is the word 'diary' better than the word 'blog'? probably not.
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animals.
There�s this great scene in Greg the Bunny, where Eugene Levy is giving a eulogy at Rochester Rabbit�s funeral, but he�s trying to be funny about it, and no one�s laughing. At one point he pauses, and all you hear is crickets. But, turns out (comic twist), the crickets are the only ones in the room who are laughing.
I think of this whenever someone has his or her cellphone ringtone set to be the noise of crickets. It makes me think that he or she must tell really bad jokes.
So, I think of that Eugene Levy scene fairly often, not only when I hear a cricket ringtone, and often at the oddest times, but lately when I think of it, it is for new reasons. At Haverford you hear birds and insects everywhere all day long. I know their sounds, and like them. Crickets, cicadas, etc. I even have a clock in my office that chirps a different bird song each hour. I especially love the moment of time right after the train pulls away from Haverford station, and silence sets in, but then the silence reveals itself as full of nature sound.
By the way, Eugene Levy is one of those people who is always funny to me. Like, just by breathing he manages to be funny. Also in this category are Phil Hartman (RIP), Bill Hader and Zach Galifianakis. Even their unfunny comedy failures are funny, because of how they inhabit them.
Near the building where I teach there are these mystery insects who make a noise that does not sound like an insect noise because it sounds like someone�s strange technology beep, like when people have the keyboard sounds turned on on their sidekickblackberryiphone. But it�s an insect. Because I am so annoyed by people who leave their keyboard sounds turned on in public, I�m not sure I like these insects. But I�m willing to grant them the space to send their text messages. I haven�t actually seen one in person yet, because they like to hang out in dense bushes.
So it�s funny that there are insects who sound like cellphones, while there are also lots of people who have the cricket noise as their ringtone, so that they have cellphones that sound like insects.
Also, whenever I see a chipmunk, I can�t help myself. I say �CHIPPY!� in a human-talking-to-an-animal voice. At Haverford I see multiple chipmunks daily. And sound like an idiot every time.
In other news, there is a new bird at the pond. I�m not sure what it is! It might be some kind of duck, or it might be another kind of wading bird, like the Heron. It is larger than the mallards, slightly smaller than the Canadian geese, and it has tiny tiny eyes that are right above its beak rather than set back further in its head. It spends a lot of time holding its wings open and taking up space. And it has a spiky tale, like a cartoon drawing of a rooster. Oh, and it is black/brown. Do you know what it is?
2:19 p.m. - October 06, 2009
sduckie - 2009-10-06 19:34:17
Hmm if you find out what that new bird is I would like to see a picture!
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js - 2009-10-09 01:22:33
update. it seems to be some kind of diving duck.
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js - 2009-10-17 22:42:53
update: it is a cormorant. pictures coming soon.
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