Riba Rambles:
Musings of a Mental Magpie

Posted by Lis Riba at 6:00 PM

Ian got out of work sometime after 4 (the exact time varies).

He was going to call me after work and before heading to the play.

I don't know whether he forgot to call, or whether he tried during the five-or-so minutes I was on the phone with somebody else around 4:40.

Either way, it's now six and he hasn't called.

I haven't seen him since 10:30 this morning, and I miss him terribly.

Am I pathetic, or what?

I do hope we manage to talk before curtain at 8.

Posted by Lis Riba at 5:21 PM

If you're in the Boston area, you have an opportunity to see the MIT Gilbert and Sullivan Players' production of Iolanthe this week and next. Performances are:

• Tonight, 8pm
• Tomorrow (Sunday), 2pm
• Next Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8pm, and
• Next Sunday, 2pm

Tickets are $12, a little more than seeing a first-run movie, but for that amount, you get a live performance, entertainment longer than the average film, and concessions for sale during intermission both better and far cheaper (homemade baked goods -- yum!)

Before attending last night's performance, I had been thinking of writing up a review, but I simply can't. It's all good. Start with a great play, add great directorial decisions (notice the fairies' wings), great actors and singers, costuming, sets, lighting... It all works.

I've seen parts of rehearsals when I've gone to pick Ian up (we share one car), and every time it got better. I actually saw the second act dress rehearsal on Wednesday, and their performance just two days later was leaps and bounds ahead. I suspect I will probably attend at least one more performance, I don't know when.

But if you can at all manage it, I really urge everybody to attend. It's an incredibly enjoyable three hours you won't want to miss.

Further details available here, including complete cast & crew list, parking advice and ticket reservation form.

To filk the fairies: "Please go! Please go!"

Oh, and keep your eyes peeled for the clean-shaven peer in the gold cloak. That's Ian. <grin>

Posted by Lis Riba at 11:08 AM

Something I forgot to mention in my Charlottesville trip report, but that I've been wondering for a while.

Are there a greater number of hawks/falcons/raptors in the sky these days, or am I just noticing them more?

Regularly, as I drive along the highways, I see hawks circling high above. On Wednesday, driving along Route 128, I saw three or four. This morning I spotted one in the air as I was driving Ian to the train station. I don't remember seeing so many hawks as a child; I'm pretty sure of that, given how notable I considered such sitings, even as recently as when I began this journal 2.5 years ago.

Anybody know what the story is, environmentally speaking?

BTW, speaking of the environment and for the record: First snowfall this morning. Doesn't look like it will stick, but as long as I'm blogging, I wanted to make note.

Other than that, I'm going to be hectically busy all day. Remember, here's the info on Iolanthe, if you need.

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:25 PM

Longtime readers may recall last autumn Jones Soda offered a limited edition Turkey and Gravy -flavored soda.

Looks like they're trying to outdo themselves this year:

Seattle, WA, U.S.A. ? Jones Soda Co. (the "Company" or "Jones Soda" or "Jones"), announces today its limited edition holiday pack of five new seasonal flavors which includes: Green Bean Casserole Soda, Mashed Potato & Butter Soda, Fruitcake Soda, Cranberry Soda and Turkey & Gravy Soda.

"Our holiday pack takes the work, worries and cost out of preparing a turkey dinner, so our consumers can spend more time with their loved ones. We even included utensils," says Peter van Stolk, President & C.E.O. "We realized consumers are concerned about the 2,000 calories that each full holiday meal contains. That?s why we made our sodas zero calories and zero carbs. Now, you can enjoy all the mashed potatoes and butter without worrying about the carbs."

Be afraid. Be very afraid...

[Courtesy of Steelwngs]

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:10 PM

I suppose I should've mentioned this sooner, at least so directly.

opens tomorrow night at the MIT Student Center.
Showtimes are:

November 12, 13, 18, 19, 20: 8pm
November 14, 21: 2pm

Follow this link for more information and ticket reservations

I reserved tickets for tomorrow night and may choose to attend other performances depending how the mood strikes. If you'll be attending, let me know when. Maybe I'll see you there.

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:15 PM

So, last night I had the opportunity to see an advance screening of Finding Neverland, which opens tomorrow (Friday).

The premise of the film is as follows:

Johnny Depp portrays J.M. Barrie through the conception, writing and first performances of Peter Pan.

Should you see the film? That really depends on whether the concept appeals to you.

I was excited by both the casting and subject and, as expected, loved it.

Depp's Irish accent does take some getting used to. I don't have enough experience around the accent to judge how good it is. There were certainly moments that felt hackneyed or predictable, but on the whole I found it magical.

I walked out of the theater wanting to read the biographies on which it was based to find out where the filmmakers took dramatic license and what happened to them all afterwards.

All in all, a good show, if you like that sort of thing.

Posted by Lis Riba at 1:56 PM

I feel like I just played a real-world 3D version of Rush Hour.

We have a small narrow alcove in the basement for our storage with shelves on two walls. The ceiling is covered in pipes. The entryway is partially blocked by two stacked air-conditioner units, which I could squeeze past, but not move. In what would otherwise be floorspace in front of the shelves, somebody had stored six dining room chairs: three stacks, each with an upside-down chair balanced upon a rightside-up one (and one of the top chairs was broken). I could not remove the chairs from the space, there was barely one chair's worth of unoccupied floorspace available (remember, I had to stand somewhere, too) and the location of the shelves and pipes would not permit chairs to be rotated in all angles.

It was incredibly frustrating, and for a while I feared I might be stuck in the basement until somebody surreptitiously discovered me, but eventually I was able to reach the boxes I'd been aiming for, look through them, and get out again. There was no place to put the boxes down for comfortable perusal, so I ripped the lids on several otherwise really good storage/moving boxes, but I achieved most of my aims.

Unfortunately, the papers I'd been hoping to find in those boxes were nowhere to be found.

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:25 AM

I've seen this making its way around LiveJournal, and I don't think it hurts to follow the flock:

This is the problem with weblogs, we all think we are so close, and we know nothing about each other. I'm going to rectify it. I want you to ask me something you think you should know about me, something that should be obvious, but you have no idea about. Ask away.

Then post this in your LJ/blog/journal and find out what people don't know about you.

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:11 AM

Though the sheer amount of effusive praise for Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell made me somewhat skeptical of hype, I picked up a copy at CostCo. I'm only three pages into it, and it certainly has a charming, captivating and whimsical writing style. I find myself wanting to read it aloud to Ian.

However

The third paragraph uses the phrase "rack their brains."

Now, I always thought the expression was to "wrack one's brain, not "rack." I've seen the latter somewhat frequently, but often in the same fanfics that include scholars "pouring over ancient tomes," so I've just chalked it up to authorial error.

But, for the phrase to appear in a major work of published fiction, it's got me doubting.

I know that numerous grammarians and pedants (professionals and hobbyists) read this, so I'd like your opinions. Which is it:

• rack one's brains, or
• wrack one's brains

Am I seeing a linguistic shift in the making or are these just (as I hope) isolated cases?

Posted by Lis Riba at 8:25 AM

This post recalls the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, 1918. Eighty-six years ago -- the same year that Boston previously won the World Series.

Here's wishing everybody a peaceful day, under whatever name you commemorate it (Armistice Day, Veterans' Day, or Remembrance Day). And thanks to all those who served or are currently serving.

Although I acknowledge that in many cases the causes were just, I do regret that "The War to End All Wars" couldn't live up to that name.

Oseh shalom bimromav hu ya'aseh shalom aleinu ve'al kol yisrael ve'al kol haolam v'imru amen.

[The title of this post comes from a WWI song, "When this lousy war is over"]

Added later: I hadn't known about this when I initially wrote the above entry, but the Veterans' Administration maintains an official Veterans' Day website. And here's a similar official Remembrance Day page from Australia, and a BBC informational site. Unfortunately, I have an appointment at 11 o'clock, but it's traditional to observe 11:11 with a moment of silence. Let me know if you do. [Courtesy of Tom Smith]

Posted by Lis Riba at 2:50 PM

So, was out all morning, and on my way home decided to stop at the grocery store for a few things (including a prescription for Ian). When I got home (about 20 minutes ago), there was a UPS Urgent envelope in the doorway: address to somebody who doesn't live here at a different address (same number, different street). So I had to call UPS, because while it doesn't inconvenience me, I feel sorry for the poor souls who paid extra for delivery and who are waiting for its arrival.

I've only got about a half-hour at home before I have to leave again, because I'm meeting Ian after he gets out of work at 4pm so we can grab dinner.

I've got to set the VCR for Smallville and figure out when I'm going to catch Regency House Party because I've got tickets to a 7pm advance showing of Finding Neverland.

As you can tell, I've got miles to go before I can rest, so I'm just dashing this off quickly. There are three or four other minor issues that I wish I had time to blog right now, but I don't.

By the way, if anybody I met this morning happens to be poking around here, Hello and welcome! It was nice meeting you all (or seeing a few of you again.) Introduce yourself in the comments if you feel like it. If you're looking for something to read, I strongly recommend my Writing page, which includes fiction I wrote in college and papers I wrote for grad school. I'm also particularly pleased by my Marlowe in modern fiction list, about the Elizabethan poet and playwright.

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:40 PM

I want either cocoa or reheated soup. I'm not sure which, but a hot mug of something. But, since one is milchig and one fleishig, I can't have both. And I'm feeling paralyzed by the choice...

It's been a dull evening, so I just thought I'd share that fact. Suggestions or comments, helpful or un- are invited...

Added 10:30 PM: For the record, I eventually went with the soup, followed by a banana for the sweetness.

Posted by Lis Riba at 6:56 PM

So, Jordan's Furniture (a New England staple) has opened its new store in Reading. In honor of this, they're having a sweepstakes. Thirty people will win $2000 towards furniture. The catch is that on the sweepstakes card, you have to write down which furniture items you'd like the sweepstakes money to go for. [We spotted some lovely home bars that caught our eye; and it costs us nothing to enter.]

But think about it. This will cost Jordan's $60,000. And in return, they're getting a sweet amount of information on which of their products are most attractive to customers. They can then use this to shape future layout or purchasing decisions on their end. Not bad, all around.

BTW, the new store is very nice. Their gimmick is "Beantown" -- scale replicas of Boston landmarks made out of jellybeans. They've also got an ice cream stand (Richardson's dairy; we actually picked up a gallon of milk while we were there), restaurant, music-synchronized fountains, IMAX theater, trapeze school, a couple carnival games... They're really trying to make themselves a destination: someplace where the whole family can shop happily. [Because if the kids enjoy themselves, the adults with the money can spend more time -- and thus more money.]

And once you look at the store in that vein, you notice other ways the Jordan brothers make it easy for people to stay, such as the free, no-hassle stroller and wheelchair rentals (strollers that look like taxicabs and firetrucks). It really would be an attractive air-conditioned place to hang out in the summertime. [Given some of the duck motifs, I can easily see my mother-in-law taking the grandkids there.]

Another aspect of this extreme friendliness is that when these kids are in a position to buy furniture, they're going to think of Jordan's. When my sister-in-law was in high school, she and some of her friends once went to the Natick Jordan's just to hang out. A sales clerk approached them as they were lounging on the couches. Now, in most stores, this'd be grounds for eviction: a bunch of teens loitering? They're not going to purchase anything! But the clerk chatted with them -- what would they buy if they could? They started talking about their ideal gaming table. So she took them into the dining section, and helped them find one that met their needs. Obviously, none of them could buy it, but they've all got that planted in their heads should they ever seriously be in the market.

Posted by Lis Riba at 1:56 PM

Through Atrios, I just found out that the Supreme Court has issued a ruling on Leocal v. Ashcroft. Quoting the summary from SCOTUSblog:

The Supreme Court, in a unanimous opinion authored by Chief Justice William Rehnquist, ruled Tuesday that a conviction for drunk driving that results in serious bodily injury does not qualify as a "crime of violence" that can lead to deportation of a permanent resident involved in the incident. The case was Leocal v. Ashcroft (docket 03-583).
 <snip>
In the decision, the Court was interpreting a provision of federal immigration law that provides for deportation of an alien who is convicted of an "aggravated felony," defined as a "crime of violence." That phrase, Rehnquist wrote, does not cover all negligent conduct, such as negligent operation of a vehicle. "It simply covers offenses that naturally involve a person acting in disregard of the risk that physical force might be used against another in committing an offense." The ordinary meaning of crime of violence, the opinion added, "suggests a category of violent, active crimes that cannot be said naturally to include DUI offenses."
The opinion stressed that the Court was not deciding whether the reckless use of force against a person or properety is a crime of violence under immigration law.

Readers may recall I heard some of the oral arguments of that case while we vacationed in DC. Nifty to see how it turned out.

Posted by Lis Riba at 12:45 PM

Okay, any Brandesians out there remember an old Boris' Kitchen sketch involving male modelling poses? "Look at that watch!" Some vague memory wants me to say Barak Kushner was involved. Please! Somebody with more memory, enlighten me.

The reason I'm asking is that I just came across The Kevin F. Sherry Sweater Project which has me laughing hysterically. From the introduction:

My friend Kevin recently cleaned out his wardrobe, which, due to his pack rat nature, was crammed with clothes he hadn't worn in more than a decade. Among the discarded were 25 sweaters that can generously be described as "hideous." Or, as one critic put it, "Bill Cosby would not wear this." Kevin's defense? "I worked at Marshalls in North Olmsted, Ohio, during high school and got a 15 percent discount. It was cold. It was the late '80s." The horror, the horror.

They show the aforementioned Kevin modelling each sweater, along with a closeup of the pattern and snide running commentary. But it's the poses he assumes -- particularly checking his watch at the bottom of page 2 that dredged up memories of that old Boris routine. Can anybody please help me remember it better? The context? The other poses (something about fixing one's sock, I believe)?

Thanks in advance.

Posted by Lis Riba at 10:06 AM

And I just found Shakespeare's plays in XML. Now all I need to learn is XSLT (or some other brute force means of parsing the data) in order to derive the speakers per scene and number of lines per speaker.

I guess there are other like-minded geeks out there...

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:44 AM

The universe seems to be conspiring to show me that data-geeking and book-geeking aren't incompatible. Via Romenesko's MediaNews I just found this Washington Post article on why (and how) papers create their bestseller lists.

And, I suppose thinking further on Shakespeare, I might not've thought of the number crunching if I hadn't already seen other "experts" discuss characters in terms of the number of lines they have per play, or seen Ian's Shakespeare book with the listing of scenes per actor. I just want to compile and combine the two...

Posted by Lis Riba at 8:50 AM

I often say this, but looking back over the last week, it seems clearer than ever.

So, I'm thinking of hosting readings of Shakespeare plays. And what's the first thing I try to do about it? Build data tables and crunch numbers!

‘Okay, I want to cross-reference how many lines each character has with which scenes they're in with gender...’

[Last night, while waiting for Ian to finish rehearsal, I suddenly realized that if I could find copies of Shakespeare's plays in XML format, it might be much easier to extract the desired information...]

But that's not all.

I am keeper and compiler of two exhaustive lists of fiction I read: Marlowe in modern fiction and Percy/Malfoy fanfiction. I maintain both of those as spreadsheets for easy sorting and redesign (it's all conditional formulas and string concatenation). And my response to developing an interest in Shakespeare performance was to create a public blog for event listings.

I am such a geek!

Mind you, in every case, I'm turning my personal interests into a useful resource for the rest of the online world, but I'm data crunching English literature... And I not only thought of doing so, I enjoy it...

After graduation, people used to say to me "Creative writing and computer science?^* That's an interesting combination."

I usually puzzled over those comments, because it didn't seem at all odd to me.

But now, looking at what I'm doing, I suppose my approach really is atypical, isn't it?

Posted by Lis Riba at 1:00 AM

Susan, over at Suburban Guerrilla is on a roll this week. A few of her observations:

This story is finally starting to hit the mainstream media, and apparently Keith Olbermann devoted this evening's program to the issue.

Finally, back to Fallujah:

The hospital was selected as an early target because the American military believed that it was the source of rumors about heavy casualties.
"It's a center of propaganda," a senior American officer said Sunday.

That's right, we destroyed their hospital so they couldn't spread rumors of heavy casualties during the battles. Isn't that bass-ackwards!? I suppose with no central place for the injured to go to get treatment, we won't be hearing any more unpleasant talk about wounded civilians. As Empire Notes puts it:

It was selected as a target because it was the source of "rumors" that were "unconfirmed" about civilian casualties -- i.e., doctors who treated the patients and communicated with other doctors treating patients compiled estimates and gave them to those few journalists who wanted to know.
The U.S. military, of course, which claims never to count civilian dead, and distances itself from the people of Fallujah with a wall of metal, gunfire, artillery fire, and heavy bombs, is in a much better position to estimate civilian dead than the doctors who treat them.

There are estimates that a quarter of a million people live in Fallujah. They're not all terrorists/insurgents/whatever-we're-calling-them. Not everybody can just pack up and leave so quickly. Lisa English notes that able-bodied adult males are being detained as they evacuate. As she explains, "Given that our estimate is that there are maybe a couple thousand insurgents holed up in the town (which the townspeople dispute), that means that thousands of families will be stripped of the protection of their head of household at the very moment they are leaving their homes to go off into the desert to some sort of uncertain refugee status."

Remember Shock and Awe? We're not using the name, but it sounds like that's what we're doing.

Jeanne, over at Body and Soul, and Arthur on Light of Reason have more on this.

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:11 PM

I have to agree with Ezra, Digby's Sunday post is one of the more thought-provoking posts I've read in awhile.

Digby looks at the election results through the scope of American history:

Because it's important to remember that one of the main reasons for the civil war was that the southerners believed that the north was trying to impose their "values" upon them and they deeply resented it.

Digby provides a history lesson, going back to the founding of the country, and explores the notion of Southern exceptionalism and how that regionalism and resentment have shaped politics for over 225 years.

To try to pick and choose and quote more would have me excerpting pretty much the entire article. But don't go heaping too much blame on Hollywood liberals or New York nouveau riche, because this divide has outlasted those developments.

Fascinating. A must-read.

Posted by Lis Riba at 6:56 PM

Okay, now I honestly hadn't given much thought to the mysterious bulge under Bush's jacket for a while now. But since the election, I've just seen two contradictory explanations from the administration.

On Friday, The Hill reported:

Call off the conspiracy freaks. Now it can be told: That mysterious bulge on President Bush's back during the first presidential debate was not an electronic device feeding him answers, but a strap holding his bulletproof vest in place. <snip>
[S]ources in the Secret Service told The Hill that Bush was wearing a bulletproof vest, as he does most of the time when appearing in public. The president's handlers did not want to admit as much during the campaign, for fear of disclosing information related to his personal security while he was on the campaign trail.

That seems perfectly reasonable, in explaining both the anomaly and why they obfuscated earlier. Case closed, right?

Well, just now, I saw this on Pandagon, from an interview Karl Rove gave FoxNews on Sunday, two days after the Hill story was published:

"Nothing was under his jacket," Rove said.

Just as I thought the issue was buried, Rove exhumed it. How bizarre.

Posted by Lis Riba at 5:44 PM

The MBTA has been talking for ages about switching from tokens to farecards. During Worldcon, I saw an article in the Globe in which they were trying to decide upon a name.

I'll confess, I was rooting for the "T Cod" (for the pun and symbolism within the state), but according to Boston Common, they've just made their choice and I can agree with it:

The "Charlie card"

For those who don't get the reference, click here.

Mind you, this may lead to unnecessary worries should people ever lose their cards, but I like the fact that our public officials have a sense of humor.

But will he ever return?
No, he'll never return.
And his fate is still unlearn'd.
He may ride forever 'neath the streets of Boston.
He's the man who never returned...

Posted by Lis Riba at 5:25 PM

As I mentioned earlier, I've been thinking about trying to arrange informal readings of the history plays (Shakespeare's and Marlowe's) and was wondering if anybody knew offhand where I could find two particular resources electronically:

First, a count of lines per character. I've often seen remarks such as "so-and-so has twice as many lines as such-and-such." Beyond the big names (Hamlet, Rosalind, Lear), are there any more complete lists, play-by-play?

Second, Ian has an old copy of the Complete Works with an amazingly handy feature: Each play has a "Persons Represented" page, listing all the characters according to which scenes they appear. For example:

Duchess of York: Appears, Act II, sc. 2; sc. 4. Act IV, sc. 1; sc. 4.
Lady Anne: Appears, Act I, sc. 2. Act IV, sc.1

Given the limited number of people I can probably call upon, I'm sure doubling and tripling of roles will be required. Therefore, information like this will help divide the roles more equally. Surely I'm not the first person to have done this, so does anybody else know where I might find it?

Also handy (and I suspect more likely) would be a listing of all the characters that appear in multiple plays, such as Henry V in the Henry IV series or Katherine in both Henry VI and Richard III.

Combining these elements would be an invaluable aid in ensuring continuity, clarity and equity in readings, hopefully reducing the risk of people having to engage in dialogs with themselves and giving all participants a fair chance.

I could compile all these myself by hand, and probably will be doing a bunch of number crunching anyway, but why reinvent the wheel if somebody else has any of these elements already handy. And if you can recommend related resources, I'd appreciate those as well.

Thanks in advance!

PS: (a) If you are in the Boston area and would be interested in a regular gettogether to read the plays of Shakespeare and Marlowe, please let me know your interests. (b) Assuming I manage to compile this kind of data for the reading, I will, of course, make it available online.

Posted by Lis Riba at 5:06 PM

Given the flu vaccine shortage, I expect to see a lot of shysters hit the market with all kinds of products claiming to help fight the flu. [oh look: anti-viral tissues.]

Trying to avoid all the hype, the question comes down to: What actually works?

I've seen a lot of articles recommending frequent hand-washing. Are those portable bottles of hand sanitizers effective, or just a waste of money? Any other suggestions for what to consider and what's a waste of money when it comes to protecting onesself from the flu?

Thanks in advance. [By the way, don't forget this health crisis is only affecting the USA. Other nations of the world had no such problems arranging for enough vaccine for their citizenry!]

Posted by Lis Riba at 4:22 PM

Readers may have noticed that I haven't been writing so much about politics since the election. I have to, just for my own mental wellbeing.

BOPnews has created a central link list for articles alleging the election was stolen. And there certainly have been oddities out there, but I just don't have the energy at the moment to delve into them. [More on the subject from Thom Hartmann and Bev Harris and William Rivers Pitt; if you have further links, please share them in the comments.] And, if you want to get paranoid, if these were just chance errors, there should be equivalent discrepancies for each candidate. But all the problems cropping up seem to benefit Bush...

And when I did pop my head out to look around the political blogosphere earlier today, I see things like these horrors in Falluja (more) which make me want to run away and hide even more.

So, I've been watching Looking for Richard and Regency House Party and Henry VIII. I've been reading the Bartimaeus trilogy (and just got Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, though I may not get to it for a while) I'm once again trying to wrap my head around the history of the Wars of the Roses. And, of course, Ian's production of Iolanthe opens Friday, which has left me with more of the housework as a further distraction from the computer and current events.

Right now, if you ask me, this blog will probably be tacking away from politics and more towards the personal. Mind you, almost every attempt I've made to point out topical trends in this blog or predict future content have invariably proved themselves an immediate failure, and I don't doubt this is any different, despite my inclinations for avoidance.

Posted by Lis Riba at 10:45 PM

Sigh. 10:45 pm and Ian must still be at set build. He left this morning for Sunday school before I got up (well, I was awake barely) and I haven't seen him since. He did call mid-afternoon, but I have no idea when he'll return. Alas. I miss him.

Henry VIII on Masterpiece Theatre is interesting. They begin by making "have a male heir" be Henry VII's deathbed request of his son. While I doubt the veracity of that, I think it's a good way of getting the urgency across to modern audiences, American audiences, who may not understand the deep importance of primogeniture. [Did that make sense?]