Ferox Femina

Loyalty Hierarchies

Tullia F. — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 22:03:16 +0000

Tonight, I’m left with a quandary:

1. Do I care enough about the NCAA Men’s Championship to watch the game? (This is not an idle question, as watching the game would require going out somewhere to do so, since I do not have cable.)

2. If I do care to watch it, who do I root for – Michigan or Loiusville? Since I am now a Buckeye as well as Ohioan by marriage, should I root Big 10 or against Michigan? This would be an easy question in Pac 10 terms – root conference, even if it’s USC (but only grudgingly in that case). I know it’s now Pac 12, but who are those other 2 teams? Utah and Colorado you say? Perhaps we can convince Kansas to join too, up our basketball status, and then I’ll start caring.

3. Should having seen Kevin Ware’s leg break on national TV influence my sympathies toward Loiusville?

Overall, my answers are: not really, Michigan, and no. Does this make me a bad Buckeye?

Amazing Heroic Adventures

Tullia F. — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 02:53:22 +0000

I’ve been listening to Tony Judt’s Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 on audio book, and it’s gotten me in a mid-century mood. The book, by the way, has been more engaging than I expected. There are a few too many lists of numbers and percentages for my taste (much easier to take these sorts of things in the gestalt way I usually read text) but every once in a while Judt comes out and makes Some Big Pronouncement that makes me feel like I should have been paying more attention for the past 30 minutes.

As you might imagine, Jews do come up quite a bit in this history (at least where I’m currently at, which is still very near the end of WWII) and so the Holocaust has been on my mind these past few days.

While flipping through the Times tonight, I came across an article talking about the Jewish origins of Superman:

“They were planting little hints as to his ethnic heritage and the fact that he was Jewish,” Mr. Tye said. For example, Superman’s arrival on Earth as an infant in a rocket ship parallels the biblical story of baby Moses being delivered to Pharaoh’s daughter in his papyrus basket. And his Kryptonian name, Kal-El, sounds like the Hebrew for voice or vessel of God.

This got me thinking about Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay and wondering, why don’t they make the movie already? It would be brilliant.

Ikeas Homonkulus: Meme Mash-Up Done Right

Tullia F. — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 22:42:01 +0000

You’re heard about the Italian woman suing her local church after its painting of Jesus (the restoration of which she botched) became a tourist attraction?

How about the monkey in a shearling coat that was found wandering around an IKEA parking lot in Toronto?

IKEA Monkey (Darwin)

Behold, 2012′s best mash-up:

Simone Manley, you are a genius.

Hurrah for Large Women

Tullia F. — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 22:42:07 +0000

It’s hard not to notice the lack of large women on television – not plus-size women necessarily (whatever that means in this day and age, though would the NYTimes please not include someone who is a SIZE 8 in a slide show of “Plump and Proud”) but just women who don’t fall into the the pixie or willowy camps.

Enter British actress/comedian (why does it feel okay to to use the feminine suffix on one and not the other…) Miranda Hart. If you read this linked article closely, you’ll find her views support my future muu-muu cult.

Brit Miranda Hart

She is doing such an amazing job on Call the Midwife that I’ve been trying to figure out how to watch her BBC Sitcom. I hope Netflix gets the rights to it soon.

Theodore Dog Naps

Tullia F. — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 21:59:06 +0000

Like me, my dog could easily spend 14 hours a day napping.

30 B4 30 #30: New Goals

Tullia F. — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 05:09:31 +0000

What new goals shall I set for myself now that I’m in my 30′s?

Run a 10K?

Publish an article?

Finally unpack my office?

Bring my Spanish fluency up to a passable level?

The options are finite, but daunting.

30 B4 30 #29: Berlin

Tullia F. — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 05:03:15 +0000

Thinking about artists and coffee got my brain on Christoph Niemann, a graphic artist who has a recurring “strip” in the NYTimes called Abstract City (the type of art he produces varies considerably, though he tends toward a high-concept yet crafty, homespun look that always strikes me as fun).

I had a shot from a coffee related piece of his as the background on my computer for at least a year:

I was looking on his website the other day, and a print he did of Berlin caught my eye:

30 B4 30 #28: Coffee

Tullia F. — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 04:53:47 +0000

I’m losing steam, but I’m going to finish this by birthday West Coast. Sure would be nice if I could make some coffee, but I don’t have any at home because I have yet to find the good coffee roasters in Columbus. There’s a place up the street called “Yeah, Me Too” that sounds promising – no parking, cash only, surly service, very SF. I’m going to make it a mission to find some good coffee in this town.

30 B4 30 #27: Birthday Gifts

Tullia F. — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 04:49:05 +0000

Placidus picked up on my frequent mentions that I liked a particular textile artist, Lauren Bahr, on Buy Some Damn Art, so he bought be a couple of her pieces for my 30th birthday!

Though I often say things like, “I wish we’d invest more in supporting artists” as such, I don’t buy too much original artwork, so this was a treat.

30 B4 30 # 26: RPAC

Tullia F. — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 04:42:05 +0000

Speaking of fitness, Placidus and I explored the Recreation and Physical Activity Center (The R-PAC) last weekend, Ohio State’s 4-story shrine to all things fitness. Can you find all the hidden cardio areas? How about the ping-pong table? Or the golf putting greens?

It seems ludicrously large until you imagine it full of undergrads. I know it’s their school, but I’m already feeling vaguely put out and I haven’t even had to deal with them yet.