November 2009
21 posts
Grandpa is also good at solving relationship...
GE: You're great. How are we going to find you a boyfriend? If I were a kid, I'd be your boyfriend.
JHE: Thanks! But that would be illegal.
GE: Ah, true. [Pause] Have you tried Australia?
3 tags
On artificial bakery flavor
So, I’m staying in a motorway hotel (motel, no doubt) in the northern Chicago suburbs where I’m visiting my grandparents. Motel perks include a swimming pool that is not open, proximity to a TGI Friday’s, and a free breakfast. The highlight of the free breakfast is the waffles. There are two waffle makers and a contraption like a cafeteria juice dispenser that dispenses raw...
On animal behaviour
Maisie the dog was a jumper and a bolter, so it was always necessary to pause before entering the house, to ensure that she wasn’t about to leap out the door and either paw me in the face or run down the road. So when I got home last night, I did the pause. And then realised that I could walk straight in without assessing her location, or having to pause to pat her, first thing, before...
On why I don't live in New York
New York is great. It is marvelous and funny and astonishing, and every time I come here I walk up and down the well-organised city blocks (goodness knows, London could learn something from New York about organising city blocks) and think that I should move to New York. I sit at slightly dirty tables in famous delis (London could also do with some famous delis) and munch bagels and talk to...
On the flight to New York
I managed to get my needles past security, so I was knitting at a rapid clip.
What are you making? said the man sitting next to me. We were in the back of the plane. It was loud.
A blanket for a baby, I said. I am going to visit my friend who just had one, but it is going slowly so I will probably give it to him for his sixteenth birthday, I explained.
Is it your first? the man said.
Yes, I...
On becoming a vegetarian
I decided to become a vegetarian last month, after watching The Cove. The film’s message about the degredation of the environment as a result of fish consumption was so convincing that I walked out of there, turned to Lauren (whose environmentalism has led to her being a vegetarian for years), and said, I think I am going to be a vegetarian.
Good idea, she said.
But being a vegetarian is...
“Women can’t rise far enough to suit me,” he said. “I’m a...”
– Martin Amis says new novel will get him ‘in trouble with the feminists’ | Books | guardian.co.uk
Do we really still need to discuss how saying that you really love women does not excuse being a misogynist, just as claiming to really love members of a particular race does not serve as a...
On being a dog person
Not kidding: today there was an Airedale terrier in the place I went for lunch (Mrs. Marengo’s) and as it (and its owner) were leaving when I did, I followed them down the street in what would have been a totally creepy way if the Airedale was a person, but which seemed totally reasonable - no, in fact necessary - because I just really wanted to pat the adorable dog. And then I did and I...
On a thing that I find a little weird about the UK...
The convention of putting your A-level and GCSE grades - ALL of them - on your CV.
In the US, this would be the equivalent (in terms of the amount of learning you’ve done) of not only listing your SAT scores and what you got on your AP exams, but noting what your GPA was when you were in the tenth grade.
When I was in tenth grade, I failed the first quarter of math. Flat-out failed it: I...
On the purposes of books
JHE: I'm terrified of moving, because I have so many books. Four years' worth of books.
A: And I suppose many of them are ones you've accumulated are from reviewing, aren't they? So not actually books that you want...
JHE: Exactly. Not only am I not going to read them again, they don't look impressive on my shelf...
A: ...which are really the only two purposes of books.
On Take Care of Yourself
I saw Take Care of Yourself today at the Whitechapel Gallery. I expected to find it interesting, in light of my professional expertise, but I didn’t expect to find it so familiar, and not a little bit painful.
The artist, Sophie Calle, received a most horrible break-up email from a lover, and was inspired to share it with dozens of women from different fields of expertise to get their...
Women's rights, hung out to dry | Jean Hannah... →
“We all love a nice cup of tea but in the cut and thrust of office life it can be...”
– If you only do one thing this week … make tea for your colleagues | Money | The Guardian
Here’s the thing, folks. I have lived in the UK for six years. I have worked in offices in the UK for nearly five of those years. I do not understand the tea round. This article makes it...
My top 10 books of 2009
Inspired by Publisher’s Weekly, who have just published their list of the top 10 books of 2009, here are my own top 10 picks:
1. Himglish and Femalese: Why Women Don’t Get Why Men Don’t Get Them by Jean Hannah Edelstein
2. Himglish and Femalese: Why Women Don’t Get Why Men Don’t Get Them by Jean Hannah Edelstein
3. Himglish and Femalese: Why Women Don’t Get...
“Back when I got into journalism, the idea that a fistfight in a newsroom would...”
– Washington Post editor Henry Allen, 68, who punched Style reporter Manuel Roig-Franzia on Friday night for filing “the second-worst piece I’ve ever had handed to me in 43 years.” (via andrewromano)
Good old-fashioned print journalism. I like to think that they were wearing bow ties and suspenders...
“And what was the big story concerning women during the last conference season?...”
– Good luck, Liz Truss | Tanya Gold | Comment is free | The Guardian
For once, I think Tanya Gold is spot-on.
“Dear Jeanie,
I’m a total Blogelstein fan as you know, but today …...”
– Thanks, Mumelstein! (duly corrected)