Chicago: They paved a fetid swamp/and put up a parking lot

I had to read outlander in library school for a popular fiction class because it was ranked the #1 romance novel of all time by somebody somewhere. It was truly awful and I think it still has my only 1 star rating on goodreads. And yet the plot description makes it sound pretty good!

I have bitten into an apple and found a worm when my family had an apple tree in the yard in Oregon.

Courtney was telling a current coworker about a former coworker whose husband beat the daylights out of her. He said, "Holy shit! Why? What did she do?" Courtney, his girlfriend, and I had to take advantage of a "teachable moment." (he said that obviously he didn't mean literally what did she do to earn a beating, but "tell me more, did he do that a lot?" etc. )

nick, i'm reading china mieville's embassytown and i think you might like it? conceptually solid sci-fi about language, more or less.

it's a little slow to start since it does a lot of world-building upfront, but gets pretty engrossing once the terms are set.

On Saturday Jenny and Courtney said they had never noticed the Y symbol on buildings around Chicago so I wondered if it was something that wasn't that well-known. Anybody else aware of it? Since Saturday I have seen it EVERYWHERE, including on the front of a fire truck this morning and on the front of a gyros place by my work. Examples:

http://i.imgur.com/qqaTz.jpg http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-i_6pynJVoT4/Tf3gYXkqJwI/AAAAAAAAg5c/Am6RMd3EIuM/s1600/LI--Y-symbol-201b.jpg

Subtler:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-a9mkRGx8eaE/TWT-YseJ2mI/AAAAAAAAb0w/ihEw1UZLthk/s1600/LI-sculp-GP-703b.jpg

It is apparently called The Municipal Device.

Interesting: 1-8-070 Municipal device-City vehicle identification.
The municipal device, for use by the varied unofficial interests of the city and its people, shall show a Y-shaped figure in a circle, colored and designed to suit individual tastes and needs. All automobiles and other vehicles which are owned by the city, except those used by the commissioner of police, and the detective bureau of the department of police, shall be distinctly marked as the property of the city by painting or placing thereon in a conspicuous place, in such a manner that the same cannot be removed, the municipal device, together with the words "City of Chicago," and the name of the department operating the said automobile or other vehicle. (Prior code 2-7)

I've never noticed that either! Now I'll be on the lookout though.

jordan, i read embassytown and thought it was good - i have "issues" with sci fi but it did have lots of interesting ideas and concepts. i've been working through "the count of monte cristo" which is good but like all old-school serialized novels is too long and has annoying digressions. i started "the art of fielding" but can't decide if i'm going to stick with it. i also downloaded the new neal stephenson but don't want to start another 1,000-page book until i finish or decide to give up on count of monte cristo.

It's hidden in plain sight

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5yT-HGxp5uo/TPBqYIwjVkI/AAAAAAAAD_g/qO6Aq5PDaLE/s1600/ChicagoSign%2B%25281%2Bof%2B1%2529.jpg

xp

I guess that's not the actual Chicago Theatre Marquis, but it's an accurate facsimile.

It represents the split of the Chicago River downtown, btw.

the thought of reading a 1,000 page neil stephenson book makes me want to go home and take a nap.

the soccer wackos I hang out with are all about the municipal device and other civic imagery, they even created their own

http://cdn1.sbnation.com/profile_images/379069/cf97-fullcolor_2_.jpg

That emblem has a lot going on.

i'm going out of town for work this week, so i'll need a lot of reading. i've got a hundred pages left in Embassytown, Are We Still Rolling? by phill brown (nerdy recording engineer autobio), and the new issue of Tape Op.

i ordered Exiled from Almost Everywhere by Juan Goytisolo on a whim (along with jaymc's crossword book), but i don't think they'll arrive in time.

is that phill brown book the one that was excerpted in tape op over several issues (think maybe it was a column?) or is that something different? i don't know why i still get tape op, 95% of it is too technical for me. i liked the interview a few months ago with the guy who produced a lot of the classic dylan albums, he seemed like a cool guy.

yeah, i think so. the new issue looks pretty good, it's brian eno and a few engineers who have worked on live hip-hop records (like the black keys + rappers thing and 'wu-tang chamber music'...neither of which i really want to listen to as albums, but they sound great).

i love the interviews, but hate the gear reviews. they just make me want to spend money and feel inadequate about my home setup (which is funny because the rest of the magazine pays a lot of lip service to 'just work with what you have, learn your gear, be creative' and similar ideals).

the thought of reading a 1,000 page neil stephenson book makes me want to go home and take a nap.

LOL. God knows I'll read it, though.

SPOILERS Let me tell you more about Outlander: The main character (a "strong woman" because she cusses a lot) is married and accidentally time travels to 17th cent Scotland where she is forced to marry the belt-wielding Prince Charming but falls in love with him. Then the beating then the rape and apparently there are a few more nbd marital rapes and I guess the woman gets accused of witchcraft and tortured and jailed and then? Dude finds out she's from ~ the future ~ and takes her to the magic rocks that are portals back to her time and… SHE STAYS WITH HIS RAPING ABUSING ASS because she loves him so much. Then I don't know like the ancestor of the woman's 20th century husband captures Prince Charming and beats and rapes him almost to death and the woman kills a wolf with her bare hands.

That last bit sounds p cool but it's not worth the trauma of the rest of the book. Oh and this is a series. There are like ten of these books. ;_;

Wow, I don't think I ever actually finished outlander, that ending sounds wtf

they should have call that book "timerape"

uh time-rape, not timer-ape

That's per Wikipedia and one star Amazon reviews. I'm certainly not going to read it to verify.

BTW we get quite a few patrons here who are outlander fanatics, have read all the books, etc.

tim e. rape

i've never noticed that Y thing before either! had no idea what a municipal device was, in fact. i was thinking of starting a thread yesterday about "hiding in plain sight" because i have seen so many good examples of it lately.

Can't find a picture that shows them clearly, but there are clear Y municipal devices in the circles centering in the decorations between windows at the Harold Washington Library:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_MawQcneuM0k/SwhFefFr-TI/AAAAAAAAAEg/z-7SS-LGnic/s400/Ugly+Bldg+-+Harold+Washington+Library+04.jpg

Yluminati

I am seeing how quickly I can find a Y in various places. I just found one across the street from my bus stop

http://i.imgur.com/FKLHw.jpg

Found a funny travel alert in this NYC article on Chicago:

Be aware of the “Viagra Triangle,” a small park at the intersection of State and Rush streets, a notorious pickup
spot.

unless, of course, you're into that sort of thing

I clicked the link b/c I wanted to know if they meant "beware of" the area, or meant "be aware of" it, as in they were recommending it.

They meant "beware."

Anyone looking for a lurid park will be disappointed by the little gelato/coffee stand and chairs they find there.

Unless I've been hanging out and walking through there for years without knowing the code.

Do straight people cruise???

I really love how that park is set up. It is absolutely perfect. But I never go there b/c I am not going to go out of my way to be around the people who I don't really find interesting to watch. I'm not necessarily being snobbish about the people there, but they make it less fun for me.

Unless I find out they're cruising. I would be thrilled to discover some kind of occult cruising culture amongst that crowd!

Not for my own sexual pleasure, but b/c it's fun to learn about people's shadow sides.

first you get the eye
...then you get the EVIL EYE

Occult Cruising: coming to a park near you

One of the only times I've ever seen anything akin to straight cruising was not far from that park, at the Chipotle on State Street. This young Italian fellow was talking to a woman at the table behind me, and it sure sounded like they didn't know each other, and it sure sounded like he invited her up to his place.

I think the Gold Coast is fun for people-watching. I've got this whole theory that the vast difference between the GC and River North is that River North lacks anything arty or eccentric, whereas the Gold Coast has that stuff hiding underneath it.

Anyway, reading that "travel advisory" after reading up on travel advisories in Mexico made it especially funny.

Ha, yeh.

I really think you're onto something with that theory re GC v. RN.

Oh wow, Louis C.K. is part Mexican, and English is his second language after Spanish, and he has dual citizenship.

You are in love with him, aren't you?

I just woke up from a dream about him.

Ha no, but a couple of years ago I did ck
Sider a
Oh weird- that typo was an interesting coincidence.

Anyway I was saying, a couple years ago I did consider a crush on him. I've been reading about him but that's just bc, well, you know how I am with my interests. Big flame-up at first.

Have you seen the dentist episode of Louie?

No. I'm at maybe ep. 7 or 8 in the first season. I stayed up way too late last night watching juuuust one more.

It's coming up soon--I won't say anything more.

Oh, I just paused to look up the episode guide: the dentist is episode 10, and the second half of that episode ("Tarese") is my favorite of the whole season.

I saw one really weak episode last night. The one with the heckler and the air travel. It was way out of place.

I hated that one.

I have to keep googling b/c I've forgotten almost all of the S1 episodes already. Except "Bully," which I think is the best of the season.