Wild Sound

Saw Earhart last night, which somehow managed to be both schmaltzy and lifeless.

Filed by cynthia rockwell at 11:52 am under Just Movies
Comments Off on Amelia Earhart’s Prenup

I have been listening to “The Moth” stories on my daily commute and I can’t get this one out of my head. It’s like a female version of The Soccer War by Ryszard Kapuscinski (an incredible book by the way). Go listen. And subscribe to the Moth podcasts–it has made me look forward to my commute every day.

Filed by cynthia rockwell at 9:19 am under Misc
Comments Off on Boneyard Stretch

Cutting books

Filed by cynthia rockwell at 10:06 am under Misc
Comments Off on Noriko Ambe

About 15 mins before the previous. Again, no photoshop whatsoever.

Filed by cynthia rockwell at 11:41 pm under Misc
2 Comments

Untouched by photoshop.

Filed by cynthia rockwell at 11:09 am under Misc
2 Comments

Filed by cynthia rockwell at 10:58 am under Misc
Comments Off on Sometimes It’s that Kind of Day

Found this when searching for crochet patterns. *Shudder*

Filed by cynthia rockwell at 1:25 pm under Just Movies
Comments Off on No Wonder People are Scared of Clowns

Baby Chuck Taylors:

The problem with making baby booties is that the joy of completing one lasts only a few seconds, then you have to start all over and make another.

Filed by cynthia rockwell at 9:11 am under Misc
Comments Off on More Needlecrafting

I’ve taken up knitting. This is a power-cord scarf. First attempt so it’s a bit rugged. Making another for someone that hopefully will turn out a bit more polished. I am totally addicted to knitting, it’s all I want to do…

Filed by cynthia rockwell at 9:15 pm under Misc
Comments Off on Look What I Made!

I’d like to blog Silverdocs this year but with two other jobs in addition to being on the programming committee I’m probably not going to have time. I will, though, likely be twittering via text @ceerock. And if you want some recommendations, please see ENJOY POVERTY for a seriously disturbing and thought-provoking satirical take on the tried-and-true save-starving-Africans doc, and for pure joy head on over to SUPERMEN OF MALEGAON, a real-life India version of BE KIND REWIND. You’ll smile through the entire thing, I guarantee it.

Filed by cynthia rockwell at 10:08 am under Just Movies
Comments Off on Silverdocs 2009

Literally. From Miranda July’s collection of short stories, “No One Belongs Here More Than You”:

Someone is getting excited. Somebody somewhere is shaking with excitement because something tremendous is about to happen to this person. This person has dressed for the occasion. This person has hoped and dreamed and now it is really happening and this person can hardly believe it. But believing is not an issue here, the time for faith and fantasy is over, it is really really happening. It involves stepping forward and bowing. Possibly there is some kneeling, such as when one is knighted. One is almost never knighted. But this person may kneel and receive a tap on each shoulder with a sword. Or, more likely, this person will be in a car or a store or under a vinyl canopy when it happens. Or online or on the phone. It could be an e-mail re: your knighthood. Or a long, laughing, rambling phone message in which every person this person has ever known is talking on a speakerphone and they are all saying, You have passed the test, it was all just a test, we were only kidding, real life is so much better than that. This person is laughing out loud with relief and playing the message back to get the address of the place where every person this person has ever known is waiting to hug this person and bring her into the fold of life. It is really exciting, and it’s not just a dream, it’s real.

They are all waiting by a picnic table in a park this person has driven past many times before. There they are, it’s everyone. There are balloons taped to the benches, and the girl this person used to stand next to at the bus stop is waving a streamer. Everyone is smiling. For a moment this person is almost creeped out by the scene, but it would be so like this person to become depressed on the happiest day ever, and so this person bucks up and joins the crowd.

Teachers of subjects that this person wasn’t even good at are kissing this person and renouncing the very subjects they taught. Math teachers are saying that math was just a funny way of saying “I love you.” But now they are simply saying it, I love you, and the chemistry and PE teachers are also saying it and this person can tell they really mean it. It’s totally amazing. Certain jerks and idiots and assholes appear from time to time, and it is as if they have had plastic surgery, their faces are disfigured with love. The handsome assholes are plain and kind, and the ugly jerks are sweet, and they are folding this person’s sweater and putting it somewhere where it won’t get dirty. Best of all, every person this person has ever loved is there. Even the ones who got away. They hold this person’s hand and tell this person how hard it was to pretend to get mad and drive off and never come back. This person almost can’t believe it, it seemed so real, this person’s heart was broken and has healed and now this person hardly knows what to think. This person is almost mad. But everyone soothes this person. Everyone explains that it was absolutely necessary to know how strong this person was. Oh, look, there’s the doctor who prescribed the medicine that made this person temporarily blind. And the man who paid this person two thousand dollars to have sex with him three times when this person was very broke. Both of these men are in attendance, they seem to know each other. They both have little medals that they are pinning on this person; they are badges of great honor and strength. The badges sparkle in the sunlight, and everyone cheers.

This person suddenly feels the need to check her post office box. It is an old habit, and even if everything is going to be terrific from now on, this person still wants mail. This person says she will be right back and everyone this person has ever known says, Fine, take your time. This person gets in her car and drives to the post office and opens the box and there is nothing. Even though it is a Tuesday, which is famously a good day for mail. This person is so disappointed, this person gets back in the car and, having completely forgotten about the picnic, drives home and checks the voice mail and there are no new messages, just the old one about “passing the test” and “life being better.” There are no e-mails, either, probably because everyone is at the picnic. This person can’t seem to go back to the picnic. This person realizes that staying home means blowing off everyone this person has ever known. But the desire to stay in is very strong. This person wants to run a bath and then read in bed.

In the bathtub this person pushes the bubbles around and listens to the sound of millions of them popping at once. It almost makes one smooth sound instead of many tiny sounds. This person’s breasts barely jut out of the water. This person pushes the bubbles onto the breasts and makes weird shapes with the foam. By now everyone must have realized that this person is not coming back to the picnic. Everyone was wrong; this person is not who they thought this person was. This person plunges underwater and moves her hair around like a sea anemone. This person can stay underwater for an impressively long time but only in a bathtub. This person wonders if there will ever be an Olympic contest for holding your breath under bathwater. If there were such a contest, this person would surely win it. An Olympic medal might redeem this person in the eyes of everyone this person has ever known. But no such contest exists, so there will be no redeeming. This person mourns the fact that she has ruined her one chance to be loved by everyone; as this person climbs into bed, the weight of this tragedy seems to bear down upon this person’s chest. And it is a comforting weight, almost human in heft. This person sighs. This person’s eyes begin to close, this person sleeps.

Filed by cynthia rockwell at 10:57 am under Misc
Comments Off on Read and Weep

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/G5ZhBAylbN4" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Filed by cynthia rockwell at 12:22 pm under Music
1 Comment

That’s what this one makes me feel. Lalita, by The Love Language. Bouncing all over the house to this one. They don’t have a video yet but the link is for their myspace page. Click and listen to Lalita.

Filed by cynthia rockwell at 3:15 pm under Music
Comments Off on Happy Happy

Easy to veganize because many traditional Turkish recipes don’t call for meat anyway.

Filed by cynthia rockwell at 9:15 pm under Food
1 Comment

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/RfmClxKWhPY" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

oh oh, how you are my hero
oh oh, how you’re never here though
remember times when you put me on your shoulders
how I wish it was forever you would hold us
right now I’m too young to know
how in the future it will affect me when you go
you could have had it all
you, me, and mum y`know
anything was possible

i wont be the lonely one
sitting on my own and sad
a fifty year old
reminiscing what i had

i wont be the lonely one
sitting on my own and sad

forget your dad, he’s gone
forget your dad, he’s gone

he’s gone, he’s gone, he’s gone, he’s gone

oh oh oh oh (repeat)

all I wanted was a kick-a-bout in the park
for you to race me home when it was nearly getting dark
how I could’ve been yours, and you’d be mine
it could’ve been me and you until the end of time
do what you want, when you want
be as fucking insincere as you can
what kind of way is that to treat your wife
to see your son on Saturdays
what way is that to live your life?

I wont be the lonely one
sitting on my own and sad
a fifty year old
reminiscing what I had

I wont be the lonely one
sitting on my own and sad

forget your dad, he’s gone

he’s gone, he’s gone, he’s gone, he’s gone

oh oh oh oh (repeat)

Filed by cynthia rockwell at 9:22 pm under Music
Comments Off on I Dare You Not to Cry (fixed)

Someone asked me yesterday how the vegan thing was coming along and it reminded me that I hadn’t updated the blog in awhile. I am still mostly vegan, but ran into a problem when I kept getting canker sores. I haven’t had one of those in like 15 years, but within two months of being vegan I’d had two, each taking two freaking weeks to go away. Suspicious of the timing, I googled for a connection to veganism, and found lots of others have the same problem after giving up meat. And I asked a vegetarian friend and she said “Oh yeah I get those all the time.” Hm.  All evidence is anecdotal but those things are so excruciatingly painful that it was worth it for me to add a bit of meat back into my diet to avoid it. About once a week I’m eating some fish or chicken and this is entirely unscientific but so far I’ve had no recurrence. Apparently canker sores are a bit of a scientific mystery and no one knows what causes them, but they suspect a B12 deficiency, B12 being found exclusively in animal products. So, that’s that. Still mostly vegan and definitely still no dairy, and the world would be a better place if everyone ate meat just once a week.

Speaking of which, today I made a lovely bruschetta out of some campari tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, and some gorgeous-smelling fresh basil from my aerogarden. Yum.

Filed by cynthia rockwell at 8:24 pm under Food
Comments Off on Vegan Hiccup

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/mhPREStJlTg" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Can’t stop listening to it. I think they spent about $6.24 on the video but the song really gets me. Love love love his voice.

One thought, has me turning back
A dozen point the other way
We act upon desire
To reach your hand for higher
And patience isn’t worth the wait

You’ve got knifes in your eyes
You would be happy not to change your mind
I can’t defend you truly
When I worry about smoke instead of putting out the fire

And if we work it out
Chances are bound we’d be standing around
for no one’s better sake
good-bye

What are we waiting for?
What are we waiting for?
What are we waiting for?
What are we waiting for?

What are we waiting for?
What are we waiting for?

What are we waiting for?

How faint might that light become
You focus ’bout miles away
Although my position
Just gives you ammunition
You’re certain that I know my place

So is this how it ends
Oh with a whimper instead of bang
I can’t defend you truly
When I worry about smoke instead of putting out the fire

And if we work it out
Chances are bound we’d be standing around
for no one’s better sake
good-bye

We would be friends
if we’d try again
I’d take second place
just to end this
for no one’s better sake
Good-bye

Filed by cynthia rockwell at 1:14 pm under Music
2 Comments

“Comedy is like a very cokey, druggy sugar. You get hits of comedy, and it’s very, “More, give me more of that stuff,” because serotonin is being released in the brain. So it’s basically, everyone becomes serotonin junkies, and we are serotonin dealers.”  –Eddie Izzard, who deals the quality stuff

Filed by cynthia rockwell at 12:27 pm under Misc
Comments Off on Hi I’m Cynthia I’m an Addict

Granola! I make about 3 batches a week, it’s so much cheaper and so good. Why pay $6 for a bag of Bear Naked that is about two servings when for the same amount you can make a batch that serves 6?

Mix up some oatmeal, nuts, brown rice syrup or maple or agave, some oil, cinnamon, and vanilla.

Bake it.

Press it. I put another cookie sheet on top and then my heavy le creuset on top of that and leave it til it’s cool. This is essential for creating the clumps. Otherwise each oat will be separate. Once it’s cool, break it up into clumps and add some dried fruit (I chose cranberries):

I have it as cereal w/soymilk every morning, it’s wonderful.

Filed by cynthia rockwell at 2:27 pm under Food
2 Comments

These are from the huge pot of beans and rice I made, along with some guacamole I made, and a warm flour tortilla I didn’t make. I could eat this meal for days and days (and I have since the pot’s so big).

I just bought a big bag o’ potatoes so I’ll be making variations on french fries for the next several days…

Filed by cynthia rockwell at 7:22 pm under Food
Comments Off on Mexi-vegan