Gustav Tenggren

I really like the illustrator Gustav Tenggren. He's a master of gouache. You may be familiar with his work. He illustrated The Pokey Little Puppy and The Scrawny Tawny Lion. He also did a lot of work for Disney and loved illustrating fairy tales. You can see some illustrations for his book Arabian Nights here.

Sharing is Caring

I loved the article When Mom and Dad Share It All in the New York Times. There's a lot to think about in there, like why so many people believe in an equal partnership in their relationships but how very few people actually create equality through a fair division of labor. I was really surprised at how little time Dads get to spend with their kids, the article saying the average being only around 3 hours a day. Mom's in comparison spend about 11 (when working) to 15 (not working) which is about the same average as in the 50s.

Not A Cat Person

As Chelsea pointed out on her blog, the next LOST episode isn’t until 2009. To head off island withdrawal, I picked up the eighteenth century’s version of Lost, Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. I remembered reading it as a kid (or having it read to me) and being absolutely enthralled by Crusoe’s shipwreck survival, mysterious island life and determined ingenuity. I had forgotten or more likely, been oblivious to the assumptive racism, not remembering that Crusoe’s original voyage was an attempt to capture African slaves for his Brazilian plantation. –Yikes!-

James Joyce describes Crusoe as "the true prototype of the British colonist… The whole Anglo-Saxon spirit is in Crusoe: the manly independence, the unconscious cruelty, the persistence, the slow yet efficient intelligence, the sexual apathy, the calculating taciturnity". (Thank you Wikipedia) That’s had me laughing all week. I love a manly independent but sexual apathetic protagonist.
As for unconscious cruelty, Crusoe is clearly not a cat person. He salvages a dog and two cats off the shipwreck and describes them as his only companions in his miserable and lonely state. When one of his cats goes missing he worries that it has been eaten. But it soon returns leading three young kittens back to Crusoe’s home. Crusoe first tolerates the “great increase of his family” but becomes so irritated and “overrun with cats” that he is forced to “exterminate them as common vermin” and drive the rest away. So he’s lonely but not lonely enough to be a crazy cat guy.
Even with all the baggage, I love the story of Robinson Crusoe. There is something curiously attractive about his determined will to live and shape his environment. And I love imagining a lonely island far away from my florescent lit office and how well I could survive there.
I’ve actually been listening to it at work on librivox, the free audiobook site. The reader does a great job. You can check it out here. At home I’m still slogging through War and Peace. I think I’m around page 1000 so it’s just starting to wrap up.

Monster Camp

Last night the Russians defeated Napoleon in War and Peace. I was so excited but I didn't really have anyone to be excited with. Reading War and Peace is a lonely experience. You get wrapped up in a near invisible, almost non-existent world. The more your read the more invested you become, moving you farther out of touch with the real world. It's kind of like The Never Ending Story (for those of you who have watched that movie) or going insane. But I guess I'm glad more people aren’t into it. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure you'd have people dressing up in costumes and reenacting battles and balls like the poor souls who get sucked into role playing games. I can't wait to watch this movie.

Sleepless

I have an interview in a few days. I need to learn how to handle stress better since I've stressed myself out enough to stop sleeping. It would be good if I used this time productively but instead I spend most of the time rearranging my portfolio sleeves over and over again. I feel too guilty that I'm not sleeping to start something worthwhile, but I'm too anxious to sleep. Suggestions for what I should do instead? Maybe I should get some of those bell balls you can buy at the dollar store.

Netflix

Aaron and I recently reactivated our Netflix account which we canceled a couple months ago. We canceled because I am terrible of thinking of movies to watch so I tend to fill the queue with very educational documentaries from the seventies that aren't super entertaining. But I can NEVER think of what I really should be putting in my queue so I could use some recommendations. In exchange I will try to recommend some movies I like or expect to like for your queue:
1. Blame it On Fidel - What do you do when you're nine and your parents become communist? I don't know if this is good, but it looks hilarious. It's in our queue.
2. About Schmidt - I LOVE this movie. It plays edited on TBS every so often which is how I first watched it (I was up at 3am finishing an art project) It might be my favorite movie ever.
3. The Never Ending Story - I can sing the whole eighties theme song the movie is so good. Aaron claims he's never seen it which is why it's in our queue. I will force him to experience my happy childhood's media. The Last Unicorn is next, then Dark Crystal.
4. Love and Death - If you have ever read anything written by a Russian you need to watch this movie. As a bonus watching this movie will allow you to convince everyone you have read War and Peace.
5. Annie Hall - Anxiety at its finest.
6. When Harry Met Sally - You don't really need to rent this movie because it plays on tv every night but if you haven't watched it yet, your missing out.
7. Watership Down - I really like to watch this movie for the music, done by Art Garfunkle.
8. Master and Commander - Swashbuckling Naturalists? Mmm, Mmm Good.
9. Stranger Than Fiction - Sweet and funny.
10. Lagaan - Indians and Impirial British face off in an epic cricket match. Thank you Bollywood.
11. Wallace and Grommit or Creature Comforts - Nick Park makes me laugh
12. Babe - I could watch this movie all day every day. It holds such eternal truths: "Christmas means Carnage!"
13. Sense and Sensibility - by MASTERPIECE THEATER not the Emma Thompson one. Curse Willoughby!
14. Bride and Prejudice - This is worth watching to see Sayid from Lost dance Bollywood style.

Cost of Living Calculator

CNN's money page has a Cost of Living Calculator which is really fun to play with. It's useful information if you want to know what your salary and living costs should be in a new area. From the little bit of fiddling I've done, I've learned that housing in the DC area is 96.6% percent more expensive than Charlottesville. (Ouch) Oddly, food is 3% cheaper.