Sara Ryan

Most of you have no doubt already seen Weird Al’s latest. It cracks me the hell up, possibly in part because my boxing teacher is a big fan of the original song. Steve’s comment: “At this point, he’s had a longer career than many of the people he’s parodied.”

Just about everyone who knows me in real life has heard me rhapsodize incoherently about the virtues of HBO’s so-much-more-than-just-a-cop-show, The Wire, now in its fourth season. But the show deserves more than a burbly: “It’s awesome. I mean it’s like, awesome, and you should totally watch it, omg.” I enjoy the show tremendously as [...]

From what I hear, these statues are, indeed, modelled on real people from the neighborhood. I forget they’re here for months at a time and then rediscover them.

Saw this on the way home yesterday and took it as an anti-gentrification gesture. On its little roof, there’s a “For Sale” sign. I somehow failed to notice until just now that it’s also a birdhouse. Perhaps it’s meant to suggest that even the birds are getting priced out of the neighborhood? vj_pdx, any theories?

You can’t tell from this, of course, but the leaves are turning. I love fall. What are you up to as the days get shorter?

and the music starts to get louder and louder, and more and more discordant, you have to wonder — is the barista really hoping to drive everybody out and get home a little early? Bonus points for shutting off lights and making as much clatter as possible stacking dishes.

As those of y’all who also read jemale‘s journal already know, we went to Bend for the day. We were looking for an antiquarian bookseller, but found Joe Sacco instead, and that was really quite an excellent trade. I know you can’t really tell who he is from that photo, but trust me on this. [...]

So this morning I was using DDR in workout mode. And it suddenly struck me: all those years when I was playing violin and trying to learn complicated rhythms, how much faster would I have learned them if I could have DANCED them?? I remember sometimes teachers would have me clap out rhythms, but dancing [...]

A collection of rabbits’ feet (fake, I think and hope — I didn’t look too closely) hanging from a street sign in Northeast Portland. Do you have any lucky objects? What are they, and what luck have they brought you? Post pictures if you want. Or a thousand words, instead. :)

I have been listening, at night, to the audio versions of Alexandra Fuller‘s books, Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight and Scribbling the Cat: Travels with an African Soldier. I’ll come suddenly awake at three thirty to hear Lisette Lecat’s clear, dispassionate voice describing some horror, or something hilarious, or a mordant combination. Because [...]