Reflections

Wed, 03 Mar 2004 03:55:42 GMT

Not only am I moving, but I am abandoning my old trusty Gateway. I will continue to post regularly on my LJ blog at http://www.livejournal.com/users/ddolinov/ until I configure Radio on my laptop - Radio has a way of taking its time to get configured.

Wed, 25 Feb 2004 04:56:35 GMT

A new type of bootcamp

They say that in boot camp the drill instructors break you down and then put you together again. I can attest first hand that the statement is somewhat accurate. Of course, neither the breakdown nor the buildup is not in total terms, but the process allows you to internalize a great deal of new habits and skills. I am finding that the same is very much true of a move, especially of a move that you never planed on (having thought that you will be living in the same place for the rest of your life). So, I am about to shortly embark on just such a move. From a not too terribly sleepy quasi-suburban neighborhood I will be moving to a very much awake quasi-urban environment (Cambridge, right outside of Davis Square). I am leaving much behind, both in terms of the person I will no longer be with, as well as numerous physical objects I have acquired over the last seven years. This particular prospect of separation and severing yourself from the familiar can certainly be anxiety inducing. At the same time, such a move involves taking with you one constant – a thing that never leaves you, namely YOU. In my case a good chunk of the material stuff is going with me as well. Both the objects and I will need to learn how to live by ourselves and maybe even practice a bit of willful amnesia as to exactly how we met, but I think it would be pleasant to have a familiar chair or wine glass or tea service in a new place.

Somewhere in the Dune chronicles someone throws in a pearl of wisdom in the words that “the most difficult thing is to endure yourself.” I am not sure I’ve had this particular issue, as I have a veritable maternal attitude towards me – both loving and forgiving. Nevertheless, one must be ready for a rather frank look at oneself when left to a hitherto unaccustomed solitude. The degree to which I will be able to deal with the situation will remain to be seen, but the entire prospect has a tinge of anticipation to it. And we all know that not much can beat anticipation.

Fri, 20 Feb 2004 04:42:32 GMT

Craigslist

I am in the process of looking for a new place. A while back, a real-estate agent that was showing me apartments in Boston said I should check out craigslist, a bulletin board of sorts where people advertise all manner of merchandise, including apartments for rent. -- then she sort of giggled and said she probably lost my business, as I will be getting my new place through craigslist. – The thing is incredibly effective, so if any of you are not familiar with it, do check it out. Be mindful that the default city is San Francisco, so if you are not from there make sure to switch.

Wed, 18 Feb 2004 06:13:09 GMT

Why cops should be more obnoxious

Sometimes it is problematic when cops are not as obnoxious as you’d expect them to be. On Sunday night I was coming back from having spent a little over 3 hours at the Independent bar in Somerville. In that period of time I consumed 3 and a half mugs of Guinness. When I was way into Newton (where I live) I noticed a police car behind me. Trying to be a good citizen I stopped, to let the cops go around me. They stopped as well. I should have figured out that they wanted me to stop but: 1. I was probably a bit tired and was not thinking that clearly, 2. I did not see the cop leaving the car (as apparently he did) and 3. They did not put on the siren – which is what always happened in the few times I have been stopped throughout my driving career.

I don’t know whether Newton cops are trying to be sensitive to the fact that people are usually asleep at around 12:50 AM, or what, but the quiet police car certainly confused me. Well, I was confused and the cops were upset that I stopped and then took off. So, I was asked to step outside and they checked out the car for anything that should not have been there.

The only things that should not have been there were copies of the Wall Street Journal I should have thrown out. I still got the lecture that I should not have taken off, even though I explained why I did. The officer was very nice about it – well and soft spoken. There was a sergeant there as well – a drill instructor wannabe. Either upon hearing my slightly foreign accent or looking at my decidedly Slavic face and French head gear, or maybe even my highly aristocratic Russian name, he did inquire where I was from. When I told him “Russia” he did give me the “When cops stop you in Russia do you stop of keep on going?”

I did not feel drunk in the least, but I am curious whether I would have passed the drunk driving test. My urge was to express my gamut of feeling at the moment. For, firs of all, I left Russia when I was 5, and however precocious I was, driving was not part of my skill set, so the scenario the sergeant was describing was rather impossible. Second of all, I felt a mild implication that I was somehow foreign to these lands and slightly oblivious to how things were done here. The implication was that I was a guest, who may have overstayed his welcome and was being a nuisance to the hosts. To that I wanted to tell that beer bellied mofo piece of s---t, that I was not only a citizen but a veteran as well and that his condescending manner did not really fit the occasion. But I stopped myself, since I was quite certain he would have taken the opportunity to rough me up a bit and check me for any traces of alcohol.

The moral of the story is that cops should be a bit more explicit with their orders to stop and not assume that anyone who is decidedly more handsome than they are and who happen to posses a somewhat exotic accent and name did not in some way put their life on the line for the said cop’s beer bellied sorry ass mofo… but I repeat myself.

Thu, 12 Feb 2004 03:55:34 GMT

To sum me up

Busy, busy, much to write about but not today. Was enjoined to put this bon mot of mine in this space by house mates. We were geeking out on PDA talk and I made the conclusion that I am a Palm accessory slut. All agreed.

Mon, 09 Feb 2004 21:21:20 GMT

Stan Vanderbeek

Thursday night, lulabellafp and I went to see an installment in an experimental film festival titled Balagan. The topic last night was one Stan Vanderbeek. The retrospective consisted of several short films, followed by an ad hoc discussion. While Vanderbeek can be viewed as a complete modernist, what I find amusing is that among a certain cross section of the population – those who have not heard of him, but who are avid watchers of Monty Python’s “The Flying Circus,” Vanderbeek’s work will come across as extremely familiar. Check this out, especially the clip titled “extrait1” This is very much like the animated interludes between the Python skits.

While the Python animation was very entertaining, Vanderbeek is trying to achieve something quite formidable – he is taking a great deal of information about contemporary culture and events, all thorough photographs and short movie clips, and to merge them into one impression. His montage breaks down any attempt on the part of the viewer to see a typical sequence of events one would expect in a movie. Once that expectation goes away, the audience is potentially ready for different kind of information, which Vanderbeek provides. I don’t think I will provide commentary for the movies – I have not seen enough of them, and I don’t want to ruin it for those who intend to watch. What I find particularly intriguing is how Vanderbeek, while taking away a great deal of the comfortable and familiar, nevertheless manages to keep the spectator glued to the screen. This is where talent comes in, something without which no work of art can exist, regardless of the sophistication of its ideas and good intentions of the artists.

Wed, 04 Feb 2004 21:22:47 GMT

Expanded Universe

Over the last several months I've developed a number new friendships through various online media. In today's day and age, through e-mail but primarily Instant Messenger, you can keep in touch to a degree where you actually feel a continuous interaction with another person where your relationship grows in a meaningful way. And something else, all the people whom I met so far having initially encountered in the online world turned out to be exactly the they represented themselves. All in all it's quite comforting - people are out there, they are real, and the ones that you want to meet probably want to meet you as well.