Falling and Laughing

In the event that your Friday afternoon could use a hit of...

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:42:00 -0500

In the event that your Friday afternoon could use a hit of tattered beauty, here is my small but mighty collection of Penguin Poets paperbacks. (They look much better if you click through to the full-size version.) When I am a decrepit millionaire I am going to send my minions hither and yon to gather up all the titles I’m missing.

Aw, Gem made a new little buddy over the holiday! (Actually, the...

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 22:21:41 -0500

Aw, Gem made a new little buddy over the holiday!

(Actually, the apparent viciousness on display here was just a trick of the camera. Here’s video evidence showing that they tussled along famously.)

CAN IT BE SANDY CLAWS TIME NOW PLEASE!?!

Sat, 24 Dec 2011 21:43:02 -0500

CAN IT BE SANDY CLAWS TIME NOW PLEASE!?!

“Mr. Gold and Mr. Mud,” Townes van Zandt The traditional holiday...

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 18:26:00 -0500

“Mr. Gold and Mr. Mud,” Townes van Zandt

The traditional holiday spiritual.

Now here’s what this story’s told:
If you feel like mud you’ll end up gold
If you feel like lost you’ll end up found
So amigo lay them razors down.

My noble beast.

Tue, 10 May 2011 20:15:00 -0400

My noble beast.

At first I was mildly disturbed by the news that my 9-year-old...

Tue, 10 May 2011 16:38:15 -0400

At first I was mildly disturbed by the news that my 9-year-old nephew already had his own cell phone, but now I’m all for it. Texting with a 9-year-old is great fun.

— Fleshy “tilapia loins.” Fleshy...

Mon, 02 May 2011 11:13:00 -0400

—

Fleshy “tilapia loins.” Fleshy “tilapia loins.” Fleshy “tilapia loins.”

“A Little Lost,” Arthur Russell

Sat, 30 Apr 2011 14:11:59 -0400

“A Little Lost,” Arthur Russell

I know how you feel, daffodils.

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 10:50:42 -0400

I know how you feel, daffodils.

An astonishment: PJ Harvey singing “Grow Grow Grow”...

Sun, 17 Apr 2011 22:00:00 -0400

An astonishment: PJ Harvey singing “Grow Grow Grow” on French TV in 2007. Her voice in this clip is just… I can’t even… I mean, WHAT.

O PJ Harvey, why couldn’t you have stopped in Chicago on your current little trip to the US? Why do you spurn us upstanding Middle-Westerners? We’ll build you a Clockwork Orange set just like the Gauls did, is this what you require?

Success!

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 11:57:00 -0400

Success!

Gem attempts to snatch treat from the air; fails.* *That’s...

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 11:56:12 -0400

Gem attempts to snatch treat from the air; fails.^*

_{*That’s it in front of her chin.}

Comic Sans: because someone in charge of signage at the local...

Mon, 04 Apr 2011 17:16:00 -0400

Comic Sans: because someone in charge of signage at the local Jewel-Osco looked at the single-serve wine bin and said “This is a fucking depressing corner of the universe to be sure, but can we make it soul-crushingly depressing?”

“County Line,” Cass McCombs Steady killing me today,...

Sat, 02 Apr 2011 15:06:23 -0400

“County Line,” Cass McCombs

Steady killing me today, this song.

High Windowsby Philip Larkin When I see a couple of kids And...

Mon, 21 Mar 2011 19:57:00 -0400

High Windows
by Philip Larkin

When I see a couple of kids
And guess he’s fucking her and she’s
Taking pills or wearing a diaphragm,
I know this is paradise

Everyone old has dreamed of all their lives—
Bonds and gestures pushed to one side
Like an outdated combine harvester,
And everyone young going down the long slide

To happiness, endlessly. I wonder if
Anyone looked at me, forty years back,
And thought, That’ll be the life;
No God any more, or sweating in the dark

About hell and that, or having to hide
What you think of the priest. He
And his lot will all go down the long slide
Like free bloody birds. And immediately

Rather than words comes the thought of high windows:
The sun-comprehending glass,
And beyond it, the deep blue air, that shows
Nothing, and is nowhere, and is endless.

Dirty Beaches, “True Blue” Perhaps you, like me,...

Tue, 15 Mar 2011 20:32:45 -0400

Dirty Beaches, “True Blue”

Perhaps you, like me, have slept on Dirty Beaches owing to the first part of their name, thinking that Dave Longstreth & co. should rightfully have some kind of lockdown on that particular adjective. OR, perhaps, like me, you have also fixated on the second part of their name, thinking “beaches” signified some more low-fi glo-core shiz. Well I (we) have been wrong! Dirty Beaches are some kind of genius David Lynch prom music scenario, and then something sinister happens, maybe at a racetrack, or a hotel, and the ghost of Elvis as played by Suicide’s Alan Vega haunts your ass, and it’s all great.

Zero score and thirteen nights ago, having grown weary of the...

Sun, 13 Mar 2011 19:24:00 -0400

Zero score and thirteen nights ago, having grown weary of the process of balding in slow motion, I took up arms against my scalp with a safety razor and accelerated things along. Having had two weeks to live with my newly shorn self, I’m still not sure what to make of it (him). In the main, I’m happy my head is a reasonably ovoid and normal shape. In the main, I’m cold a lot. (It’s no joke about heat escaping from your dome.) In the main, I’m still sneaking up on myself in mirrors, surprised at what I find there.

P.S. Someday I’ll learn to have my picture taken without pulling “serious face.”

“Slow Education,” The Silver Jews Oh oh ohhhhh,...

Sat, 05 Mar 2011 11:22:19 -0500

“Slow Education,” The Silver Jews

Oh oh ohhhhh, I’m lightning
Oh oh ohhhhh, I’m rain

If there were one word I could convincingly wield with devastating and unquestionable authority, it would have to be...

Wed, 02 Mar 2011 19:05:04 -0500

…shitbird. “Move, shitbirds!” Man, imagine how those no-goodniks would scram.

It was the cheery exclamation point that stopped me up short...

Tue, 01 Mar 2011 18:47:00 -0500

It was the cheery exclamation point that stopped me up short while taking in today’s post. Also, not to quibble over what is surely a generous offer, but if the cremation is free, how does pre-payment enter into the equation?