{"id":2034,"date":"2008-05-05T06:24:28","date_gmt":"2008-05-05T10:24:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/?p=2034"},"modified":"2008-05-05T06:24:28","modified_gmt":"2008-05-05T10:24:28","slug":"what-it-is-552008","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/what-it-is-552008","title":{"rendered":"What It Is: 5\/5\/2008"},"content":{"rendered":"

What I’m reading:<\/em> Heart of Darkness<\/a>, by Joseph Conrad, on my Kindle via Manybooks.net. And Lush Life<\/a>\"\", Richard Price’s new novel, via Amazon’s Kindle store.<\/p>\n

What I’m listening to:<\/em> Third<\/a>\"\", by Portishead. It sounds like them, but not like them in 1995. There’s one song on the album that annoys me a bunch, but I bet it’ll turn out like Ring Road from the new Underworld record, which got all resonant for me during my Belfast trip<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What I’m watching:<\/em> Juno<\/a>, which was cute. And we started the third season of the wire<\/a>\"\", at last!<\/p>\n

What I’m drinking:<\/em> More G’Vine G&Ts, plus Circus Boy<\/a> by Magic Hat.<\/p>\n

Where I’m going:<\/em> Nowhere this week, but I’ll be working at home mid-week when the tree-removal guys show up to clear out a bunch of the more hazardous trees in the yard. I’ll take before-and-after pix.<\/p>\n

What I’m happy about:<\/em> That my trip into NYC yesterday to donate platelets at Sloan-Kettering<\/a> went off without a hitch, despite the presence of the Five Boro Bike Tour<\/a>, which would shut down the southbound FDR Drive later in the day. If I’d gotten caught in that traffic on the way into the city, I’d have been quite peeved. Good thing I’m an earlybird!<\/p>\n

What I’m sad about:<\/em> That a tick managed to evade the combined efforts of Frontline and my vigilant eye, leading to a nasty-looking bite on one of Rufus’ forelegs. Now I’ve gotta get him to the vet. Grr.<\/p>\n

What I’m pondering:<\/em> When I went to that pharma-event in Atlantic City last Monday, the keynote address was given by Linda Ellerbee. She didn’t have anything to say about clinical supplies and outsourcing, but she did give a funny and warm speech about her own history, women’s roles in the workplace, cheating husbands, breast cancer, and the messed-up-edness of the media. Some of it showed a real datedness, insofar as a lot of women under 35 simply don’t have the same limits that Linda butted up against when she was trailblazing. But that’s not what I’m pondering.<\/p>\n

No, what I’m pondering is why, of all people she could quote throughout history to illustrate the need to change one’s own ways, she went with Anwar Sadat. Now, I can understand why his words — “He who cannot change the very fabric of his thought will never be able to change reality, and will never, therefore, make any progress.” — were relevant to her speech.<\/p>\n

I just think that maybe she could’ve looked for someone whose change of thought — in this case, visiting Israel and working for peace — didn’t lead to his being assassinated by his own army.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What I’m reading: Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad, on my Kindle via Manybooks.net. And Lush Life, Richard Price’s new novel, via Amazon’s Kindle store. What I’m listening to: Third, by Portishead. It sounds like them, but not like them in 1995. There’s one song on the album that annoys me a bunch, but I … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “What It Is: 5\/5\/2008”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[34,61,59,4],"tags":[127,133,95],"class_list":["post-2034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventures-in-gin","category-adventures-in-rufus-and-or-otis","category-belfast","category-literature","tag-kindle","tag-linda-ellerbee","tag-portishead"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-wO","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3113,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/what-it-is-122208","url_meta":{"origin":2034,"position":0},"title":"What It Is: 12\/22\/08","author":"Gil","date":"December 22, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"What I'm reading: The new issue of The Atlantic, which has a bunch of great articles (as usual), including an entertaining one on the aptly named Rampage Jackson, a UFC fighter. I'm trying to figure out what to read on my trip to Louisiana; I'm just bringing the Kindle along\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Adventures in Gin"","block_context":{"text":"Adventures in Gin","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/adventures-in-gin"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=virtualmemories-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B001EBGJN6","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2075,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/what-it-is-52608","url_meta":{"origin":2034,"position":1},"title":"What It Is: 5\/26\/08","author":"Gil","date":"May 26, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"What I'm reading: Lord Jim, Joseph Conrad, and vol. 1 of Cromartie High School, an incredibly funny manga. What I'm listening to: That new Portishead album again. What I'm watching: Kung Fu Hustle, which remains one of the most entertaining flicks of all time, and The Big Lebowski, which I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Adventures in Rufus and\/or Otis"","block_context":{"text":"Adventures in Rufus and\/or Otis","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/adventures-in-rufus-and-or-otis"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=virtualmemories-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B0016HNOXQ","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2090,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/what-it-is-6908","url_meta":{"origin":2034,"position":2},"title":"What It Is: 6\/9\/08","author":"Gil","date":"June 9, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"What I'm reading: Netherland, by Joseph O'Neill. Bought via Kindle while our plane was at the gate on Sunday. I still gotta get around to that Kindle writeup, but one of the big items in the \"PRO\" column is the ability to buy a book whenever\/wherever I want. Sure, buying\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Adventures in Rufus and\/or Otis"","block_context":{"text":"Adventures in Rufus and\/or Otis","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/adventures-in-rufus-and-or-otis"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=virtualmemories-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B001A0NP60","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1955,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/what-it-is-31708","url_meta":{"origin":2034,"position":3},"title":"What it is: 3\/17\/08","author":"Gil","date":"March 17, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"What I'm reading: During the weekend, I finished Love & Sleep, Osamu Tezuka's Buddha comic and Darwyn Cooke's The New Frontier. I'm continuing to work on Retired Racing Greyhounds for Dummies. I have 6 weeks until the third volume of AEgypt gets reissued, but this week'll get spent pounding out\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Adventures in Rufus and\/or Otis"","block_context":{"text":"Adventures in Rufus and\/or Otis","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/adventures-in-rufus-and-or-otis"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=virtualmemories-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1590200152","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2002,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/my-favorite-dummy","url_meta":{"origin":2034,"position":4},"title":"My favorite Dummy","author":"Gil","date":"April 13, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Portishead's first studio record in 11 years is arriving at the end of the month! I'm all for some more of their \"morosely starting\" music, as the NYTimes described their first two records in this profile. I'm also all for something a little less depressing than the solo album by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"portishead\"","block_context":{"text":"portishead","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/tag\/portishead"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=virtualmemories-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B0016HNOXQ","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2104,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/kindle-part-1","url_meta":{"origin":2034,"position":5},"title":"Kindle, part 1","author":"Gil","date":"June 18, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Ahoy, dear readers! I'm awfully busy at the BIO show in San Diego. But rather than leave you without your daily dose of my ramblings, I thought I'd post this e-mail I wrote a pal in response to his query of, \"How do you like your Kindle?\" I have more\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Business"","block_context":{"text":"Big Business","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/big-business"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=virtualmemories-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B000FI73MA","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2034\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}