The Search for Life

Grandpa Entry

2009-12-26T05:54:28Z

Happy Holidays!

I have been having a pretty good time as I have lined up a new internship and completed nine of the twenty three goals/projects that I gave myself earlier in the week.

One of my goals was to write the blog entries based on the topics I had thought about and wrote down earlier. This one is about my grandfather.

Grandpa Victor is my only living grandparent. He is my paternal grandfather, so the one representing the Sephardic Jewish side of the family. I have shared a permanent address with him since late 1984. We share this apartment with my parents and sister. Grandpa Victor, Grandma Edna, my father and his sister moved into this apartment in 1964 because Grandma Edna wanted to live in the cities as opposed to the Long Island Suburb they were in before. Dad had lived on his own from New Orleans to when he got together with my mother. They had an apartment a few blocks from here. It was much smaller and apparently my paternal grandparents thought it was a slum. (Grandma Edna apparently called a lot of places, including this apartment, "slums") Grandma Edna died in November of 1983, when I was about six months old. As Grandpa Victor had never lived alone in his life it was decided that he should try for a while and if it did not work out my parents and I would move in with him. It did not work out as Victor was apparently very depressed that year. He remembers it differently. When asked he says that I was too cute to be living in such a crummy apartment, so he invited my parents and me to move in with him and the took him up with such immediacy that the were apparently desperate to leave their apartment.

These days Grandpa Victor seems to remember everything in the sunniest terms. This even applies to his late mother-in-law, Celia, whom no one who knew her seems to have anything nice to say about. On the other hand I have a very difficult time trying to get him to tell stories from his life after being in the airfare in World War Two, unless they involve cars. My sister's birth coincided with Dad buying a Dodge. If I ask Grandpa what he remembers about Elizabeth's birth he does not have anything. He does remember that Dodge though.

When I was a child I was scared of Grandpa. He ran a business out of home and got really mad at me when I accidentally erased something from the answering machine. After that he moved the answering machine into his room. Sometime I wonder how much of my phone aversion is related to Grandpa-related-childhood-trauma. Also he has a mean sense of humor and does not think about what he is saying. It has been upsetting n a number of occasions.

Over the past few years we have developed a rapport. I sake questions that he struggles to answer and give suggestions for his health, or intellect, that he refuses. A couple of years ago I bought a copy of Herodotus and have suggested that we read it outlaid to each other. I am half serious, but he has no interest though it generally falls into the rubric of things that interest him.

I try and argue him out of watching trash tv, but also talk him into listening to pop music and watching music videos with me. If I did not do this he would miss over 70% of the pop culture he lies in bed all day consuming. He does not like any music video, even if he previously thought he liked the singer. Before we started doing this he would frequently use "Britney Spears" as an answer or continuation of much rhetoric. But neither he nor I really listen to her, so he was talking about something in his head and I would reply with something less interested from my head. Over these summer as his answers were so uninspired I asked what he thought of Lady Gaga. He did not know her so I showed him some videos. As I said, he has disliked all the videos I showed him, but these have generally offended him in ways he did not know was possible. For example when we started the "Paparazzi" video he said "this is porn, you know how I like porn." (Everyone in this apartment has walked in him looking at porn multiple times. He seems to have the same expression on his face looking at porn as he does looking at his bank statements.) By the end of the video he was pretty appalled and declared it a waste.

"Would you have gotten anything out of it if was all porn like you thought at the beginning?" I asked

He shrugged "a little pleasure, is that too much to ask?"

But we keep bringing her up in conversation, and he usually says something obtuse and disparaging. So for a Christmas gift this year we gave him The Fame Monster as a "Gag-a gift". I really wanted it, so in a totally self centered way I was considering his reaction an augmentation of my gift. He opened it and tried to through it out with the wrapping paper. I leapt to its rescue and exchanged it for a calendar with puppies (Grandpa does not like dogs either). "It's the gag-gift that keeps gagging" I said. Later he insisted "this is the best Christmas EVER!" over and over. Despite the gag gifts I was able to do him a musical favor late in the day by letting him know that Dad had a cd of Poulenc's organ concerto. Grandpa actually really likes it though he has not listened to it (or the Saint-Saens symphony on the same album) for such a long time it was unfamiliar.

Giving Meme

2009-12-24T14:44:52Z

Taken from loupooh and acoustics1220

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me.

This offer does have some restrictions so please read:
- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make.
- What I create will be just for YOU & you are allowed to make requests (and I will try to honor them).
- It will be done before 2011.
- It might be cookies, a mix cd, a necklace, an original haiku, a scarf, who knows!
- You'll need to PM me your mailing address if you're one of the first 5, as I'm almost positive I don't live near any of you.

In return, all you need to do is repost this on your LJ and offer to make 5 things for 5 other people.

Video Cabaret

2009-12-20T20:04:21Z

I decided to put together a little collection of Music videos that take place in Cabaret surroundings.

Anya Marina is starting to get some recognition for her contribution to the New Moon soundtrack ("Satellite Heart" and covering TI's "Whatever You Like" (which ended up on Gossip Girl) Generally I like this song better than the other too. The video is not as well realized as some of the others on this list, but I love the backup and complete dissolving between audience and performer.

Amanda Palmer's "Leeds United" has a blending of performers and audience but it is about about the semi shared experience and ultimately lonely disappointment. Watching the Anya Marina video reminded me of it.

Of course now the video is best known for being the start of the rebellyon.

I did not know who Cucu Diamantes was at the beginning of the year but I am so glad I do now. I am also sad I missed seeing her perform this year but this video me ad muchas ganas a verla.

Also the end of the video has a different song from the album and was what really sold me on it. I should look into Yerba Buena (her previous band)

The final video I am including is Shivaree's "Bossa Nova" I did not know who they were until Kill Bill and in generally I ha difficulty getting through the album I ought to give you a shot in the head for making me live in this dump But the languid quasi S&M show is funny and hard to turn off.

Writer's Block: The One Movie Everyone Should See

2009-12-10T20:51:53Z

What one film do you think everyone should see?

Sponsored by The Official AVATAR Community on TypePad. See AVATAR in theaters December 18, 2009.

View 526 Answers

The Rules of The Game
First it is one of the most beautiful films ever, the whole film is a miracle. Second there are some lines that can be applied to everyday life and the dialogue is just amazing.

I am trying to organize a movie night for this film, but having a lot of difficulty.

Something Else I am having difficulty with is trying to put a header on this journal. Do I need a paid account? Should I upload the image I want onto another server? Do I have to embed the journal into another site? This is all a foreign language for me.

Thank you

There is a lot I have been meaning to say

2009-12-09T22:13:06Z

But have not gotten around to writing so I am going to do some bullet points of what they are

• Judiasm and my life today. Both working at the American Sephardi Federation with my lack of knowledge, attending their recent "Jews of Spain" Symposium and seeing City Opera's production of Esther. I saw it weeks ago but it deserves a generous discussion as does the photo exhibits that the City Opera had around the theatre.

• Thoughts on singe sex education four plus years later.

• I get upset when online critics just get attacked for "not understanding" what they criticize

• A review of all the tv I watched this year especially seeing most of The Wire and Friday Night Lights fairly close together, how Battlestar Gallactica season 4.5 was better when re-watched close together than earlier in the year, and revisiting Farscape and Everwood

• All the albums released this year that I bought discussed.

• My sadness at the end of Guiding Light & As the World Turns, despite not following soaps for longer than a couple of weeks at a time for years and those were never really my soaps, but the ABC ones I followed I want to avoid now.

• My relationship with my grandfather.

And more. Put right now there are other things I have avoided and I need to get to.

I met Sherman Alexie tonight

2009-12-03T03:52:32Z

Two of the stories from his most recent book were read a Selected Shorts. I bought two of his book and got them autographed for my family and me.* During the Q&A he talked a lot about nostalgia, as a it is a precondition of American Indians and triggered by our current climate. Specifically how the digital age erodes personal connections and forces people in naturally introverted careers like fiction writers, have to become extroverts. It made me feel guilty about blogging, except for the fact that I worry that no one reads it and I am always trying to get people in my real life to read my blog.

I have yet to read his works though I always liked the movie, Smoke Signals. Now I will get around to it... sometime after all the other books that I have promised to myself. Right now I am reading William Faulkner's Sanctuary. Over two years ago I decided to alternate between Faulkner and Gabriel García Márquez. Back in high school they always emphasized how Márquez was influenced by Faulkner. I have always liked Márquez, in the way that connects with my love of Spanish and not being particularly good at it. During that time I read Faulkner's The Sound and The Fury and As I Lay Dying and Márquez's The Autumn of the Patriarch (if anyone who reads this has read that tell me- we need to talk) Love in the Time of Cholera and Love and Other Demons. Part of me felt this was a very bad idea; I don't really like Faulkner. I don't get the big deal, I find him nigh illegible and not worth the challenge most of the time. Also those Márquez novels include his most freaky trends. I stopped this because I was starting RISD, and honestly those first three weeks felt so damn long anyway. Sanctuary is in some ways easier this time around. I still have The General in His Labyrinth and A Light in August at home to complete this effort. (For the record, my grandma Edna probably bought the Faulkner, though I am responsible for all the Márquez purchases). There are plenty of other books I have around that I have not read.

*I love getting books autographed. I have stories about Neil Gaiman, Margaret Atwood, Terry Prachet and Audrey Niffenegger. I will tell them on request.

Le Courbusier

2009-11-23T18:55:00Z

At RISD I noticed something interesting. We lin the landscape architecture were taught of Le Courbusier's writing an influence as prevelant, but generally destructive. Like Jane Jacob's we are derisive of his concept for a "Radiant City". Architects student were still affectionately fond of him (I met some one who named her hamster "Courbu").

One of the women in my graphic design class trained as an architect. Despite saying that she had little knowledge of architectural history I had to ask her what she thought of Le Courbusier. Not much, but she assumed that his fame rested on many of the same things as Frank Gehry- just looking distinct amongst other look a likes. I mentioned how he had no respect for regionality (he submitted the same plan for contests about redesigning two cities) and she was shocked.

Today I found this article. I was really excited to read it. It makes a lot of comparisons between Le Courbusier and dictators. Normall I cringe when comparisons to historic dictators are thrown around, but this time it is appropriate.

Tv show meme

2009-11-18T17:58:41Z

Thank you cifan70

Rules:

- Bold all of the following TV shows which you've ever seen 3 or more episodes of in your lifetime.
- Italicize a show if you're positive you've seen every episode of it.

24
7th Heaven
ALF
Alias
American Gothic
America's Next Top Model
Angel
Arrested Development
Babylon 5 Still intend to watch all of it.
Batman: The Animated Series
Battlestar Galactica (the old one)
Battlestar Galactica (the new one)
Baywatch
Beverly Hills 90210
Bewitched
Bonanza
Bones
Bosom Buddies
Boston Legal
Boy Meets World
Brothers And Sisters
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Californication
Chappelle's Show
Charlie's Angels
Charmed
Cheers
Chuck
Clarissa Explains it All
Columbo
Commander in Chief
Crossing Jordan
CSI
CSI: Miami
CSI: NY
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Dark Angel
Dark Skies
DaVinci's Inquest
Dawson's Creek
Dead Like Me
Deadwood
Degrassi: The Next Generation
Designing Women
Desperate Housewives
Dexter
Dharma & Greg
Different Strokes
Doctor Who
Dragnet
Due South
ER
Even Stevens
Everwood - Doing a season 2 marathon soon
Everybody Loves Raymond
Facts of Life
Family Guy
Farscape Also soon time for a rewatch
Fawlty Towers
Felicity
Firefly
Frasier
Friends
Fringe
Futurama
Get Smart
Gilligan's Island
Gilmore Girls
Glee
Gossip Girl
Grey's Anatomy
Grange Hill
Growing Pains
Gunsmoke
Happy Days
Hercules: the Legendary Journeys
Heroes
Home Improvement
Homicide: Life on the Street
House
I Dream of Jeannie
I Love Lucy
Invader Zim
Invasion
Hell's Kitchen
JAG
Jackass
Joey
Kim Possible
Knight Rider
Knight Rider: 2008
Kung Fu
Kung Fu: The Legend Continues
La Femme Nikita
LA Law
Laverne and Shirley
Law and Order: SVU
Leverage
Little House on the Prairie
Lizzie McGuire
Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
Lost
Lost in Space
MASH
MacGyver
Malcolm in the Middle
Married... With Children
McLeods Daughters
Melrose Place the original, loved when E! reran it
Miami Vice
Mission: Impossible
Mod Squad
Monk
Mork & Mindy
Murphy Brown
Mystery Science Theater 3000
My Life As A Dog
My Three Sons
My Two Dads
Mythbusters
NCIS
Ned Bigby's Declassified School Survival Guide
Nip/Tuck
Numb3rs
One Tree Hill
Oz
Perry Mason
Power Rangers
Press Gang
Prison Break
Private Practice
Privileged
Profiler
Project Runway
Psych I probably did , but I just find Shawn such an annoying character
Pushing Daisies Will complete it soon
Quantum Leap
Queer As Folk (US)
Queer as Folk (UK)
ReGenesis
Remington Steele
Rescue Me
Road Rules
ROME
Roseanne
Roswell -i took part in the save Roswell campaign after the first season, then quit watching during the second due to disappointment
Sanctuary
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? - yeah 5 college consortium
Scrubs
Seaquest DSV
Seinfeld
Sex and the City
Six Feet Under
Slings and Arrows
Smallville
So Weird
South of Nowhere
South Park
Spongebob Squarepants
Star Trek
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: Enterprise
Stargate Atlantis
Stargate SG-1
Starsky & Hutch
Superman
Supernatural
Surface
Survivor
Taxi
Teen Titans
That 70's Show
That's So Raven
The 4400
The Addams Family
The Amazing Race
The Andy Griffith Show
The A-Team
The Avengers
The Beverly Hillbillies
The Brady Bunch
The Cosby Show
The Daily Show
The Dead Zone
The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Flintstones
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
The Golden Girls
The Honeymooners
The Jeffersons
The Jetsons
The Love Boat
The Magnificent Seven
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Monkees
The Munsters
The Office (US)
The Office (UK)
The Powerpuff Girls
The Pretender
The Real World
The Shield
The Simpsons
The Six Million Dollar Man
The Sopranos
The Suite Life of Zack and Cody
The Twilight Zone
The Waltons
The West Wing
The Wonder Years
The X-Files- my first tv obsession, and the one I got most disappointed in.
Third Watch
Three's Company
Twin Peaks
Twitch City
Unfabulous
Ugly Betty technically I missed two episodes, but I am still the biggest fan girl over this
Veronica Mars Also should note that I think the series finale was completely appropriate
Weeds
Whose Line is it Anyway? (US)
Whose Line is it Anyway? (UK)
Will and Grace
Wings
Xena: Warrior Princess
The L Word

I've watched a lot of tv. The most embarrassing thing is how little I remember of many of the shows, especially sitcoms from the '80s.

A few notes on fandom preoccupations…

2009-11-15T06:25:33Z

I did not love the third season of Mad Men. The way I did not love it was sort of like how I did not like season five of Lost. I loved every episode before these seasons, had very high expectations and got let down. In both cases I feel there was a lack of commitment to certain plots that the writers or the network thought about then just back away from. Then they focus on stories that are more familiar and require less time to explain.T he season finales as enticements for the next seasons. On Mad MenI liked Don and Betty finally ending their marriage, but I did not really believe in the creation of Sterling Cooper Draper and Pryce. I liked seeing Jacob visit all those characters at various points in their lives, but I hated the quadrangle and the shoot out at the Swan. I plan to watch the next seasons, but it feels like work.

Strangely the two tv shows I am having the most fun watching right now are Ugly Betty and Fringe. While I have always loved Betty there was fair number of stories that I have absolutely hated. It is kind of amazing it never became unwatchable. I think the show knows and understands its boundaries better now. I am worried that Glee, which is a similar tone and having similar plotting problems will not be able to bounce back with as much grace and light. (The pregnancy storylines are dreadful, and I hate the characters of Puck and Quinn so much that I resent the airtime they get). As bad as it was that the characters Henry, Gio and Christina got sacrificed to crap stories, the ensemble is working better than ever and the balance is quite good.

I did not really like Fringe when It started. I compared it badly to other shows. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles was doing such a better job with technological developments out of control, and using it as a metaphor for the relationship between child and parent. Life on Mars did a more interesting job with bizarre mysteries that might have joined into a bigger pattern. But both of those shows got cancelled, and somehow Fringe got a lot better. It is kind of hard to say how it got better, because a lot of the set up that I thought was clunky or over self important. Once the show felt like it earned its mythos it was a lot easier to take. But I think my favorite thing is how much of the show is paranoia as something destructive. This season had a plot where an army colonel turned his soldiers into suicide bombs because he fears the Observer. But all he knows about the Observer is the same thing we can take from his title. I saw the pilot twice, fairly close together. While the first time I got that Olivia Dunham’s partner/lover John Scott betrayed her and the nation. But the second time it was pretty clear that was an emotional reaction to finding out that John Scott had secrets. The discovery of his actual double life later on made much more sense of things and was satisfying.

Now I like Fringe so much that I am using it to compare V badly to it. For starters, it seems to present paranoia as a virtue, or at least a survival instinct. I am disappointed that Elizabeth Mitchell’s character is high strung personifies the extremely freaked out tone of the show. There is also the possibility that it is all right wing propaganda. Attack anyone who tries change our way of functioning. Even when I think that comparisons people are making are crazy (there is plenty of criticism of the current administration by left media, and it has done nothing to try and shut it down for starters).

I watched the original miniseries, and while some of it is affecting, the plot does work with the Nazi allegory they were trying for. It is kind of a corollary for the problem I had with Inglorious Basterds. There they just used Nazis a boogey man so the violence of the revenge fantasy would come along without need for justification or thought. V explicitly compares the Visitors to Nazis they are still keeping them far enough away that they are other. It allows xenophobia, and keeps people from thinking about why fascist ideas are, or why they would appeal. And since people compare others to Nazis of anything these days, it is just enhances the bad taste of that too.

Emergency

2009-11-08T21:18:33Z

So last night the House passed a health care reform bill that included the Stupack amendment that prevents any government run insurance plan from covering abortion. According to the Associated Press it would also prevent private insurance companies from covering abortion. This is clearly a women hating move and very harmful to the possibility that all classes could have equal access to medical care. Please call your senators and fill out this form letter to Obama to make sure this is not in the final health care reforms.

Survey

2009-11-04T21:19:06Z

As some of you know I am a graphic design student. I have taken on a project of designing a poster for Asperger's awareness and I would like some help in guiding my focus. I have created a series of questions that I hope you will answer. All answers will be kept confidential, and I would appreciate if this could be shared with others.

What does it take you to feel comfortable with other people?

How can you tell when other people feel comfortable around you?

What happens if the people around you were not able to provide this cue?

When is appropriate to introduce yourself?

When is it inappropriate to introduce yourself?

What is necessary grooming?

How one does dress to be presentable to society?

What do you think of when you hear the term Asperger’s Syndrome?

What would you like to know about it?

Do you know anyone with Asperger’s Syndrome?

If yes, what is it like interacting with them?

How did you find out about their diagnosis?

Does it change the first opinion you had about this person?

A serious cry for help

2009-10-28T16:28:01Z

I need some one to teach me how to write java scripts. Why do so many instructions go directly into the "engine architecture" or whatever. It is not going to help me make slides shows on websites or interactive maps, you know the things that I actually need.

Letting Shakira Breathe

2009-10-25T18:45:45Z

Shakira and P!nk wore the same dress at the MTV Video Music Awards this year. I had already started writing this article about following Shakira’s career, and how it invited comparisons to her contemporaries. The argument is about how most of the time these comparisons are reductive. They do not give any insight into either Shakira or to whomever she is compared. It just makes it easier to pigeon holes them. This is a disservice to both parties. I hope to use the many women who appear in this piece to highlight that there is more to their personas and outputs than can easily be reduced. Even when dressed the same, individuals cannot be equated.

A couple of months ago I posted a video comparison on the girl music community. It was about Shakira “Loba”/”She Wolf” with Bebe’s “La Bicha”. The two songs both focus on the animalistic sexuality of the singers. Shakira’s is a pop song while Bebe’s is an alternative rap. Here is the post. No one wanted to pick up the comparison. Making that comparison made it obvious to me how much I always compare Shakira to someone else.

I remember the first time I ever heard of Shakira. It was early 2000 and one of my high school classmates had received ¿Donde están los ladrones? as a Christmas present. She was excited to share the album with all of us and described Shakira as “sort of a Colombian Alanis Morissette.” Like Morissette, Shakira had released a couple of albums in her adolescence that she does not see as representative of her and therefore keeps out of print. (I’ve heard Shakira’s first albums, Peligro and Magíco, they are worth ignoring). More important, at this point in their careers they both had reputations for writing catchy, angry, scorning songs about ex-boyfriends that may or may not be confessional.

As songwriters Morisette’s songs lean towards freeform structurewhile Shakira sticks pretty close to verse-chorus-verse-chorus. However Shakira definitely does more experimentation within her songs than Morisette.

We listened to ¿Donde están los ladrones? in high school Spanish class and learned the lyrics to “Si te vas”. Our teacher made a show of avoiding songs with potentially offensive lyrics (intrigue!). In a later class we learned to sing “Estoy Aquí” in front of an assembly. Unfortunately at the time I did not know her music video output, but I also did not know Maya Deren, whose films seem to influence some of these early videos.

At this time I was a struggling Spanish student, going through a phase where almost all the music I listened to was from the 1970s and ‘80s. Shakira was definitely the first Latin artist to leave an impression on me. So I was not surprised when she crossed over to the Anglo markets with Laundry Service.

Laundry Service came out around the same time as Paulina Rubio’s Border Girl and Thalía’s self titled English language debut. If I had known about Paulina Rubio and Thalía beforehand, I might have been surprised they did not hit it bigger than Shakira. (I found this article from early 2001. It is mostly about the author’s fascination with Thalía and ends with the author begging for record labels to release her English work, and adds Shakira as an afterthought.) As much as I really like Paulina Rubio the reason Shakira really crossed while Paulina had some minor hits is clear. Shakira is the more subversive of the two. She might look familiar, but the market is not saturated for what she brings to it. Compare Shakira’s video “Whenever, wherever” to Paulina Rubio’s “Don’t Say Goodbye”. Even though Shakira does not come across as challenging ideas of what a pop performer is here, Rubio’s video is over busy, much more familiar and has dated much faster.

When my grandfather, (who I will use as an example of a typical American) first saw Shakira he thought she was a Britney Spears knock off.

(This clip makes an interesting comment on that.)

As far as I can tell this comparison is based mostly on the hair coloring and clothing choices.

I liked dancing around to “Whenever, Wherever” and “Objection (Tango)”, but I resisted my love of Shakira for a while. I decided to be among the people who said “she did some cool stuff in Spanish but then she sold out.” I barely noticed four years had gone by before ”La Tortura” heralded Fijación Orale Vol. 1

My first thoughts of the song are tied up with the video. The music was strange and I like the low rent apartment complexes in which the video is set. But the video objectifies her. The song is a duet with Alejandro Sanz, and the songs format almost sets up this objectification (Sanz gets the opening, bridge and closing). It is almost like she has to strip down and get covered in black grease to claim ownership of the song. All the emphasis is on her sexuality.

Then the album cover came out. Shakira dressed to evoke the Virgin Mary. According to Wikipedia this was part of her defining the albums “Jungian” themes of the album (As opposed to the “Freudian” theme of Oral Fixation vol. 2). I am not really sure what to make of that, but I wanted to point out how no one was offended by this sex symbol posing as a religious symbol. No one doubts the sincerity of Shakira’s devotion to her Catholic upbringing. Recently she said she feels a pull between her affinity to nuns who educated her and the sensuality that defines her performances.

“La Tortura” was the only song from Fijación Orale Vol. 1 to have an impact on English speaking audiences. Which is a shame because the singles that were released shortly after that, “No” and “Día de enero” are great, and differ from the belly dancing image most associated with Shakira. The “Día de enero” video explicitly says this is a song about her relationship with long time novio Antonio de la Rua and then hangs around the boarder land of Privacy.

“No” and “Día especial”/”The Day and the Time” were co-written by Gustavo Cerati. He is an Argentine musician who led Soda Stereo, one of the biggest bands of the ‘80s and ‘90s. After Soda Stereo’s disbanded he released several of increasingly obscure solo albums. (Shakira is quoted praising his album Ahí Vamos in its promotional material which came out in 2006). Both of these songs are about broken hearts, and the subsequent struggle against bitterness. “No” is resigned to knowing that the relationship is over and extricating herself from the toxicity. “Día especial”/”The Day and the Time” is at a turning point. The relationship might not be over, but it is demanding a new kind of honesty.

The exact relationship between the Fijación Orale Vol. 1 and Oral Fixation vol. 2 is difficult to describe. Certain songs appear on each of them (in addition to “Día especial”/”The Day and the Time” there is “En tus pupils”/”Something”) but at other points it seems like an exploration on how song writing is effected by language, and therefore there are songs that counterpoint each other. (I am disappointed that “Escondite Ingles” and “Animal City” were not released together as a single since these songs are about the cross over effect, fame and pretty catchy) This theory explains why the first single from this album was “Don’t Bother. It gives the same message to the unfaithful ex as “La Tortura” only it is entirely her point of view. The song (and video) alsi make clear that Shakira loves grungy hard rock from the early ’90s which is a cause for some of my affection for Shakira.

“Don’t Bother” did not promote the album as much as was hoped, so Oral Fixation vol. 2 got rereleased with “Hips Don’t Lie” and a remix of “La Tortura” where some of the lyrics are in English.

“Hips Don’t Lie” is the kind of Shakira song for people who do not want to think while listening to Shakira. It came out around the same time as Nelly Furtado’s “Promiscuous”. The songs resemble each other in subject and tone, but”Hips Don’t Lie” has a disadvantage of never letting its performers be other than a persona. The success of the song ensured the albums popularity, but also meant that the more provocative and interesting songs like “How Do You Do?” and “Timor” got hushed out, at least in the United States. I don’t think the political climate was right for a singer famous for belly dancing to address God directly about wars caused be religious differences or attack her audience’s apathy over international relations. Our atmosphere probably has still not gotten to a point where that would be commercially viable, but it should.

If there was any frustration over where the attention for Oral Fixation vol. 2 she transferred it to her organization, Pies Descalsos/Bare Feet which raises money for building and maintaining schools in Latin America. She also took part in the ALAS benefit concert to provide vaccines for children in Latin America.

Which brings us back to now. “She Wolf”/”Loba” is her current single. The sound bytes I have heard from interviews make it sound like the politics will not be present on the album, but it will continue to be stylistically diverse though accessible. I have liked the single since I first heard it. It is catchy, silly, allows her to play dangerous. Then I saw the promo pictures with her in the cage. I was not thrilled be this. Why are there all these so called “erotic” pictures of women trapped or wounded? With the context of the video I get that she is playing it like “trained not tamed”.

Still it is bad timing as it comes out at Britney Spears finishes her “Circus” tour. Therefore somebody has to be the “original” and the other one is the “knock off” which is ridiculous. Everyone uses images and phrases they feel will be interpreted similarly or at least understood by their audience. There is an old movie, Lola Montes, that used a lot of these kinds of tropes. The film was first releases in 1955. It takes place nearly a century earlier. I do not know if any of the myriad people behind the videos are familiar with it, but having seen the film, the film definitely resonates through them.

Notes on the Conference Speakers - Memphis Part 4

2009-10-24T01:49:26Z

Notes on the Conference Speakers - Memphis Part 4

It is about two weeks since I attended all of this. I am obviously not going to get around to conveying everything. So I am doing much of bullet points on the speakers in the general conference.

Thursday

Al Bell- Former direct of Stax records. Spoke of the importance of creativity with courage. It was a motif in his speech.

Stefan Sagmeister I have known who he is for years but I frequently forget the name. Then someone points out that he had a definition of himself as a designer carved into his body. Now I have his book, so I'll find out if it scarred. I found most of the talk on TED.com, only the end with the Sagmeister adapted lyrics for Beethoven's "Ode to Joy". They included a reference to TED.com, which would have made seeing it on TEd.com funnier.

Carin Goldberg Inspiration or Motivation? - I cannot remember this and I did not take notes

Friday Morning

Daniel Eatock An artist who focused on circular natures and paradoxes. I intend to contact him to see if he will comision me to do anything. He inspired me to take a picture of my camera strap.

Roger Martin-- Business based, analytic with an appreciation of intuition. Considers the synthesis of these design. Everyone found in inspirational. Now I will have to use the word "heuristic" in conversation.

Afternoon
Marissa Mayer: The Design of Google. She has been there since near the beginning and helped discuss the ways heat they got people to trust it. She also did some analysis the effect of small color variations within the Google font color and some amusing stories about getting Google to be multi-lingual.

Elizabeth Coleman: Design and the Liberal Arts Education, president of Bennington College. So inspirational, I would apply to be an undergrad again. Really politically changed and unafraid and purposeful.

Stefan G Bucher German with an American accent. Draws monsters and animates them. Is proud of his geekiness. Did a great Supper Bowl ad. Just go to his site.

Saturday Morning

Nick Law: Design-led AdvertisingAutobiography of hoping around from Australia, to England and the US more distant than what the subject actually was. It is a good thing some of my affinity sessions covered that.

Generation Gap A very young (still undergraduate) graphic designer and a semi retired industrial designer got set up for a mentoring program. We only really saw them present on their work, which was great, but still like a trailer.

Afternoon

David Butler Coca-cola's vice president recent cover boy on Fast Company. Abstract, incisive, zen good looking. I wish I went to us affinity session.

Jill Greenberg How was I too busy to miss this scandal? Also how are her manips worse than the the official photo? She seemed caustic in fun. I should now follow her career.

This is the end of the Memphis talk. It helped think of design as something very broad and exciting. It was slow to write this, but I needed it as much as I needed the trip. This is not everything, but it is enough and I have to move on.

Command X - Part three of the Confrence in Memphis

2009-10-20T17:15:08Z

I would have got arround to writing this sooner if I had not been behind on my class work.

One of the first things I heard about the conference in Memphis was Command X, the graphic design “reality television show”. Think Project Runway only graphic design instead of fashion. It was also one of those things that made me decide to sign up. I did not sign up fast enough to apply to be one of the contestants, but the idea of rushed, focus task based designing in front of people intrigued, and exiting.

There were updates on Command X through all of the general sessions. During the afternoons the judges would gather, the contestants would present, then there would be a break during most of the official speakers discussions and a reunion with the judges’ decisions. During the morning sessions we were treated to video of Michael Bierut (our Heidi Klum) interviewing the contestants as they worked on the new assignments.

The judges were Bonnie Siegler, Paul Sahre, Chip Kidd and guest judge who had some connection to the design project. Paul Sahre was one of the speakers at the student symposium that was one of the first things I attended. He is fun, runs fooseball competitions for designers and has the Dunkin’ Donnuts logo on his business card as his office is above a Dunkin Donnuts. Then he tells people that if he had designed the Dunkin Donnuts logo he would not have to keep his office above a shop. All of the judges are fun. At one point during the second session Chip Kidd was critiques someone’s decision to use hand lettering. He said he did not like it and some one in the audience shouted “you lie!” at him. Chip Kidd turned and said “This is what Obama should have said: No you lie!” Later he admitted to being distracted and gave the contestant he critiqued a more thought out, fair, constructive response. I cannot think of any stories about Bonnie Siegler, but she always had good critiques and was interesting to listen to. I should look up her work.

The first assignment was to redesign a logo for Elvis Presley’s Graceland. I think they had two weeks a trip to Graceland to work on it before arriving. I did not sign up for a “find your mojo” tour of Graceland, or Sun Studios. I’ve never been a fan of Elvis and know I would have a hard time channeling the right spirit to do this project. However the contestants had all created spirited and interested possibilities for the competition. The guest judge was woman who works for Graceland and made comments about how Graceland has avoided putting crowns in their designs up to now, but she did like the subtle ways they were incorporated into some of these designs. Near the end Michael Bierut played a bit of a joke on her, baiting to see if there were any changes she would suggest for the winning design to make it more serviceable for needs of Graceland. She took the bait and everyone in the audience groaned. It is hard to say that it was all in good fun.

After this the remaining contestants were told they needed to redesign Cap’n Crunch to appeal to adults. The moderators pointed out the history of Cap’n Crunch. Quaker Oats commissioned Jay Ward to create a character to base a children’s cereal around. Jay Ward created the Cap’n and then Quaker Oats made the cereal. This set up seemed to allow the contestants to think that they would be designing for a new recipe, not just a new consumer. So there was some attempt to make it look more like a health food cereal. Whether or not that was permissible started some debate amongst the judges. There was also a contestant who took the whole “for adults” part to be more innuendo towards sex. His version had the slogan “You and the Cap’n / making it happen’”. There was an image of the Captain standing in bowl of cereal, his was cut off at the top of the box, but his hat was propped over his groin. “Why didn’t you just go all out and rename it Cap’n Crotch?” asked Chip Kidd. The whole box cover design had many kinds of type, boarders. “I see what you going for, I just don’t see it all coming together,” Bonnie Siegler said and laughed. This design got eliminated. The winning design did nothing to assume a change in product. It took “adult” to mean “nostalgic” and adapted the Cap’n Crunch imagery into a psychedelic poster design. It was actually very exciting, it was also the only design we did not get previewed in the video that morning.

After eliminating it down to three contestants the final challenge was announced. The contestants would get a special tour of the National Civil Rights Museum and create a poster or something about it. This is as complicated and controversial as there actually being a National Civil Rights Museum. Will it just pay tribute to the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950-60s or is it about the continue struggle against more insidious forms of racism that still exist today? Does it celebrate how far we have come or just point out what we need to do? I found This article covers many of the conflict surrounding the museum. I walked by there on my first day. I did not realize until I got there that the Museum is in the same place that Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. There are some protestors outside across the street and I am pretty sure that one of the things they are protesting is the site. It is eerie.

This is also the biggest and most complex assignment. All of the contestants said they found the museum very moving and decided to focus their projects on the continuing struggle for civil rights and society without prejudice. However finding a direction that is clear, and not preaching to the converted is very difficult and it was not surprising that the responses generally came off as needing more time and dialogue to develop. All of the contestants seemed to want to continue work on this project. Two of them were website based and they bought their domain names. There was an urge to make this interactive even if we are not sure how.

In my current graphic design class I am struggling with a similar assignment. Watching Command X was often very tense. I told two contestants that much at the closing night party. They seemed glad to hear someone say that. The show inspired, especially as when I got back I had to deal with even more pressures on time and creativity.

The Wall and Dr. King

2009-10-16T13:46:39Z

One of the interactive events set up at the conference was a gigantic wall on which we were all invited to write.

First I want to point out that though the results may be graffiti like the actual substance is anything but graffiti. Graffiti is always bend as a sign of disrespect/dissatisfaction, where this is camaraderie and a shared love. As I was staying keep an up spirit on my first evening this is what I drew.

(No, I cannot take credit for the hand)

This is the person next to me.

She named the octopus Dororthy because of the red shoes.

Here are some other details. (Unfortunately the focus is not great but I have a cheap automatic camera where I cannot choose my focus)

Even the snarky comments are on topic (and more or less respectful)!

This was unfortunately giving me flashbacks of a project RISD did for Martin Luther King Day. They had set up a similar write on this wall only it was based on the following what our dreams were. Most were crude, mean and just stupid. I made a contribution that was more in the spirit of the event. Memphis is where Dr. King was assassinated and the city is very conscience of it. Many people there were older than RISD students…

What I most want to say is thatI was glad to see this. I need to see/feel this kind of respect and interaction.

The planned final two entries lack images and are much more in depth.

Memphis SWAG as Orientation - The Confrence in Memphis Part 1

2009-10-16T04:19:59Z

I am having a very busy week and always find committing to writing difficult. However I have promised myself (and now you) that I will write four articles about my trip to Memphis, TN for the AIGA Make think conference. Here is the .

I arrived in Memphis on last Wednesday afternoon. I really had very little idea what to expect. I had not done any research on the sites or places to eat. The guy sitting next to me on the plane kept talking about how I should be wary of all the crime it the city. Whenever he said "it's not like New York" I wondered what he was talking about, but really would rather not listen. He mumbled too much.

Upon reaching the airport I saw another young woman carrying her portfolio trying to get a cap. I asked if she was going to the AIGA conference and stain at the down town Memphis Marriott. She was and we decided to share a cab. It turns out she was a member of my cousin Hannah's graduating class. (Hannah is also a graphic designer). Ali, the woman I shared the cab ride with talked a bit about her friends who had ben to an AIGA conference earlier this year. She was excited about all the paper samples and other SWAG they got. I had not given that any thought before sharing this cab ride, I did not pack for room of things I would bring back. But this is actually a good way to start a general outline of the time there.

Later I went to the student symposium where Kate Bingaman-Burt talked about her work. Some of this involves drawing everything she buys and putting it into a zine, and drawing her credit card statements and selling them for the balance. "Commit to the crazy!" she exhorted. She salsa said look to people you admires as permission givers. It was an instant love thing for me. I wanted her in my life and decided to emulate her in this blog entry.

Registration started Thursday morning and with it came this gigantic canvas bag filled with goodies and our name badges/ schedule holders. Here is a photo that I now realize left out the issue of Fast Company with David Butler on the cover( more about him later) and some point over the first day I lost my copy of the extended program. The schedule is pretty jam packed and was exhausting. I barely did any of the evening activities because I always had to get up early. But these bags were great and I am really fond to the guide Hallelujahs and Hell raising.

There were a few hours between registration and the actual conference opening. I could not help falling asleep then before rushing down to the conference. Sure enough there were lots of booths representing paper companies, software, talent agencies, etc all giving away samples. Here is my collection from the first day. It is really something that I will keep as a reference when doing print material.

There was significantly less stuff that was price included on the second day. The "affinity sessions" had some give aways, usually depending on your input. The sessions I had the most affinity for had words like "community" and "sustainability" in the titles. One I went to on the "Wisdom of Communities" (social networking as it relates to advertising and building consumer based projects - I did get samples of some of those projects)

This was also that I attended the luncheon hosted by Adobe. The room was over air-conditioned. When I complained to a waitress she seemed relieved somebody else had this complete. She should take comfort knowing that everyone felt that way.. That was why I went with the chick soup lunch. Anyway they gave us journals and lectures about how Adobe is a really interactive company (since merging with Macromedia) as well as a bunch of the programs that i have no idea how to use in CS4, but not necessarily the ones I wanted to learn.

That evening focused on student portfolio review. There could not be worse timing for m as my computer was broken not letting me access expended or amended parts. One person pointed out some spelling mistakes, (that I still have to fix…) and generally that my portfolio focuses on the more polished and boring of my work. So after an hour and presenting to about five people I gave up determined to get my complementary drink and any food possible. Then I realized that Kurt Andersen and Stefan Sagmeister were signing their books in the book shop. I was not sure I wanted to buy books as I end to go over the top in these kinds of things. But autographs are permission to go over the top.

There was a huge line for Sagmeister; no one for Andersen. Andersen had been doing a great job as Master of Ceremonies, so this seemed unfair. I grabbed a couple of books told them to sign them to my family and that I enjoyed his MC-ing. He said thanks tanned that he hoped his children do the same with books that they get autographed when they are older. Then I paid for things and waited for Sagmeitesr's autograph. That line went slowly, he liked making small talk. I knew I missed food and hoped the bar had not closed by the time I finally met Sagmeister. I barely spoke to him, but this would probably be true if Iw as not tired and hungry. I mean, what the hell would I say?

Most of the books I bout had a connection speaks at et conference. Of the two exceptions one was recommended by some teachers and the other appealed because I think of all design and language as map like.

There is always going to be more to tell.

Back from Memphis

2009-10-12T16:55:48Z

DSCN3752
Originally uploaded by bonomo012

This was my favorite sign on Beal St.

I intend to do a lot more with images in this blogs soon and several posts about the AIGA convention. Keep you posted and please help me stick to this plan.

portiaslegacy @ 2009-10-07T07:22:00

2009-10-07T11:23:23Z

Off to Memphis TN. I'll be back Sunday.

Bulletin

2009-09-30T16:08:03Z

So now in the midst of all the difficulties with getting a public health care option passed gives room for the anti-choicers to make access to abortion a very difficult business. For some reason there are these people who think that because they don't approve of means that it should not be an option for people they do not know. Using this line of reasoning if there were a large Jehovah's WItness lobby working the health care debate they could make sure blood and organ donations were not covered. Christian Scientist could argue that all medicinal aid should not be covered as they have their own healing practices. These issues are not pressed because there is still some respect that it is up to the individual. So please help ensure that abortion gets covered by the public option. Donate to Planned Parenthood .

Computer Codependence

2009-09-29T03:11:03Z

So I missed my deadline for last week posting. I will try and make it up with more short ones this week. For the past week the family computer was out for repairs before determining that it should just just be replaced. I did not have the opportunity to de-authorize my iTunes accounts there. Well at least more or less everything is backed up.

But today, while working on my graphic design work (some of which has a deadline of Thursday) my personal laptop clicked out. No clicking it back on. I am feeling fucked. That stuff did not have back ups.

Inglourious Basterds

2009-09-12T19:43:49Z

Saw this movie last night as some people on my flist seemed to like it and it has ended up in a bunch of picspams and icons. I feel like the movie was a complete waste. It did nothing to justify the amount of time it took. There was no reason for the historical revisionism. It lacked any understanding of human emotions. It was basically a bunch of scenes that Quentin Tarantino liked in earlier war movies, done in the way that he preferred.

I don't like using comparisons in reviews because of he tendency to bash one thing with another. But since Tarantino is a self-aggrandizing hack I will make an exception. First, he names his production company after a film by Jean Luc Goddard. Goddard is an easy target when you want to complain about self important directors, elevation of style over substance, a macho to misogynistic portrayal of sex, but he was no hack. Even when you think that his movies are made for himself primarily, you cannot deny that he knows the medium. There is a story that when Goddard made Breathless/À bout de soffle the film was too long so he edited it so it only had the scenes/shots that interested him. Plot does not matter, but it is still briskly paced and exhilarating to watch. It felt like Tarantino took this approach to writing the script, and decided that it justified not editing. Honestly, I still feel like Goddard's Two or Three Things I Know About Her/2 ou 3 choses que je sais d'elle is one of the most hateful films ever made, but it does not bother me in it indulgences nearly as much as Inglourious Basterds.

Something else that Inglourious Basterds shares with much of Goddard's work is how its obsession with cinema shoehorns its way into the plot. The film drops GW Pabst and Leni Riefenstahl's names a lot but do not care about the images they made. Having Goebbles as a character did noting to discuss the images that Germany was trying to build of itself and the title characters did less for the Americans. Which brings me to a next point of contention and area to poorly compare the film to.

Earlier in this blog I wrote a bit about Alex Ross's The Rest is Noise. Berthold Brecht's work as a dramatist is discussed during the chapter on the failed Wienmar Republic. Ross believes that despite all of Brecht's writings about the political importance of theater Brecht was a closet schlock miester. (Tarantino is a schlock miester, not closeted but still too ego centric in storytelling). He liked having really violent characters and scenes for the shock value, and then claim some Communist ideology behind it. Ross goes into a play that Brecht got Paul Hindemith to compose music for. Hindemith was disgusted by the play's anti-humanitarian allegorical content, and Ross suggests that the experience of this collaboration may have led Hindemith to being more sympathetic to the Nazis. Inglourious Basterds takes the Nazi as short hand for villains so that it would be fun seeing the title characters brutalize them. Thereby it does nothing to differentiate us from them, but does not have any interest in exploring the discomfort this could create. Which is just lazy.

portiaslegacy @ 2009-09-08T20:59:00

2009-09-09T01:05:55Z

For the first time in weeks I am all uptodate in revieing my LinkedIn mailings and sending out coverletters. I even finished the life coaching homework which caused me so much stress last week. I am also up to date on this. And I have three (!) job interviews this week.

Gosh this is better than finales being done!

Book Causes Enthusiasm for Movies

2009-09-08T04:58:28Z

While I was in Maine I read Pictures at a Revolution- Five Movies and the Birth of a New Hollywood. It is about the production and critical reception of the five nominees for the Best Picture Oscar in 1967. I had not been that drawn to reading it, I have not really been into watching movies much over the past couple of years, I don't care about the Oscars, and Mom bought it for me before I got addicted to Mad Men. Even after I could be like, well these movies are late 1960s and the show is early 1960s so really different times... But no, the book is amazing (and it was a great substitute for Mad Men).

It brought back my fantasy about making movies. Even when portrayed as pulling teeth frustrating business it is so... well I guess I am just in love. I started sketching a treatment. I have never written anything really, and I have not gone to the source materials I would need to fill this out, but whatever... Back to those 1967 movies.

Part of the pint of the book is that it is just as hard to make a bad movie as a good one. The stories behind the scenes of Dr. Dolittle are painful. I would never want to work with Rex Harrison, and probably will have trouble watching him at all ever again.

In the Heat of the Night had one of the less troubled productions, but it still said a lot about where America was at the time. The book also made clear how painful and constricting Sidney Poitier found his on screen persona up to that time to be. I really felt for him. I had not seen the movie until a week ago, but I have to agree with Andrew Sarris that his character in the film was kind of ridiculously inoffensive. Really he did not even say anything when being arrested in his first scene! And he has connections with the feds and knows all about botany and forensics! The murder mystery part makes no sense, but it does not really matter. The tension in scenes is based on something more real and is good. IT is well made, with a great soundtrack. Rod Steiger earned his Oscar, and I think Sterling Silliphant did too. Also the shooting of it is fascinating and Norman Jewison and Hal Ashby screening it in San Francisco is a good story...

I now have a lot more respect for Warren Beatty. I liked some of the movies I saw him in before, but generally thought of him as some one before my time. Also I thought it was weird that for someone who had a reputation behind the scenes of being detail oriented, opinionated, and assertive behind the scenes so often played really inarticulate characters on screen. I probably should replace "inarticulate" with "self-conscience". It is broader and more accurate for more of the roles.

The book makes it seem like he spent a good deal of 1963-4 trying to get What's New Pussycat? made as a staring vehicle. The scripts were not going in the way he wanted, but could still say he thought they were funny. Eventually since he was just an actor and not a trusted box office draw there was a lot of fighting and he "diva-d [his] way out of the picture." But after after meeting Robert Towne he was able to explain some of what attracted him to What's New Pussycat? and over several year they were able to make that into Shampoo. That is just inspiring. Especially as Shampoo was a good movie. But his relationship with Bonnie and Clyde as a producer is fascinating. I loved the stories about his relationships with Jack Warner and Francois Truffaut (the former for their outrageous-ness, the latter for the ironic twists). His relationship with Arthur Penn and Towne seem so real that I am sure that the book only scratched at the surface.

I had only seen most of Bonnie and Clyde years ago. I remember liking it, but only just watched it. It is such an odd unsettling movie. I saw Public Enemies earlier this summer. I wanted to like it a lot more than I did. Considering how much of the subject an plot they have in common (fame crazed criminals, rob banks not people, get gunned down not arrested) it is surprising how different they are. Bonnie and Clyde seems to break more conventions despite being over forty years ago. It is also more comfortable with big shifts in tones, including that dream like sequence they visit Bonnie's family. I felt something more with it. They both seem resistant to having a point of view, morally, but Bonnie and Clyde does not make that seem like a surpessed personality

Also now that I can my fascination with Beatty has hit its peak I finally got around to watching Reds. OMG that is such a good movie. Sometimes the format frustrated me but it also was amazing in correcting Bertolt Brecht's theatrical ideas. Disassociation can be spiritualenlightening which is so much more than agitprop. And the feelings you get are genuine and un-manipulative. I bet in 1981 the sting of Jack Reed's trip to the Middle East might have been a bit harsher for liberal viewers (and of course the makers) as it was closer to the whole Weathermen shit, but it is still so painful. Also a movie about politics that is not really political? That is a tough balancing act. Also the love story was one of the most believable and engrossing ever in movies.

I wrote this all at once, with out editing. I probably will go over it again for the copy. I just needed to share and hope that

Return

2009-08-29T20:31:03Z

I have returned!

Haystack is beautiful wonderful and busy. It is heard to believe it was only twelve days. It was the first time in a long time that I have felt that I got into a rhythm.

I had been wondering what pinhole photography would be like since middle school and it was really fun to experiment. Even the carrying around a brick part to make sure the flimsy cardboard boxes don't move was fun. I like the books I made and am feeling better about putting together more things in portfolio, and online portfolio than I have in a very long time.

Only problem, I am coming back to continuing the job hunt. I actually had a phone interview there. While I did not get the job I feel I should commit myself to the groups message and well continue. I had sent out a lot of applications before I left and now I am going to have to start a bunch more.

This upcoming weekend is my cousin's wedding in Rhode Island. I am feeling a little weird about going back there. And the ceremonies are going to take days. There is so much to do, I wrote first drafts of two articles for here in the series of things about my life following musicians. One is a compare contrast with Regina Spektor and Amanda Palmer, the other is about Shakira and compares her to a lot of people while trying to say that most of those comparisons are limiting. I hope to get one of those up before Thursday.