The xx – VCR (Four Tet remix)

(via Four Tet)

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

The lives of nine-year old Oskar, his grandmother (as a girl, woman and crone) and grandfather (as a teen and adult) overlap in Jonathan Safran Foer’s story about our lifelong struggle to come to terms with loss.  In Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, JSF skillfully weaves wordless suffering throughout the novel, illustrating how loss is loss is loss, with or without eloquent expression. The 3 narrators use photographs, sign language, written notes and imagined inventions (like a shower that reacts to the emotional chemistry of the bather, pigmenting the skin like a living mood ring to better communicate feelings — to others and the self) to communicate when feelings overwhelm the ability to speak.

Purple. Or green?

Oskar, like his grandparents — one of whom struggled with English as a second language — uses any means necessary to convey emotion when words fail. To this end, JSF uses images thoughtout the novel to demonstrate how the power of some feelings are easier to show visually than describe verbally. Take the notion of writing the name of a color (purple) in a pen of a different color (green). A lengthy description could talk around the concept of how we struggle to say the WORD purple when written in the COLOR green. Or, as JSF does, a picture of the word black written in red ink can be shown, allowing the reader to experience the confusion first hand.

Similarly, photographs of movement are paired with their description in the plot, giving the reader a chance to call up memories of sound, smell and light to complement what each character struggles to describe. Reading about the flock of birds that flies near Oskar, “extremely loud and incredibly close”, then seeing an image of such a flock connected me with an amalgam of other groups of other birds from my own memories. The feel of air against my face in sync with wingflaps; the dusty smell of dander stirred by sudden, rapid movement; the unmistakeable sound of wings beating — all called to mind with a single image. And for this, the novel is a richer and much more personal experience.

The birds were extremely loud and incredibly close

Some readers object to the use of a nine-year old protagonist navigating a post-9/11 theme, claiming Oskar is unable to adequately speak about the tragedy. But his inability to hold an adult conversation about many things, including the 9/11 bombings, is actually the point. What is Oskar if not a metaphor for the post-9/11 US? Shock, feeling strong emotions but being unable to articulate the grief, confusion, overwhelm and a general lack of understanding — all are sentiments that correctly describe Oskar and what was felt nationwide after 9/11.

The selection of characters who struggle to communicate, along with relevant images throughout the story make this book a successful exploration of how we strive to understand life — especially when loss flings us beyond our vocabulary. Well done, JSF.

The rusty underbelly of Moss Landing

Given my childhood romps amidst rusty machinery and cogs hidden beneath years of motor grease, it was with nostalgia that I found this beautiful pile of discarded labor.

Rebar

Rust and rope

Femme

Boi

She & Him

(Taken in Moss Landing, June 8, 2010)

My first: Acupuncture

Hua Shou. Expression of the fourteen meridians. (Tokyo, 1716)

A friend made the resolution to have more “first time”s in her life this year.  There is something to first time experiences that nudges our personal growth along, intentional or otherwise.  While not making a formal resolution, I include the intention to try something new in my decisions.  In the East Bay it’s fairly easy to try new restaurants; recently I’ve enjoyed Flora, Aunt Mary’s, Quince and Actual Cafe.  My career path is meandering down a new path with volunteer work at the Lindsay Wildlife Museum and Monterey Bay Aquarium.  For physical well-being I’m racking up firsts: a sacro-iliac belt, an adjustment by a chiropractor, ultrasound treatment and now acupuncture.  The goal is to find something that will eliminate the need for my first back surgery.

Many friends have suggested acupuncture.  However, my limited understanding of how the practice works has been holding me back from making my first appointment.  I understand the biochemical pathways targeted by medicine, while the pathways used by acupuncture elude me.  It seems other scientists share my curiosity about the biological mode of action for acupuncture.  The authors of a recent neurobiology study actually refute the traditional theory of Qi used in acupuncture:

Rats with damaged spines can walk again thanks to acupuncture. But it’s not due to improvements in their energy flow or “chi”. Instead, the ancient treatment seems to stop nerve cell death by reducing inflammation.

Despite my craving for a reconciliation between contemporary biology and the ancient practice of acupuncture, I’ve decided to have a first experience with the needles.  There are numerous acupuncture clinics in the East Bay and San Francisco, so it wasn’t difficult to find a reputable practitioner.  My first acupuncture appointment will be tomorrow morning at the Acupuncture and Integrative Medicine College in Berkeley.  Good fortune is on my side, as there is a promotion this week and my visit will be half off — only $15!

Several kitty alcoves

I share a house with 3 cats.  It gets hairy around the house — in more ways than one.  Weekly vacuuming is a necessity.  So are several kitty alcoves scattered throughout the house.

A few months ago I saw a hack for the IKEA lack wall shelf: by rotating the zigzag-shaped shelf 45 degrees the the left, a cat-sized stairway is created.  The vertically-oriented cat, Arlis, has been very finicky about her hangouts.  I took a chance with this LACK shelf idea, and luckly it worked out!  She spends a fair amount of time on what are exclusively her steps; the other two cats are not “arboreal”, and prefer to spend their down time in dark cavernous areas close to the ground.

Arlis on the IKEA LACK mod

I’ve been thinking about ways to create more indoor cat microhabitats.  So when I came across a link to The Cats’ House on Apartment Therapy today, it was as though inspiration dropped into my lap from the clouds* up above:

Feline lovers, get ready for some pie-in-the-sky dreams come true: The Cats’ House designed by Japanese architecture firm Fauna+DeSIGN is dizzying in the amount of playful, yet tastefully designed, details created to amuse 16 very fortunate felines. Rounded corners throughout, bookcase steps, tunnels, skylights, ceiling catwalks and a floor to ceiling scratching post make this possibly the coolest pet-centric home we’ve ever seen.

A clever way to fit 16 cats into one house

Check out the full details (but in Japanese) over at The Cats’ House website.

*Pun intended.  It’s too easy to spin off the cloud computing concept sometimes.

My parents were awesome

I’ve been working at my current job harder than I ever have in my life.  I wake up, drive (carpool!) for over an hour, get to work, and focus on “work”.  After 8 or 9 hours, I get back into the car and decompress.  When I get home, I pull up my email and dash off replies to any new messages, and push through any tasks of my own to keep the projects I manage on schedule.

Whew.

When I can steal a minute in between meetings (like now!) I like to check out My Parents Were Awesome.  NPR described the blog with a question: “How did your folks look before they were parents?”  A hard question to answer, unless you have evidence…like pre-digital photographs.  For those of us in a certain age bracket, that is.

Paul (submitted by Chris)

To do:  Scan pre-digital camera pictures to share with the world.  The past can be awesome.

A full-time, professional fun-maker

Dream job alert: being a full-time, professional fun-maker.  The Fun Theory is an initiative of Volkswagen, and the following sums up the purpose of their website:

This site is dedicated to the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behaviour for the better. Be it for yourself, for the environment, or for something entirely different, the only thing that matters is that it’s change for the better.

Check out this short video showing the genius of how adding fun to function can have a huge effect on behavior: