Copy editors are the last set of eyes before yours. They are more powerful than proofreaders. They untangle twisted prose. They are surgeons, removing growths of error and irrelevance; they are minimalist chefs, straining fat. Their goal is to make sure that the day’s work of a newspaper staff becomes an object of lasting beauty and excellence once it hits the presses.I owe all my mad blogging skilz to a copy editor.
Yeah. Presses. It has probably already struck you how irrelevant many of these skills may seem in the endlessly shifting, eternal glow of the Web.
I didn't know about the great Bal'mer tradition of calling everyone "Hon" until AJ and Ursula's wedding and the groom's dinner at Cafe Hon. There is even a festival, Honfest, to celebrate beehive hairdos, cat glasses, and all things hon-like. But, John Waters of Hairspray fame and a traditional Baltimore booster, has had enough."To me, it's used up," Waters said of Hon style. "It's condescending now. The people that celebrate it are not from it. I feel that in some weird way they're looking slightly down on it. I only celebrate something I can look up to."For me Waters is wacky enough that I bet nobody is too torn up about his epiphany. Maybe he can turn his energies toward the banana slug festival.
The filmmaker known for raunchy odes to his hometown says he won't use the word or the image in any of his scripts, and he doesn't think the city should promote it, either.
"Before, when nail polish was chipped, you absolutely had to run and get it fixed," says Ji Baek, owner of Rescue Beauty Lounge salons in New York and a manicure doyenne who has noticed the Olsens and Lindsay Lohan with less-than-impeccable polish. Now, clients like hers are "wearing perfectly tailored clothes, they have $5,000 bags and equally fabulous shoes, but their nails are chipped and they're saying, 'I don't care.' They don't want to be too perfect."Unfortunately, of our family bloggers, only Kyla will be able to pull it off (if she can come up with the $5000 bag, of course).
But, she noted, their polish "is so perfectly chipped."
Does this mean that we will be seeing a wave of moms and grandmas with punk rock nails? Not likely, says Deborah Lippman, a manicurist who has worked on the hands of Gwyneth Paltrow, Mary J. Blige and Madonna.I guess the rest of you will just look like you've been gardening or quilting too much.
"I don't think you can get away with if you're a woman of a certain age," she says. What's a certain age?
"Anybody over 35," she replies.
An Australian drugs trial lasting more than three months and costing taxpayers over A$1 million ($947,000) has been aborted after a number of jurors were found to have spent up to half the time playing Sudoku puzzles.Apparently, the judge was tipped off by the fact that they seemed to be taking notes vertically.
The sandwich was perfectly executed: an overgenerous helping of fresh Dungeness crab meat, dressed in a gossamer coating of mayonnaise and piled between two warm slices of sourdough bread that had been scrubbed with garlic and griddled crisp.Baltimore:
And in Baltimore, I came face to face with a crab cake sandwich that edged out guinea pig (yes, guinea pig) as the least appetizing dish I have ever tried.We would be happy to treat any Orioles fans in the family to a Dungeness crab sandwich if you would just come out here and see us sometime.
The invasion of the Harris house by miniature long-haired dachshund puppies is scheduled for the July 4th weekend. They're already picked out and reserved, but too young to take home yet. One for Dara, one for Garrett. Garrett's pup is targeted for his new apartment down in SJ. Aside from him being a sucker for a dog, as you can see above, it will no doubt come in handy as a chick magnet. Awwwww.
I've blogged off and on about staying at St. Orres, up along the north coast. We've stayed there with Mom and Dad, and then last with Missy and Mike. When we stayed with Mom and Dad, it was just one building with a new, separate cabin. These days it consists of quite a few uniquely designed little houses, all with the onion dome theme.For the most part, Black improvised the domes without plans or templates. "Just drew 'em on the ground. They looked good, so we made the ribs and set 'em up. I didn't have any pictures or anything."A three year project that he's been working on for 35 years, it turns out. He figures it's time to build himself a decent place now, too.
"I've never built myself a house. Too busy trying to earn a living. One of my goals is to retire healthy enough and strong enough to say, 'OK, I've got 15 years ahead of me. Why not build myself a house?'"I bet Keith can sympathize with that sentiment.
