Well, I was thinking about entering the King of the Blogs contest, plus I always read these things at other sites, so I should probably make one.
One feels a little bit goofy writing these things. That same feeling of grim submission combined with a touch of fluttering panic and the desire to be charming and funny (Components of the Fieldian impulse to have them like you, really really like you) that you feel while standing around at a bureaucratic kickoff meeting, during the portion of the evening where We All Just Say a Little Bit About Ourselves…throat clearing and chair creaking fill the dull silence, until finally someone says…
I guess I’ll start off.
I think I’ll use the F.A.Q. format that seems so popular with these things. If y’all will agree to maintain the polite fiction of the F.
Assel (a/s/l), as the teeny-bopper chatroom kids say?
Twenty-odd, Female, currently a resident of Brooklyn, New York.
Self-serving justification for inflicting your self-involved natterings on that already heavily burdened and suffering beast, the internet? Or, why start this blog?
I’m moving to Ireland soon, and I want to write a little bit about that experience, this blog is sort of an exercise book to get me writing and help me work out ideas. Also, I want to accumulate a legion of admiring fans, and feel that if only people would just listen to me, the world would be a much better place. Like every other blogger.
In a very slightly more serious vein, I’d have to say that my goal for the site is to write posts that are entertaining and interesting. Or, failing that, to post recipes.
Why Ireland?
'Cause I can, 'cause my distinguished forebears emanate from the Emerald Isle, and because I think it’ll be interesting. There’s a little more to it than that, and I go into it here, but that’s the short answer.
What’s up with the title? Diable-what-now?
It’s French for green devil. It’s after my tattoo: I have this guy on my right shoulder. (Gotta keep the angel off.) It’s an old French absinthe ad by Leonetto Cappiello. It’s also a fairly unusual and distinctive word, something which is quite handy to have on the internet. Not so unusual that someone didn’t snag diablevert.com before me, though. But he seems to want cash money for his .com, hence, diablevert.net. I’m pretty sure the image is public domain, so one of these days I’ll get around to tastefully decorating my site with dear old Luccas’s visage.
What do you do? You know, that some one’s willing to pay you for, unlike this writing crap?
I paralegal at a big corporate law firm, one of those Partner, Partner, And Ampersand type-dealies. It’s pretty boring. No, boringer than that. So boring I’m using words that don’t exist in an attempt to describe just how Ultimate Bornigest it is.
Anything else?
Um, no. I think that’s it, really. Group hug!
Old stuck in my head songs. Or memes. (From whence this odd collection, see this post.)
February 2005
22. Stuck: Tom Waits, "Strange Weather," of course.
September 2004
22.
Stuck: Theme to the Fairly Odd Parents
Killed by: Badly Drawn Boy, "Logic of a Friend."
August 2004
5.
Stuck: Dire Straits, "Walk of Life."
Killed by: L7, "Used to Love Him."
July 2004
23.
Stuck: Morrissey, "You're the One for Me, Fatty." Which is actually a pretty good song. Still, I find myself turning to ...
Killed by: ...Feist, who I like quite a bit. Has a voice that is both clear and delicate, half Ella Fitzgerald and half Jane Birkin. Most of the album --- Let it Die --- only improves with repitition. (Damn near typed Feith there; that'll teach me to read too much Talking Points Memo.)
5.
Stuck: Some Eurocrap techno-pop thing the radio's been playing a lot. I think this particular specimin of the species might be
Killed by: In the absence of ipody goodness --- I need to pick up a certain wire to hook the thing up to my computer --- I've been depending a lot in RTE1 which is, to my mind, charmingly odd. Sure, I'll listen to the farm report; I've never heard a farm report before. And certainly not in Irish...
June 2004
17.
Stuck: Nothing. No, really ---- just the peaceful buzz of absolutely no obligations or responsibilities. No idea where my next paycheck is coming from either, of course. I think it might be the calm before the crazy.
Killed by: For about five days now, I’ve had a rotating mix of Franz Ferdinand, Modest Mouse, the Eels, Ludacris, and Missy Elliot’s greatest hits on the Itunes. Pasty white boys and bumpin’ hip hop; I am failing to come up with a suitable bland/spicy food metaphor to convey why this works for me.
8. Stuck: Tenacious D, "Sex Supreme," specifically, that one part where J.B. queries, "Have you ever been worked on / By two guys who are hot for your snatch," over-enunciating for emphasis.
Killed by: The Eels, "Novacaine for the Soul." How come I never got into the Eels before, eh? It took Modest Mouse's "Float On," also good song, to remind me of that one video where the guy makes the face out of the carrot ("Last Stop: This Town") and how I rather liked the song and whatever became of them? and so forth. Anyway. They're good.
May 2004
17.
Stuck: "Vader Paces the Halls of the Death Star" Theme from Star Wars. (You know, BUNH-BUNH-BUNH, buh-ba-BUNH, buh-ba-BUNH) alternating with "You're the Inspiration," which is by Chicago, apparently. I always knew there was a reason why they sucked.
Killed by: At this point, I'm considering copius amounts of bourbon.
April 2004
26.
Stuck: Nellie McKay. "Toto Dies," mostly, but also "David" and "Inner Peace." It's pretty, it's punchy, it's snark set to jazz. I like it bunches. It's also the catchiest clutch of brain worms to infect my cranium in years.
Killed by: Took two hours of The Clash both "The Clash" and "London Calling," to get rid of that shizz. I said catchy, and I ain't fuckin' around.
7. Stuck: The Cure, "Boys Don't Cry." You know, just reading the lyrics makes the song seem so dark and steryotypically Cure-like, but as I'm sure you know, in my head it's a pop fest, here, people. I'm chair dancin'.
Killed by: I'm hooked it up to a respirator, actually, until I can download it. Limewire, you are my friend.
14.Stuck: Nellie McKay. "Toto Dies," mostly, but also "David" and "Inner Peace." It's pretty, it's punchy, it's snark set to jazz. I like it bunches. It's also the catchiest clutch of brain worms to infect my cranium in years.
Killed by: Took two hours of The Clash, both "The Clash" and "London Calling," to get rid of that shizz. I said catchy, and I ain't fuckin' around.
March 2004
1.
Stuck: Nina Simone, "Funkier Than A Mosquito's Tweeter"
Killed by: Allowed it and "Man's Best Friend" to fight it out in my head, as I'm not really bothered by either one.
9.
Stuck: Corey Hart, "I Wear My Sunglasses at Night." Damn 80s.
Killed by:
Black Box Recorder, "Brutality".
15.
Stuck: Ace of Bass, "I Saw the Sign," of course. It's a deserved punishment, I suppose, but it still feels unjust.
Killed by:
Little Walter, "Mellow Down Easy"
18.
Stuck: Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes, "I Had the Time of My Life." Man, I don't even like that damn movie.
Killed by:
Panjabi MC, "Mundian to Bach Ke." Nothing clears out 80s crap rock like heavy-beat elctronic Indian hip-hop with Punjabi vocals.
February 2004
25.
Stuck: Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, oddly enough
Killed by: Belle and Sebastian, The Boy Done Wrong Again
16.
Stuck: Theme from Master Class at Johnson and Wales
Okay, I'm a big geek. A big PBS-watchin', cooking-show lovin' geek.
Killed by : A return to semi-delirious demi-sleep.
9.
Stuck: Men at Work, "Land Down Under"
Killed by: Outkast, "The Way You Move"
January 2004
21.
Stuck: Marvin Gaye, "What's Goin' On"
Killed by: There's no need to kill Marvin. Is there, Mr. Marvin?
22.
Stuck: "Duke of Earl"/"The Lion Sleeps Tonight" medley
Killed by: The Queers, "Ursula Finally Has Tits"
24.
Stuck: Mace and Puffy, "Bad, Bad, Bad, Boys." Thanks, Hip Hop' Most Unintelligble Lyrics on MTV2.
Killed by: The Pogues, "Lullaby of London"
26.
Stuck: I don't know the name of it, but it's one of those nu-metal crap rock bands, and it goes doot-doot, da doot-do doot-do-doot, "Take on, take on anyone" and then the singer warbles, "where you belooong---ooooooong" for about five minute with some halfhearted distortion.
Killed by: The Clash, "Death or Glory"