Tuesday, April 10, 2007

A New Axis Rising

Tonight, the newest development in German-Japanese fusion cuisine reared its dark and savory head.

On pumpernickel:
three slices of seared Ahi with a peppercorn and sea salt crust
red onion and red cabbage sauerkraut made with mirin and a Page Mill winery Pinot Blanc
wasabi yogurt sauce made with chevre

Top that.

Thursday, April 05, 2007

Runs him through with a broadsword--

List of the "definitive 200" albums that I don't currently own in any format:

1, 7, 10, 12, 17, 18, 21, 23, 27, 33, 52, 53, 57, 60, 61, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 74, 76, 78, 82, 83, 84, 86, 87, 88, 89, 91, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 107, 110, 113, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 125, 126, 127, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 159, 160, 161, 162, 166, 168, 170, 172, 173, 174, 175, 177, 179, 180, 182, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 190, 191, 192, 193, 196, 197, 198, 200

I hereby announce a ten dollar prize to the person who can correctly list these albums in descending order of the preposterousness of the album being on the list in the first place.

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Monday, April 02, 2007

The slow, sad sound of unimportant things...


This Friday, six months of planning come to a head with the grad-student organized Cultures of Violence conference. Check it out here: http://www.humanities.uci.edu/complit/culturesofviolence/.

Keynotes are happening on Saturday, but the panel for which I am responsible--Violence in Representation and Spectation--is happening Friday at 4 in HIB 135.

If you can, I suggest you come check out the film screening that I organized on Friday night--the part of the conference for which I am wholly responsible. The film is Michael Haneke's Funny Games. Here's a review:

"In Funny Games, Georg and Anna, with their son Georgie, are traveling to their lakeside summer home. Upon arrival, Georg and Georgie head off to the lake for sailing while Anna prepares dinner in the kitchen. The serenity is shattered by a young man named Peter, who knocks at the door asking to borrow some eggs. The unwanted visitor is joined by Paul, a brash, arrogant young man. It soon becomes clear the pair have no intention of leaving. When Georg returns and tries to throw them out, physical violence erupts, and the family is held captive. What ensues are highly disturbing and violent 'games' initiated by Paul and Peter with Georg, Anna and Georgie as the unwilling participants.

“Funny Games is a firestarter for post-screening arguments, alight with ghastly images and actions, and essayed by a spot-on cast and storyline that flows seamlessly from one nightmarish incident to the next. It's an uncomfortable, distressing, and altogether provocative take on the global culture of media violence that not only draws in hapless viewers, but also forces them into fait-accompli acceptance, like it or not.”
---Marc Savlov, Austin Chronicle

There's free food (really good stuff on Friday night: Taco Mesa), and, as an added incentive: The keynotes I mentioned are Wendy Brown and Cathy Caruth.

Come support your fellow grad students and eat free food.