I can’t imagine very many other people needing this…but in case you ever need to be able to talk about “what you did this weekend” in French, and if what you did this weekend involved quilting, here is a very useful page of quilting terms en français.
Author Archives: Duff
À la Super Eggplant, currently, I am…
Making: Working on the layouts for the two Friendship Star quilts. Also making a mini quilt out of leftover squares. But doesn’t look like there’ll be much time this weekend for it so we’ll see if I get anything done.
Reading: Just about finished with “A Complicated Kindness” by Miriam Toews, the book that swept Canada. (Pretty sure I bought this in London last January – when Alison posted about it this summer, it bumped itself higher on my TBR list…). I’m less than one El ride from finishing. Uh oh! Better figure out what I’m going to read next!
Watching: Wow, I loved both Bones and Life this week although I haven’t posted to the TV blog about either one yet. And I’m definitely seeing at least one movie this weekend although I’m not sure which one yet. Next week I’ve got tickets to two oldies (Peter Watkins-directed “Punishment Park” and Nicolas Roeg-directed “Walkabout”) that are showing as part of the Chicago Arts & Humanities festival.
Listening: I’m listening to Stars because I’m going to see them tomorrow night, along with some other random singles, and the soundtrack to Control which I went to see for a second time the other night.
Live Via Podcast
If you’re not a concert-going freak like myself, but sometimes think “I wish I could hear these guys in concert,” then you might want to check out the KEXP Live Performance podcasts as well as NPR: All Songs Considered which recently has had a couple great live shows, such as The National, which was very similar to what I heard them do in concert (other than the live energy and the fact that you would have to turn a podcast up very VERY LOUD to have it be like being there in concert). KEXP had Band of Horses recently which I was psyched about since they are playing Chicago two nights in a row and I AM WORKING BOTH NIGHTS so I can’t go. Stupid j-o-b, always interfering with my real life priorities!!! One of them (um, yeah, I can’t remember which! Bygones) did an Okkervil River live podcast recently that was good, too. It was a much more raw show – more like dudes playing in a smokey bar than in a concert hall – a bit rough and tumble, and a few too many fans in the audience that wanted to make their presence known (“I love you, Will!” that’s great, moron, a) shut up and b) what about the rest of the band. geez. have some respect). There’s also a pretty long interview with aforementioned lead singer/writer/etc. Will at the end. I’m going to see Stars tomorrow night and I think I have a pretty good idea how cool and atmospheric their show is going to be after listening to their podcast with interview (KEXP or NPR? can’t remember!) where they talk about how much more important they find it to set up a real stage show/presence now that they’re playing to larger crowds.
So, in conclusion, if you can’t make it out to shows, or you can’t manage to get tickets the way I can here in Chicago (something I haven’t really gotten over, there are very few shows here where I haven’t been able to if I wanted [there is the rare show where I decide I just can’t go and then don’t try to buy them], and the only two I really remember are ones where I was an idiot and forgot that the tickets were on sale…), both NPR and KEXP are posting pretty solidly representative live podcasts. So you can go to the concert in your own living room or on your ipod on the El train. Woot. Check what they’ve got available for September/October and you should find all the ones I mentioned (as well as others).
Lunch Time Bookstore Stop
- “A Life of One’s Own” by Ilana Simon (because I read this review)
- “Gentlemen of the Road” by Michael Chabon (because it’s Chabon)
- “True Evil” by Greg Iles (because I haven’t read a psychological terror thriller in a while and all my Dad talks about lately is horror films and I am feeling the need to be scared! No, really!)
Short Stories: “Beware of God” by Shalom Auslander
With his new book getting reviewed all over the place and Bookslut wholeheartedly recommending him, thought it was time I checked out Auslander.
Really funny, sarcastic, biting religious humor. Some of the stories were really really hilarious, particularly if you know anything about Judaism. If you don’t, some of the specifics might just go over your head. Some weren’t quite as funny, or perhaps it’s better read not all in a row as it’s a little one-note. If you’re not into mocking religion, then you wouldn’t be interested.
Fiction: “The Myth of You and Me” by Leah Stewart
As I may have mentioned, a somewhat philosophical story about a girlhood friendship gone wrong. Cameron is extremely guarded and close with her secrets; she’s also honest and heartbroken and afraid it will happen again. Sonia is exactly the kind of best friend who drives you nuts and makes you crazy while also making you treasure her. As with so many relationships, things get tangled up in insecurities and secrets and lies.
Really inviting tone, easy to get emotionally involved here. I wouldn’t call it chick lit, and I was surprised to see one reviewer on Amazon say “Teens will appreciate…” Teens? I don’t see Teens being interested in this kind of brutal honesty about how things fall apart (it would have hurt too much to read then and think ‘oh no this might happen to my friendship with x or x’), or understand the little lies going on here that turn out to not matter so much in the end. This is a book for adults, if you ask me.
In Concert: Tom Paxton
When I told my dad I went to hear Tom Paxton, he was surprised to hear Paxton was still alive. (Then he said, “Well I guess he’s probably not that much older than me if I stop and think about it…) Then he immediately starting singing a Paxton song to me, one from around the time of my birth.
Paxton’s not as famous to the rest of the world, but certainly in the folk world, he’s as well known as Joan Baez, Pete Seeger and others of that ilk. Witty and sharp, his personal songs are just as entertaining as his political ones. Lovely voice, great sentiments, and a heart solidly in the right place. A very enjoyable evening.
In Concert: Rogue Wave
One of my favorite bands of recent years, I was glad to finally see them live even though I didn’t stay for the entire thing given it was a Wednesday night, they didn’t go on until 10:30, and I had to arrive at the office by 6 a.m. the following morning.
Lead singer has a very unique voice to me. Not sure if they are sonically enhancing it somehow but sometimes sounds like it’s echoing from the bottom of a well. Very rich. Sounded really good. Solid. They’re maybe not quite as pop-py as the Shins, not quite as quirky as Band of Horses — but along those lines.
Lyrics of the Day.
I didn’t grow these wings to hang around…
– “Silver Dreams” Blackie & The Rodeo Kings
You’re the cocaine in my veins…
– “You’re the Cocaine” Joshua James
À la Super Eggplant, currently, I am…
…currently I am supposed to be working on my French homework. Bygones…
Making: Got back into the swing o’ the Friendship Stars this week (click on ‘blog’ above to check ’em out should you so desire). Hopefully this weekend I will at least be done with all the individual blocks I need so I can start trying out layouts.
Reading: A somewhat philosophical story about a girlhood friendship gone wrong, “The Myth of You and Me” by Leah Stewart. I’m really into it.
Watching: I’ve barely watched TV so far this week, can you believe it? Worked three nights in a row, then a concert, and tonight French. Oh sweet monkey sundae, am I going to be busy with the TIVO on my comp day tomorrow…
Listening: To three somewhat melancholy boys, although not as melancholy as some. Joshua James “The Sun Is Always B…” [my iPod is only telling me that much of the album name, too funny]: I’m really diggin the first few songs; the new Graham Colton “Flying Upside Down”: I enjoy a lot of it, but it gets a bit twangy; and the new Joe Purdy “Take My Blanket and Go”. Is Joe Purdy the new Ryan Adams or what? Dude puts out a new album every other week it seems. They’re all really lovely. Each one has a major tearjerker. Remember that song “Wash Away” that was on Lost a long time ago that I used to talk about constantly? (If you get mixes from me, you have it.) This album’s “one of those” is “Sinkin’ Low.” Soooo pretty. SO! Oh and also really diggin’ some songs from Mr. Hudson & the Library “A Tale of Two Cities”, particularly their “On the Street Where You Live” cover. Brilliant!! Thanks, MG!