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And you thought the Swamp Thing was scary!
I love my stylist. Love, love. I can only afford to go see him a couple times a year, but he does wonders to my hair. (He just found out today that he's one of five people out of the province to be nominated for hair stylist of the year.)
Today was no different. After my two hours at the salon, I definitely didn't feel like going to the gym and sweating it all off.
I look amazing! Well, at least I feel like I do. I treated myself to going to the mall and buying a couple of the things I've been putting off lately (like new gym shoes, yay).
I just want to go out and celebrate and do something fun. But unfortunately it's only a Tuesday.
That, and I'm supposed to have papers graded by tomorrow!
Please note my new head of red red hair.
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"AT SEVENTEEN"
By Janis Ian
I learned the truth at seventeen
That love was meant for beauty queens
And high school girls with clear skinned smiles
Who married young and then retired
The valentines I never knew
The Friday night charades of youth
Were spent on one more beautiful
At seventeen I learned the truth...
And those of us with ravaged faces
Lacking in the social graces
Desperately remained at home
Inventing lovers on the phone
Who called to say "come dance with me"
And murmured vague obscenities
It isn't all it seems at seventeen...
A brown eyed girl in hand me downs
Whose name I never could pronounce
Said: "Pity please the ones who serve
They only get what they deserve"
The rich relationed hometown queen
Marries into what she needs
With a guarantee of company
And haven for the elderly...
So remember those who win the game
Lose the love they sought to gain
In debitures of quality and dubious integrity
Their small-town eyes will gape at you
In dull surprise when payment due
Exceeds accounts received at seventeen...
To those of us who knew the pain
Of valentines that never came
And those whose names were never called
When choosing sides for basketball
It was long ago and far away
the world was younger than today
when dreams were all they gave for free
to ugly duckling girls like me...
We all play the game, and when we dare
We cheat ourselves at solitaire
Inventing lovers on the phone
Repenting other lives unknown
That call and say: "Come on, dance with me"
And murmur vague obscenities
At ugly girls like me, at seventeen...
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Return of the King trailer. (it's for quicktime and it has Chinese subtitles, but who wants to wait until it's officially released? Watch it now, instead.)
I could spend the rest of this very intelligent post speaking about the wonders of Tolkien's storylines and prose -- but instead I'd rather dwell on how incredibly hot Viggo Mortensen is as Aragorn. As I told Nat earlier tonight, I'm not that much of a swooner, but for him I'd make exceptions.
Hubba-hubba.
EDIT: Okay, here's one sans subtitles, in case you're a purist in your piracy viewings.
Yet another EDIT: The trailer finally made it to the Quicktime site. Definitely watch this higher-quality version. |
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Apparently my blog as been weighed, measured, and found wanting.
http://grrrlmeetsworld.blogspot.com/
Dom, this is a blog that follows the standard blogging formula almost suspiciously closely. It reminds me of the blog about the porn store clerk, which I was sure was written by a professional writer who'd studied blog form and got its glib, punchy triviality down pat. The phrase 'hugging the shore' comes to mind. This writer flits inoffensively over the surface of her academic life, never being exactly boring, but never showing any genuine originality or passion either. I'd have to give it a 4, and recommend the author to take a peek at this blog for an example of something better written and more original.
-- Momus, September 28th, 2003.
If I actually cared about what a group of pretenious belly-button gazers found entertaining and/or intelligent, I would be upset by what this Momus has to say.
But I don't.
Thing to remember is -- I write this weblog mainly for ME. I don't structure my posts in some witty banter that can be analyzed and appreciated by an audience. I write about the people, things, and events in my life that are important to me.
Along the way I've made some pretty incredible friends, from around the country & world, who don't mind listening in on my ramblings. This weblog also works as a way for my family to keep up with what's going on with me, 2500+ miles away.
The moment I start seriously caring about what someone like that thinks is the moment that this weblog will stop.
So, in the words of that famous philosopher: If you don't like what you see, don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.
(nyah, nyah)
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This is sorta what I'll be doing,
'cept I won't be looking nearly as good. Minor catastrophe avoided today. I packed a salad for lunch, and the Greek salad dressing leaked all over my bag.
It coulda landed on my students' essays -- fortunately it only got on the anthology book. Now I'll be able to smell my lunch for the rest of the year!
I'll be gone the rest of the weekend -- doing chores out in the country on a farm.
I'm city grrrl enough that this prospect actually excites me!
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This guy really reminds me of Gary Larson, back in his funnier days.
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A night of good news --
• First of all, Amina Lawal isn't going to be stoned to death in Nigeria (she's the woman in Nigeria who was sentenced to death for having a baby out of wedlock). I had posted about this last year, after seeing it on Oprah and reading about it online at Amnesty International. While we still have a long way to go (in terms of global equality), this is definitely a step in the right direction.
• I'm finally finished my research work in English Religious Poetry. No more scouring the U of S, the U of T, or the British library catalogues for me! Though part of me is going to miss lugging the 1000 page Dubinski volume around with me every where I went on campus.
I'm goin' up the country, baby don't you wanna go?
I'm goin' to some place where I've never been before.
I'm goin', I'm goin' where the water tastes like wine.
Well, I'm goin' where the water tastes like wine.
You can jump in the water and stay drunk all the time.
I'm gonna leave this city, got to get away.
(Canned Heat's "Goin' up the Country" -- talk about great 60's song)
• I'm going up to my roommate's grandparents' farm this weekend with some friends. Theoretically, I *should* stay home and mark papers -- but how often can I go out and enjoy the Autumnal Equinox with friends? Or, for that matter, be outside at all? Yep, the papers will still be here when I get back on Sunday. I'll hit 'em hard then. Promise.
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After running on only a couple hours sleep, I'm hopped up on caffeine right now. But, the good news is, my proposal for InterDisciplinary Studies is nearly finished!
With my proposed bibliography, it's running 12 pages long. My supervisor and I tweaked it all afternoon and here's what we came up with:
The Gospel According to Glamour:
A Rhetorical Analysis of Revolve: The Complete New Testament
Rebekah J. Bennetch (I dig catchy titles)
Brief Description of the Proposed Research:
My proposed area of study for the Interdisciplinary MA is Rhetoric, Religion, and Popular Culture. My project will centre around a recent version of the New Testament, entitled Revolve: The Complete New Testament. This popular Bible is published in a magazine format, and is specifically marketed to young girls using the techniques of a fashion magazine to attract an audience to its message. While it includes the entire New Testament, integrated through the text are different features found in a fashion magazine; a few of these items include quizzes, beauty tips, questions-and-answers, and special segments on “guys speaking out” on particular issues. Revolve thus represents a cross-pollination of religion and pop culture.
Justification for Interdisciplinary Approach:
This project will encompass several different disciplines that could not be supported within a single department on campus. To undertake this project, I will draw from a variety of academic disciplines, including rhetorical theory and criticism, socio-religious studies and popular culture analysis, as well as on Burke’s work in the rhetoric of religion. In the course of my analysis I expect also to draw on research in media studies, cultural studies, religious studies, and sociology. An interdisciplinary program of course work and research will allow me to explore how the message of Revolve functions in persuasive and culturally significant ways.
Research Method and Approach:
I plan to conduct my analysis of Revolve using methods of rhetorical analysis derived from a variety of contemporary rhetorical and cultural theories. Among the theorists from whose work I will draw are Kenneth Burke, whose approach to the study of communication has been influential in a number of academic disciplines (including rhetoric and communication, sociology, philosophy, education, and religious studies); sociologists of religion such as Richard Niebuhr, Sheila Greeve Davaney, Delwin Brown, Harvey Cox, and Steve Bruce; and media theorists such as Neil Postman and Daniel Boorstin; and rhetorical and cultural critics such as Clifford Geertz, Barry Brummett, John Fiske, Sonja Foss, and Karlyn Kohrs Campbell.
Drawing on the work of these and other theorists, I plan on examining the different ways in which Revolve imitates the format and emphasis of a fashion magazine in order to demonstrate that, in the end, the format defeats the ostensible purpose of communicating a religious message to young teens. By studying the parallels between the messages and images in this Bible and those cultivated in other forms of popular media geared toward this age group, I hope to demonstrate that the primary message in this discourse is one of consumption rather than spirituality, and that, far from using commercial appeals to communicate religious content, the magazine uses an overlay of religious themes to purvey an essentially commercial message.
Not too shabby.
The best part of my thesis is that I'll be able to write almost all of it in my classes this term and the next. This term it's Rhetorical Criticism, next term I have seminars in both Religion & Culture and Kenneth Burke.
I might be able to get a handle on this whole MA thing after all.
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I've been either at school or out of my apartment since 8:45 this morning. What. a. day.
Theoretically, I *should* be marking some essays right now -- I received an email from my supervising prof that he expects to see some marked papers tomorrow (being that we just received these papers 2 and a half days ago). That's not going to happen, I'm afraid. I could rush through a couple, but that's not really my style -- and besides my heart/head really isn't in marking-first-year-papers mode.
 Tonight I had a chance to hear Buffy Sainte Marie. What an amazing woman! I had no idea that she's originally from Saskatchewan -- now I can add her to the list of people I admire that call Saskatchewan home (she joins Joni Mitchell on my ever-forming list).
Being the geek that I am, I had my handy yellow legal pad ready to write down anything that I wanted to remember from her talk. She is such an engaging speaker -- and what a life she's led!
When I "grow up," I hope I have 1/10th of her grace and wisdom.
As I listened to her speak, I kept a random list of things that I noticed about her --
- fingers (her hand movements were so amazing -- just fluid and natural, like a dancer. This whole finger/hand fixation could be inspired by my Persian dancing classes, though. Lately I've been working on making my hands more graceful whenever I use them)
- spunk
- strength
- youth (she's got to be in her 60's by now -- but she has so much life and energy!)
- truth
- shells (she had this amazing pooka shell necklace on, so that whenever she'd move around, it would make this cool clicky noise)
- grace
- beauty
- wisdom
She sang for us! This was technically a speech, but she sang two songs acapella. Sometimes I think I would have fit in JUST FINE in the 60's. I coulda made a damn fine hippie.
Anyway, more random thoughts I came away with after her talk:
-- "keep your nose on the joy trail" -- no matter what springs up in your life, good or bad.
-- the importance of finding your own voice and tapping into your originality. There's only one Becky Bennetch in this world (well, at least that I know of), so it's my job to perform that role to the best of my ability. Damn whatever anyone else thinks on how I "should" be.
-- be attuned to non-verbal communication & inspiration in my life
-- "In the school of indigenous people, the Creator has always been our Principal/Principle -- She has!"
-- the indigenous humanities
-- there's no real Cree word for artist -- so instead they'll say an ability "shines through him/her"
But the most influential thing she said came at the very end. Unless you live in Saskatchewan, or Canada for that matter, you've probably not hear of the recent Neil Stonechild case/investigation going on right now up here. To make a very tragic story short, Stonechild was a 17-year old Aboriginal man who was found frozen to death on the outskirts of town. The Saskatoon police are accused of dropping him off, when he was drunk, in the dead of winter -- to walk back to town and thereby walk off his drunkenness. It's actually a common practice for police to drive drunk & disorderly people outta town and have them walk back -- but not usually in the dead of winter. Anyway, this case is over 10 years old, and the RCMP and other government organizations are now holding a trial in the city to see if the police department is at fault.
So this is going on in the background of our city. Along comes Buffy Sainte-Marie, who is not afraid to step on touchy situations. She looks out on the audience (which is primarily white), and says that she knows at this time, many people out there may be feeling either guilt or bitterness toward her people group. She says that the most common advice heard regarding these feelings is to bury and discard them in order to move on with your life -- but don't do that, she says.
Instead, she told us a story about life in a village. Many times, she said, you'll find people out in the fields picking up things and saving them in bags to take back to the village. No, these aren't rocks or food or wood or anything like that.
They're dried buffalo chips.
And from this natural refuse, something that most of us Westerners would avoid, people take it and make fires out of it. Fires that can warm a body on a cold night, fires that can extend the light of day, fires that cook food or give light to read by or lights that show the faces of someone you love.
Or instead, they choose to take these chips and use them as fertilizer to plant food to feed the people that are the closest to them.
The point is, they take this usually negative substance, and after it's dried -- they use it for good.
It's just the same in our lives -- we can choose to take the shit (well, that IS what buffalo chips essentially are, aren't they?) in our lives, wait until it's dry -- and choose to use it for good in our lives. Instead of merely disregarding or burying what has happened to us in the past, we can choose to acknowledge it for what it is -- and then use it for good.
That is definitely advice I can use.
... So NOW do you see why I couldn't bring myself to sit down and be critical of first-year students' papers -- after hearing an amazing woman like this, speak to me?
She's a star. And I don't mean that in ANY conventional way.
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Samuel Langhorne Clemens
segments from "Advice to Youth"
"Always obey your parents, when they are present. This is the best policy in the long run, because if you don't they will make you. Most parents think they know better than you do, and you can generally make more by humoring that superstition than you can by acting on your own better judgement.
"Be respectful to your superiors, if you have any, also to strangers, and sometimes to others. If a person offends you, and you are in doubt as to whether it was intentional or not, do not resort to extreme measures; simply watch for your chance and hit him with a brick. That will be sufficient. If you shall find that he had not intended any offense, come out frankly and confess yourself in the wrong when you struck him; acknowledge it like a man and say you didn't mean to. Yes, always avoid violence; in this age of charity and kindliness, the time has gone by for such things. Leave dynamite to the low and unrefined."
[...]
"Never handle firearms carelessly. The sorrow and suffering that have been caused through the innocent but heedless handling of firearms by the young! Only four days ago, right in the next farmhouse to the one where I am spending the summer, a grandmother, old and gray and sweet, one of the loveliest spirits in the land, was sitting at her work, when her young grandson crept in and got down an old, battered, rusty gun which had not been touched for many years and was supposed not to be loaded, and pointed it at her, laughing and threatening to shoot. In her fright she ran screaming and pleading towards the door on the other side of the room; but as she passed him he placed the gun almost against her very breast and pulled the trigger! He had supposed it was not loaded. And he was right -- it wasn't. So there wasn't any harm done. It is the only case of that kind I ever heard of. Therefore, just the same, don't you meddle with old unloaded firearms; they are the most deadly and unerring things that have ever been created by man." |
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My brain needs a rest -- it can only take so much theory from the likes of critics named Gaonkar.
Here's a song/essay worth distracting. I should take some of its advice.
Ladies and gentlemen of the class of '97:
Wear sunscreen.
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it.
The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists,
whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my
own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will
not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've
faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself
and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay
before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as
you imagine.
Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as
effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble
gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never
crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on
some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing every day that scares you.
Sing.
Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with people
who are reckless with yours.
Floss.
Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead,
sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only
with yourself.
Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you
succeed in doing this, tell me how.
Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.
Stretch.
Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life.
The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they
wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting
40-year-olds I know still don't.
Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when
they're gone.
Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children,
maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the
funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do,
don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your
choices are half chance. So are everybody else's.
Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it or of
what other people think of it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever
own.
Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.
Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.
Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.
Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone for
good. Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and
the people most likely to stick with you in the future.
Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you
should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and
lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people
who knew you when you were young.
Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in
Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. Travel.
Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will
philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you'll fantasize that
when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble
and children respected their elders.
Respect your elders.
Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust
fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when
either one might run out.
Don't mess too much with your hair or by the time you're 40 it will look
85.
Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who
supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of
fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly
parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.
But trust me on the sunscreen.
(Originally written by Mary Schmich, a Chicago-Tribune columnist and not Kurt Vonnegut as rumor had it)
It was so overplayed when it first came out -- but now, reading back over its lyrics, I really like what it has to say.
If this had been my commencement speech a couple years ago, I might have actually paid attention instead of zoning out for 20 minutes.
ttfn.
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Are you a Neo Con?
I am a Liberal…
• Wary of American arrogance and hypocrisy
• Trace much of today's anti-American hatred to previous US foreign policies.
• Believe political solutions are inherently superior to military solutions
• Believe the US is morally bound to intervene in humanitarian crises
• Oppose American imperialism
• Support international law, alliances, and agreements
• Encourage US participation in the UN
• Believe US economic policies must help lift up the world's poor
Historical liberal: President Woodrow Wilson
Modern liberal: President Jimmy Carter
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btw, yay Jon Stewart.
Oh, to have cable so I could watch him again!
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 "A nameless man comes to town and gets beaten to death in the first possible moment. So begins this epic drama, this film -- or should we say a dream? -- of lonely hearts with empty pockets under a big sky of our Lord ... or should we say birds?" (director, Aki Kaurismäki)
There's nothing like seeing an arthouse movie with a good friend. Tonight it was the Finnish film The Man Without a Past with Todd. It was -- how you say? Very European. It was stylized, quirky, and just plain odd at times. But fun, too. I just love that I can get into a night movie for $3.50 with my handy-dandy "friend of Broadway" card.
I also tried an "Elderberry Presse" drink. The bottle labels it as "a refreshing spring water beverage blended with fresh English Elderflowers." It has not only extracts of elderberries, but the "extractives" of elderberries. That means it must be better, right? That was an experience in itself.
I don't have to be at school at all tomorrow! (doo-dah, doo-dah) Yet the list of things to-do ever grows -- I've got a proposal to finish, papers to mark, rhet crit reading to drudge through, and research to finish.
But I like my life.
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Books are powerful. I'm firmly convinced that everyone has at least one or two books out there that mean so much to them, that when picking them up to read it feels like finding an old friend. It is books like these that become a part of who you are.
One of these books for me is The Red Tent by Anita Diamant. I loaned it out to a good friend a couple years ago, and just last week it finally made its way back to me, along with some other books she wanted me to have.
I've made a new promise to myself -- because I do so much reading/research every day, each night before I go to sleep I read something just for me. Last week it was Return of the King, this week -- The Red Tent.
I really love this book -- for so many reasons. I love the story, but more than that, I love the way Diamant tells the story. The book is a retelling of the story of Jacob's only daughter, Dinah. It really gives a feminine edge to a usually very patriarchal setting. Read it.
Here's one segment that really stood out to me last night. It was about Jacob and Leah's wedding night. I really like the character of Leah in this book -- probably because I can relate to her so much.
"My own father rarely addressed me and seemed to prefer my brother's company," [Jacob] whispered. "But once, while we were traveling, we passed a tent where a man was beating a woman -- wife, concubine, or slave we had no way of knowing.
"Issac, my father, sighed and told me that he had never taken any woman to his bed but my mother, even though she had only given him two sons early in their marriage. Rebekah had welcomed him with tenderness and passion when they first were married because as her groom he treated her as though she were the Queen of Heaven and he her consort. Their coupling was the coupling of the sea and the sky, of the rain and the parched earth. Of night and day, wind and water.
"Their nights were filled with stars and sighs as they played the part of goddess and god. Their touches engendered a thousand dreams. They slept in each other's arms every night."
This is a book where you dread having the experience end.
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 Happy Hobbit day!
• To celebrate Bilbo and Frodo's birthday, try the Hobbit Name Generator. (You can call me Esmereldat Chubb-Baggins.)
• Forget hamsters, here's some hobbits dancing.
• Here's where I wanna live one day: 21st Century Hobbit Hole -- complete with designs of how to construct it. Then again, I could always just settle for living somewhere in New Zealand.
• Try out the Lord of the Rings Personality Test
My result: You are most like Frodo Baggins, Son of Drogo
With many acquaitenances, Frodo is deeply attached to a few people, like Bilbo, Aragorn, Gandalf, and Sam. His high ethics come out in his treatment of Gollum and Saruman. Frodo has pity on Gollum and believes that change can occur.
You have a strong personal morality. You are committed to relationships and their growth. You tend to be an idealist, believing the best of the world around you. Time alone is important and solitary activities refresh you. You have a tendency to introspection. While providing compassion and being considerate, you may have the tendency of being soft-hearted or even "too emotional" You like keeping your options open. Closure is probably not one of your strong suits.
The Orcs display the evil side of this personality with their lengthy torture methods.
Traits: Empathic, benevolent, looking to the future. On the dark side you could be sadistic.
• In case you have no idea about what I'm talking about, click here for a quick Hobbit refresher course.
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In the past 4 days I've done 11 hours of research work in English Religious Poetry printed 1477-1640. I'm up to the year 1598 (or about 200 pages in the 850 page volume). I haven't done this much multiplication and addition since grade 10. I've also gotten up close and personal with the library's online catalogue.
I've since taken a break and have been scouring the 'net for more articles on my thesis project. I've found several -- including a couple of interviews with the editors of the bible-mag.
From the NY Times interview with Laurie Whaley:
Solomon: You could argue that Christ was drawn to (Mary Magdalene) precisely because of her flamboyant clothing.
Whaley: Christ was drawn to everyone. I think he loved Mary regardless of her clothing.
Solomon: But he does not love girls who call boys, at least according to Revolve! It’s positively regressive for Revolve to suggest that God made men to be the leaders in romance.
Whaley: There is no indication from Scripture that Mary Magdalene ever picked up the phone and called Christ.
There's one way of avoiding a difficult statement. Here's some online gems I've found, taken straight from the pages of Revolve:
 
It's already in its second printing -- with a guy version to come out next year. I wonder how they'll pull that off!
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Someone looking/googling for "Becky's nookie" stumbled over to my pal Todd's weblog. (which is actually ironic, if you think about it)
It's wild some of the search terms people use to find your little space in the blogosphere.
Here's Galileo's final trajectory image & countdown, as put out by NASA. Very cool, it continues to update itself until its impact tomorrow (er, later today). (thanks to some space geek for pointing it out to me earlier this week -- I've been following it for the past 3 days)
Magic Eye Image of the Week -- somehow staring intensely at your computer screen in order to see these doesn't seem like a good idea. But there's a new one every week, in case you're looking for extra eye-strain.
Write a future email to yourself at futureme.org -- interesting idea. See how far you really get in the year it takes for it to come back to you. I should send one for December 2004, telling myself congrats for finishing up my thesis in time. Because it WILL be done by then, oh yes. (well, hopefully) It would be pretty wild to fill out an email like this, and then receive it months later, after you forgot filling it out in the first place. Wild and yet a bit creepy at the same time.
Icon wars: a flash movie that explains the reasons why your desktop icons sometimes randomly disappear.
Lite-Brite online -- pretty cool but yet it can never replace the wonder that is the original.
Damn McDonalds and their now-open-24-hours-a-day drive thrus. I'm dying for some french fries about now.
But I'm going to settle for some water and a book instead.
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 Mmmm, mmm good!
Mom Sues After Finding Tooth in Chicken Soup
Fri Sep 19, 1:22 PM ET
DENVER (Reuters) - A Utah woman has sued the Campbell Soup Co., saying she found a tooth in the chicken soup she served her 13-month-old son last year and now is afraid to eat soup, her attorney said.
"We're seeking unspecified damages. My client is worried about blood-borne disease (the tooth could contain), and also for shock. Now she's afraid to eat soup," attorney Daniel Irvin said Thursday by telephone from Salt Lake City.
"We don't comment on pending litigation," Campbell spokesman John Faulkner said, adding, that "We were never given a sample of what she described as a tooth. We couldn't come to any resolution."
According to her lawyer, Tina Keeney contacted Campbell last summer, reporting the tooth. But attorney Irvin said he told his client not to send the tooth in case it got lost in transit because he would then have nothing to show a jury.
He also said they took the tooth to a dentist who specializes in identifying teeth. "He thought this case was frivolous then he saw it and said 'yes, you have a tooth," Irvin said. The dentist identified the tooth as a molar that came from a teenager.
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Hear Me Out
Frou Frou
I join the cue on your answer phone
And all I am is holding breath
Just pick up I know you're there
Can't you hear?
I'm not myself
Oh, go ahead and lie to me
You could say anything
Small talk will be just fine
Your voice is everything
We owe to life
And it all depends on you
It's only summer
The sun hasn't set
(I refuse to believe that it's only me you fear)
Just hear me out
I'm not over you yet
(Love is on the line, can you handle it?)
So how do I do normal?
The smile I fake
The permanent wave
Oh, cue cards aren't fixing it
Can't you tell?
I'm not myself
I'm a slow motion accident
Lost in coffee rings and fingerprints
I don't wanna feel anything but I do
And it all comes back to you
It's only summer
The sun hasn't set
(I refuse to believe that it's only me you fear)
Just hear me out
I'm not over you yet
(Love is on the line, can you handle it?)
It's only summer
You've got me strained
Just hear me out
Don't make me wait
I'm not myself
I can't take this
Love's on the line
Is that your final answer?
I join the cue on your answer phone
And all I am is holding breath
Just pick up, I know you're there...
It's only summer
The sun hasn't set
(I refuse to believe that it's only me you fear)
Just hear me out
I'm not over you yet
(Love is on the line, can you handle it?)
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A moment of zen:
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Randomness:
• My thesis committee is finally complete (again). I had to quickly replace my drama/film person with someone from Religious Studies. My replacement is not only interested in the relationship of women to the Bible, but she's also big into Pop Culture. A perrrrfect fit. I showed her my copy of Revolve this afternoon and she almost didn't give it back, she was so intrigued. She didn't even flinch when I asked her to be on my committee. (now all that's left for me is to finish up my proposal and get accepted into Interdisciplinary Studies)
• I spent over 3 hours today working as super-duper research assistant on all things Middle English Religious Poetry. And by research assistant I mean head grunt-worker. What a boring, tedious job. But -- it's money. That, and it's a space on my CV.
• I have a new Thursday night tradition -- watching Survivor with a grrrlfriend. One of my friends from Rhet Crit came over tonight and we had salad (with Goldfish crackers -- my choice crouton), Spinach Florentine, and red wine (and not necessarily in that order). Yes, I'm a 25 year old grad student who still watches Survivor. It's actually the first time I've deliberately sat down in TV to watch anything all week. Anyway, it's a study of pop culture at its finest -- really! That, and some of the guys on it are just really too cute not to watch topless. ;) (and after the show we watched an old Bette Davis film, Of Human Bondage)
• Speaking of TV, it's a bizarre experience to watch Hurricane Isabel coverage from up here. It almost makes me homesick -- here I am worrying about a frost warning tonight, while everyone back home is boarded up for a storm (and by home I mean my parents & grandma in Virgina). All the reporters were well, reporting from Virginia Beach -- my grandma's hometown. I'm just glad it was only a class 2 and not a class 4. Momma, when you read this you should call me.
• I'm seriously considering moving into my own place. A friend of mine rents an apartment (of her own) right in the middle of downtown, for a little more than 100 bucks than I'm paying now. (it's actually right down the street from you) This seriously tempts me -- I'd really like to have a space of my own.... and then I could have a pet! She's keeping an eye out for me, looking for an opening. I'll keep y'all posted on what happens.
• Tomorrow's the infamous E-plant -- and supposedly the last one. As ordered, I'll be scanning the crowds for just the right pictures to take!
• Right now I'm off to go finish Return of the King. With the riveting night I've had thus far, it's the perfect closing.
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Sleep position gives personality cue
If you want an insight into somebody's true personality, then try to catch a glimpse of the way they sleep. Scientists believe the position in which a person goes to sleep provides an important clue about the kind of person they are.
Hmmm. It would appear I'm a freefall sleeper. But I dunno if I like the description of it or not:
Freefall (7%): Lying on your front with your hands around the pillow, and your head turned to one side. Often gregarious and brash people, but can be nervy and thin-skinned underneath, and don't like criticism, or extreme situations.
Of course I would have the most negative description of the bunch. Ah well.
thanks to fellow freefaller Betsy for pointing this out!
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Hmmm -- here's a change for you. Go to the theater and expect to see a lovely Oscar-nominated documentary about little kiddies competing in a national spelling bee (Spellbound).
Instead, due to a scheduling error, actually watch a movie about a Sara Gilbert lookalike grrrl who cuts up her dead boyfriend (who originally committed suicide), replaces her name on his novel manuscript, holidays in Spain, and then earns 100,000 pounds for her first novel (which was originally his). (odd Irish indie flick Morvern Callar)
Confused yet? It was quite an experience. Even more disturbing than the film was sitting next to a mom and daughter who were victims of the mis-scheduling. The daughter had to be a first-year university student, and the mom was VERY uncomfortable. Luckily they left before the movie really got going (and by this I mean the part where she hacks up her boyfriend in the bathtub while topless and wearing 70's porn star sunglasses).
But tonight was free-university-student night, so I can't really complain. And I guess the movie wasn't really THAT bad, after you get past the whole dead body in apartment and hacking up the body bit.
It actually was about the empowerment of a woman -- albeit in a very sick and twisted way.
Ebert sorta liked it. But it's probably a good thing I wasn't the reviewer for this flick.
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 The Crabby American.
I don't know about your growing up experience, but throughout my elementary school years, there were these "clubs" that you always wanted desperately to be a member of. Granted, most of these clubs were formed by superficial ten-year-olds, but when you're ten yourself, that IS your social world. (funny how these "clubs" or cliques are translated into different social groups when you're an "adult.")
Anyway, I never was really a member of any popular club. I had my own friends, of course, but it always hurt a little bit to be the one left out.
Enough of my meager childhood -- fast forward a couple of 15 years.
I hate being the token American in my grad class. Usually I don't mind it -- I've never tried to disguise the fact that I'm American and sometimes don't understand some of the cultural issues at work around me.
But in my Rhetorical Criticism class, many of the artifacts we examine deal specifically with Canadian culture. In fact, the prof specializes in collecting items that deal with Canadian identity, so there's always an influx of artifacts to analyze -- which usually leaves me in the awkward spotlight of "look-at-the-American-and-see-if-she-understands-this-message-and-its-context."
I've gotten pretty good at letting criticisms of my country roll off my back -- particularly when I agree with what's being said. And I know that everyone in the class is supportive of me and are not being deliberately mean-spirited about it --
But I just end up leaving the class feeling left out. It's like everyone has had a private joke, and I'm the doofus in the corner who has to have the punchline explained to her.
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The U of S was mentioned on Fark yesterday -- how cool is that?
PSA: Duct taping students to a 400-pound "E" considered dangerous
Students agree to drop "E" stunt
SASKATOON - Agriculture and engineering students in Saskatoon say they won't stage their biggest annual prank next year after the University of Saskatchewan gave them an ulimatum.
The so-called "E plant" prank has been a tradition for the past 18 years. The prank involves the kidnapping of an agriculture student who is then duct taped to the top of a giant letter E.
Engineers then "plant" their victim in the middle of campus while hundreds of his classmates come to the rescue.
The University of Saskatchewan says all student groups will lose their insurance coverage if the prank continues.
Engineering graduate Jake Zapshalla says no one has ever been hurt during the stunt, but admits it can be dangerous.
"I know when I watched it, there's been a couple of instances where it didn't quite go in right and this big E, which is probably 300, 400 pounds, is teetering back and forth with 150 students around it, you know trying to get it in the hole, that's a little scary. And I think that'd be one of the reason's they'd want to shut it down," Zapshalla says.
Students say they have permission to hold the "E plant" one last time this Friday. They say they'll hold a substitute event next year to keep the inter-college rivalry alive.
It's the biggest news on campus. So far, I've only heard that it's cancelled -- but according to this article it's going on this one last time. I was supposed to go to it before it got canned, so it looks like I'll get to see the barbaric ritual after all.
And yes, I will bring my camera.
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