June 2004 Archives

A little bit ago, I asked Gene to invite me to join him on Orkut.com, a network like Friendster, but with better software. I listed Katabasis as my webpage and have actually had people write me email about posts here (though Gene says he never gets email from Orkut). It's so bizarre . So I decided to go look through what I had been posting lately and see what these people are seeing. I discovered that I never posted "Culinary Expedition, Part 3," the real gem in the series that shows my stalwart crush on Neal (who seems to have disappeared from Safeway, sadly enough). I also haven't given you any indication of what else I have been spending my time on. So here are the links to the new stuff:

"The Greatest Movies Ever Made"--Could I be any clearer?

"Culinary Expedition, Part 3" in the context of the four-post series. Scroll down to about December.

Triathablog--my mind takes a break as I chronicle my obsessive calorie-counting attempts to train for my first triathlon in three years.

It's not as good as a new short from Homestarrunner.com, but it'll do. Hopefully, after I return from Peru I will get back to some of the meatier investigations, but we'll see.

Me: So, Katabasis, you've been sporting that classic kind of 'Roman proclamation' look for some time now.

Katabasis: Yup. I like it. Classic is my bag.

Me: Yeah, but you've got your links and everything all up on the left like that, and everyone else has had them on the right since like, forever.

Katabasis: So?

Me: So, I'm just saying, you could make yourself a little more accessible with some small changes, that's all.

Katabasis: Like what?

Me: Like switching which side you part your links on. Maybe trading in the serifs for something a little more modern. Arial is practically classic now.

Katabasis: Hmmm.... But serifs always make things more readable.

Me: Not on the web, my friend. Plus, you could use some borders instead of just text styles to separate content--you know, make your titles really POP.

Katabasis: Popping is good.

Me: Yeah, and if you want to get really hip, you could put a picture of me up over your calendar so everyone could fix a face to the genius who posts the brilliant prose here so infrequently.

Katabasis: (sighs) I don't think that's going to work out. You know you have that thing about photography--it stealing your soul or whatever.

Me: Not stealing your soul, just your memory. It reifies memories, mediating your relationship to the remembered by replacing it with an index. Graven images, you know?

Katabasis: Not really, but anyway, you don't have a whole lot of pictures of you.

Me: I suppose that's true. Maybe we could go with something a little more thematic, like 'Teiresias in Hades.'

Katabasis: Um, yeah, that would be cool if anyone had a picture of Hades.

Me: Right. How about the acropolis at Eritrea?

Katabasis: Sounds good, though there is this funny picture from Halloween.

(courtesy of Michele)

Me: (coughs) I think I like the acropolis better.

Katabasis: (grins) Suits me fine.

Me: There's just one other thing.

Katabasis: What?

Me: The blue. It's boring. Jeans are blue. The sky is blue. Blue is so non-committal, so blah. It's Spring! It's time to lighten up.

Katabasis: You mean, like aqua?

Me: No, like the new pink.

Katabasis: What's that?

Me: Trust me.