these days of leiderhosen

I have not been to the Stanford Museum since the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake that jostled me up to Seattle and closed the museum for almost five years. In the renovation, the Gods of Art tripled the size of the museum but maintained its intimate nature. It seems that every graduate of Stanford has donated at least one very nice piece of sculpture including a gigantic semi-peeled flying banana that takes up an entire interior courtyard. (Nope. Not kidding.) I am a sucker for small museums and this is a well currated space with few people. The lighting was extraordinary. Oh, and admission is free. A huge hinge for the museum is a very large collection of Rodin sculptures including a vast sculpture garden and a truly handsome bust of Anna-Elizabeth de Noaille s with her magnificent nose and hooded eyes. (This link is the second of two works – this one at the Met.) There is nothing more lovely than a woman with an interesting nose, but at the time the subject was so appalled by her o...

Do you ever wake up deeply inspired in the middle of the night from a vivid and heated dream to spend an hour scrawling it out, trying very not to wake up entirely and lose the narrative thread with the smell of night lodged just behind your eyes. So the result could be, if incubated, another tiresome one act play with most stage direction involving kitchen utensils and baking ingredients, now lost to unintelligible handwriting. Or maybe this scrawl is a recipe. Or wallpaper. mmmm...internet... who needs another crappy one act when Margaret Cho still maintains a blog ?

Happy Spring, particularly for those in frozen places. Also Ibsen's, Ovid's and Mister Roger's birthday. Things to be very happy about: the long-vacant Eddie Bauer store front on Shattuck will now house Cody's Books! A high Berkeley kerfuffle (mostly planning commission and Letters to the Editors -letters to the editor always include the word "Shame!"-) ensued last year when Cody's closed its original store on Telegraph. Telegraph has really had a very sad downturn in the last decade, much like University Ave in Seattle. Cody's was tired of the urine, the shoplifting, the rent, the people sleeping on it's doorstep. This new location will be much better. Here's an idea, you sign-shaking Berkeleyites: want a bookstore in your neighborhood? Throw your bookish business their way. Amazon is fine for somethings, but I try to buy my books locally even if all I can afford is used. Deep discounts on books is sweet, but I need a bookstore like I need th...

Today Berkeley is awash with war protesters today: downtown, in the civic center around the library. Sixty extra policemen are lurking around and mingling with the Pinks Against War ladies in front of the Marine Recruiting Center, which is right around the corner from my office. If you missed it, the Pinks exploits were detailed on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart last wee k . (And, yes, people really do behave like that here.) Nobody was openly smoking a doobie this morning, which was a little disconcerting in this little Socialist Republic. On today's walk from the bus I passed 15 policemen banked against a walk providing a backdrop for five silent people in orange jumpsuits, tied hands and back bags over their heads. No one said a word, not even small talk. Around the corner seven bikers were parking their Harleys and digging out large American flags and "Marines For America" signs and swigging from Starbucks cups. The Orange Jumpsuits Guys apparently get up much ear...

Oh, I am just not in the mood for another week. Not like last week, with a whole heap of guilt ladled onto the Saturday when I slept in. The house is now clean-ish though and The Action Transvestite is on tour again! Hurrah! (And curse you, Ticketmaster!) This is the week where Ben makes his match . His entire fan club appears to be on tenderhooks , not wanting to jinx anything but unable to quell their cascades of good juju, rather like a starting lineup of racehorses with their prized legs lashed together with oddly colored fishnets. I haven't met most of Bennish's most notorious and beloved friends but am terribly fond of the whole lot of them, mostly because he tells the most fascinating stories of their legendary exploits. It's like being bloggy acquaintances with superheros. We really ought to have a convention. It has been brought to my attention (by a complete and unaffiliated stranger; not you, Beloved Reader) that this blog author's moniker translates to ...

The Daily Show presents: The Shame Parade . Russell's Teapot: atheist comics ! Fun!

It has not been a good week. And it's only Tuesday. A decade ago, I'd have picked out my least favorite piece of furniture and reduced it to kindling. Someday I should write on the positive spin on aggressive and suicidal tendencies, but today is not that day. Plus since May 2007, I've been medicated to the gills and that particular dark flirtation has taken up residence in a moldy box of books in the basement. I don't see any reason to quit medication anytime real soon; it's been nice to live a bit without that dark little cloud even if it makes orgasms a bit elusive. No need to worry, Pumpkins. I have a new recipe for brioche pecan swirl bread. I just had a lovely pint of Woodchuck Hard Cider at our cozy local pub. No silly clove smoke, Guinness is on tap, people bring their kids, lots of fried food and mac and cheese on the menu.