03.13.09: curiouser and curiouser

have you read "in the blood," the feature in this week's new yorker on why vampires "still thrill" (A: because they are, as strong bad would say, still awesome)? read it immediately, for it's studded with exotic vampire factoids (as opposed to the generic and now fairly discredited vlad-the-impaler stuff) like this:
Matthew Beresford, in his recent book “From Demons to Dracula: The Creation of the Modern Vampire Myth” (University of Chicago; $24.95), records a Serbian Gypsy belief that pumpkins, if kept for more than ten days, may cross over: “The gathered pumpkins stir all by themselves and make a sound like ‘brrl, brrl, brrl!’ and begin to shake themselves.” Then they become vampires.
this has absolutely happened in our apartment, and also explains those ghostly white pumpkins you see every now and again.

got a blog post roundup from bust yesterday that mentioned the 1985 made-for-tv alice in wonderland:
This was one of my favorite movies growing up, I even remember the soft white light bulb commercials that came on when she was falling down the hole. Ringo Starr and Sammy Davis Jr kill it, plus Scott Baio* is adorbs! Does anyone else remember this?
i hadn't until that very moment, but damn if i didn't remember right then that natalie gregory (alice) was in my french class when i was a freshman in high school. for reasons still buried in the sands of time, i believe we ended up watching part of that crazy movie in class, to see ol' natalie in action (alas, we did not get to screen her episode of magnum, p.i.). she was better at being alice than she was at speaking french, as i recall - but who hasn't felt that way at one time or another? man, growing up in southern california was weird.


if the lovely weekend weather we're promised shows up on schedule, we plan to photo-safari across the brooklyn bridge for pizza at grimaldi's (which would knock down two 101 in 1001 {II} list items in one fell swoop - hey hey progress!). and you?


*as "pat the pig."

7 comments:

jacob said...

besides agonizing over the dearth of quality apartments/houses for rent in the iowa city area (i'm going to have to take a breather from craigslist for awhile)...

megan and i survived the super-crowded wintertime farmers market in pawtucket this morning, emerging with the strange combination of apples (local) and seaweed (maine)...
i finally gave to the salvation army a suit my dad bought me when i was 19...

i'm gearing up for my indoor soccer playoffs this evening...

and i'm waking up at an ungodly hour tomorrow morning to fly to new orleans for our institute's annual conference. whether i get to see "new orleans" rather than "the hotel i'm staying at in new orleans" is still unclear, though i'll try to slip out at least once for a drink (any bar suggestions?)

lauren said...

i can't offer much when it comes to seaweed or the soccer (except for the whole wailing to the tune of "seven nation army" on your behalf like they do at premiere league matches, which joe and i will get on immediately), but i'll ask judd for a local's take on the bar scene and tweet 'er if i hear anything. perhaps paul would have sneaky iowa tricks from the workshop?

Amanda Bruns said...

Grimaldi's = delish. Except their root beer is not delish. How was it? Mmmmmmm?

Also, v. excited to read the New Yorker article now. If my forwarded mail thing ever brings it this way. And this but about pumpkins makes me deeply happy.

lauren said...

what terrible news (re: the root beer)! perhaps it was having a bad day? i'll investigate this as well. we ended up postponing, as saturday festivities left us a bit under the weather sunday morning (cough), and the actual weather wasn't quite as picture perfect as we'd hoped it would be (i'm a fan of overcast skies in photos, but our friend george is not so much). to be continued.

g said...

it wasn't the overcast skies so much as the fact that it was a little cold, and that i am still getting over a particularly tenacious stomach virus.

lauren said...

oh, i misinterpreted the weather part - i thought you didn't like the light. man, where has our imperviousness to cold gone?

g said...

adventures in miscommunication, part (insert large number):

i'm getting over a nasty stomach virus, so i didn't want to walk around in the cold. it was a "why poke the angry bear" theory.