Monday, February 27, 2006
Share and Share Alike
First of all, let me begin this post by stating that I'm completely and totally addicted to VH1's Best Week Ever blog. Which is how I stumbled upon MC Hammer's blog. Then Kyle pointed me in the direction of blogs for Chewy and the Hulk; another old friend sent me a link for the funniest site I've seen in a long time -- a collection of Weight Watchers recipe cards from the '70s. And then, by following another link from Best Week Ever's blog, I found the awesome TSOYA (The Sound of Young America), replete with links to old school Jackson videos. Could (internet) life be any more awash in radness? I think not.
Thursday, February 23, 2006
A Thousand Shades of Grey
I recently received an email from a friend abroad. In Thailand. Where, surely, bright, tropical light dapples off the fronds of greens and ponds of blues -- and to add insult to my jealous heart, left me with the seemingly innocuous ‘hope it’s not to grey and cold in London.’
This morning as I roused myself from bed, staring at the colourless sky, I began to wonder -- is there a difference in the colour of London’s cold, grey sky from one day to the next? Why don’t the English have hundreds of words for grey, as the Alaskans (supposedly) have hundreds of words for snow? (Or is it sun?) How do we describe the differences from one shade of grey to the next -- as we might describe one shade of red as ‘rust’ and another, ‘cabernet.’ How do people, for example, name grey paint? It’s surely a popular colour of paint -- even German advertising agency Springer & Jacoby, for example, purportedly has their own, unique grey shade adorning their walls.
How do paint namers deal with grey? Is grey for novice paint namers? Like, that’s how you gain distinction and prove yourself amongst seasoned vets? Or is it a task left for the masters of paint naming?
All these questions led me to the Sherwin-Williams website this afternoon (that venerable American proprietor of fine quality house paints). Aside from the stalwart (and obvious) ‘morning fog,’ there’s also ‘proper gray,’ ‘essential gray,’ and the slightly-punny ‘amazing gray.’ They have ‘serious,’ ‘flexible,’ ‘uncertain,’ ‘popular,’ ‘intellectual,’ and ‘ aloof’ grays, even ‘network,’ ‘agreeable’ and -- my personal favourite -- ‘anonymous.’ There’s even the slightly clever ‘Gray Matters’ and ‘Gray Area,’ not to mention ‘Grayish.’ For the literarily inclinded, there’s ‘Dorian Gray,’ and for technophiles, the succinct ‘Online.’
None of these descriptions -- however clever -- do much in my quest to describe the subtle variances in London’s grey sky. ‘Morning fog’ simply states the truth; I want more. And, alas, waking up and remarking, ‘My, the sky is looking very essential today’ lacks a certain descriptive truth; ‘the sky is looking anonymous,’ however true, fails to qualify the anonymity with a visual element.
I tried my own hand at the matter: Metal. Silver. Old dime. Cardboard. Dishwater. Donkey.
‘The sky is particularly donkey,’ I could hear myself saying. ‘Less cardboard than yesterday, more dishwater than the day before.’
More and more names for grey began to enter my head: Steel. Newspaper. Concrete. Faded bruise. Cremation. Boiled pork. Questions began to tumble forth: Would ‘smog’ be darker or lighter than regular ‘fog’? How would ‘cement’ differ in hue from ‘sidewalk’? ‘Mink’, after all, connotes a certain luxuriousness that ‘rat’ does not. What would be the shaded differene between ‘lint’ and ‘dust’?
As the day changed from ‘ash’ to ‘mouse’ to ‘puddle’, it struck me that despite distinctions, London’s skies are still one thing -- grey. Grey, however accurately described, is still grey.
Although I have a suggestion for the paint namers out there: How about ‘London’?
This morning as I roused myself from bed, staring at the colourless sky, I began to wonder -- is there a difference in the colour of London’s cold, grey sky from one day to the next? Why don’t the English have hundreds of words for grey, as the Alaskans (supposedly) have hundreds of words for snow? (Or is it sun?) How do we describe the differences from one shade of grey to the next -- as we might describe one shade of red as ‘rust’ and another, ‘cabernet.’ How do people, for example, name grey paint? It’s surely a popular colour of paint -- even German advertising agency Springer & Jacoby, for example, purportedly has their own, unique grey shade adorning their walls.
How do paint namers deal with grey? Is grey for novice paint namers? Like, that’s how you gain distinction and prove yourself amongst seasoned vets? Or is it a task left for the masters of paint naming?
All these questions led me to the Sherwin-Williams website this afternoon (that venerable American proprietor of fine quality house paints). Aside from the stalwart (and obvious) ‘morning fog,’ there’s also ‘proper gray,’ ‘essential gray,’ and the slightly-punny ‘amazing gray.’ They have ‘serious,’ ‘flexible,’ ‘uncertain,’ ‘popular,’ ‘intellectual,’ and ‘ aloof’ grays, even ‘network,’ ‘agreeable’ and -- my personal favourite -- ‘anonymous.’ There’s even the slightly clever ‘Gray Matters’ and ‘Gray Area,’ not to mention ‘Grayish.’ For the literarily inclinded, there’s ‘Dorian Gray,’ and for technophiles, the succinct ‘Online.’
None of these descriptions -- however clever -- do much in my quest to describe the subtle variances in London’s grey sky. ‘Morning fog’ simply states the truth; I want more. And, alas, waking up and remarking, ‘My, the sky is looking very essential today’ lacks a certain descriptive truth; ‘the sky is looking anonymous,’ however true, fails to qualify the anonymity with a visual element.
I tried my own hand at the matter: Metal. Silver. Old dime. Cardboard. Dishwater. Donkey.
‘The sky is particularly donkey,’ I could hear myself saying. ‘Less cardboard than yesterday, more dishwater than the day before.’
More and more names for grey began to enter my head: Steel. Newspaper. Concrete. Faded bruise. Cremation. Boiled pork. Questions began to tumble forth: Would ‘smog’ be darker or lighter than regular ‘fog’? How would ‘cement’ differ in hue from ‘sidewalk’? ‘Mink’, after all, connotes a certain luxuriousness that ‘rat’ does not. What would be the shaded differene between ‘lint’ and ‘dust’?
As the day changed from ‘ash’ to ‘mouse’ to ‘puddle’, it struck me that despite distinctions, London’s skies are still one thing -- grey. Grey, however accurately described, is still grey.
Although I have a suggestion for the paint namers out there: How about ‘London’?
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Diamonds Are Forever?
This article on the tactics of the diamond industry caught my eye this morning, courtesy of Boing Boing
Friday, February 17, 2006
Update-o-rific
Yes, it's been a long time, and yes, it's still going to be photoless. Without any new encounters of English racism to write about, I haven't felt compelled to update, but, here are several written 'snapshots' from the past few weeks of random thoughts and experiences:
- Realising yesterday that I could have been waiting at a different bus stop where I've been changing buses at Kings Cross, thus saving me quite a few minutes of time.
- Standing waiting to cross the street to catch the bus (a few weeks ago), and noticing that every single person on the opposite side of the street was wearing a black, knee-length coat. It was almost eery, how all 30 people were dressed identically without realising it.
- Arguing with an English man over my seat reservation on last Friday's trip to Bristol.
- Observing on the train that English people, unlike Americans, have a tendency to cloak their rudeness in being witty and snide. I'm not sure which is worse -- the outright, upfront honesty of Americans or the clever, patronising words of the English. The scenario: a man on Friday's train to Bristol sets his two pieces of luggage in the aisle. A Sikh man passes through the aisle and cannot pass through. He says to the English man, 'Perhaps it would be better if you put your bags overhead.' The English man retorts, 'I didn't realise people were trying to sit in the aisles.' Clever? Yes. Rude, with undercurrents (yet again) of some disdain for other cultures? Definitely.
- Dragging two of my schoolmates, Cindy and Dan, down to Bank Street Station on Valentine's Day to meet a friend-of-a-friend for a pint and exiting the tube station to see the Bank! Like, the Bank from Mary Poppins! Cindy and I had a minute of tourist glee (much to Dan's annoyance) before stepping into a pub which was purportedly haunted by the ghosts of one of London's great fires.
- Meeting drum & bass deejay Roni Size at a simply fantastic party at the Carling Academy in Bristol. He bought me a pint, and we chatted for a second, but I think my Carling-fueled gushing over my pilgrimage to Bristol scared him away.
- Seeing my friend Eva from Madrid and finally meeting her husband, James, and 18-month-old daughter Jessica.
- Seeing my friend Anna (who I met back in February 2003 during our TEFL course in Barcelona) again and getting a chance to catch up with her in some really cool places in Bristol.
- Enjoying what has been some spectacularly clear, gorgeous (though cold) weather.
- Realising yesterday that I could have been waiting at a different bus stop where I've been changing buses at Kings Cross, thus saving me quite a few minutes of time.
- Standing waiting to cross the street to catch the bus (a few weeks ago), and noticing that every single person on the opposite side of the street was wearing a black, knee-length coat. It was almost eery, how all 30 people were dressed identically without realising it.
- Arguing with an English man over my seat reservation on last Friday's trip to Bristol.
- Observing on the train that English people, unlike Americans, have a tendency to cloak their rudeness in being witty and snide. I'm not sure which is worse -- the outright, upfront honesty of Americans or the clever, patronising words of the English. The scenario: a man on Friday's train to Bristol sets his two pieces of luggage in the aisle. A Sikh man passes through the aisle and cannot pass through. He says to the English man, 'Perhaps it would be better if you put your bags overhead.' The English man retorts, 'I didn't realise people were trying to sit in the aisles.' Clever? Yes. Rude, with undercurrents (yet again) of some disdain for other cultures? Definitely.
- Dragging two of my schoolmates, Cindy and Dan, down to Bank Street Station on Valentine's Day to meet a friend-of-a-friend for a pint and exiting the tube station to see the Bank! Like, the Bank from Mary Poppins! Cindy and I had a minute of tourist glee (much to Dan's annoyance) before stepping into a pub which was purportedly haunted by the ghosts of one of London's great fires.
- Meeting drum & bass deejay Roni Size at a simply fantastic party at the Carling Academy in Bristol. He bought me a pint, and we chatted for a second, but I think my Carling-fueled gushing over my pilgrimage to Bristol scared him away.
- Seeing my friend Eva from Madrid and finally meeting her husband, James, and 18-month-old daughter Jessica.
- Seeing my friend Anna (who I met back in February 2003 during our TEFL course in Barcelona) again and getting a chance to catch up with her in some really cool places in Bristol.
- Enjoying what has been some spectacularly clear, gorgeous (though cold) weather.
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