Specialized English Vocabulary for Khotanese

Today I've been working on an index for the third (and as far as I know, last) volume of Studies in the Vocabulary of Khotanese. (See below for full bibliographic information.)

Khotanese is a Middle Iranian language with a large amount of Buddhist literature extant, hence the interest. Khotan itself was a thriving center of Buddhism in Inner (or Central Asia) for most of the first millennium after the birth of Christ, so the study of Khotan and Khotanese literature is important in understanding the spread of Buddhism from India to the rest of Asia. I'll be talking more and more about all things Khotanese as I get to various topics since this is one of the main areas that I am researching.

I've been working on this list in the hope of eventually creating a composite index of Khotanese words. Not necessarily a dictionary, but merely an index that lists where words are discussed since Bailey's dictionary only lists words of Iranian origin, and you often have to check in a variety of places to find a particular lemma. And this gets wearisome, so a master index is necessary. It's not like using a single dictionary while working in other language; I often have to check in three or four places without any guarantee of finding what I'm looking for. Eventually, with a master index in hand, the time to work through a text should be cut way down, but of course, I have to put in the time to create a list in the first place.

The 3rd volume of Studies in the Vocabulary of Khotanese is an ideal place to start since it is itself an index for all three volumes and the lemmata correct mistakes, problems, or ghostwords in Sir. H. W. Bailey's Dictionary of Khotan Saka. Incidentally, if you'd like to purchase a copy of this extremely rare dictionary for my use, it's only about $700. You'd have my eternal gratitude, of course.

So I'm going through making an index of the lemmata or headwords with a minimal amount of information such as location in the volumes and the translation of the particular term, and I have run into a surprising number of words that I had to look up so I thought I'd share them and their definitions with you in no particular order:
1. beestings - n. first milk given by cow after calving
2. supervenient - adj. surprising, unexpected
3. efflate - to fill with breath; to puff up.
4. simplex - having only one part or element; "a simplex word has no affixes and is not part of a compound--like `boy' compared with `boyish' or `house' compared with `houseboat'
5. raphe - n. seam joining two halves or parts of a body part (Anatomy); median line of the cell wall of a diatom (Botany)
6. clyster-pipe - n. injection of a liquid through the anus to stimulate evacuation; sometimes used for diagnostic purposes

Learn Khotanese, improve your English vocabulary!

For the pedants: Emmerick, R.E., and P.O. Skjærvø. 1997. Studies in the Vocabulary of Khotanese III, (Veröffentlichungen der iranischen Kommission herausgegeben von Heiner Eichner und Rüdiger Schmitt Band 27). Wien: Verlag der Osterreichischen Akademie Der Wissenschaften.

Biscuits and Gravy? Minor League Miscellania

I went to a Tennessee Smokies baseball game tonight, and I was somewhat puzzled by the above ball cap I saw in the souvenir shop.

Which team is that?

Turns out it's...

the Montgomery Biscuits, Double A team in the Southern League. Only a team affiliated with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, who have their own name problems since the devil he lurks in them mangrove swamps, could be named thusly. Can you imagine the ribbing these guys get from the other teams? I thought the Austin Ice Bats were kinda strange, but hey... the Biscuits? How do you get your game face on when you're a Biscuit?

My favorite sports team mascot and image remains the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs of the Central Hockey League. There is just something about a crawfish as a mascot for a hockey team that I find compelling, especially as one that looks as angry as this.

Addendum:
For more minor league hi-jinks, the manager for the Mississippi Braves totally wigs out and crawls around on the field after getting ejected from a game. Video is here.

Tacqueria Mexicana

So while I moseyed on down to the Book Eddy today to replenish my stock of casual reading, I was afflicted by the sticky heat. Today was much more oppressive than it's been the past couple of days, probably because we're due for rain.

I was feeling dizzy from the heat, aided no doubt by lack of sleep, but I did leave victorious with my spoils:

Lost Horizon - James Hilton. A fine piece of idealizing Tibet and introducing the myth of Shangri-la (or more properly, Shambala) to a wide audience. Strange that I hadn't read it yet, but that will be rectified.

Plain Tales from the Raj - edited by Charles Allen. I'm sure it's ammunition for post-Orientalists, but I found Charles Allen's book, The Search for the Buddha: The Men Who Discovered India's Lost Religion (I prefer the British title, The Buddha and the Sahibs: The Men Who Discovered India's Lost Religion), quite compelling, albeit not as well documented in that pedantic academic way as I would like.

And a translation of Milarepa's biography. More on the reason behind purchasing that later, hopefully.

After leaving Book Eddy, I had intended to walk downtown to photograph some of the old buildings being renovated, but I thought perhaps I should fortify myself first. So I popped into Tacqueria Mexicana in the same strip mall as Book Eddy. It's combined with a Mexican grocery store, which has some great Mexican football league hats. I covet the Club Deportivo Cruz Azul one the most.

The waitress seemed quite surprised when I, a gringo extraordinaire, came in. It was long after lunch, and I suppose they were setting up for dinner. She shyly asked me what I wanted to drink in Spanish so I got an agua fresca, tamarindo. Delicious. I tried to summon up my restaurant Spanish, feeble at the best of times, but I kept getting it mixed up with Nepali. No matter, dos asada tacos got me two great tacos, a plate full of pico de gallo, chopped onion, and cilantro. For less than $5, I had a great meal and the pleasure of shocking the waitress and checkout person since I think gringos are not the usual patrons of this establishment. Incidents like this drive home just how divided culturally the U.S. is in some way. I think I'll go back and order a torta some other time after brushing up on some pathetic Spanish.

As I was ruminating and paying the bill, I noticed on the counter a brand of condoms I was not familiar with: Rough Rider. Marketing for condoms must be a fun gig, but who the hell came up with that name? I suppose the ad copy just writes itself. Turns out this particular brand is appropriate for Knoxville since there is a statue of a Rough Rider downtown.

The Road Goes On Forever...

Dunno 'bout the party ending though.

"I'll write you once from Knoxville..."

Title is courtesy of some of my favorite lyrics from the song, "New York City Isn't Going Anywhere" by The Star Room Boys. This song resonates with me every time I get homesick for the South.

Naturally enough, I'm currently in Knoxville visiting kinfolk where the big attraction this summer at the Knoxville Zoo is an albino alligator. I kid you not.

What's really humorous about all this is that the blurb from the website states that "Known for their pink eyes and rare white skin, white alligators are said to bring good luck to those who dare cast a gaze upon the majestic creature."

Who says that? Who writes ad copy for the Knoxville Zoo? And what's up with the fake Cajun phrase in the ad, "Look in dem eyes!"

Terrible when we all know that Cajuns would look at an albino alligator and think:
1) I sure like country fried gator tail
2) That gator there would made some nice boots

On the Buddhist Studies front it's currently like the Battle of Somme: lots of trenches dug but not a whole lotta movement.
I think from now on I'm going to be making war allusions to chart my progress. Or lack thereof. And so as not to pop a vein in frustration, I'll use pre-Korean War metaphors.

*Update*

So I'm back in the US, skritching away at the dissertation and hanging with the almighty J.

That's not much of an update, is it? Well, since my life consists of going to the library to get books and return them, that's about all you get.

Posts stopped while in Nepal due to a lingering throat malady which could probably be attributed to the air pollution of the Kathmandu Valley and the revolution that happened in April 2006.

There are pleasant interludes, like classical music concerts, for the Bay Area has an abundance of those. That reminds me, I need to buy a ticket to see Jordi Savall.

I will try and post things that I drafted from my year in Nepal, along with some very belated photos, such as what little I saw of the protests of April 2006. In case you think I'm cowardly... you're damned right.

Shechen Lamas Got Big Ups

I went to see cham, so-called "lama dancing" at Shechen monastery yesterday. It's to avery obstacles for the Tibetan New Year which is Tuesday. I don't know much about cham, so I've included a lot of pictures. It's involves a lot of leaping and takes hours.








Crane style. People whistled like mad when this group of four dancers came out. Why, no one I asked has any idea, even T.J. and that boy knows. I thought it was because two of the dancers have bird masks. Tibetan ritual is rock sometimes, to quote T.J.









These guys are skeletons. And got bounce. Big ups in Boudha.


















My new Tibetan posse. You know how we roll, Tibetan butter tea in our 40s, slangin' tsampa. Chang for our dead homies. Chubas over our unlaced blackmarket Nikes.


















Me. Notice that Beard Experiment 2006 is nicely underway and past the itching stage. Sporting that 'Horns cap because my hair's a mess. I'm scared of going to a barber here due to the last haircut.

The subtropical sun was quite bright yesterday, and this was a large concrete courtyard so everything looks bleached. And nicely reveals my photographic incompetence.




Thug life, Tibetan style. You best step.

Leechcraft on the Edge of Tibet - Part 1

Those of you that know me well know that I’m not a thrill-seeking guy. My thrills often come intellectually, not adrenally, and even those over the years have been muted somewhat as I’ve gotten even more conservative in my choice of academic delights. Nonetheless, this past year I’ve gone white-water rafting in the U.S. twice before coming to Nepal.

The first trip, my first time white-water rafting, was in early May in eastern Massachusetts. I signed up for the trip through the Graduate Student Council at Harvard several weeks in advance, thinking that surely by early May it will be warmer. This, sadly, was not the case. Spring in MA often comes with April showers which bring May showers. Flowers we get, but this past year spring was marred by persistant rain for something like eight weekends in a row.

Temperatures in the low 50s with a persistant drizzle is not my idea of a good time. I don’t think I’ve ever been quite so cold in my life, even with a Farmer John wetsuit, a waterproof windbreaker, and booties. Add approximately 100 middle school kids on a trip in the surrounding rafts and an extremely slow agonizing 3 hour trip, and you can imagine how my discomfort grew expontientally. However, my raftmates, all grad students from Harvard, and the guide, an older gentleman from England, made this foot-numbing trip as pleasant as possible. It is ironic that all the people in my raft were all from hot-weather climes: Israel, New Delhi, Texas, and Los Angeles. This trip was mainly class II rapids with one class IV rapid right before lunch. This was the highlight of the trip, and the rafting company took pictures of us going through this. Needless to say, after lunch, despite consuming four cups of coffee, I had no desire to get back into the raft since all we had to look forward to was piddly dinky little rapids.

My second trip was in early June with my sister and a group from her theatrical company in Knoxville. Theater people are lovely, especially those from Tennessee, if somewhat tiring with all that drama, armwaving, and excessive emoting. I love the South, especially since I have spent the past four years in the Northeast. I love the gentility, the friendliness, the “those damn Yankees” attitude which I increasingly share. Of course, these benefits mask horrific spectres such as rampant racism, profound ignorance, and poor taste in sports, such as NASCAR, baffling to me because it consists solely of a left turn for several hours. Even so, these things are endemic to American life as a whole, so you might as well enjoy pleasant weather and the occasional nip of moonshine. Even the humidity is different in the South from Boston, a soft kiss as you slowly sweat, and Knoxville felt like home to me.

I was paired off in the front of the raft with my sister, and we had a great time, especially since it wasn’t raining, and the temperature was in the balmy 80s. Add to this a nice set of Class IV rapids and this was a much more exciting trip than my first time out rafting.

Papa's Gotta Brand New Bag

Check out my new Tibetan man-bag made by Tshering Pasang, a Dol-po-pa. It was my Christmas present to myself, a little expensive since I hate bargaining. Especially when the maker lives in a single room with his entire family. Best part of me trying to explain pathetically in Tibetan what I wanted was when I asked him when will it be finished. He replied, "Happy New Year's rje la". rje la (which is pronounced jay la) is a postposition meaning after, so this literally means after Happy New Year's. I was amused that Tshering-la had picked up the English phrase. Best part of the bag is the button that holds it closed. It's a small bell made of brass, Tshering was bemused when I asked for it, and now I tinkle when I walk (avoid making the obvious joke, please).

New and Cool in the 'hood

kurta with jeans, three-legged dogs, chubas for the little old Tibetan ladies, winter valley air inverted with claws, om mani peme hum, blatant staring, endless cricket games in the dead dog field, public urination for men AND women, pressure cooker bombs, obscured Himalayan skyline, porn on burned CD-ROMS peddled on the street by guys whispering "sexy, sexy", a curious subcontinental predilection for "Mein Kampf" sold on street corners, the gorgeous results of long-isolated population groups procreating together, and the late afternoon circumambulation of one of the largest Buddhist monuments in the world.

Mighty Mickey Mao Redux

And so it goes. Recent news reveals that the Maoists have called for an indefinite bandha (that's general strike enforced through terror by the Maoists) starting in early April. There will also be blockades of the roads into KTM and all the major cities in Nepal.

So, what’s the latest in the ‘Du? Things are quiet, or perhaps it’s that I just can’t bear to read both English dailies everyday. I check my google.news for the headlines, but I’ve been busy writing grant proposals (always secure funding, 1st rule of grad school) and other more pleasant distractions. As long as I’m not having my epidermis sanded off, almost anything is more pleasant than writing grant proposals. You’d think I’d be used to them now, but noooooo. If you’ve read the business proposal section in the Cryptonomicron, it’s just like that, except I don’t get as much start-up money.

We’re currently in the midst of the longest ever recorded drought in KTM Valley history (4 1/2 months). Hopefully, the monsoon will come early and profusely. Farmers are suffering, and that means famine in certain districts. I don’t know what the status is for the indefinite bandh and blockades of all major cities starting April 3th.

US Ambassdor Moriarty was all over the papers today. Headline in the Nepali Times, the well-written weekly of the Himalayan Times, above a sinister looking picture of His Excellency, is “Professor Moriarty strikes again.” Ah, what a pleasure to have actual literary allusions in print media. Apparently the Ambassador will be on Kantipur TV twice next week to talk about what the US wants, now that it appears that the US has thrown its support back behind the King. He did meet with some of the seven major political party leaders, but the gist of the meeting was to suggest that the twelve-point agreement with the Maoists is a big mistake. I admit, I can’t force myself to keep track, really, now that I’m out of the habit of reading both dailies cover to cover. I got out of the habit when I had what I like to call obstreperous throat. I know some of the major actors, but I’d need a scorecard anyway. Who’s in jail, who’s under house arrest, who leads what party. With seven major political parties, I hope no one blames me for not being exactly up on who’s who.

However, do check out www.samudaya.org. It’s a forum by expat Nepalis to spread awareness for democracy, pluralism and free press, according to the article in this week’s Nepali Times. It’s blocked in Nepal by the government, but there is a mirror-site at www.everybodybreed.com (strange choice, that). Who knows how long that’ll be accessible here in Nepal. I’ll have a gander today. They’ve also started Creative Dissent Nepal, “a movement of people wokring towards supporting and promoting democratic ideals through participatory, creative, and non-violent activism.” All Americans, take note. You might want to take notes on this stuff, given the recent appointment to the Supreme Court.

It’s for keeps here in Nepal, folks. Massive human right violations, google Nepal human right violations and UN report. Violence can be casual and brutal, and facing a lathi (a bamboo staff) charge by the police or military police here is no laughing matter. During the protests leading up to the sham elections on February 8th, the cops brought their own truckloads of brickbats (brick shards) to protests to throw at protestors, who, of course, were doing the same.

Pay close attention, Americans. ‘Course, we don’t roll like that in ‘Merica, we’d bring our gatts, and bloodbaths would ensue. Sorry folks, but it’s true. Civil war in America would, has already been once, hideous. Let’s not let it come to that, shall we? Vote in this election in November, and throw out the party in power in at least the Senate or the House. Get at least a deadlock in the government, hopefully to begin impeachment hearing. What’s some admittedly ethical dubious sexual misconduct to outright lies that lead to a war that has caused thousands of American deaths and many, many more wounded people. The Imperial Presidency has gone way way way too far, and now with the Judiciary swinging hard to the right, things are about to get worse.

Lessons could be learned from Nepalis. I cower out here in Boudha, while folks are out laying their asses on the line during protests. I feel guilty ‘bout this, but I’m not a Nepali, nor a U.N. human rights observer, nor a journalist, and I like to keep my skull intact, thank you. Leigh and Jason got caught in a protest, and Leigh was fortunate to get away with only getting her camera broken.

Rant over.

My New Favorite Drink That I Invented

A Post-Castro Cuba Libre:
Start with 3 fingers of white rum in a chilled glass, preferably Cruzan Estate Light Rum cuz it's cheap in the islands and tasty. Reminds me of my time in the BVI and the USVI. Stay far away from those tropical flavored rums, a travesty like flavored coffee, unless it's an Irish coffee on a chilly San Francisco night. Add plain soda or a sugar-free lime or lemon soda. Squeeze 'bout an 1/2 ounce of lime or lemon juice respectively. Toast the inevitable absorpton by global capitalism of a lamented worker's paradise of your choice.

Mighty Mickey Mao

Well, it's with great relief and a slight reduction of my constant low-level annoyance that my pre-paid cell phone is now working. Give me a tinkle sometime. I wasn't sure how the cessation of service protected the security of the Nepal dictatorship, but there you go. Uh oh, I dropped the D bomb.

Things are quiet here in the Valley. There has been the occasional bomb, some of which were defused. A few exploded up in Jorpati up the main road a bit from Bouddha at a go-down or warehouse of some sort. One in Ratni Park that was placed in a bin (or garbage can if you prefer).

Outside the valley there was a significant attack (at least in my opinion) in Tansen. Who knows what goes on out in the countryside. I read the newspapers everyday but it's hard to get a sense of what's going on outside the valley since I've just gone once up the Arniko Highway to the Tibetan border.

There has been a call by Prachanda, the supreme leader of the Maoists to form an alternative government along with the seven major political parties. They go by one name, like Prince or Madonna cuz apparently it's good PR and psychwar tactics, as if to say I'm such a badass that I no longer require my last name. The US ambassador strongly warned against this yesterday in a statement, but what are folks supposed to do?

Sham elections (massive armored personal carriers parked outside polling centers?!?!), draconian control against any sort of significant protest, and a complete and total lack of real democracy really do limit the masses' options. I'm open to suggestions. How 'bout denying visas to all Nepali govermental officials and freezing their accounts in the US? How 'bout the US not training a Ranger force for the Nepali government. Ah, but Nepal has become a small pawn in the new Great Game between India, China, and the US, with a rapidly ascendant PRC providing an alternative to Nepal's traditional partner (some would say master) India. So has Pakistan, just to goose India, despite their good relations.

Look, no one has a problem with a constitutional monarchy. Lots of Northern European nations get along just fine with them, provided that the post is largely ceremonial. The king and the royal family could do a lot of good if they wielded the royal mana in a righteous way. They could become cultural ambassadors to the world for Nepal. People love Nepal, have for years, and probably will for a long time to come. Nepalis are lovely people, there are a ton of other ethnic groups around, incredibly scenery, and a large expat Tibetan population that has the ability, the means, and infrastructure to draw the curious and practicing Western Buddhists. Going out into the world as benevolent ambassadors would inhance these images. We'll discuss later some of the orientalizing aspects to them, but still... you do need revenue.

Meanwhile, the infrastructure, such as it is, decays. 17 hours a week of power cuts due to low water level in the hydroelectrical reservoirs. Last summer's monsoon was weak, but there has been no new power plant construction in years due to... you guess it, the insurgency. Hydropower could be a major Nepali industry with exports to India, despite the inevitable enviromental damage. There are massive dropoffs in tourist arrivals and hence tourist dollars, pounds, and Euros. I'd hate for my country or state or town or whatever to be dependent on tourism (right, Shawn? how 'bout New Orleans, corruption, and murder even before Kate the Shrew stomped on NO?), but there are really no other alternatives.

Well, to reiterate: things are quiet out here in Boudha. I suspect though, that the Maoists will step up their attacks since security has gradually loosen in the Valley. I wouldn't've attacked during the elections, the curfews, and on the anniversary of the beginning of the insurgency. I'd wait 'til after, to lull the government into complacency.

Meanwhile, I'm off for my daily Tibetan lesson with Dawa. I'll try and upload some new photos later.

Top 10 Things in 2005

Let's just say that since the Great Anthropological Experiment of 2006 (GAE 2006) failed miserably, I've branched out into other venues. I've had a lot of downtime as I waited for my throat to quit oozing pus and barking at me. Now, since that reference to GAE 2006 was cryptic enough, onto the show.

1) Passing my qualifying exams. It's all a blur, I swear. A hot muggy September day in a typical stale air Harvard room and lots of cold sweat.

2) Getting my dissertation proposal approved. Thank you, Fulbright-Hays for making do this already pretty much. I've have to lump receiving the Fulbright under this heading since it completely slipped my mind while composing this at home, although that other grant I received made me reconsider coming to KTM. Praise Allah I came to my senses and took less money but did the 'Du.

3) Seeing Gang of Four at tha Avalon with my friend Yammo sometime in the spring. Old-school post-punk at its finest. Eat that, the Liars and Bloc Party. I've never seen so many old hipsters in years. Damn, that describes me.

4) Tihar in Nepal. I love Tihar, hopefully my birth mom, Pamela, will visit next fall during it. A five day festival with kukkaripuja, which is the worship of dogs who receive tikas and marigold malas, and ends with bhaipuja in which sisters garland and tika their brothers who give them money in return. Somewhere in the middle is Lakshmipuja, when people draw red lines leading into doorways to invite the goddess of wealth into their homes and businesses. Much less gruesome and tense than Dasain and Kalipuja, which involves copious animal sacrifices, blaring music on those distorted developing country sound systems to all hours of the night, and an undercurrent of violence itching to explode.

5) Christmas 2004 with my birth mother in Berkeley. Close enough to 2005 for government business. We ate tons of Alaskan crab, divine cookies from the Cheeseboard, went for a long walk at Point Reyes on Christmas Day, and generally just got to spend our first major holiday together.

6) Narrowly avoiding Hurricane Rita in Beaumont by two days. If I hadn’t left when I did, I wouldn’t gotten out for months. Thanks for the great visit, Dad and Kathy, but whew.

7) Thanksgiving dinner with the US Ambassador, his equally accomplished and gracious wife, cornbread dressing(!), and a surgical strike team of servants who got me tipsy through no apparent effort on my part. This rolled on into a night of pub crawling through Thamel with T.J. to an ungodly hour of the morning. Male bonding at its best. Many Cuba Librés consumed.

8) Dinner after passing my exams with Yammo at the best Middle Eastern restaurant I’ve ever eaten out somewhere in Cambridge, Argana. It was spectacular, all the usual dishes you might expect, but what a difference due to I don’t know what (and it couldn’t have been the mojitos). It might have been the best meal I’ve ever had. This wasn't just due to my relief, right, Amzig?

9) A two day rafting trip s on the Bhote Kosi near the Tibetan border. Set after long set of insane Class V+ rapids just post-monsoon straight off the glacier in Tibet. Day one is pleasant and fun, below the first dam on Bhote Kosi with tons of Class III and IV rapids. Day two begins approximately 5 klicks from Tibet with beautiful scenery, but terrifying rafting. I suspect it was because the guide, Som, probably weighed all of 120 lbs soaking wet and due to his limited mass, couldn’t steer the raft. When I belatedly realized that he too was terrified by the hysterical tone of his voice, it added that special frisson of sheer cold animal fear to freezing milky green glacial water, massive rocks, and substandard equipment. The best part was when the guide fell out of the boat (and stayed out) at the beginning of a set of class V+ rapids, thus leaving us to go down the wrong chute without anyone to steer the raft. All in all one of the most exhilarating experiences that I’ll never repeat in my life, especially since I have subsequently heard about the rafting fatalities (notice the plural) in a Nepali friend’s family.

10) Summertime in Knoxville TN. I didn’t get to enjoy it as much as I could’ve due to the massive anxiety concomitant with my impending exams, but I sure did enjoy being back in the South for a summer. Lovely moderate weather, especially compared to Texas, mountains, rafting, sweet Southern drawls, an excellent coffeehouse with free wi-fi, slit-eyed groundhogs in the kudzu, a decent university library, and a satisfying chunk of time with my sister and mother. Didn’t make it to Dollywood though, more’s the pity.

Four Things. Part II

I promised you a rose garden, not brevity.

4 TV Shows

1) The West Wing

Tivolike capabilties at my mother’s house this past summer has allowed me to almost complete seeing all episodes of this, except for the most recent and final season since I’m obviously in Nepal. Great ensemble acting that acutely satisfies my wish-fulfillment regarding the 2000 Presidential Election while I regretfully reside in a State of Denial.

2) Gilmore Girls

I know, I know, I’ve openly emasculated myself. Mea culpa. However, smart, sharp, and rapid dialogue laden with literary and gratititious pop culture references, Alexis Bledel’s otherworldly eyes, small-town New England weirdness, and a shoutout to Third Uncle Brian Eno in a cubicle farm has won my heart. I don’t care what you think.

3) Battlestar Galactica
This is it, serious smart sci-fi that’s also probably the best drama on TV. Deliberate documentary-like shaky handheld cinematography, minimal breathless background music, claustrophobic shipboard sets, and the deepest, darkest sci-fi TV show since Babylon Five (until that stinker of a last season). I hope they haven’t blown all of their intellectual capital on the first two seasons. They’re not Cylons, they’re really Mormons! I’d kill (ok, maim) to have a glance at the series’ bible.

4) After that, I’m stumped.
There was nothing else I regularly watched for the past few years ‘cept Red Sox games. Buenos noches, amigos. RemDog! I watched tons of CSI with Shawn due to sheer inertia, and I blame him for my distaste for forensic dramas, despite Lenny letting love rule. What the hell is up with this genre anyway? See J.G. Ballard’s essay as an attempt at some sort of explanation for the hold it has on the American imagination nowadays.

4 Websites I Visit Everyday
(everyday I have broadband access, you mean)

1) metafilter.com

2) pitchforkmedia.com

3) questionablecontent.net

4) news.google.com

4 Favorite Places I’ve Vacationed

Long-term underemployment and seven years (and counting! I’m in my 8th, you were right, Lil, I’ll be that perpetual student) of grad school have not enabled many vacations. However:

1) Zacatecas, Summer of 2000
I could’ve stayed longer, if it weren’t for my unnamed poisonous ex-girlfriend’s stupidity before this trip. Hanging in the zocalo, eating avocado sandwiches, drinking lovely Zacatecan wine, few non-Mexican tourists, and a comfortable climate in July at 9000 feet was well worth the 18 hours it took to get there by bus from Austin. Cheap too. I’ll do it again sometime minus the toxic ex.

2) Weekend Trip to Vermont, Summer of 2003
Vermont is fantastic. These people with their no-billboard policy understand my need to decompress from omnipresent advertising. A fun but too brief roadtrip, but I got to enjoy touring Ink’s old collegiate stomping grounds, a swimming hole on the AT, sleeping in a lovely old farmhouse in chilly weather, escape from Boston’s mugginess, and a surprisingly good Tex-Mex dinner. Bucolic.

3) Mexico City, Thanksgiving 1994
My girlfriend at the time and I received a free trip from her mother that was won by her friends at a Chili's. They gave it to my exe's mom who couldn’t use it because she had burned up all her vacation time in Turkey, who in turn passed it on to us, broke student and recent ex-student. You got that? The result:

• A free week in the Radisson while I desultorily studied for the GRE (which I broke like a cheap maquiliadora piñata despite being unable to afford real Princeton Review tutoring),
• luscious dark Mexican coffee in the mornings (we couldn’t resist racking up a room service tab just for it despite stocking the room’s fridge with sammich makings)
• fantastic museums (20th century Mexican painting is so underrated)
• Teotihuacán
• great window shopping
• the best subway system for the money in the world.

4) Manali Summer 1998
I went there for a week as a treat after 2 solid months of attempting to work in Dharamsala. This was the summer of heightened nuclear tension between India and Pakistan, highlighted by a kill radius of one of the bombs tested by Pak published in some Indian newspaper centered on Connaught Place. Let’s just say this little jaunt involved all the things that Manali is justly renowned for, an unrequited crush on a Flemish girl, my one true whack at the great American novel, a Brit named Rug who, quite appropriately, resembled an ambulatory rug, soi-disant “space cake”, and the transcendent post-modern moment of hanging out in a cafe and listening to techno music and a sadhu chanting along in time.
Oṃ Shivāya nāmaḥ*

*(Heaven help me if I've gotten the diactrics wrong. All my costly education gone to waste.)

After meticulously compiling this list, I now wish I had added the two trips to Arkansas to hang out at Cossatot River State Park & Natural Area and Lake Ouachita. That, sadly, would have violated the one trip per ex-girlfriend unofficial rule, despite the wonderful memories I possess.

4 Places I’d Rather Be

Nowhere else right now, but in the future:

1) Vienna
Coffee, Riesling, Guglhupf, and kipferl. Klimt, Mahler, and Wittgenstein. You do the math. Anyone please, puh-retty puh-lease send me a copy of The Austrian Mind right now. I’m craving it after reading "Wittgenstein's Vienna" and “Vienna Blood.” See below.

2) Vientiane and Luang Prabang, Laos
I can’t wait to go there; I have to get there soon, soon, now, right now, maybe hopefully sometime this year. Apparently, more French people are living in Laos now than during the colonial period. Good French bread, yummy Laotian food, a mild Southeast Asian climate, hopefully miminal development, and a Theravadin Buddhist environment. Yes, please.

3) Vladivostok
Who knows, this place might be a pit, and it’s not even listed on the Lonely Planet Guide website (is it in the book?), but flying just past it on my way to Nepal this time has whetted my appetite for Far Eastern Russia at the edge of the continent. It’s a dark post-Soviet/newly petrochemically power Russia mystery to me. I can’t help it, Alaska is too passé.

4) Venice in the Winter
It’ll be poignant, and I’ll spend an afternoon on or near the Bridge of Sighs as a prisoner of desire in the weak winter sunlight, contemplating the decrepit beauty of the Bride of the Sea as she glacially, gracefully, and gratefully sinks into the Adriatic.

4 Recent Books

1) Vienna Blood - Adrian Mathews
A surprisingly good techno thriller set in Vienna in 2026. This has a strange but lush tone, enough extrapolation that should satisfy sci-fi fans, and a truly interesting engagement with biotechnical, genetic, and political issues that are coming soon to a neighborhood near you. Keywords: eugenic, cacogenic, aristogenic. How ‘bout aristomemic for a neologism, Dick Dawkins and company?

2) The Annotated Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
I’ve been waiting to read this after reading “Reading Lolita in Teheran.”When the annotated version showed up at Pilgrims Books at a cut-rate, I was happy. Still am, the annotations help with some of the 50s period references that would’ve escaped me, and I always love intertextual goodness. Too bad I read the intro first though. I know this book disturbs women, and rightly so, but I expected more insight into the allure of younger women who are not necessarily illegally young.

Nevertheless, it is still a stunning indictment of American bourgeois society that resonates today despite a shift to a hyperconsumer society with a focus on connoisseurship in incidental commodities like coffee, gourmet food, and mid-20th century modern furniture for the moneyed and not so moneyed self-styled dissidents among us. Umm... It’s bougy, baby! Still required reading, especially since Nabokov despised psychoanalysis and carefully crafted Lolita accordingly.
Bravo, Vlad! Ce n’est pas une pipe, Siggy.

3) Playback - Raymond Chandler
It's a Raymond Chandler Evening
At the end of someone's day
And I'm standing in my pocket
And I'm slowly turning grey
Thanks, Robyn. I think I’ve finished all seven Chandler books with this one. Sigh. Here he makes deliberate references to the genre, the last one he wrote, but not ironically. Was he incapable...

Look, here’s my recent epiphany. Hardboiled fiction is the equivalent of Harlequin romances for men. We all (those among us who gender-identify with virile male/tough guy) vicariously imagine ourselves to be a tough broad-shouldered and ruggedly handsome man who rights wrongs outside of the law, frequently sleeps with extremely eager and curvy women with minimal courting, can take a vicious beating, and settles beefs decisively with a gun or our fists. Least that's how I read this genre. Chandler isn’t so blatant with these particular genre conventions, but it’s so readily apparent with Mickey Spillane and the Mike Hammer books that it ain’t funny, sister. So what? Take off, buster. You annoy me. I’ve met all kinds of punks in my time... Ah, call it a guilty pleasure and I’ll keep my eyes peeled for more Dashiell Hammett books here in KTM.

4) Leonardo’s Mountain of Clams and the Diet of Worms - Stephen Jay Gould
A collection of his monthly essays from Natural History magazine. An excellent stylist, clear and extremely interesting in that nerdy science way that is leavened nicely with ample historical documentation that thoroughly satisfies the inchoate historian in me. I’ve grown more interested in the effect that the theory of evolution has had on the social sciences, particularly philology and Buddhist Studies à la Baumann and Briggs. Hopefully at some point I’ll have a brilliant idea or two in this regard, but let’s not hold our breaths, shall we?

Now, The Four People I Tag:

Don't have four people. Most of my friends, as far as I know, don't have blogs, and I mulishly refuse to insist that they start one to satisfy your unreasonable demands. I can't imagine that Shawn would put something like this on the Trivia Jihad webblog since jihadis are too busy drinkin', trivia-playin', and whorin' their way through the great Boston metropolitian area. I'm sure Ryan is actually working on his dissertation. Padre Scott don't seem like that type either. Yammo, a.k.a. Amzig, updates more infrequently than I do.
I'm stumped, Miss Ladie, you'll just have to cope.