thoughtcrumbs : january 2000

It's a sad day in the neigborhood

I loved the operas. I'd sing along, and my mom, chagrined, would retreat to another room. And I attribute my early fascination with Spanish literature to puppet Donkey Hodie. Mr. Rogers' website deals with the news of his death tactfully, with a discreetly-worded link for parents and teachers. In this age of sweeps-week pedophiles, sincere and gentle educators like Fred Rogers will be missed.

Spellbinding

Spellbound is a brilliant and charming documentary about nine eighth graders competing in the the National Spelling Bee. Surprisingly poignant and sympathetic, the Oscar-nominated movie features smart children radiating normality in the presence of their parents, who are at best quirky, at worst damagingly domineering:

• One mother spent five minutes extolling the academic prowess of her child. She and her husband sat on the couch, beaming through the interview. A terrier licked her shin the whole time.
• When asked how his daughter became such a good speller even though he had immigrated from Mexico twenty years ago and still couldn't speak English, a father said, "Well, I've been herding these cows for twenty years, and they still can't speak English, either."
• Finally, one man hired a daily spelling tutor for his son. Plus a specialist to cover the words of French origin. And tutors for the Spanish and German words. Oh, and he paid 1000 people in India to chant and pray for his child's success.

Knuckles white and exhaling fiercely every time someone successfully spelled cabotinage or kookaburra, the audience at the Portland International Film Festival giddily bonded with these children. I remembered the time I lost my school's spelling bee, choking on bobolink, a bird that would haunt the rest of my middle school years. I blamed the judge's initial mispronunciation of the word, a coping strategy shared by another child in the movie. With interviews running the gamut from the first winner in 1925, the competition's official word pronouncer, and the gun-and-explosives-loving brother of one Missouri contestant, the film delves into hilarious details and left all of us entranced.

We're all about the bowdlerization here

Once again, lacking anything of substance to report to you, my dear and loyal reader, I'll just reprocess the contents of my server logs. Here are this week's bizarre search queries that sent people to this site. And weren't they surprised:

• macgyver hair
• barcelona mullets (clearly related)
• cat phlegm
• flame boy fighting wet willy
• mayonaise origins
• hitler's mother pictures (Uh, yeah.)
• bowdlerize
• daryl coopersmith (C'mon, you remember.)

"Cheese-eating surrender monkeys"

Gawker describes the French. Correction: Groundskeeper Willie said it first.

Apropos lyric

"Love's the greatest gift of the ugly to the beautiful." -- The Real Tuesday Weld

Ethical dilemma

Something funny and gross happened today. Normally, it'd be perfect blog material, and I'd like nothing more than to dish it. However, if would embarrass someone who might maybe read this site on occasion. So, I'm torn. Write a better blog or be a better person? Think I'll split the difference and just talk about it at parties. (Don't worry, if I've talked to you in the last three months, this isn't about you.)

Control

Tried out Blogger's new issue reporting service, Blogger Control, today. Yet another reason I'm glad to be using Pro. Nice interface: the form was easy and had options that made sense. I'd been frustrated by a simple problem in one of my previous posts -- my own error, but impossible to fix myself in Blogger. Let's see how long it takes someone to investigate the error. Think talking it up here will help?

Update: Problem resolved. It took about a day and a half, and the engineer left a nice response. My only recommendation would be to make it more clear that users will get an email when the problem's fixed. I figured Blogger had my email address somewhere in my account information, but would have liked the option to specify a different address at the time I submitted the problem. But that's pretty minor, and overall I'm happy with the service. Viva la pro!

A post that has nothing to do with the upcoming holiday

Needed a little music therapy this morning. Opted for the coddling melodies of the I Am Sam soundtrack and Matt Nathanson's Ernst (recommended by Morgan, thanks!). Just in one of those moods where I need something subtle and heartfelt. Talked to the not-really-in-the-Decemberists guy at my Lindy class last night. He's very softspoken, and while he doesn't effuse smiles, he's got that distinctly interested look just under the surface.

You also agree that you worship Richard Simmons

Airtoons: Please be sure to avoid getting drunk if you are ugly.

Ramen to Virgins in 60 Seconds

This week on This American Life: Using the "rundown" conversational method, jump from questions like "What did you have for breakfast?" to "How many of your sexual partners were virgins?" in less time than you'd think.

Bold

The Mighty Jimbo: "Of course, to have made a TOTALLY american commercial they should have slaughtered all the bison."

Baby's on fire

Decked out in our glittery best, Katie and I went to see Portland director Todd Haynes's glam rock homage, Velvet Goldmine at the closing of the Reel Music Film Festival last night. Haynes made a surprise appearance, delighting us with an anecdote about Christian Bale's persistent and deceivingly authentic accent for character Arthur Stuart: "On the weekends, he'd drop the act and wear normal clothes, but he kept that accent the whole time. Even when his childhood dog died, he mourned in that Manchester tongue."

Not really all that hip

I'm more of an aspiring hipster.

And next time? Stay with the group.

Heather has the best 404 page I've ever seen.

Lookalikes

Is my universe converging, or is it wishful thinking? I think this guy from my newly favorite local band was in my Lindy Hop class last night. He and I were both doing the arty black-pants-white-shirt thing; we looked like waiters. Update: Nope. Different guy.

Rob Lowe Hair Gel

Queries that led people to this site last week:

• nope no
• will i get caught stealing a cd from fred meyer
• will i get caught stealing at fred meyer
• how can i tell a guy i wanna have sex through a love letter?
• soup men for porno movies
• rob lowe hair gel
• accident hanging from power lines
• slimed or forthcoming or burke or mayor or campfire (Note: I get a lot like this. Not sure why -- do you know?)