palin, dictionary, cake & glass

in case you haven't noticed, michael jackson has pretty much dominated the headlines as of late. if you are like me this may have caused you to miss the fact that sarah palin resigned. i watched palin's speech (days after the fact- thanks m.j.) & what disappoints me the most about the whole ordeal is how hypocritical it is of palin to blame the media. after all, was it not palin who more or less said she thought clinton should just suck it up and not let the media get to her? blimey. i'm relieved she didn't make it to the white house. somehow i have a hard time believing that the pressures of alaskan governor are some how more intense than that of a vice president.

but what do i know?
well, i know locavore is a silly word.

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary recently added almost 100 words including locavore and frenemy. which is pretty great in the sense that they seem like ridiculously unneeded words. i don't think i want to meet the person who seriously refers to themselves as a locavore (which is apparently someone who eats locally produced/grown food). don't get me wrong, i'm all for the practice, but locavore? can i at least refer to myself as a cakeavore? because i .really. like my cake. incidentally i'm on the lookout for a strawberry rhubarb cake/crisp/pie recipe if anyone knows of such a particularly tasty treat.

c & k were the first friends of b. alexander i met. it's been fun getting to know them, and sadly are leaving p-town for k's schooling. i'll miss them, but am excited for the adventures that await them in tennesse. c blows glass and has a show coming up for his work so he enlisted b. alexander to help make a short film of him in action. i tagged along in hopes of playing with my camera and witnessing the creation of c's beautiful pieces first hand. i am so impressed with his skill and am in awe of all that goes into glass blowing.

we had our cake and we ate it too! (it was delicious)

having had a craving for chocolate cake that no amount of zingers or candy bars seem to be able satisfy- i jumped on board with the cool kids and made this fantastic chocolate cake with b.alexander. without a bundt pan i used spring form pans, made use of some delicious strawberries, and changed the rich ganache to spicy ganache with some dagabo xocolatl. the results were successful and left us with full tummies and satisfied taste buds. (and although i probably shouldn't admit this-- i definitely had a little piece with my breakfast this morning)
thanks mom and kaycee for the inspiration and and for shelley's tips!

last night my neighbor chelsea invited b.alexander and i along to the risk/reward festival of performance art at a local theatre. we watched the first showcase which had 4 different performances. a dance piece by choreographer Linda Austin, writer/actor Joe von Appen, Byron Au Yong who did a sort of mini opera about Kuang, a delivery man trapped in an elevator for 81 hours, and Hooliganship a group self described as "tropycal-supermaryo-grunge-rock-duo". I love to see artists that may be a little "out there" but that don't take themselves too seriously at all. During part of Byron Au Yong's piece there was a rap from the bladder's perspective "this is a stick up! i'm a full bladder and not afraid to use me! watch yourself or you'll be covered in pee!" that had me laughing so hard I almost had a bladder stick up of my own. i am constantly amazed by other's ability to push the limits of creativity to make something completely new and entertaining- even if it is something silly like a rap from a bladder. again i am left feeling in debt to chelsea for her never ending means of entertainment she comes up with and also portland for being such a weird city full of bizarre and brilliant individuals.

june, why dontcha stay around a while

how is june almost over? time seems to slip away so quickly these days. and it makes me feel kind of old. with a third of the summer about over, i feel slightly panicked to do everything i wanted to do while out of school. so far my days have been filled with lots of book reading, music exploration, photography projects and puppy time.
i don't mean to brag, but i basically have the greatest dog that ever was. he is a crazy little beast of a creature. i am happy to announce i am treats away from zig having a new trick down. i'm pretty excited for this one... ziggy's learning to dance. once he's had more chance to practice i'll try and capture the magic on video. i had more or less accepted the fact i was a slightly creepy dog person, until i recently met a lady at a park who blew my crazy dog love out of the water. i love my dog, but am very aware of the difference between a pet and a child. ...i think.

ziggy stardust has become quite the swimmer! the snorts he makes while paddling away are quite possibly the funniest sounds ever made by anything in water

zig has total small dog syndrome. he likes to be up as high as possible, even if it means sacrificing his comfort

which he often does.

last week i was pet sitter extraordinaire! b. alexander and our friend daniel went to bend for the weekend leaving their pets dog bauer, and cats sammy & ukko in my care-- along with k'ninja, c & k's dog, who were house hunting in Tennesse. it was pet party central!

i'm pretty sure k'ninja is not a dog, but a muppet character. making her better than a dog. i half expect a small person to unzip and step out of k'ninja at any moment. if i didn't like her owners so much i might consider dog napping her.

bauer longbottom. cutest hound there ever was.


puppy kisses!


and so this is not a post of only dog pictures, which would be no help at all with my claim to being a sane dog owner...



presenting!
1) silly things:

b.alexander as: mr. peeber
miss caitlyn joi has a real eye for fun! *ba-dum-ching!*


b. alexander and caitlyn joi exploring new interests

2) 'round town:

3) unnecessary


my champion killer mystery bruise! this gigantic bruise appeared out of nowhere a couple days ago. it hasn't hurt a bit, but boy oh boy has it had some beautiful color schemes! i must take after my grandma and mother, cuz i aint no sissy.

what you've been missing out on: a joke dirty diaper. shouldn't we all own one?

a local radio show was talking about this gem the other day. you probably weren't aware your toilet paper was so archaic! you can thank me later for the enlightenment.

oh wowie

My term of music classes is coming to a close, but boy has it been an exciting end! This week in my Music and Literature class I was introduced to Mr. George Crumb. An avant-garde music composer who currently teaches at University of Pennsylvania. He's known for some pretty unusual techniques- like pouring marbles onto a piano. What really intrigued me was his "spoken flute" method, which is speaking into the flute while playing it. I was spending far too much time poking around on youtube being fascinated by his work, when I came across two other awesome musicians. (I'm hoping this first one is something my dad will try and incorporate with his harmonica.) I love seeing different music styles blended together, especially in unique ways like these. As unique as they may seem, after watching them (too many times) it begins to make perfect sense and I wonder why it's taken so long incorporate beat boxing with instruments. Perhaps more importantly- why is it I've been in the dark about it until now?

this guy i cant stop watching (plus he has a RAD stache!...) so here are a few more of my favorites, this time with other musicians.

gradgeeayshun!

hear ye! hear ye!
this man has received his masters in clinical psychology!
two out of three degrees are now complete!
HIZZAH!
the next time he's seen in a cap and gown we will all be addressing him as Doctor.


congratulations troy!

he has put in an unbelievable amount of hard work into his program. pacific is lucky to have him in their ranks!

the humans are dead

Last Thursday I, along with B-Alexander and Mr Daniel, had the privilege of experiencing a performance by the delightfully entertaining Flight of the Conchords. They're a fantastically silly duo who, along with a hilarious series on HBO, are a touring band. we didn't feel right attending the event without paying some sort of homage to such comedic geniuses and the rest of their crew, so of course we went in costume.

Bret (band member), Dave (friend[?] of band), Mel (loyal fan & fan club founder/president)

Daniel's costume was recognized most although no one could seem to remember the character's name. Instead he was "that guy" or "the guy who works at that place". I found this particularly amusing as Arj Barker (Dave), was the opener. (Incidentally, we squealed out in pure joy to discover this, as we had just hours prior said something along the lines of "what if arj is there?!" "no way. that would be too perfect".) We all thought for sure B-Alexander would be walking away with the most identifications. After all- he tracked down (or rather, came across) an identical lion sweater worn by Bret Mckenzie.

My favorite part would have to be seeing the ever charming Jemaine pull out an omnichord (as seen below) for several songs. He definitely has a better model than mine, but my heart couldn't help but swell with omnichord delight just the same. I'm just waiting for the day they pull out an accordion for one of their songs. Maybe a gypsy sort of tune...? Ah... but i digress. All in all it was a magical evening filled with giggles and nerdom I won't soon forget.



Jemaine and Bret performing The Humans are Dead.
if interested it can be seen here:

hoomii and accordions

I'm taking several music classes this term, one of which is a world music class. It has been a great experience to be introduced to so many new and unique types of instruments and styles. one of my favorite things i've been exposed to is what is called Hoomii- a Mongolian style of throat singing. check it out, learn how to do it, then entertain me.




and now for a little history of the accordion... ( jug jacklin assignment #1)

---The accordion's basic form is believed to have been invented in Berlin in 1822 by Christian Friedrich Ludwig Buschmann, although one instrument has been recently discovered that appears to have been built in 1816 or earlier by Friedrich Lohner of Nürnberg in the German State of Bavaria.
The accordion is one of several European inventions of the early 19th century that used free reeds driven by a bellows. An instrument called accordion was first patented in 1829 by Cyrill Demian in Vienna. Demian's instrument bore little resemblance to modern instruments; it only had a left hand buttonboard, with the right hand simply operating the bellows.---

so there you have it. the good ol germans are responsible for the accordion. Poor Friedrich Lohner though, being denied his credit all these years.