sam's latest pics and videos

These days, pots and pans are the most interesting toys in the house.

Sam has discovered how to suspend lightweight things in the air with his mouth. He thinks it's hilarious and we do too.

Cousin Norah came to visit (with N and SJ)! I am especially fond of baby jammies that have pig and owl themes.

It was fun to see that the cousins are old enough to interact a bit more, even if the interaction mainly involved chomping on socks.


If this video foreshadows the future careers of these babies, I think that Norah will be an en pointe ballerina and Sam will be a product tester for moon shoes.



At the tender age of eight months, Sam has mastered speed reading. Okay, maybe not. In truth, he's probably getting a little tired of this book (which is fine with us - we're sick of it too!).


Sam still likes to sing, and he has manifested a penchant for the "ah" vocalise from Disney's The Little Mermaid. If we begin singing the opening "ah-ah-ahhhhh" notes, he inevitably will join in right away. And if we stop singing, he stops too. This song has been our "secret weapon" to get him to stop crying, especially in the car. I hope we don't go on any road trips soon; I don't feel like singing The Little Mermaid all the way down the Oregon coast.

out of curiosity

What would you buy if you had a $50 gift card to Amazon.com? I have so many things on my wish list, I can't even decide.

douglass and jacobs

When I checked out Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass from the library, I was pleasantly surprised to find that an additional autobiography was bound in the same book. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is written by Harriet Jacobs, originally published under the pseudonym Linda Brent. For a long time, this book was thought to have been ghostwritten or fictional, but in 1981 scholar Jean Fagan Yellin determined the authenticity of the text by matching up historical accounts with the details outlined in the story. My copy of the book (published by the Modern Library) contained footnotes and references which matched up the actual historical account and names with the pseudonyms that Jacob used.

I really recommend that Douglass and Jacobs' stories be read in succession. Douglass work is a good account of the sufferings and life of an African male slave, while Jacobs' text deals more with the hardships and psychosexual exploitation of African female slaves. In truth, I think I enjoyed Jacobs' history more than Douglass. Her suffering and incredible escape to freedom afforded for a very compelling read. I am still in disbelief over the account of her escape from her master. She stayed hidden for nearly seven years in a small den underneath her grandmother's house; the space was so small and musty that she could not stand erect or breathe fresh air. I can't even imagine what it would be like to live for seven years without having many opportunities to stand upright. What incredible sacrifice and hardship.

After reading these two histories of African-American slaves, I am curious to read some type of narrative or story written from the perspective of a Southern slave owner. Does anyone have a good recommendation? What other books about slavery have you enjoyed reading?

I have often thought about compiling a book full of abolitionist art, partly because my thesis dealt with that subject. However, the thought of compiling all of the political abolitionist cartoons that were produced in the 19th century seems a rather daunting task. One day I hope to muster up the courage to start that project. For now, though, I enjoy learning as much about the abolitionist movement as possible.

increase blog traffic

I've been thinking a lot about blogs this week, particularly since I started up my two new blogs. I'm always interested in getting more traffic on my blogs (particularly for my art history posts). What do you guys do to get more traffic and readers? And HOW do you get people to actually comment?

idol thoughts

Danny Gokey definitely gave the best performance on American Idol last night. He was consistent and engaging throughout his whole song. I also think that he stands out from the other contestants because many of the performances last night were a little hokey, some of them bordering on the karaoke side. Danny seems like a really nice guy, too. I bet that he will make it through this round without a problem.

I was so sad that Stevie Wright did so poorly - I had high hopes for her when I heard her audition with an Etta James song. Last night was a mess though; she sounded nervous, took breaths in the wrong places, and the notes in her lower register were uncontrolled and unfocused. It was awful. I kept wishing that the song would just end so this sweet girl wouldn't have to embarrass herself anymore.

I also think that Ricky Braddy has a fantastic voice and range, but I was disappointed with his song choice. Although the song showed off Braddy's range and vocal capabilities, I didn't find it very engaging. Come to think of it, I can't even remember what song it was...

I like Michael Sarver alright, but I didn't think last night was so impressive. He didn't enunciate his words really well, and everything sounded a little garbled to me. I don't know if that was the best song choice for him.

Basically, I agree with everything that my friend Shauna said in her post. Her critique of Tatiana is hilarious - she is kind of like a "giant, oversized beauty pagent contestant." I'm sure that the only reason she has been kept in the show thus far is because of ratings. I really doubt she'll go further in the contest, unless the judges bring her back as a wild card (horror of horrors!).

What do other people think?

review: jonathan strange & mr. norrell

Last week I finished one of the best fantasy novels that I have read in a long time. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, by Susanna Clarke, is a story of two gentleman magicians in early 19th century England who use magic to help the British defeat Napoleon's army. The story is engaging and clever. Clarke uses footnotes to cite different magical books, texts, and fables (all of which she has invented) to help explain parts of the story. It is as fun to read the footnotes as it is to follow the plot.

Since I like art, I have to admit that my favorite scene in the book is when Mr. Norrell, one of the gentleman magicians, uses magic to cause all of the statues in York Cathedral to speak. Mr. Norrell performs this act of magic for a group of "theoretical" magicians (gentlemen study the history of magic but do not perform spells themselves) prove Norrell's superiority as a "practicing" magician. I really recommend that you read this scene in the book (found here on Google Books - read pages 36-41). It's very fun.

The only things that I didn't like in the book were two or three short references that mentioned/compared religion and magic. In one scene, a man was able to stop a magic spell from being effective when he took pages of a letter and placed them in a copy of the Bible. The magic was supposed to alter the letters or cause them to leave the man's possession, but the spell was ineffective because of the Bible. This magic wasn't supposed to be considered "black" by any means; it was more of a naughty trick that one magician was playing on another. However, it bothered me that the concept of religion was addressed as a type of counter-magic or antidote for a spell. When I read a fantasy novel, I would prefer that there be no references to or comparisons with religion. What do other people think about comparing/contrasting religion and magic? Does it bother anyone else, or do people like to read/think about similarities and differences between the two paradigms?

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes fantasy novels, particularly ones written by British/Scottish authors like J.K. Rowling and George MacDonald. It's a fun, relatively easy read. I also was quite pleased with the end of the book; it's the type of bittersweet ending that gives a good resolution but also leaves the reader wishing for more information or the story to continue. Hurry and read this book before the Jonathan Strange movie comes out next year!

welcome!

Hello! Welcome to this new blog. I just finished importing all of the posts from my old site onto this new one. There were a couple of reasons why I wanted to change my blog from "the esthetician" site. First of all, I didn't really like the name "the esthetician." I thought it sounded kind of pretentious, as if I assumed that I was THE authority on all aesthetic matters (which is not true). Second, I didn't like that the discussion of art and aesthetics was constantly getting confused with makeup and hair design. Originally, I was trying to be creative by choosing a more archaic spelling of the word "aesthetic" and I didn't even think that it would get confused with esthetic beauty care. And third, it didn't make sense to have a blog title/description about art since today I created a different blog for all of my art history posts.

Hence, the change was made.

I don't think that I'm going to keep such a crazy-long link list on the side of my blog, particularly since I read all of my favorite blogs through Google Reader. However, if you are trying to increase traffic on your blog and would prefer that I post your link, I'd be happy to do so. Just comment on this post and let me know.

If you're curious about the title of this blog, it is a reference to an art installation that J made when he was in London on a study abroad. We were dating at the time, but I was in Provo while J was overseas. At the time, I was rather obsessed with the color lime green. For one of his art projects, J decided to make an installation of green apples around London for me. He scattered the apples across the street, in the subway, and in other locations around the city. The apples were a visual indication that J thought about me wherever he walked. I'm quite proud of the fact that I inspired an art installation throughout London. You can see some photographs of the apple installation here.