The Crooked and the Straight

There is a Japanese saying that I like:

「男心と秋の空。」

As it was explained to me by a friend who actually knows Japanese, it means roughly, "The mind of a man is like the autumn sky." Usually this is taken to mean that men are always changing their minds; they are indecisive. I prefer a more positive interpretation, however, namely that people are free to make different choices.

This appeals to my Zen-like sensibilities. One of the fundamental tenets of Zen Buddhism is the realization that everything -- life, curcumstances, luck -- is always changing, that nothing is permanent. If you realize that nothing is permanent, you know that you can always change your mind. Make a different decision. Choose another path.

What could be more comforting than that?

(To any women reading this who feels some smug need to affirm the more traditional translation, it is only fair that I point out a similar saying: 「女心と秋の空。」 Or, "A woman's heart is like the autumn sky." So there.)

Posted at 03:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Since I gave a list of some music I've listened to while sick, I suppose I should list some of the movies I've watched as well. Some of these I've seen before and others are new to me.

• Rushmore
• Amélie
• Il Postino
• L.A. Story
• Harold and Maude
• Cinema Paradiso
• My Neighbor Totoro
• The Incredibles
• Some Like it Hot

I'm not going to offer any commentary for any of these, except to say that they are all good movies and you watch them eventually. Except for Amélie--if you haven't seen Amélie, stop whatever the hell you're doing right now YES RIGHT NOW and go beg, borrow, steal, or digitally pirate (or, well, purchase leagally) a copy of this movie and watch it. Now! Go! (Yes, I realize I'm quite late to the party on this.)

As an aside, I've seen a few movies lately in languages other than English, necessitating my use of subtitles. Occasionally I've found myself getting distracted from the movie, only to realize a minute or so later that I've been listening but not watching the movie, and the movie is in a language I don't understand, and now I have no idea what is going on, and yet this surprises me because forgot that I was using the subtitles to figure out what was going on. Does this happen to anyone else? Probably not.

Posted at 04:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

(aka the "Been Home Sick as a Dog" mix)

1. [Phantom Planet - The Guest] Lonely Day
2. [Tegan and Sara - So Jealous] Walking With a Ghost
3. [Radiohead - The Bends] High And Dry
4. [Remy Zero - Garden State OST] Fair
5. [Damien Rice - O] Delicate
6. [Nick Drake - Garden State OST] One Of These Things First
7. [The Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs] Nothing Matters When We're Dancing
8. [Radiohead - The Bends] Fake Plastic Trees
9. [The Bandits (German) - Bandits OST] Another Sad Song
10. [Johnny Cash - American IV] Hung My Head
11. [Jimmy Eat World - Bleed American] Hear You Me
12. [Sneaker Pimps - Becoming X] 6 Underground
13. [Radiohead - OK Computer] Lucky
14. [Keane - Hopes And Fears] Everybody's Changing
15. [Snow Patrol - Final Straw] Run
16. [Nick Drake - Pink Moon] Know
17. [Norah Jones - Come Away With Me] Come Away With Me
18. [K. D. Lang - Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil OST] Skylark
19. [Toad The Wet Sprocket - Dulcinea] Windmills
20. [Natalie Imbruglia - That Day (single)] Shikaiya (for Billy)
21. [The Postal Service - Give Up] Brand New Colony
22. [Air - Lost In Translation OST] Alone In Kyoto

Posted at 09:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Am I alone in being particular about the kinds of tumblers I like to drink out of? Must be glass. Anything else is tumbler blasphemy. Has to have a thick, solid base. The sides should be straight--perpendicular to the base--not curved or angled. And no fancy designs or etching or patterns or facets. Smooth, round. Not square. And the sides should be thick; not as thick as the base, but substantial. Not to make them resistant to breaking (structural strength is only a secondary consideration), but to make the clink of the glass more resonant. And the clink is important: not high-pitched; that sounds too fragile for a tumbler. I'd say the sound when you toast another glass should be roughly baritone. And resonant. There should be a deep, solid, clink when you drop ice cubes in from just above the rim.

Bars seem to almost always have the right kind of tumblers, but I'll be damned if I can find a store that sells them. And there's no way I'm going to buy them online without being able to see and hold them first.

Maybe I'm too picky about my tumblers.

Posted at 05:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)