À la Super Eggplant, currently, I am…

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So I have officially declared Wednesdays to be the “Currently” update date. Completely official until next time I forget and just don’t do it, which will most likely be next week! Ha!

Eating: I’m kinda obsessed with the Poblano Fresco (with Chicken) sandwich at Corner Bakery right now. Which is unfortunate being that it’s 900 calories (NO JOKE) which is a lot to spend on one sandwich when you are pretending to only eat 1500 calories a day…

Making: A second “vest” type garment made out of super thick, super warm, wool. Because that’s totally what you are looking for in clothing right? Something with short sleeves that’s super hot?

Reading: Just finished “”Lush Life” by Richard Price (v.v.good) and was reading short stories from Cate Kennedy “Dark Roots” except I didn’t realize how close to the end I was and finished it on the El this morning (only 182 pages and BIG print). So crap, I’m not reading ANYTHING right this second and you know I am antsy to get home and dig into the bookshelves and get moving!

Watching: Nothing. I don’t think I’ve turned on the TV this week. (Oh except to put in BSG discs which I’ve started over again for the third & fourth times (depending on the episode) and am now mid-season 2. I like to be watching around where my dad is watching so when he calls I can remember the stuff he’s raving about.) I am waiting for this weekend where I WILL see WANTED, I tell you now.

Listening: Listening to the (still relatively) new Death Cab and also Fleet Foxes and Shearwater and Joseph Arthur and Port O’Brien and Madonna and Missy Higgins and Candy Butchers… I’m all over the place. I am thinking deep thoughts about a mix someone requested so I’ll be poking about a bit until I get that done.

So last night, on the telephone…*

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My dad and I spent an hour discussing the various things that make Sharon (or “the 8s”) different than the other Cylons. Seriously.

Then there was this:
Him: So I figured out there’s only one thing left I haven’t done in this life.
Me: Oh yeah?
Him: Win a marathon. So I’m going to do it!
Me: Wait, did you say “run” a marathon?
Him: No. WIN a marathon.
Me: Well. Win for your age group, right?
Him: NO! Win. Win the whole thing.
Me: Well, good luck beating the Kenyans! Do you realize how fast you have to run to win a marathon?
Him: Yeah, that’s true. They’ll be some tough competition.
Me: It’s very coincidental you bringing up running. I just started trying to run again, but it’s one of those “go from being a couch potato to someone who can actually run for 20 minutes” things where you start really gradually alternating running and walking..
Him: That sounds good! Send me the instructions for that!
Me: OK, Marathon Winner.

All this from a 6261 year old man (whoops, that doesn’t happen until August) who I’m pretty sure the last time he actually RAN ON PURPOSE was sometime in the late 60s when he took running as part of his P/E credit in college and (so I was told) puked his guts out after every run. Oh, and there was that time a few years ago where he was playing softball with the youth group, ran for base, and SLID, and threw his rotator cuff out.

*Said, of course, to the rhythm of “so one time, at bandcamp”

Fantasy: Raven’s Shadow and Raven’s Strike, by Patricia Briggs

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Yes, I’m on a bit of a Patricia Briggs kick (first the Mercy Thompson books, then the dragon books I read last month (known together as “the Hurog books”); these are known as “the Raven duology.”

Reminiscent of Robert Jordan with the magic and the travelers and the sense of class/caste between magic(al) and not… As with the Hurog books, the characters in these books are so real and so easy to engage with, and the story becomes even more believable as it evolves.

The first book establishes the relationship that the second book gives you the payoff for. The enlargement of the magic world in book two is done just so, so well. Jess is my favorite (not just Jess, but the Guardian as well) but all the “orders” have their attractions.

If you like fantasy, you should be reading these. (And if you like “good literature” but haven’t been reading fantasy because you didn’t know which ones to read, this is a good place for you to start.)

Fiction: The Farther Shore, by Matthew Eck

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I’ll go back to my initial reaction: Welcome to the new generation of war novelists. Tactile and gritty and completely engrossing.

A bombed-out Middle Eastern city. An isolated military unit. Sand and desert winds and sweat and dehydration and confusion. The byplay between fear and confidence.

While it is what every good war novel is…it is also something of its own. Highly recommended.

Big Screen: The Fall

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Visually stunning.

Similar to Pan’s Labyrinth, the audience watches the fairytale playout of a child’s imagination. Lee Pace is quite good here, very John Cusack-feelin’. Gorgeous, rich, saturated landscapes in beautiful locations (with every new scene, I thought: “WOW, where was THIS filmed???”). A sweetly charming (and ongoing) visual Indian vs. Indian joke.

Enjoyable enough plot; truly beautifully filmed.

Just one of those days.

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9:45a.m. – Rockin to Sounds of the 80s on the way to the bus. Harden my Heart, oh yeah baby.

10:15a.m. – Dear REO Speedwagon, no one will ever take your place in my heart.

12:00p.m. – Whatever it takes, or how my heart breaks, I will be right here waiting for you.

12:16p.m. – And don’t you know I would move heaven and earth to be together forever with you.

1:06p.m. – You’re out of touch, I’m out of time. But I’m out of my head when you’re not around.

1:15p.m. – You’re not shy, you get around.

1:28p.m. – And you want her, and she wants you. No one, no one, no one ever is to blame.

1:37p.m. – How do you think I’m gonna get along without you when you’re gone?

1:47p.m. – Listening to Celebration and all I can think about is Ross playing it on the bagpipes.

Now “free period” is over and all I’m listening to is people whining and bitching on the phone when I tell them no. In which case, I tell them: no, again. Louder.

Song of the Drive Home Last Night that Drove Us Nuts Not Being Able to Remember What the Hell Song It Was

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I had to text myself lyrics to look up when I got home. Stupid moron.

Picture yourself in a living room
your pipe and slippers set out for you
I know you think that it ain’t too far
But I…
I hear the call of a lifetime ring
felt the need to get up for it
oh you cut out the middleman
get free from the middleman
You got no time for the messenger,
got no regard for the thing that you don’t understand,
you got no fear of the underdog,
that’s why you will not survive!
I wanna forget how convention fits
but can I get out from under it?
Can I cut it out of me?
Ah…
It can’t all be wedding cake
It can’t all be boiled away
I try but I can’t let go of it
Can’t let go of it
Uh huh
Cause you don’t talk to the water boy
and there’s so much you could learn but you don’t want to know,
You will not back up an inch ever,
that’s why you will not survive,
…
The thing that I tell you now
It may not go over well
And it may not be photo-op
the way that I spell it out
But you won’t hear from the messenger,
don’t wanna know bout something that you don’t understand,
You got no fear of the underdog,
that’s why you will not survive! (Hey!)

-“The Underdog” Spoon

Best Twitter Ever

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How does one choose a Battlestar call sign, really? I’m thinking Schmoo, but does that really communicate my abilities as a viper pilot?

(not written by me / but there’s an obvious clue if you also know this person!)