the elegance of the hedgehog

Upon learning that a movie based on The Elegance of the Hedgehog (entitled The Hedgehog) is coming out soon, I've been reminded that this book has been on my to-read list for quite some time now.  It also started me on a whole train of thought about the Hedgehog and the Fox ("The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing"), but that's a whole other story.

Anyways, I finished reading The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery yesterday, and, despite my absolute love for Terry Pratchett humor, this was one of the best books I've read in a while.  I mean, I can see how it was a NY Times bestseller.  

One of my kinds of books exactly - completely relatable narrators and lots of philosophising: about Art, beauty, life.....yup, the kinds of things I like to think about, plus the kinds of things that I don't know enough about to philosophize about.  And all in gorgeous prose.  Admittedly I cried at the end of the book, but it wasn't one of those completely despairing endings.  Bittersweet.  But not completely depressing.  (For example, I didn't feel as depressed as I did when I read Girl in Translation, which isn't even supposed to be that depressing, I don't think).  The ending was sad, yes, but it held so much hope.  So. Much. Hope.  And redemption.

I mean, who can't love a book that waxes poetic on the joy of drinking tea for a page and a half?

"Yes, the world may aspire to vacuousness, lost souls mourn beauty, insignificance surrounds us.  Then let us drink a cup of tea.  Silence descends, one hears the wind outside, autumn leaves rustle and take flight, the cat sleeps in a warm pool of light.  And, with each swallow, time is sublimed."

and a bit on architecture:

"An open door introduces a break in the room, a sort of provincial interference, destroying the unity of space.  In the adjoining room it creates a depression, an absolutely pointless gaping hole adrift in a section of wall that would have preferred to remain whole.  In either case a door disrupts continuity, without offering anything in exchange other than freedom of movement, which could easily be ensured by another means.  Sliding doors avoid such pitfalls and enhance space.  Without affecting the balance of the room, they allow it to be transformed.  When a sliding door is open, two areas communicate without offending each other.  When it is closed, each regains its integrity.  Sharing and reunion can occur without intrusion."

and about the food critic who lives in the building (who, by the way, is the focus in Barbery's novel Gourmet Rhapsody - which I'm reading next):

"To write entire pages of dazzling prose about a tomato - for Pierre Arthens reviews foods as if he were telling a story, and that alone is enough to make him a genius - without ever seeing or holding the tomato is a troubling display of virtuosity.  I have often wondered, as I watch him go by with his huge arrogant nose: Can one be so gifted and yet so impervious to the presence of things?"

give back the funk

The problem, it would seem, with being an arts editor, and a full on science major on top of that, is that there is a huge tendency to fall into an artistic funk.

I'm not complaining; I love what I'm doing this semester.  It's amazing to be part of the probably imaginary club of I-edit-therefore-I-am.  This is not meant to sound self-important in any way; it is what is is: I just happen to like this administrative stuff more than I thought I would, and as stressful it is to go about half the week wondering if people are actually going to pull through and submit their content, it is also incredibly rewarding and exciting every Friday when the issue comes out and I can say to myself, "wow, I helped organize this."  On the same note, I am now fully immersed in my major, and the psychology, cognition, and brain science classes that I'm taking are all so interesting.

However - when one is caught up in this endless circle of answering press emails, editing articles (sometimes in class...), and, yes, studying brains, it's much too easy to get caught up into the said artistic funk.

No joke, I may actually be starting to miss my art history class from last semester.  Reading fifty pages about the Orientalist movement in the 19th century?  Only a small price to pay for getting to watch slides of beautiful paintings three times a week.

I end up sifting through arts emails wistfully, wishing I could make the opening of Boston Ballet's production of the Nutcracker, or something from Boston Lyric Opera, or the new exhibit at the ICA, or at the MFA, or......

Anyway, enough of me ranting about life.

It's beautiful and sunny outside, and MIT is full of happy prefrosh visiting for CPW (campus preview weekend)!

Hopefully I'll have a semi-artistically-inspired post sometime soon.

extra time please?

Sometimes I wish I could just quit my day job and have lots of artsy fun.  To be more specific - I love my classes, but who likes to do homework?!  I would rather just go arts event hopping around Boston, and write about them.  I keep on getting all these press mailings that I want to go to, but can't, because I have class...or too much work...or symphony practice.

just a few of the things going on in Boston over the next few weeks/month:

MFA - Photography from the Bank of America collection
(plus I still haven't seen the Scaasi exhibit)

ICA - I love this place!  Modern art is not my fave, but I'm learning to appreciate it (ok, I admit, some modern art can make me quite pensive. as long as it's more than a square painted on a piece of canvas).  Plus, the architecture of the building is fantastic.

Harvard art museums - never been.....I want to go....

Boston Lyric Opera - never been to one of these performances, but it looks like it would be a lot of fun.

Charlestown working theatre - Blackadder II on stage!  I have my doubts about such a thought! (the original was so.......unique), but still curious. opens April 8

April 9 - KT Tunstall concert in Boston - Paradise Rock Club!
I sooooo want to go.  Why do I have to have a test the following Tuesday?  Maybe I'll go anyway....

plus movies coming out -
Jane Eyre!  hated the book, really want to see the movie.  My main problem with the book was that he was so much older than her, anyway.  They look more well-matched in this new adaptation.

I started out as one of those museum exhibit reviewers, but now I really have this urge to expand my repertoire and write about other stuff - I already have exhibit review,  album review, and movie review under my belt.  Currently in the works is a review of Google art project - hopefully it won't be too late by the time I have it written (it's far too hectic over here!).

oh, life.

one year

wow - hard to believe that I've been on this blog for a year now!

I started out this blog just for me.  I wanted a way to record the things that inspired me.  As the year went on, what was supposed to be art and fashion that appealed to me expanded to become a record of exciting (and not so exciting) things that happened in my life.  Music.  Walks on the beach.  Sewing projects, successful or otherwise.  And yes, even a scientific post about the eye and visual fields.  So what a surprise that some people (if even a few) actually read this blog!

vivo per lei may be all over the place, but it is most definitely me.  And now that it's all over the place, I'm keeping it that way.

To those who continue following, thank you.  I like sharing a little bit of my life with whoever is curious enough :)

(And followers beware of multiple attempts of mine to impress my musical tastes upon you).

Oh, look...here it comes!



not the original version, of course, but I really like it!  Andrea Bocelli, Hayley Westenra, AND ice skating!  What more can a girl ask?

laziness, stressfulness, and happiness. what a way to start the new year.

Playing guitar.  (To my collection of playable songs I've added Caledonia, Like A Bird Without Wings, Steal Away, and Come By the Hills (Buachaill on Eirne).  Yup, after Edelweiss, Love Me Tender, and Taylor Swift, I've moved over to the Celtic Thunder side.  Unfortunately, my inability to play an F major chord well is interfering with my ability to happily strum away for long periods of time.  I blame my skinny fingers, which are good enough for art projects but rather inconvenient for stringed instruments.

And working on The Sketchbookywooky.

I have a lot of pages left on that thing.

(my somewhat pathetic take on Leonardo's fetus in womb study).

1/1/11

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!!

I'll do a new post soon, I promise.  It's just so busy being at home, oddly enough (not working...still relaxing...but just busy...)

I finally saw Inception today.  It was amazing.  Must watch again so I can catch all the details that I missed.

New Years resolutions for me? nope.  At the moment the goals are to successfully be a good Arts editor this month, finish the sketchbookywooky in nine days, learn more chords on the guitar, and try to not be a socially awkward person.  That is all.  I think.

reading list

So, the holidays this year are a mess.  I don't know what's actually going to happen, but to make a long story short, England cannot clear their runways, and I am going to ring in the new year somewhere on this side of the Atlantic.

Anyway -

My reading list for this year (or rather, Christmas + the year of 2011):

The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat, by Oliver Sacks
Musicophilia, by Oliver Sacks (finish reading....)
Lincoln and Darwin: Shared Visions of Race, Science, and Religion, by James Lander (because it just came in from Amazon a few weeks ago)
Vision and Art: The Biology of Seeing, by Margaret Livingstone

Haha, just a bit of light reading, right?!

That's because it doesn't include all the Harry Potter books I plan on re-reading...
(speaking of which, I still haven't seen the movie! MUST SEE IT!!!)

more cool website distraction.

um, yes. i can't wait....

http://www.wefeelfine.org/

this is cool.

http://twistori.com/

feeling uninspired.

last day of classes today.

melancholy introspective

another playlist, just because.

the newest additions (as of two days ago) - "This Time" and "Elgar - Something Inside," performed by Jonathan Rhys Meyers for the August Rush soundtrack.  I am officially obsessed.

i don't know how they do it

all that dancing while talking business......

i tried that at ballroom class and it completely failed.  i definitely cannot think of timely responses and not lose track of steps and counting at the same time.

(i love becoming jane.....although i think i cry without fail at the ending each time, when she sees him again and meets his daughter....)

story of my life...

top 25 most played

after a year and a half -

i think it would have been interesting to have taken a look at this a year ago, and intervals after that, to see the evolution of my music tastes....or would it have been so very different, even?

wheel of emotions

created by Robert Plutchik in 1980 - composed of 8 basic emotions and 8 advanced emotions.

yup, I think that would put me in the purple/blue range right now.

in honor of halloween :)

No dressing up this year, but at least we carved a pumpkin...so that's one quarter of my Halloween completed.  There was a pumpkin carving contest at my dorm, and we just went down to eat pie and harvest pumpkin seeds from a pumpkin...but once we finished carving our pumpkin, what the heck, we may as well enter it into the contest.  And we won.  For most artistic.  HA! (i.e. most "special" because we didn't use a stencil...).

A basic design, consisting of two eyes and a raised eyebrow.  And very large ears.  The ironic pumpkin, I like to say.  But the pumpkin isn't really that ironic.  I just like that word.  Point is, let me present Hugo Rupertson the Elder.

 innards + the planning stages

 A bright future of yummy pumpkin seeds!

 part II complete.

part III, the first ear.

 And another...

Hello Hugo, welcome to this world!!

in the mood for food - biscuit day

I don't know what's up with me and my obsession with food lately.  Seriously.  It's more overpowering than, say, my desire to own a Vespa.  So this morning, instead of writing my art history essay comparing an original painting with its reproduction on postcard (and how reproduction changes the meaning of art...), I was looking up different recipes online.  See, a computer is a dangerous thing.

I wanted to make some real bread, and then realized that I would either have to deal with the hassle of yeast, and kneading, or buy some buttermilk, which is entirely useless for purposes other than baking bread-y type stuff (in my opinion).

The winner - biscuits (the american kind).  such comfort food.  and it uses so few ingredients (although I did end up having to go out and buy some baking powder).

Drop Biscuits:
1 cup white flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1/4 cup milk (or more if needed)

Preheat oven to 450°F. Measure flour and baking powder into a bowl. Add butter to bowl and rub butter into flour with your fingers or a fork. Add milk to make a thick batter, stirring only until dough sticks together. Drop by teaspoonfuls on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake 7-8 minutes.

makes 9

I ended up making two batches - 9 weeny little biscuits just aren't enough.

And this is all that's left.  Yes, that's right.  Of the biscuits consumed today I must have been responsible for at seven or eight of them.  Well - they're best hot out of the oven, anyway!

I think I'll make more biscuits next weekend.  Or something else.  Maybe I'll have enough time to make more than one thing :)

how does this happen...

first day of classes; less than a week of living in my dorm room, and already my desk looks like a tornado swept across it.

okay, an excuse to put off the neuroscience and biology reading at least another hour.  must. clean. room.

to escala's [intense] palladio.

pockets

Now this should be interesting.

Here's a project that takes the junk that people have in their pockets, and puts them on display - brought to you by the International Association for Empty Pockets, to "form a communal burial ground for the detritus of everyday life – and mark a new era of freedom for your pants."

Art House Coop - the pocket project

morning at malibu + the boyfriend blazer project

out of summer school at last! and the first good grade that i've seen in...well, too long.

this morning we drove over to malibu and went walking on the beach.  just my kind of beach - sandy, but with lots of beautiful rocks and kelp and stuff to keep it interesting.

the fog was amazing...

and i love the houses on the beach...

although the undersides of them may just be infinitely more interesting.

ocean!

...and random bit of dead lobster or something.

changing the subject.

later, this afternoon i got a chance to start catching up with my sewing projects, etc.

today's project - fixing up my mom's old blazer jacket that i found at the bottom of my dress-up bin in my closet a few weeks ago (during The Cleaning Frenzy, and yes, i still have a dress-up bin).  the jacket was nice, but HUGE.  i wore it for a day and then realized that it looked ridiculous on me.  apparently i have an unusually small back, so everything is always too big right around there.  the solution - opening up the back side seams...and cutting.

aaahh!  hopefully i'm not in over my head....

all pinned up...and the proper bits cut off.

ta-dah!

(couldn't get a good back view because, well, one can only do so much when the only thing available is a mirror...)