For Brendas 80th
Saturday, April 22, 2006
Friday, April 21, 2006
A fantastic blog post, where a guy writes smart, short commentaries on the American Demographic maps of Religion--most of which I knew already, but well worth having an image in yr head:
here
(the quirks are the best bit, the large sections of lutherans in texas, the differences b.w the missouri and ecla synods in the midwest, the counties in the dakotas and arizona/new mexico, where they seem areligious, until you realise there is a first nation thing going on, the absence of methodists in the western half of the country, the persians of LA counties, and the general islamicism of Dearborn Michigan, etc and the unclaimedness of oregan
speaking of God--The Opus Dei's anti muslim cartoons are ony with a working knowledge of Dante and they want a little disclaimer on how the da vinci code is being mean to them, note
the hypocrisy but dont spend too much time on it
this guy paints people in custom mao posters the latest in commie chic, infused with western captialism,
John Brosio
Breathing
Oil on Panel
2006
He only paints pictures of Tornados, hes good.
Marc Quinn on Kate Moss (a working out of similar issues, wrt classicism and the grotesuqe, the opposite of his sculptures of living torso alison lechtel
Kirk Cameron witnesses to fags in WeHo and the Castro--like going into the Warsaw Ghetto to prosethise to the jews (esp. hilarous b/c he views his hamhanded attempts at tact as christian love
video here
I hve no idea what this means but Wal Mart just dumped 6.5 billon in inventory
Tony Fitzpatrick might be new favourite photorealist:
I 45, 2005
Penzoil Building (From his Amazing Curtain Wall Seires)
(both acrlyic on canvas--i love the colour, the cropping, the forced perspective, the reuse and reclaiming of mies word for impersonal monuments of glass and steel, and of course i have an obbessive love for the p/r shit, and late modernism--esp those slip on panels of solitary colour...)
here
(the quirks are the best bit, the large sections of lutherans in texas, the differences b.w the missouri and ecla synods in the midwest, the counties in the dakotas and arizona/new mexico, where they seem areligious, until you realise there is a first nation thing going on, the absence of methodists in the western half of the country, the persians of LA counties, and the general islamicism of Dearborn Michigan, etc and the unclaimedness of oregan
speaking of God--The Opus Dei's anti muslim cartoons are ony with a working knowledge of Dante and they want a little disclaimer on how the da vinci code is being mean to them, note
the hypocrisy but dont spend too much time on it
this guy paints people in custom mao posters the latest in commie chic, infused with western captialism,
John Brosio
Breathing
Oil on Panel
2006
He only paints pictures of Tornados, hes good.
Marc Quinn on Kate Moss (a working out of similar issues, wrt classicism and the grotesuqe, the opposite of his sculptures of living torso alison lechtel
Kirk Cameron witnesses to fags in WeHo and the Castro--like going into the Warsaw Ghetto to prosethise to the jews (esp. hilarous b/c he views his hamhanded attempts at tact as christian love
video here
I hve no idea what this means but Wal Mart just dumped 6.5 billon in inventory
Tony Fitzpatrick might be new favourite photorealist:
I 45, 2005
Penzoil Building (From his Amazing Curtain Wall Seires)
(both acrlyic on canvas--i love the colour, the cropping, the forced perspective, the reuse and reclaiming of mies word for impersonal monuments of glass and steel, and of course i have an obbessive love for the p/r shit, and late modernism--esp those slip on panels of solitary colour...)
We can quantify the deaths caused by both communism and fascism, but we will never know how many deaths have been the result of capitalism; of nothing more noble than a rich man wanting to be even richer, and sacrificing the health and lives of millions of workers to achieve this. Don't even try to count how many people capitalism has killed, because not only will you not know where to begin, but also it will never end.
Julie Burchill
Julie Burchill
rachel let me read her thesis, its wit, skill, surface, readability, design and structure act as a trojan horse, allowing ideas of fetish, gender, sexuality in--dangerous ides, biographical ideas, sexual ideas...
one of the best, most solid, most interesting peices of theoritical writing i have engaged in, and lacking the prenentiousness expected.
wow!wow!wow!
one of the best, most solid, most interesting peices of theoritical writing i have engaged in, and lacking the prenentiousness expected.
wow!wow!wow!
Thursday, April 20, 2006
From This Weeks Us Magazine:
American IDol judge Simon Cowell, 47, dissed host Ryan Seacrest's romance with Teri Hatcher 41,on the April 4 ox Show. "Im not the one trying to look like someone out of Desperate Housewives. Lose The Beard!" the British bully scolded Seacrest, 31, who had recently grown facial hair similar to that of James Denton, 43, who playes Hatcher's long time crush on the ABC soap.
Note:
Beard is common homosexual slang for a female used to pass as a heterosexual. Simon Cowell was obliquely commenting on the rumours of Seacrests homosexuality
American IDol judge Simon Cowell, 47, dissed host Ryan Seacrest's romance with Teri Hatcher 41,on the April 4 ox Show. "Im not the one trying to look like someone out of Desperate Housewives. Lose The Beard!" the British bully scolded Seacrest, 31, who had recently grown facial hair similar to that of James Denton, 43, who playes Hatcher's long time crush on the ABC soap.
Note:
Beard is common homosexual slang for a female used to pass as a heterosexual. Simon Cowell was obliquely commenting on the rumours of Seacrests homosexuality
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
As for the business reasons for the change in emphasis, I doubt that there are any. I think this is all about Lacey's self-image, his compensating for his intellectual insecurity by imposing a big blustery capital J "We go out and get the stories" journalism bullshit on everything. That's based on how he comes across in the few interviews I've seen. I could be wrong. But if Westword is any indication, the man actually has no interest in getting the poop on how "the deal went down," despite what he says. Westword's office is six blocks from both the Colorado state capitol and the Denver city hall and has rarely covered either (I was going to say "never," but I really don't read the thing enough anymore to say this for sure). So there's been little attempt to probe into how power and authority actually work anywhere, though Michael Roberts has reported on Clear Channel's attempts to bully their way into dominance of the local concert scene. Basically, Westword is lifestyle, consumer guides, and human-interest stories, none of which I have any objection to in principle and none of which preclude actual ideas, if only the writers had any; the artist profiles end up as puff pieces, mostly.
kogan on poptimists.
kogan on poptimists.
thots on elvis' and big mama thortons hound dog
1) he adds the rabbit metaphor (ie you never caught a rabbit and you aint no friend of mine, which confuses me, what does the rabbit signify
2) its nastier, meaner then hortons
3) its louder, faster, it snarls, its more propulsive--its the start of elvis the pelvis
4) there is a distinction b/w pelvis and phallus, pelvic is most often signified female or queer (ie: gillian welch elvis presley blues (also useful for the resuerction motiff), anyways the pelvis qoute "shook like a chorus girl/and he shook it like a harlem queen/he shook it like a midnight rambler/like he never seen/like he never seen (notice the almost statacato shifts b/w gender, race and sexuality) also shook like a hurricane/shook like to make it rain/shook like a holy roller/baby/w. his soul at stake, his soul at stake) he shook it and it rained like silver, he shook it and it rang like gold/he shook it and it beat that steam drill.baby/bless my soul/bless my soul/whats wrong with me (conflating john henry and elvis--we dont need to talk about drills) like a chorus girl/harlem queen/midnight ramble/baby/like he never seen/never seen (the only chorus repeated)
5) From 51 Seconds to 1 minute 7 seconds, and from 1:19 to 1:38, there is no words at all, and not yodelling, scatting, etc--the guitars continue, and he just opens his mouth, and sings aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, ecstacy and sacred singing, glossalia, etc.
6) questions of class (you think yr such high class, but that was jsut a lie)
7) almost all chorus
Big Mama Thortons
1) The Rabbit motiff is absent, and the phrase sniffin round my door (door being slang for vagina in a blues argot
2) really more of a blues song, v. spec related to a spec genre
3) less cryptic (you told me i was high class/but i can see thru that/and daddy i know/you aint no river cat)
4) i aint goin to feed you more--the relation to care, to the domestic, the desire for settling, is refused w. a lack of stability. (aint looking for a woman/looking for a place like home)
5) lots of free form talking, almost reaching, searching, asscoiative, but does not detach itself from the written word, and the instrumentation is less connected
6) made me feel so good/made me weep and moan
7) last couple of seconds, frenzied barking
some qoutes:
(Elvis) was seriou sabout his work...Whenever (a vistor) went by the house, he found him wih a stack of re cords--ray charles and big joe turner and big mama thorton and arhtu big boy crudup, that he studied wil all the avidity t hat other kids focused on their college exams. he listend over and over, seeming to hear something that no one else could hear, while able to carry on a perfectly coherent conversation at the same time...(last train to memphis, 195)
hound do had been written by two white teenagrs, jerry leiber an mike stoller, who sepcalised in rhythm adn blues, and was a v. odd choice for a male perfermer, since it was written from a female point of view. nonetheless, it was the showstopper...and it sparked a determination on Elvis' part to incorparate it into his own show... (ibid, 273)
it had veered still further from big mama thorntons original latin flavoure "rhumba boogie" feel...and become a hard driving number powered by DJs tommy hun attack and a solo that SCotty later labeled ancient pyschedlia. whit the twenty sith take sholes thought they had it, but Elvis wanted to keep going. After the thirty-first take sholes annouced over the PA: okay elvis i think we got it (ibid. 298)
(i have no idea how the fuck guralnick gets rhumba beat, and of course, he doesnt rush to actually do any analysis...typed, so all grammar and spelling fuck ups are mine)
1) he adds the rabbit metaphor (ie you never caught a rabbit and you aint no friend of mine, which confuses me, what does the rabbit signify
2) its nastier, meaner then hortons
3) its louder, faster, it snarls, its more propulsive--its the start of elvis the pelvis
4) there is a distinction b/w pelvis and phallus, pelvic is most often signified female or queer (ie: gillian welch elvis presley blues (also useful for the resuerction motiff), anyways the pelvis qoute "shook like a chorus girl/and he shook it like a harlem queen/he shook it like a midnight rambler/like he never seen/like he never seen (notice the almost statacato shifts b/w gender, race and sexuality) also shook like a hurricane/shook like to make it rain/shook like a holy roller/baby/w. his soul at stake, his soul at stake) he shook it and it rained like silver, he shook it and it rang like gold/he shook it and it beat that steam drill.baby/bless my soul/bless my soul/whats wrong with me (conflating john henry and elvis--we dont need to talk about drills) like a chorus girl/harlem queen/midnight ramble/baby/like he never seen/never seen (the only chorus repeated)
5) From 51 Seconds to 1 minute 7 seconds, and from 1:19 to 1:38, there is no words at all, and not yodelling, scatting, etc--the guitars continue, and he just opens his mouth, and sings aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, ecstacy and sacred singing, glossalia, etc.
6) questions of class (you think yr such high class, but that was jsut a lie)
7) almost all chorus
Big Mama Thortons
1) The Rabbit motiff is absent, and the phrase sniffin round my door (door being slang for vagina in a blues argot
2) really more of a blues song, v. spec related to a spec genre
3) less cryptic (you told me i was high class/but i can see thru that/and daddy i know/you aint no river cat)
4) i aint goin to feed you more--the relation to care, to the domestic, the desire for settling, is refused w. a lack of stability. (aint looking for a woman/looking for a place like home)
5) lots of free form talking, almost reaching, searching, asscoiative, but does not detach itself from the written word, and the instrumentation is less connected
6) made me feel so good/made me weep and moan
7) last couple of seconds, frenzied barking
some qoutes:
(Elvis) was seriou sabout his work...Whenever (a vistor) went by the house, he found him wih a stack of re cords--ray charles and big joe turner and big mama thorton and arhtu big boy crudup, that he studied wil all the avidity t hat other kids focused on their college exams. he listend over and over, seeming to hear something that no one else could hear, while able to carry on a perfectly coherent conversation at the same time...(last train to memphis, 195)
hound do had been written by two white teenagrs, jerry leiber an mike stoller, who sepcalised in rhythm adn blues, and was a v. odd choice for a male perfermer, since it was written from a female point of view. nonetheless, it was the showstopper...and it sparked a determination on Elvis' part to incorparate it into his own show... (ibid, 273)
it had veered still further from big mama thorntons original latin flavoure "rhumba boogie" feel...and become a hard driving number powered by DJs tommy hun attack and a solo that SCotty later labeled ancient pyschedlia. whit the twenty sith take sholes thought they had it, but Elvis wanted to keep going. After the thirty-first take sholes annouced over the PA: okay elvis i think we got it (ibid. 298)
(i have no idea how the fuck guralnick gets rhumba beat, and of course, he doesnt rush to actually do any analysis...typed, so all grammar and spelling fuck ups are mine)
Now, the organization of the paper is being changed. Much of the front of the book is being overhauled. Mr. Ridgeway’s column has been killed, and so has Mr. Schanberg’s Press Clips column and Toni Schlesinger’s Shelter column, which provided quirky interactions with apartment and loft dwellers. The film-review budget has been cut by two-thirds, according to a source, and some film reviews are now being contributed by freelance writers from other New Times papers. According to Voice staffers, New Times has also dismissed The Voice’s three-person fact-checking department and laid off two of the five copy editors. Last month, Mr. Lacey killed interim editor Ward Harkavy’s blog, the Bush Beat. The end-page essay has been discontinued. Voice writers now have to use the New Times stylebook, and according to a source, there are words—including “meta” and “subversive”—that are now banned from the paper.
From the Observer Story, linked below
From the Observer Story, linked below
auf zur disko (10:29:59 PM): chuck eddy has been fired
auf zur disko (10:30:04 PM): new york is in mayhem mode right now
AnthonySEaston (10:33:39 PM): holy fuck
auf zur disko (10:33:45 PM): yeah
auf zur disko (10:33:48 PM): you didnt hear?
AnthonySEaston (10:33:56 PM): link, context, holy fuck, wow
auf zur disko (10:33:59 PM): it happened this evening
auf zur disko (10:34:03 PM): you can look at ILM
auf zur disko (10:34:06 PM): look at hte voice threads
AnthonySEaston (10:34:09 PM): i spent the day working on an essay
auf zur disko (10:34:14 PM): really really horrible
auf zur disko (10:34:16 PM): they told chuck
auf zur disko (10:34:22 PM): in front of a bunch of people at a big meeting
auf zur disko (10:34:25 PM): that his music section
auf zur disko (10:34:27 PM): was too pedantic
auf zur disko (10:34:29 PM): and too academic
auf zur disko (10:34:34 PM): and that he was fired, effective this friday
AnthonySEaston (10:34:46 PM): what the fuck did they want,
AnthonySEaston (10:34:49 PM): im going to yell
AnthonySEaston (10:35:22 PM): STUPID MOTHERFUCKERS, STUPID COCKSUCKING MOTHERFUCKERS, WHO BREED STUPIDIITY LIKE SLUGS BREED OTHER SLUGS, IN THE DARK DANK MUCK OF IGNORANCE
AnthonySEaston (10:35:32 PM): FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK
AnthonySEaston (10:35:36 PM): AND ALSO FUCK
AnthonySEaston (10:35:38 PM): there
AnthonySEaston (10:35:43 PM): sorry to make you yell
auf zur disko (10:36:59 PM): yes i know
auf zur disko (10:37:04 PM): i cycled through all these feelings already
auf zur disko (10:37:08 PM): in the past hours
auf zur disko (10:37:09 PM): i am very drunk now
auf zur disko (10:37:14 PM): i went to the east village and got wasted
auf zur disko (10:37:22 PM): because i couldnt handle it
auf zur disko (10:37:27 PM): he was the editor who gave me my big break
auf zur disko (10:37:32 PM): he was the first person to publish me
auf zur disko (10:37:34 PM): in the village voice
AnthonySEaston (10:37:47 PM): it makes me really upset, because smart writers, and cogent writers, are being punished. he liked me, he didnt publish me, but he gave me a pazz and jop, and he liked me--he respected me
AnthonySEaston (10:38:05 PM): which was strange, this little fucker in a hicktown
auf zur disko (10:38:58 PM): yeah
auf zur disko (10:39:05 PM): i dont know if pazz n jop will exist much longer, to be honest
auf zur disko (10:39:08 PM): without chuck
AnthonySEaston (10:39:27 PM): can i be really selfish for a second
AnthonySEaston (10:40:53 PM): the only writing i do well is academic, i dont think its pedantic, but its smart and im scared that there isnt a place anymore for polemic, for rhetoric, for an opinon, for people who read
AnthonySEaston (10:41:02 PM): and chuck eddy was one of those last places
AnthonySEaston (10:41:42 PM): and you, dave queen, edd hurt, frank kogan, xgau, tosches, etc was part of this
auf zur disko (10:41:48 PM): yes.
AnthonySEaston (10:43:00 PM): what the fuck do we do
AnthonySEaston (10:43:06 PM): im jsut starting out, you have places to go
auf zur disko (10:43:11 PM): i don't know, anthony, i don't know
auf zur disko (10:43:16 PM): i'm as confused as you
AnthonySEaston (10:44:12 PM): do you have his private email
auf zur disko (10:44:47 PM): no i dont
AnthonySEaston (10:46:05 PM): next time you see him, tell him ill take any balls he needs to
AnthonySEaston (10:46:17 PM): can i blog this
auf zur disko (10:47:13 PM): i would think so
auf zur disko (10:47:20 PM): its public knowledge that hes been fired now
AnthonySEaston (10:47:47 PM): me and our conversation, brb
auf zur disko (10:30:04 PM): new york is in mayhem mode right now
AnthonySEaston (10:33:39 PM): holy fuck
auf zur disko (10:33:45 PM): yeah
auf zur disko (10:33:48 PM): you didnt hear?
AnthonySEaston (10:33:56 PM): link, context, holy fuck, wow
auf zur disko (10:33:59 PM): it happened this evening
auf zur disko (10:34:03 PM): you can look at ILM
auf zur disko (10:34:06 PM): look at hte voice threads
AnthonySEaston (10:34:09 PM): i spent the day working on an essay
auf zur disko (10:34:14 PM): really really horrible
auf zur disko (10:34:16 PM): they told chuck
auf zur disko (10:34:22 PM): in front of a bunch of people at a big meeting
auf zur disko (10:34:25 PM): that his music section
auf zur disko (10:34:27 PM): was too pedantic
auf zur disko (10:34:29 PM): and too academic
auf zur disko (10:34:34 PM): and that he was fired, effective this friday
AnthonySEaston (10:34:46 PM): what the fuck did they want,
AnthonySEaston (10:34:49 PM): im going to yell
AnthonySEaston (10:35:22 PM): STUPID MOTHERFUCKERS, STUPID COCKSUCKING MOTHERFUCKERS, WHO BREED STUPIDIITY LIKE SLUGS BREED OTHER SLUGS, IN THE DARK DANK MUCK OF IGNORANCE
AnthonySEaston (10:35:32 PM): FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK
AnthonySEaston (10:35:36 PM): AND ALSO FUCK
AnthonySEaston (10:35:38 PM): there
AnthonySEaston (10:35:43 PM): sorry to make you yell
auf zur disko (10:36:59 PM): yes i know
auf zur disko (10:37:04 PM): i cycled through all these feelings already
auf zur disko (10:37:08 PM): in the past hours
auf zur disko (10:37:09 PM): i am very drunk now
auf zur disko (10:37:14 PM): i went to the east village and got wasted
auf zur disko (10:37:22 PM): because i couldnt handle it
auf zur disko (10:37:27 PM): he was the editor who gave me my big break
auf zur disko (10:37:32 PM): he was the first person to publish me
auf zur disko (10:37:34 PM): in the village voice
AnthonySEaston (10:37:47 PM): it makes me really upset, because smart writers, and cogent writers, are being punished. he liked me, he didnt publish me, but he gave me a pazz and jop, and he liked me--he respected me
AnthonySEaston (10:38:05 PM): which was strange, this little fucker in a hicktown
auf zur disko (10:38:58 PM): yeah
auf zur disko (10:39:05 PM): i dont know if pazz n jop will exist much longer, to be honest
auf zur disko (10:39:08 PM): without chuck
AnthonySEaston (10:39:27 PM): can i be really selfish for a second
AnthonySEaston (10:40:53 PM): the only writing i do well is academic, i dont think its pedantic, but its smart and im scared that there isnt a place anymore for polemic, for rhetoric, for an opinon, for people who read
AnthonySEaston (10:41:02 PM): and chuck eddy was one of those last places
AnthonySEaston (10:41:42 PM): and you, dave queen, edd hurt, frank kogan, xgau, tosches, etc was part of this
auf zur disko (10:41:48 PM): yes.
AnthonySEaston (10:43:00 PM): what the fuck do we do
AnthonySEaston (10:43:06 PM): im jsut starting out, you have places to go
auf zur disko (10:43:11 PM): i don't know, anthony, i don't know
auf zur disko (10:43:16 PM): i'm as confused as you
AnthonySEaston (10:44:12 PM): do you have his private email
auf zur disko (10:44:47 PM): no i dont
AnthonySEaston (10:46:05 PM): next time you see him, tell him ill take any balls he needs to
AnthonySEaston (10:46:17 PM): can i blog this
auf zur disko (10:47:13 PM): i would think so
auf zur disko (10:47:20 PM): its public knowledge that hes been fired now
AnthonySEaston (10:47:47 PM): me and our conversation, brb
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
To Listen:
Britney Spears/Cat Power Satisfaction x (Rolling Stones) x
White Stripes Jolene (Dolly Parton) x
Lyle Lovett Stand By Yr Man x (Tammy Wynette) x
PJ Harvey Hiway 16 Revisited x (Bob Dylan) x
Tori Amos Kim x (Eminem)
Elvis Hound Dog (Big Mama Thorton) x
Roy Acuff Blue Yodel
Doug Stevens x
Sound Track to Enio Miccioine
Rode Music
Long Virgina Roads/ Hyacinths and Thistles
Patsy Montana—I want to be a Cowboys Sweetheart
Bob Dylan (God on My Side…)
Woodie Gutherie (This Land is My Land, Ingrid Bergman, Wilco, Bragg)
Don’t Get Above Yr Rasin’
Toby Kieth (various) x
To Watch:
Johnny Guitar
Last Picture Show
Paris Texas
Brokeback Mountain
To Read:
Air Guitar (essay on Hank) Hickey x
Hu Yellow x
Don’t Get Above Your Raisin’ –Bill C Malone
Kaustenbaum Queens Throat x
Sandberg—Selected Poems x
Lacan Ecrits, 6 Lectures on Pyschoanalysis
Jane Jacobs—…American Cities, Dark Age Ahead
Judith Butler Gender Trouble
Judith Butler What Happens Now
American Surfaces—Shore
Los Almos—Eggleston
Bob Dylan—Chronicles Vol 1.
Baudillard America x
Prolux’s two volumes of western stories (and the audio interview w. jong)
Bernanrd Levy In The Shadow of Toqueville (letters to atlantic monthly, reviews of the book in the ny times, the ny reader, the lrb)
Howard Zinn--…American People, Southern Mystique,
Wendell Berry Farming: A Hand Book, The Unsettling of America, The Discovery of America
Toqueville—Democracy in America
Britney Spears/Cat Power Satisfaction x (Rolling Stones) x
White Stripes Jolene (Dolly Parton) x
Lyle Lovett Stand By Yr Man x (Tammy Wynette) x
PJ Harvey Hiway 16 Revisited x (Bob Dylan) x
Tori Amos Kim x (Eminem)
Elvis Hound Dog (Big Mama Thorton) x
Roy Acuff Blue Yodel
Doug Stevens x
Sound Track to Enio Miccioine
Rode Music
Long Virgina Roads/ Hyacinths and Thistles
Patsy Montana—I want to be a Cowboys Sweetheart
Bob Dylan (God on My Side…)
Woodie Gutherie (This Land is My Land, Ingrid Bergman, Wilco, Bragg)
Don’t Get Above Yr Rasin’
Toby Kieth (various) x
To Watch:
Johnny Guitar
Last Picture Show
Paris Texas
Brokeback Mountain
To Read:
Air Guitar (essay on Hank) Hickey x
Hu Yellow x
Don’t Get Above Your Raisin’ –Bill C Malone
Kaustenbaum Queens Throat x
Sandberg—Selected Poems x
Lacan Ecrits, 6 Lectures on Pyschoanalysis
Jane Jacobs—…American Cities, Dark Age Ahead
Judith Butler Gender Trouble
Judith Butler What Happens Now
American Surfaces—Shore
Los Almos—Eggleston
Bob Dylan—Chronicles Vol 1.
Baudillard America x
Prolux’s two volumes of western stories (and the audio interview w. jong)
Bernanrd Levy In The Shadow of Toqueville (letters to atlantic monthly, reviews of the book in the ny times, the ny reader, the lrb)
Howard Zinn--…American People, Southern Mystique,
Wendell Berry Farming: A Hand Book, The Unsettling of America, The Discovery of America
Toqueville—Democracy in America
Monday, April 17, 2006
Sunday, April 16, 2006
easter vigil yesterday, he is risen, etc
three hours, and then dinner afterwards, and it was lovely.
saw jeff, who isnt happy, and val who is...
seeing val is always a revealing force, and her friend meredith of the same tendencies, a fondness for heresey, a desire to move beyond gender, a nascent femminism, an affection, slight bitterness, and a fuck you kind of energy, eating and almost cuddling with her, made me realize how much i missed her.
graham lettner, i think i like and its weird, hes touchy feely, more the hugs, rubbing shoulders and touching of great tenderness and intimacy--and it doesnt mean anything of course, its just graham, but i wonder if my cancelling and my inability to keep appointments is a combo of the ambiguity of my feelings for him (ie hes fuckable), and my fear about taking advantage of him (ie hes the SU president, he will be politically useful)...
trayce, gerads fiancee is a fantastic person, great for jacob, beautiful company, and gerards family lets me have a weekend, and i feel less and less anxious about offending...
(other things: its 7 years since my baptism, and i think that my enmeshment with mother church is complete, and my ambiguity, and gaurdedness about what i exactly believe--in the easter vigil there is a moment after everyone is confirmed that the priest asks will you defend the church and all it does, and well i cant do that, even with the wrestling, even with just the basics, that was what was so revelatory about really sitting with the apostles creed, and meditating on it, and praying on it, is that i am not even sure i can defend the basics expected of me as a xian, and some people it doesnt bother, i mean spong says no virgin birth, no resuerction, lets move on--and it bothers me...deeply. and i mean, as a poltical radical, i think that the reseruction is a bit of mcguffin--30 years of lets fuck shit up, and then dying for it, as treasounous, and then well isnt that an ignoble end, lets fix it--and that fixing i mean organic folk mythologies, how many people see elvis in kalamazoo 7-11s, etc its all too neat, too polite...and arguing about it, gives a convienet rheotorical place, and well im all about maintaining convient rhetorical places)
(rewrite: i dont believe in the reseruction, mostly because it cements my role as a heretic and because of my cynicism of the poltics of the early church. The more orthodox my company, the more radical my denials are--much of the intellectualism for that disbelieving is whole stealing from radical 20th century theologians, because their exgesis makes it easier for me to be comfortable, and comfort is not one of the goals of xian thot)
three hours, and then dinner afterwards, and it was lovely.
saw jeff, who isnt happy, and val who is...
seeing val is always a revealing force, and her friend meredith of the same tendencies, a fondness for heresey, a desire to move beyond gender, a nascent femminism, an affection, slight bitterness, and a fuck you kind of energy, eating and almost cuddling with her, made me realize how much i missed her.
graham lettner, i think i like and its weird, hes touchy feely, more the hugs, rubbing shoulders and touching of great tenderness and intimacy--and it doesnt mean anything of course, its just graham, but i wonder if my cancelling and my inability to keep appointments is a combo of the ambiguity of my feelings for him (ie hes fuckable), and my fear about taking advantage of him (ie hes the SU president, he will be politically useful)...
trayce, gerads fiancee is a fantastic person, great for jacob, beautiful company, and gerards family lets me have a weekend, and i feel less and less anxious about offending...
(other things: its 7 years since my baptism, and i think that my enmeshment with mother church is complete, and my ambiguity, and gaurdedness about what i exactly believe--in the easter vigil there is a moment after everyone is confirmed that the priest asks will you defend the church and all it does, and well i cant do that, even with the wrestling, even with just the basics, that was what was so revelatory about really sitting with the apostles creed, and meditating on it, and praying on it, is that i am not even sure i can defend the basics expected of me as a xian, and some people it doesnt bother, i mean spong says no virgin birth, no resuerction, lets move on--and it bothers me...deeply. and i mean, as a poltical radical, i think that the reseruction is a bit of mcguffin--30 years of lets fuck shit up, and then dying for it, as treasounous, and then well isnt that an ignoble end, lets fix it--and that fixing i mean organic folk mythologies, how many people see elvis in kalamazoo 7-11s, etc its all too neat, too polite...and arguing about it, gives a convienet rheotorical place, and well im all about maintaining convient rhetorical places)
(rewrite: i dont believe in the reseruction, mostly because it cements my role as a heretic and because of my cynicism of the poltics of the early church. The more orthodox my company, the more radical my denials are--much of the intellectualism for that disbelieving is whole stealing from radical 20th century theologians, because their exgesis makes it easier for me to be comfortable, and comfort is not one of the goals of xian thot)
Saturday, April 15, 2006
muriel spark just died.
i think as a writer she matched my world view the best, and her subtle, wrathful, asp on the worlds breast approach to life, and how small and slight her novels were, but how wise they were to the human condition.
she was bitter, and angry, but refused to spew, constructing traps for all our sins, traps of great skill and astonishing effectivness.
abess of crewe, her allegory on nixon, was the best book on power and responsiblity written perhaps ever, but no one paid attention to it, 100 pages, about nuns and abbies, how could it say something significant.
that she failed to win the nobel is still a mark that writers prizes are dick measuring contests, the bigger, and more epic in scoipe the book the better, and small artifacts of our own darkness, will never be rewarded.
in many ways, it reminds me of w, how little seriousness people took highsmith's ripleys novels as works of literture, as medtations on desire and how it makes pychopaths of us all...(also note the love for zadie smiths white teeth, a brilliant mess versus on beauty, perhaps the first perfect novel of the 21st)
heres the bbc obit here
i think as a writer she matched my world view the best, and her subtle, wrathful, asp on the worlds breast approach to life, and how small and slight her novels were, but how wise they were to the human condition.
she was bitter, and angry, but refused to spew, constructing traps for all our sins, traps of great skill and astonishing effectivness.
abess of crewe, her allegory on nixon, was the best book on power and responsiblity written perhaps ever, but no one paid attention to it, 100 pages, about nuns and abbies, how could it say something significant.
that she failed to win the nobel is still a mark that writers prizes are dick measuring contests, the bigger, and more epic in scoipe the book the better, and small artifacts of our own darkness, will never be rewarded.
in many ways, it reminds me of w, how little seriousness people took highsmith's ripleys novels as works of literture, as medtations on desire and how it makes pychopaths of us all...(also note the love for zadie smiths white teeth, a brilliant mess versus on beauty, perhaps the first perfect novel of the 21st)
heres the bbc obit here
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