restaurant orientalism
May. 10th, 2005 11:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sanpaku_backupCurrent book: Europe's Inner Demons, by Norman Cohn. Before that it was Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, which sustained me on a 7-hour-long train ride on which I had stupidly forgot to bring the laptop charger.
Current peeve: Seven hourse of listening to businessmen in white-collared blue shirts talk about BMWs and Audis. The woman in front of me actually passed me a note about it and suddenly we were back in seventh grade. Anyway, please bring back the Acela quiet car, Lord, please.
Current home project: Old man in the neighborhood cutting down rusting swingset and clearing away ubiquitous maple saplings in the yard. This will cost a fair amount of money. But I have no time whatsoever to deal with this enormous yard, which went from dormant to out of control with weeds in about three days.
Current movies: We gave in to the cult of TiVo and now are eager evangelists for the cause. (Actually a DVR from the cable company, which is better than TiVo -- cheaper and with more options.) This has allowed me to indulge my new passion for 1930s film -- discovering all the wonders of Turner Classic Movies beyond prime time. So it's been Holiday and The Devil and Miss Jones and now, finally, The Magnificent Ambersons. This movie is impossible to find on video and I have been trying to get it for years. But now it is patiently waiting for me to have a free couple of hours.
Current television: Other TiVo-enabled whims include The Discovery of India, on the AZN channel. This is mostly hour-long reenactments from the Ramayana, which are not really that interesting, but every ten minutes or so a couple of smug mustachioed men appear with tabla and sitar, and they sing. And while you eat your mattar paneer, you've always wondered, "what are they singing about?", so finally, there are captions. And it's on the order of
they lived in the forest, where they hunted all day long/
Rama would shoot arrows that would decapitate the demons...
And so on. And the guys are so genial about the whole thing. I love it.
Other current peeve: Students who miss classes and then express hostility toward me in the classroom during "discussion" about how they don't understand anything in the class because it's overwhelming and incomprehensible to them because I gave them too much reading. No one enjoys a public frontal assault. Seems like there's one in every class, regardless of how well everything else goes. The class has gone well in general, but I'm glad the semester is over.
Current good thing: Getting 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep for two days in a row. First time I've had that in, oh, about two and a half years. Mini-Me and the Mrs. are getting back from Long Island any minute now...
Current peeve: Seven hourse of listening to businessmen in white-collared blue shirts talk about BMWs and Audis. The woman in front of me actually passed me a note about it and suddenly we were back in seventh grade. Anyway, please bring back the Acela quiet car, Lord, please.
Current home project: Old man in the neighborhood cutting down rusting swingset and clearing away ubiquitous maple saplings in the yard. This will cost a fair amount of money. But I have no time whatsoever to deal with this enormous yard, which went from dormant to out of control with weeds in about three days.
Current movies: We gave in to the cult of TiVo and now are eager evangelists for the cause. (Actually a DVR from the cable company, which is better than TiVo -- cheaper and with more options.) This has allowed me to indulge my new passion for 1930s film -- discovering all the wonders of Turner Classic Movies beyond prime time. So it's been Holiday and The Devil and Miss Jones and now, finally, The Magnificent Ambersons. This movie is impossible to find on video and I have been trying to get it for years. But now it is patiently waiting for me to have a free couple of hours.
Current television: Other TiVo-enabled whims include The Discovery of India, on the AZN channel. This is mostly hour-long reenactments from the Ramayana, which are not really that interesting, but every ten minutes or so a couple of smug mustachioed men appear with tabla and sitar, and they sing. And while you eat your mattar paneer, you've always wondered, "what are they singing about?", so finally, there are captions. And it's on the order of
they lived in the forest, where they hunted all day long/
Rama would shoot arrows that would decapitate the demons...
And so on. And the guys are so genial about the whole thing. I love it.
Other current peeve: Students who miss classes and then express hostility toward me in the classroom during "discussion" about how they don't understand anything in the class because it's overwhelming and incomprehensible to them because I gave them too much reading. No one enjoys a public frontal assault. Seems like there's one in every class, regardless of how well everything else goes. The class has gone well in general, but I'm glad the semester is over.
Current good thing: Getting 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep for two days in a row. First time I've had that in, oh, about two and a half years. Mini-Me and the Mrs. are getting back from Long Island any minute now...
