Frozen: a blast from the past
So here’s the thing: I really, really like Disney movies. I like the adventures, I like the songs. I like the swishy dresses, slapstick sidekicks and saccharine endings. I like them the way I like junk food or politicians — in small quantities, tempered by reality, and without looking too closely at the fine print … Continue reading
Old [Fictional] Friends
Do you have stories that never get old? No matter how many times you hear them they still feel alive? They can rekindle a sinking heart or augment delicious indulgences, but always prove stalwart companions. Must be some type of magic. And today, as I sold off our books — we’ve shed several hundred so … Continue reading
Poetry Season
In America and Canada it is National Poetry Month. And in that lovely, internet-erly world of camaraderie and social campaigning, it is also National Poetry Writing Month, or NaPoWriMo to the nerds among you (e.g., me). Some members of my family are taking the expedition to heart, and it’s filled my world with lots of … Continue reading
Imminent Return
Hello you. I know it’s been a couple of weeks of radio silence. I hardly have time to think let alone blog. But the horizon is in view and we’ll be back to our normally scheduled ramblings about french toast, frostbite, and far away places soon. In the meantime I have fifteen minutes of a … Continue reading
The Lizzie Bennet Diaries
Have you seen the Lizzie Bennet Diaries? This show is AMAZING (and I don’t use caps lightly). Now if I gave you the 30 second pitch normally ascribed to such projects, you may rightly balk: a modern Pride and Prejudice adaptation told through video blogs and social media. (The website is also quite hideous.) But … Continue reading
The Holiday Spirit
While Christmas is constantly bemoaned as overly commercial and increasingly homogenous, I still thrill at little peculiarities, personal traditions, and culture clashes when it comes to St. Nick. I’m not the first, of course. May I strongly suggest you listen to David Sedaris muse on Christmas traditions, particularly in the Netherlands. 6 to 8 Black … Continue reading
Election 2012
For the first time in almost a decade, I pulled an all-nighter. I don’t always stay up to watch live election coverage, but as I contemplate starting a new life back in my home country again, I guess I felt particularly invested. I have no interest in talking about my views, nor do I have … Continue reading
The Other Olympics
I have a confession. I was always one of those people who thought of the Paralympics as a ultra-PC also-ran: a really, nice, encouraging thing, ultimately defined by disability and limitation and therefore not as interesting as real sports. I have another confession. I was an idiot. Saying the Paralympics are just the Olympics with … Continue reading
In the arena, I’m still young at heart
Between the ages of 9 and 14 I spent an inordinate amount of time following the American Women’s Gymnastics team. I would buy magazines with babysitting money, purely because they featured some “day-in-the-life” story of one of the Olympic hopefuls of my youth. I quietly obsessed about those girls the way other kids knew famous … Continue reading
The Bolshoi Ballet : Raymonda
Last week, I saw the Bolshoi Ballet. Alas, I was not in Moscow, though I’d have loved to see the theatre’s resplendent renovation in person. (You can watch a video about the refurb and get a sneak peek of the venue here. Hint: gold foil mixed with vodka!) Instead, I trekked to my local indy … Continue reading
Que Sera Sara? 