the wonderful world of words

Still NaBloPoMo-ing, though I did take a break on the weekends. I get so caught up in writing these that I need to have that breather. If (or rather when - think positive, right?) I succeed at NaBloPoMo this month with weekends off, the next goal will then be full, daily blog posts. Hooray. Speaking of writing...

I've seen and heard a few good wordy things of late.

My friend Rich shared this great post of 20 Awesomely Untranslatable Words from Around The World. My favorites from this list include...

Mamihlapinatapei: Yagan (indigenous language of Tierra del Fuego) – “the wordless, yet meaningful look shared by two people who both desire to initiate something but are both reluctant to start” - perhaps it's because I'm an improvisor, I recognize this feeling so well; the best improv, though, is to do away with that reluctance part of the equation

Cafuné: Brazilian Portuguese – “The act of tenderly running one’s fingers through someone’s hair.” - that's just sweet

Duende: Spanish – While originally used to describe a mythical, spritelike entity that possesses humans and creates the feeling of awe of one’s surroundings in nature, its meaning has transitioned into referring to “the mysterious power that a work of art has to deeply move a person.” There’s actually a nightclub in the town of La Linea de la Concepcion, where I teach, named after this word. - I love the dark origins of this word, very evocative

On NPR this week, Robert Siegel did a piece (Website Helps Rescue Obscure Words) about savethewords.org, a clever, promo developed by ad company Young and Rubicam for Oxford English Dictionary. You can adopt a word by pledging to use it in everyday conversation. I adopted the word jobler, one who does small jobs. Appropos for an unemployed person, no?

Finally, for the type geeks of you out there here are some of the font blogs I follow. Mostly they go over my head, but I still love gazing at nibs and stems and rhythms of text. Please feel free to suggest others!

I Love Typography
The Grid System
The FontFeed

The art of the music video: OK Go

I'm generally a fan of many art disciplines from theater to visual art to film. But, as a art buff with a limited budget and never enough time, I've sort of placed music lower on my priority list for things I spend time on. In other words, I've not bought any new music in probably 10 years and I rarely go to see live music.

I'm no connoisseur of music, as I've already stated, but I like OK Go's music. Even more, I do fully appreciate their music videos. For a fun behind-the-scenes, Nerdist (fun podcast for tech and comedy nerds) did a nice podcast with the OK Go guys here.

They've just released their newest video - freakin' gorgeous stop motion toast animation for their song Last Leaf. Check it out:


Last Leaf

OK Go | Myspace Music Videos

Other favorites...

That awesome Rube Goldberg machine one, for This Too Shall Pass:



And then there's that other This Too Shall Pass, the original I believe, featuring the University of Notre Dame's marching band:



Finally, one of the earlier amazing videos, Here it Goes Again:

bizarre job postings

As one of the 10%+ unemployed in this state, I peruse craigslist on a regular basis. Because I'm such a multi-talented individual (read: hard to pin down "career" path) I look at many of the categories of job opps and gigs. Here's a collection of the stranger postings of late...

case law research-temp
Potential! (?)
All Hands on deck - Seeking Hot Female Amputee
Models with over developed legs

Friday's A to Z

Building on yesterday's post, here are some things I ♥ right now:


A - APA Compass. We did a show this morning. We'll have archives up in the next couple of days.
B - Boots.
C - Community. One of my favorite TV shows right now with one of my favorite characters on TV right now Abed. One of the best episodes of TV ever is Modern Warfare from Season 1, Episode 23, directed by Justin Lin.
D - Danny's Auto on Halsey and 60th.
E - Energy.
F - Farmers Market. Only 2 more weeks!
G - Gabriel's Bakery's herb cheese bagels.
H - Harry Potter. I know, I'm a late bloomer.
I - Improv Theater. Shameless promo: We're doing a show next week Small Space, Big Stories.
J - Jackets.
K - Kissing hubby.
L - The Library.
M - Milani Nail Lacquer "Cappucino" - described "Light Coffee with Gold Shimmer"
N - The Great Northwest.
O - Owls.
P - Piano. I feel very blessed to have one of my very own. I recently learned how to play "Don't Stop Believing" and "Here Comes the Sun" on YouTube. Amazing.
Q - Maggie Q, star of Nikita. I watched the show as homework for our APA Compass radio discussion about APAs on TV, and now am fully sucked in.
R - Rest.
S - Slings and Arrows. More on this next week.
T - Time Traveler's Wife.
U - Upper Horsetail and Triple Falls at the Columbia River Gorge.
V - Vodka Martini. A little dirty.
W - White Tea. Specifically Vanilla Apricot White Tea by Tazo.
X - Extracurriculars. (Close enough to X!) My life is all extracurricular it seems right now.
Y - Soft Yolks. I had my eggs over easy this morning and it was yum.
Z - Portland Zombie Walk.

"A" image is by me.
"Z" image found on Wikimedia Commons: Route sign for Missouri Supplemental Route Z. Based on Image:MO-supp-K.svg by User:PHenry.

Check out

I ♥ Multnomah County Library.

Did you know, not only do we in Portland have the highest circulation in the nation for libraries our size, but we also have the highest collection turnover rate, too. And yes, we passed the library ballot measure this past week. Apparently I'm not the only one who loves the library... More on our voracious library culture from the Oregonian a few months back here.

Currently checked out:

Books
1491 : new revelations of the Americas before Columbus by Charles C. Mann (actually, hub's reading this one)
The Studs Terkel Reader: My American Century by Studs Terkel
The Lemon Tree: an Arab, a Jew and the Heart of the Middle East by Sandy Tolan
Charlotte Perkins Gilman Reader: The Yellow Wallpaper and other fiction by Charlotte Perkins
Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story by Christopher Moore
Seed to Harvest by Octavia E. Butler

DVDs
Extras: The Complete First Season
Freaks and Geeks: The Complete Series
Slings and Arrows: Season 3
Weeds: Season 5

CDs
West Side Story: Original Broadway Cast Recording
Saltbreakers by Laura Veirs
It's Blitz! by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
La Foret by Xiu Xiu
Centuries Before Love and War by Stars of Track and Field
Inland Territory by Vienna Teng
New Moon by Elliot Smith

what's on the tube?

I was sad to witness a couple of my favorite tv shows display some cringe-worthy, questionably racist and sexist moments. I'm actually one of those lefties who likes tv and appreciates keeping up with some pop culture. But my enjoyment of the boob tube is always slightly dampened when my media criticism radar starts flashing during 30 Rock or So You Think You Can Dance. And now, there's a whole new crop of TV shows featuring Asian Pacific American faces including Hawaii Five-0, Nikita and Outsourced. So far, from what I've seen it's both cringe-inducing and encouraging.

The radio collective I'm part of APA Compass is launching a new feature and dedicating our next show to it - APA Pop Watch - commentary and analysis on APA representation in media and pop culture. The program will air Friday morning November 5, 9am PST on KBOO Community Radio. You can listen online or, if you live in the region on the FM dial at 90.7 Portland, 91.9 Hood River, 100.7 Corvallis.

If you'd like to prepare yourself for our discussion, you might want to hulu some of those new shows and check out these recent(-ish) commentaries...

Asian American Sitcom in the Works - Angry Asian Man

Asians in Primetime - by Dmae Roberts, The Asian Reporter

Fall 2010 TV Season Preview - racebending.com

Is 30 Rock Racist? - by Zeesham Aleem, Huffington Post

Beyond Apu by Nina Shen Rastogi, Slate.com

Election Day

A clip from one of my favorite political movies...

Movie Videos & Movie Scenes at MOVIECLIPS.com

Seriously, though. Don't be like Tammy. Show that you do care - about our country, about our neighborhoods, about our communities. It does matter! If you haven't already, vote today!!!