wabisabi

life, the universe, and yadda yadda yadda

I'm taking a blog break for a while.  Back -- well -- sometime.

i'm in!

Got my Ravelry invite this morning.  Have already spent half an hour just poking around.

I need to figure out how to put an avatar in (need to find something to use as an avatar).

I'm "purldiving".  I decided to use that to have a small bit of anonymity (yeah, I know, if I'm telling you who I am, it's no longer anonymous, right?), and immediately regretted it.  But I can't change it now, so that's who I am.

So far I only found one group that really was a good fit for me to join.  But since that seems to be par for the course for me and the knitting world (often feeling like a misfit, that is), I suppose that's to be expected.

I won't have much time today to really dig in and explore all there is there, alas.

On the other hand, maybe that's a good thing.  I can see how someone could get seriously sucked down the time-hole with this thing...

des rails

When the SNCF opened the new TGV line to the east of France, veteran television host Michel Drucker devoted a whole episode of his programme Vivement Dimanche to the event, and as part of the festivities, got a whole whack of people to perform "train songs".

And what more perfect song than Zazie's "Des Rails", from her last album, "Totem".

I adore Zazie.  I think she's amazingly talented, very cool, very funny, and I would give my eye teeth to be able to write as she does -- she's a master of wordplay, and "Des Rails" is no exception.  The original video was set in a supermarket, but I think this version is just brilliant:

ooga chakka hooga hooga

Okay, I could have embedded it here, but I think this is a good opportunity to send you over to Chris Sherry's Kaflooey podcast page. 

Chris has posted a priceless bit of video that -- well -- well.  There are no words.

However, I've now got the song going through my head.  Endlessly.

(True Confessions time:  yes, I watched it More Than Once.)

(P.S.  Just in case you didn't know -- the Manolo is doing occasional readings from the Book of Hasselhoff.)

social networking geek alert!!

Yes, I've checked it again:

Yes, I'm being a total geek, but I can't help myself.  I sure hope it lives up to all the expectations I have of it.  Given the fact that I can barely remember that I signed myself up for Facebook most days, I hope I really can make some use of Ravelry.

i didn't expect to be this excited

But when I checked the Ravelry site today and saw this:

I honestly felt a little thrill rush up my spine.

So close.  So close.

(And I really can't believe I'm as excited as I am about this.  Go figure...)

a comedy of errors

You know that really simple baby bolero I've been working on? The one in the lovely fingering-weight bamboo?  The one that is mostly stockinette stitch with a wee bit of shaping?

That one?

That one is whupping my...well....you know....

This is a tiny, simple project which SHOULD HAVE BEEN FINISHED LONG BEFORE NOW. 

But for some reason, I keep making mistakes.  Really, really, really stupid mistakes.

I've ripped out, what?  Four times now?

I dunno.  Must be something in the air this week.  Not surprisingly, I also haven't slept well the last few days, but that's not surprising given the heat/humidity.

However, if the Knitting Gods are not smiling on me, that's okay, because Doctor's Office Cancellation Gods are.  I needed an appointment to get a cortisone shot for my stupid foot, and the earliest I could get was three weeks from now (he only works Mondays, he was fully booked this coming Monday, and the following Monday is the Labour Day holiday).  But I got word this afternoon that, miracle of miracles, someone has cancelled!

I'm getting tired of limping, and I'm counting on this to jump-start the slow progress I've been making.  That's the theory, anyway.

In other news (and I almost hate to mention this, because I think I'm still feeling a little awkward about it), you can hear my imitation of a chipmunk on speed over on the latest episode of The Zedcast, the fine, fine podcast hosted by Bruce Murray (AKA The Nicest Man in Podcasting).

If I sounded on the verge of hyperventilating it was because:

A.  I was exhausted from a very exciting weekend;

B.  I'd had a glass of wine with lunch;

C.  I was actually coming down with a cold and was a little funny in the head;

D.  I was honestly thrilled to be able to meet Bruce and sit down and talk with him.

Everyone kids about Bruce being the Nicest Man in Podcasting, but it's because, well, it's true.  Not only that, Bruce is one of the most positive, encouraging, nurturing, funny, talented people I've had the privilege to meet in the last year that I've been podcasting. 

As my friends know, or might guess, I veer towards cynicysm and pessimism and generally seeing the negative in things.  Bruce is one of the people I've met in the last year (and I'm so very grateful to have met more than one, this has been an amazing year for me) who makes me take a step back, and really look at the glass to see that it just might be half full instead of half empty.  I've still got a lot of work to do on that, but I'm on the path in the right direction.

Despite my initial discomfort listening to that episode of The Zedcast, I took a great deal of pleasure in remembering a very good afternoon at the end of a very fine weekend, in hearing the voices of some of the great people who attended Podcasters Across Borders 2007.  There were some very talented, very lovely people in that room, and I feel priveleged to have been there with them.

flirting with the new media

Well, that pretty much sums up my relationship with "new media", however you want to define it (and I'm not sure I *can* define it, that's how nebulous my relationship with it really is).

However, in an attempt to become more knowledgeable, I do read a number of blogs regularly to try to figure out what I need to learn, where I need to go, just generally how I can become more savvy in a connected world that I don't really seem to grok most days.

One of the blogs that's become a regular is that of Chris Brogan (subtitle:  A Conversation With Community About Digital Relationships).

Now, I don't know Chris Brogan, I've never met him, but I think anyone in the podcasting world who isn't living inside a vacuum (I'm not, really) has heard of Chris.  He's one of the founders of the PodCamp (yes, I missed PodCamp Toronto last year -- I'm really hoping they do it again, because I think it's an amazing, powerful thing), and Chris, in his own words, is "a social media and networking expert specializing in the use of digital tools to build and strengthen online and offline communities".

And what I love about Chris is that he puts all of this in terms I can understand.  I'm particularly keen on the "offline" community part of all this, too -- sometimes I feel that our offline lives are ignored or sacrificed for the sake of the online ones, and I think my resistance to all things Facebook-ish and Twitter-ly is probably a result of my feeling that there should be balance between offline and online, and neither should overshadow the other.

I'm probably not stating this as eloquently as I could, but I was prompted to post about this today after reading Chris's latest post, "How Opportunity Really Works".

I won't summarize it here, because I really couldn't do it justice.  But go on, click on that link, and read it, because Chris has written a gem -- some of what he writes about I've learned in the last year, some of it I know I should be doing but I lack the confidence to feel comfortable doing it (hey, Chris has also written about confidence, more to think about!), and some of it was new to me, and I'm glad he presented me with an opportunity to reflect on it all.

While you're there, poke around -- Chris has also written some really interesting posts lately about how to use social media in a local setting, something I hadn't really thought about, but which gave me lots of food for thought.

(P.S. -- read the comments, too.  Chris's readers are also thoughtful and insightful and add much to what he's written.)

tricot machine

The Montreal duo Tricot Machine (Catherine Leduc and Matthieu Beaumont) are a new discovery for me -- but what knitter wouldn't be drawn by their name? 

However, their music is lovely, fresh, simple, and intimate, and I would give my eye teeth to be able to play their song "Une histoire de mitaines" on my podcast.  (Heck, I'd love to be able to play any of their songs on my podcast!)

But as luck would have it, their song "L'ours" is the free download of the week on iTunes (Canada) this week.  It's been a long time since the free download was something worth having, and this one most definitely is.

There is an excellent fichier on the duo at the Bande à part website, with lots of knitting-word-play and a clip of the song "Pas fait en chocolat".  And you can download the podcast episode that featured them, too.

And of course, because I'm now all about the YouTube, their record company, Grosse Boîte, has put a clip up, which of course, I'm going to share with you in the hopes that you'll like them as much as I do:

Yarn in the soup bowl.  Yarn in the soup bowl.

Tricot Machine's MySpace page

you got it, you got it

I was driving home from physiotherapy today when the Talking Heads came on the radio ("Take Me to The River").

I was stunned, because I think that's the first time in twenty years I've heard them on the radio, and I couldn't help wonder why they aren't played more often?

Of course, it could be my choice of radio stations.

On the other hand, there is the Evil YouTube, so I can see videos I haven't seen in a yonk's age.  Like this one:

And I believe it might be time to rip my cds and put them on my Nano, because you can never have too much Talking Heads to listen to, even if you are a fervent fan of hindi film music.

No, really.

(BTW, there's a pretty good video of "Sax and Violins" on YouTube.  Just saying...)