http://arrogantemu.monadology.net Morally Challenged Sun, 03 May 2009 23:24:03 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en "The Office", from the beginning, very strongly reminded me of "Fawlty Towers", and not just in its British DNA.   Both employed the same kind of humor of the excruciatingly awkward; of setting their exaggerated situations not in the wacky world where people react to absurdity with absurdity, but in the ... http://arrogantemu.monadology.net/2009/05/03/fawlty-towers-and-the-softhearted-american/ There's an ad campaign in DC, which, although it fails in that I don't actually remember the name of the product being advertised, produces such discomfort, a sort of buzzing in my orthographical ears, that it sticks in my head for ages.  I worry at it, trying to figure out ... http://arrogantemu.monadology.net/2009/04/26/unwronged/ It's been a while since I've posted one of these, and I do believe my first one was for the sculpture garden of this very museum.  I've been by it often enough, I've sheltered in its courtyard both from heat and from rain, but I'd never actually been inside until ... http://arrogantemu.monadology.net/2009/04/26/the-school-for-critics-the-hirshhorn-museum/ It was a splendid day, the first full-hearted spring of the season.  For a few weeks now I have seen a crocus here or a daffodil there, splashes of color as grateful to the eyes as a breath of warm air from an opened door on a shivering winter day.  ... http://arrogantemu.monadology.net/2009/03/29/floret-urbis-undique/ So, inspired by Julia and then by Libby, I am here offering, to anyone who wishes, a Thing. Specifically, a knitted thing.  If you would like a knitted thing, post your preferences (socks, hat, gloves, scarf, etc) in the comments.  You can even specify a color if you'd like, though ... http://arrogantemu.monadology.net/2009/01/28/winter-knits-for-a-summers-day/ Sorry about that, readers.  (The extended hiatus, I mean.)  I was going to and fro in the world, and walking up and down in it, and in the course of my perambulations I came into possession of a rather remarkable set of documents: knitting and crochet patterns, mostly for lace, ... http://arrogantemu.monadology.net/2009/01/16/the-opposite-of-art/ When I mentioned my interest in wall painting, my interlocutor asked whether I'd been to see the exhibit at the National Gallery.  "The Pompeii one?" I said.  "I thought that was sculpture."  A headless torso had been the advertising image for it on the metro, after all.  No, on the ... http://arrogantemu.monadology.net/2009/01/16/worlds-end-all-the-time/ I don't think I've seen an ad in the whole time I've been here. I sleep for nine hours a night, wake up, eat some food, go out hiking, make some tea, knit some socks...  What shall I blog about until I return to the world of the Metro? Well, ... http://arrogantemu.monadology.net/2008/12/31/childrens-books/ I got on a flight two days later, on Christmas Eve. (Who has eves any more? Vigils, watches, prolonged anticipation?)  The world, when I descended in the Pacific Northwest, was locked in otherworldly white and blues, a low soft ceiling over a sharp sparkling landscape.  I fell asleep ... http://arrogantemu.monadology.net/2008/12/30/the-christmas-spirit-iii/ Then why, this year, did I feel none of the joy of the season?   Stumping into shops to buy various necessaries, the music and the lights and the Christmas advertising left my mouth tasting of sawdust and glue; they seemed like the rote beckonings of a shivering streetwalker. ... http://arrogantemu.monadology.net/2008/12/30/the-christmas-spirit-ii/