the final list: 2010 in TV watching

Ok, it's a little late to be making a 2010 end-of-year list, but lisa b. asked and how can I refuse? So, here is the list of tv shows I watched in 2010. I will tell you that for some of these (perhaps many) there was more than one season involved. I will also remind your that for the first three months of 2010, I was very pregnant and not really in the mood to do much besides sit around--and eat french fries. Don't judge me, people. Just consider how truly awesome tv is. I should also add that Will and I don't actually have a tv; it's amazing how much tv a person can watch without a tv.

• Mad Men
• Community (if you haven't seen this, you must! best tv out there)
  
• 30 Rock
• Caprica (I just want this to be better than it is. I miss BSG. tears)
• True Blood
• Walking Dead
• Being Human (which is so, so good. and now there is going to be a lame U.S. version because it is apparently difficult to understand those British accents)
• Luther (kind of ridiculous in its psycho-drama ways, but pretty entertaining)
  
• Top Chef
• Top Chef Just Desserts
• Top Chef All-Stars
• Iron Chef America
• The Next Iron Chef
  
• The Closer
• Big Love
  
• Circus (if you didn't see this, go to PBS right now and watch. It is fantastic!)
• Sherlock. meh
• The Daily Show
• Colbert
• South Park
• The Sarah Silverman Show
• Ugly Americans
• Important Things
  
• America's Next Top Model. I know, forgive me.
  
• Project Runway
• V
• The Vampire Diaries
• The Tudors
• The Border (the best Canadian tv show, which got cancelled. whatever)
• Dragon's Den. Canadian entrepreneurs pitch ideas to Canadian millionaires. love it.
  
• So You Think You Can Dance. Thanks guy on Facebook who posts these episodes. You are doing an important public service.
  
• Flash Forward. This was so lame. I can't believe I watched this. But I am sure I will watch if they make Season 2.
  
• There were also a smattering of episodes from: House, the Good Wife, the Office, Gray's Anatomy, the Practice, and Family Guy.
  

My favorites from this list are Circus, Community, Being Human, and True Blood. The rest I probably could have lived without. But that won't stop me from watching.

2010 music

Leaving 2010 makes me feel old. When I was a kid, 2010 was like the end of time, the ultimate future. Predictions about future events never speculated beyond 2010. I would think about 2010 and be like woah, I'll be 37 in 2010 and that's old. And now 2010 is gone.

I decided to add a second end of 2010 list (because I see how much everyone loved and felt compelled to comment on my book list! :). I was going to do a music, movies, and tv list because the music list is short but then I decided to add videos (awesome, I know) and that made the post long. It's January 2nd people and these lists can only go on so long, so maybe you will not get my movies and tv lists and that's probably ok because a) lisa b. has the definitive movie list and b) recording my tv-watching, as I've said before, may be too embarrassing.

Music
I didn't purchase or listen to much new music in 2010. Much of what I did purchase was not new in 2010, so you'll have to go elsewhere for your definitive view of the year in music (I know, it's disappointing).

• Richard Hawley, Truelove's Gutter. This came out at the end of 2009, but I am counting it here because I love Richard Hawley and I think you should too.
  

• The Swell Season, Strict Joy. Also a late 2009 entry. While my sister saw the Swell Season perform multiple times in 2010, I was stuck listening to the album, but I'm not complaining.
  

In These Arms from banjo bandstand on Vimeo.

• Josh Rouse, The Besk of the Rykodisc Years. I bought this because there is this song of his, "Dressed Up Like Nebraska," that I bought randomly when Will and I were making a state-by-state playlist for our long drive to the cold, cold north. I love that song. I didn't love this album as much. But that's ok.
  
• Purple Rain. After three years of watching Purple Rain (the movie) on Christmas Eve with Will, I decided I needed the actual album. Everything about it is awesome, which sort of goes without saying.
  

• A couple of other purchases in the nostalgia category: Aztec Camera, Stray and the Very Best of the Human League. I bought the Human League album because of something my sister posted on Facebook. Damn that Facebook.
  

• Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros, Up From Below and Arcade Fire, The Suburbs. (These were technically Will purchases). I love Edward Sharpe--hippy, dippy but I don't care. Neither Will nor I cared for the Suburbs. pretentious much?
• Some music for Miss Imogen: Woody Guthrie's Songs to Grow on For Mother and Child and Dan Zane's Catch That Train. Dan Zanes does "family music" that kids like and parents won't want to kill themselves listening to. American-roots' inspired. Imogen is dancing to it right now and that's pretty adorable.
  

• Finally, a couple of end of the year Christmas music purchases: A Colbert Christmas and A Xmas Postcard from Willie (that's Willie Nelson).
  

What have you been listening to this year?

2010 Book List

I love to read end-of-year lists. I love them especially when they are written by friends (and because of this, lisa b. is my favorite person right now) but I love all end-of-year lists even if they are about things that I really don't care anything about. I also love lisa b. right now because she tweeted this aggregate of end-of-year lists and it has been entertaining me for days:

While I love to read the lists, I do not make lists--of any kind really, except for the occasional grocery list. But I am going to make a list now (and maybe another one tomorrow). And these lists may seem a lot like lisa b.'s lists, but I don't care. I like to emulate. I am an emulator.

I was going to start with a list of tv shows I've watched, but that may be embarrassing. So I will start with books. Because books make you smart.

Books I read (or pretended to read) for school (the ones I can remember, anyway; there are many that have been returned to the library):

• Visual Rhetoric: A Handbook and Visual Methodologies and Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design. These were for a class on, you guessed it, visual rhetoric.
  
• A collection of books about math and crochet, which were for the paper in the visual rhetoric class. I still think about this project and will some day turn it into something worthwhile: Making Mathematics with Needlework, Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Crochet, Mathematics as Sign: Writing, Imagining Counting, and Semiotics in Mathematics Education.
• Kiss My Math and Math Doesn't Suck both by Danica McKellar. These were going to be part of the above project, but I changed my focus. But I did learn some math from these. They are a little too "girly" for my tastes, but I think she's on to something about making math accessible.
  
• The Disability Studies Reader and Universal Design for Web Applications. This class on disability studies kind of rocked my world and will probably shape my dissertation. I have purchased a bunch of other books on this topic, but I haven't quite read them yet.
  
• Assessing Writing: A Critical Sourcebook and a whole bunch of other books on assessment that I won't bore you with. This class on assessment was suprisingly interesting and I loved the project I did. I am available to assist you with all of your assessment needs.
  
• Central Works in Technical Communication. This book, and the class that required it, is about as interesting as it sounds.
  
• Mission Improbable: Using Fantasy Documents to Tame Disaster. This was for my paper for the above class, a paper about the oil spill. A depressing topic, but an interesting book--although it was far longer than it needed to be and the author has a very poor understanding of rhetoric and the extent of research in the field (which probably just means that rhetoricians need to do a better job of communicating their work to other disciplines).
  
• The Language of Work: Technical Communication at Lukens Steel, 1810 to 1925. For the boring class mentioned above. This sounds really boring, I know, but it was actually good. All about changes in literacy practices, shifts from oral to print culture, etc.
  

Books I read to Imogen:

• Charlotte's Web. I read this to Imogen when she was just a few days old. This may have been a bad idea because I cried in a ridiculous way. This is my favorite book of all time.
  
• Imogen's Antlers which our delivery doctor told us about and is kind of amazing because we joked about our baby having antlers from the moment we found out I was pregnant and before we picked a name.
  
• Many, many board books--among them Click, Clack 123, Let's Dance Little Pookie, Les Chaussures, Olivia's Opposites, and Whaley Whale.
  

Books that I read or am reading or thinking about reading:

• Dog of the South Charles Portis. I am reading this right now and I love it. I am going to read everything of his.
  
• House of Mirth. This is one of my favorite books. I reread it recently because I heard a Studio 360 podcast about it. Still wonderful, still heartbreaking.
  
• The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I haven't actually read this, having given it up only a few pages in. I put on the list, though, because I keep wondering what the big deal is. I admittedly read very little of the book, but it was so tedious. Does it really get better?
• When You Reach Me Rebecca Stead. A kid's book. I loved it. A combo of sci-fi and the typical coming of age, relationship-driven kid's book.
  
• Silence of the Grave Indridason. I read this because of DrWrite. I liked it. I want to go to Iceland.
  
• In the House. Go DrWrite!
  
• Hellhound on His Trail Hampton Sides. I read this because the author was on Daily Show or Colbert. It is about MLK's assassination. I did not find it to be particularly interesting or insightful.
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Rebecca Skloot. This was also a Stewart/ Colbert book, and it is my favorite read of the year. It should be on more best books lists. About science, and race, and family. You should read this.
  
• A Bridge to the Stars Henning Mankell. Another kids' book. I haven't finished it, but I like it. Sort of elegiac, which seems like a strange description for kidlit.
  
• The Joy of Living: Unlocking the Secret and Science of Happiness Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche. I bought this because I heard the author talking about how he dealt with panic attacks. I think it's pretty good, but I haven't finished it (even though I bought it a year ago). This may be because I was very pregnant when I got the book or because no matter how much I like the idea of meditation, etc. I just can't really get into it.
• The Mind at Work Mike Rose. Still reading this one, but it's good. It is making me think about how/why we teach composition at a community college.
  
• Literacy: An Introduction to the Ecology of Written Language David Barton. I guess this one should go on the school list, but I sort of love reading about literacy in a way that makes it almost not like work/school, so I will just leave it here.
  
• Middlemarch Look, I tried to read this. I don't really know why. And I could not read it and I could not care about it. I ended up reading Jane Smiley's description of it in 13 Ways of Looking at a Novel and I think that is just fine.
  
• Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ Philip Pullman. This book annoyed me and I did not finish reading it. But I cannot remember exactly why.
  
• The Lonely Polygamist Brady Udall. A good novel. My reaction to it is too difficult to explain in a list.
  
• In Pursuit of Silence George Prochnik. I am reading this because of a project I am working on about voice (not the metaphorical kind). It has lots of interesting information, but the writing is a bit precious for my tastes.
  
• The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance. I read this because of Ron's recommendation and I read it in one day. I did not really like it, though, and I can't decide if that is because a) it is too close to home or b) it is more a memoir of "I was once overweight and now I feel pretty" (which I'm not that interested in) than it is a memoir of religious uncertainty.
• Blind Descent James Tabor. This is a book about exploring deep, dark, scary caves. I have not finished it yet.
  
• I also read several books in the early days of 2010, in the long three months before Imogen's birth. It was too long ago and in a different lifetime for me to say much about them, but here they are: The Lacuna, Wolf Hall, A Thousand Splendid Suns, Never Let Me Go, Blind Willow Sleeping Woman, After Dark, The Comfort of Strangers (which I hated! passionately), Born Round (which I also hated), Wicked (which I was very ambivalent about), The Little Princess (revisiting a childhood favorite), and the Irregulars.
  

I also read a bunch of books about babies and birthing and breastfeeding, but I'm pretty sure no one wants to hear about that.

canadian five-pin

Everything on this blog has been baby, baby, baby lately but it's time to get back to the other important things in life. Like bowling!

Mr. Will, baby, and I wandered down to our local bowling alley last night. We've been talking about going for the 2+ years we've been here, but you know how it goes. Entertainment options get a bit narrow with baby in tow and a bowling alley on a Friday night at 5 pm is oddly quiet and inviting. A beer, some french fries, perfection.

Who knew that Canadian bowling is not American bowling? Five small pins, a much smaller ball, a crazy scoring system that I don't really get. I like it because, let's be honest, those giant 10-pin bowling balls sort of intimidate me. I've dropped one behind me en route to the lane far too many times. Will and I played two games and he bested me both times. However, you will see in the scoring that at one point in the game we were tied; this frame was followed by Will getting his second strike and a bit of choking on my part. Given that the high-score for five-pin bowling is 450, you will also see that we were both quite terrible at this game. (I also want to make sure everyone knows that even though Will can beat me at bowling, I am the reigning foosball champion in our household).

my baby, my self

Yesterday, while watching the baby crawling around, climbing on the cooling rack (look, she kept crawling into the kitchen to try to get it; I had to give in) I thought hmm, that has some sharp edges, maybe that's how she got that scrape on her finger. I thought better about my cooling rack as toy plan, put it back in the kitchen, and tried to get the baby interested in her ever-growing pile of legitimate toys that she is so over.

Later, while taking a shower I realized that I am the one with the scrape on her finger. I apparently don't know the difference between my baby and my self any more.

Since our trip to Utah, the baby has decided that sleeping in a crib is not for her. She's no dummy and has realized that only an idiot would sleep in a crib when there is a cozy warm bed available with near-instant access to the milk supply. I can't deny that it was sweet at first, the cozy sleeping with the baby, but I am so over it.

I'm pretty sure I could find a bunch of advice about how to break baby's attachment to comfort objects like the pacifier, or a blanket, or a stuffed animal. What I want is advice about how to create that attachment. We have this sweet little stuffed octopus, and I'm pretty sure that it could be a good stand-in for a mama during a long night of sleep. But the baby is not convinced of this. If you have any suggestions for creating lasting bonds between a baby and an inanimate (but cozy! I'm not a monster) object, please let me know.

just a few things to think about

Watch segment 1 of Wednesday's Daily Show which if you are in the America is here and if you are in the Canada is here.

And then check out these gems.

balanced rocks, remic rapids

There's a spot on the Ottawa River, not so far from my house where artist John Felice Ceprano creates beautiful, delicate, balanced sculptures from the river's abundant limestone. The sculptures change with the seasonal ebbs and flows of the river. He recreates the project each spring, populating the space as the river water recedes, an entire landscape created by the end of Fall. Then, through winter and spring, the temporary sculptures are knocked down, the space emptying but for a few standing rocks. Sometimes, you can catch Ceprano at work, but most often the sculptures seem to arise from nothing.

I love land-based art, especially when it utilizes local materials in a sustainable way. Ceprano's Ottawa River sculpture reminds me of Andy Goldsworthy's work:


Living in Ottawa often feels lonely, too far away from the people and places I love. When I go to Remic Rapids, I like to walk across the flat limestone and wade through the water. If there is space enough, I will lie down on the rock and look up at the sky. For a moment, amidst all of these rocks, I can feel like I'm in the desert. Last fall, when my parents were visiting, Ceprano was at work, so we talked to him for awhile. He told us that Southern Utah's canyon country was part of the inspiration for the work, so it's no wonder that I feel so at home here.

This week has been ridiculously hot, too hot to go outside, too hot to be inside. Miserable. One evening, the densely humid air made for spectacular light. The sun was a brilliant red globe, the surrounding sky gray. We went to the river to watch the sun, to wade in the cool water. It felt as thought everyone there was letting out a slow sigh to have just a moment's respite from the heat.