Windy City Girl

walpaper: A history of pop music, performed with only four...

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:35:14 -0800

A history of pop music, performed with only four chords.

via sassywater
—-

This is an awesome way to start Tuesday. Check it.

I love stuff like this!

301 graduation show!

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:09:57 -0800

It feels like I just had my 201 show, but it’s already time to advertise this one! It’s Saturday, 11/7, at 4:00pm at the UCB theater (5919 Franklin Ave.) if anyone would like to come down for a laugh. I’m particularly excited about this one since it’s the first graduation show where we’ll be performing a full Harold. It’s only $5 for the show and will definitely be a lot of fun, so stop by if you’re free in LA!

"A true piece of writing is a dangerous thing. It can change your life."

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:00:00 -0700

“A true piece of writing is a dangerous thing. It can change your life.”

- Tobias Wolff, Old School (via fiftytwobooks)

Photo

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:06:26 -0700

Came across this picture from my graduation trip to New York a...

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 21:31:36 -0700

Came across this picture from my graduation trip to New York a few years ago and it still makes me laugh. It’s from the menu at Da Silvano in the village, where even the pasta without the funny descriptions is delicious.

notbuying: I love moleskine, so it pretty much goes without...

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:53:40 -0700

notbuying:

I love moleskine, so it pretty much goes without saying that I love these. <3

Someone please buy me this new Moleskine set, even though I already have a 2010 Moleskine daily planner.

Any suggestions for how best to clean the surface of a Wii balance board?

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:44:44 -0700

Any suggestions for how best to clean the surface of a Wii balance board?

There is one good thing about the Indian summers in LA: the night-blooming jasmine that covers the...

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 23:34:00 -0700

There is one good thing about the Indian summers in LA: the night-blooming jasmine that covers the front of my building gets confused and opens again. My bedroom has a balcony that opens to the front of the building, so my room smells fantastic.

If it is raining, then I am happy.

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 17:02:00 -0700

And it’s raining today!

"In this world, there are things you can only do alone, and things you can only do with somebody..."

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:46:30 -0700

“In this world, there are things you can only do alone, and things you can only do with somebody else. It’s important to combine the two in just the right amount.”

- Haruki Murakami, After Dark

1 John 4:16 by the Mountain Goats I’m an extremely happy...

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:43:26 -0700

1 John 4:16 by the Mountain Goats

I’m an extremely happy camper today because I finally have a recording of this song! I’ve been looking for a decent recording of it since I first heard the song the last time I saw the Mountain Goats live. It’s one of those rare songs that just knocked the wind out of me upon hearing it the first time because of how beautiful it is.

I have to admit, when the weather is cool enough that I can leave my windows open and wear a...

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:48:29 -0700

I have to admit, when the weather is cool enough that I can leave my windows open and wear a sweatshirt, California doesn’t seem so bad.

Book 3: The Great Perhaps

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 23:04:14 -0700

fiftytwobooks:

Author: Joe Meno
Dates read: September 24, 2009 - September 29, 2009 (6 days)
Pages: 414

Still on track, now with book three under my belt. The Great Perhaps was next on my docket for a very simple reason: the author happens to also be one of my favorite teachers from college. This is his latest novel, so naturally it was high on my list of things to read.

This book follows a Chicago family in which each member is dealing with a crisis of uncertainty in the days leading up to the 2004 presidential election. The father, Jonathan, is a paleontologist narrowly focused on finding a live specimen of a prehistoric giant squid. The mother, Madeline, is an animal behaviorist with a failing experiment and a growing fascination with an oddly shaped cloud and its movements. The oldest daughter, Amelia, is a cynical teenage revolutionary wannabe trying to derail capitalism. The younger daughter, Thisbe, is searching for God and frustrated with her results or lack thereof. The grandfather, Henry, is waiting to simply disappear from a life that has given him as many regrets as it has memories.

I have to admit that knowing the author does make me like this book even more than I otherwise would. Reading this felt a bit like being home for me. It took me back to living in Chicago during the autumn of 2004, and my memories and experiences of that place and time certainly made the book more vivid for me. But even more than having been in the place and time he’s describing, the strength of Joe’s voice is what really makes reading his work feel personal. When I read something of his, it’s nearly the same as talking with him: I hear the words on the page in his voice and see his expressions change as he tells the story. And anyone that knows Joe can attest to the fact that conversing with him or listening to him do a reading is unlike listening to anyone else.

But I can also definitely say I would’ve still really liked this book even if I didn’t happen to know Joe. Uncertainty and self-doubt are obviously feelings every person has dealt with, but Joe manages to explore them through every character in the book without the ways in which he does so overlapping from character to character. They each have their own anxieties, regrets, and attempts at redemption while still easily fitting together in one familial tapestry. Joe also employs a handful of ancestral time jumps that create the sense that this family has been doomed to cowardice and self-doubt forever, yet each one of them ultimately is individually responsible for their successes or failures. And while Joe may have begun writing the book to explore, in his words, “how the country could’ve made such a terrible mistake in re-electing Bush”, the political aspect of the novel doesn’t overshadow the characters because he treats the setting of October 2004 as the perfect backdrop for his story rather than treating the characters as the perfect way to anthropomorphize the setting. In the end, he manages to find a truth about humanity in general rather than simply answering his own question. Add to all this the dashes of magical realism in Madeline’s pursuit of a man-shaped cloud as it walks about the city and you’ve got a wonderfully unique novel that I highly recommend to anyone, even if you don’t happen to know Joe Meno.

I enjoyed The Great Perhaps so much that I wanted to reblog this entry from my book resolution tumblr into my “main” tumblr too. I really encourage everyone to read this book, it’s fantastic!

Last night I saw Sentimental Lady’s last performance at Harold Night at UCB, which was...

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:03:54 -0700

Last night I saw Sentimental Lady’s last performance at Harold Night at UCB, which was fantastic. There was a funny little tribute video before they performed, and they were great, as always.

I’ve really only been going to the theater regularly for about 5 months now, as long as I’ve been taking improv classes there, but in that short time I’ve really come to feel at home at UCB. There are a few teams there that I see on a regular basis now, but Sentimental Lady was the first one that got me in the theater every week to see their show. Watching them do Harolds was entertaining and impressive, and it made me think about improv and comedy in ways I hadn’t before. I’m really glad not only that I got to see their last performance at Harold night, but also that I got to see so many of their shows leading up to last night. They’re an amazing team, and I’m really looking forward to the new show they’re doing beginning in October.

"I always listen to the storytelling possibilities. Every novel I’ve written has begun with a..."

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:00:00 -0700

“I always listen to the storytelling possibilities. Every novel I’ve written has begun with a “What if…””

- John Irving

yourkitchensink: For you architecture/Lego nerds. Via This...

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 17:32:57 -0700

yourkitchensink:

For you architecture/Lego nerds.

Via

This would be a great compliment to the Lego Sears Tower I have on my desk!

walpaper: nowwhat says, “Is it a California winter yet? I want...

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:58:08 -0700

walpaper:

nowwhat says, “Is it a California winter yet? I want to lay in bed like I did in Chicago reading a book, half listening to the words aloud in my head and the drops knocking against the window. Is it too much to just want fall and winter evenings to be here. My sweaters are getting lonely in their drawer.”
—-

Yes, please.

Yes, yes, yes. My heart needs a change of seasons like this.

amyyy: i, how you say, really @%ing want this. (via...

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:01:59 -0700

amyyy:

i, how you say, really @%ing want this.

(via illustrativo & swoodum)

Someone please buy me this stamp set!

"There were only two positions the media could take toward celebrities: worship them or trash them...."

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 11:00:00 -0700

“There were only two positions the media could take toward celebrities: worship them or trash them. And since mourning was the highest form of worship, the deaths of celebrities were understandably to be prized; furthermore, their deaths allowed the media to worship and trash them all at once. There was no beating it.”

- John Irving, The Fourth Hand

I’ve always found the fascination with celebrity deaths a little odd, but I came across this while reading yesterday and it struck me as a great, concise explanation.

I recently resolved to read 52 books over the course of the next year.

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:46:05 -0700

I also decided to start a tumblr to help keep myself on track and to record my thoughts about the books I read along the way. If you’d like to follow my progress, check out Fifty-Two Books.