July 2008
112 posts
“You were going to be a gymnast.”
“A journalist.”
– When Harry Met Sally.
June 2008
38 posts
Someone said last night that there’s no good music criticism anymore. In a frenzy of agreement, others quickly ran with the idea, until eventually someone actually said it’s impossible to write anything sensible or meaningful about music.
I like when people give others the chance to explore their ideas, but someone should probably have stopped that train from leaving the station. Or...
Poetry Time! First Blood Part 3
“indefinable ample rhythmic frame.”
Now that we’re past 8:08 p.m., we get some baller Berrigan action. This segment of the line sings in the way that poems should (I wrote “pems” by accident by forgetting the “o” and I do indeed like the word “pems,” which appears to not be a word).
“Indefinable” the first multi-syllable word, and...
Wall-E
There was a lot of talk of Wall-E yesterday. A friend objected to its vision of humans’ obligation to Earth. “What’s wrong with living in space?” my friend asked.
On a similar note, why didn’t the human beings care about animals at all? The movie showed only one species of living being on the spaceship — humans. One would think that someone would’ve at...
Poetry Time! Part Deux
For some semblance of coherence, we’ll start the second post about “Red Shift” with the first line from the poem (here’s the link again for those just tuning in):
” Here I am at 8:08 p.m. indefinable ample rhythmic frame”
I’ve never been super excited about the “8:08 p.m.” thing, maybe because it feels cheap and easy. One time in a poetry...
Poetry Time!
Here I am at 8:08 p.m. indefinable ample rhythmic frame The air is biting, February, fierce arabesques on the way to tree in winter streetscape I drink some American poison liquid air which bubbles and smoke to have character and to lean In. The streets look for Allen, Frank, or me, Allen is a movie, Frank disappearing in the air, it’s Heavy with that lightness, heavy on me, I heave ...
“The McCain campaign has released this new ad claiming that Barack Obama is the...”
– Wonkette is actually good.
“He had no idea what he was up against in Barban, neither of the simplicity of...”
– Fitzgerald. Tender is the Night. 36.
me: yeah
i like to destroy my neurochemistry at least in the name of ruffling a few feathers
Will: hey man, you gotta shake the snow globe to make it purty
Goodbye to a great.
The sun was fairly low in the sky, but still bright, casting the air in a blue-gray that is different from the one before a rain shower.
A husband and wife, the both of them short and in ragged hair, walked next to the scaffolding. They did not have a dog and were discussing matters of little consequence. A man stood on the corner, pulling slowly off a cigarette and letting his eyes go soft as...
Internet Company Loses Internet Access
Everyone works from home; business is booming.
“DreamWorks has made a deal with Aaron Sorkin to write three films, the first of...”
– “Sorkin on ‘Trial’ at DreamWorks”: Variety
Sounds like a song Phil Ochs would have written if he hadn’t committed suicide back in 1976. Sample lyrics from IMDB: Will Smith plays Bobby Seale. JEFF DANIELS PLAYS DAVE DELLINGER (would’ve preferred Bridges —...
The cover story for the latest Atlantic Monthly deals with the Internet’s impact on our collective cognition. The title — “Is Google Making Us Stoopid?” — obscures the wider scope of the article, which actually deals more in the increasingly terse writing style of blogs, etc.
Nicholas Carr, the author, contrasts Internet reading with book reading. His point is that...
I’m not a gawker; I’m a blogger for myself and others.
Get Osama Bin Laden before I leave office, orders... →
“Oh, BTW, about that thing, can we do something? Alright good.”
“In choosing between Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain in the general election, Americans...”
– Susan Faludi. “Think the Gender War Is Over? Think Again.” NYT.
The refusal by Obama (be it real or manufactured) to participate in the image game — his decision to have actual preferences and trust people to try to understand them — will hopefully capture more national...
Keating Five - Wikipedia →
McCain. Not sure how important this is, but an interesting quirk in light of campaign finance reform nearly a decade later, not to mention the current housing/credit problems.
"Dagger" is an interjection similar to "shit."
me: heyo!
Daniel: hi!!
me: how's things
Daniel: "dagger" has caught on throughout 1-66 armor battalion
thanks to wade greenlee
me: !!!!!!
Daniel: i thought you would be honored
me: i am fucking armored
haha
freudian slip
Daniel: hahaha
“Lehman is propped up now by the US taxpayer and nothing else,” said one...”
– “Man in the News: Dick Fuld.” Financial Times
Does that source basically have to be Blankfein of Goldman, Thain of Merrill or Mack of Morgan?
“His move to Wall Street came after a brief attempt to become an Air Force pilot...”
– “Man in the News: Dick Fuld.” Financial Times
Punching a bully and giving stock to employees who already make pantloads of money — two quite distinct visions of justice.
“No. But some Gawker commenter accused me of drinking $3.50 lattes. Now, I’ve...”
– Keith Gessen Blog
Really?
There’s been some (many might say insufficient) discussion of sexism in the media’s portrayal of Hillary Clinton during her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. The Times today took a weird survey of comments by various people who figured in the campaign to a great extent (Howard Dean) and no extent (Columbia Journalism School dean Nicholas Lemann). The Women’s...
“Skateboarding’s increased popularity + terrorism = [fewer] ledge spots.”
– Salo, Adam. “Mending Wallrides.” Skateboarder 17.11 (July 2008). 18.
“Barry O pride”
“Rep your Barry O”
Barack Obama can easily reach out to Hispanic voters.
2008
-Da’Tara
-Barack Obama
-The New York Giants
“From the patio you could see the red gondolas rising over the East River,...”
– Screenwriter: The New Yorker
“Man, on the p-ward you asked for a match and people told you stuff.”
– Screenwriter: The New Yorker
“I haven’t played golf in like two fucking weeks. Because I’m not...”
– The Depressed Horseshoe
The Drudge Report featured as one of the paid advertisements at the top of the site a link to Portfolio’s recent profile of IAC/Interactive honcho Barry Diller. This is similar to the minutes-long Fox Business News advertisements that appear on CNBC right around market close. In both cases, it’s sort of an admission of defeat. It’d be funny if Hillary set up a stage at the exits...
The Clinton defense, via Politico →
The conflict of interest angle may hold some water, although interested parties sometimes tell the truth. Note the red herring: “President Clinton has helped save the lives of 1,300,000 people …”
“But among the not-so-small cadre of Clinton friends and former aides, concern...”
– The Comeback Id: Politics & Power: VF This is one of those pieces of reporting that completes a mythology that largely already exists in the public’s mind. Part of people’s admiration for Clinton is the degree to which he has excelled in spite of this series of gaping personal flaws. 