August 2008 Archives

Acoustically Yours
August 28, 2008 | permalink

I am talking about the perils of acoustic arrangements today over at The Music is the Message...

Posted in Miniblog
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Thunder on the Mountain
August 26, 2008 | permalink

A lot of the people that I work with, and nearly all of my crew, are in this business because the hours are flexible, and it pays well, and the work can be fun; but really they want to be doing something else. By which I mean really they are doing something else, they just haven't figured out how to make a living at it. But once they do, they are soooo out of here.

I've been thinking about this lately, reflecting on the magnificent variety of people that working in this business has allowed me to meet and interact with. I have had the pleasure of working with a shockingly large number of brilliant and creative people over the years. Of course there have been lighting and scenic designers; that's a no-brainer, given the nature of the work. But there have also been several painters, a sculptor, writers and playwrights, two glass-blowers, several photographers, a lawyer, a doctor, a couple of scientists, a dancer or two, musicians, magicians, a card shark, a librarian, a computer programmer, a few filmmakers, a trapeze artist, cooks and bakers, and a genuine bearded lady. And those are people that I know (or knew) personally, most of whom I counted as a friend.

Some of them have moved on, of course; the nature of their calling not being compatible or leaving them with the time or desire to load in shows; some are still with me, still not quite ready for whatever reason to take the plunge. And some of them are mostly gone, but come back every once in while to play. But no matter where they are, I feel honored to have had the opportunity to work along side them.

Posted in Musings & Working
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Loud and Proud
August 22, 2008 | permalink

I am over at The Music is the Message today, with a post about some of the guilty pleasures in my music collection entitled, well, Guilty Pleasures (Emphasis on the Pleasure!).

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Recipes on tif.ca
August 21, 2008 | permalink

Check out this awesome Candy Sushi from tif.ca. It looks like a lot of fun. Oh, and you should also look at the Guinness Stout Gingerbread Cake.

Posted in Miniblog
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Walking in the Fields of Mars...
August 21, 2008 | permalink

... is like what Fashion Week feels like, more and more each season. It feels more and more foreign and unnatural every time.

Forgive me if I am repeating myself, but the older I get... the more grown up I get, I guess, the more responsible I want to be about the resources I use and the waste I produce and the impact I have on the world around me. It's actually causing me a fair bit of angst, I realized. Because I love my job, Gentle Readers. Using my brain to solve technical and logistical problems under pressure, doing physical work, leading a team, passing on my knowledge to others... I don't want to have a job where I don't get to do all those things.

And yet, as much as I love doing what I do, the people I do it for I mostly find reprehensible, if not downright despicable; and the sheer waste and frivolity of it all... I have a harder and harder time justifying the mindset. Not that I am ready to walk away; because I do enjoy the work on a deep level; just not some of the people I work with. But I used to think I could do this forever, and now I know I can't.

Posted in Fashion Week & Working
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Continuing Adventures in Fermentation
August 14, 2008 | permalink

I bottled the Buckwheat Mead on Sunday. It turned out to be, if I do say so myself, delicious. Actually, I don't need to just say so myself; I had some of my crew over the other night and served them some, and the feedback was extremely positive. Which is good, because there is a lot of it.

I intended to make bread tonight, but as I was wandering around the grocery store wondering what I was forgetting, I had a better idea. You see, Gentle Readers, it has been so long since the closet was void of something fermenting that it just didn't feel right. So I got a couple of gallons of cider and set about making some apple wine.

The process is even simpler than the mead; all you really have to do is add yeast to the cider and let it do it's thing. It took longer to sterilize the equipment than it did to get it going. Which is, you know, pretty awesome. Don't get me wrong; I really like the process of brewing, and making beer, even without drinking it, is something I find deeply satisfying. But I am getting a kick out of how easy mead and apple wine are to make. There is a lot of payoff for little effort.

Oh, I should clarify; I am not making a carbonated Woodchuck-like hard cider here, but a true apple wine. It will be flat, and according to my preliminary hydrometer readings, ought to end up at about 11 - 12% alcohol by volume. Not as strong as the last batch of mead, which ended up at about 15%, but a perfectly respectable beverage nonetheless. And, since it is starting with much less sugar in it than the Buckwheat Mead did, I expect it will also be a lot drier and also finish a little quicker; perhaps three weeks or so.

Rest assured that I will keep you updated...

Posted in Food and Drink
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Man on Wire
August 14, 2008 | permalink

I saw Man on Wire (James Marsh, 2008) last night, the documentary about Philippe Petit's illegal rigging of and walking on a high wire between the Twin Towers in 1974. What a crazy, megalomaniacal bastard! But really, it's a great film, and Philippe is a highly engaging story teller. His band of accomplices are no slouches either; I highly recommend it (no pun intended).

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The Music is the Message
August 13, 2008 | permalink

Good morning, Gentle Readers.

Today is my debut on The Music is the Message, a collaborative music blog. So please head on over and check it out, and while you are there take a look at my co-conspirators: Boo (A Girl Named Boo), Felicia (My Boring Life), Jez (Southshore Ramblings), Kelsi (This Could Take a While), TK (Uncooked Meat), and Ervie (Architecture Everyday).

I will be posting there about once a week, but there is a post by someone in the group just about every day, so check back there often...

Posted in Blogging
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This Hard Land
August 11, 2008 | permalink

I took the bus to Bear Mountain this weekend, hiking around for the day. Nothing strenuous; more of a walking than a hiking. The places I was (the path around Lake Hessian, and the trail through the zoo up to the ruins of Fort Montgomery) are wilder than, say, Central Park, but really not by much. Which is not to say it wasn't fun, or that I was disappointed. It was exactly what I wanted. A day outdoors, out of the city, that wasn't going to kick my ass.

I hadn't been there in something like ten years, and I forgotten about a lot of things that are there, most notably the zoo. Which is probably the saddest zoo I have ever seen in my entire life. I say this as someone ambivalent about zoos in general. On the one hand, I very much think that animals ought to be free and wild. On the other, I think it is important for people, especially children, to see them in person; their majesty does not come through in video, and the vast majority people do not have the means to see large and exotic animals in their natural habitat. So a zoo can be a place of great wonder and inspiration, if it is done right.

The zoo at Bear Mountain is not. It is full of cramped cages and depressed animals.

To be fair, all the animals have either been rescued from injury or were born in captivity, and are incapable of living in a wild environment; without their caretakers, these animals would perish in short order. But still, it is pretty miserable. The worst, to me, were the birds with damaged or missing wings, hobbling around in their cages looking just so broken. Followed very closely (I know you will be shocked by this, Gentle Readers) by the bears, who, while not damaged, were so obviously miserable that it was heartbreaking. And yet, most of the other people there seemed not to notice how sad they were. They didn't seem to notice how much the bears would have liked to get out and chase them around a little, either; but I could tell.

Or maybe I was just projecting...

Posted in Bears & Out of Town
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Standing on the Shoulders of Giants
August 8, 2008 | permalink

I am continually fascinated by the way the mind works, by the way it processes all kinds of things in the background. How you can know things you are not conscious of knowing, and be aware of things you don't realize you are aware of. Like, say, waking up at the right time even though the electricity went out and your alarm clock is kaput; how do you know what time it is?

I know that there are a lot of theories and models about the way the conscious and the subconscious interact and share information, but the way I like to picture it is like a boat on a deep, dark lake. Not scientific, to be sure, but it's a visualization that works for me and that I like. So take that, science!

The way I see it, the people on the boat do their thing; navigate, go fishing, have picnics- what ever. Thoughts and dreams and memories all sometimes bubble up, and are taken into account and incorporated into the plans of the people on the boat or discarded as it pleases them. They go where they like and do what they want, floating on top of the lake of the sub-conscious. Most of the time.

But sometimes the lake has something that it really wants you to pay attention to, so it drives you where it wants, with wave and wind. You can try to ignore it, or even fight it, but eventually you will have to go in the direction it wants. You see, the lake, even though it is usually content to let the boat do as it pleases, is much, much stronger. So if it wants your attention at a certain spot, it is going to get you there one way or another.

Posted in Musings
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April 2005
August 5, 2008 | permalink

For anyone who is curious about a younger, unhappier bear, the archive of April 2005 has been re-integrated. I had forgotten that there is about a year of stuff from the first incarnation of blog that remains in limbo and unpublished from the migration to a new domain. So, um, enjoy. Or not.

Posted in Miniblog
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Turn On Me
August 1, 2008 | permalink

The first stage of fermentation of the (not-quite-yet-but-soon-to-be) Buckwheat Mead is complete; I moved have it out of the primary fermenter and into the glass carboy, where it will continue it's transformation.

In the strictest sense, this isn't necessary. Fermentation would continue if it was left in the primary container, and I would still end up with a good mead. However, transferring to a new, clean vessel allows one to leave behind the dead yeast and other solid by products that have accumulated thus far, and will leave you with a clearer end product, in terms of both visual clarity and taste. It also stirs everything up, and so in effect 'nudges' the yeast (which is slowing down at this point) into a second round of high activity. Additionally, it frees up the primary for the next batch of whatever you are making, which is important if you are doing your brewing in a small New York apartment like I am. And, of course, it creates a good opportunity to taste the mead in-progress.

And what did it taste like, you ask?

When the must was sealed into the primary, it was god-awful sweet, the kind of sweet that makes your teeth vibrate and your eyeballs itch, and totally overpowers any other flavor that might be present; in other words, completely undrinkable. Now, however, I would say about three-quarters of that sweetness has become alcohol. It is still sweet, but not unpleasantly so, and it is currently about as strong, alcohol-wise, as the test batches I made earlier this year, and it still has a bit to go before it is done. The flavor is emerging from behind the sweetness as well; it has these dark, bitter, molasses-y tones that are really interesting. I can't wait to see how the finished mead turns out.

Posted in Food and Drink & The Home Front
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