que sera, sra

Fellow liberal arts softy

2008-09-03T12:05:00.000-07:00

Looks like Barack is kicking it in Lefton-town. My dad has been sending me a barrage of photos from a Kent State appearance. Neato.

Put it back on, gray lady

2008-08-31T14:27:00.001-07:00

One Day 1 of Sarah Palin's candidacy for the Vice Presidency, was it really necessary for the New York Times to use a photo cropped such that the Governor appears nude? (And no, I'm not going to give it more traction here.)

I appreciate the fact that Ms. Palin was once known as Miss Wasilla, and as such was probably photographed in many a strapless dress. But I'll hazard a guess that newspaper wouldn't dream of running a topless shot of Joe Biden.

Our candidates for public office deserve at least a day of dignity. There is more to examine in a candidate than her bare shoulders or her pantsuit, but apparently the photo desk hasn't caught on.

MADE YA LOOK!

2008-08-18T18:03:00.001-07:00

Sexxy

2008-07-23T11:03:00.000-07:00

I swear, everyone looks good in a kippah. (Barry at Yad Vashem.)

coming out

2008-04-11T00:18:00.000-07:00

I admit it. I don't like Pesach.

zeve says fork you!

2008-04-01T00:24:00.001-07:00

zeve says fork you!
Originally uploaded by sarahlefton

The new mob lynchings

2008-03-18T12:00:00.000-07:00

I didn't go to SXSW Interactive due to my honeymoon, which was a much better conference with more interesting participants and panels. I did pay attention to some extent to panel write ups, and some of the backchannel communications via Twitter. They often annoyed me, sine I wasn't there but most of my Twitter pals were.

I have followed the Zuckerberg/Lacey story (too many links to bother finding the best one here, sorry) with avid interest. It has seemed more and more clear to me that SXSW played host to a lynching via social media. I am worried about lynchings of public women (I cannot find the Slate - or was it Salon - story about how the public fascination with Britney/Paris/Lindsay amounts to child abuse). This lynching in particular was awful because the woman in question isn't even setting herself up as an object. She's just a mediocre business journalist.

Here's a great statistical analysis of the Zuckerberg/Lacey interview that really adds something to this conversation and gives us reasons to worry about social neworking and backchannels. I really, really recommend that you read it, as it has something important to say about mob behavior. We online elites are not immune to it. I wish I had time to write a feature length magazine article about the new mob lynchings, maybe Kee Hinckley does. This is a major piece of thinking - my congrats.

Matthue's toast

2008-03-14T00:31:00.000-07:00

Dan Sieradski read this on behalf of Matthue at my wedding, and I thought everyone should get a chance to read it...it was so special to us.

Hey, Bill and Sarah!

Right now I'm sitting at my desk at home, beaming the message to Dan -- thank you, Dan -- and the only reason in the world I wouldn't come to your wedding is on my lap. She is 20 inches long, drooling something white, and has the most amazing glass-blue eyes in the world -- and her name is Yalta, and one day you're gonna see her.

Not to sound like too much of a traditionalist, but dudes, this is why people get married. Not to have babies -- although, hey, bring it on -- but because we're going about our lives, doing our little writing and printing up our little t-shirts and learning about medieval rabbis arguing, we lose sight of the reason we're doing it. Because there's a planet that's bigger than we are, and there's a whole future beyond what we can see, and, one way or another, we're going to be a part of it.

It might be the big things we do -- starting minyans, putting on plays -- but it's also the small ones. The conversations we share. The people we inspire.

This Shabbos was Parshas Titsaveh. It's the only parsha since Moses's birth that his name's not mentioned, and it's one of the more halachically tedious ones -- it deals with the priests' service in the Tabernacle, how they're supposed to get dressed, the order of the stones on the breastplate. These are the things that deal with the smallest details, the intermediary things, and the everyday rituals that lead up to the important stuff -- the metaphysical paperwork, I guess, before we get to talk to God.

Marriage is a lot like that. There are the big times -- you're in the middle of one of the biggest times right now, and, G*d willing, you're going to get a lot more big times soon. But it's the small times, the looks that you give each other, the way you say "good morning" or "you're wearing THAT to synagogue?", that end up being the biggest parts of marriage. I'm not telling you anything you don't already know. Both of you helped me through difficult parts in my life, and gave me this exact same advice, but better. I'm sure a lot of people in the room can say the same thing.

But remind each other. Talk to each other as much as you can. Keep the little things going, and the big ones will grow out of them. You guys are the most giving, creative and wonderful people that Itta and I have had the privilege of kicking it with. Hopefully, what we've already experienced is nothing compared to the future.

So keep it coming, guys. And mazel fricking tov.

CBS thanks me (and you)

2008-03-11T23:55:00.000-07:00

In 2007, I basically saved Jericho for a living. CBS sent a shout out. And some of the guys are wearing my shirt in it. Cool!

Thanks from the CBS Jericho team

My wedding cake

2008-03-05T15:32:00.001-08:00

Bill and Sarah's deconstructed cake
Originally uploaded by rennemy

All hail Tim, king of the bakeries...

don't ever burst my bubble

2008-02-19T18:39:00.001-08:00

it's too fun floating...

Sarah Lefton + William Selig

Killer heels

2008-02-06T17:54:00.000-08:00

What do you think about the ones on the right for my wedding?

Sweet art stunt

2008-02-01T13:04:00.000-08:00

I miss participating in stuff like this.

Who's with me?

2008-01-24T10:29:00.000-08:00

A sitdown hoonest-to-god Blue Bottle cafe is finally open downtown.

More on the hysteria from The Chron and the NY Times, which reports that they've got a siphon coffee maker from Japan at the cost of $20,000. It was never cool to order brewed coffee at BB, but now I guess it's a must.

Yalla, let's go.

Kickin it with the Intergalactic overlord monitor

2008-01-18T15:42:00.000-08:00

So much for Facebook

2008-01-16T18:24:00.000-08:00

I mean seriously, why the fuck bother anymore?

Facebook asked to pull Scrabulous

Nu? holiday music

2007-12-16T14:19:00.000-08:00

This just in from Charming Hostess and Kugelplex:

Return to the great Jewish themes of outsider-ness & redemption with "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"--- in Yiddish! Performed by Kugelplex with vocals by Jewlia Eisenberg.

Yo-Semite in the news

2007-12-15T15:09:00.000-08:00

Fron page of today's Chron:

Yosemite National Park received a treasure out of its own past Friday when philanthropist Bill Lane presented the park with the original "Grand Register of Yo-Semite Valley" at a small ceremony at Stanford University.

"To attempt a description of thy beauty

Oh! Grand and glorious Yo-Semite

Tis vain indeed for mortal man to try

Thy sublimity and magnificence

Makes us feel our insignificance ..."

More about this epic, yet totally unrelated to hipster Judaism event

Happy Chanukah, Pleo!

2007-12-05T12:19:00.001-08:00

Chanukah Pleo!
Originally uploaded by sarahlefton

Read my kvetch

2007-11-16T16:44:00.000-08:00

My first (and no doubt last) piece in the local Jewish paper hit today. Shabbat Shalom. I'll let you know when I dig myself out of this hole.

Let's talk about the future - with no agendas

Nuts are everywhere

2007-11-15T09:15:00.000-08:00

See, no matter where I go work, people create music videos about the products I represent! This blogger, Robert Oschler, is a huge Pleo enthusiast and is keeping track of our every move.

Fleshy works

2007-11-09T09:46:00.000-08:00

Flesh Shoe is a great addition to the sweatshop labor conversation, and I recommend you go read the artist's statement about how he crafted it. I stumbled upon Adam Brandejs's site today while reading about his Genpets project, which is the buzz on Pleoworld today.

What a week

2007-11-06T22:49:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow morning (LESS THAN TWELVE HOURS AWAY!) I start a new chapter, working once again for the man, or the dinosaur, I guess. The gig is in Emeryville, city of tomorrow - or city of lower rents or bigger box stores or lower sales tax, depending on your perspective.

I'm excited, but the last 10 days or so have been a real whirlwind of tying up loose ends:

- Consolidating my 8 million 401k plans
- Getting soaked in an accounting bloodbath
- recording new G-dcast episodes! OMG-D this is gonna happen!
- cleaning up the apartment
- leveling Anathema to 49
- setting up a wedding registry (!) - now that's WEIRD
- hiring a caterer
- having an engagement party thrown for me by Mission Minyan friends
- planning a few trips
- voting (Ya Vot�!)
- Fixing web sites I work on
- Finishing up a Flash game for NutsOnline
- Writing an op ed for the J. Weekly
- Hearing Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz speak about LSD and transgendered people

And so much more. I'm exhausted. Bring on the cute dinos.

soferBot

2007-10-30T00:28:00.000-07:00

This robot Kuka, apparently is a pro at scribing out bibles on "endless rolls of paper." Rolls of paper, eh?

Kuka: Robot Ascetic Inscribes Bible from Boing Boing Gadgets

pimpin for pleo

2007-10-26T14:43:00.000-07:00

i gots a new job.