Thursday, June 9, 2011

She's Not Angry Exactly but All Business, Eating Them Right Off theTree, with Confidence, the Kind that Lets Her Spit Out the Bad Ones Clear of the Sidewalk into the Street



Things are busy. We leave for England a week from tomorrow, so I'm not only busy I'm weary of working the cud of aargh I've been working. Fuck the clusterfuck, I've a 90% chance of one of the best vacations ever and a 10% chance it's the worst, so I'm thinking about that. Plus, jeebus, the Blog Days of Summer. Wait for August, especially if there's not an apocalypse between now and then.

I'm buying a new camera, thinking this one maybe, though any suggestions in the same price range I solicit. Do remember, I'm a techtard, so if there's a better camera for my grade of tech idiot than this one, please let me know. Consider this forewarning on what this blog will be doing from next Friday to the second following Monday. Consider this post a forewarning of what this blog may be doing until then (though there will be a game recap Sunday - home game Saturday. I can't wait).








WOMAN ON TWENTY-SECOND EATING BERRIES

Stanley Plumly


She's not angry exactly but all business,
eating them right off the tree, with confidence,
the kind that lets her spit out the bad ones
clear of the sidewalk into the street. It's
sunny, though who can tell what she's tasting,
rowan or one of the serviceberries—
the animal at work, so everybody,
save the traffic, keeps a distance. She's picking
clean what the birds have left, and even,
in her hurry, a few dark leaves. In the air
the dusting of exhaust that still turns pennies
green, the way the cloudy surfaces
of things obscure their differences,
like the mock orange or the apple rose that
cracks the paving stone, rooted in the plaza.
No one will say your name, and when you come to
the door no one will know you, a parable
of the afterlife on earth. Poor grapes, poor crabs,
wild black cherry trees, on which some forty-six
or so species of birds have fed, some boy's dead
weight or the tragic summer lightning killing
the seed, how boyish now that hunger
to bring those branches down to scale,
to eat of that which otherwise was waste,
how natural this woman eating berries, how alone.


21 comments:

  1. I read Mieville's "The Scar" first, so that's my automatic response. But, honestly, "Perdido Street Station" is a good a book as any.

    On the other hand, if you're looking to avoid the learning curve for all things Bas Lag, "The City and the City" is a neat book. It requires the reader to suspend an entire category of belief, but Mieville (in my opinion) does the advance work which allows the reader to do just that.

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  2. I like Canon cameras, I've been using them since the 80s.

    My current model is this (it may be larger and more expensive than what you're looking for, but it takes great pictures in auto mode).
    ~

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  3. Excellent, thanks. I'm thinking about those two long plane rides. I'll do some googling to get some Bas Lag background too.

    I've two friends whose opinions I trust who badger me to read Mieville, two friends whose opinions I trust who urge me to not waste my time.

    Thanks, Garcia Song - I've been using a Nikon, but Planet uses a Canon and her photos seem better, though I'm never sure how much of that is camera versus photographer. Unless someone makes a compelling case for something better, I'll probably buy that Canon this afternoon.

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  4. I'm the last tech'n'littard to advise anyone. Save for: Bring on the digipics, but make sure you're living the 90 percent while you're doing it!

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  5. Camera? Depends on what you want. Ken Rockwell is reliable in your price range. Scroll for info on wide angle, etc. http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/recommended-cameras.htm

    I'm fond of really pocketable and the SD1400 is perfect for me. Depends on your hand size though. Mine are small. (I have one of those and one of these -- http://en.leica-camera.com/photography/compact_cameras/d-lux_5/)

    Also. Go to Flickr (flickr.com) and do a search on the camera. Look at the pics that folks have taken with it and you'll get an idea of what you're likely to get.

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  6. Thanks, he seems to like Canon. I'd love to get the one he calls the best, but that's $200 more than I should spend. I'll see if I can resist.

    I'll look at the SD1400 when I get to the store.

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  7. Link No. 2: Elizabeth Warren is not a savior and it's not politically newsworthy to talk about her or anyone else to head that Dept of Consumer Charades.

    Camera: Canon SD1200 is my choice, less SLRish more pointandshootish. Prior digital camera was SLRish and took great pics but was bulky and I found I took it along less often because of the bulk etc.

    Panansonic's Lumix cameras are pretty sweet too.

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  8. KFO, The SD1400 is just an upgrade of the SD1200. Also the Lumix is a variation on the Leica without the vintage-looking body and totally cool logo. Nice camera. Expensive.

    I still use my phone camera the most.

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  9. Oh, I agree about Warren. The link was more about Obama's dickful *and* dickless handling of the situation.

    Speaking of cellphones, we've decided we'll purchase cheap disposables in UK. If any of you who read this shitty blog in England see this comment and can offer up brands and places to buy or avoid, cool.

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  10. Dickful and dickless... seemingly at odds and impossible to co-exist, and yet... there he is, being both!

    As kids we had Bob McAllister and Wonderama... as adults we have The Breadandcircus and Obamarama!

    Didn't mean anything personal w/r/t Warren, I'm just reflexive about anything I see where she's praised as a Consumer Watchdog. She's nothing of the sort. She's a stage prop.

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  11. So, KFO, would you be happier with Raj Date? (Are there any women who aren't tools or props, btw?)

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  12. some of the best pics I have ever taken were on Canons. Some of the second best pics I've ever taken were on a Nikon.

    And thanks for linky love. You're welcome for the bump.

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  13. I tried to read Perdido Street Station, got about 20 pages in and couldn't stand it. I might try again. The City and the City is about 75% great; I wish he had attached a different story to his excellent concept, but whatever. And that's all I know about that, although I love the hell out of this interview which has been in my "write about this" folder for months now.

    By the way, been a bit behind in my reading, thanks for the linkins the other day.

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  14. Warren, fsm love her, went soft as soon as she was recess appointed. I am sure there was some "just back off a little so we can get you in the temp post, and once we make it permanent you can resume your normal ways" but we all know she's never going to be allowed to enact real reforms.

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  15. Sasha, the focus on women is tiresome. I yawn, I turn away. You want to paint me misogynistically, then get to know me personally and use real examples from my life. Otherwise, fuck the fuck right the fuck off. Thanks.

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  16. And yes, that was a personal insult, because you made it personal, Sasha, by suggesting the reason I mock Warren is her XX genome and not the fraudulent assertion that she's a consumer watchdog. She's not a consumer watchdog in practice, no matter what she's called herself or what her prior positions of employment have labelled her.

    A consumer watchdog doesn't soften up just to get confirmed. A consumer watchdog doesn't pretend to help consumers by helping corporations appear to have been chided and chastised, but ultimately "forced" to accept "corrections" they'd have accepted without chiding and chastisement.

    And I don't give a flying fuck about "Raj Date" or whomever the fuck you're on about. Lesser evilism is for morally cretinous tribalists.

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  17. KFO, Raj Date is who is being mentioned for the position.

    And since women are to blame for the Weiner problem ... Well I just asked. But wow, you can say "fuck." Woot!

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  18. Jeez, all this camera obscurantism and vulgar fuckery, where's the bloody soccer?

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  19. United v San Jose tomorrow night. Show up, I'll buy you a beer.

    I like Camera Obscura.

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  20. GAH! I hate blooger's comment functionality. In this space Sasha asked:

    So, didja buy a camera?

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  21. I responded in possibly the worse grammatical sentence ever typed by an English major, went to delete it so I could post again in proper S-V-O word order, deleted the top comment which I assumed would be mine but was hers. GAH!

    Here's the answer to her question:

    Tomorrow. Planet wants to buy one for herself and asked me to wait so she could go with me. I'm going to buy either be the Canon you recommended or the one I linked to. She's gonna buy something awesome with her own $$$. Should be fun.

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