a rhino walks

2009 Project

By rhino on June 17, 2009 8:50 PM | 1 Comment | Permalink

My book list for 2009:

Total pages read: 9,673
Shortest book: 96 pages
Longest book: 1014 pages
Non-Fiction: 7
Fiction: 16
Cookbook: 1

Last book read:
24. Nobody Move by Denis Johnson. A story of a bunch of low lifes in California, and their quest to find 2.3 million stolen dollars. 192 pages. (Finished 17 Jun 09).

Full list below the cut:

Past Lists:
2008 List
2007 List

Continue reading 2009 Project.

On Beauty

By rhino on June 1, 2009 12:26 PM | No Comments | Permalink

On Beauty

No, we could not itemize the list
of sins they can't forgive us.
The beautiful don't lack the wound.
It is always beginning to snow.

Of sins they can't forgive us
speech is beautifully useless.
It is always beginning to snow.
The beautiful know this.

Speech is beautifully useless.
They are the damned.
The beautiful know this.
They stand around unnatural as statuary.

They are the damned
and so their sadness is perfect,
delicate as an egg placed in your palm.
Hard, it is decorated with their face

and so their sadness is perfect.
The beautiful don't lack the wound.
Hard, it is decorated with their face.
No, we could not itemize the list.

Cape Cod, May 1974

-- Nick Laird (via On Beauty by Zadie Smith)

Music Monday & Being

By rhino on April 20, 2009 6:11 PM | No Comments | Permalink

Both graciously stolen from Tamie:

"In the West we have a tendency to be profit-oriented, where everything is measured according to the results....In the East - especially in India - I find that people are more content to just be, to just sit around under a banyan tree for half a day chatting to each other. We Westerners would probably call that wasting time. But there is value to it. Being with someone, listening without a clock and without anticipation of results, teaches us about love. The success of love is in the loving - it is not in the result of loving. Of course it is natural in love to want the best for the other person, but whether it turns out that way or not does not determine the value of what we have done. The more we can remove this priority for results the more we can learn about the contemplative element of love."

- Brother Geoff, as quoted by Mother Teresa in the book, "A Simple Path"

Alexi Murdoch @ the El Rey 4/8/09

By rhino on April 13, 2009 7:49 PM | 1 Comment | Permalink

Thanks to the fine folks at Losanjealous, I was able to head over to the El Rey to see Alexi Murdoch last Wednesday. I had conflicting plans the last opportunity I had to see him perform (at the Doug Fir Lounge in Portland a few years ago). I arrived a little after 9pm, to a pretty full crowd already standing around (and sitting on the dance floor). The opening act, the Portland Cello Project (or PCP as they joked), consisted of 5 cello players and a percusionist. They played a wide variety of interpretations of songs from such diverse artists as Dave Brubeck and Pantera.

After a short break out came Alexi. The place was completely quiet as Alexi began his set, and really for the most part remained that way throughout the entire set. He played a nice mix of songs from his LP and new songs from a forthcoming "long EP or short LP." A nice surprise was that they had just received a limited run of this new materials that were hand stamped and individually numbered (I ended up getting number 26/5000). I've got to say, Alexi hasn't missed a beat with the new songs. Of them, the one that's been played over and over again is called "Through the Dark." The album should be in stores in a few months. He doesn't tour often, so if you get the chance, go see him. It'll be worth it.

Little Red Riding Hood

By rhino on April 5, 2009 11:58 AM | No Comments | Permalink

as inspired by Röyksopps Remind Me video:

Slagsmålsklubben - Sponsored by destiny from Tomas Nilsson on Vimeo.

School assignment to reinterpret the
fairytale Little red ridning hood.
Inspired by Röyksopps Remind me.

Music: Slagsmålsklubben, Sponsored by destiny
www.smk.just.nu
Animation: Tomas Nilsson
www.tomas-nilsson.se

Lamb Shanks and Green Lentils in Red Wine

By rhino on March 26, 2009 10:44 AM | No Comments | Permalink

I've been on a bit of a lamb kick lately. So while at the Farmer's Market at 3rd and Fairfax on Saturday, I picked up a couple lamb shanks at the butcher.

Sunday, I looked through my cookbooks to get some ideas on what to do. I ended up deciding on a recipe from How To Cook Everything by Mark Bittman, but decided to prepare my shanks for cooking in a way another recipe suggested. I salted the shanks and let them sit for a couple days in the refrigerator before actually cooking. As with most of the recipes in Bittman's book, the recipe was pretty simple. Green Lentils, onion, carrot, thyme, bay leaves and the lamb shanks roasted in the oven in red wine. I used an inexpensive ($4.99) Cabernet Sauvignon from Whole Foods. Once in the oven there wasn't much left to do but wait. A little over two hours later it was done. The meat was falling off the bone tender, and the lentils had a nice taste from the wine. I'll definitely make this again sometime.

Paris

By rhino on March 12, 2009 1:19 PM | 1 Comment | Permalink

My first overseas trip has finally happened. I finally made it to Paris, after wanting to go for at least 12 years. Because my current job is still through a temp agency, which means no vacation days, I was only able to schedule a long weekend. I left on Wednesday afternoon from LAX, arriving Thursday morning in Paris. Here is a picture from the plane as we crossed over the English Channel into France:

After arriving at the airport, I took the train into Paris and headed to my hotel (in the 13th) to check in. After a shower, I ended up walking up to where Alicia's class was near the Bastille. When then walked around a little more, checking out Notre Dame Cathedral and the Shakespeare & Co Bookstore. For dinner, we went to Le Zimmer, a place recommended by my Irish friend Lynda, for their French Onion soup (click for picture). Since I was recovering from the long flight, we decided to take things easy the rest of the night so I could be rested for Friday.

Friday, we took the metro out to Versailles. We had brought some stuff along to have a picnic out in the gardens. The size of the gardens is kind of amazing, however it still being winter, most of the statues were covered up. Luckily the clouds had decided to break, and we had nice blue skies to enjoy our lunch under. In the end, I decided that I'd rather spend 12 euros going up to the top of the Eiffel Tower than to go inside the chateau, so we ended up heading back to Paris not long after eating lunch. We headed to the Eiffel Tower and took the elevator's up to the top. It was pretty cool way to get a perspective of Paris. That evening, we ended up heading to the Montmartre area, planning on going to a fondue place that serves wine in baby bottles. However, when we got there, there was a decent wait, so we decided to walk around and find somewhere else to eat.

Alica looking for her apt from the Eiffel Tower

Saturday, after breakfast (oh have I forgotten to mention the amazing Pain au Chocolat and Baguettes yet?), we headed to the Place Palais Royal to meet my friend Armelle, whom I met working in Sun Valley, ID the summer between my Freshman and Sophmore years of college. We walked around the 1st, a little bit before heading to a cooking class. There we made lemongrass chicken, with fingerling potatoes (cooked with garlic and lime juice) and a mango tart w/ passionfruit caramel. After the class, we walked around some more before heading to Armelle's apt in the 15th for some homemade crepes.

Sunday, Alicia and I went to church at the American Cathedral and then went to the Louvre. I was able to see the Mona Lisa in person (though a little disapointed that you can't get within 5-10 feet of it). I think the ceilings and architecture of the Louvre were more interesting than a lot of the art inside, but then we did just do a quick trip through the museum. For dinner, we went to a restaurant on a medival street in the Latin Quarter. It had a 15 euro prix fixe menu. For a starter, I chose escargot, as I figured where else better to try it than in Paris.

Monday, I packed my suitcase and we dropped it off at Alicia's apt and explored her neighborhood (the 15th) for awhile, until I had to head out to the airport. I really liked Paris a lot. Its a big city, with a small city feel, at least in many of the neighborhoods. The bread was amazing and inexpensive. Same with the cheese. I still don't know if I had a favorite part though (which is the question everyone asks). I guess I'd have to say the food (and of that the bread) if I had to pick one thing. Restaurants are pretty expensive though, trying to eat fairly frugally, I still spent just under 50 euros for each dinner out (for 2 including wine).

More pics here

Her Morning Elegance

By rhino on February 26, 2009 6:05 AM | No Comments | Permalink

Her Morning Elegance by Oren Lavie

Info about the Video

to love...

By rhino on February 22, 2009 2:54 PM | No Comments | Permalink

graciously stolen from tamie (who got it from someone else):

"To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in a casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless- it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside of heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is hell."

-C.S. Lewis

The Sweet Remains @ The Roxy

By rhino on February 22, 2009 2:45 PM | No Comments | Permalink

One of the guys in The Sweet Remains, used to attend the same church as I do in LA. So when his band was booked to open for K'Naan and Mishka at The Roxy in West Hollywood, a bunch of folks from church decided to go.

I got to the club a little early, and asked someone who looked like they worked there if he knew when they would be selling tickets. He asked for which show, and I said tonight, to which he responded..."I think tonights sold out." Since I hadn't eaten yet, and there was still plenty of time before anyone I was going to meet was going to be there, I decided to walk down Sunset in search of some food (I hadn't eaten yet.)

Around 7pm, a few of the folks I was meeting showed up, and the ticket office opened. We tried to get our ticket and were told that sorry, the show was sold out. It was looking kind of bleak for awhile. Eventually, a couple of the folks in our group who were on the list, were able to get in and talk to the guy in the band, who was able to talk to the folks at the venue and they let us purchase tickets (though we were supposed to leave after they played).

The Sweet Remains

Most of my group filtered out after The Sweet Remains were done, but I hung around, curious about Mishka and wanting to see at least a little bit of K'Naan's set.

Mishka, was celebrating the release of his new album Above the Bones, his first release on Matthew McConaughey's record label. Matthew was of course in attendance as well. I hadn't heard of Mishka before, but I enjoyed him quite a bit. He's got a mellow reggae style...definitely influenced by the beaches and "roots reggae."

The last act of the evening was K'Naan, who I was first introduced to when he opened for Stephen Marley at the Roseland in Portland. He's a Toronto based, but Somali born Hip-Hop artist. His music is definitely influenced by the rhythms of Africa and reggae as well. In fact, he recorded the majority of his new album at Bob Marley's home studio in Jamaica.

K'Naan is a blast, and I had wished it wasn't a work night, so I could have stayed for the whole set.