The Middle Years (2006-2009)

How cool - this guy makes custom laptop and iPod cases out of wood and other materials. Check out the PowerBook above. Pity the laptop cases are on hiatus. (From a Barbelith discussion of a post-fossil fuel world.)

Emmanuelle Béart wants to be known as more than just a pin-up. But then, when casual mentions of you are written in gushing style it’s hard to avoid, I guess “you have only to see La Belle Noiseuse to realise that painting for him can be a threshold to pure form, while whatever words we can summon to describe the awesome impact of a naked Emmanuelle Béart, we still need to bear witness - to look” (in this article on Jacques Rivette)

We were discussing that fine border between film and visual art the other day - does La Jetée count as film? What about Warhol’s Empire? (yes, no… and yes, it’s a sort of arbitrary line, and yes, I know a work can be both art and film, but you know, taxonomy can be a stern taskmaster.)

Super Mario Bros in 5 minutes. I don’t know why it’s just fun to watch. (Hums Super Mario theme to self. Does anyone remember that terrible live-action kids’ TV show with Mario and Luigi? They put words to the theme! “Swing your arms / from side to side…”) Socrates - the football player, not the hemlock-drinker - predicts an anti-Brazil conspiracy in the World Cup. Why Chappelle left. Meanwhile, I’m glad to see the High Line is finally open in New York.

Went downstairs to grab some Yakult from the fridge and took the occasion to shoot the breeze with Mum. Turns out Mum is the only person I know who likes the orange Yakult. Last week at the supermarket, I noticed that they had 5-packs of the original, the grape, and the apple flavours - but no orange.

I just got the invite to the beta upgrade of Yahoo and boy - it’s really looking great. I’ve always preferred Yahoo to Gmail - for one, Gmail’s spam filters are atrocious, and I think I work better using folders anyway. And now Yahoo has the standard three-pane look of desktop-based programs. Plus - drag-and-drop, right-click menus, keyboard shortcuts. Gush. I’m still sticking with Eudora for my regular needs - but for webmail, this looks great.

here is the deepest secret nobody knows (here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide) and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

Meanwhile, Coke has released Coca-Cola Blak, its coffee-flavoured extra-caffeine less-sugar cola. I’m always intrigued by variants of Pepsi and Coke - have been since I first drank Crystal Pepsi. Part of that is, of course, we don’t get that much variety here in Singapore. (Let the Americans be the guinea pigs - or, in this case, the French.) So I wonder what it tastes like…

From the Borders bookshelves. Somehow, I don’t think Fidel would be too pleased at seeing the Cuba guide in the middle of the USA guides.

Man, I’m so exhausted - even fell asleep in a talk a few days back. Sometimes life’s like sleepwalking. Although at various points the emphasis switches between the automatism and the exhaustion encapsulated within that metaphor.

You know, in times of ecological doom and gloom, it’s nice to read news on the revival of the Aral Sea and food firms’ withdrawal of support for whaling.

Mum’s home.

I’m reading two very different books at present. The first is something I read back in secondary school and am now revisiting, John Gribbin’s In Search of Schrodinger’s Cat, about the history of quantum physics. Which made me remember how the whole idea of atoms being little solar systems with electrons whizzing about in orbits wasn’t necessarily accurate.

What is the difference between flotsam and jetsam? I asked myself. Ah, apparently jetsam is jettisoned stuff; flotsam is stuff involuntarily made wreckage. Anyway, mentally clearing out random things I’ve looked at lately:

‘Twas Dad’s birthday today. We were hoping that Mum would be out by today as a birthday gift but unfortunately there’re still some issues that have to be resolved, so I walked down to My Mum’s Cuisine at the Paragon, picked up a couple of dishes (staff were very friendly - big plus), and brought them to the hospital. Simple, but it was a good meal.

Went into the Cathay last night to catch The New World. Yup, “the” Cathay, newly renovated and freshly in possession of a definite article. The building still has the new-building new-coat-of-paint smell to it. Peeked into the Picturehouse after the show ended - boy those seats look great.

A photo of a sign at Robertson Quay, taken from my birthday (yes, it’s been a while). Seems like it would be a good place to take your date if your relationship was on the rocks…

Songs I taught myself to play on the guitar over the weekend: “Time After Time” (the Eva Cassidy chords), “Thunder Road” (not doing very well with it, needs some practice), “Come On Eileen”.

Thanks to all who wrote to express concern over my mum. Very much appreciated. She’s doing well - the doc apparently said the new kidney is at 97% functionality - not sure how they get such precision, but it’s good. (These days one gets used to hearing numbers for the levels of assorted chemicals - creatinine, haemoglobin.) We still have to see her behind glass though in the high dependency room, to prevent infection, but apparently we might be let in soon. Meanwhile, she talked to Rerun on the phone today and he got all excited, licking the phone handset. So the whole family’s in good spirits.