Saturday, October 31, 2009

Blogging extravaganza

November is National Novel Writing Month ("NaNoWriMo"). Since that undertaking requires a particular brand of intensity and commitment, the kind that I most certainly am lacking at the present, I have decided to undertake National Blog Posting Month ("NaBloPoMo") instead. Post every day for a month. Thirty posts in thirty days. Blogging boot camp. Spicing things up around here.

My attempts to start Finer Things Clubs and embark on summer reading projects have tragically failed -- the Finer Things Club consisted of one and only one event, and I am only half-way through Infinite Jest. But, I am committed to seeing this sucker through to the end. Starting tomorrow, I am posting something every day. SPICY. Even if that means resorting to posts about what I ate for breakfast and PODs from the archives (STILL SLIGHTLY SPICY).

Good luck, me!

Sunday, October 25, 2009

300th Post POD



This glorious scene comes from Bluemont Vineyard in Bluemont,VA. Today the weather was beautiful, the leaves were all different shades of gold, and as I leisurely picked at warm bread and fresh cheese and sipped a refreshing peach wine, I decided that if I ever get married, it might as well be here.

In fact, here is my pre-engagement photo:

Monday, October 19, 2009

Sand painting art

Sand-painting artist, Kseniya Simonova, won the 2009 Ukraine's Got Talent Competition. This performance, depicting Germany's invasion of the Ukraine during WWII, is unbelievably amazing:



I teared up a little. Not sure if it was the nostalgic music, or the sight of the entire audience starting to full on cry, or the thought of my own meager talents in comparison -- my uncanny ability of 1) making at least two wrong turns every time I go somewhere new, and 2) always arriving at the airport three hours early.

Also, how did this woman know that if she poured sand over a giant light box she would be really good at drawing pictures on it? Did she experiment with different materials? Rice on a table? Beans in a pool of water? I mean, how do you discover you have such a talent? And once she figured out the sand on a light box combination, she must have had to choreograph her painting to the music. The entire thing just blows my mind. Respect.

(via kottke)