Leaving Terra

I have recently fallen in love with Tori Amos's album Scarlet's Walk (2002). I've loved the singles "A Sorta Fairytale" and "Taxi Ride" for a long time, but have only recently listened to the album after borrowing it from the library a few weeks ago. The fans seem to love it, and it was the critics' favorite since Under the Pink, but I wasn't feeling it at first. Even though I originally thought my girl could do no wrong, I am beginning to suspect that perhaps her career peaked with From the Choirgirl Hotel. But like all of Amos's music, and even more so with SW, you don't listen to the music and lyrics, the lyrics and music listen to you. And so, slowly, I have fallen under the spell of Scarlet's Walk. Neil Gaiman describes the album this way, "the CD's about America--it's a story that's also a journey, that begins in LA and crosses the country, slowly heading east. America's in there, and specific places and things, Native American history and pornography and a girl on a plane who'll never get to New York, and Oliver Stone and Andrew Jackson and madness and a lot more. Not to mention a girl called Scarlet who may be the land and may be a person and may be a trail of blood." That's a beautiful description, and I think it is also helpful in discussing Tori's music. Ever since Boys for Pele, Amos has created elaborate concepts for her albums that sometimes fall flat and/or overwhelm her songs. But one doesn't listen to a Tori Amos song the way one listens to nearly any other artist's work. Each individual track is like a chapter in a novel, and her songs work best as ethereal poems which tell stories through her lyrics and the piano melodies that underscore them. Obviously, she is not a universal but a niche artist. Anyway, this exegesis has gone on for longer than I intended, but I just want to briefly mention a few of the songs I love from Scarlet's Walk. I enjoy "Crazy" very much, especially for its religious implications. These lines are just delicious: "First, let's just unzip your religion down / Heard you were once Temptation's Girl." In "Another Girl's Paradise" Amos explores how hard it is to genuinely wish others well and not envy them, and how impossible it is to placate Desire--she will always remain everything we want and cannot have. "Does it all come down to the thing one girl fears in the night / is another girl's paradise." And I love the eponymous track "Scarlet's Walk," which for me not only refers to Amos's persona's cross-country road trip across America and especially her retracing of the early European settlers' footsteps, and conjures up images of Scarlet O'Hara, but also refers to the Trail of Tears which is also a path of blood "through the violets." It's also a commentary on the state of America and her land, religion and liberty. I also enjoy "Amber Waves" and "Don't Make Me Come to Vegas" which are about a fading porn star, and "I Can't See New York."
By the way, Tori Amos's latest album, Abnormally Attracted to Sin, hits the stores tomorrow. I haven't much cared for the first single "Welcome to England" but the reviews have been mostly good. I'm still not sure whether I will purchase it or not--I probably will. But I really hope to see her in concert at Abravanel Hall here in SLC in July.

In another commentary on the future of our land, Tim DeChristopher is one of my heroes. He threw a monkey wrench in the bidding at a questionable auction of Utah's BLM properties which were being bid on by oil and energy companies. He made a false bid of $1.8 million dollars he has no intention of paying. You can hear more about his story and a broader discussion of civil disobedience by listening to this episode of RadioWest which aired three weeks ago. (I am behind on my podcasting.) He has been charged with two felonies and is currently awaiting trial which will hopefully raise more awareness of our land and energy policies. I firmly believe in civil disobedience especially as one of the few ways to truly enact social change. It also reminded me of one of my favorite quotes from V for Vendetta, "People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people." Of course, V isn't about civil disobedience as much as a violent revolution, but still. Furthermore, I sometimes wonder about the relationship between Mormons (and other Christians) and the land. I'm not entirely clear about the theology/doctrine but I know Mormons have a covenant with God to be stewards which includes a stewardship over the land and our planet. Yet, a majority of Utah Mormons are quite conservative on this issue (as they tend to be on all sociopolitical issues) and even anti-environmentalist. And from my own point of view, there seem to be a number of fundamentalists who welcome climate change and global warming and whatnot as a signal of the "End of Days" and perhaps eschew any responsibility for the care and protection of our home: Earth. On a related note, Utah's popular and moderate governor, Jon M. Huntsman Jr., is accepting a new post as ambassador to China. This means that presumably the much more conservative Lieutenant Governor Gary Herbert is poised to take over. He will be the first governor, I believe, to be from Utah County (or Provo, which either way doesn't bode well for me), and over the last few months he has taken some distance between Huntsman's more moderate and progressive stances on issues such as same-sex civil unions and energy policies. We will have to wait and see what happens, but I am not terribly optimistic. I guess it's a good thing I am moving to Washington state in the fall.

I also just wanted to mention the incredible time I had this past weekend. As my hours got cut at the Marriott Library--called "work sharing"--I no longer work on Fridays, for the time being at least. Which is sort of nice, but I also really need the money. Anyway, I went to an early matinee of Angels & Demons with my dear friend Kristyn whom I haven't seen hardly at all this last semester. I read all of Dan Brown's books when The Da Vinci Code first became popular, though since then I have joined the Dan Brown backlash to a great degree. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the novel Angels & Demons more than the Code. When I finished the book, I wished I was Catholic, or to be more precise, I wished I was a lapsed Catholic. Anyway, even though it wasn't on my summer list, the movie was pretty decent, a bit a lightweight fun, much better than the adaptation of the Code anyway. And it raises some interesting questions between science and religion. Vittoria, one of the scientists working at the Large Hadron Collider and a proponent of anti-matter technology, believed she was helping to change the world. Her greatest fear about anti-matter concerned the unscrupulous energy companies; she did not imagine that it would be used for terrorism. In the end Tom Hanks's character urged her to go back to her work and "change the world." Anyway, in terms of renewable energy we still have a way to go. And I wonder if there is truly such a thing as a stable, clean, safe, efficient, and renewable source of energy. Ewan McGregor makes a hot priest by the way.

On Friday night, I went to my friend Melissa's house where her family was having a barbecue--the first one of the season. I had my first hamburger since a rather unfortunate experience back in March, and I enjoyed a truly delicious pasta salad. I had fun playing night games such as Kick the Can and Capture the Flag which I haven't played for years. Saturday was a pretty chill day. I worked on chores and cleaned my room. I watched a silly movie from Netflix entitled A Touch of Pink. It was a good idea that had great potential but fell flat in its execution from the script to the actors to everything else. There was still a scene set on the Thames with the London Eye and the Houses of Parliament--how cliche!--that nonetheless stopped my breath as I was washed over in nostalgia. I never got over that perpetually surreal moment of stepping out of Westminster station and seeing the Houses of Parliament, lovely as a postcard.

On Saturday night, I went out with my friends Dain and Megan to see Star Trek--the best movie of the summer so far! It was most excellent, and I felt a little giddy most of the time. I especially enjoyed Zachary Quinto and Chris Pine as delicious eye candy. The action was eye-popping, and the plot, while fairly simple, was nevertheless entertaining, and the movie moved along at a nice place. If you haven't seen it yet, I strongly urge you to go at your earliest convenience. Throughout the movie I was reminded of watching TNG every afternoon as a child. By the way, seeing one of the Star Trek movies as a young child terrified me and was what instilled in me a deep-seated fear of eternity--in terms of both time and space, which may turn out to be the same thing. It wasn't until I watched Star Wars (the original trilogy) with my family that I could appreciate science fiction and also watch Star Trek. What is wonderful about the Star Trek franchise is that it portrays a largely hopeful, post-racial future--something we can look forward to instead of a more traditionally bleak, dystopian future. Anyway, I look forward to the next movie. I think J.J. Abrams did a masterful job of reimagining the original series.

And on Sunday I went to my friend Whitney's apartment to cook dinner as our group likes to do every so often. But first it was the one year anniversary of my sister and brother-in-law's wedding. They came over for an early dinner as did my aunt. For her birthday, which is later this month, I gave her a personally signed copy of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. It is her favorite genre/fantasy novel and Gaiman is one of her favorite authors. She cried and told me it was the best present she had ever received which made me feel pretty good. I also want to thank Rae, who encouraged me to buy the book and get it signed. Anyway, at Whitney's we made risotto and tri-tip roast which was incredibly delicious and we all got drunk on wine and too many Long Island Iced Teas*. After which we watched some YouTube videos including "Puke in My Mouth" and then we watched a number of episodes of How I Met Your Mother, one of my favorite television series. We were up till two am which made getting up for work this morning at seven a rather fun adventure. Anyway, all in all, it was a fantastic weekend.

*Here a couple of quotes concerning the Long Island Iced Tea which I rather enjoy.

"Honey, someday when you're a little older you will be introduced to something that is extremely seductive but fickle. A fair-weather friend who seems benign but packs a wallop like a donkey kick, and that is the Long Island iced tea. The Long Island iced tea makes you do things that you normally wouldn't do, like lifting your skirt in public or calling someone you normally wouldn't call at really weird times." - Lorelai Gilmore Girls

"And don't forget that one Long Island is nice, two is okay, and three tends to start unhappy problems." - A.J. Rathburn Good Spirits

Bulgur. and other stuff

I love the song "The Origin of Love" from the Hedwig and the Angry Inch soundtrack. Check it!

Yesterday, I learned that Syracuse has not offered me any financial aid. Even though I filed my taxes this year (and the FAFSA) as an independent, Syracuse expects my family contribution to be $38 grand plus which is equal to the total tuition and estimated living expenses and all that jazz. Nice. I just don't understand why UW expects me to only pay over one thousand dollars and has therefore offered me over $40 grand in various loans while Syracuse offered me zip. I sent their financial aid department a little email posing this question, but I'm not sure when I'll receive a response. I was leaning towards Syracuse, but as of now it looks like I will be attending the University of Washington. It's a little disappointing because Syracuse has guaranteed all of their incoming library master's students a $10/hr 10hr/ week job working with the faculty. They also have a program that pays for half of one's tuition by writing blogs and creating videos and whatnot for the MLIS program. I didn't turn in my application in time for that this year, but there was always next year. And besides being a little bit cheaper in terms of tuition and living expenses, I've always wanted to live on the East Coast and this was a golden chance. So, it looks like Seattle instead, and I'm trying to get myself pumped for that. I have to accept by Thursday. Anyway, I'm putting my faith in these lyrics:

and i never cared too much for the money
but i know right now
that it's in god's hands
but i don't know who the father is

Yesterday, I was listening to the Splendid Table on NPR and they were talking about bulgur. Janet Fletcher who wrote this article for the San Francisco Chronicle came on the program, and told us that bulgur is a type of prepared whole grain wheat that is popular from Greece and Turkey and the Levant region. Bulgur came about because it was a way to preserve wheat which can quickly go rancid once harvested. Traditionally whole grains are boiled until soft and then laid out on flat roofs to sun dry. Today, much of that process takes place in factories. Bulgur is used in everything from stew to dumplings to salads to lamb tartare to pilaf. Anyway, I was in the grocery store buying chocolate to make brownies (they just came out of the oven and smell delicious), and I decided to buy some bulgur too. Anyway, the aforementioned article includes several Turkish recipes that utilize bulgur which I am eager to try out.

Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV proclaimed April 3rd (clearly I am behind on my podcasts) to be Good People Day or something like that and encouraged people to give shout-outs (e.g. blog posts) about important people in their lives. While there are many people near and dear to me who have profoundly influenced my life, I wanted to give a special shout-out to my good friend and former roommate Melissa. I would be lost without her. I cannot tell you how many times she helped me out with my dearly departed Buick (I miss you!) when it broke down--which was a regular occurrence. Or how often she helped me clean my college apartments as I was moving out. She is fiercely loyal to her friends and a great empathizer. She has the largest heart of anyone I know, and I enjoy being around her. I consider myself lucky and blessed to know such a friend, and I just wanted to say, "Melissa, I love you."

This past weekend I went to Lagoon with Melissa and Ellen and her husband Justin. We decided to splurge and buy season passports which I have never had before, and I figured this might be the last summer I live in Utah (or not; we'll see). Anyway, we got there around six thirty and didn't know that the park was scheduled to close at seven--it is still April after all. However, it ended up being perfect. We didn't have to pay for parking as it was so late in the day, and we managed to get in four rides before the park closed which made for a perfect little outing. We started with the Tidal Wave and then moved onto the Turn of the Century, or swings, which is one of my favorites as it features art of women in Victorian costume. Plus, who doesn't love a good swings ride? We then rode on the original "White" Roller Coaster which just gets ricketier and ricketier every year, and is no longer even close to white in color any longer. We ended the evening on the Carousel which still features hand carved figures. There was a scene in Adventureland which takes place on a warm, summer's night and the park is all lit up and it really made me want to go to Lagoon. Anyway, I look forward to many more lovely adventures there this summer. Also, I just saw Lagoon's new commercial on TV and it was actually quite nice and not obnoxious at all as many of their commercials have been in years past.

As I've mentioned before, I'm currently reading Little, Big by John Crowley for book club. While it is wonderful and superb, I am unconvinced it was the right choice for our group. It is a wondrous fantasy of epic dimensions, but I already have the acute sensation that this book is not meant to be read only once--it needs multiple readings, and it's quite a long book at that too. The writing is fantastic but also dense and frequently abstruse. There are five generations of interrelated characters and the novel switches from different generations with seeming abandon. The plot is a bit difficult to describe as I'm not sure there really is one (yet)--certainly not in the traditional terms of conflict and rising action. I just read this sentence from the novel which perfectly describes how I feel about it: "The long, long ambiguity of Edgewood, the stifling sense of mysteries continually propounded, never solved, the endless waiting for purposes to be made clear and directions pointed out--all over." Except, in the case of the reader it is far from over, and I am still waiting for the denouement where everything will be made clear--and I expect it to be amazing. Currently, it's still all a-muddle. And so I fear whether or not our group will valiantly persevere through. It's been awhile since we've read/finished a good book and had a rousing discussion.

On a final note, these few quotes have been running through my mind lately, and I leave them to you to do with as you will.

"I think . . . that I would rather recollect a life mis-spent on fragile things than spent avoiding moral debt."
--Neil Gaiman Fragile Things

"You said that humanity was a flawed creation, and that people still kill one another for petty jealousy and greed. You said that humanity never asked itself why it deserved to survive. Maybe you don't."
--Sharon Agathon "Resurrection Ship, Part II" Battlestar Galactica

"The things that make us happy make us wise."
--John Crowley Little, Big

Clickety Clack

Today I heard this story on NPR Morning Edition and I decided that I, too, want a manual typewriter. I love the clackety sound typewriters make which is probably why I love the score from Atonement including the song "With My Own Eyes" featured on the playlist to your left which features the sound of a typewriter. And every typewriter makes it's own unique sound which is neat. I think a manual typewriter that's cute or interesting-looking makes an awesome gift (I want one in red), and owning one makes someone a little eccentric, and I'm always trying to cultivate my own eccentricity (I also want a teddy-bear named Aloysius.) I think this part of the story is what also intrigues me with regards to the typewriter:

"It might be a paradox, but a number of Silicon Valley computer folks have bought typewriters from Sansone. Sure, they miss the spell-check and save keys, but they like seeing how machines work. They like the sounds. They even like X-ing out words instead of hitting a delete key. And, Arora says, there's something else.

'It shows you the journey, how you arrived. That is where we miss with the latest technology — you miss the process,' he says. 'To me, the journey is more important than the destination.'"

I thin my mom has a typewriter somewhere--she was once a secretary and typist. But as I recall, it's not nearly as neat as the one pictured above. I should dig it at anyhow. Of course, I don't think I would use it very often, if at all, but it could still function as decor or a conversation piece.

Today after work at the library, I stopped at the other library where I work. If you've never been to the Main Branch of The City Library, you really need to check it out. Not only is it a top-rated functioning library, but it's a tourist destination too. It's billed number two in the state, right after Temple Square and before Zion National Park. Anyway, I love the fact that I work there, even though I haven't picked up an actual shift there yet. But today I went and checked out my own books--one of the many perks working there including no late fees. I picked up Slam by Nick Hornby because we're reading it for book group, The Big Oyster by Mark Kurlansky because it caught my eye when our group was looking at history books, The Complete Poems of Hart Crane (with an introduction by Harold Bloom!) because I've been into him lately, and the complete third season of Six Feet Under. Back in college I watched the first season and most of the second season, I may have even started the third, but I no longer recall. So it was just sitting there on a cart, and I thought, why not start watching it again. I also love that I could check the entire season at once instead of disc by disc like at a movie rental store. It will be odd, however, to see Michael C. Hall play a gay mortician once more after seeing his role as a serial killer on Dexter.