Not just a re-imagining of our literary past, but a new imagining of it which is beautiful.

Book Review: The Road, by Cormac McCarthy

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 03:55:00 +0000

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction Reading List, #2 (Winner, 2007)

My review is here.

Book Review: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Diaz

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 19:10:00 +0000

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction Reading List, #1 (Winner, 2008)

Nice background for this pic, Fox

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 03:43:00 +0000

Fall is, by far, my favorite season

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:12:00 +0000

Ever since I was a little kid, autumn has been my favorite time of year. I was a huge nerd, so I loved going back to school, and everything becomes so cozy in the end of September! Hey, my anniversary is in about a month, and it's always a productive time for me -- work breezes by, reading gets read, sewing gets sewn. Time to make Matzo Ball soup.

The Engadget Show, Episode One

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 21:11:00 +0000

CNN 2.0

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 00:03:00 +0000

ACORN: A story so good it's being ignored?!???!?

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 13:37:00 +0000

Yes, just like Nights in Rodanthe, assholes.

Total Penny

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 03:32:00 +0000

Dear Jeff Bezos

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:08:00 +0000

You're a smart man. I have a hard time believing that you're really "into" Dan Brown.

Sincerely,
Laura June
StDutE
Fouder & CEO

New sewing machine, nearly finished quilt

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:29:00 +0000

IMG_0673, originally uploaded by LauraXJune.

About a week and a half ago, I pin-basted (there's a first time for everything) my quilt, and was ready to start free-motion quilting. That was also a first for me, but I trusted my instincts, and just went for it. It was great! It looked awesome, and I was happily moving right along, thinking that I'd have plenty of time before my wedding deadline. Then I looked at the back. The stitches weren't nearly as defined, and in parts just looked like long lines of thread. I checked all my settings, I upped the thread tension. Nothing worked. I drove to get machine lubricant. I cleaned the machine -- that seemed to make it better, but still -- not totally cool looking like the top. Then the idea came to me -- I need a new sewing machine. I need a new sewing machine! Two days later, I went to Jackson Heights and bought one. I didn't spend a ton of money -- $400 -- but my Janome DC2010 is seriously beautiful to me. I'm about halfway through quilting this one now. And it looks so much better.

Progressing like a turtle

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 16:07:00 +0000

Confessions of a Fangirl

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 21:09:00 +0000

When I was in graduate school, I spent the latter half of my final semester half-heartedly trying to write something I'd been thinking about for years: the cultural significance of the Blur - Oasis media "battle" in the mid-1990's. Fueled by my love of all things Britpop, I tried to stuff this square peg of an idea into the round hole of a class on Romanticism where I'd previously written about the physical manuscript of Mary Wollstonecraft's "A Vindication of the Rights of Women." My thesis (if I recall correctly) was about simplified class warfare-as-theatre in a country which had long since lost the ability to hold an actual dialogue of complex ideas. The idea, though at least partially solid, floundered into a semi-decent, 15-or 20-page paper which my professor kindly gave me an "A" on.

Last year, as I was cutting my teeth at Engadget, the US was in the throes of a hotly contested presidential election. As a self-described political junkie, I'll freely admit that my indignation rose to an all-time high as I watched two (once the primary season had passed, of course) extremely complicated tickets boiled down to two words which must always be opposed: liberal and conservative. Nevermind the fact that in many ways, both tickets failed to fit those bills in several obvious and significant ways. What we -- media and rabble alike -- seemed to need was a bloodbath where everyone chooses sides, and where the other guy is always wrong.

It made me think of Blur and Oasis, I have to tell you -- but furthermore -- with my new-found Engadget-ified perspective, it made me think of Microsoft and Apple, or Windows and OS X, if you will. Putting aside the very real differences in the companies, and also ignoring their respective places within the computing world for the time being, what simultaneously fascinated and horrified me about the spectacle of the beast was the fanboys. What was most interesting to me was watching the daily battle in the comments between two opposing, rabid lovers of either Microsoft or Apple, incessantly hating on the other.

Why does this interest me so? Well, for one, the argument itself is essentially fabricated. Who in their right mind could care what cellphone or operating system another person used, as long as we all are happy with what we've got? Of course, I'm a fanboy from way back -- I've been defending Charlotte Brontë since the 8th grade -- but I also never really had it in me to shit on George Eliot as part of that defense. Why not? Because I can see the beauty of George Eliot's prose without wanting to write a thesis on Romola. I can also tell you this: I've read Romola (twice), along with every other major work she ever published -- not because I'm an Eliot fanboy -- but because I'm a literature fanboy.

In the same way, I'm a cellphone user and fanboy. I loved my first generation iPhone -- but I never thought it was beyond reproach, and I had plenty of problems with it. It dropped calls all the time (we can blame that on AT&T's service, but the fact remains that my iPhone dropped more calls than any phone I've owned before or since), and it could be annoyingly slow at times. My current phone -- the BlackBerry Bold -- is much the same (it's also on AT&T's network, but rarely drops calls). I love its keyboard, I love BBMing rather than texting, and it can be lightning fast. But then, the browser is terrible, and I've never been able to find a fully satisfactory alternative, and when it's slow -- well, you might as well just take a nap and wait for it to catch up.

Now, I'll freely admit these preferences, if I must be backed into a corner: Blur, Obama, Apple... but the truth is a bit more complicated. What I loved about Blur was Graham Coxon's guitar playing -- much more so than Damon Albarn's often irritating posing. While I adored Obama, a big part of me was also rooting for Hillary, and previous to the election, I also respected John McCain, plus I can't even begin to tell you about my love for Dennis Kucinich. Finally -- well, I love my MacBook -- plain and simple -- and while I think the iPhone is one of the best cellphones on the market -- I can't say for certain that it IS the best -- nor would I ever be able to say that it's the best for EVERYBODY, because human beings aren't one-size fits all. My preferences, you see, are complicated things, with both plusses and minuses always at play with one another. I like lots of things -- but I rarely think things are perfect.

Neither are things "either this or that." We're smarter than that... aren't we? Do we really need our media to boil things down to their most basic, blunt cut of the knife opposites? Can I not be a fanboy of both Bill Gates and Steve Jobs? Truth be told, I love them both to bits and think they'd make fascinating dinner guests. Can't I continue to use OS X and simultaneously admit that Windows 7 seems really awesome? Is that too complicated for the "world" to digest and comprehend?

The truth is, we're all smarter than that, but maybe we just love a fight. Certainly the companies themselves do nothing themselves to deter the pettiness (just think of their respective advertisements) -- but then, they have something at stake -- they are, after all, competitors. We, the lovable rabble, have nothing to win or lose in the argument other than our sanity.

I guess at the end of the day, it's my indignation that gets the best of me. Try as I might, I can't remain unaffected when accused of being a fanboy of this or that company -- and the charges volleyed vary wildly. I've been, at various times, accused of being an Apple fanboy, a Dell fanboy, and a Nokia fanboy, just to name a few -- but always at the exclusion of everything else. So allow me to let you in on a secret: I'm a fanboy of all of those things, plain and simple. I have preferences, just like everyone else, but, as a writer for Engadget, anything that strikes my eye as awesome, or blows me away with its performance gets added to my lifelong and always growing list of loves. Dell fanboy? Guilty. Singer sewing machine fanboy? Yup, but only because I can't afford a Bernina. Fender Telecaster Fanboy? You bet your ass I am, but I'm also dying to buy a Gibson Firebird. You see, I'm the ultimate fanboy: I'll blow with the wind. You make the awesomest shit, and Laura's dollars and love are sure to follow. And for the record: Blur were nothing without Graham Coxon. Just listen to Think Tank and let your ears do the deciding.

Remants project 2009 continues

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:05:00 +0000

I haven't been sewing as much as in recent weeks past, because I'm in the midst of finishing up a bunch of things, I was really sick for about two weeks, then I was on vacation for an entire week! Regradless, I've been working on these remnant quilt hexagons for the past few weeks at night while I watch tv, and also a few other little things progress bit by bit. Mean to get on them this week... or something.

Sweet upgrade!

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 01:49:00 +0000

Knock off Pinkberry, totally awesome in Williamsburg

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 20:50:00 +0000

Patchwork Tablecloth and Napkins

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:52:00 +0000

IMG_0366, originally uploaded by LauraXJune.

So, after about a month of work (most of which time was spent waiting for insanely huge shipments of rick rack), my patchwork tablecloth and napkins are completed. I'm very happy with the results, and the project has left me with a lot of attractive little remnants. What looked like a project that would be completed in an afternoon or two took a lot longer -- there is a lot of squaring up to do in this project (I think I can now safely consider myself an expert in that area), a decent amount of ironing between steps, and A LOT of pinning, sewing rickrack, then top-stitching, repeat. Repeat. I found these steps to be the most time-consuming but also the most fun and yes! relaxing! I'm going to make a set of these eventually for Josh and I in red, orange and pink -- the colors we tend to use in our kitchen / dining room. Though the original pattern calls for this to be done in blues, I also really think this would be beautiful in all whites.

Why do I sew?

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:05:00 +0000

wtf not?, originally uploaded by LauraXJune.

It's a question I've thought a lot about lately.

I learned to sew before I could read or write. My mother taught me my ABCs by having me crosstitch, then embroider them -- onto aida remnants. My grandmother was an interior decorator, and an accomplished seamstress. She made all of my mother's clothes when she was a child and teenager -- and the photos and examples I've seen of that work are truly impressive. She could make slipcovers for couches, curtains -- anything -- and often, she didn't work from a pattern.

My mother did not inherit her love of the machine. She was, however, incredibly adept at handsewing. By the time she'd gotten around to teaching me, she'd needlepointed, embroidered, and cross-stitched many a giant sampler for my grandparents and close relatives. Examples of her work are now something I covet and hope to collect.

So I learned to hand-sew first -- and I took to it fervently. While I have no real ire for trend-sewers (and love to teach beginners), sewing has always been a largely solitary thing for me. My mother would offer input, and then, my friend Emily learned as well. Throughout elementary, middle, and high school, we two were the ONLY people our age that I knew, who sewed. Through college -- it was the same story. I've taught many a friend how to sew, only to be reminded over and over that it's just not for everyone.

In 8th grade I took my first "sewing class," introducing me to the machine. It was not an easy introduction, and in many ways, we still have an awkward relationship, and I'd often just prefer to handsew things!

Over the years, as I've become more skilled, sewing has ceased to have almost any practical function. Now, I sew because I sew, in much the same way I read books. I consume fabric and needles and patterns. I alter them to my liking or I don't. I follow some of the instructions, disregard others.

I am often reckless in my sewing. In my grandmother's garden you see above -- I simply didn't measure the seam allowances. (I'm insane, I know!) Born to be mild, indeed.

So yeah, I sew probably because it's in my blood now. When I was about 20 I learned to knit and crochet. The first thing I ever crocheted to completion was a blanket for my new dog, Sal (whimper). After that, I took up quilting in graduate school, around the age of 25. It's come the slowest to me, partly because of the fucking machine, partly because I'm impatient and quilting doesn't reward you with visible progress as quickly as decorative sewing often does. Part of me thinks sewing might be a way to leave a trail behind me, but since I am pretty careless about where I leave that trail (most of my previous sewing projects are scattered about my mother's now defunct home, I would assume), that's probably not quite it either.

This summer, I'll go back to my mother's place, and collect all of our sewing projects, and then I'll photograph them. There will be the embarrassing ones from the 1980's, when sewing Precious Moments and teddy bears while watching Days of our Lives seemed liked the best idea on the planet. There will be the awkward phase, where I started to learn the weird stitches, the brief obsession with candlewicking Christmas tree skirts. There will be memories of things I did, just because I could.

You know, whatever.

Little update: sewing makes me incredibly happy. My mind shuts down. I don't have anything but the best feelings in the world about it -- I love talking to people about it endlessly, I love hanging out in fabric and craft stores, and I've found that people that sew are some of the best in the world. That shouldn't be forgotten, I guess.

The photo above is of my long-running battle with remnants, which I hate and feel guilty about. The rest of the set is here.

Apple Seedlings

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:59:00 +0000

IMG_0247, originally uploaded by LauraXJune.

Growing little apple trees from seeds of the fruit isn't very hard. I just took about five seeds, washed them off, and then wrapped them in a damp paper towel, and put that in a juice glass. I stored the juice glass on top of the refrigerator (for warmth) and checked it for sprouts every few days, re-wetting as it dried up. It took about a week and a half for them to sprout. I have three sprouts in one huge pot from the five sproutlings I planted. Super cute and growing fast!

After 9 hours, I'm still not done.

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 04:07:00 +0000

IMG_0216, originally uploaded by LauraXJune.

I was really looking forward to making this bag all week. Cutting all the pieces was pretty simple, but this was the first time I've ever worked with heavy weight interfacing, and it's kind of a bitch! It really makes working with the fabric tough, but definitely gives the fabric some attractive heft. There were a few things about the instructions I found to be perplexing, and the straps, once folded the requisite amount of times, ended up with THREE layers deep of the interfacing, so I had to undo, and cut the width of it down -- I didn't want my straps to be so thick. My sewing machine started acting up at the end of the night -- not surprising considering the weight of all that fabric, and a change of needle didn't seem to help. I didn't have it in me to start messing with the bobbin tension at that point (adjusting that while tired, I've found, can be disastrous), so I stopped for the day with just a bit of top-stitching left to do. The bag is a little more complex than it looks, it has a full, super nice, fitted lining with two deep pockets in it and overall I'm really happy with how it turned out -- I'm especially proud of my pleats, though I suspect the heavy interfacing has more to do with them than me. One lesson learned today -- all that ironing in between each step is well worth it. The bag looks really crisp and neat because I really took my time. There is a slightly smaller version of this bag as well -- I'm going to make one as a gift soon.

Postcards to Pittsburgh

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:06:00 +0000

American Illustrators
Maxfield Parrish (1870-1966) used alternating layers of paint and varnish to create the shimmering fantasy lands in his popular illustrations for books, advertisements, magazines, and calendars. The color of his skies is still known as "Parrish blue." In 1925 an estimated one in four homes owned a Parrish print.

Interlute (The Lute Players), mural for the Eastman Theatre, Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York, 1922

Postcards to York: Day Twenty-two

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:52:00 +0000

Custom printed wedding postcard, 2007
Printed by Nick.

Videos I love: "For Love," Lush

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 02:42:00 +0000

Lush - New Music - More Music Videos

Oh, yes. 1991 was a great year for me. The year I found Lush, the first time I ever had a drink or a cigarette or weed. I was in 9th grade and this was the greatest thing I'd ever heard.