Here is the secret-not-so-secret online Nunnian shrine made by the loving 05 UMich TASPers. Enter our homology. We are Triumphant in Turquoise--and all other colors. WORRRRD.

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

A long overdue whid of the day

I recently found this one and I must share with you guys:

Parvenus n. One that has recently or suddenly risen to an unaccustomed position of wealth or power and has not yet gained the prestige, disnity, or manner associated with it.

It's such a snooty word too: Look at that clueless parvenus. He's far below our champagne-sipping circles

And yet, so useful! It's a more pretentious verious of well, pretentious. That in itself makes it worthy of our WOTWWFLI(Word of the whenever we feel like it) award

Notre Dame, Disneyland; and Jim Morrison's Grave

I write from a scary Internet café in Paris, la ville des lumières, with a keyboard that allows me to enter accented characters, but has the letters mixed up in a strange way. As such, please excuse a few semicolons-for-colons and Qs-for-As. : ) We're renting a nice little apârtment for a few dqys here in the 11ème arrondissement; just down the street from the cemetery of Père Lachaise, where several people of some célèbrité are interred, including Oscar Wilde; Rossini, Chopin, Modigliani, Gertrude Stein, Molière, Proust, and, oddly, Jim Morrison. We wandered through the cemetery yesterday bringing a little bag of madeleines to eat around Proust's grave - pîctures will be forthoming. Also we did some more touristy stuff, including Notre Dqme and Disneyland Paris (my European-born two-year-old brother needed a quick fix of American pop culture), which brings me to an interesting question - what do French pirates say in lieu of "Arrrrrrgh"? It would sound rather less intimidqting in a French accent . . . Anyway, Paris is une ville agréable, and if it is less clean than Dutch cities, the Communist Party campaign posters and endearing French accents make up for it.

Don't have ti,e for a top 5 - I'm about to be kicked off


-Sam

Sunday, February 26, 2006

Good news out of the blue (devils)!

In an unexpected turn of events this weekend, I got into college!

On Friday, Duke University sent me a letter that tells me in not-so-subtle terms that I will be admitted come official-letter-sending time, save some major felony or grade flunkage. I'm over the moon at this point, but it gets better. The selling-our-university to-you package also includes an all-expenses-paid trip to campus in early April, at which I fully expect to see some of you TASPers. I want to leap on a trampoline all of a sudden or maybe do a few of Bern's ninja rolls.

In any case, I'm overjoyed that my secret basketball skills paid off so well, and I'm a big fan of this February notification business. Woohoo! April, I am afraid of you no more!

Finally y(f)ours,
Charles

PS: If you're going to the preview weekend gig, do tell; we need to meet up sometime

Saturday, February 25, 2006














so i was in washington dc this week for a bit of tourism and catching up with family friends and this picture just came to me in a flash of inspiration:


[constitution-under-construction]



ahahahhaha, i kill myself.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

homecoming and solitude

I had my school homecoming dance this past weekend and it was loads of fun. Once again Ridley, I have to voice my opinion that you should go to prom. Academic programs are a dime a dozen, but to miss a historic opportunity to musick? Shameful.



Partially due to my weekend musicking, I'm now trying deperately to write a research paper on One Hundred Years of Solitude. It brings back memories of TASP, but my mum is even more of a stickler than Adam and Jenny about getting to bed on time, so I better get back to work.

Top five artists for writing papers:
1. Yo-yo Ma
2. James Taylor
3. Charlie Daniels Band
4. Potato Moon
5. Alison Kraus

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

FYI

Just a heads up on Larry Summers...

Summers's Letter

Monday, February 20, 2006

Flambuoyant Buster Bunny

All right, so my sister was showing me this thing on the internet. Apparently, the national department of education has stopped funding the "Buster Bunny" show because he went and learned about some kids who had lesbian parents. The department chair claimed that it was exposing the wrong stuff to the nation's kids, and that PBS wasted 400,000 $. Can you believe it? Check it out at http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2665237. And if that doesn't work, try finding it on www.ifilm.com. Anyways, there's a thing in the end that encourages people, intelligent people like us, to tell the chair what we think. I personally encourage you all to do so too, as both Buster and Arthur are in jeopardy! The youth of the nation may no more view those shows on PBS because lesbians were on TV!

You may need a fast computer to see the video. If your computer cannot process it, email Margaret Spellings, the head of the national education committee board thing at margaret.spellings@ed.gov.

Also, check out this guy Sufjan Stevens. Indi rock artist who, in my opinion, is a perfect example of interdisciplinary music. He would've been an amazing topic in our class discussions atold A squared. He's planning on making an album for each state of America, and he plays over 20 instruments! Many critics have rated his album, "Illinoise", the best of the year.

Henriko

Sunday, February 19, 2006

Bonnaroo

Remember Bonnaroo everyone? well, check out their line up this year. www.bonnaroo.com. It's keepin up the 'interdisciplinary music' tradition, with Radiohead of all bands as the head-liner. Do you any of you understand what this means? Bonnaroo has gone even more commercial! Clearchannel, the radio/live music dynasty of America, has bought out Bonnaroo. But, I really like Radiohead and I'm still going. What do you guys think of the line-up? Personally, I'm not as impressed as last year. However, this is only the first round of artists. There are more to come.


Sam, I know you like the Meters and the DDBB: check out the Neville Brothers. Also New Orleans. Art Neville was the keyboardist for the Meters, and he is a brotha for this band.

~Carnivore

Friday, February 17, 2006

Goo Goo G'joob

I just returned from my school's annual concert of electric music (the rock bands always have to go last in regular concerts so people who hate rock can leave early, so the music department decided to give them their own special performance). Our jazz band performed (yay!) "Girl from Ipanema" and "It Don't Mean a Thing"; I did vocals on the former, which is a first for me. Interesting sidenote: it seems that the art department commissioned a bunch of juniors to paint a big wooden backdrop with an electric music theme for the concert. They chose Gorillaz as the theme, and everybody was fine with that until a teacher actually looked at the painting and was horrified to discover that the animated characters were clenching cigarettes/pipes in their teeth and one was brandishing a knife. Some last-minute editing was performed and the offending subject matter was satisfactorily eliminated, although one character ended up with a toothpick protruding from his mouth.

Cornell Telluride House interview tomorrow using Internet phone service Skype. Should be interesting, especially since I have a cold right now - they may end up thinking I have some kind of strange European accent. If anything, that will help my chances of getting in, I bet. Wish me luck!

Also, I read the official licensing agreement for Pandora, and it turns out you're not supposed to use it outside the US. Curses! I really enjoyed the little trial-period session. I guess this is one more forbidden pleasure that I can only enjoy when I return to my homeland.

1. Just Like a Woman - Bob Dylan
2. Cissy Strut - Dirty Dozen Brass Band (gotta love those guys)
3. I Am the Walrus - the Beatles
4. Portrait of Tracy - Jaco Pastorius
5. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - the Beatles

Groetjes,

Sam

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Procrastination....

Yeah, my essays for the Idyllwild Arts Academy are due tomorrow, and I'm just about to start the third of three essays. I've got everything else they want though, so I'm not worried. It's only Prep-school, right? But anyway, my girlfriend told me that procrastination is usually the by-product of the fear of evaluation, which makes total sense. I mean, of course there's the procrastination where you just don't feel like doing work in general. But what about when you have three papers the next day, it's 9 pm, and you haven't started? I know many of you can relate.

So basically, this Blog manifests my procrastination. But it's all good.

In AP World today, our teacher did the most interesting thing. We musicked. We listen to Tchaistovsky's (i'm not totally sure if that's his name) "Overture of 1812", which was a musical interpretation of the war between Napoleon and Russia. It was pretty interesting, as we read the description of the song and how each section represented certain portions of the battle. Reminded me of the TASP days.

Anyone ever done anything similar?

Herbivore

typing with clay-ey fingers

Congratulations Rid!
I applied for CBTA, but didn't make cut. We might still see each other around campus though.

Definitely just got back from one of the most fun evenings of my life. My geology table, for our group project decided to present all the steps associated with the formation of the Grande Ronde valley IN CLAYMATION!! darn right!
So I just spent the last three hours of my life building grabens, basalt flows, and glacial lakes out of clay and playdoh. And trading bad jokes with college students. Ahh life is good. (do you know how many bad jokes can involve playdoh?)

anyway, I am getting mad swamped with music just now. Next week, over the course of five days, I will be performing in five different concerts with five different groups (youth orch, symphony orch, wind ens, jazz band, jazz combo). And, of those five concerts, I have major solos in three (symphony, jazz and combo). AAAAGH!!!
On the plus side, I can now play my viola concerto on both trumpet and french horn, as well as all my jazz charts on viola.

Its just about 10:00 here, which means for those of you on the east coast; Happy Single Awareness Day!
let us all revel in our romantic status--whatever it may be.

I'm applying to the National Youth Science Camp in west virginia. any of you heard of it, know anything about it or (dare I ask) applying to it?

Top 5 right now

1)Brass Machine--Maynard Ferguson (this one is pretty rare, a friend found it for me on a bootleg disc
2)another unnamed track of the same bootleg disc
3)Overture to De Hebrides--Mendellsohn
4)There's the rub--Gordon Goodwin
5)Freeker by the speaker--keller williams

here's a new one

Top 5 words that are fun to say

5)graben
4)discombobulated
3)flocculent
2)eulogistic
and a clear winner
1)schlep

miss you all

-bern

Monday, February 13, 2006

Winter Olympics and DVDs

Did anybody watch the final performance by the top ranked Chinese pair in figure skating? I didn't catch the actual skate, but in the recaps they showed her being tossed into this massive jump which you could tell from afar was going to end badly because she was all slanted in the air and whatnot. Anyway, she landed in what was basically a very very painful split/twisted knee and had to be pushed off the ice. The amazing and heartwarming development is that she actually decided to finish the skate, despite what was obviously considerable pain, netting them the silver medal. Simply awesome.

Eurosport (the local sports channel) loves to show speed skaters falling down and skidding into the foam barriers that are set up around the track, which is definitely a heartwrenching thing to watch, because you see the sequence of events in slow motion, from the initial slip, to the wide-eyed omg-there-goes-the-gold panicked look that follows, and ending with the humiliating slide across polished ice. However, a part of me just thinks that it looks like amazing fun - the whole zooming along faster than a small car and sliding a considerable distance before bouncing off a crash mat. Anybody concur?

In something completely unrelated, I went and bought the DVD Shaun of the Dead. I remember someone (most likely Meredith) raving about it during TASP. The movie was entertaining, but also surprisingly gory. But then, most of the time you're too busy giggling to notice that some poor guy is indeed being ripped to shreds and/or eaten alive.

I also bought this DVD compilation which contains, along with other stuff, an excerpt from the (apparently) monumental performance of Schubert's Trout Quintet by the likes of Jacqueline du Pre and Itzhak Perlman, amongst others. To my completely untrained eye and ear, it's an amazing recording. Charles, Matt, or anyone else, if you have a copy of the rest of it, audio or otherwise, I'd like to know. :)

That's all,

Till later,

Jason

Sunday, February 12, 2006

I've finally crawled out of my academic quagmire, and it's 130 in the morning

My fellow TASPers,

Sorry I haven't said anything in a while, but I've been pretty busy. Playwrite conferences, prep-school apps, AP Classes, senior play, student senate, compost committee, and music have invaded my life and taken up my time. It doesn't help that I have procrastinated on every homework assignment or other manifestations of responsibility, no fail. But oh well, my apps are almost out, I finished my play, and things are looking brighter.

I'm going to be visiting California in a couple weeks, so heads up to Isaac. I've already spoken to Christina and Lisa, becuase I'll be around their area. Sorry Isaac, my brotha, I'm gonna be pioneering the southern side. I'm mainly taking this trip so I can visit the Idyllwild Arts Academy, my reach school. It's in the mountains of California with a huge emphasis on the arts: I'll finally be able to indulge myself in an educational environment where I can relax on the academics and give my music a little more time. I'm really burning myself out, I have this disorder, it's called: sign yourself up for everything that intrigues you and then realize your lack of time afterwards...syndrome. Oh well.

Are the mere 4 Post-Graduates at Idyllwild a good or bad sign?

In regards to the other schools, Cambridge School of Weston and Vermont Academy basically told my dad I was in, but of course they weren't direct. Additionally, my dad would say something like that just from a hunch. But other than that, Northifeld Mount Hermon is the second choice, it also has a lot to offer. I'll be hearing from these blasted schools in March, or so.

Happy Belated Birthday Ridley! I hope all is well. It's good to know you're out there voting now, hopefully they won't barracade you like they did to all those college students in Ohio last time. I haven't read from many recent Blogs, but have any colleges responded? On that note, who got into where? I know Jason is a Princtetonite and Meredith A Yale-ulian. Tell me more! I'm eager to know.

Anyone read Turn of the Screw? Interesting book by the genius of social interactions, Henry James. For those who have read it, care to offer your own interpretation of the ending? I'm throwing this on the table cuz my class didn't really get to debate the ambiguity. It's always frustrating when a teacher disregards the ending of a book like that, how anti-climatic.

Sam and Jason, congrats on the math competition. I'm not surprised at all. TASP REPRESENTATION!

And before I leave, let me remind you all of your amazing characteristics. I wrote a lot about TASP in my applications, and it really reminded me of how unique you all are.

All righty, lata

Herb

All right, I have to do a top 5
1. Appel Direct - Django Reinhardt
2. Angry - Bobby McFerrin
3. Little Lilly - Widespread Panic
4. Methuo - Grand Theft Bus
5. Boat Song - Gary Jules

Saturday, February 11, 2006

QUALITY

Gnarls Barkley.

End of story. Singer/Rapper Cee-Lo + DJ Danger Mouse = Pure Quality.

Their EP should be coming out in April or March or something, but wow...heard the tracks from their upcoming release and all I can say is they are impressive as hell. "Crazy" is gold, gold I say. Mwahaha, not that my ramblings matter, but if you're looking for some music...keep an eye out, 'cause this will be huge!

In other news the Indy World Poetry Slam in Charlotte was amazing. I was ranked fifth after winning my first bout, then lost on the second night and didn't make finals, but it was an incredible experience and I felt alright considering I was a good ten years younger than most of the other poets there. The poetry on the finals night was out of sight, easily one of the best readings I have ever been to. Next year is in Vancouver, and folks better watch out.

Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is gorgeous and awesome. T.S. Eliot is Quality, always.

Hmmm....life is odd, but very good. Hope all is wonderful with everyone out in the TASP sphere. Take care now.

-Isaac

A Reminder

http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2006/02/10/news/14416.shtml

I am not Prince Hamlet

Seauuu, for the second Friday in a row, I've spent the night hanging out in the cafe inside Schuler's (a local version of Borders) with my friend Hannah feverishly doing research for our lit. class papers. Tonight, however, it was painfully difficult to work. For one thing, we were sitting next to the philosopher plush toys and Nietzche was terribly hilarious looking. Even more distracting was couple singing in the concert area in the back of the store. They called themselves The Buffali, and they were awful. Like Harry and the Potters but not funny. The profound chorus to one of the last songs before they gave up went "shut it up, just shut it, shut it up." Then into this terrible psuedo-rap thing accompanied by really mellow (if out of tune) guitar strumming. The only appropriate response was to quote the Mad Hatter quoting the Red Queen: "She's murdering the tune; off with her head!"

When they finally stopped playing, the music on the sound system was Isaac's "they're playing my song" group.

As I waited for Hannah to check out when we were leaving, I noticed this book on the shelf called iPod therefore I am written by Dylan Jones. And there was a chapter called "how 'i' learned to stop worrying and love Jazz."

On the car ride home, a skunk crossed the road in front of us (despite the return of snow to Michigan).

Can you believe all that stuff happened in the span of about four hours? I certainly can't. But it did; I did not fabricate once in that entire recount. I guess that's just what happens when I spend Friday night in scholarly pursuits.

And also,
I was introduced to J. Alfred Pruffrock today. I think he and I may become very good friends.

In a TASPing mood,
-Emma

p.s. Walking around downtown today I saw this attempt to make Grand Rapids as cool as Ann Arbor:


Sadly, I also found out today that the forensics state final tournament will not be at UMich like I had hoped this year, but at Eastern Michigan University, a wart of a campus in Ypsilanti. What a pity.

Friday, February 10, 2006

Tracking... tracking...

A few days ago, I made a neat little addition to our blog in the form of a site meter, thinking that it would simply count the number of page views and happily tick away at the bottom of the screen. It's down there, right now. Scroll and see.

One click on the icon, and this page shows up. Not unexpectedly.

Anyway, today, I discovered just how much information that electronic counter actually picks up. If you take a few extra moments and look around that page, going to the different displays available along the sidebar and the bottom menu, you soon stumble upon some weirdly interesting information. Like the fact that I, obsessively enough, was responsible for over 11% of the blog's traffic within the four days that the counter was up. Meredith (and perhaps other Exonians) account for something like 15%. Go to "Visitor Tracking" by "domain" and see for yourself.

Then, I went to the list of visitors (by location), and this raised some questions. Because who from Haggen in Tirol (an Austrian province) would read this blog? I haven't a clue.

The referrals page is pretty interesting, because it seems quite a few people arrive here via the St. Louis blog. I realize that all this information must seem really mundane/inconsequential, but it's oddly fascinating the first time you see it.

However, if this whole tracking thing is too creepy, feel free to remove it (from the html code in the blog template). Or tell me and I'll do it.

Jason

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

The Entertainment That Is Blogsurfing

I clicked on one of the links on Meredith's blog, which led to The Man Who Couldn't Blog - a blog that consists of someone articulately enumerating the reasons why he is incapable of blogging, which led to The Bloggies, which are annual awards for the best weblogs of each year, which led to Cuteoverload - a blog devoted to showcasing all creatures furry and doe-eyed, which led to this hamster, posing in what is quite possibly the most adorable photo ever.

Basically, blog surfing can be a lot of fun, as well as an alarming time-drain.

Till later,

Jason

Monday, February 06, 2006

The Internet and I Are Eloping

Hello, most beloved TASPers!

Check out this sweet new thing: Pandora
It's affiliated with the Music Genome Project. You put in your favorite artist and they make a radio station with stuff they think you'll like, based on stuff like matching tonality, use of rhythm guitar, etc. It's pretty badass. I discovered, by entering Ben Harper, that I like this band called Gogol Bordello. They're a Ukrainian-gypsy-punk-cabaret band. Wrap your head around that.

Also, you should check out blingo. It's run by the same people who do Google. You search using blingo, and if you search at the right time, you win a prize, like an iTunes gift certificate or a PSP. It's pretty badass. So you should all check it out.

In other news, I've started a blog. It's a lot more fun than I thought it would be.

"Trying to get you play this section properly is like trying to clip facial hair with a potato peeler."
-my band director to the trumpets

Sunday, February 05, 2006

Math is Fun (pt. 2)

Check it out. Results from the ISMTF Senior Math Competition!

Congrats Sam!

And Sam, perhaps you should tell them that you're not, in fact, from the International School of Brussels. I don't remember who won the chase, but nobody we know, so whatever. Yes, the top ten finishes of both my school's teams were unexpected, so whoopee! :D

I never quite figured out why there were always so many high achieving Koreans at these competitions. I mean, six of the top ten (well eleven since tenth place was a tie) were Korean. It's baffling, and impressive.

As you've probably gathered by now, Sam and I spent the weekend London with a whole bunch of other math students. Remember the last time I was at the American School of London (it was that weekend when all those ASL seniors were hospitalised)? This time around, some bug was sweeping through the school, incapacitating everyone it its way (something like a third of the whole student body was home sick on the day before the math competition began). So of course, participants from other schools started falling sick too. I was sort of able to avoid it, but now that I'm back in Vienna my throat's starting to go all constricted on me... which sucks since the next two weeks are packed full of exams. Bah.

Let's see... the weather in London was unsurprisingly bleak, cold, gloomy... very British, basically. This photo taken in Greenwich sort of tells you what mean.









But don't worry, it didn't sap our spirits much.

Speaking of Greenwich, here's the prime meridian (you know, where you get to skip from one hemisphere to the next and back again).























It's indicated by that rather inconspicuous line of markers on the road.

Oh, and that bookstore in which we found the score for "Freelove Freeway"? I finally bought Catch-22 from there. Matt Slayton should approve.

I also watched Munich while in London. It was thrillingly exciting at times, but ultimately, strictly OK. I mean, if Spielberg wasn't going to say anything more in the movie than "killing. bad." then he didn't have to take two-and-a-half hours to say it. But most of the others seemed to really like it.

Now for some more photos.















Those gigantic structures behind us that look like something halfway between a construction crane and the Sydney Opera House actually comprise the Thames Barrier, a supposedly amazing feat of engineering that ensures flood protection for the Greater London area. I think that we're actually looking at the final product. It's startlingly ugly.

Random fact - that guy standing to the left of the photo is one of Sam's teammates. Called Sammy.

















Sam explaining some answer or another.



































Heeh.

By the way, there was an iMac sitting in my room at the hosts' house, which had a nice iTunes library that I browsed through in the few days I was there. Maura O'Connell is one name that's really stuck in my mind. Dunno if anyone knows her, but anyway, she's an Irish born singer with this amazingly rich, warm, and beautiful alto voice. I mean, it's forget-Allison-Krauss beautiful. Seriously.

Current top 5:

1. Trip Around The Sun - Maura O'Connell

2. Down By The Salley Gardens - Maura O'Connell

3. Hard Times Come Again No More - Maura O'Connell

4. Authority Song - Jimmy Eat World

5. Gone, Going - The Black Eyed Peas (feat. Jack Johnson)

That's all for now. Math exams tomorrow and on Tuesday for school. Oh the irony.

Till later,

Jason

Math is Fun

Fear not, brave TASPers - the European contingent has carried our proud community name to London and back unsullied! I finished 6th, a mere two points (i.e. a half-problem) ahead of Jason, you punk-and-a-half you! Congratulations! And both of your school's teams in the top ten - you guys are a pretty sharp bunch. My condolences on AISV's win - I assume you VIS folk will all black armbands for a month or so. :) You'll have to fill me in on the awards ceremony (or what you saw of it, at least) later - the winners of the Chase round, etc.

So the math competition was pretty ill. Outside of the actual sit-at-desk-and-do-problems part, we had a whole day for sightseeing, including a bus tour with a contest to see who could find the pub with the stupidest name. ("The Frog and Radiator" won, with "The Hung, Drawn, and Quartered" as runner-up.) They took us down to Greenwich, where we saw the prime meridian and Edmond Halley's tomb.
Interesting Fact: In 1884, representatives from around the world met in D.C. and agreed to adopt Greenwich Mean Time as the baseline for global timekeeping. The French, who thought Paris should get the Prime Meridian, voted no, and refused to accept GMT until 1911.

In Greenwich we also encountered squirrels, which, I realized when my classmates cried out in joy and excitement, are a rarity in Holland. These squirrels were as fearless in approaching us as the old A-squared breed, but in a Feed-Me-You-Rich-Tourist way rather than a Get-Out-Of-My-Way-You-Mere-Mortal way. My teammates fed one of them chocolate until he/she bent over and clutched his/her stomach. In the process, we got one of the sweetest photos I have ever seen taken, which is going on the photobucket as soon as I get a copy.

Later, we hung out with some people from the International School of Luxembourg - one of them applied to TASP *holds breath* but didn't get in *sigh*. Also, Jason and I, browsing through a bookstore in the old TASP tradition, came across a transcript of an entire season (?) of "The Office," which included (I am not kidding) sheet music for "Freelove Freeway." Ah, TASP . . .

Groetjes,

Sam

Thursday, February 02, 2006

wonderz

I've been invited to a NYC TASP application reading day!! It's from 11-5, and I apparently get to "meet other TASPers and contribute a few hours to Telluride."

Do you think I should do it? Would you? 11-5 = 6 hours + going and coming. *&*%^@#$%

pirates vs. ninjas: a media facedown

page two of my school newspaper's february edition: Pirates vs. Ninjas, big headline. This is the upcoming issue, and I'll be writing the pirate side (of course!), so I'm humbly asking for aid from all of my fellow global warming haters and pirate fans. In just 400 words, how do I capture all the glory of our sea-faring friends? The wooden legs, the big black hats, the eye patches, the parots, the booty, the really bad eggs! there's so much to tell...How can I properly convey how well they supernate my coracle? This is a serious matter, at stake is the loyalty of 1,200 Grand Rapids students! We can't let the ninjas win a victory like that! So again, please graciously send me your suggestions on what to include about our proud (and victorious) pirate crew.

-Emma

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Spaghetti Monster

Most callipygian TASPers:

I didn't think anyone had posted this before, so I thought I'd post it. It's a satire poking fun at the decision to teach intelligent design in some schools. It has been around for a while, so I imagine people have seen it, but if not, check it out. It's pretty much amazing:

The Flying Spaghetti Monster

Also, I was blog surfing and I discovered that we, the UMich blog, had drawn the attention of a random woman who was, like me, blogsurfing. We have been officially identified by an outside party as a "subculture." Exciting, no?

Dylan and I had a TASP reunion a week and a half ago, which was terribly exciting. The T, being terribly confusing, ended up getting us lost, and we took it the wrong way. No, seriously, I've seen riots that are better organized than the T. But anyway, we found Chinatown and stumbled into this amazing restaurant. I couldn't stop raving about it for days. Also, a man (promoting a children's circus) in North Station taught me how to juggle while I was waiting for my train back to NH. So, after half an hour of public lesson time, I am a juggler. It took a creepy turn, however, when a man appeared with a ballon-blower duct-taped to his shirt, and he made me a balloon hat. I'm serious. It was all excellent fun, if a bit dodgy.