tonight.

I had the house to myself tonight. I was in kind of a sad state, so I got a book, a bottle of whiskey and put on a patsy cline album. Halfway into "I fall to pieces," my cat jumped on top of the record player breaking both the album and the player. So. Good night.

Thwarted terrorism in Dearborn by old white man

He wanted to blow up the Islamic Center.



Link.

Dreaming (For The Fall Of Mubarak's Egypt)

More dreams...

Abe Gibron

This was the Chicago Bears' coach in the early seventies.  He wasn't a good coach, but he was a pretty remarkable human being.  Apparently he would often ask members of the training staff to soak bratwursts in beer and grill them up for his after-practice snack.  He would "eat them like french fries."

Quality!!!

After five years, I'm still getting used to the "blog." To celebrate five years and my renewed interest in it (It's a New Year's resolution, but it still makes me nervous.), I just accidentally posted and then, tried to copy the first post ever, but I can't. If you want it, you can find it. Congratulations SCSF! (Also, sometimes, I type swimclubsuperfriends.) Happy Anniversary!

Five years of....

Put A Bird On It

Dreams?

People have been talking about dreams.

Dreams. Art. Music. Literature. Heroes. Talented young people in their salad days, with a sparkle in their eyes – yes, a sparkle – reaching confidently towards the bright days they were certain were on the horizon. What have they become? What have we become? The future. Promises. Friends. Where did they all go? Do they still exist? They do. They’re on Friendster.

Paul, a humble busboy, dreamed of becoming a dictator like his hero Gaddafi, unawares that his penchant for repetitive tasks might condemn him to a life of menial office labor when the bottom fell out. (http://profiles.friendster.com/4334278)

A young candy striper named Brian was interested in activity partners and nice people. (http://profiles.friendster.com/4333116) Did he find them?

A young socialist named Adam spent his days playing capitalist, harassing a young intern named Lolo. (http://profiles.friendster.com/6472072) Did he resolve the ideological conflict or did his lust for money and nice things finally win out?

Greek (or Turkish) Dax set about being a body builder. (http://profiles.friendster.com/2687581) A beautiful dream and nice work if you can get it.

And what of this Lolo? (http://profiles.friendster.com/140258) Seriously. And Ruchika? (http://profiles.friendster.com/1693828) No one has seen her, although she continued using Friendster until 2006.

Finally, a specter named Five Fourteen (http://profiles.friendster.com/7714803) had been hanging over them for some time. Did it destroy them or make them stronger?

Look but don’t touch.

When does a dream become a nightmare, part 2

Mortality Dream

Michael Jackson's funeral was being televised. He was lying in an open coffin, which was being pushed into a sepulchre. He was being buried alive. He dropped a basketball and leaned out of his coffin to get it. A dog (Toto from The Wizard of Oz) jumped into the coffin with him. He waved to everyone as they sealed the tomb.

Angry Cable Customer

Angry Canadian Cable Customer

Recordings of an actual customer messages to his cable company in the '80s in Kingston, Ontario. These circulated by tape for a while until someone put them on the internet and then to music and images

I ain't got a nickle and I ain't got a lousy dime
But tell your dreams, baby, and I will tell you mine
No, I ain't got a lot to spend
But 'fore this world reach its end
You and me, honey, we oughtta spend a little time!

Tarek gonna pee his pants!

Toads Revisited

Philip Larkin

Walking around in the park
Should feel better than work:
The lake, the sunshine,
The grass to lie on,

Blurred playground noises
Beyond black-stockinged nurses -
Not a bad place to be.
Yet it doesn't suit me.

Being one of the men
You meet of an afternoon:
Palsied old step-takers,
Hare-eyed clerks with the jitters,

Waxed-fleshed out-patients
Still vague from accidents,
And characters in long coats
Deep in the litter-baskets -

All dodging the toad work
By being stupid or weak.
Think of being them!
Hearing the hours chime,

Watching the bread delivered,
The sun by clouds covered,
The children going home;
Think of being them,

Turning over their failures
By some bed of lobelias,
Nowhere to go but indoors,
Nor friends but empty chairs -

No, give me my in-tray,
My loaf-haired secretary,
My shall-I-keep-the-call-in-Sir:
What else can I answer,

When the lights come on at four
At the end of another year?
Give me your arm, old toad;
Help me down Cemetery Road.

Jesse Fuller - Double Double Do Love You

Do French chicks like philosophers?

Mr. Dika showed up looking dapper as hell for my husband's 32nd birthday. Then he got drunk and stained our carpet with red wine... (nothing serious, our carpet is pretty much just a gigantic red wine stain).

Our neighborhood

Natasha and I live in Noe Valley, the southern end, the neighborhood from which came the assassin of Harvey Milk.

I encourage visits. If you can see the spires out there in the right of this picture, that's where our apartment is.

Don't fall asleep

Red Hook Bar Crawl (October 2010)

Red Hook is a neighborhood in Brooklyn that's not very convenient to get to but is pretty neat. It has a few quirky bars; a guy I know was having a birthday party at one of them, so some of us used it as a chance to do a bar crawl. FB album here.

Seems like a scam but it's not

Have you ever searched for unclaimed property in your name or parents or grandparents? I was looking up my family at the prompting of a law student friend. When scanning down one of the pages, I found Graham's cousin! I was on a roll so I looked up my friends with less common last names and found SEVERAL MORE PEOPLE!

Search here:
http://www.missingmoney.com

And file a claim with this pdf
http://www.michigan.gov/documents/3433_2597_7.pdf

The thing is, even if you have unclaimed property, it could be as little as 50¢, because apparently there is a law stating that it has to be reported no matter what.

BRIAN, YOU AND YOUR FAMILY ARE ALL OVER THIS THING.

Tricky Philly

Toads

 Why should I let the toad work
Squat on my life?
Can't I use my wit as a pitchfork
And drive the brute off?

Six days of the week it soils
With its sickening poison -
Just for paying a few bills!
That's out of proportion.

Lots of folk live on their wits:
Lecturers, lispers,
Losers, loblolly-men, louts-
They don't end as paupers;

Lots of folk live up lanes
With fires in a bucket,
Eat windfalls and tinned sardines-
They seem to like it.

Their nippers have got bare feet,
Their unspeakable wives
Are skinny as whippets - and yet
No one actually _starves_.

Ah, were I courageous enough
To shout, Stuff your pension!
But I know, all too well, that's the stuff
That dreams are made on:

For something sufficiently toad-like
Squats in me, too;
Its hunkers are heavy as hard luck,
And cold as snow,

And will never allow me to blarney
My way of getting
The fame and the girl and the money
All at one sitting.

I don't say, one bodies the other
One's spiritual truth;
But I do say it's hard to lose either,
When you have both.

-- Philip Larkin

Howlin' Wolf: The Best of Chess 1951-69

I've been on a Howlin' Wolf kick lately. I distilled a 7-disc box set of his Chess recordings (most of his career) to one CD; you can get it here.

Cool games

This was made with clay and cardboard: http://www.thedreammachine.se/

Another pretty silhouette game (not released yet): http://www.playfeist.net/

And this one that J and I are enjoying on our NEW XBOX:

Knowledge and Power Lecture

I helped organize this lecture series with the PLG at Wayne. The sound improves dramatically after the introductory speaker. There should be more of these lectures going on throughout the year, so I'll post more if you like this one.

I apologize for the formatting problem, but seeing the speaker isn't all that important.

My God Still Lives

The eyes of the Indian monarch flashed fire, and his dark brow grew darker, as he replied, "I will be no man's tributary. I am greater than any prince upon earth. Your emperor may be a great prince; I do not doubt it, when I see that he has sent his subjects so far across the waters; and I am willing to hold him as a brother. As for the Pope of whom you speak, he must be crazy to talk of giving away countries which do not belong to him. For my faith," he continued, "I will not change it. Your own God, as you say, was put to death by the very men whom he created. But mine," he concluded, pointing to his Deity -- then, alas! sinking in glory behind the mountains -- "my God still lives in the heavens and looks down on his children."

Howlin' Wolf - Smokestack Lightning

Malört

I tried this bizarre liquor last night called malört (wiki here) -- has anybody else had it? I took a shot and swished it around while people watched me in anticipation of my reaction. Someone said something (can't remember what) that indicated their surprise that I was savoring it, though I didn't taste anything. I was about to say so when the aftertaste hit me and they laughed at my facial contortions. Then they showed me the video below by a Chicago band which is a compilation of the moment after peoples' first encounter with this unique taste. Coincidentally, I saw the band play with Fields of Industry while I was living in the Lansing area.

Netherfriends- Never Be Comfortable from Shawn Rosenblatt on Vimeo.

A long Michigan Holiday

Kentucky Route Zero

Kentucky Route Zero trailer from Cardboard Computer on Vimeo.

Best in full-screen.

New Year's Eve

Here are some nice tidbits from New Year's Eve 2011:









For those of you who weren't able to participate this year, have no regrets, because we broke into Vail just for you. We pounded on the door (every door) until the sole person home, a Malaysian girl who had been a resident of Vail--and Michigan--for only one day, unlocked the door and had no choice but to let us in.

You'll see that there is still quite a bit of evidence of Vail's former inhabitants:

Resolutions!

Sorry I missed the New Years festivities this year... Does anyone want to share their resolutions?

The Gories: NYC 7/31/10

I saw the re-united Gories play the night before they did an outdoor show at Lincoln Center. I was on my way to Northern California, otherwise I would've caught them again. But lucky for me (and you!), WFMU recorded their set. Take a listen here.