A seething mass of turgid drama.

You have an art time travel machine. You can pick five artists to do a likeness of you (it doesn't have to be painting or photography). Assume that all the payment, scheduling, and so forth are taken care of - you just show up for your sitting(s) with temporally appropriate clothing that is esthetically pleasing to you. But these are for your personal enjoyment only - they can't be sold or even revealed to the world at large.  You can pick different eras of the same person if they are different enough (e.g. Picasso)

So, who do you pick?  My off-the-cuff choices are:

1. Da Vinci
2. Rembrandt
3. Vermeer
4. Gertrude Stein-era Picasso
5. Edward Gorey (assuming he would be up for it, which I'm not sure was ever the case. If he's not available, a Rodin sculpture for the garden would be awesome.)

Rules: Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you've read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes. Pass it on like the virus it is.

1. Starship Troopers, Robert A Heinlein -- the book that launched me on SF
2. Amber series (the first five, anyway), Roger Zelazny -- I read these nearly right after #1
3. The Hobbit / LOTR, JRR Tolkien -- I used the night light for a week after reading.
4. Amphigorey, Edward Gorey -- critical in developing my sense of humor.
5. Charcuterie, Michael Ruhlman
6. Memory, Lois McMaster Bujold -- I think her best book
7. The Phantom Tollboth, Norton Juster
8. The Chronicles of Prydain, Lloyd Alexander
9. The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams (or Dog--- A-- as my copy says)
10. On Stranger Tides, Tim Powers
11. The Demon Princes, Jack Vance
12. Green Eggs and Ham, Dr. Seuss
13. Ender's Game (the short story), Orson Scott Card -- the short story is far more effective. Spare, sparse, and devastating.
14. Midnight at the Well of Souls, Jack Chalker
15. The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco

What I'm reading: none of the above.

Jan: Twelfth Night: We're in room 356.
Feb: This week's Resolution Recipe: Warm Baked Bittersweet Mousse
Mar: I have BETTER FUCKING THINGS TO DO WITH MY TIME than spend over an hour on tech support chat with India, because the install code YOUR COMPANY GAVE ME does not work.

Apr: Nine years ago today, bonacorsi and I got married.
May: I picked up a dozen free-range eggses from our CSA person yesterday. Also a flat of strawberries. I'll be making jam this weekend.
Jun: Conversation this morning on the bus with an older gentleman I've chatted with before (he's also a diehard Giants fan), as I'm getting ready to debark:

Jul: Cauliflower and Scallions vaguely Indian-style
Aug: This week's Resolution Recipe: Lamb bacon.
Sep: Newest Texas Fair food: Deep-Fried Butter.

Oct: Michael Vick re-signed with Nike.
Nov: The vet just called. They don't think Galen has cancer.
Dec: I have a hard time justifying censorship based on my (or anyone's) beliefs. That said, just because something is labeled "art" does not mean it isn't crap.

Almost half are fud-related. This amuses me.

What I'm reading: Meg Twycross, Masks and Masking in Medieval and Tudor England

vittoriosa asked:

1. Best meal you've ever had?
   Masas for the wife's birthday a few years ago. The food was spectacular, the ambience lovely, the service attentive without being solicitious. The best three hours I've ever spent having a meal.
   ...I still want to hit the French Laundry though.


2. Who or what inspired you to pursue a career in your particular field?
   I was an Econ/Math major and I graduated in '91 when there were very few jobs to be had, especially in southern CA. An SCA friend worked for a mutual fund company and I started there as a phone rep taking transaction calls. I gradually moved into portfolio management from there.


3. How did you and your other half meet? :-)
   Brocc's South Bay dance practice.


4. Favorite theatrical role so far? Dream role?
   My best bit had to be my pants falling down onstage as Trivilino (huge audience laugh!) but I still look back on our high school production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, with a short German exchange student playing Mrs. Ratched. It was very, very intense. I played Cheswick, one of the other inmates.


5. Biggest moment of "culture shock" when you lived in France?
   Going to a private Jesuit school after a lifetime of public secular education? Not having breakfast?
   No, I think it was being told that showering every day was wasteful.

List five 'quirks' or minor (or major) OCD behaviors you have. Repost in your own LJ if you feel like it.

1. I abhor being late. I generally prefer being an hour early to being ten minutes late.

2. I make to-do lists most days. If I have accomplished tasks already, I put them on the list so that I can cross them off.

3. I cannot read, study, or concentrate if there are distractions. Television is about the worst distraction, because of the simultaneous noise and moving images.

4. I arrange my money in order of denomination and ensure they all face the same way.

5. I cannot read something if it contains typos. Typos jump out at me and ruin the flow.

Bonus: I knew that "obsessive-compulsive disorder" is not the right term for these symptoms. The correct term is "obsessive-compulsive personality disorder".
Bonus bonus: I already had an "OCD" tag.

tsgeisel  asked about five of my icons. I'm supposed to perpetuate it as a meme, but I think I'll just post the response.
( Read more... )

What I'm reading: Karen Traviss, Judge