Continuing to geek out, I stumbled upon this Making Art of Databases project. Of course I'm thinking of my ever-growing Chinese restaurant database, which currently includes over 3000 restaurants, a mere fraction of what's out there.... Anyway, I haven't gotten to read everything on this cool site yet; I'm gonna have to copy & paste the text because that white text on black background is really hard on the eyes. I'm always complaining about this sort of thing, aren't I? Wiggly hand-held cameras, illegible handwriting, people who can't give decent directions... it's all about communication. I like clear communication. Where it's easy to receive the information. You know? Is that so much to ask?
schmindigo
Soddy Daisy
So. I've been obsessively mapping the Chinese restaurants of Tennessee & am happy to report that Nashville & Memphis each have over 30 Chinese restaurants. Knoxville has over 20 of em. Where I really want to go, though, is to the Number One Chinese Restaurant in Soddy Daisy. Number One is the name of the restaurant. Soddy Daisy is the name of the town. Of course the restaurant is Number One, because it's the only Chinese restaurant there in Soddy Daisy, according to my sources.
Meanwhile there are plenty of other one-Chinese-restaurant towns scattered all over Tennessee. In fact, I'd say you're never more than 30 miles away from a Chinese restaurant, anywhere in the state. Pretty impressive!
Meanwhile there are plenty of other one-Chinese-restaurant towns scattered all over Tennessee. In fact, I'd say you're never more than 30 miles away from a Chinese restaurant, anywhere in the state. Pretty impressive!
perfection
Alison Bechdel is a genius. Always has been, as far as I remember. There is a perfection in her work, kind of like that Room Service short film I was raving about recently. I've been thinking a lot about perfection lately. Agnes Martin speaks of the "awareness of perfection" that we have in our minds. Not perfection as an external thing but the sense of perfection that we all know internally. Good stuff to ponder.
expanding
Oh, man... my little geek world keeps expanding. I don't even know where to begin. I'm overwhelmed by possibility!
At the same time, I've been looking a lot at the sublime work of Agnes Martin, who can safely be categorized as not just low-tech but no-tech.
A bit o' yin & yang for ya there.
At the same time, I've been looking a lot at the sublime work of Agnes Martin, who can safely be categorized as not just low-tech but no-tech.
A bit o' yin & yang for ya there.
sound
Barf. I am so over this bullshit.
On to nicer topics. Have I ranted yet about how much fun I'm having in my sound class? It's quite invigorating to explore a whole new medium every once in a while... this week we learned about Max/MSP which is like geek heaven on a stick. After the teacher gave us a short demo of it, we all sort of sat there more or less stupefied by the sheer abundance of possibilities.
On to nicer topics. Have I ranted yet about how much fun I'm having in my sound class? It's quite invigorating to explore a whole new medium every once in a while... this week we learned about Max/MSP which is like geek heaven on a stick. After the teacher gave us a short demo of it, we all sort of sat there more or less stupefied by the sheer abundance of possibilities.
Dominican Republic
From the Dominican Republic (via swimming buddy Margo) comes this menu, listing, among many other things, Rangoon de Cangrejo, 6 in an order. Yikes!
Paul Chan
Oh! At one of the blurred weddings last month I ran into an old friend I hadn't seen in, what, over ten years? She subsequently sent me a link to a friend of hers' website, saying I might like his work. Just now I went & sort of stumbled around in there, not quite getting it until lo! I came upon this brilliance, which made lightbulbs flash above my head & I got all excited, had to start blogging with Oh!, &c.
I know. "A friend of hers' website" isn't exactly proper writing, but you wouldn't blink if you heard someone say it. Would you now. I guess I could have said "Paul Chan's website" instead, since that's who & what it is. Coherence diminishing, blame it on the crabapple blossoms... I'm addled by beauty today.
I know. "A friend of hers' website" isn't exactly proper writing, but you wouldn't blink if you heard someone say it. Would you now. I guess I could have said "Paul Chan's website" instead, since that's who & what it is. Coherence diminishing, blame it on the crabapple blossoms... I'm addled by beauty today.
I saw the Chinese restaurant movie last night, thanks again to the very sweet NAATA folks who set me up with a ticket. It was good, but it turned out that it wasn't really about Chinese restaurants... it was much more focused on issues of diaspora. Maybe the restaurant angle will develop more throughout the series. (There are two or maybe three more installments covering a few more countries.) I have now met two people besides me who seem to be obsessed with Chinese restaurants & are immersed in projects about them, & we all have such drastically different approaches to the subject, it's kinda fascinating. Cheuk Kwan (he's the filmmaker) is into the diaspora stuff, and Inspector Collector is all about the food. I'm not that into either of those things. Although of course there is overlap... shall I whip out another Venn diagram?
My vote for Best in Festival: Room Service by Junji Kojima. This deliciously fun, flawless 8-minute short seems to be making the festival rounds so you might have another chance if you weren't lucky enough to catch it last night. Every last detail was so lovingly, carefully thought out... perfection on a stick! Of course it doesn't hurt that the subject of packing a suitcase is so near & dear to my own obsessive heart.
On the other hand... [Warning: heavy grousing ahead!] Can I rant a little about my latest film festival pet peeve? You hand-held camera people (not all of you, obviously, but I'm not gonna name names either): would you please just *hold the shot*? Life moves; if you point the camera at it and just hold still, there will be plenty of action and motion. Don't worry about your audience getting bored. We have eyes that can and will look around at different parts of whatever is in your frame if you just give us a chance. You don't need to make your camera imitate the motion of your own eyeballs. If you must move, move at a slow or moderate speed. All this antsy zig-zagging and erratic swooping around only makes me seasick unless I'm sitting in the farthest back row.
Sorry. I know I'm more tired & grumpy than usual. But I'm stickin to my story!
Overall, though, an excellent festival again. How do they manage to keep doing that year after year? & the people are all so nice!
Have you noticed the crabapples are all exploding with blossoms? I'm so happy. Even though I'm tired & grumpy. You can be all those things at once, it's not that hard. In fact it seems to happen to me quite often.
Okay, that's enough of that.
My vote for Best in Festival: Room Service by Junji Kojima. This deliciously fun, flawless 8-minute short seems to be making the festival rounds so you might have another chance if you weren't lucky enough to catch it last night. Every last detail was so lovingly, carefully thought out... perfection on a stick! Of course it doesn't hurt that the subject of packing a suitcase is so near & dear to my own obsessive heart.
On the other hand... [Warning: heavy grousing ahead!] Can I rant a little about my latest film festival pet peeve? You hand-held camera people (not all of you, obviously, but I'm not gonna name names either): would you please just *hold the shot*? Life moves; if you point the camera at it and just hold still, there will be plenty of action and motion. Don't worry about your audience getting bored. We have eyes that can and will look around at different parts of whatever is in your frame if you just give us a chance. You don't need to make your camera imitate the motion of your own eyeballs. If you must move, move at a slow or moderate speed. All this antsy zig-zagging and erratic swooping around only makes me seasick unless I'm sitting in the farthest back row.
Sorry. I know I'm more tired & grumpy than usual. But I'm stickin to my story!
Overall, though, an excellent festival again. How do they manage to keep doing that year after year? & the people are all so nice!
Have you noticed the crabapples are all exploding with blossoms? I'm so happy. Even though I'm tired & grumpy. You can be all those things at once, it's not that hard. In fact it seems to happen to me quite often.
Okay, that's enough of that.
It's all about my friends: This nice Florence Yoo interview has links to her excellent new album. Oriane Stender is showing her new Underwater Galactical Microscopic Outerspace Lifeform Units at Paule Anglim.
& me? I'm just trying to make it to the end of the week. It's like that sometimes.
& me? I'm just trying to make it to the end of the week. It's like that sometimes.
Wow. I never saw grease land on a squeaky wheel so fast! The powers that be at the film festival happened to hear my blog plea & waved their magic wand... I suddenly have a ticket to the Chinese restaurant film! How nice! I wasn't even thinking it could happen like that... I mean heck, I was just kvetching, like I do... Indigo the kvetch-o-matic... (If you know me, you know how true that is.) Anyway, it all gives me a case of the cozy-community warm fuzzies. Awww :)
I was already in a good mood anyway because I spent the evening at a really fun baby shower where we all stuffed ourselves with awesome African food (too bad I don't eat goat because the carnivores at the party swore it was delectable), plus bakery treats from the Bovine Bakery in Pt. Reyes. Yum! I'm so full now....
I was already in a good mood anyway because I spent the evening at a really fun baby shower where we all stuffed ourselves with awesome African food (too bad I don't eat goat because the carnivores at the party swore it was delectable), plus bakery treats from the Bovine Bakery in Pt. Reyes. Yum! I'm so full now....
Oh, I am so bummed! The Chinese restaurant movie was the second film to sell out at the SF International Asian American Film Festival! I went to buy tickets yesterday & they said they had sold out the day before! Doh!
The first film to sell out was the opening night gala feature, so I guess I should take this as a good sign that people are so madly interested in Chinese restaurants. But still, I can't believe I'm gonna have to stand in the hope line, praying that I get in. Don't you think that I, of all people, need to see this film? I mean, normally I don't go around thinking of myself as somehow more special than other people, but in this case I hope you'll agree I've been paying my dues. Haven't I? Or is all this grant proposal writing warping my perspective? (Probably.)
The first film to sell out was the opening night gala feature, so I guess I should take this as a good sign that people are so madly interested in Chinese restaurants. But still, I can't believe I'm gonna have to stand in the hope line, praying that I get in. Don't you think that I, of all people, need to see this film? I mean, normally I don't go around thinking of myself as somehow more special than other people, but in this case I hope you'll agree I've been paying my dues. Haven't I? Or is all this grant proposal writing warping my perspective? (Probably.)
It just keeps getting better... now wonderful folks from all over the country are sending bouquets to queers waiting in line to get married. When have you ever seen such positive news? This article made me cry... especially since I have such a weak spot for flowers in the first place.
Can Chinese take-out be far behind? You get hungry waiting in that long line....
Can Chinese take-out be far behind? You get hungry waiting in that long line....
The menu senders are enthusiastic! Today's mail brought a batch from New Zealand & Australia. One from NZ features "Chop Suey Patty" in their Fish & Chips section. What on earth could a chop suey patty be?! No, wait, don't answer that.
Thanks to the wide-traveling, food-obsessed Barry Popik for locating Don Lee in Panama (I think). Check out the Chop Suey page!
Okay. It's gonna be a while now before I say anything bad about Gavin Newsom. "Extraordinary mettle," indeed! Go Gavin! (Really I never thought I'd say that.) Oh, & hey, nicely written editorial.
In Chinese restaurant news, a truly unique menu arrived in the mail: it's the first one sent to me by the restaurant owner herself!!! (Well, that I know of anyway.) It's the oldest Chinese restaurant in Mississippi, owned by one family since 1968! How cool is that? Right when I'm plotting & planning my trip to Mississippi! Quite auspicious, don't you think? & very endearing, how they abbreviate Egg Foo Young as EFY. I don't think I've seen that before. Also: fried catfish filet appears on both the main Chinese menu and the little "American Dishes" section. I am so into this!
In Chinese restaurant news, a truly unique menu arrived in the mail: it's the first one sent to me by the restaurant owner herself!!! (Well, that I know of anyway.) It's the oldest Chinese restaurant in Mississippi, owned by one family since 1968! How cool is that? Right when I'm plotting & planning my trip to Mississippi! Quite auspicious, don't you think? & very endearing, how they abbreviate Egg Foo Young as EFY. I don't think I've seen that before. Also: fried catfish filet appears on both the main Chinese menu and the little "American Dishes" section. I am so into this!
On the Official Website of the State of Alabama practically the first thing you see is a very user-friendly list titled "I want to:" Now try guessing what four things are on the list before you peek. Think about what people might need most often when they go to their state website. Hint: "Open a Chinese restaurant" isn't one of them. Tells you a lot about the place. Either that, or their website content needs tweaking.
This little nutrition experiment is ten years old, but still totally fascinating... I wish they'd included crab rangoon as one of their test items! I love how they give you advice on how to make the dishes more healthy: add rice to lo mein?!! Pick the breading off sweet & sour pork?!! I'm sorry, I can't help laughing my snide little laugh. It would be so easy to say some really mean things at this point... well, to tell the truth, it's taking everything I've got not to. Can we leave it at "you reap what you sow"?
Not sure what exactly makes some folks think I'm a man... in all the miscellaneous links, blurbs & blog postings that other people have written about this project (& about my work in general), I'd say about 15% of the time they refer to me as male. Could it be the -o ending in Indigo? That would at least explain it for people who speak Spanish or Italian. (On the other hand, I do remember someone in Mexico calling me Indigito once, which makes perfect sense to me. Indigita would be kind of a stretch for the name Indigo, wouldn't it? Which is stronger, language or gender? Oh, it's too much to go there! Let's not.)
I guess the male -o convention bleeds over into English fairly strongly, or strongly enough anyway. Although some female names do end in -o. Almost all the other Indigos I've met or heard of have been female. Not that there's so many -- maybe 2 males & a handful of females. I dunno; when I look at my work or read my statement I think it's quite obvious I'm a chick, but not everybody seems to agree. Whatever... it's just something I've noticed....
Or, of course, I could go ahead & be suspicious about it: what, you don't think a woman would have the audacity to ask for every last Chinese takeout menu in the whole dang country?
I guess the male -o convention bleeds over into English fairly strongly, or strongly enough anyway. Although some female names do end in -o. Almost all the other Indigos I've met or heard of have been female. Not that there's so many -- maybe 2 males & a handful of females. I dunno; when I look at my work or read my statement I think it's quite obvious I'm a chick, but not everybody seems to agree. Whatever... it's just something I've noticed....
Or, of course, I could go ahead & be suspicious about it: what, you don't think a woman would have the audacity to ask for every last Chinese takeout menu in the whole dang country?
Bay Area folks take note: You're definitely missing something if you don't go see Yellowman at the Berkeley Rep. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time & got free tickets. Knowing next to nothing about the play, we went & were totally devastated, in a good way, by an incredible performance.
Oh, & there's a Chinese restaurant in the play, too!
Oh, & there's a Chinese restaurant in the play, too!
If you're bored & need stuff to do, Learning To Love You More has lots of excellent assignments for you. Even if you're not bored but you need stuff to do, it's good. For me, since I'm not bored & I don't need stuff to do, it's slightly overwhelming to contemplate how there are so many fun things to do & I might not really have time to do them. But hey, at least I enjoyed looking through the website.
One of the reasons I don't need stuff to do is that I thought my Knitting Moment had passed, but in fact it has not. (Two words: baby hats.) Also, I have a grant deadline coming up... that's another reason.
One of the reasons I don't need stuff to do is that I thought my Knitting Moment had passed, but in fact it has not. (Two words: baby hats.) Also, I have a grant deadline coming up... that's another reason.