Natala la la la ... ... ...

Wednesday, July 28, 2004

bloglines update 

hi. if you subscribe to my blog via bloglines, you may need to re-subscribe in order to get my newer posts. I changed the feed location for my blog and this has caused some problems (sorry!).

the old feed was:
http://natala.blogspot.com/index.rdf

the new feed is:
http://natala.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Tuesday, July 27, 2004

oooooh ahhhhh saturn's rings 

Photo: Astronomy Picture of the Day
Cassini Images Saturn's A Ring by UVIS, U. Colorado, ESA, NASA.

Natural color view of Saturn's rings. I really do love space.

Saturday, July 24, 2004

2 to watch, 1 to miss 

Watch:

hilarious Bush/Kerry cartoon video (click on "this land").
Source: JibJab

Watch:

Funny comic about a guy stuck in an phonebooth trapped in concrete.
Source: Shigabooks

Absolutely avoid:

Annoying robot flick with a hot will smith.
Source: 20th Century Fox Entertainment


I tortured myself last night by making the mistake of going to see i,Robot. It was an awful movie; and i knew this immediately. How? Well, it starts out nicely with a semi-naked will smith, who's very buff in this movie, getting out of bed and showering like David (think sculpture)...it then dissolves into a commercial for Converse shoes. I kid not. At one point he literally *says* (in response to a question from his grandma) "These are vintage 2004 Converse All Stars. You know you want them." Oh my. It really didn't get any better. Yes, the graphics were cool. Yes, there were moments. But overall, it was really not a good movie. It was bad. The dialogue was sophomoric, the plot jumpy - why was there a cat in the house anyways??? i love animals, but who cares? not me! not me! not me! Avoid it if you can.

In order to recover, I'm posting two items that i read/watched this week and truly enjoyed (links above). Check them out. The Bush/Kerry video is just a riot. It will make you smile. The Fleep comic is creepy, intelligent and totally geeky (he does math problems whilst trapped). Enjoy.

Friday, July 23, 2004

it was exciting to watch and i like yellow 

After seeing Lance Armstrong tear up Stage 16 (L'Alpe d'Huez) of the tour de france,I decided that i wanted, well *had to have*, the Nike sponsored LIVESTRONG bracelet. Plus, i felt like i needed a little empowerment after being somewhat down the last few days. Plus, i liked the new Lance "magnet" ad from Nike. So, off i went to find the bracelet online. Sadly, they were backordered at the Foundation website, so I turned to ebay on a whim. I ended up buying my first item on ebay. It was truly exciting! I loved the auction, even though i paid more than i needed -- the adreneline of competing (and initially losing) in an auction is thrilling. I totally see why ebay is *huge.*

Monday, July 19, 2004

shaken (i'm ok) 

i was attacked tonight (at about 22:35) on my walk home from meeting friends for dinner and coffee. I am not hurt and i feel ok, just a bit spooked. I was walking home on Church Street -- the street where i live, in fact I was only three blocks from my house. A man followed me and then jumped/lunged/grabbed me. I screamed (a loud piercing scream) and he ran off. I then called the police and spent about an hour with them relaying what happened and helping with the search.

i've never been attacked before and the whole thing has me fairly shaken up. My stomach feels raw from the adreneline or something. I think there's still a slight shiver within me as I think about what happened. But i wanted to write down my observations before they became murky.

- i think i knew the guy would attack me when I heard his footsteps behind me speeding up. it struck me as really odd, but i didn't know what to do to normalize the situation. i decided to call someone, i was thinking of calling Kyle, but then thought maybe it was too late to call him and then i stopped and the guy was right behind me, which spooked me. I let him pass me by and apologized for being spooked. I remember being really concious of not wanting to make any sort of racially stereotypical thought that he seemed sketchy and so i extended more politeness then needed. he walked ahead of me and i started to flip through my phonebook. Then he asked me if i knew some address and stepped in closer to me, i shook my head and said something about being unfamiliar with the neighborhood. he then lunged for me and grabbed my waist with his right arm. I screamed. He let go of me and ran off down View street. He ran fast.

- he was a mexican with darker, weathered skin. he wasn't that much taller than me, so maybe 5'8" and he was wearing a plaid flannel shirt in fall tones with the arms ripped off. he had relatively dark skin, a stockyish body and short hair that was longish / unkept. I wish i had been able to capture more specifically what he looked like.

- when the policeman came he was really nice. he wanted all the details so that he could document everything onto these pieces of paper that he kept in the velcro-sealed pockets that were all over his suit. He had all these paper clip contracptions as well to keep track of everything.

- the police wanted to know if i would prosecute the guy if they found him. I wasn't sure at first, but then after 1/2 a second of thinking about it, I knew that I would absolutely press charges. It just seemed so wrong what he did. it is NOT okay to jump people while they are walking down the street to their home! i am angry about what he did, but i am more annoyed that now i'll feel like i need to walk around my sleepy neighborhood with someone. I used to go running at night, around 22:00, because i loved the coolness and the quiet of the streets. that seems like a really stupid thing to do in light of tonight.

- the police found a suspect but he wasn't a match in the end. they said that if they don't find the guy tonight that my case beomces a "cold case" which changes the arrest procedures or something.

- the policeman gave me a ride home. I sat in the backseat, which was interesting -- the seat is plastic and there are no comforts.

I have more to write on this, but this has been an incredibly draining experience. I need to sleep.

Sunday, July 18, 2004

wireless freedom 

for the last few years i have been using something at home that i call "long snake wireless". What is that? A 100 ft. ethernet cable that lets me go from room to room somewhat freely. Today, that ball and chain is gone. I have installed a wireless router and I am operating on wireless freedom. Let me tell you: it is wonderful. wooohoo. cha-cha-cha.

Update: per chester's comment, i've renamed what i called my cable-fed freedom to protect the innocent.

sex lives of cannibals 

Photo Credit: Satellite Imaging Corporation

Last night a friend mentioned his interest in going to Bora Bora. I'd never thought about going to BB, but decided to check it out based upon his maniacal ravings of island allure and his description of it as surrounded by a shallow (approx 1 foot deep) sand reef. The pictures were quite startling and have certainly piqued my interest.

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about moving...particularly to less populated areas like Jackson Hole, WY or a tropical island in the pacific (like Tahiti, or when i feel more urban, New Zealand). My ideas are based either on dreams of the wild west or on romantic notions of lazy days on the beach and a deep tan. In order to quell these thoughts, for my family's sanity, as much perhaps as my own, I read The Last American Man by Elizabeth Gilbert. This book only reinforced my dreams of open wilderness adventures...So, in order to rid myself of some of my tropically-related romantic delusions this summer, I decided to read The Sex Lives of Cannibals : Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific by J. Maarten Proost. I've only just began, but so far the book is hillarious and quickly working to rid me of any naive fantasies i might have of wandering around a tropical isle in the middle of the ocean. I'm glad for this new knowledge, but it only means that vacations to tropical islands have jumped in their priority.

Wednesday, July 14, 2004

rive gauche 

We celebrated Bastille Day tonight at The Left Bank on Santa Row. It was a fun night, highlighted by live music at the bar...we expected the music to be French, but somehow Volare kept making it into their playlist.

Speaking of music, I've recently been addicted to Apple iTunes (clearly I'm not always the early adopter i like to imagine myself as). Anyways, as a result I've "discovered" three new bands that i adore:
Teitur
Autour de Lucie
The Streets. This guy is freaking hillarious.

Update (7/18/04): One of the Streets songs that just cracks me up is "It was supposed to be so easy". Click here for the lyrics. Below is a snippet from the chorus that is just plain great:

Today I've achieved absolutely nought
In just being out of the house, I've lost out
If I wanted to end up with more now
I should've just stayed in bed, like I know how

Monday, July 12, 2004

more saturn pics - yes i'm totally addicted... 

Photo: Astronomy Picture of the Day
Cassini Images Saturn's A Ring by UVIS, U. Colorado, ESA, NASA.

"The thin red band in the otherwise blue A ring is the Encke Gap." [1]

Sunday, July 11, 2004

rings of saturn  

Photo: Cassini Orbiter Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph

"Images taken during the Cassini spacecraft's orbital insertion on June 30 show definite compositional variation within the rings." [1]

wow. what a truly delightful image.

Update: For more amazing imagery, check out the Planetary Photojournal by NASA.

Saturday, July 10, 2004

before sunset 

Photo: 2004 Warner Independent Pictures. All rights reserved.

Last weekend I saw the sequel to Before Sunrise. It was a lovely film that reminded me of my days in Paris when I was in love. The movie brings together lovers who had one night together in Vienna 9 years before. It talks about those moments when you meet someone and share something special, but are too young and naive to realize how special and unique that feeling is. LD and I had this star-crossed love (literally star-crossed given his occupation)...and only a week after I met him he left to work for the ESA. We just had this sweet, simple uncomplicated, dictionary-assisted connection to each other. Unfortunately, I was too distracted with this big, emotional roller coaster that i was on with my then ex-boyfriend to stop and realize how special he was. Seeing this movie made me nostaligic for those sweet times we had in paris, and made me wonder how i could be so easily distracted by anything else.

Monday, July 05, 2004

are you a dictator? i am... 

finally a good personality test. thanks chester.

p.s. here's my result.
My favorite quote: You also have a strange, undeniable sexiness to you. You may go insane.

Sunday, July 04, 2004

kerryoke lounge 

hahhaah. republicans can be funny! actually, in my limited political experience, I found them to be generally hillarious when it comes to pop-shots and theme songs. The kerryoke lounge is, as these types of things go, pretty damn funny. Esp. since the song that Kerry sings is "the way we were"...somehow i don't think barbara streisand gave them permission on this one...

that being said, their new "priceless" web ad against Kerry is just stupid. The idea that the RNC is trying to make out like Kerry is just some "rich" kid...against a Bush...is uhm, well, the pot calling the kettle black...

Friday, July 02, 2004

action! 

"We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action."
Frank Tibolt

Thursday, July 01, 2004

around the world in 80 days 

i'm addicted to fitday.com. It's an online program that allows me to track everything i eat, my workouts, my weight and customized nutrition goals. The reporting section is wonderful - tons of graphs and data. However, today it told me (via a custom goal report) that i have 80 days until my birthday. yikes!