Friday, October 31, 2003
Years ago, a former girlfriend who was into the Eneagram -- an ancient Sufi personality model -- said I was type 9. Which happens to be the same personality type of Pope John Paul II. Perhaps what we most have in common is a passion for humor. Link goes to a great article commemorating 25 years of laughs with the pontiff.
Posted by Daev @ 09:08 AM CST [Link]
Happy Reformation Day to you
Happy Reformation Day to you,
Happy Reformation Day dear Protestants,
Happy Reformation Day to you.
Now go reform something. As for me, I am going trick-or-treating. It'll be awesome. I've got a pillowcase, and a costume. Of course, nobody in the Neustadt will be expecting me. That's the beauty of it all; guerrilla jubilation. I'll have to rile em up into holiday spirit. One door at a time.
I'm going dressed as a pimp, although it might prove to be a tad too chilly for that. I only have Summer pimpware, and my white floppy hat certainly offend --it is, after all long after Labor Day.
[more]
Posted by Daev @ 08:36 AM CST [Link]
Tuesday, October 28, 2003
New textbook 1, Mr. Seezen 0
I was pretty annoyed with one of the exercises we covered on Mondee, that being the one with the present perfect versus simple past. I could not sleep. So I showed it to a few colleagues, and they were all, "what the heck is going on here?" All agreed that the exercise was totally ambiguous in some spots.
Ron suggested I push my students to use more simple past whenever it fits, because --and he is absolutely right-- German folks tend to way overuse the present perfect out of habit. The little punks.
Another teacher reflected that anyone who devises a solid method for teaching presperf to foreign speakers will become a millionaire. Yes, that really was said; such are the lively conversations amongst shop-talking teachers.
So I thought I'd give it to y'all straight from the horse's mouth, and cite Murphy's take on present perfect. Exercises included just in case you feel extra frisky.
Posted by Daev @ 07:00 PM CST [Link]
US Postal is looking to require a valid photo ID--and a stamp--in order to send mail. So says Wired. Privacy advocates are peeved again. Are you? I for one haven't mailed a physical letter since 1993, when I got my first email account.
Posted by Daev @ 06:12 PM CST [Link]
Sunday, October 26, 2003
Many friends and students ask me about this kind of thing all the time, and since I am a bit of a scholar in the matter, I may as well send along the 411. When I last visited stateside I heard a great little documentary series on public radio about Music Americana. I finally found a link to that series today online where one may hear all the parts online. It's pretty swell.
A few names to look out for are:
Jimmie Rodgers, "father of Country". In my new band we mix his "Blue Yodel" with Led Zep's "Whole Lotta Love".
Carter Family; Sister Maybell happens to be the Mama of June Carter Cash, late spouse of the late Man in Black.
Doug Wamble. He's a salt-o-the-earth kind of Gavin Degraw.
Gatemouth Brown, Zappa named him as a major influence. He has his own mix of pipe tobacco.
Thomas Dorsey, father of modern gospel, also composed "Tight Like That".
Posted by Daev @ 03:31 PM CST [Link]
My good buddy and esteemed Ron "24" Fro will be joining me now and again as a guest blahgger on seeznet. So there. Welcome aboard Ron.
Posted by Daev @ 02:05 PM CST [Link]
Saturday, October 25, 2003
Pablo Picasso was the shizznit. Born on this day long time back, he pretty much did for modern art what Miles Davis did for Jazz. I would like to do a little tribute, but I don't have time for that. Instead, here is a sketch meant for one of those in-flight magazine articles. They didn't buy it.
I have the theory that the distortions of the face in his cubist work probably stems from the fact that he was--I heard--a ladies' man. Because when you are very close to an object, like five inches from your face, you stop focusing you eyes on a single point and let them look independently. Thus you have two overlapping images.
Cubism is after all a very logical progression from the blurry, hazy images of impressionism. I totally dig both schools. I've been trying very hard to get more cubism into my Flash stuff. One project on the back burner (I must have like fifty back there) is a cubist Eval Kneival film. I need to check that spelling.
Posted by Daev @ 12:13 PM CST [Link]
With a birthday party yesterday and today, and a shortage of scratch to boot, I killed two boids with one boulder and baked a dozen bagels. People are always asking me, "Mr. Seezen, how do you do it?" Well, little buddies, this here is the best recipe that I could find. But the website's layout is ugly as a monkey's butt and not printer friendly in the least. I do a few things differently:
--I add two eggs. Just because I like cracking eggs. So you'll need a bit more flour.
--I double the salt. Baker's dirty little secret: always double the salt. Of course this will slow down the rising a bit. Just make sure to keep the gneaded dough real cozy. I set the bowl on a wet towel on my Dauerbrenner and keep an eye on it. The towel is wet so I will hear it sizzling if it gets too hot.
--I shape the bagels (I subscribe to Tak's "hula hoop thing" methodology) first then let them sit 20 minutes. This gives the little bastards time to ease into their new shape and smooth out. As you can see here, my bagels are a lot better looking than hers for that very reason. I don't know if she knows it but you know her mother-in-law noticed it and casually mentioned it four of five times to the son/husband, right after taking one look at their house on that last visit and declaring it "could use a woman's touch".
--I brush on eggwhite to make the toppings stick. Duh.
--Use bread (550) flour, not flour (405) flour. It makes all the difference in the world, yo. Remember, it's 550 or fight (that's why we almost went to war with Canada).
--Let em boil longer if you want. I listen to Mp3s on the computer in the next room and go by verses, not seconds.
Remember, If it ain't boiled, it's just a roll with a frickin' hole.
Posted by Daev @ 11:45 AM CST [Link]
Thursday, October 23, 2003
Online Tour for the VW Glass Factory. I went on the guided tour just last Saturday with the English Club. 'Tis a silly place.
Posted by Daev @ 01:33 PM CST [Link]
Yet another person being sued by a business for simply posting her grievances on a website.
Posted by Daev @ 11:16 AM CST [Link]
Tuesday, October 21, 2003
Whodathunkit?
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the romantic poet who wrote Rime of the Ancient Mariner and inspiration for Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, along with Alfred Nobel, father of both mass destruction and the modern Peace movement, along with Dizzy Gillespie, father of bebop, all share the same birthday. I defy any horoscopist to find a thread there.
And I defy myself to lay off the almanac Schtick for a while. The semester has begun, and these entries should be once again a little less sporadic and a tad more pertinent.
Summer's over, fritters.
Posted by Daev @ 08:04 PM CST [Link]
Until further notice, we will continue to hold class in DÜR 247 and not meet in BZW every other week.
Posted by Daev @ 03:28 PM CST [Link]
Why did I even bother upgrading Netscape this time. It drives me crazy. It takes forever to load on my ol' computer and has a penchant for flipping out over meaningless discrepancies in html tags by making everything look misaligned and goofy.
So why did I do it? Because I realized it was one of the privilleges of living in the free world. Here is the very first disclaimer on the download page:
Netscape Browser software contains encryption technology that is subject to the U.S. Export Administration Regulations and other U.S. law, and may not be exported or re-exported to certain countries (currently Afghanistan (Taliban-controlled areas), Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria) or to persons or entities prohibited from receiving U.S. exports (including Denied Parties, entities on the Bureau of Export Administration Entity List, and Specially Designated Nationals).
Posted by Daev @ 03:25 PM CST [Link]
Wednesday, October 15, 2003
I was listening to All things considered today and learned--as always--something very interesting. This week Satchmo's house has been opened as a museum. And --I did not know this-- he pretty much recorded everything that went on in that house. The house was hardwired with mics and tape recorders. There are literally thousands of reels of Louis Armstrong at home, jamming, at the dinner table, having spats with the missus. This precludes Nixon's ill-advised move to tap the whitehouse, and more significantly on the cultural scale, makes him the original Big Brother.
Unfortunately at this time the article is not yet available on the internet, so enjoy this link
About Yogi Bear.
Posted by Daev @ 08:41 PM CST [Link]
English Club Music Nite Party!
Showing up to class is all well and good, but perhaps the most rewarding part of foreign language fluency is the abilty to not make an ass of yourself in social situations, like going out and tying one on. That's where the English Club comes in. Click on the contact button to enquire, or come to our next party. [more]
Posted by Daev @ 06:00 PM CST [Link]
Tuesday, October 14, 2003
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."
--Dwight David Eisenhower, 34th president, born on this day.
Posted by Daev @ 10:15 AM CST [Link]
New textbook.
This only for the new (L1) students. My students who started with me in the Summer semester (then L1, now L2) get to stick with the old book.
Posted by Daev @ 09:45 AM CST [Link]
Monday, October 13, 2003
It's hard to imagine the realm of modern standup comedy without the influence of Lenny Bruce. Before Lenny, all standup was basically a sequence of setup-and-punchline jokes, vaudeville Jimmy Durante style. Lenny was the first cat who was able to really string his act together in a conversationalistic, flowing style. He told tales and gave opinions about things like race, politics, religion, and he pulled no punches.
His style was oft likened to bebop.
He was in trouble with the law numerous times for obscenity and drug abuse, and eventually died on the john due to OD.
Here is the toast of the century, but I am no huge fan. [more]
Posted by Daev @ 03:41 PM CST [Link]
Sunday, October 12, 2003
Kung Fu is for twerps. These monks have lasers.
Posted by Daev @ 08:36 PM CST [Link]
Saturday, October 11, 2003
Shirin Ebadi, an Iranian woman, wins the Nobel peace prize. Apparently, she is not very well known in her own country.
And another thing: those fizzy pills--you know, Brausetabletten--do not go well with buttermilk. In fact, they don't even dissolve in buttermilk. Perhaps it is because of the acidity.
I'm going to see Jello Biafra speak tonight at the newly relocated Titty Twister.
Posted by Daev @ 10:02 AM CST [Link]
Sweet. What is hipness? If you have to ask... well, you didn't. It was a rhetorical question. But here's a quote from the hip manual:
It must be borne in mind at all times that Hip is not just a language but an attitude -- indeed, a whole culture unto itself. If some of the definitions in the dictionary seem inadequate or puzzling to you please remember that the true hipster has the Taoists aversion to pinning down the changing world. To define something completely is to embalm it intellectually. (Emphasis added)
Posted by Daev @ 07:13 AM CST [Link]
Friday, October 10, 2003
Who's the Lonliest? The Lonliest monk?
That would be Thelonious Monk. Thelonious Sphere Monk.
Composer, Pianist,
The High Priest of Bop.
Exiled to his own Kingdom, New York.
A giant man, The Dancing Bearking,
He never came to you,
You were summoned.
He comped too Badass for Miles,
Had to send Trane away,
When Nelly was sick,
The Duchess helped out.
He stood up for Bop Wizard Powell
So the Man snaked his Union Card.
A king without a sword,
A kingdom without a king.
Monk, born today in 1917, is without question one of the most unique as well as significant American composers of the 20th century. His compositions were earthy yet complex, capricious and sometimes dark, and are like staggering postcards with pictures of ballet-dancing hippos sent from far across the ocean of a vast, lateral intelligence.
I mean, the man was bad. He could blow like no one else. His crawling and crabbling lines. The paw prints in the dirt, the pondering hoverance. A drunken giant climbing down that biggass beanstalk. Single-cell organisms. Yo Mama so fat, she jump in the air and get stuck.
And legend has it that once he secretly demonstrated to another musician that he could burn it down just like Bud and then said "Don't tell no one."
Studying comp in school, Monk tole me to write music that has not yet been written; that's hard to do with regularity. Turn on that radio and you know what I mean.
Posted by Daev @ 08:55 AM CST [Link]
Thursday, October 9, 2003
Taco Bell pranksters
Posted by Daev @ 07:01 PM CST [Link]
Wednesday, October 8, 2003
Ig Nobel PrIze Winners 2003.
Posted by Daev @ 05:10 PM CST [Link]
One thing I found amusing during my stateside stay was the current AOL commercial. You'll notice a shot of a computer screen with "favorite" websites listed on it, one of them being whitehouse.org. Go look.
Posted by Daev @ 05:05 PM CST [Link]
Bees. An ode to Hamlet, I suppose. [more]
Posted by Daev @ 04:50 PM CST [Link]
Monday, October 6, 2003
Today I would like to introduce the third member of the Nashville four, or as I like to call it, the Nashvier.
The Nashvier is a small group of four geniuses with whom I went to school in Nashville, of course. The first two members, you may recall, are Graham Spice, funkster and Criss Cheatham, rock sentinel.
Member no. 3 is a Cincinnati poet, Ian Walbrech, former bandmate, former roommate, and best friend. He's a video game composer, a valet, a husband and a great cook. His e-music is pretty wicked.
Posted by Daev @ 06:47 PM CST [Link]
Sunday, October 5, 2003
Looky here what I found at MäcGeiz yesterday. For the man who has nothing.
Beershampoo.
Dubya Tee Eff? Use without scruples?
Posted by Daev @ 06:27 AM CST [Link]
Whoda thunkit? A Stupa in Spain? For real. My pal Odi is attending the christianing ceremony this weekend, but the rest of us can watch it online streaming.
Streaming video has a ways to go, but that isn't stopping people from using it for all sorts of events, like
euthanasia as a spectator sport
Now if I could only watch the Titans play online I'd be all set.
Posted by Daev @ 04:14 AM CST [Link]
Wednesday, October 1, 2003
Another reason to visit Torsten's Spät Schicht on Bischoffsweg:
Das Magazin von Bischoffsweg
Preis 1 Eu
CDU Wähler ermässigt 3 Eu
So go visit Torsten on Bischoffsweg. Tell him I said hi.
Posted by Daev @ 07:08 PM CST [Link]
