The Sound of a Cat Puking

That’s what woke me up on this fine, sunny birthday morning. You’d think that would be upsetting, since puke on the bedroom carpet is not fun to clean up, but it actually made me smile. As of last February, I thought his days were numbered and instead he’s made it to my birthday. Skinnier and thirstier, but otherwise intact. I know we’re in extra innings, so I’m just enjoying it.

Since it’s my birthday and both Carrie and our guests are still asleep, you are being treated to a sentimental post.

In surfing other people’s blogs this morning, I came across Muse’s post from the airport and it made me think. The beginning of August is also the time people leave for other places. Every year, a group of graduate students leave for other pastures. Which is a good thing because it means that they have jobs or postdocs. But this year is the first year in Montreal that a group of other people from my social circle are heading off for other places. I’m sad to see them all go, because I’m a sentimental person and I like my friends. But at the same time, it also makes me feel more settled here. Part of being in a place is living there long enough to accumulate memories, to have shared pasts with people, including people who aren’t here anymore. I’ve now been here long enough to “remember when…”

Sitting and Rocking

So it turns out that La Tulipe has my two favorite things in a rock club these days: seats and air conditioning. By rock audience standards, this means unequivocally that I’m old and lame, but then rock always was an ageist undertaking and it’s just something we’ve got to live with. As we were going over to the club after dinner, Carrie and I and our comrade (also a professor) all extolled the virtues of enjoying a rock concert while seated. And the air conditioning, considering that it is hotter than hell here right now. (In fact our air conditioner is working so hard that the circuit blew when Carrie printed something earlier today.) But I do wonder if anything rocks less than sitting in air conditioning. I know nothing rocks harder than fire, but that’s for another post.

Top 5 Reasons Why It’s Better to Sit at a Rock Club Than to Stand

5. You can feel the bass in your butt.
4. You’re more likely to stick around through that band you don’t like, which is good for them, I suppose.
3. The waiter will find you more often, you’ll have a place to put your drink when s/he does, and it will stay cold longer.
2. It’s easier to “go meta” on the event because you’re participating and observing at the same time.
1. You’re ohhhhhlllllllld.(1)

Last night’s show was entertaining, though to say that the sound on the first two bands was bad would be the understatement of the year. It was catastrophically bad — like at any given time a couple of the band members were inaudible. Lake Trout did their best to put on a good show, but it was tough to listen for parts I knew were there but couldn’t hear. Editors, meanwhile, apparently brought along their own sound mixer, or perhaps just got the consideration of a soundcheck, which they took immediately before their set. The place was packed and they put on a loud, engaging show. And the sound was alright, which just goes to show that it’s not simply the acoustics.

The Editors’ CD is actually pretty good. I’m listening to it right now.

—-

1. “Old” only in the context of a rock show. Not “old” in the general sense.

Actually,

Another Miriam writes in to correct me but actually. . . .

my Hebrew name is יוספ (pronounced “Yoseyph”). It’s different from my English name because the family was serious enough about being Jewish to consider such things, I was accidentally named for the wrong great uncle. I don’t know who the right uncle is, but the wrong one wrote this — pseudonymously, of course. More on the family shoe business here.

Today’s Font Discovery

Hebrew, QWERTY-style:

אני יוספ

Only because I was looking at resurrecting an old essay which includes some Hebraic philology. Just a little, though.

The Hebrew’s a little clunky but the Mac OS automatically makes it move from right to left. That’s pretty cool. A few years ago, it was absolutely impossible to do that with such ease.

—

In other news, the Neko Case album is lovely, and ever so well produced. I also picked up a Tosca CD I didn’t have before. I’m listening to it right now for the first time. Tonight we’re off to see Lake Trout and Editors (no “the”), or rather Editors and Lake Trout. For once, we will arrive at the show on time.

—

People are starting to talk like school is coming soon. It is, but I’ve got a month of summer to keep making hay on the book and tend to other loose ends before the onslaught begins. I’ve managed to keep up the 10-page a week pace, but it’s more of an average rather than 2-pages-a-day-5-days-a-week. Predictably, the book will be longer than I’d originally planned (I was aiming for a 200 page ms and it’s looking headed toward another 40 or so) but we’ll see. That does mean I’ll still be in full writing mode at the beginning of term, so we’ll see if I can keep it going long enough to actually finish before the term engulfs me.

Latest CD Acquisitions

Study of Speech and Hearing at Bell Telephone Laboratories: The Fletcher Years

Technical Memoranda Issued by Acoustics Research Laboratory, Harvard University 1947-1971

Let me tell you, there are some smoking tracks on these releases.

—

Tomorrow, I may actually break the country barrier and purchase a Neko Case CD. Technically, it’s already broken since we own some Johnny Cash and kd lang but that’s so cliché that they don’t really count.

I come late to certain musical bands and trends. I remember hearing the Archers of Loaf in 1994 and thinking that they were terrible, amateurish and unlistenable. Then I really got into them around 1998, right when they were breaking up (though I did see their last tour).

In general, I can’t abide the level of irony and/or authenticity necessary to enjoy alt country. I remember when my friend Jayson really got into alt country (he also tried to get me into the Archers in ’94). I just couldn’t take it, but knowing myself, I said “give me five years and we’ll see.” Well, it’s been way more than five years, but Neko Case is heavily produced and I love all the reverb on everything on the new album. So I’ll see what happens when I take the plunge. Also, I am buying more King Tubby if I’ve got time on my errands (different stores).

—

ÃŽn óthér néws, Í’vé fîgüréd øüt höw tö dô áccénts ön my kéyböárd.

Meanwhile, elsewhere on Sterneworks. . . .

I haven’t been blogging much the past couple days as I’ve been using my blog time to update other parts of the site. As job season will soon be beginning, I thought it was time for my annual update of the “Professionalization” section of my website. There’s a bunch of new stuff up there — on the transition from grad to prof, on academic couples, and a few other new articles, as well as lots of smaller updates. None of it is properly proofed yet and all of it could use improvement, so please email me suggestions if you have a look and have some. Here’s the link.