22 December 2006

As many candles as a spider has eyes

Tonight is the last night of Chanukah. We light all eight candles and we say the baruchas for the last time this year. I like to let the wax build up on the menorah over the course of the eight days of the holiday. And I never clean it off entirely. I think there is still wax on that menorah from candle-lightings by my parents and by my grandparents. I like that accumulation of the generations.

Esther & Rivkah's Latke Party on Tuesday night at Katherine Mulherin's Sideshow was a great success, and the latkes were transcendent. The place was packed all evening, and Dana, Risa, and their two volunteer assistants went through about 50 pounds of potatoes, and a heap of eggs, onions, and cooking oil. Arteries destroyed in the name of art.

Last night we went to see For Your Consideration, which I liked a lot, though it didn't quite rise to the level of the other Christopher Guest movies. Though Parker Posey finally had a substantial role.

So, all in all, a very Jewish week.

Happy Chanukah & over & out.

3 Comments:

At December 22, 2006 10:17 pm , Blogger John MacDonald said...

Happy Chanukah to you as well, Stu!

 
At December 23, 2006 1:26 am , Anonymous Anonymous said...

8 is the base of the octal number system, which is mostly used with computers. in octal, one digit represents 3 bits. in modern computers, a byte is a grouping of eight bits, also called an octet.
In binary code eight is 1000. a fallen or lying down 8 is used to represent infinity in mathematics. this interpretation of 8 may be related to the representation of the caduceus (where two snakes form several figure eights) as stability or balance of opposing forces. the atomic number of oxygen is 8
the jewish religious rite of brit milah is held on a baby boy's eighth day of life. the noble eightfold path in the buddhist faith has eight steps. the eight immortals are chinese deitie. in tarot, card No. 8 is "strength." eight is considered a lucky number in chinese culture because it sounds like the word "prosper" or "wealth." in numerology, 8 is the number of building, and in some theories, also the number of destruction. "eight maids a-milking" is the gift on the eighth day of Christmas in the "twelve days of christmas" carol. in chess, each side has eight pawns. in baseball, eight represents the center fielder's position. eight ball billiards is played with 15 balls; the black ball numbered 8 being the most important one. there are eight bits in a byte. a V8 internal combustion gasoline engine (an "8-banger") has 8 cylinders configured in two rows of 4 forming a "V" when seen from the end. in liquid measurement (u.s. customary units), there are 8 fluid ounces in a cup, 8 pints in a gallon, and 8 tablespoons in a gill. there are 8 furlongs in a mile
there are eight vegetables in V8 juice. in cooking recipes, there are approximately 8 pinches to a teaspoon. 8 apparitions appear to macbeth in act 4 scene 1 of shakespeare's macbeth as representations of the 8 descendants of Banquo who will be king. "section 8" is common U.S. slang for "crazy", based on the u.s. military's Section 8 discharge for mentally unfit personnel. eight babies delivered in one birth are called octuplets. the first set of eight surviving babies, the louis-chukwu octuplets, were born in 1998. october was the eighth month in the roman calendar; currently august is the eighth month. "88" is the abbreviated terminology used by the aryan brotherhood for the nazi salute, "heil hitler"—"h" being the eighth letter of the alphabet, repeated twice. the silver piece of eight was coined in the spanish empire and moved trade around the world. wow 4 eight.

 
At December 23, 2006 11:24 pm , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Happy Chanukah Stu!

Big haircut helloz
from us in the Kootenays.

 

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