Riba Rambles:
Musings of a Mental Magpie

Posted by Lis Riba at 1:04 PM

Jack Rose is a classic cocktail dating back to the early 20th century.

It's generally believed the name derives from appleJack (its main ingredient) and the rosy color it gets from grenadine. [Although that's not certain -- Wikipedia provides several alternate theories regarding its name]

Jack/Rose is also a canonical pairing in the Doctor Who universe.

Since the fundamental element of Doctor Who is time-travel, perhaps the cocktail was named after the couple?

When I mentioned this possibility to Ian, he cracked up. But after a moment, he asked whether that shouldn't more properly be called a "Doctor Jack Rose"

I replied, "yes, but they had to shorten the name to squeeze onto menus."

This has been your moment of absurd. :)

PS: In this music video does anyone else see a resemblance between John Barrowman and John Edwards?

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:40 AM

Something we can all celebrate:

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:50 PM

So, I'll be at Boskone all this weekend.

Skimming through the preliminary program, this item caught my eye:

Friday 6pm Webster: How to Improve Conventions: A Pre-Gripe Session

We can't promise to fix it before this con begins (if you haven't noticed). But our experienced conrunners are eager to receive and exchange ideas on what to do better next time, at this or any other con. More tropical locations? Powered exoskeletal walkers? All Neil Gaiman all the time? Large cash payments to panelists and conrunners? Libertarian-free zones? Footrubs for everbody? Chocolate delivery 24/7?

Vince Docherty, Mary Kay Kare, Steve Miller, Priscilla Olson (m)

Given work tomorrow, I'm not sure whether I can get to the con by this time. But it did remind me that I hadn't yet blogged the two ideas I had at Arisia...

1) I noticed a lot of singles hoping to find... lasting relationships. The con did hold a speed-dating "panel" which was (reportedly) well attended. And several people were wearing shirts with the slogan:

Maybe if this t-shirt is witty enough, someone will finally love me.

Cons seem like a perfectly reasonable place to meet like-minded individuals (says the woman who actually attended MITSFS meetings to meet guys), but a weekend isn't much time.

What if the convention program sold personal ads?

Raises a little more money for the con, gives people a little more time to think about what they want to say than an announcement in the in-con newsletter, and who knows maybe it can help people hook up.

Has anybody tried this before?

2) Breakfasting in the consuite one morning, I noticed someone at another table expounding on various issues.

Tablemates came and went, but this guy clearly wanted to be heard.

Why not set up a more formal Speakers' Corner?

Allow people to sign up for timeslots (requiring names and topics), post the schedule in the newsletter updates, and people who are interested can wander in to listen.

Most people probably wouldn't have enough to say to fill a room for a full hour, but given a 5, 10, or 15 minute timeslot, wouldn't mind a platform.

Allows for much more varied programming than the con can otherwise schedule, and it's effectively a do-it-yourself track.

Further refinement is always possible: trying to organize blocks of tiime by theme, or time restrictions if it proves popular.

This could even be a way of evaluating future program participants -- see which people and topics draw the crowds.

The only difficulty I see is finding a location, since rooms are often at a premium in cons. But these kinds of informal lectures go on thruout the con anyway, just in the hallways, so why not provide a venue?

Thoughts?

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:20 PM

You know, I was feeling meh about this until the John Williams theme really got going (at the 1 minute mark).

That's damn good music...

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:21 PM

Regarding Next Day Ass-Saver Shipping, I emailed the company to find out how many people took them up on the offer.

Excerpting their reply:

We started this idea as a silly joke, but are completely surprised how many people are interested in it! I guess even people in true love get busy these days. [...] Today we've had several dozen procrastinators take advantage of this deal and I must say it's been quite a riot. We may have to consider this option for all holidays!

And he sent me this when the promotion still had about two hours to go. [It has since expired.]

Also, since I saw some press releases identifying the company, I'll go ahead and name them before the page goes offline.

They are GardenFun.com and here's their shipping info.

Posted by Lis Riba at 6:28 PM

Eloquence is escaping me today.

So, lacking much time, here are some memes (taken earlier) to fill the space with instead.

These three seem to form a natural progression:

• Is Your BF/GF a Keeper?

  Total keeper.
  Awww... your bf/gf sounds like a serious sweetie. I mean, this is just an Internet quiz so who knows, but if you feel like your bf/gf is an ally whom you can trust, talk to, and enjoy being around, then that spells keeper to us. Bonus points if he or she is considerate and mature on top of that! You're officially a duck that is lucky. (Of course, don't let the fact that he or she scores high in our book make you feel guilty if, at the end of the day, you're just not feeling it. It's your life and your relationship, duh!)

• How Long Will It Last?

  This could last a long, long time.
  You've got such a sweet, romantic thing going on! It seems like you and your BF/GF really appreciate each other. You two seem very trusting and connected, and it sounds like you're both having a good time in this relationship. Even if the romantic thing comes to an end (because let's face it, that happens sometimes), you guys have so much in common that you'll probably find a way to stay friends.

• What Kind of Couple Are You?

  The Old Married Couple
  Either you two have been together a long time, or... you were together a long time in a past life. Some couples just go together like two mittens. They finish each other's sentences, know each other's favorite pizza toppings by heart, and can accurately guess each other's answers to personality quizzes. And they can always cheer each other up with an inside joke.

And nothing like an Internet quiz to remind me what a cheap date I am:

• What Kind of Date Should You Two Go On?

  Wanna check out the planetarium or aquarium?
  Exploring the squid and stingrays at your local aquarium or some constellations at the planetarium is pretty perfect date material. There's tons to see, and therefore tons to talk about. But since there are no major skills required (except walking and talking), no one feels overwhelmed. Not to mention, it's awfully romantic: the light reflecting through the water and the soothing movement of sea creatures, or the glow of distant suns and taking turns at the telescope... either of those would be one sweet date.

• Is Bling Your Thing?

  Bling's not your thing.
  When you see someone parading around in piles of jewelry, you're not impressed - you have the opposite reaction. Anyone can wear five necklaces at once and a ring on every finger, but you'd rather attract attention with your sparkling personality and shimmering sense of humor. Fancy jewelry is definitely expensive, but in your eyes, it's not very valuable. Who'd want a diamond as a best friend? People are so much more fun.

Posted by Lis Riba at 1:10 PM

An online giftshop has a special limited-time offer of UPS Next Day Ass-Saver Shipping for orders placed before 6pm Valentine's Day.

Quoting their shipping info:

**What is our UPS Next Day Ass-Saver Shipping option?
Literally what it sounds like. You got busy, Valentine's Day snuck up on you, and you completely forgot to buy that special someone a creative thoughtful gift. Now you're going to be in serious hot water! No problem. We'll ship out your order on Valentine's Day via Next Day Air. In addition, we will call your recipient (on Feb 14th) and apologize for the unexpected delay. We'll make up some story about the package falling off a truck or being lost in transit for you and relay that we have sent a replacement overnight so it at least arrives on the 15th. We will also suggest not taking out any frustrations on you, as you will already be extremely disappointed with UPS. (Only if asked, your order was originally placed with us on Feb 6th.) This Next Day Ass-Saver shipping option will disappear from this website by Feb 15th and we will be denying any existence of it.

I'm debating with myself whether to identify the company or not.

• On the one hand, it's an extremely clever idea and they deserve credit.
• On the other hand, I'd hate to get anybody in trouble by ruining the surprise, particularly since they have to pay a hefty premium for the service.

I think I'll err on the side of caution and preserve their anonymity for now...

Update: Additional information available in 7 pm entry.

Posted by Lis Riba at 8:10 AM

In the program for Brandeis Theater Company's production of As You Like It, the Assistant Director's Note reveals:

Before rehearsals began, [director] Adrianne [Krstansky] gave us a bit of homework: to fall in love or do something that feels like falling in love.

That exercise certainly paid off as we watched each character succumb to Cupid's sting.

What more can I say? It's funny, it's romantic -- it would make a great Valentine's Day date...

On Thursday, February 14, join Professor of English and American Literature William (Billie) Flesch for a post-show discussion about the history, context and themes in 'As You Like It.' Professor Flesch is a noted Shakespearean scholar and well-loved professor here at Brandeis University. The actors will join the discussion too.

[I want to go, but that could run awfully late for a work night...]

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:40 AM

NPR is running a series called In Character, exploring the origins and impact of unforgettable characters from American fiction.

On Monday, they profiled Cookie Monster, in a must-hear segment... [Be sure to listen thru to the end!]

The series blog includes a video clip of his studio visit.

Posted by Lis Riba at 8:56 PM

This morning's Writer's Almanac had some Lincoln trivia (it sounded much better than what was written) including:

In 1860, when a campaign document boasted that Lincoln spent his spare time reading Plutarch, Abraham Lincoln sat down right away to read Plutarch's Lives for the first time -- to validate the claim that had been made for him.

Meanwhile, here are a couple memes, until I have more time to write something longer:

Who's Your Presidential Hottie Soulmate?

Mmmhmm, Abe the Babe... maybe not babelike in the traditional sense (he was definitely tall and dark, if not classically "handsome") but a mind that was hotter than Georgia asphalt. You could ask him anything, and he would probably know the answer, which could be very convenient. Abe was pretty reserved -- not so great with the romantic stuff, and he'd probably run and hide if you ever said "listen, we need to have a talk". But his waters ran deep, possibly deeper than any other president. Maybe even than any other mortal. Ever. And we suspect that as long as you were gentle and non-judgmental with him, he'd totally open up to you. And when he did, and you saw the true contents of his heart, your mind would be BLOWN.

How Electable Are You?

We don't know anything about your qualifications, and we haven't conducted any voter polls, but our very unofficial prediction is that you could take an election. You seem practical, likable, hardworking, and dare we say it? NICE. You ooze stability and success, and that might sound gross (oozing = nasty), but in this case, it's a good thing. You're the kind of person that voters like having around, and do you know what that means? They'll vote for you. At least? we think they will.

Good to know...

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:35 AM

I have now seen As You Like It for the sixth time: once on video and five times staged.

That ties it with Titus Andronicus

Both of those, however, come second place to Midsummer Night's Dream, which I've seen a whopping eight times.

[Review forthcoming for Saturday night's production of AYLI.]

Posted by Lis Riba at 8:48 PM

Presenting... Ian and Guinness:

Standard:

Vintage:

Also, Kate Beaton has drawn a Jerry Thomas comic!!!

Click to enlarge:

Squee!

Via Making Light which links to other historical figures she's put into comics.

Posted by Lis Riba at 4:00 PM

Currently reading Hideous Absinthe: a history of the devil in a bottle

Read this passage about "poet and inventor Charles Cros":

Cros was the son of a doctor of law and philosophy who had lost his university post in 1849 because of his revolutionary views. He had three sons: Antoine, a doctor, Henri, a sculptor who exhibited with the impressionists, and Charles, a poet, inventor, musician and scholar, and eventually a 20-a-day absinthe drinker. He had been a child prodigy, teaching himself Hebrew and Sanskrit at the age of 11 and studied philology, then medicine, then astrology in Paris. He was a prolific inventor: the phonograph he developed in 1877, called a Paréophone, preceded that of Edison, by whom he was eclipsed as Cros lacked the funds to patent his device.

He invented an 'automatic telegraph', wrote on possible communication between planets, and discovered a method of synthesizing rubies. Cros was a pioneer of colour photography, publishing on the theory as early as 1869 and going on in 1882 to make a colour print of Manet's painting Jeanne. A good friend of Manet, he attended Manet's mother's Thursday soirees in the Rue de Saint Pétersbourg in the company of Zola and Degas.
[...]
One of his best known works, 'The Red Herring' ('Le Hareng Saur') is about a blank wall on which a ladder is rested in order to hammer a nail in and suspend a smoked herring. The last stanza remarks that he wrote it to put 'Serious, serious, serious people into a fury [Pour mettre en fureur les gens -- graves, graves, graves]'.

Interesting sounding guy.

[Is it just me, or does the second sentence ("He had three sons...") have an antecedent problem?]

PS: Another colorful character described in the book:

As it was constantly claimed that modern artists could not paint, [Aphonse] Allais got togeter a school of artists who certainly could not paint, writers who were assembled under the title of the Salon des Incoherents. Allais's contributions included the black canvas, Negroes Fighting in a Cave at Night, a completely white canvas, Anaemic Young Girls Going to their First Communion in a Blizzard, and his masterpiece of 1884, Some Pimps Lying in the Grass Drinking Absinthe, which was, of course, completely green.

Posted by Lis Riba at 3:15 PM

Hey, fella Brandesians!

Happened upon the latest issue of The Justice.

Top headline:

Police most likely armed by summer

     The arming of Brandeis police officers will most likely begin in late spring or early summer, according to Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan.

Fill in your own expletives commentary.

In better news, Brandeis hired Rabbi Elyse Winick '86, former assistant director of Hillel, as interim Jewish chaplain until the school selects its next full-time rabbi.

Posted by Lis Riba at 1:48 PM

From Wednesday's Washington Post via Susie Madrak:

Candorville does not equal Boondocks or Curtis or Wee Pals or Herb and Jamaal. And La Cucaracha does not equal Baldo or Gordo and especially not Cafe con Leche.

But for one day -- this Sunday -- 11 cartoonists of color will be drawing essentially the same comic strip, using irony to literally illustrate that point. In each strip, the artists will portray a white reader grousing about a minority-drawn strip, complaining that it's a Boondocks rip-off and blaming it on "tokenism." "It's the one-minority rule," says Lalo Alcaraz (La Cucaracha). "We've got one black guy and we've got one Latino. There's not room for anything else."

The eleven participating cartoonists (linking to the specific strip whereever possible) are:

1. Cafe con Leche by Charlos Gary
2. Candorville by Darrin Bell
3. Compu-toon by Charles Boyce
4. Herb and Jamaal by Stephen Bentley
5. Housebroken by Steve Watkins
6. La Cucaracha by Lalo Alcaraz
7. Mama's Boyz by Jerry Craft
8. The Golden Years by Bill Murray
9. The K Chronicles by Keith Knight
10. Watch Your Head by Cory Thomas
11. editorial cartoon by Tim Jackson

Other comics mentioned in the article include:

• Baldo by Hector D. Cantu and Carlos Castellanos
• Boondocks by Aaron McGruder
• Curtis by Ray Billingsley
• Gordo by Gus Arriola
• Maintaining by Nate Creekmore
• Wee Pals by Morrie Turner

Posted by Lis Riba at 1:15 PM

What an interesting wake-up call upon turning on my computer:

Anyone else ever see a message like that -- on a Dell or other laptop.

Whoah: Get a load of these reviews! Can you say captive market?