Since complaining about lists is the #1 blogosphere priority in December, I’m going to go a step further and rip-to-shreds my own list. Why? Because there isn’t a single band on the entire list that is fronted by a woman. Not one. There’s a few female band members scattered here and there (Xiu Xiu, Arcade Fire, Frog Eyes, Godspeed) but none of them are the primary songwriters.

But you probably didn’t notice, right? That’s part of the problem (that we both share) — how can we not think of any female fronted bands from this decade as canonical? In pop music, women have reversed rap’s stranglehold on the charts by replacing the likes of DMX with electro-pop dance numbers. In the nineties female vocalists were called upon to lighten the mood of gangster pop songs — usually at the 2:15 mark. Today the roles are reversed. We are much more likely to catch Kanye midway through a Lady Gaga song rather than the other way around.

Still, this mainstream revolution is only a return to equilibrium. The Top 20 charts, if you look closely enough, have probably only returned to a 50% female/50% male balance. It’s not as if women have completely removed men from the game, or the music industry. Which is fine, I’m not advocating anything of the sort. We will continue to need pop stars of both genders (and maybe the in-between genders, too?).

But, if we trace the line from pop music to indie music — a term that I suppose at this point is vaguely defined as artists who write their own songs and appeal to their fans’ sense that their “indie” songs are some kind of higher or more serious art. However you want to divide indie and pop or genres in general, there does seem to be some dichotomy between the two — for one, the lack of true female indie stars. There are a few — perhaps the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Cat Power, and Sleater Kinney — but proportionally (which is the only useful measuring stick it seems to me) women are drastically under-represented in indie music. A lot of girls are listening to indie music (I’ve been to plenty of shows that demonstrate this) and yet where are their bands? Fifty percent of the population and, what, maybe ten percent of the bands reviewed on Pitchfork?

Maura, the ex-Idolator.com editor, wrote a short piece considering this very topic on her blog in 2002. As she points out, and rightly predicts, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs received their buzz from sex appeal in some way and, as soon as they moved from punk sex (S/T Debut) to softer, (more womanly?) ballads (Show Your Bones), the indie community would turn their backs, or at least reprimand the band for losing their “edge”:

“You could feel the boners being popped beneath every writeup of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs by all the guys who loved the stylized “fuck me” pose of their lead singer. (See also: electroclash.) It was eerily reminiscent of the hype around “Exile in Guyville” — so expect, when Karen O ditches her stylist and settles down, tons of ‘what? I never liked them denials’. Every band with a chick singer got compared to Sleater-Kinney, whether they sounded like them or not.”

“But I think it’s very telling that, in the Pitchfork top 50, the few female artists who are named are all people who have been in the indie consciousness for a while. (Are the members of Sleater-Kinney the only women in the world who can play their instruments?)

“Some might criticize me for being essentialist and focusing too much on gender. But isn’t so much of what makes music vital for people the way it speaks to them, or for them? The overarching message I got from the collected weight of so much of the music I heard this year — even a lot of the records I liked! — was “If you can’t look hot while you’re dancing to our beats, you can’t be part of our revolution.”

“And, seriously, fuck that noise.” (Maura 2002)

Seven years later and the world hasn’t changed much. The Pitchfork lists continue to primarily cover male bands. But is it Pitchfork’s fault? You can make the case, since almost all of their critics are male (there’s a few ambiguous names I don’t want to make assumptions about…) and we males tend to identify more with our own sex.

As a devoted Pitchfork reader and as someone who tries to get his hands on as much music as possible, I don’t have any female artists to suggests as replacements for the male-centric bands fawned over on the P4k news page.

Part of it has to be that female vocalists have never done it for me. There are certain emotions, pure rage and reckless violence, for two, in the well-timed male scream that female singers just can’t do for me. I don’t know if it’s because I haven’t been properly educated about classic female singers, or if it’s because in my formative middle school years I listened exclusively to Black Sabbath, Metallica, and Rammstein, but I still don’t get girls and their songs.

And it’s not just me. My friends aren’t recommending any girl bands, either. So where are they? Is Sleater Kinney the only all-girl band, ever, to play their instruments well? Correct me if I’m wrong: girls can play the piano exquisitely. So why not guitar, drums, and bass? Am I missing something? Does the guitar’s shape prohibit women from controlling the instrument as well as men?

But that instrument stuff is bullshit anyway; more than half the popular bands on P4k aren’t virtuosos anyway. No one is ape-shit about the difficulty of Wavves’ or Band of Horses or Girls (how, ironic). Especially considering the newest trend of glo-fi, lo-fi, beach pop nostalgia practically requires extra-simple instrumentation (easily recognizable melody lines are the only way to sort through all the fucking noise…).

So that’s the question. Is it me (the boy) whose missing all the good girl stuff, or is it you (the girls) failing to produce? I might be leaning towards the latter. Prove me wrong?

A few days ago Maura, one of the sharpest writers of the Internet age, delivered her farewell message at Idolator, which I had been visiting regularly since it began a few years back. She was the sole writer to have made it since the start, starting as the junior editor under Brian Raftery and taking over the main spot after his departure, and lasting through the site’s switch from being hosted on Gawker to being hosted via Buzznet, who are still in charge of the site. Two new writers have been brought on board following Maura’s departure.

I make no bones about the fact that I find this change to be for the worse, and neither will I hide the fact that I’m friends or professional acquaintances of nearly all the writers who had appeared regularly or semi-regularly on the site beforehand. I threw in tips here and there and was a constant — some might say all too constant — commenter on the site, but while I’ll allow for the fact that there’s a first time for everyone, the initial work that’s appeared on the site since Maura’s departure hasn’t compelled me to return, being little more than the dull restatement of received wisdom and wretched humor that trades in moronic stereotypes. And that’s a damn shame.

Allowing for the fact that I’m speaking of strictly Anglophonic publications for the rest of my piece: it’s been a little depressing to write RIPs for a number of publications that I contributed to over time — already done that for Stylus and Plan B in the life of my own blog, I should have done that for Metal Edge, and now I’m doing it here, even if things are going to continue at Idolator in a rather different way than before. Inasmuch as the message is that nothing is permanent, fine, inasmuch as it is that times being what they are means there’s less regular spaces to contribute thoughtful discussion and news on a formal (and, let’s not forget, paid) basis, it’s no surprise that the profile of those remaining spaces — such as Pitchfork, the Village Voice/New Times chain, the AMG — will increase by default. Meanwhile as long as sites like Freaky Trigger and The Singles Jukebox and similar ones exist (and yes, I’ll include ILM in that still), labors of love that measure their return in how they’re enjoyed and participated in rather than in ad revenue, the crackle of energy is far from dead. At the same time, especially with regard to Stylus and Plan B and now Idolator, one finds a slow limiting of a burst of spirit that had had a good decade-long run, of balancing out the passion of writing and thoughtful debate via the vehicle of music — and quite often the subjects under discussion reached far beyond the notes heard and the lyrics comprehended — with an appreciation for the here and now, that engaged with music that was six seconds old as much as it was six decades, and sought to do so beyond the realm of simple yeas or nays or presumptions of one particular style of music ruling over all else.

Perspective is perhaps all — all of those sites or journals’ writers and readers were perfectly cognizant that many other fora exist for these kind of debates, and that not every listener would wish to engage in music news and discussion in this fashion. What for some is a gripping, total engagement is for most others merely a very slight indulgence. But even knowing these all too obvious points it remains the case that to lose these places of focus, where much can be brought in under a wider umbrella, is to risk dispersement and lack of inspiration, or else demonstrable consolidation as writers find homes in fewer and fewer sites (no surprise perhaps that most of Stylus’s writers ended up at Pitchfork, for instance). It’s not come to this yet and hopefully never well but if an engaged — and, importantly, youthful — listener is confronted with an Internet of ‘music discussion’ that for the most part consists of seemingly little but random YouTube insults, pure gossip and snark for snark’s sake, set against increasingly dry as dust, decades-old approaches for ever more outmoded consensi (the Rolling Stone aesthetic seems ever more attenuated now), then one wonders what the impact will be.

Admittedly melodramatic as a vision, and perhaps simply reflective of what writer friend has terms the shifting of cultural capital away from music in general in this century. Yet the loss of Idolator — at least in its proudly thoughtful form under Maura’s guidance, where the obscure and the famous in music easily coexisted, where the insightful study of sexual roles and general stereotyping was constant, and where humor provided both the necessary slash of satire and the impact of a simply good laugh — shuts down an alternative, another spot to go to find more and learn more. That some enterprises are unsustainable is life, that so many seem to be going in these last couple of years is still depressing, that the latest should be one where so many good folks worked and contributed beyond the bounds of the basic brief, well, that just plain sucks.

Maura herself is regularly posting via her Tumblr site so check in for updates. Meantime, a number of regular commenters on Idolator have started a new joint blog, Chain of Knives, to send along stories and thoughts that fit into the spirit of the old site. I’ll be posting there myself as I can. And we shall see what the future brings.

Weekend’ul asta am fost la a treia editie a binecunoscutului NIJIKON. Anul trecut s-a tinut pe data de 1 si 2 Noiembrie, la Palatul Copiilor, Bucuresti. This time a fost acelasi loc, dar cu o saptamana mai devreme. Cum anul trecut a fost uber fun, e un pic la mintea cocosului ca am mers si anul acesta. Bun, acestea fiind spuse…

How it went. Teoretic mi-am luat liber 2 zile de la scoala, eu fiind din Arad, dureaza multe ore pana ajungi in Bucuresti…cu masina (cu trenul dureaza aproape dublu ca timp). 500 + km…ajungeam bine mersi la Marco in Croatia, sau la oricare din capitalele din zona, gen Zagreb, Belgrad sau Budapesta intr’un timp muuuuuult mai scurt, dar mie mi s’a pus pata pe NIJIKON. Acestea fiind spuse, vineri dis de dimineatza am pornit spre Bucuresti. De obicei dorm in masina, dar de data aceasta dintr’un motiv foarte dubios, m’am trezit (ca niciodata) admirand peisajele, care m’au lasat efectiv speechless. Like…wow…pe bune, Romania chiar este o tara superba…la un moment dat parca mergeam prin alte tari straine, pe care le’am tot vizitat de’a lungul timpului. Dupa cateva ore de holbat pe geamul lateral, corespunzator banchetei din spate, am ajuns la mirifica concluzie ca Romania este o tara geniala…pacat doar ca e locuita. Pe bune, acuma imi vine sa le dau in cap la toti care se plang ca Romania in sus si in jos. Una peste alta, drumul a fost ok, desi la un moment dat au inceput sa ma distreze bannerele electorale de prin te miri ce sat uitat de lume.
Seara, cand am ajuns in Bucuresti, a trebuit sa pierdem (zic la plural ca m’au dus parintii cu masina) ceva timp (nu prea mult) pana ajungea gazda noastra acasa. Cum Militari e plin de magazine, ne’am dus in CORA…moamaaaa…ce aglomeratie…ce de oameni…mult mai multi ca in magazinele din Arad, asta’i sigur. o.o De fapt, cam peste tot, ce de oameeeeeni…te si intrebi de unde au rasarit toti. o.o In fine, ne’am invartit cat ne’am invartit prin Cora, timp in care am dat de un laptop destul de misto care chiar mi’ar placea sa fie al meu in viitorul apropiat , niste carti interesante, dar la niste preturi care cam depaseau (asa un pic bine) bugetul personal, daca as fi vrut sa le iau pe toate, si cel mai funny, am dat de DANONINO ( <— click ), sau mai bine zis, un tip costumat in Danonino. In cele din urma, am reusit performanta sa ajung acasa, sau ma rog, o casa din zona Gara de Nord in care am fost cazati (la o ruda), si mai ales, sa DOOOOOOOORM…Gawd, ce somn mi’a fost.

Day 1

[ sidenote: era 9 fara ceva dimineatza, si deschiderea oficiala era la 10 ]
Ajunsa in ultima statie de metrou, la Tineretului, dau de o parte a grupului care a fost in A Camp, cu care parcurg kilometrul care ma despartea de locatia finala…WRONG! Daca va puteti imagina, ne’am ratacit in…linie dreapta. In loc sa o luam pe langa parc, majoritatea a decis “hey hai s’o luam prin parc”. Degeaba le’am spus ca mergem in directia gresita, no one listened. Dar it was fun. Era sa’mi rup gatul cu sk8′ul lui…erm…sorry, nu stiu care esti XD, dupa ce au venit o haita de caini spre noi (sa ne linga…deci WTF cati caini sunt in Bucuresti O__O ), am dat de un camion funny, iar dupa ce’am sarit nu stiu cate garduri si le’am spus de n ori ca mergem in partea opusa, dupa ce’am fredonat in grup organizat o droaie de melodii pe care jur ca nu le’am mai auzit in viata mea, si dupa ce am ras fara motiv habar n’am cata vreme, ajungem in partea cealalta a parcului…sau mai bine zis…la capatul parcului. Ca norocul ca acolo erau cativa jandarmi, care dupa ce s’au spart literalmente de ras, ne’au explicat ca am mers in partea opusa, si trebuie sa o luam pe unde spusesem eu initial sa o luam, ca sa ajungem la destinatie. o…k…stiam asta. XD Intre timp, am vorbit la telefon cu Stef sa’l lamuresc ca suntem pierdutzi in parc (si culmea, el a fost tot timpul in spatele nostru, ascunzandu’se crezand ca suntem niste smecheri cu care mai bine sa nu aiba de’a face…LOL), ca sa aflu ca si el e pierdut p’acolo. In cele din urma, dupa inca n faze comice, ajungem si noi la niji, tzipand din toti plamanii NIJIKOOOOOON HERE WE COMEEEEE!!! (serios).
Ziua in sine a fost uber fun, i’am revazut pe MangaAniManiak aka Teddy aka tipu’ nascut in aceeasi zi cu mine, dar cu 3 ani mai mic, care a nimerit fara voia lui la Jean Monet (e a 9′a), de Cedik care saracul a vrut sa se fereasca crezand ca’i voi arata din nou unde’i plexul, dar spre “dezamagirea” lui, a primit un hug calduros de la me XD; de Stef (stanga) si Alin (dreapta), caruia i’am furat numarul 12, pe data de 24 (metaforic vorbind, lol), pe Vig, care facea poze in draci p’acolo (tnx ^^’ ), si pe “Lurker“. Ne’am intins la povesti, ne’am plimbat prin parcul Tineretului, Alin ne’a ghicit in cartile de tarot egiptean ale lui Stef (si ne’a nimerit prea bine), ne’am prostit, etc.
La pranz, spre bucuria mea, si’au facut aparitia Paul (cu BoBe, but who counts him anyway? *kidding* ), care din fericire nu s’au omorat cu cutitul lui Stef (ok, nu m’am putut abtine sa nu zic asta), si adevaratul fun a inceput dupa rezolvarea dilemei cu “bhay a cui e sucu ala?“, al carui raspuns este sublim, dar lipseste cu desavarsire pana in ziua de azi. XD In cele din urma, si’a facut aparitia si Andrei cu Maria (dude, ce ti’a luat atata? <— don’t answer ), si dupa ce fiecare a facut poze cu fiecare *tnx to Lurker’s camera*; (poza de colectzie, after one year, si anu’ before, adica niji trecut) [yeah, I still have that pic XD] am realizat ca nu mai e mult pana la inceperea concursului de cosplay, la care nu am putut intra din motiv ca sala era atat de plina ca nu mai puteai arunca nici o pana, JUR. De fericire, m’am tirat afara, adica in fata palatului, unde erau niste bancutze (si ceva fantana); unde la scurt timp m’am trezit cantand la chitara unuia din cei cu care m’am ratacit dimineatza. (si daaa, ai o chitara MARE o.o ).

Faza ciudata – 80 % din persoanele pe care le’am vazut, aveau ochi care isi schimbau culoarea. Serios. Din albastru, in gri, verde, galben; din caprui in negru; din verde in mov, in functie de starea lor. In Arad stiu doar vreo 5 persoane cu astfel de ochi, dar pe acolo era FULL. Pana si mom are ochi care isi schimba culoarea cand e mad, dar se pare ca aici l’am mostenit pe dad. Sad, nu? XD

Cum necum si cu alte nazbatii si o droaie de chestii de povestit de as putea scrie romane intregi, a trecut prima zi si trecem la a doua.

Day 2

Am dormit ceva mai mult ca in ziua precedenta, si pe la 10 si ceva ieseam linistita din statia Tineretului, unde am dat de NeKo. Ea mi’a povestit ca in ziua precedenta a facut cosplay la un personaj care avea role, drept urmare am rugat’o sa mi le imprumute pe ale ei, macar pana la NIJI. Zis si facut. Dupa ce era sa’mi rup gatul (la propriu, dar SI la figurat), am ajuns cumva intreaga si a doua zi la NIJIKON. XD Dupa ce’am fost tarata peste niste dale (NeKo se grabea sa nu intarzie la repetitia unei scenete pe care o pregatisera cosplayerii) cam cum avem prin Arad (lol, o fi ajuns Falca si la ei, sau invers) , am intrat gafaind de numa si razand ca o bezmetica fara motiv. Pana NeKo s’a dus sa se schimbe, am dat o tura si m’am intins putin la povesti cu AleXa. Am inapoiat rolele, fericita ca OMG I’M STILL ALIVE, dupa ce’am incercat sa fac nu stiu cate scheme de si eu ma mir ca mai am capul pe umeri. Trebuie sa recunosc ca dintre cosplayeri, chiar mi’a placut costumul lui NeKo (n’a vrut sa’mi spuna numele), dar si a lui fluffy (?). M’am intalnit cu Kain, si ne’am pus sa facem un stencil cu un porumbel. M’am grabit putin prima oara, si am mai incercat inca odata sa’l fac, a iesit ceva mai bine, dar trebuia sa am mai multa rabdare ca sa’l fac mai bine. Oh well, maybe next time. XD Pe de’o parte imi pare rau ca nu am luat rezultatul final cu mine acasa, dar cred ca ma murdaream toata de vopsea pana se usca (ma cunosc prea bine XD). Totusi, inainte sa il vopsesc, m’am dus cu Paul sa ne uitam la AMV’uri. La scurt timp a sosit si Segga in sala de proiectie, care insa a plecat cand a venit Andrei, care ne’a asteptat la intrare, pentru ca isi dusese chitara cu el (aglomeratie, chestii, trestii, omu tinea la chitara lui. Nu, serios, chiar ERA aglomeratie… o.o). Kain a sosit si el pe la jumatatea proiectiilor, dandu’mi cartonul care il abandonasem afara, dupa care urma sa fac pe urma porumbelul ala, stencilu. ^^’
Some hours later, dupa ce ne’am refugiat in locul nostru (yeah, it’s ouuuurs) din ziua trecuta, care nu era atat de aglomerat, am fost surprinsi in mijlocul unei anti-campanii impotriva lui Segga ( de fapt a aparut Vig prin peisaj, si am vrut si eu o poza smechera ). Putin mai tarziu, am realizat ca, chitara lui zipper e chiar MAI MARE decat cea la care cantasem in ziua precedenta, dar asta nu m’a oprit sa cant la ea. Spre seara am vorbit cu cateva persoane despre intentia mea de a face un fel de Nijikon in Arad, ceva de genu’ un fel de NIJIKON pentru astia din vestul tarii. Dupa asta ma cam uitam la ceas, ca a mei imi spusesera ca ma culeg ei de p’acolo cu masina, dar in cele din urma s’au prins cu altele si’am ajuns la destinatzie cu Andrei si Paul. Asta desigur, dupa ce ne’am ratacit chiar inainte sa nimerim strada, dupa ce’am iesit din statia Basarab. Inca ma amuza faza:

Andrei: Macar ai idee cum se numeste strada?
Eu: Erm…nope
Andrei: Un reper…ceva?
Eu: Oh, asta am. Matze grase si custi de caini. XD
Andrei: Mate grase…PROST REPER.
Paul (aratand in stanga): Uite o mata grasa.
Eu: Clar, ne’am ratacit.

… sau ceva de genul. Banuiesc ca nu schimba cu nimic situatia faptul ca intrarea in stradutza la care voiam sa ajungem era CHIAR CUM IESEAI din statia de metrou, noi trecand in toata splendoarea pe LANGA ea. In cele din urma am reusit sa gasim strada Zaharia (not thanks to me, anyway ), si a doua zi a fost drumul spre casa. Ziua urmatoare nu m’am dus la scoala, din cauza ca am ajuns pretty late home, dar mi’a venit calculatorul (la care inca ma gandesc cum fac rost de driverul de placa video, dar OMG it works, si inca ce misto <3 ), despre care o sa scriu probabil in postul urmator (sa zicem doar ca e o povestioara mai ceva ca in filmele cu prosti).

S’au intamplat multe, am facut si mai multe, dar mai pe scurt cam asta am facut pe la Niji. Singurul meu regret este ca nu am pe cap una din palariile alea soade cu FLCL, d’alea cuuuuute cu urechiuse… But liek, vorba aia, asta sa fie baiu’ cel mai mare.
Alta faza mai funny este cea cu camera lui Xelu (<— cel din dreapta, care de obicei face montaje la tot ce misca, mai ales in materie de anime, dar de data asta a luat o mica pauza [trebuia sa imi dai mie camera, o faceam eu XD] ). Mi’a imprumutat’o in prima seara sa ma joc putin cu ea, ce mai, dragoste la prima vedere. Este aproape ca si cea de la scoala, cu care am filmat pentru diferite proiecte. Zic aproape, pentru ca este cu 1 – 2 modele mai noua si mai performanta. A doua zi a fost mai greu, dar in cele din urma l’am convins sa mi’o mai imprumute odata. Tnx Xelu, si s’o folosesti sanatos in continuare.

Long story short: NIJIKON 2009 = lots of fun for me. Sa ne vedem cu totii sanatosi la urmatorul! ^_^

Ce mi’a placut cel mai mult la NIJI? Cutiutza muzicala.

Ce nu mi’a placut? Ca a trecut prea repede weekend’ul.

There is some really cool saints names If I time before the book goes back I will do some postings on individual ones

Genevieve, Elizabeth Ann, Raphaela, Genovea, Zdislava, Leonie, Marguerite, Ita, Roseline, Margaret, Eustochia, Agnes, Dwynwen, Verdiana, Eusebia, Bathildis, Hyacintha, Marcella, Brigid, Anna, Claudine, Maria, Agatha, Dorothy, Colette, Josephine, Apollonia, Scholastica, Jeanne, Catherine, Gertrude, Walburga, Paula, Anne, Katharine, Teresa, Felicity, Perpetua, Cunegunda, Frances, Fina, Matilda, Louise, Benedetta, Rafqa, Lucy, Gladys, Catalina, Crescentia, Julie, Mary, Gemma, Lydwina, Bernadette, Casilda, Fara, Zita, Gianna, Panacea, Wiborada, Maura, Rosa, Magdalene, Dymphna, Rita, Mariana, Ursula, Ubaldesca, Bona, Joan, Blandina, Clotilda, Melania, Florida, Germaine, Aleydis. (more to come)

Maura says:

Chloclate = chocolate

Sometimes pronounced, shlocklate

Gender: Masculine
Origin: Latin
Meaning: “dark; black”
Fr. (moh-REESE) Eng (MOR-ris).

He may seem a bit dated to some, but parents looking to vintage names like Leo and Brice/Bryce might see the appeal in this. Traditionally nicknamed Maury, parents who opt for the French pronunciation have the advantage of using Reese. Look past Maury Povich and the cartoon character in Madgascar, and you will find that the name has a long and rich history. He is a derivative of the Roman name Mauritius, which is derived from the Latin Maurus meaning “dark-skinned; dark complexion.”

The name was borne by Emperor Maurice of Byzantium (539-602). Known in Greek as Maurikios and in his native Armenian as Morik, Emperor Maurice was one of the most influential and decisive rulers of the byzantine empire, so much so that he is a national hero in his native Armenia till this day.

The name is also borne by a very popular 3rd century saint. St. Maurice was an Egyptian by birth and a Roman citizen. He served in the Roman army and was apart of the Theban legions, which had been stationed in an area of what is now Switzerland at the time of the saint’s martyrdom. According to legend, Emperor Maximian ordered Maurice and his legions to put down a local Christian community, when Maurice and his followers refused to harass fellow Christians, the emperor ordered them to be executed. The area of martyrdom is now known as Saint Maurice-en-Valais and the Abbey of Saint Maurice-en-Valais supposedly houses the saint’s relics.

The saint also gave his name to another town in Switzerland: St. Moritz, (Top of the World), is a beautiful little resort town that sits in the Valley of Engadine and the canton of Graubünden. Their coat of arms actually features the legendary saint from whom the town was named. St. Maurice is also venerated among Coptic Christians. In fact, the names Maurice and Maurikios are fairly common among Egyptian Christians.

Speaking of its German form Moritz, the name is also found in the popular German children’s series Max and Moritz written by Wilhelm Busch in 1865. The humorous duo is still a common pop icon in German speaking countries. Other notable appearances include a novel by E.M. Forster, (Maurice) written in 1913, is it a tale of same sex love in early 20th-century England. The Island of Mauritius or L’île Maurice in French, is a former French colony and an island off the coast of Africa. It was named in honor of Prince Maurice of Nassau, the Stadtholder of the Netherlands.

The designated name-day is September 22

Maurice still lurks in the U.S top 1000, he recently came in at # 405. Other forms of the name include:

• Morik (Armenian)
• Maurits (Dutch)
• Mauri (Finnish)
• Maur (French)
• Moritz (German)
• Maurikios (Greek)
• Móric (Hungarian/Slovakian)
• Muiris (Irish)
• Maurizio (Italian)
• Mauro (Italian/Portuguese/Romansch)
• Mauritius (Late Latin)
• Morics (Latvian)
• Maurycy (Polish)
• Maurício (Portuguese)
• Murezzen (Romansch)
• Mauricio (Spanish)
• Meuric/Meurig (Welsh)

Its feminine counterparts are Maura, Mauricia and Maurizia.

Tammy: I plan on quite a few more Tortall books, and heaven knows what they’ll all be about.  Right now I’ve got two Numair books, then Maura’s book under contract.  After that will come one or two more books about Kel.  After that I’m not sure about the order, but the books I definitely have planned are ones centered around Aly, Dove, and Dove’s choice of a consort; the lives of Aly’s children, particularly Ochobai, who is a Little Person; Neal’s daughter, who will go for her knighthood in a time when there are far more girls training as knights than there were in Kel’s day.  There’s also Daine’s children Sarralyn and Rikash, who have to find their way.  Rikash will be telling that story, because I’m terrified of his sister, but he isn’t.

I think that’s all I have in mind right now.  There may be more with Irnai and Tobe from the Kel books, and Kaddar and Kalasin, and Alanna’s sons.  Certainly there will be requests from fans for other characters who appear in the books, and who knows who my brain will pick up and say, “You know, there is a story for this one.”  My brain lives a life of its own, wild and free.  I just try to keep up.

SOURCE: [Random Buzz: Teens at Random]

Zilele trecute, mi’a aratat Cosmin o faza destul de…ciudata, sa zic asa. Despre ce este vorba? Va las placerea sa vedeti cu ochii vostri: click

(right click -> view image, ca sa vedeti mai clar)

Google si’a facut o biserica online,  care nu numai ca dovedeste ca Google este de fapt Dumnezeu, deci God exists. Sunt curioasa ce vor spune cei care nu cred in existenta lui God despre asta…

Desigur, nu puteau lipsi nici cele 10 porunci (damn, ma plagiaza  il dau in judecata! dar macar decalogul meu are 13 porunci )

Sau rugaciunile. Cel mai mult m’a distrat rugaciunea binara:

This prayer is in binary.

01010111 01100101 00100000 01101010 01101111 01101001 01101110 00100000 01110100 01101111 01100111 01100101 01110100 01101000 01100101 01110010 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100001 01101110 01101011 00100000 01000111 01101111 01101111 01100111 01101100 01100101 00100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01101011 01101110 01101111 01110111 01101100 01100001 01100111 01100101 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01110111 01101001 01110011 01100100 01101111 01101101 00100000 01110011 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100010 01110010 01101001 01101110 01100111 01110011

By Jonathan Hill

Traducere pentru cei care nu cunosc limbajul ASCII:

We join together to thank Google for the knowlage and wisdom she brings

Concluzia: daca Google e God…atunci eu sunt Goddess, si pentru ca I divided by 0…de doua ori chiar, inseamna ca sunt mai presus de Google, care e God. Hai ca’mi place cum suna faza…

[edit] LOL, se pare ca au si forum…am incercat sa fac cont, am bagat contul de Yahoo la e-mail, si am luat BAN din prima. Am bagat un cont de gmail, imediat a mers sa fac cont…chiar ca e gelos pe Yahoo

Last day of being lived by Allyson!  New schedule & bios up.  The following week promises to be very interesting & interestingly open-ended as well.  So those of you who have found the predictability of the past few weeks boring should delight in the (almost) total reliance on chance that is to come.

I also encourage you to comment with your thoughts on above schedule & bios.  I’m not the only one who likes your feedback, here.

Allyson did a pretty good job of living me today.  I was supposed to host a small 1. local foods dinner party!  Well, I lazed around for most of the day, of course, leaving dinner party plans to the very last minute.  In the meantime, I ate some 2. blueberries, 3. bread & butter & 4. rabbit terrine. I read some, facebooked some, dozed some, showered some– basically did everything BUT plan a dinner party.  Eventually (four-ish), I headed out to find some local groceries.  Picked up a package along the way.

Was surprised & pleased to have received a package from Ptolemy!!

Bella remains unfazed.

He’d sent me an encyclopedia of serial killers & the Anatomy of Melancholy.  Wow.  This man really knows the way to my heart.

I was thrilled.  Thrilled!

Then I went to the store & purchased some 5. salmon, 6. dill, 7. sour cream, 8. beets, 9. grapes, 10. peaches, 11. goat cheese 12. red & white wine. All local.  Didn’t quite know quite what I’d do with it, but knew it would all come together somehow.

Ate some grapes.  Pondered recipes.

Then (with only two hours before the dinner party!) I began frantically planning a meal.  Here’s what I ended up with.

1. Salad. Comprised of 13. romaine lettuce, roasted beets, 14. beet greens, goat cheese, & a basic dressing of balsamic vingear, olive oil, & salt & pepper (underlined non-local foods already available in my cupboard).
2. a whole 14. trout pan-fried in butter with 15. tomatoes, pan deglazed w. white wine
3. salmon poached with dill, 16. butter & white wine
4. boiled 17. new potatoes with a dressing of dill, sour cream, & white wine, topped with 18. salmon roe
5. peaches, poached in white wine, dressed with a 19. blueberry & thyme, honey, & pepper sauce, reduced from the white wine

It was kind of panicky towards the end.  I wasn’t cooking from recipes & Olivia & her friends (Maura & Lexi) arrived a little early!  But somehow I managed to get everything on the table.

Much to my surprise, the meal was quite good.

More exciting than it looks.

Olivia 20. helped me prepare by bringing an all-local appetizer feast of local salami, crackers & goat cheese!  Also some wine.

Anyway, I was rather outnumbered by FOUR blondes, two of whom (Maura & Lexi) I’d never met.

Maura, Magali, Olivia, Lexi

But they didn’t eat me.  Just my food!

They ate, & found it good.

Bella found solace between Maura's legs.

I was very relieved that the whole mess was edible.  For some reason, everybody wants me to have dinner parties.  But I invite you all to think back on your past experiences in life.  How often do single women who live alone throw dinner parties?  For one thing, it’s hard not to feel strange & desperate when you’re all by yourself inviting people in for a party.  For another, it’s  difficult when you’re lifting things in & out of the oven & no one else is there to entertain your guests.  Food.  For thought.

Anyway, the food was all edible &, in fact, rather good!  Recipes available upon request.

We ate & ate.  Talked & talked.  After the fish & so forth came dessert.

I could eat a peach for hours.

Then we occupied ourselves by spying on my neighbors.  We saw much nudity, money changing hands, tender couple pasta cooking, & possible escort services.  We pondered & pondered.

Must invest in binoculars.

Then I forced each of my guests to 21. Write down a comment about the meal, along with a remark on what they knew (positive or negative) about the local foods movement.

Results are in.

• MAGALI: Delicious! This is the way it should be. Thank you for spoiling us with all this local bounty! Love it when my dinner and my entertainment come from just a stones throw away.
• LEXI: Emily – Loved the local beets and tasty trout: delicious and props to you the chef of this tasty meal. Completely new to hearing about the 100 mile diet, but a new eye opening experience!
• MAURA: Local meal was fantastic and easier to find local food than I thought I have never heard of just eating local food but find it reasonable and a little liberating
• OLIVIA: Emily, your dinner was tasty, coulorful and marvelous! – Who knew all we need is 100 miles!

Sounds like an overwhelming success.  Thanks, Allyson!

What larks we had.

Soon it was time for everyone to go home.  I took Bella for her walk as my friends (new & old) walked towards their various bus stops & apartments.

Returning home, I was certainly tickled by two names on the empty bottles!

Accusation Ale & Freud's Ego

Sorry about grainy picture quality, & the at times unremarkable nature of the pics, but I only have an iPhone.  & I was supposed to 22. take & post at least five pictures of the party & my guests.

& what does the future hold for me?  As of tomorrow, I’ll leave that up to my Coin of Destiny.  & the I Ching, of course.

After a long Friday, proud of mom for driving in MD in the rain, longer than expected bolt bus trip to NYC, but we made it and had a great time at Spice with Mar and Megan tonight! Woohoo big apple, it’s been awhile since we visited, so nice to see you. You sort of smell the same…

Both:

• structions = instructions

Maura

• cumburger = cucumber

Tot pomenea lumea in ultima vreme despre grafice…grafice in sus…grafice in jos…matematica, grafice, etc etc etc…asa ca, mai mult de plictiseala, am apelat la prietenu’ nostru google, ca sa vad ce’mi spune…

Concluzia? Va las pe voi sa o trageti…

Hola…

… QUE PELÍCULA MUCHACHOS! (disculpen, es que en verdad me gusto).

Valentín nos permite volver a vivir aquellas pequeñas cosas, que resultaban tan pero tan grandes cuando fuimos pequeños.

Ficha técnica:

Dirección y guión: Alejandro Agresti.
Países: Argentina, España y Holanda, Francia, Italia.
Año: 2002.
Duración: 86 min.
Interpretación: Carmen Maura (Abuela), Julieta Cardinali (Leticia), Jean Pierre Noher (Tío Chiche), Rodrigo Noya (Valentín niño), Alejandro Agresti (Padre), Mex Urtizberea (Rufo), Juan Cruz Burdeu, Carlos Roffé (Doctor Galaburri).
Producción: Julio Fernández, Massimo Vigliar, Thierry Forte y Laurens Geels.
Música: Paul M. van Bruggen.
Fotografía: José Luis Cajaraville.
Montaje: Alejandro Brodersohn.
Diseño de producción: Floris Vos.
Vestuario: Marisa Urruti.

SINOPSIS

1960, Buenos Aires. Valentín (Rodrigo Noya) es un niño de nueve años que vive con su abuela (Carmen Maura). Su madre desapareció cuando él tenía tres años y su padre es un bala perdida incapaz de asumir responsabilidades. La vida de Valentín transcurre modesta y con dos obsesiones: convertirse en un astronauta y que su padre le lleve junto a su madre. Pero su padre no quiere remover el pasado y, además, no deja de decepcionarle presentándole novias horribles, hasta que llega Leticia, de la que Valentín se prenda inmediatamente. Cuando su abuela muere, Valentín decide fabricarse su propia familia: Leticia y Rufo, un amigo pianista que vive en el barrio, se convertirán en sus padres adoptivos.

Amigos, no se la pierdan, se las recomiendo.

mapacheUY

Maura says:

Hammich = Sandwich

This what summer is supposed to look like.

(this is an attempt to post via email and from my phone…thanks for indulging me)

Sent from my R-2 droid.

I don’t have a big list, but here are a few:

Tonight while reading a short illustrated version of Disney’s Sleeping Beauty, Maura asked me about the phrase, “he threw his sword straight as an arrow.”  She asked, “Where is his lawn mower?”  Either I need to speak more clearly or clean her ears.

Malcolm’s vocabulary:

• prize-a-pee = privacy
• pazzi = pizza (this is an old one that he doesn’t use any more, sadly)
• what you said? = what did you say?

Maura’s vocabulary:

• butter n’ jelly = peanut butter and jelly
• pih mai uh = pick me up (this is an old one)
• cully = color
• cullies = crayons

Daddy’s vocabulary:

• Stop = keep doing what you’re doing because clearly you are ignoring me and I can’t think of a consequence quickly enough to make you stop

Spotted a grandmother in a pub, just like the one from this >>>

some maura.

Monday was the last day of la feria, a bit spooky with Catholic overtones like this >>>

some gael.

En route to work this morning, walked past a group of women mopping the town square, bit like the start of this >>>

some penelope.

I can’t wait for the weekend. We’ve got a trip to Maine planned. This means playing with Maura, walking on the beach, reading, and knitting. This is what I can do for days on end. Most people would be worried that the weather wasn’t cooperating, but not me. It doesn’t have to be hot and sunny to enjoy the ocean, or family, or the activities that help me relax.

He’s Barack Obama !!! I KNEW IT!!!

—
Bantuiam’ pe YouTube intr’o seara si’am dat de clipu’ asta:

Poor guys…

Asta in schimb e pure wtf… O_o

What an interesting time in our economy. The biggest challenge for many is the “unknown”! We are so excited to be partnered with clients that even though the news is dire, recognize that change is coming! Many employers are actively preparing for that change. Primarily they are taking this opportunity to secure extremely talented team members who have recently experienced a job “displacement”. This is the time to ensure that you are poised for the huge growth that is pending. History shows that after a seriously recessed economy, many businesses thrive beyond their expectations. Now is the time to hire those key employees who can lead your team as production needs  ramp up quickly, or you need to respond to our country’s increased awareness of the environment and hire employees with a commitment to sustainability! Highly skilled candidates are now available, and they have the commitment to take their next employer in new, financially sound directions.

Over the last few weeks my daughter Maura has been having some troubles sleeping at night. She is two years old (and change) and she still takes a nap, but I’m not convinced that her napping is part of the problem. I’ve considered nightmares, noises, dark, and of course willfulness.

Nightmares, or even just dreams that wake her up may have played a role early on, but I have no reason to suspect that they are what is continuing to wake her up in the middle of the night. Typically, she will begin crying for me before I even hit the top step on the way downstairs. So, while dreams of some sort may be dragging her out of sleep and into a dazed sense of alertness, I don’t think that is really what this is about.

On a side note regarding nightmares: I will occasionally let them watch movies around dinner time or before bath time. But even that doesn’t line up with the nights that she’s woken up. She did once tell me something about a man in her room at night time. That has me a bit freaked out. One, if there is some pervert in my house I will not think twice about permanently rearranging his internal organs with the softball bat I keep near my bed. Two, if it’s some sort of projection about a man (or men) that she has had contact with, then refer to solution number one (once I find out who’s causing those images). Likely there is no literal man here (perhaps a paranormal one?), but I am most curious about who (or what) it is that she’s seeing/dreaming.

As for noises, that could be what wakes her up. Her window faces the back yard which abuts a couple of houses behind us. For the most part, our neighborhood is quiet, but it would surprise me if once and a while a “rowdy” neighbor made some noises that woke her up. One of the guys behind us listens to the Red Sox on the radio, so I know it can’t be him.

The dark? Not possible. The kid sleeps with a night light that would make Al Gore blush. I’m sure that the meter on the side of our house needs to be cooled off by morning thanks to the night lights in hers and her brother’s rooms. I can recharge my solar powered nose trimmers with the light from her night light.

Willfulness. Yes, this is the most likely culprit. I have not figured out with my daughter when she is being willful and when she is just being a toddler (I know, they are often the same thing). At night time this task of discernment is doubly difficult because I am tired and cranky, too. I have determined to play a little tough love with my precious daughter as of late in order to break her from this sleep-depriving habit of hers.

What is interesting here is that she can climb out of her crib, but she can’t climb back in. So once she is out, she is out. She uses this to her advantage, I am sure. She will come to the bottom of the stairs and say, in her sweet little girl voice, “Daaaddy…peas you get me back in mah crib.” She will even come right up to the threshold of our room and repeat the phrase. She won’t come into our room because the light blocking curtains make it very, very dark in our room. I have taken to telling her to put herself back to bed. When she whines some more that she can’t, I tell her to go sleep on the couch. One night, she did just that.

After telling her to sleep on the couch, she walked away and made no more noises. So I fell asleep. A while later I woke to use the bathroom and sure enough she was curled up asleep on the couch with no blanket. She takes up a small fraction of the couch and it was very endearing to see her with her knees tucked up to her chin, sucking on the thumb of one hand while grasping the wispy locks of her hair with the other hand. Tough love or no, I picked her up gently and brought her back upstairs to get some rest in a more comfortable spot.

Last night she got out of her crib what must have been right after I walked downstairs. I was on the computer for a while and did not notice anything, although I thought I may have heard her sighing every now and again (it was hard to distinguish from Merlin’s snoring and breath – Merlin is a pug). When I closed the computer for the night and got ready for bed, the bathroom light shone up the stairs to reveal my little girl curled up on the steps about four steps from the top step. She had fallen asleep on the steps. Grateful, that she had not fallen down the steps while sleeping, I picked her up and gently put her back in her crib.

Any suggestions from you parents out there? In the meantime, I’ll keep plugging away with my (modified) tough-love approach.