Today’s foodmanteau — the hybrid food’s my very own, composed yesterday (8/22) to be served for the first time today — is
biryanestrone = biryani + minestrone
The elements: (1) from the Hyderabad Dum Biryani in Mountain View CA, lamb keema biryani plus paneer (spicy fried cheese cubes); (2) from the Menlo Park Safeway store, Signature brand minestrone soup.
Posted in Language and food, Language and medicine, My life, Portmanteaus, Taste | 1 Comment »
From my deodorant history, in my 8/19 posting “Two favorite movies”:
I cut the dosage, found less aggressive deodorants, discovered that sandalwood suits my body chemistry. Most important, I stopped pumping out pheromones like a stag in rut. It got better. Ever since, I’ve been giving off essence of locker room, with (currently) a very light coconut and vanilla deodorant to moderate it some; you can now say fairly that my armpits smell delicious. )
Specifically, Native brand coconut and vanilla deodorant, in a tube that has just come to the end of its life and been replaced by the cucumber and mint flavor. And I have reordered a trio of three flavors — these two plus lavender and rose. They’re all subtle, non-irritant, and long-lasting. I’m a fan.
Posted in Death and dying, Language and food, Language and the body, My life, Smell, Taste | Leave a Comment »
In conversation with a local friend, whose identity I will conceal because I’m going to say some nice things about them that might embarrass them …
I’m trying to think of ways to tell people that I aim to be outrageous but not threatening. Maybe even admit that I think every organization should have at least one highly visible fag, because we’re so decorative.*
Actually, a fair number of people will find me threatening and contemptible and will wish me ill (a startling number will wish me dead). A hard fact, but the real world.
Defending myself against them takes a good bit of care and real work. I have to figure everybody out. You got weighed in the balance like everyone else I meet — and showed me your character when we first met. You deserve praise (and thanks) for being who you are, and it’s a mark of this character that you now will not understand why I’m thanking you. And you will think, sweetly, that if other people just get to know me, they will like me.
Posted in Compliments, Gender and sexuality, Identities, My life, Social interactions, Social life | Leave a Comment »
From Ryan Tamares, on a postcard arriving yesterday (8/21) at my place (it was mailed much earlier at Stanford, passed for some reason through San Francisco, and then shunted back down to Palo Alto; the ways of the USPS are sometimes inscrutable), this extraordinary artwork by a Redbubble.com artist using the name UkiyoCities:
“The Scholar’s Path at Stanford”
Yes, Stanford in the Floating World, simultaneously in the California of today and in the Tokyo of more than 200 years ago.
Posted in Art, Japanese, Stanford | 2 Comments »
My right hip joint is now a metallic wonder, a titanium replacement in 2012 for the joint nature gave me, which had excruciatingly degenerated from osteoarthritis. I love the name titanium: it trips off the tongue, and as a proud gay man and an enthusiast of MND (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) in several of its incarnations, I choose to understand the name as a reference to Titania, Queen of the Fairies — silly faggot, titanium is for ur-deities.
Now to unpack all of this.
Posted in Chemistry, Gender and sexuality, Homosexuality, Language and medicine, Language in advertising, Music, My life, Myths, Physics, Play, Plays | 3 Comments »
The gratifying increased sharpness of my senses of smell and taste continues to enhance my life (it’s presumably a gift of the increased prednisone dosage). Leading me yesterday to create a stunningly rich-tasting casserole out of simple leftovers from a local Nick the Greek outlet (I don’t actually cook, but instead microwave new dishes — tending towards the soup and stew zone — using leftovers from restaurant take-out). The gyro casserole.
Posted in Language and food, My life | Leave a Comment »
(Lots about bodily fluids, up close and personal, and the male body, a lot of it in street talk, so inadvisable for kids and the sexually modest)
Another little posting that might — like “Struggling Actor” earlier today — go far. But it starts with recollections of pomanders from my childhood, sparking my interest in getting some for my Avant apartment. Why should I want to do this? (aside from sentimentality), you ask; I will explain. It’s all about the whizz.
Posted in Death and dying, Language and food, Language and medicine, Language and plants, Language and the body, Language of sex, My life | Leave a Comment »
Having just done two little postings on brief subjects this morning, I’m now going to wade into a few somewhat meatier subjects that have the potential to explode into larger matters of some weight.
The first of these came to me in tv commercials for the Liberty Mutual insurance company, featuring a Struggling Actor character — all of which delighted me and made me laugh out loud. One of my favorites, “Biberty Bungle” (the one with the bubbles), you can view here.
Posted in Acting, Actors, Errors, Gender and sexuality, Homosexuality, Humor, Identities, Language in advertising, Masculinity, Movies and tv, My life | Leave a Comment »
The Wayno / Piraro Bizarro of today (8/20), depicting a preposterous cartoon event:
It’s a Renaissance Faire and a Ren & Stimpy Show animated cartoon (if you’re puzzled by the odd symbols in the cartoon — Wayno says there are 3 in this strip — see this Page)
A crossing of the decorously ornamental and the enthusiastically down-and-dirty.
Posted in Events and occasions, Linguistics in the comics, Movies and tv | Leave a Comment »
News flash. In the Stanford Report (faculty and staff news, serving also as p.r. for the university) today (8/20), this headline:
Oh, the font! The trickster font!
Posted in Headlines, Stanford, Typography | 6 Comments »
