In which the sportswoman pushes on through

The ankle, and it's engorged counterpart.
And some lovely moccasins.
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, eh?

Return to Casa Annamaria

Conclusions:
1) Political science highly unsatisfactory
2) Case of Brunello highly satisfactory
3) Children gross, yet endearing
4) Wagon firmly hitched to the train

In case you can't tell, that is a plate of bug bits.

Bday x 2

Sometimes people get older.
So, la creme de la creme of London society turned out for the most important social event of the season...The weekend also included sophisticated entertainments...
Ballroom dancing
Party games (this one is known as the 'donkey punch,' I believe)
Obviously, the highest standards were maintained at all times.

Paris/Senagal/Kosovo/China

This was two weekends ago, a multi-culti Parisian weekend with visitors from across La Manche.




And for those of you who think I don't post bad pictures of myself on this blog, consider...

Ouch.

Another day at the office

It's time for...Paris PlagesSee, there's a laptop! I'm working....

The State of the Art

This review does a nice job of summing up the state of social sciences today, and it ain't pretty. In sum, we've tried more or less everything we know about and haven't gotten much satisfaction.

Found myself agreeing with everything, EXCEPT this paragraph

Ever idealistic, the young have turned to an array of voluntary organizations, many with transnational ambitions, mirroring the efflorescence of philanthropic activity in a Victorian era equally skeptical about the capacities of states. Some good will come of this. But a thousand points of light are no substitute for the concerted power that states can bring to bear on social problems or for the political movements that rouse them to action.

Yes, but no. It is certainly true that civil society cannot and will not replace the state. But what is interesting, perhaps even fruitful, is the way the line between civil society and the state is blurring into a continuum of governance. Political science needs to explain this fuzziness, not deny it.

Still, as the article makes very clear, after 30 years of rational choice the social sciences find themselves flailing about for a methodology capable of explaining that or any other social puzzle. So the big question remains: what next?

Off with their heads!

I saw tanks as well.

How to be cool like Paolo Angeli

1. Get Sardinian guitar, which is about the size of a cello.
2. Cut it up. Attach propellers and whirly-gigs.
3. Connect to monitors and other electronic gadgets
4. Cover Bjork
Awesome.

Chez Terre-ben

Spent the weekend in the picturesque town of Asnan, at the summer home of R and T.
The trip began a la chinoise--standing in a hot regional train for 3 hours. Then missing the station (this was actually fortunate, because it earned me the sympathy of the conductor, who overlooked my lack of ticket). Then waiting to be picked up in the middle of nowhere while huge flocks of black crows circled ominously overhead. But once I arrived all was forgotten.Lots of rural things.
Sheep!
Plenty of brisk walks o'er the rolling hills...
There is quite a cast of eccentrics in this town of 100 inhabitants: M. Johnson, the British spy; Francios and Pierre, who have made their house into the 17th century; Ana, the New Zealand seductress with an appetite for farm boys, the lesbian chanteuse couple, the stoner mayor, and of course our friends R and T.

They were over-the-top hosts: fresh flowers in every room, ridiculous thread-counts, only the most decadent foodstuffs. Felt rather pampered.

But then the dark side of this life began to reveal itself. With R and T, fascinating conversation on many topics is possible. With their several house guests (Parisian professors), the areas of overlapping interest are precisely three: renovating quaint homes in the French countryside, antiquing, and literary theory. Since my enthusiasm for any of these topics is exhausted after about two minutes--and my ability to discuss them intelligently in French is exhausted after one--there was a lot of smiling and nodding. And wishing they would stop discussing the wine long enough to pour it.

Also, it was rainy and cold, a fact that did not deter our intrepid hosts from insisting on dining in the garden.

In sum, a pleasant two days that ended none too soon. Which is why I'm smiling/grimacing as we zip back to civilization.

Clamecy

I'm going here this weekend.Will report back.

Trial, error, success

One of the downsides about trial-and-error cooking is the error bit. Tonight I decided to do some lovely squid from the market a la plancha...but it was not to be.
For whatever reason (perhaps the lack of an actual plancha) my squid refused to cooperate, ending up in a sticky mess. And this after I had spent a good while cutting out their guts and popping off their beaks.Fortunately, I found myself in possession of a mostly-drank bottle of white wine. Into the pot it went, along with onions, garlic, capers, lemon rind, and bay leaves.
After stewing to perfection, the squid was tossed into a salad of fennel, tomato, and beets. The result--delicious! Diner was saved. The people rejoiced.

Famous last words

Do I contradict myself?

Very well then I contradict myself.

(I am large, I contain multitudes.)

Cinematic Orchestra

Went to see them tonight, in part because I was extremely curious how they could possibly do what they do outside of a high tech studio. The somewhat disappointing answer is that they play instruments over tracks from the ipod. And not particularly well, at that. BUT the concert was great fun, an adventure in your ear.

A major highlight was the MASSIVE vocalist they had with them. She was probably generating sounds at frequencies unavailable to the human ear. Also, gravitational force.

Mine now

Julia has been a fantastic flatmate in the short time we have overlapped. Friendly, helpful, patient with my "French." But now she has become the best flatmate ever--the absentee kind! I'm sure she will have a great summer in the south of France. And I'm sure I'll have a great summer here, in my very own apartment. Bon voyage!