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the latest
waddle: good morning, wordpress - 10:36 a.m. , 2009-07-03 elaborate murder attempt - 2:56 p.m. , 2009-07-01 building a tractor in the basement - 10:42 a.m. , 2009-06-19 ask no questions tell just a few lies - 3:17 p.m. , 2009-06-09 my long lasting flavor really lasts long - 1:10 p.m. , 2009-06-04
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Because of University of Chicago's administrative incompetence, I can't find this lecture online anywhere, but I am there, I am so there, I am there already: The Molecular Biology of Pestilence: A Twenty-First-Century Look at the Black Death This interdisciplinary lecture will discuss the pathogenic strategies used by Yersinia pestis, the microbe responsible for the plagues that devastated Europe in the Middle Ages. Topics will include buboes, blocked fleas, and patron saints. The class will also listen to plague-inspired music. Monday, May 13, 7 pm, Gleacher Center (right across the Windswept Plaza), $20. I love a good plague. Speaking of Chicago-specific kultcha that has a spot of trouble getting its act together: Saturday night I attended this gallery show for machine-inspired art and bleepy bloopy music: all of it was at least sporadically interesting, some of it was very very interesting, and if you live here, you should make an effort to attend. Supposedly there is some sort of donation requested but they are very haphazard about collecting it, neglecting even to have a box or jar or other clearly visible collection point, so apparently it's all up to you. It's a strange thing to gripe about, but little things like that bug me a bit. I used to put on weird little multimedia black-box-theater performance pieces, so I know all about the casual homegrown DIY art scene. However, a teaspoon of organization doesn't harm anyone either. (Maybe there's a niche for me as a sort of "art consultant" analogous to a wedding planner: I could lend out my combination of creativity and mad list-making and budget-planning skills to all the indie art kids.) Tangential rant over. Long story short, if you like the idea of battery-operated toys producing abstract paintings, and if you like experimental noises, you have until April 20 to hie thy Chicago ass to the show. Tell them I sent you. And then it was Easter, and I went out to the suburbs to have dinner with my family, and of course to receive candy and underwear (a traditional Easter gift in my family, don't ask). There's a lot of Easter candy here at the office too. Someone gave me a whole box of Peeps: I was too polite to explain that I don't like Peeps, so I've been playing with them instead of eating them. I cut all the heads off and stuck them on straightened-out paper clips, and then "planted" the impaled Peep heads in a brick of styrofoam outside my office, in a sort of Heart of Darkness/Apocalypse Now homage, with me in the Marlon Brando role. Horrific office sighting: a woman in the elevator who was wearing a rhinestone pin that said "SEXY." Um. Thanks for letting us know. Have you heard of the SOFA Score? It is not about how often you sit on the sofa. Have you heard of the barcode project? Stick it to the man! Have you heard of the Journal of Foraminferal Research? There's something a little unsettling about that logo. Have you heard of Scrotilla the Hun? Did you wish you hadn't? Me too. But you can recover with this happy animation. I like the part where they suddenly have cigarettes. I feel brief today. Adios, amigos. ----mimi smartypants is best viewed by moonlight. back/forward |
