Al Hirshfeld Dies

Famed Caricaturist Al Hirschfeld Dies

I just found this article on Yahoo. It's a bit sad for me, since I've always admired his drawing style (I even have a copy of his book On Line with me). In addition, his drawings documented nearly a century, from the twenties to the modern time, remaining active even in his late 90's. Even though he was old, news like this is always a surprise; it's sad to think that there will be no more new Hirshfeld drawings.

It's Late

I forgot to mention it earlier, but I recently found out that I will be going to London to take part in a law school program for some of the summer vacation (until July 4th). It should be fun; though I have visited London before, I'll get the chance to live there this time around. I'm looking forward to the chance to wander around such a historic city. Part of the reason I liked going to the east coast for college was having access to cities that had some sort of 'history' to them, and I'm sure London will provide even more in that respect. Oh, and I'll get to study law too

On Saturday, I got to see Chrissie perform in Big Night, a one-act play written by a graduate playwriting student. Chrissie did a great job, of course. I got to see Chrissie's acting coach, Marnie, for the first time, and the rest of the family (well, my parents and grandparents, at least) met Matt for the first time. After the performance, the seven (Chrissie, me, mom, dad, gram, grandpa, and Matt) had lunch at El Cholo's before going our separate ways. Chrissie and I returned home for dinner before heading back to school.

Today was fairly productive, and I got almost all of my work for Tuesday done. I'm hoping to see a movie sometime tomorrow, so I hope that works out.

It's Finally Here!

I got my new laptop last night, and it's really great so far. The screen is huge, and there is a lot of memory and other great stuff. And, of course, it's nice to have sound, a built-in keyboard that works, and a loading time that isn't ludicrous. I've started putting my old programs on the new machine, but I still have a bunch of files to transfer, not to mention 'Favorites' lists and other settings. I don't want to keep my old computer around too long; I don't have that much space on my desk, plus I don't want to keep my grandmother (who is inheriting it) waiting.

Today, I headed over to my parents', as we had all planned to see About Schmidt this evening. However, Chrissie got caught in traffic and dinner took longer than expected, so we missed the movie. We are going to try and see it tomorrow, though Chrissie is too busy to come along (she has already seen it, though).

Bored? Me?

Well, I had my first real day of classes today. It was something of a marathon, since Tuesdays are now my busiest days, with four classes in all. I did survive, though. After class, I went to Santa Monica and did some reading before going to the supermarket and back home. I'm making a small effort to eat healthier; the change isn't major, but I made sure to get some veggies and try a few new things.

Hypothetical Question of the Month/Week/However Often I End Up Doing This
I think this might be fun...

I like thinking about hypothetical questions; some of you Marlborough people might remember the back page feature I worked on for the Ultra Violet with different students answering various questions. The fun thing about hypotheticals is that you can be as glib, in-depth, or ridiculous as you want, and, in trying to find an answer, you can figure out interesting little wrinkles in the question itself.

Here's the question... it's a pretty common one (those of you who have seen Adaptation recently will recognize it from the movie):
If you could have dinner with any person, living or dead, who would it be?

At first glance, I would say Leonardo da Vinci, largely because I admire his inventive mind and have always been a fan of the whole 'Renaissance Man' ethos. But, since this is a 'who would you have dinner with' question rather than a 'who would you want to get into the mind of' question, there are a lot of problems with that option, the most obvious being language. Even if I could learn some Italian for the occasion, I think it would be nearly impossible to learn the dialect that existed in Renaissance Florence. In addition, if I remember correctly, Leonardo was not a terribly social person. I wouldn't necessarily need or want a 'social butterfly' for my hypothetical dinner, but it would be sort of a letdown if you got to spend dinner with a genius but hardly got to talk with them.

So I would ideally want someone who could converse fairly well in modern (post-1800) English (well, I could try using my limited Spanish, but I would only succeed in convincing the person I was a moron) and who was sociable enough to hold a memorable conversation with. Given the choice, I'd probably have dinner with a dead person over a living one, since I could theoretically meet with the living person without having to resort to 'hypothetical magic'. Some intriguing possibilities (mostly dead, but some living) would be Einstein, Oscar Wilde, Dorothy Parker, Katharine Hepburn, Mark Twain, Gertrude Stein, John Lennon, Orson Welles, and Gloria Steinem (there are more, I'm sure, but it's late and I can't think at the moment).

Out of the group, I think I would go with Wilde, as his famous wit would probably make for an interesting dinner.

Feel free to give your own answers (they can be short if you'd like)...

Yes, I'm a dork...

Jenny the Stu (dent) and the Blustery Day

I woke up this morning to find it very windy outside. I was lucky I had woken up in the first place; because of the wind, there was no electricity in the apartment. Of course, the student housing wasn't the only part of the campus that was affected. I waited with the other students in the law school's de-electrified atrium until it was announced that the problem would last 24 hours and classes had been cancelled for the day.

Though electricity came back soon after I got back to my room, I opted to go to Northridge rather than spend my free day around the campus. Chrissie (who is still on vacation) and I watched her video of Shadow of a Doubt before I headed back.

Well, I'm Back

Break was uneventful, but I guess that's sort of the point; after exams, it's good to get rid of the stress of classes. Anyway, I was able to see two movies since I last wrote (the IMAX version of The Lion King and Adaptation). I was with my dad when we saw The Lion King, and, though I did not realize it, he had never actually seen the movie before. I guess I must have seen the movie with friends when it first came out.

I did end up ordering a new computer, and it's a really nice one: a Sony VAIO with plenty of space and memory, and even a DVD-RW drive. I can't wait until it arrives sometime this week.

Anyhow, I'm back at law school now. I got back early this afternoon, and, after unpacking and some goofing off, have done the reading for tomorrow. It was nothing too strenuous, of course, but I wish I had realized I had a reading assignment earlier.

I was thinking a little about it today, and I am missing Bryn Mawr quite a bit (even though there's probably snow on the ground back there). I guess I missed Marlborough too, but Chrissie was there, and it was easy to visit for special events, so I wasn't 'away' in the same sense. Plus, while I spent more years (6) at Marlborough, I didn't actually live there. Bryn Mawr was really where I 'came of age', and while it wasn't always a picnic, it was a very special place. Even though I was never a social butterfly, I miss being around everyone there and partaking in the various traditions and opportunities at the college. I miss the discussions, singing in Chorale, lying in the sun on May Day, watching the frosh during Hell Week, and countless other things.