Great live rendition of The National's "Start a War" recorded in Perpignon (Catalan country in the South of France) and presented by Le Blogotheque. I don't know the back story, but they are outside with a bunch of Gallic friends and presumably plenty of wine. The various hangs-on play along with anything within reach, which includes one dude ripping paper in time to the music.

Le magnifique.

One of my closest, oldest friends was just diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. We've known each other for 15 years.

If I were smarter, I might have seen this coming, because he's had an increasing twitch in his hand and arm for some months now. I guess I just didn't really think about it, until today, until he told me.

He's 38. He just got married last year. I was one of the groomsmen.

I'm still trying to process my thoughts on this. I know he has a lot of heart. I know he'll fight this disease as smartly as possible.

But I also know he'll never have a normal life again, I know this disease is uncurable and degenerative. The shaking will get worse, it will extend to other limbs, to other parts of his body. Eventually, he will suffer cognitive loss.

He's a scientist. His life has been defined by his gleeful nerdiness. His brain is at risk. This...well...it's just a stunning, awful, sad fate for a consistently, wonderfully bright, friendly guy.

Aside from supporting him, helping him, and still having fun with him...I don't know what to do, or what to say.

Since I've not been posting much otherwise, might as well do a meme. Stolen from Wert (including some of the answers). Here goes, from 22 years old to 32.

Then: December 1999
1. Age: 22
2. Romantic Status: Living with my girlfriend Emily. Both of us had graduated from college earlier that year and we were moving to San Francisco together.
3. Occupation: Various temp gigs.
4. Fun night out: Roleplaying games, driving down to Santa Cruz to see my friends.
5. My BFFs: My friends from college. Bob, Mike, Greg and Owen primarily.
6. I spent way too much time: Life was rugby. Playing rugby, watching rugby - we had just come back from a six week trip in Europe for the '99 Rugby World Cup. And I had just joined a men's club (after having played in college for four years).
7. I spent not enough time: Drinking, meeting people in the City.
8. I wanted to be when I grew up: A writer.
9. Biggest concern: Getting a job. The fire at my parent's house (that came a little later in '00, but same time period).
10. What my biggest concern should have been: Getting a job. Preventing a fire at my parent's house (if I could see into the FUTURE).
11. Where did I live: Just moved into a big but ratty apartment in the Mission District, SF.
12. Dumbest thing I did that year: Moving into a big ratty apartment owned by a crack addict.
13. If I could go back now and talk to myself I would say: Nothing I could say in a sentence.
14. Picture of myself then: You can find one on Facebook.

Now: December 2009
1. Age: 32
2. Romantic Status: Married to Emily, one child.
3. Occupation: Temporary employment at a research library.
4. Fun night out: Usually involves inviting others over to our place for drinks, since we can't go out much.
5. My BFFs: Still Bob, Mike, Greg and Owen, and their various SO's, with some new, library-folks thrown in: Adina, Tawnie, others. And local parents whose kids go to my kid's school. Overall, I have a *much* wider circle of friends now, including some old friends from high school I got back in touch with.
6. I spend way too much time: Internet. Negotiating with my child.
7. I spend not enough time: Doing anything creative or mentally challenging. Also - not enough rugby. I retired a couple years ago, and every time I've tried to come back I've ended up with facial scars (I've gained three in the last two years).
8. I want to be when I grow up: A full-time, permanent (dare I say tenure track?) librarian.
9. Biggest concern: Not having a permanent job.
10. What my biggest concern should be: Finding a job.
11. Where do I live: A sweet house in the Sunset District. Love it here.
12. Dumbest thing I have done this year: *Dumbest* might not be the right term, but I persisted in pursuing an unnecessary thesis for longer than I ought to have, which delayed my graduation.
13. What I think I would say to myself in 10 years: The answer to this depends highly on unknown things right now.
14. Picture of me now: You can find hundreds? on facebook.

Summary:
1. What do I miss most from 1999: Free time.
2. What do I miss least from 1999: Lack of money, limited circle of friends.
3. What have I accomplished in 10 years that I am most proud of: The master's degree.
4. What have I NOT accomplished in 10 years that I wish I had: Tangible creative writing.

Since I have followers on my flist who are enamored of cocktails, and followers on my list interested in libraries, I thought I'd go ahead and link y'all to the latest post on my library science blog, in which I show off the hand-typed catalog cards I made for a series of cocktails for my upcoming graduation party:

Cataloging Cocktails

Now, it should be noted I was slightly more interested in finding appropriate matches for all ten classes of the Dewey Decimal System than I was the best possible cocktail list, so a couple of those are dubious as libations go. Still; I intend to make it through all ten Friday night if I can. And if I can't I'll have the tenth, the Bloody Mary (classified under History, Geography and Biography), as breakfast on Saturday.

So I know I haven't been around here for quite awhile. Three things:

1) I do, in fact, still live.
2) I have completed all requirements for my Master's program in Library and Information Science. I will officially graduate next month.
3) The giant honking piece of work I had to complete this semester to graduate - my "e-Portfolio" - is publicly available on my library science blog, The Pinakes (direct link to the e-Portfolio: http://thepinakes.com/eportfolio). Feel free to take a look! Let me know if you hate it, or love it...

GRRM himself has confirmed not only the long-swirling Sean Bean-as-Eddard Stark rumor, but also added that Mark Addy has been cast as King Robert. I've seen Addy in a couple movies -- A Knight's Tale and The Full Monty, and in both he was something of a lovable, comic softy. I think he can easily channel Robert's charisma but the fierceness required would be something different from him. But I always pictured in my mind's eye a younger Brian Blessed as Robert, and Addy shares quite a few physical traits. I'm very curious what he'll bring to the role.

As for Bean, he was my choice for Ned long before HBO ever even picked up the option. I can't possibly express how much I approve of his casting. I guess I hope it doesn't break the bank, but hey, he only gets his salary for one season anyways. Ned was the role they could afford a bigger paycheck for.

GRRM also named the actors playing Viserys, Jon Snow and Joffrey, but I don't know any of them. Regardless, news like this just makes this pilot seem so much more real.

Woohoo!

EDIT: Actually, I've seen the Joffrey in something -- he was the "Little Boy" in Batman Begins, I assume the one Batman encountered a couple times and saved. That doesn't tell us much about how well suited he might be for Joffrey, though. But frankly, I'm not sure that's the hardest part. Joffrey requires no empathy, unlike some of the other villains.

The actor for Jon Snow, Kit Harington, has mainly done stagework in London. Google Image Search shows that he has the right look for the part.

Just checking to say huzzah and hooray for our good Madame X for surviving the removal of her alien infestation. What was once a bizarre and scary situation can now merely be fodder for the greatest, grossest story for Martha to tell amongst friends over a finely tuned cocktail. Cheers to you Xray, and to Mr. X as well! May your recovery be swift.

Over on yonder facebook, Doug/misunderstruck rather innocently asked me "so, in your biased opinion, what do you think of the new sunset rubdown?"

For those uninitiated, Sunset Rubdown is the "side project" of songwriter Spencer Krug of Wolf Parade fame. My fandom/fanboy response to everything Krug does is well known to Doug. I've been a fan of Wolf Parade since their first album, Apologies to the Queen Mary, and it's developed into an ever-deepening obsession with each release from Sunset Rubdown ever since. I've seen both bands live multiple times. SR's new album is "Dragonslayer", which follows on the heels of "Shut Up I am Dreaming" and "Random Spirit Lover" (as well as various EPs). RSL is probably my favorite record by anyone ever.

So in a reflection of my obsession, I replied to Doug's simple query with a full length essay. I figured I might as well reuse the thoughts, so here is my full response, slightly further tweaked for readability:

( wordy )

I just lost my cat tonight. Not Monkey, the calico fiend who lives with us; Ash, the sweet, elderly cat who has lived with my parents since I was a teenager. She was mine, originally. I picked her out from a litter born into the house of a catlady my mom knew. We adopted Ash and her "step-brother" Puck the same day. They were born in different litters (to cats belonging to the same catlady), but Puck's mother rejected him because of his funny gate and Ash's mother adopted him. Then we adopted Ash and Puck together.

Ash was scarred by a couple events in her life. First was my going away to college. She and I had bonded very closely and she could never understand why I left. I think she felt abandoned. It permanently altered her personality -- she went from outgoing and excitable to shy and reserved. She was still very, very sweet though, and loved attention. She would just never pursue it -- you had to go find her. The second event that scarred her was my parent's house fire in 2000. She was upstairs, where the fire started when it happened. She was shellshocked for a couple years after that. It was only Puck dying a year ago that got her to emerge from her shell again. Without him providing companionship, she started to roam my parent's house again, for the first time in years going downstairs voluntarily, pursuing attention and affection. It was sweet.

She was always, always sweet. Quick to purr. Even in her darkest days after the fire, she loved nothing more than a head and belly scratch. She was so sweet and harmless we let our two-year-old daughter pet her freely. Ash loved Mather, and Mather loved Ash. Now the sweet old gray cat is dead, and I will always miss her.

RIP, Ashurabanipal.

Here are the answers from my Music Meme post:

1. Bad Religion
2. Ennio Morricone
3. Soul Coughing
4. Handsome Furs (misunderstruck)
5. Julie Doiron
6. Tegan & Sara (misunderstruck)
7. U2 (The Corbie)
8. Giacomo Puccini
9. Rancid (misunderstruck)
10. The National (misunderstruck)
11. R.E.M. (misunderstruck)
12. Oingo Boingo
13. Vampire Weekend
14. Interpol
15. Okkervil River (misunderstruck)
16. Squirrel Nut Zippers (misunderstruck)
17. Peter Gabriel (misunderstruck)
18. The Velvet Underground (The Corbie)
19. The Doors (Xray the Enforcer)
20. Ween

The fuller story of my iPhone theft, copy and pasted from an explanation I posted on my facebook page:

~~~

I was eating at Cancun and put it down to take a bite. A girl snatched it from in front of me and ran out the door. Her boyfriend/co-conspirator tried to trip me as I chased her. I eventually ran her down two blocks away in the Tenderloin but no cops were around and she swore up and down that she tossed it while running. I couldn't bring myself to -do- anything, threaten or grab her. I just couldn't bring myself to grab or hit a girl (which is why the girlfriend, not the boyfriend stole it in the first place -- their scam relies on that, I'm sure).

I offered her cash for the phone back, but she still swore she didn't have it. I was worried about the boyfriend coming up from behind me (knife? gun? who the fuck knows?), so at that point I let her walk away. I'm kicking myself now for letting her go, but I froze up in the moment. In retrospect I could have shouted for cops (not that I saw any). I dunno.

I'm pissed, I'm feeling pretty violated, and I'm mad that I didn't *do* something.

~~~

Of course I've gotten all sorts of replies on fb, most of which to the effect of saying I did the right thing and not to beat myself up over it. Which I think is true, but makes me feel no less shitty for the whole situation. I'm very accustomed to people *not* fucking with me, since I'm 6'5", 230 lbs, and I'm pretty casual even in neighborhoods like the Tenderloin. I've eaten a thousand burritos at Tacqueria Cancun (a seedy hole in the wall that makes awesome burritos) and it just didn't occur to me that anyone would be so blatant as to just try and grab something from right in front of me like that. I'm usually far more worried about my bike locked outside than anything within arm's reach of me.

A timely reminder, I guess, that assholes -- total, complete assholes -- exist. That girl looked me in the eyes twice: right as she snatched it, and when we faced off after I ran her down. She didn't care. She didn't give a shit.

It'll cost me $300 to replace. What are they going to get for it? Not much. Are they willing to pay AT&T for a contract themselves? I doubt it. Can they sell a clearly used, scratched iPhone on Craigslist? Yeah, but not for much. I'm a little concerned about identity theft, but aside from my name and my email contacts, they can't access all that much from it.

When she's browsing through it (it's been shut off from connectivity, but old photos and emails are still there), I hope she feels a little shitty staring at 300 pictures of an adorable toddler that she just stole from me.

My iPhone was stolen last night by a pair of snatch-and-run thieves. I cannot begin to express how angry I am.

( Inarticulate anger. )

Sigh. That didn't make me feel any better.

Rather than a real update on my universe, as I promised XRay a couple weeks ago, I'll delay again by posting the current meme going around -- pics of twenty shuffled bands off my iPod. It's your job to guess their identities. Shouldn't be too hard for anyone with a sense of my musical taste. I can't compete with Martha's obscure death metal bands.

(Okay, mini update: thesis drags on slowly -- I might drop it in the Fall if I don't make good Summer progress. Will graduate in Dec 09 no matter what. Starting a library/archiving internship at the California Academy of Sciences next week. Super excited about that. Kid still cute but developing longer and louder tantrums as she ages. Oh joy).

( Now on to the bands: )

May I present to you, Beowulf: A Thousand Years of Baggage:



It's opening in New York, having completed a sold-out run in Berkeley last year. It is the brilliant. It is funny, it is savage, it is intellectual, it is stupid, it is silly, it is smart. And catchy. Go see this show. It's right up your bailiwick. It will make you wet (literally, if you sit in front).

Full disclosure: the writer/lead, the director, the composer, Grendel and Grendel's Mother are all friends of friends. But I'd recommend the show even if I hated them all. And I do kinda hate one of them, but I won't tell you which. I also have a crush on one of them, but I won't tell you which either, aside from saying it might be the same one.

The New York Times profiled writer/lead Jason Craig in this article. Read it. Then go buy your tickets. Then enjoy the carnage. Grendel, in particular, is fucking excellent.

My favorite song from the show:

It's been a long time since I've posted, and an awful lot has gone on in the meantime. In short:

1) We've finished moving. Our condo sold in October (we accepted an offer a week before the mortgage collapse -- whew). We now live in a nice, 2-bedroom rental house in San Francisco's western fogbelt, the Sunset District.

2) I'm writing a thesis. Last week I went to Washington, D.C. to kick off the serious research at the Library of Congress. Spending a week at the Library of Congress is the pilgrimage to Mecca for a Library and Information Science student. It went really well, though the east coast is COLD. And this was DC, not New York or Boston. I'm taking one final class this spring, and otherwise will graduate once this paper is done -- probably in August.

3) Christmas with a two-year-old? Both fun and very, very challenging.

I'll try and fill in the interesting details in time.

I took this picture at the recently opened California Academy of Sciences. Where, incidentally, I've applied for a job in the research library *fingers crossed*.

Stolen gleefully from Werthead:

Grab the nearest book.
* Open the book to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
* Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.

Wert didn't know if you're supposed to announce the name of the book or not, so I'll leave it out. I had to go off of page 57 because page 56 was the same text in a different language.

"With his death upon him, he had dived deep into his marsh-den, drowned out his life and his heathen soul: hell claimed him there."

Any guesses? Shouldn't be too hard for this crowd to figure out.