just stumbled upon this website via vulture...its called twitterlit.com. twice each day, the editor(s) put up the first line from a novel without telling you the title or the author. next to it they put up the amazon link to the book.
its not the most exciting or visually pleasing site, but its a good way to waste a bit of time online.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Monday, May 28, 2007
an anecdote regarding my trip to krakow
in order to prolong our weekend traveling time, we decided to take a sleeper car to krakow. i had only been in a sleeper car once before: the summer i turned ten, my parents chose to add some adventure to our family vacation in europe by making the trip from prague to paris via train through germany. i have faint recollections of this journey. mainly of sleep and fast-passing scenery. thus, i must admit, i had somewhat romanticized ideas regarding this train ride to krakow.
our train was set to leave prague at 8:55 and arrive at the crack of dawn. it was an ideal traveling situation--a perfect mix between adventure and mindful time management. we would arrive in krakow, drop off our bags, and explore the city from morning to night.
unfortunately, the sleeper car turned out to be about the size of a new york bathroom, unimaginably small, and sufficiently impossible to sleep in. the only thing funnier than the six of us attempting to pile into this cell and climb up onto our so-called beds was the sorry fact that we had willingly paid some 200 extra korunas to be blessed with this experience.
the night was as horrific as you can imagine. the heat was unbearable, the window wouldn't stay open, and we had to keep our door closed to get our 200 korunas worth of closed cabin security. i suffered the night away on a middle bunk, which was situated somewhere in the sahara i'm convinced, wherein i was prevented from sleep not only by my claustrophobic surroundings or the rock-hard bed, but by suffocation. i guess it didn't help that we chose to drink cheap, soapy wine before bed in order to tranquilize our nerves. so, when i wasn't trying to rub my limbs against cold sections of the wall or window, i was helplessly scouring the room for a sip of water--as were the other five inmates in the room.
somehow, after passport check at two or three am, i managed to accomplish something along the lines of sleep, only to be almost immediately woken up by the overseer of the sleeping cabin announcing our arrival in krakow. needless to say, after approximately an hour of searching the streets for our hostel, we spent half of the day sleeping again, this time soundlessly and well worth the price.
our train was set to leave prague at 8:55 and arrive at the crack of dawn. it was an ideal traveling situation--a perfect mix between adventure and mindful time management. we would arrive in krakow, drop off our bags, and explore the city from morning to night.
unfortunately, the sleeper car turned out to be about the size of a new york bathroom, unimaginably small, and sufficiently impossible to sleep in. the only thing funnier than the six of us attempting to pile into this cell and climb up onto our so-called beds was the sorry fact that we had willingly paid some 200 extra korunas to be blessed with this experience.
the night was as horrific as you can imagine. the heat was unbearable, the window wouldn't stay open, and we had to keep our door closed to get our 200 korunas worth of closed cabin security. i suffered the night away on a middle bunk, which was situated somewhere in the sahara i'm convinced, wherein i was prevented from sleep not only by my claustrophobic surroundings or the rock-hard bed, but by suffocation. i guess it didn't help that we chose to drink cheap, soapy wine before bed in order to tranquilize our nerves. so, when i wasn't trying to rub my limbs against cold sections of the wall or window, i was helplessly scouring the room for a sip of water--as were the other five inmates in the room.
somehow, after passport check at two or three am, i managed to accomplish something along the lines of sleep, only to be almost immediately woken up by the overseer of the sleeping cabin announcing our arrival in krakow. needless to say, after approximately an hour of searching the streets for our hostel, we spent half of the day sleeping again, this time soundlessly and well worth the price.
"poland's second city is first choice for the young"
that is the title for an article about krakow appearing in this sunday's new york times travel section.i went to krakow with 5 companions during the last weekend of february/first weekend of march. and krakow, which is poland's second city after warsaw, is definitely a choice for the young. out of all the cities i visited in the past 4 months, krakow had the most hip and up-and-coming nightlife, which was unexpected for a low-hype city such as krakow.
according to the times, krakow is "eastern europe's newest bohemian capital." the article talks about the growing young expat community who have chosen krakow over prague and budapest as the latest cultural frontier. the article specifically refers to kazimierz--krakow's old jewish quarter, which houses the epicenter of the city's hipness. a number of gritty pubs and cool bars are packed into the streets of this small quarter, which is coincidentally where our hostel was located. one of them, which the times articles also refers to, is called alchemia. its a dark, smoky bar that plays good music and is located right on to old jewish marketplace square (plac zydowski). diagonally across from alchemia is another brightly-lit french bar that has good kirs and posters all over the walls, but i can't recall its name. lastly there is singer, a smoky bar named after the old singer sewing machines that sit atop the bar's tables. this is one of the liveliest bars i found in europe and, out of all the places i have been to in the past 4 months, was the one place i could see myself going back to over and over again.
since it was freezing in krakow while we were there, i barely took any photographs. instead, here is the new york times' photo of rynek glowny, or krakow's old town square:
according to the times, krakow is "eastern europe's newest bohemian capital." the article talks about the growing young expat community who have chosen krakow over prague and budapest as the latest cultural frontier. the article specifically refers to kazimierz--krakow's old jewish quarter, which houses the epicenter of the city's hipness. a number of gritty pubs and cool bars are packed into the streets of this small quarter, which is coincidentally where our hostel was located. one of them, which the times articles also refers to, is called alchemia. its a dark, smoky bar that plays good music and is located right on to old jewish marketplace square (plac zydowski). diagonally across from alchemia is another brightly-lit french bar that has good kirs and posters all over the walls, but i can't recall its name. lastly there is singer, a smoky bar named after the old singer sewing machines that sit atop the bar's tables. this is one of the liveliest bars i found in europe and, out of all the places i have been to in the past 4 months, was the one place i could see myself going back to over and over again.
since it was freezing in krakow while we were there, i barely took any photographs. instead, here is the new york times' photo of rynek glowny, or krakow's old town square:
Sunday, May 27, 2007
rip my heart out
watch david blaine rip his heart out on television. look how frightened carson daly is.
can i ask you a quick question? is he serious?
can i ask you a quick question? is he serious?
celebrity sighting
my mom wanted me to take my little brother to the star wars convention in l.a. this morning. instead, i hid under my covers and grumbled that i was busy. and i was busy. i was spending my morning (approximately an hour and a half to two hours) on a little website called myheritage.com.
i'm sure you've all heard of it by now. i had heard of it too a few months ago, but couldn't use it since it does not work with safari and since i have recently acquired firefox, i was able to play on it all morning. and that's exactly what i did.
i came up with a bunch of hilarious results telling me things i never knew about the people i was closest to, like that my boyfriend strongly resembles patrick swayze and that my dear latin-american best friend can be easily confused with a number of asian pop stars. however true these fun facts may be, there is one result that i will not get over...
this is my mother. she is clearly a very beautiful, but very white woman.
this is beyonce. i take it that you all know her.
according to myheritage, out of all the celebrities in the entire world, my mother most resembles the great beyonce knowles. huh. see, i think that instead of finding your celebrity face match, they find your celebrity soul match. because that way, all this means is that my mother is a strong, independent woman and that she can pay her own bills.
i'm sure you've all heard of it by now. i had heard of it too a few months ago, but couldn't use it since it does not work with safari and since i have recently acquired firefox, i was able to play on it all morning. and that's exactly what i did.
i came up with a bunch of hilarious results telling me things i never knew about the people i was closest to, like that my boyfriend strongly resembles patrick swayze and that my dear latin-american best friend can be easily confused with a number of asian pop stars. however true these fun facts may be, there is one result that i will not get over...
this is my mother. she is clearly a very beautiful, but very white woman.
this is beyonce. i take it that you all know her.
according to myheritage, out of all the celebrities in the entire world, my mother most resembles the great beyonce knowles. huh. see, i think that instead of finding your celebrity face match, they find your celebrity soul match. because that way, all this means is that my mother is a strong, independent woman and that she can pay her own bills.
cannes cannes
today was the final day of the cannes film festival and the winners have been announced.
the palm d'or went to a small, low-budget romanian film called "4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days", by a young director named cristian mungiu. the film is about a young woman looking to get an abortion during the country's final days under communism. the stunned winning director was quoted saying, "this is good news for small filmmakers from small countries. you don't need a big budget and big stars to make a story that moves audiences."
here is a clip from the film:
the grand prix went to japanese director naomi kawase for "the mourning forest". the film is about a friendship between a mysterious resident at a retirement home and his caretaker.
in the parallel "un certain regard" competition, another romanian film entitled "california dreamin'" received the main prize.
other winners included julian schnabel as best director for "the diving bell and the butterfly" and gus van sant, who received the special 60th anniversary prize for his latest film "paranoid park".
the palm d'or went to a small, low-budget romanian film called "4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days", by a young director named cristian mungiu. the film is about a young woman looking to get an abortion during the country's final days under communism. the stunned winning director was quoted saying, "this is good news for small filmmakers from small countries. you don't need a big budget and big stars to make a story that moves audiences."
here is a clip from the film:
the grand prix went to japanese director naomi kawase for "the mourning forest". the film is about a friendship between a mysterious resident at a retirement home and his caretaker.
in the parallel "un certain regard" competition, another romanian film entitled "california dreamin'" received the main prize.
other winners included julian schnabel as best director for "the diving bell and the butterfly" and gus van sant, who received the special 60th anniversary prize for his latest film "paranoid park".
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