Cake or Death!
Rebecca July 25th, 2008
How can cake ever possibly be a bad thing? Well, click on this and find out.
Archive for the 'Other Sites' Category
Friends Don’t Let Artists Randomly Post
Rebecca February 25th, 2008
Even though she didn’t link to this interview on her own sadly neglected blog, our pal Molly Murphy is currently featured on the Missoula Art Museum’s website. The opening reception for her new show, Reservations Required, is next Friday, March 7th. Yours truly will be there–firmly ensconced at the wine bar, of course.
Quattro Cose
Rebecca February 11th, 2008
Patia was kind enough to tag me with the “Four Things” meme. Ché amica!
4 Jobs I’ve Held:
1. Babysitter (I know, I’m surprised too.)
2. Apple Picker (Again with the surprise.)
3. Laundress (Man, does this feeling ever end?)
4. Alternate Ferryman on the River Styx (That’s better.)
4 Movies I’ve Watched Over and Over Again:
1. The Big Lebowski
2. The Thin Man
3. The Trouble With Harry
4. Grumpy Old Men
4 Places I’ve Been:
1. Honolulu
2. Santa Fe
3. Seattle
4. Philadelphia
4 Places I’ve Lived:
1. El Cerrito
2. Florence
3. Pinole
4. Lolo
4 TV Shows I Watch:
1. Antiques Roadshow
2. History Detectives
3. American Experience
4. Iron Chef America
4 Radio Shows I Listen To:
1. Car Talk
2. This American Life
3. Morning Edition
4. All Things Considered
4 Things I Look Forward To:
1. A New President
2. A New President
3. A New President
4. A New President
4 Favorite Foods:
1. Spanakopita
2. Sour Cherry Pie
3. Penne ai Quattro Formaggi
4. Lobster Tail with Drawn Butter
4 Places I’d Rather Be:
1. Ferry Building Marketplace, San Francisco
2. Zabar’s, New York City
3. New Orleans’ French Quarter
4. Anyplace in Paris, Really
4 People I E-Mail Regularly:
1. Matt
2. Marzi
3. Dana
4. (another) Dana
4 People I’ve Tagged:
Coming Clean
Rebecca February 8th, 2008
When I’m not here, I’m over there; you know, beyond that pretty blue badge Matt designed to link to my local political activity on the Interwebs. The Montana blogosphere is a very close-knit community. One of my favorites is Ed Kemmick’s City Lights. He has a wry sense of humor and uses it to skewer some of the, shall we say, less enlightened members of our community. Yesterday, Ed tackled a bit of clumsy race-baiting on their part: using Barack Obama’s middle name, Hussein, to discredit his campaign for President.
My confession is this: My full name is Edward Allan Kemmick. “Allan” comes from the ancient Germanic “Allaine,” which originally was the title of the Asatru (Norse-Teutonic paganism) official who held the knife that was used to slit the throats of blood offerings to Woden. If my parents had not hung this unfortunate middle name on me, I would be a candidate for president myself.
Inspired by Ed’s heroic example, I followed with my own confession in the comments:
I’d like to come clean, everyone. My full name is Rebecca Ellen Schmitz. Rebecca is Hebrew for “ensnarer”, Ellen is derived from the Greek Helen, meaning “light” or “torch”, and Schmitz is the German version of Smith–a craftsman. Based on the linguistic evidence, it’s clear my parents meant for me to be a professional jewel thief. Therefore, I must regretfully announce I am no longer a candidate for President in the year 2020. However, I will continue to stand for progressive principles and I will continue to fight alongside you for truth, justice, the American way, and those shiny diamond bracelets in the windows at Tiffany’s.
So, there it is. Thanks to a bit of misguided baby naming on my parents’ part, I will never be able to hold office in this country. I’m glad there are people who pay attention to such things. Surely any politician with a middle name like Hussein is bound to be a traitor. That’s because leaders with all-American milquetoast Anglo-Saxon Protestant names like George or Herbert or Walker would never betray our nation’s principles.
Bad News: No Hughes!
Rebecca February 2nd, 2008
Pat, I know you probably don’t visit our site on a regular basis, if at all, but we wanted you to know we look forward to your return. You’re one of the best and funniest writers out there.
Not-So-Smooth Criminal
Rebecca January 28th, 2008
Via Snarky, meet William Torres.
Police said Torres, whose last known address was 436 Turner St., Allentown, gunned down two men at Fourth and Allen streets last month. According to court documents, Torres admitted killing the men. Torres was driving on Turner Street Friday afternoon when he was pulled over by police and arrested. He was wearing a hooded sweartshirt with a skull-head pattern on it, pajama bottoms and fuzzy lion-faced slippers at the time.
Fuzzy lion-faced slippers–’cause that’s how he rolls.
Wait until I keep track of the films, then you’ll think I never leave the house.
Rebecca January 14th, 2008
I read, on average, a book a week. I’ve done this for as long as I can remember. Yes, I was that child. You know, the one you remember seeing at the upscale restaurant with her parents, not communicating with them because her nose was deeply buried in something wildly inappropriate for her tender age like Germaine Greer’s The Female Eunuch. I don’t really think about my literary addiction, though, until someone throws down the gauntlet. Or, in Chris La Tray’s case, someone innocently mentions he’s a bookworm too. Yes, that’s me in the comments on Chris’ piece for New West, getting all up in the poor guy’s face and announcing it’s on like Donkey Kong:
Should we each keep a list, compare them at the end of the year, and–just to make it interesting–compete for a prize? Drinks at a favorite bar? Coffee at a preferred coffeehouse? Fame and fortune, or at least a free bookmark from our favorite bookstore?
I’ve never, ever kept track of the books I’ve read over the course of a year. Oh, I generally know what I’ve read just by glancing at my bookshelves or seeing a familiar dust jacket at the library or bookstore. However, I’ve never written any of the titles down. I think it will be interesting to see where my mind takes me in 2008. You can follow the two of us along on my new Bookworm page. And who knows? Either you’ll be inspired to try this experiment yourself, or you’ll look at it and wonder just what the hell I’m thinking this week.
The Hawkeye Scam
Rebecca January 5th, 2008
Via Anil Dash, here’s Christopher Hitchens on the Iowa caucuses.
Mah Blood: Will You Test It for Me?
Rebecca December 26th, 2007
My Christmas was not all it could be because I had to start fasting midway through the big day to get ready for a doctor’s appointment first thing this morning. Why would I put myself through torture like that? Well, I’ve been having some health issues. My doctor, whom I dearly love, has an impossible schedule (only available on Wednesdays because of other commitments, and on vacation for most of December). Then there was the matter of those three magic words: calendar year deductible. She ordered a whole variety of blood tests to get to the bottom of the problem. All required an empty body and a clean bloodstream. This meant I had to put the wine bottle down and the fudge and the pork back in the fridge ’round about noon on Christmas day. Good thing I took today off from work. When I returned home from the clinic I picked all three right back up where I started four days ago.
And in case you’re wondering, yes, the nutjobs were protesting in front of the clinic this morning. I gave them the Christmas finger.
While I’m loafing around on my last day of Christmas vacation waiting for a call from my doctor (”Put that bacon down! Your cholesterol level is 940!”), I thought I would take part in Sweetney’s Mah Fridge: Let Me Show It To You photo pool on Flickr. I can’t believe how shiny and clean my fridge is; judging by the contents of it you’d think I subsist entirely off a diet of citrus fruit and cheese.
When I find out what’s wrong I’ll let you know. Until then, would you care for a slice of aged Gouda and a clementine?
Winter Wondermix
Getting Lucky
Rebecca December 3rd, 2007
In case you haven’t heard, Crystal of Mrs. Blogoway won the jar of my famous homemade raspberry jam for NaBloPoMo. Unfortunately, Matt and I did not get lucky and win any of the fabulous prizes ourselves. Oh well. There’s always next November, unless we decide to just take it easy. You know, easy like write a novel in thirty days.
WTF, People?
Rebecca November 27th, 2007
As Matt wrote below, I’ve been plagiarized. Both of us have repeatedly notified the blog author of copyright infringement. He (or she) has traveled the spectrum of stupidity this morning: from representing my entire post as their own, through several edits that fell woefully short of removing the post to now, unbelieveably, insulting me. According to the plagiarist, I’m:
a desperate key-word internet professional looking for attraction.
Look, asshole. I’ve asked nicely. I’ve sent you links detailing what you must do to correct your post. Now I’m going to contact your host and put an end to this. I’m going to assume (perhaps wrongly) you went to college at some point. Do you remember the rules about plagiarism? Failure and expulsion. The Internet’s no different, buddy. Hope you enjoy getting a “F” at Blogger U.
The Great Internet Reach Around
Rebecca November 10th, 2007
I’ve sent jam to Erin, Tim, monkey and Matt. Matt, Erin and monkey have in turn sent me goodies. (Tim sent me cold hard cash; it’s always welcome in any online relationship.) That’s one of the great things about teh Interweb: the spontaneous outbreaks of gift-giving that occur when Internet friends find they have common interests. Another such outbreak was sparked by a discussion about Aero bars in the comments on Jen B.’s website. Aero bars are a Nestle candy product not sold in the United States for some strange reason. Jen, who lives in Alberta, said she would hook me up with some purely out of the goodness of her heart. A package with my address and hers arrived in the mail the other night. What was in it?
As you can see, Jen’s suffering from the early effects of Alzheimer’s.
While we have Kit Kats in the States, there is a distinction between those sold in Canada and the ones on the shelves here: the slogan. Theirs says “Have a break…have a Kit Kat!” Ours, ungrammatically American as usual, is “Gimme a break!” Notice the difference in manners. Nestle is insisting polite Canadians have a quiet moment to themselves with some chocolate. Fat, rude Americans are demanding their fucking candy NOW, dammit. Even worse, the rest of our slogan goes, “Break me off a piece of that Kit Kat bar!” Great. We’re impatiently and greedily grabbing part of someone else’s candy. Knowing us, it’s probably in the hands of a Canadian.
Veni Vidi Voro
Rebecca November 7th, 2007
One of my favorite easy recipes, first featured here four years ago, has now found its way to the rest of my reading public thanks to Dave Budge of The Spoon and New West. Yes, the utterly delicious Blue Onion Soup has extended my fifteen minutes of fame to nearly twenty-three and a half.
And the photo on New West? That was the scene in my kitchen last night. I took nearly two dozen shots until I found the few I liked enough to e-mail to Dave. How do those food stylists do it?
Bodhisattva
Rebecca October 25th, 2007
It’s official: I’m a damn good jam maker. Tim finally opened his jar, and reached Nirvana thanks to the assistance of a little toast and scrambled eggs. Would you like to liberate yourself from suffering in the time it takes to eat breakfast? Well, just join NaBloPoMo this year if you haven’t done so already. There’s a week left. Then you might win a jar of my raspberry jam and enter enlightenment for yourself.
