LAWDY!
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
The middle of a work week; used in the context of climbing a proverbial hill to get through a tough week. After hump day, the weekend gets closer.
The term, which implies that you have to get "over the hump" before you can anticipate the weekend, was not originally intended to carry a second, more risque meaning. Damn, I wish every day could be hump day!
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Quotes of the Day by John Updike
Sex is like money; only too much is enough.
Art is like baby shoes. When you coat them with gold, they can no longer be worn.
Art is like baby shoes. When you coat them with gold, they can no longer be worn.
Monday, May 19, 2008
On This Day
New England was enshrouded in darkness at noon on May 19, 1780, in the midst of the Revolutionary War. Birds sang evening songs, farm animals returned to roosts, and humans were bewildered, commenting on the strange beauty of the preternatural half-light. Many thought it was Judgement Day. In 2007, evidence from Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario documented a massive wildfire as the likely source for the infamous "Dark Day."
China stands still to mourn tens of thousands of quake victims
Bush opposes homeowner rescue legislation he claims bails out lenders
How to save $451 per month
Yearbook to be reprinted after heads are switched on student photos
Custody hearings begin for polygamist compound's children
Truck carrying 14 tons of Oreos overturns on highway
My neighbors erect makeshift memorial for Mrs. Woo, killed inside her dry-cleaning store during robbery Friday. Over rows of wrapped bouquets, they share memories of a spirited woman, previosly robbed twice and undaunted, a woman who manned the store by herself because her husband was too sick to work, a woman with a green thumb who sewed buttons for free for the helpless
The smell of charcoal burns in Prospect Park.
Clouds swarm. Birds peck at swaying trees.
I simmer vegan meatballs in red sauce, pour over pasta al dente. I think of Chef Boyardee after school. I think of love and war.
China stands still to mourn tens of thousands of quake victims
Bush opposes homeowner rescue legislation he claims bails out lenders
How to save $451 per month
Yearbook to be reprinted after heads are switched on student photos
Custody hearings begin for polygamist compound's children
Truck carrying 14 tons of Oreos overturns on highway
My neighbors erect makeshift memorial for Mrs. Woo, killed inside her dry-cleaning store during robbery Friday. Over rows of wrapped bouquets, they share memories of a spirited woman, previosly robbed twice and undaunted, a woman who manned the store by herself because her husband was too sick to work, a woman with a green thumb who sewed buttons for free for the helpless
The smell of charcoal burns in Prospect Park.
Clouds swarm. Birds peck at swaying trees.
I simmer vegan meatballs in red sauce, pour over pasta al dente. I think of Chef Boyardee after school. I think of love and war.
Stationary Waves
(Selections from http://www.tldm.org/news4/deathraygun.htm)
“Russia, my children, has this implement of destruction.” -Our Lady (7-25-85)
I. Our Lady of Russia
Veronika, oh, I see that
Our Lady is showing me now that
there are some kind of implements they’re using…
it doesn’t look like a gun, it looks like a flashlight
but I know it's not a flashlight; it’s some object,
some kind of a ray. And now, now he’s lifting it…
I see a man in a very odd looking uniform. I don't recognize the
uniform. But he’s raising high, like this, this ray gun. That’s what
it is. It’s a ray gun. And now he’s pushing the trigger, and I see...
It looks like long streams of light, but everything it hits just
disintegrates and melts. (Veronika groans.)
II. Armor Has No Effect
Shielding is ineffective. The scalar pulse (or continuous wave) can go anywhere gravity can go. It penetrates the steel hull of tanks and armored vehicles. It penetrates underground shelters and bunkers. It penetrates pillboxes and foxholes. There is no longer any place to hide. Just shoot through the earth into them. An infantryman with a bazooka-sized scalar EM pulse can easily knock out a tank with one shot. And with the same weapon he can knock out another tank, and another, and another…
III. Death Comes Instantly
Hidden in the noses of HIND helicopters, these truly all-purpose rays
deliver instant death. The body does not decay, not even in 30 days.
Those hit by the scalar EM have a most peculiar death mode.
There is no convulsion, no response. Every living cell,
including all bacteria falls like a limp rag and
lies where it falls. Like food irradiated.
The material is preserved.
IV. The Mind of Man
Each side secretly develops new
means to employ them unexpectedly…
because the enemy, caught unawares
was for some time incapable of
effective counteraction.
Brezhnev’s unheeded 1975 characterization of these weapons as “more frightening than the mind of man has ever imagined” has very real justification. There is now a “balance of terror” loose in the world that makes the old MADmen’s MAD concept look like a sunny day in Hawaii.
V. Lightning in His Hand
Stationary waves in the earth...will enable us
to…produce at will, from a sending station,
an electrical effect in any particular region
of the globe. We may send...over the earth
a wave, of electricity traveling at any rate
we desire, from the pace of a turtle up to
lightning speed.
Tesla developed a method to transmit power long distances without wires. As a result, he discovered methods to create mass alterations in the weather by electricity.
He discovered the principle of the rotary magnetic field, applying it in the induction motor. His design provided the basis for the millions of electric motors now used all over the world. Many of Tesla’s achievements helped the U.S. reach its high standard of living and obtain its great productive capacity.
Nikola Tesla (1857-1943) was born in Smitjan, Lika, now part of Yugoslavia. In 1884, he came to America and worked in the Edison plant in Orange, New Jersey, and later, with Westinghouse.
Keegan’s warnings met strong objections from the Rockefeller political flunkies who control the Pentagon.
VI. Free Air
“A strange, star-like ball of light was sighted
over Petrozavodsk in Soviet Karelia, spreading over it
like a jelly fish and showering down shafts of light.”
A number of Russians witnessed the event, which was reported by the Soviet news agency Tass. A similar phenomenon was seen over neighboring Finland. Witnesses in Helsinki stated that a strange and unusual “ball of fire was visible for about four minutes.”
VI. Directives from Heaven
These prophecies came from Jesus, Mary, and the saints to Veronica Lueken at Bayside, NY, from 1968 to 1995.
“You understand, My child and My children, when a man is not with his God, his god then becomes Lucifer.”
“And do not become smug, My children, and think that you will be saved. They are very powerful and cajoling.”
“Yes, My child, you have every reason to be affrighted.”
“I do not say, My children and My child, that the situation is a hundred percent hopeless. I say that each and every child upon earth is wanted back, as the man whose sheep has scattered, and he will await that one lost sheep to return. And much joy should be had over that one lost sheep than if the whole fold had returned.” (7-25-85)
One nation, Russia, My children, shall be your scourge. As they shall go across the world, ravenous in appetite, destruction as their means for enslaving the world!” (9-13-75)
VII. Red Ruse
Shortly after Veronika finished reading the articles in the daily newspaper pertaining to the demise of communism in the Soviet Union, and the subsequent birth of the new Commonwealth of Independent States, Our Lady appeared in what Veronika perceived as a message expressed in desperation:
“Do not be deceived. Their father is the father of all liars: Satan. Their master plan is in motion. Pray for the light. Minds are clouded. I repeat: it is a ruse. Wake up America or you will suffer much.”
“Russia, my children, has this implement of destruction.” -Our Lady (7-25-85)
I. Our Lady of Russia
Veronika, oh, I see that
Our Lady is showing me now that
there are some kind of implements they’re using…
it doesn’t look like a gun, it looks like a flashlight
but I know it's not a flashlight; it’s some object,
some kind of a ray. And now, now he’s lifting it…
I see a man in a very odd looking uniform. I don't recognize the
uniform. But he’s raising high, like this, this ray gun. That’s what
it is. It’s a ray gun. And now he’s pushing the trigger, and I see...
It looks like long streams of light, but everything it hits just
disintegrates and melts. (Veronika groans.)
II. Armor Has No Effect
Shielding is ineffective. The scalar pulse (or continuous wave) can go anywhere gravity can go. It penetrates the steel hull of tanks and armored vehicles. It penetrates underground shelters and bunkers. It penetrates pillboxes and foxholes. There is no longer any place to hide. Just shoot through the earth into them. An infantryman with a bazooka-sized scalar EM pulse can easily knock out a tank with one shot. And with the same weapon he can knock out another tank, and another, and another…
III. Death Comes Instantly
Hidden in the noses of HIND helicopters, these truly all-purpose rays
deliver instant death. The body does not decay, not even in 30 days.
Those hit by the scalar EM have a most peculiar death mode.
There is no convulsion, no response. Every living cell,
including all bacteria falls like a limp rag and
lies where it falls. Like food irradiated.
The material is preserved.
IV. The Mind of Man
Each side secretly develops new
means to employ them unexpectedly…
because the enemy, caught unawares
was for some time incapable of
effective counteraction.
Brezhnev’s unheeded 1975 characterization of these weapons as “more frightening than the mind of man has ever imagined” has very real justification. There is now a “balance of terror” loose in the world that makes the old MADmen’s MAD concept look like a sunny day in Hawaii.
V. Lightning in His Hand
Stationary waves in the earth...will enable us
to…produce at will, from a sending station,
an electrical effect in any particular region
of the globe. We may send...over the earth
a wave, of electricity traveling at any rate
we desire, from the pace of a turtle up to
lightning speed.
Tesla developed a method to transmit power long distances without wires. As a result, he discovered methods to create mass alterations in the weather by electricity.
He discovered the principle of the rotary magnetic field, applying it in the induction motor. His design provided the basis for the millions of electric motors now used all over the world. Many of Tesla’s achievements helped the U.S. reach its high standard of living and obtain its great productive capacity.
Nikola Tesla (1857-1943) was born in Smitjan, Lika, now part of Yugoslavia. In 1884, he came to America and worked in the Edison plant in Orange, New Jersey, and later, with Westinghouse.
Keegan’s warnings met strong objections from the Rockefeller political flunkies who control the Pentagon.
VI. Free Air
“A strange, star-like ball of light was sighted
over Petrozavodsk in Soviet Karelia, spreading over it
like a jelly fish and showering down shafts of light.”
A number of Russians witnessed the event, which was reported by the Soviet news agency Tass. A similar phenomenon was seen over neighboring Finland. Witnesses in Helsinki stated that a strange and unusual “ball of fire was visible for about four minutes.”
VI. Directives from Heaven
These prophecies came from Jesus, Mary, and the saints to Veronica Lueken at Bayside, NY, from 1968 to 1995.
“You understand, My child and My children, when a man is not with his God, his god then becomes Lucifer.”
“And do not become smug, My children, and think that you will be saved. They are very powerful and cajoling.”
“Yes, My child, you have every reason to be affrighted.”
“I do not say, My children and My child, that the situation is a hundred percent hopeless. I say that each and every child upon earth is wanted back, as the man whose sheep has scattered, and he will await that one lost sheep to return. And much joy should be had over that one lost sheep than if the whole fold had returned.” (7-25-85)
One nation, Russia, My children, shall be your scourge. As they shall go across the world, ravenous in appetite, destruction as their means for enslaving the world!” (9-13-75)
VII. Red Ruse
Shortly after Veronika finished reading the articles in the daily newspaper pertaining to the demise of communism in the Soviet Union, and the subsequent birth of the new Commonwealth of Independent States, Our Lady appeared in what Veronika perceived as a message expressed in desperation:
“Do not be deceived. Their father is the father of all liars: Satan. Their master plan is in motion. Pray for the light. Minds are clouded. I repeat: it is a ruse. Wake up America or you will suffer much.”
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Summery, Hot Und Sweaty
I've been playing around with my new D-SLR, a toy for boys and girls. Thank you, thank you to L., Monsieur Crosby, and cats Edgy and Obi.
*
*
The schedule for this year's Central Park Summerstage has been announced, and boy is it a doozy. Aside from the likes of Sonny Rollins and Sharon Jones and her Dapkings taking to the stage to play freak-out jazz and nu-soul, there will also be a reading from Junot Diaz. What's great is that most of these concerts are free of charge.
Now, I don't know about y'all, but I know where I'm going to be on Saturday, August 16 from 3pm to 8pm. That's right--I'll be front row, center to see three of my favorite bands on a single bill: BLACK DICE, BATTLES, and GANG GANG DANCE. How sick is that? Also, did I mention that this is a free concert?
Man, you have to love New York for stuff like this.
[D|R]
Now, I don't know about y'all, but I know where I'm going to be on Saturday, August 16 from 3pm to 8pm. That's right--I'll be front row, center to see three of my favorite bands on a single bill: BLACK DICE, BATTLES, and GANG GANG DANCE. How sick is that? Also, did I mention that this is a free concert?
Man, you have to love New York for stuff like this.
[D|R]
Monday, May 12, 2008
No! It must be finely manicured!
This is the quote of the day by Mr. Rivera, in reference to the type of moustache I hypothetically scribble onto his book cover image of I, the everyman character in Stephen Dixon's book of the same name, who peeks out from beneath a cut-out capital I. But, as he informs us, I is not I; I is the person in which he is writing the stories. He prefers the handlebar to the bush. I fake this gesture on purpose, as the I who seeks to rile him as he reads said stories. If I wanted to deface Danny's "I", that is Dixon's "I", I would draw a Tom Selleck-style moustache onto I's clean white upper lip. Danny puts my papers into tidy piles. His I does not like stray paper or hairs. His eyes are black pools flanked by palm leaves. His lashes jut out like a Jersey shore jug handle. They brush against frames and cheeks. Unflitting as flames, his I's are felt ink.
Notes:
I, it should be noted, am everywoman.
A jug handle is, contrary to popular belief, not a reference to the act of boob-holding, but a type of ramp or slip road that changes the way traffic turns left (when driving on the right). Instead of a standard left turn made from the left lane, left-turning traffic uses a ramp on the right side of the road. Signage can appear to be haphazard and confusing to out-of-state drivers.
Notes:
I, it should be noted, am everywoman.
A jug handle is, contrary to popular belief, not a reference to the act of boob-holding, but a type of ramp or slip road that changes the way traffic turns left (when driving on the right). Instead of a standard left turn made from the left lane, left-turning traffic uses a ramp on the right side of the road. Signage can appear to be haphazard and confusing to out-of-state drivers.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Keep the Faith
I have nobody for my own
I am so lonely, I'm Mr. Lonely
Wish I had someone to call
on the phone
Last Friday I caught the opening of Harmony Korine's latest movie, Mister Lonely, at the IFC Center. The film, the first from Korine in a number of years, centers around a down-on-his-luck Michael Jackson impersonator eking out a living on the streets of Paris. One afternoon, while performing at an old folks' home, Jackson (played by Diego Luna, who starred opposite Gabriel Garcia Bernal in Y Tu Mama Tambien) is visited by a Marilyn Monroe impersonator. "Marilyn," delicately portrayed by Samantha Morton, urges "Michael" to move to a commune, comprised entirely of celebrity impersonators, located in the Scottish highlands. There, she insists, the inhabitants are free to be themselves, and the path to youth will exist for eternity. The irony, of course, is that the characters, under their own volition, exist as a product of others' creative imaginations; as a result, their identities are stripped and entirely subsumed by the musicians and actors whose traits they try so desperately to perfect. Mimicking celebrity, it seems, has its price.
Elsewhere, in the rain forests of Panama, a German priest, smartly acted by Warner Herzog, oversees a group of nuns--flying nuns no less--who are able to escape death because they fervently believe that their faith is strong enough to carry them to safety. This seemingly unrelated narrative thread adds little to the film's overall theme--anything is possible if you believe in yourself--since it succumbs, at one end, to cynicism; at the other end, to pure sap. I'm not sure if Korine was trying to comment on the nature of religion or human fallibility, but it's hard to come up with a reason for why he chose to address these themes at such an angle.
To be fair, the film has some funny--no, brutally funny--moments, but I was expecting an effort with a lot more edge from the artist who wrote the screenplay to Kids, and who directed Gummo, a disturbing look at Midwestern disillusionment. (Both films are not for those who deplore violence, and who also happen to like domesticated animals.) It is this humor, at times dark yet playful, that is a fixture in Korine's work, and which prevents Mister Lonely, already so strangely close to a conventional Hollywood offering, from becoming a complete loss.
It's always disappointing when the best thing about a movie is its soundtrack, and so it goes: J. Spaceman (of Spacemen 3 and Spiritualized) and Sun City Girls have written terribly effective mood pieces for a film that, given its focus, rises and falls with the characters' attempts at redemption. My personal favorite is Sun City Girls' "Circus Theme," which reminds me a great deal of Firewater's "El Borracho."
So, on a scale of one to four graduate film students, I give Mister Lonely a rating of two.
Links:
Trailer--http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ufN1RxFu-4
Review--http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/05/02/movies/02lone.html?scp=2&sq=mister+lonely&st=nyt
[D | R]
Elsewhere, in the rain forests of Panama, a German priest, smartly acted by Warner Herzog, oversees a group of nuns--flying nuns no less--who are able to escape death because they fervently believe that their faith is strong enough to carry them to safety. This seemingly unrelated narrative thread adds little to the film's overall theme--anything is possible if you believe in yourself--since it succumbs, at one end, to cynicism; at the other end, to pure sap. I'm not sure if Korine was trying to comment on the nature of religion or human fallibility, but it's hard to come up with a reason for why he chose to address these themes at such an angle.
To be fair, the film has some funny--no, brutally funny--moments, but I was expecting an effort with a lot more edge from the artist who wrote the screenplay to Kids, and who directed Gummo, a disturbing look at Midwestern disillusionment. (Both films are not for those who deplore violence, and who also happen to like domesticated animals.) It is this humor, at times dark yet playful, that is a fixture in Korine's work, and which prevents Mister Lonely, already so strangely close to a conventional Hollywood offering, from becoming a complete loss.
It's always disappointing when the best thing about a movie is its soundtrack, and so it goes: J. Spaceman (of Spacemen 3 and Spiritualized) and Sun City Girls have written terribly effective mood pieces for a film that, given its focus, rises and falls with the characters' attempts at redemption. My personal favorite is Sun City Girls' "Circus Theme," which reminds me a great deal of Firewater's "El Borracho."
So, on a scale of one to four graduate film students, I give Mister Lonely a rating of two.
Links:
Trailer--http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ufN1RxFu-4
Review--http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/05/02/movies/02lone.html?scp=2&sq=mister+lonely&st=nyt
[D | R]
Crazy 80s
The other night, I was trying to stump my darling by asking how many obscure and semi-obscure Eighties bands she had on her iPod (quite a few, it turned out). It got me thinking about all sorts of bands, many of which I didn't even like or I knew only glancingly, whose names are nevertheless lodged in the nether regions of my brain (or the netherlands, as they are known in Holland). Wither Run Westy Run? Scruffy the Cat? Ed's Redeeming Qualities? The Wolfgang Press? The Screaming Blue Messiahs? The Woodentops? The Hoodoo Gurus? Aztec Camera? Concrete Blonde? Stump? Shriekback? The BoDeans? The Del Fuegoes? The dBs? Icicle Works? Romeo Void? Lets's Active? The Feelies? Christmas? Phranc? The Wonder Stuff? The Go-Betweens? Is Greg Kihn's love still in jeopardy? O Motels, can only the lonely still play?
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