Noise Footprint
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Below are the 30 most recent journal entries recorded in
Noise Footprint's LiveJournal:
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| Tuesday, September 8th, 2020 | | 1:47 pm |
| | Monday, March 23rd, 2009 | | 6:05 pm |
And that's an order!
From my friend Maria:
"This is a favorite comma misuse of mine...saw it on the window of a nail salon months after 9/11..."
| | Tuesday, March 10th, 2009 | | 7:32 pm |
| | Friday, February 27th, 2009 | | 3:29 pm |
Smokey
Beautiful art by Maria Schneider,
(my first friend with a Wikipedia entry)
in my tiny notebook (much smaller than this), 2-20-09
| | Friday, December 19th, 2008 | | 3:35 pm |
Hairstyles
 From Fairchild's Dictionary of Fashion, 2e, revised (1998; orig. 1975) | | 3:24 pm |
Manbag
 From Fairchild's Dictionary of Fashion, 2e, revised (1998; orig. 1975) | | Tuesday, November 18th, 2008 | | 3:25 pm |
| | Thursday, November 6th, 2008 | | 12:37 pm |
New cat laws in the UK
From the Daily Mail, Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2008:
 From my friend Mike in the UK today: "Another cutting about how our so-called government (like they don't have anything better to do!) may fine or imprison people who overfeed their cats, don't exercise them, or don't provide litter trays. I'm all for animal welfare, but couldn't believe this was for real. Alas, with the lunatics running the asylum that is the UK now, I'm afraid it is." | | Wednesday, October 1st, 2008 | | 12:45 pm |
| | Wednesday, September 24th, 2008 | | 11:50 pm |
| | Wednesday, September 10th, 2008 | | 1:27 pm |
Idiotic phrases, Pt. II
"Escalators are for passengers only."Recording heard in Penn Station, NYC, near the escalators between Amtrak and New Jersey TransitNow, this one has stumped me for the past ten years. Just what kind of passengers are they talking about? Train passengers? NO way. There's no way anyone would make a rule like that. ("Losers ascending to the next floor must take the staircase if you are not or were not a train passenger!") So they must mean escalator passengers, insofar as people on an escalator are riding something and therefore "passengers" aboard it. But...whose twisted mind concocted the notion that someone could in fact use the escalator and at the same time not be allowed to use it due to non-passenger status? If you're aboard the escalator, aren't you by definition a passenger on it? (Even if you're running the wrong way down it or up it, as I like to do when no one's around?) Basically, it's as helpful as saying: "Elevators are for ascending and descending." | | Tuesday, September 9th, 2008 | | 1:17 pm |
Idiotic phrases, Pt. I
"Please remember to take your personal belongings with you."As heard on NYC subways every damned dayCan anyone explain what the point is of using the word personal in this context? Is there any reason it's not completely redundant? The implication is that we could alternately take our nonpersonal belongings with us. And what would that even mean? This stuff gits under my skin. Anyone else? | | Friday, September 5th, 2008 | | 2:23 pm |
| | Friday, May 9th, 2008 | | 5:30 pm |
Pre-positions!
 "taken from a cool old single-volume encyclopedia thing" | | Friday, December 21st, 2007 | | 2:28 pm |
| | Tuesday, May 8th, 2007 | | 6:37 pm |
Sad sad sad
Bad news about a much beloved cat. Log in to see. | | Wednesday, May 2nd, 2007 | | 4:09 pm |
Ice rink news
Good news from the Parks Department: "As you may know, the 46-year-old Kate Wollman ice rink, which has slowly deteriorated over time, will be replaced with two high-tech rinks to accommodate growing crowds. About 100,000 skaters visit each winter. The site of the current 26,000-square-foot rink will be restored as part of the original lakefront as envisioned by famed park designer Frederick Law Olmsted. In addition to the new rinks, the new Lakeside Center will include a building that could house a gift shop, classroom and cafe. All will use green design techniques and be more energy efficient. Work is expected to be completed in 2010. In the interim, it is expected that the existing rink will remain open, at least in the coming year or two." | | Monday, April 30th, 2007 | | 2:29 pm |
FYI
Hey all, Just a note to say that until further notice, I'll be friends-locking my blog. Thanks... | | Wednesday, April 25th, 2007 | | 3:37 pm |
The one flaw
When someone tells you, "His one flaw is using the wavy underscore to signal 'set ital,' " you know she's a copy editor. (No, not my quote.) I do have to wonder sometimes if copy editors just have a different set of standards... or live in an alternate reality. Overheard exchange between twentysomethings today in the office: G: What's Arsenic and Old Lace? M: I Googled it. It's an old movie. | | Tuesday, April 17th, 2007 | | 3:47 pm |
Vocal-cord-based activities
I guess it's the natural thing to come down with postnasal drip and a sore throat right before two vocal-cord-based public activities. Anyone have any tips on how to produce a strong, healthy-sounding voice quickly for a span of four hours? Activities, activities...who doesn't love them to f*cking bits? I wager you're a fan of activities. I might even bet money on it. Tomorrow night's lineup: Not only will my great postnasal drip 2007 be featured, but others will have a shot for part of it too, should they accept the challenge. And I hope they do. First up: 8 p.m. at the Bowery Poetry Club in Manhattan: The WYSIWYG Talent Show -- “Urban Storytelling for the Internet Age.... Now in its fourth year, the WYSIWYG Talent Show is a monthly series of readings and performances by bloggers living in or visiting NYC." Performing with me/before me/and/or/after me will be ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) boutell, special guest straight from the embrace of the City of Brotherly Love, reading a little something called "How to Break Up With a Really Nice Person." This is a piece of writing worth taking notes on, so audience members, bring your notepads/pencils/microcassette-recorders/o ther-outdated-device.  Afterward, time to beat feet to Freddy's in Brooklyn, where I'll be hosting the monthly low-tech big-ass-ham karaoke night. Free, free free. Come sing something and be in the running for the coveted big-ass ham and other mediocre prizes (some might even be vegan!).  Rumor has it that the evening's theme will be...Stevie Nicks. (Don't ask me why; I have no idea.) Come salute the mystical chanteuse who as a child had difficulty pronouncing her given name Stephanie, and called herself Stevie. Among the lavish festival of song titles available, eight Stevie/Fleetwood Mac classics await. I doubt I'll be singing any, but you should feel absolutely free to do so. I guess someone has to. (Pat plans to do the Leather & Lace duet with himself, so that should kill a couple birds right there.) Yours in mucus/music, noisefootprint | | Saturday, April 14th, 2007 | | 6:24 pm |
Born to run
This morning/last night I walked home to bed as the sun rose. This is what sometimes happens when I hang out with Brooke and company, especially when we make our own private dance party in her brand-new house (yes, "house"! in Brooklyn!). It hadn't dawned on me that I was up late enough for that. This is why Donald says he brings sunglasses to his bartending job, because he's never sure whether he'll need them or not when he leaves his shift. I got home at 5:45 a.m., ate a hard-boiled easter egg, went to bed at 6:30, got up at 11:30 with that kind of hangover you get from lack of sleep, then ran the 3.35-mile Prospect Park roadway, which I had never done before, especially not after only five hours of sleep. Treat your body right!! ARRRRRRR!! | | Friday, April 13th, 2007 | | 7:05 pm |
Shearing of the Heather
A friend wrote to me today, "Are you getting a haircut this Saturday?" This was an odd question, I thought to myself, until I saw what she sent me: Annual Shearing of the HeatherShe assured me that although she is a "Heather enthusiast," she doesn't think she can attend this event. har har. There's even a North American Heather Society. Unfortunately, this craziness is happening all the way up in Fort Tryon Park, so it's unlikely I'll go. | | Tuesday, April 10th, 2007 | | 12:55 pm |
Harlot S. Webb
Included among the many reasons that boutell is awesome is that he made me this:  ...Complete with a cute derby name he has suggested, a roller skate, and of course, rock, paper, scissors. I can hardly take it. He's going to get his block knocked off one of these days!!! | | Sunday, April 8th, 2007 | | 8:01 pm |
Not again
A good conversation is not one that starts out with my George-Bush-voting parents asking me over dessert, "So, what do you think about global warming?" Please don't ask me this, ma and pa. Our relationship is much better when you don't mention yet again that Michael Crichton novel you love so much, State of Fear. You bring it up every time you want to back up your opinion that mankind's impact on global warming is a hoax. When you use the word "selfish" to describe politicians and companies who are pro-environment and who are invested in slowing potentially huge problems, it just makes me cringe and want to leave the room. Especially don't do this right after I've spent a month copyediting the annual "green issue" of the magazine I work for. Addendum: Confirming my suspicions, my mom is apparently programmed to nag me about how long I keep my teabag in my tea each and every time I come home. | | Friday, April 6th, 2007 | | 6:53 pm |
Cock ring of fire
Happy Good Friday! God, how I love saying that. I've mentioned this before, but as a kid on Good Friday, I wasn't allowed to go play with friends or anything like that. It was a day on which I had to be quiet and somber and supposedly reflect on the crucifixion, mainly between noon and 3 p.m. My mom once told me I had it pretty good compared with when she was a kid -- she said she had to sit in a chair all day on Good Friday. I guess I started out this year's Good Friday on an appropriately dismal note by waking up at 9 a.m. totally hungover after drinking with my cousin Will at Freddy's last night and going to bed at 5 a.m. It wasn't until this afternoon that I remembered telling Will the story of how someone I knew in college got tricked into having the phrase "cockring" as his university e-mail address, which he couldn't change. Then we started wondering how cock rings work and neither of us knew, and I consequently made several phone calls deeply after midnight in the interest of finding someone who could explain it. Sorry, Josh, for calling you; sorry Sterling; sorry Jim. FInally I hit upon the idea that a peep show would have the answer, so I called directory assistance for Seattle and got the number for the Lusty Lady. A young guy answered the phone and didn't really seem taken aback when I said, "My cousin and I are trying to figure out how a cock ring works," (which in retrospect is not the best way to phrase it if you're not into incest). He calmly explained it, and that was that. Thank you, Lusty Lady, for being the victim of that last night. | | Tuesday, April 3rd, 2007 | | 4:04 pm |
If it's in public, how private is it?
Everyone knows that it's bad manners to pay very much attention to the people packed in around you on a subway or bus. If it's rush hour and you're besieged on all sides by strangers, you find a way to visually focus on something that's not one of the many people who are three inches or less from your face. This is why companies that advertise on the subway have a captive audience -- because otherwise you have to look either at the ceiling or at the arm of a stranger's coat in order to appear adequately disinterested in the individuals around you, and thus not make some poor innocent uncomfortable or risk getting threatened by some thug who thinks you're looking at him. Equally, it's considered bad manners to inspect what the person next to you is reading. Sometimes your gaze accidentally alights on a page of a novel being read next to you, and the reader, overly aware or reactionary, might scrunch up his shoulders and angle the cover more to the left so your sneaky eyes can't get in. It's his private inner world, after all. On the subway. Reading over someone's shoulder is bad behavior, yes, but sometimes in these sardine-can surroundings it can be virtually impossible to not occasionally glance at the printed word when it's so close to your face. As for me, I too get uneasy when someone glances down at my page and catches a sentence or two of what I'm reading, because I'm afraid they'll think I'm reading something stupid. I have a problem not reading words when I see them. This turned into a trust issue in a past relationship. My boyfriend put notes that he'd written, notes from others, postcards, etc. onto a wall. Since they were on the wall, I looked at them. I didn't think anything of asking him about one of the notes, because they were right out there, in a room where many friends and colleagues came and went. He reacted as if I were a stranger reading over his shoulder on the subway. Behaving as though he'd been invaded, he expressed complete contempt for my actions, silently removed many of the notes in determined indignation, and in refusing to discuss it further, built another invisible barrier between us. On the subway, if a person is reading something that jumps out and I can get away with it, I write it down. Recently: - A woman on the B train reading a magazine article called "What He's Feeling During Sex" - A young Hispanic guy on the Q train writing in his notebook the lyrics to what he titled "The Riddler's Anthem" | | Sunday, April 1st, 2007 | | 12:54 pm |
Just what every gal wants to hear
"You know, you were in my top five break-ups, and we weren't even seeing each other." - Name withheld to protect the innocentOdd to hear, but it makes sense. I can think of two boys who fit into my own bad-breakup-but-weren't-actually-dating category. | | Wednesday, March 28th, 2007 | | 12:47 pm |
Phrase of the day
summer teeth — some're yellow, some're brown, some're here, some're there.... [say it aloud] Example: "She has summer teeth." (Courtesy of Richard) | | Tuesday, March 27th, 2007 | | 2:43 pm |
Blood on the tracks
A couple weekends ago I got outta town and went to Chicago. The flight on Delta was less than $100. After a weekend in the company of spinach_boy, Prairie Landing, and Colliculus in a city that's much lower-key than NYC, I felt completely refreshed and relaxed. For one thing, the standard of living just seems higher for what you pay. For another thing, the vintage shopping is genuinely affordable, unlike NYC's vintage scene. Additionally, the Spice House in Old Town is really great (you can taste all the spices, and they're all packaged really cute). I picked up grains of paradise, Singapore seasoning, vanilla paste, and really good powdered chocolate for hot chocolate. But perhaps the most notable experience was when the subway I was riding hit someone committing suicide (successfully) and was shut down for two hours. (Luckily, Chris and Matt picked me up.) Story here: Autopsy: Man Struck by CTA Train a SuicideNow, on to the present. Conversation today between me and the fashion news director, whom I like: Her: It's so warm over here! Me: Yeah, we start baking in the afternoon. Her: Do you know whose thermostat you're on? Me: Amy's, right there. Her: You're so lucky; I have to leave my office and go fight with [the editor in chief] about ours, and she's like, practically anorexic, so she's always cold. | | Friday, March 23rd, 2007 | | 3:08 pm |
Guest post: Inconsequential lyrics
In today's guest post, Richard discusses the idiocy of certain song lyrics about his hometown.* * * * * Q: What did you tell me your opinion is about that "Chicago" song by Frank Sinatra? A: Actually, there are two Chicago songs that were performed by Frank Sinatra, "My Kind Of Town" and "Chicago (That Toddling Town)". Neither song really addresses any way in which Chicago is unique. The songs are more like templates (or Mad-Libs) where the writer can insert a city name repeatedly and then three gratuitous references to that city. In "My Kind of Town" the three noun phrases are "jazz," "The Wrigley Building," and "Chicago Cubbies," and it's the next-to-last paragraph before the first of them is even mentioned. And each time I leave, Chicago is
Tuggin' my sleeve, Chicago is
The Wrigley Building, Chicago is
The Chicago Cubbies, Chicago is
One town that won't let you down
It's my kind of townIt reminds me of that Simpsons episode where Lisa goes to college and winds up at a campus poetry reading. The poet guy warms up the crowd by mentioning a few dormitory names, and the students proceed to go nuts when their dorm is mentioned. "Hey, did you hear that?! He said my dorm! Say another building!!" That's what those two songs seem like: inconsequential sound bites spoon-fed to Chicagoans hungering to feel important and not just residents of "The Second City." Or perhaps they're just the work of a lyricist with the back of an envelope and some time to kill. In summary, "toddling" is a stupid, stupid word. * * * * * |
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