Archive for January 2011

Cutting for Stone

It’s such a pleasure to feel immersed in a story, to hold on to a story and not want it to end. This is how I felt with Abraham Verghese Cutting for Stone.

Granted, the first 100 pages was a bit tough to get through making it a slow start for me. But after that I felt like I was running downhill, gaining so much momentum in the story that I couldn’t stop, didn’t want to stop. It’s a beautiful story of twins, their relationship with their family, friends and their country – Ethiopia.  A large part of the story reflects personal conflicts as well as the conflicts in Ethiopia over the decades. But through it all I felt like I was right there, living their lives with them, living out this story.

A great blend of love, conflict and cultures – spanning India, Ethiopia and America. I can not recommend this book enough. It’s one I want to stockpile and hand out to everyone I know.

Vimeo Rockstars

Vimeo killed the radio star…wait wrong song.

I love Vimeo – so many of the videos on there are just insanely creative. There’s this one particular artist that really captures my attention. His animation is often made from PAPER! I can’t even get those MASH paper games to work much less an entire animated video.

So a year ago I ran across this one and fell in love with it – in my opinion his fan video for Grizzly Bear’s Two Weeks is better than the original.

Two Weeks – Grizzly Bear from Gabe Askew on Vimeo.

Here is one of his newer videos

Ten by Ten – Bluebrain from Gabe Askew on Vimeo.

Adios Words and Phrases

Etsy Agrees

There are just some words and phrases that now make me cringe when I hear them. The other day I was listening to a very intelligent woman discuss a very intelligent subject (vague enough?)…problem was her filler words made her sound like a 13 year old moron. “Like um you know”…. I’m sorry I can’t take anything you say seriously, you might as well have a side ponytail, braces and bubble gum in your mouth.

I’ve had a running list of cringe words for a while. Then one day on facebook, Etsy posted a similar thought, what word would you like to retire in 2011. Yes please! The problem is the words enter in our craniums and saturate our vocabulary so easily, I find myself slipping on more than one occasion. I retreat to the basement and practice self flagellation for at least an hour, but still, the likes and ums haunt me.

Some of these words are just far to pubescent to remain in an adult vocabulary, some started out funny in certain situations then gradually became over used and abused.

So drum roll……

  1. Like
  2. umm
  3. for real / for reals
  4. You know?
  5. Hear what I’m sayin?
  6. Know what I mean?
  7. ROFL
  8. WTF
  9. Sarah Palin (hee hee, ha ha, LOL, ROFL, LMAO – couldn’t resist)
  10. ur (instead of you are)
  11. dial in
  12. phoned it in

Can you add to the list?