Torn, Part 2

Torn, Part 1

Ah, That Ray!

Abundance

"the poetry is...abundant in passive verb tense and characterized by a dearth of pronouns."

Passive verbs are not automatically wrong...the passive voice serves an important purpose:

- When you wish to downplay the action [intentionally obtuse]
- When you wish to downplay the actor [again, obtuse by intention - thus the dearth of pronouns]
- When the actor is unknown [here too re: pronouns - generalized characters]


The active verb pronoun poem exercise:

I flick
She bowls
We snack on croutons

I lick
She rolls
We fuck on futons

I'm going to take a nap
He'll need to brush his teeth
We'll have to close the blinds
Or, the sun will creep beneath

She winks
I sneeze
We suffer from our roles

She stinks
I wheeze
We tore the pantyhose


[point well taken, I never thought about it before and will think about expansion]

The Further Adventures of Furious Floyd

So Bored

Today's Three Albums That Made Me Happy

All vinyl and through big ass speakers (not mp3/headphone music), by the way:

Various Artists, Reggae Spectacular (2 record set)

Stevie Wonder, Hotter Than July

Miles Davis, Tutu

Francois Says...

Francois Says...anything Francois wants to say.

My New Jacket Follow-Up

OK, so today I discover a new special pocket in my new-ish jacket. Remember, my "Party Jacket?" Well, there's a nice riveted patch on the back and I noticed that one of the rivets had broken. "Shit!" I thought, "what a piece of crap!"

Broken? No, two of the "rivets" are snaps. It's just another very special place to store your stuff.

Kids today. Sheesh! Good thing I'm a parent now.

Back in the Day

I remember reading these words back in the day and not being completely blown away, as I should have been. Firstly, there's no reason the Post should have reviewed this album. Secondly, this is pretty knowledgeable praise for something so intentionally (and outlandishly) strange.

I guess the Post didn't send flowers and belly dancers along with the review was some sort of a slap in the face.

Good shit though. Looking back, it's pretty right on.

Three Things

1) Ebony & Ivory: What the fuck was that? 1982 #1 single, that's what. And, further proof the '80s sucked way harder than the '70s. AIDS in the '70s? I think not. Nothin' a little shot couldn't fix. Anyway, E&I, a song about integration and racial harmony. Fah! Who talked Stevie Wonder into that?!

"Ebony and Ivory/live together in perfect harmony." WTF?! A) That ain't gonna happen; B) How dare Paul McCartney drag Little Stevie into that rat hole of lost credibility. Next thing you know, Stevie'll marry a one-legged man. Call me shallow, but that's just too freaky - even for me.

2) I have so few needs anymore. At least material. In fact, I have absolutely no material needs and very few physical needs. I have desires and sometimes suffer from "want." But, need? Nope. Shelter? Check. Food? Check. Health care? Check. Stuff? Tons.

The unintended consequences of having so few needs are, however, too much time to writhe over art and the aesthetic. Too much free cognition to explore and discover the nuances in/of your brain. Surely, there are emotional and psychological needs to tend to, but that all gets mixed up in the stew.

I need a beer is a far cry from I need some cardboard and twine to make some shoes.

3) I forgot what the third thing was. Maybe I'll remember later (but if you're surprised by Ricky Williams, send me your address and I'll send you a ten dollar bill).

On Lindsey Jacobellis (plus)

Lindsey Jacobellis. So what?

Good for her. If I had the chance, I'd have tried something much more insane.

Gold medal? What-ever. We know she actually won the race - it was LONG over. She should have stopped before the finish line, stepped out of her bindings and celebrated, letting whoever-passed-her win. Who was that anyway? Swiss? Maybe.

166,000 Google results tell the story.

You can win and be boring and conservative or you can enjoy your life.

Go Linds!

Follow-up research results from crack research staff in Berkeley, California:

My next door neighbor growing up has two gold medals from the Olympics and a world record for the backstroke.

His name is David Berkoff. Ever heard of him? Nope.

Google count: 521.

Inane and Perfect

"The Bad Hair Chronicles goes out tomorrow.

Note about the stupid sliding on ice bit: I wanted to put it to music, but the only source I had at the time was the tuner on the stereo. I checked around the dial for something appropriate and right away came across James Brown and hit audio record on the VCR. Another inane and perfect confluence."

-BDW

Pause

Indie Cred

It's a Mope World After All

[Wise] Words of Wisdom

"Ahh, my friend. It's good when time just stops...and you can sit fully inside your head and just think."

- Otter Prince

Short Cap

My new nickname, of sorts.

Soiree

Soiree a la soiree
from bored to excited really
elegantly oddball odd

a party of men
a parody of leverage
destiny's reflex

executing chances for career or social suicide
ropes taught and coarsely brittle
without rearview mirror or turn signals

Three Quotations - May Sarton

"On a deeper level I have come to believe (perhaps this is one way to survive) that there is a reason for these repeated blows - that I am not meant for success and that in a way adversity is my climate."

"It is only when we can believe that we are creating the soul that life has any meaning, but when we can believe it...then there is nothing we do that is without meaning and nothing that we suffer that does not hold the seed to creation in it."

"Goal...the completing of the world."

Paige, Daniel - Artist

The deal with Dan's records is that early in the listening experience, it's too easy to accept the whole. That is, the perfection of the complete compositions and recordings is so obvious that much of the craft is taken for granted.

Then, one day, maybe on cursed shuffle a song pop's up. Maybe it's "How to Ride a Horse." And you get kind of sick in the pit of your stomach (sometimes over in your spleen). Because, you know. You know you've just gotten your ass kicked. Better than your shit; you didn't think of it first. We have a winner.

Handily and carefully crafted. Like a motherfucker.

And, all you can offer is a hearty congratulations.

A New Era

Good that you recognized that it's a new era. The last era ended during dinner at the cafe on Saturday, December 3rd, 2005.

New levels. New holidays:

Ground Hog Day
Field Mowing Day
Attic Day
Angel Day

- RPW, 2006, Ground Hog Meat

Reality

"Now you understand why some people think reality is subjective, but others insist it is objective."

- Eugene Mirman

Dan's Hand

Read it Here

The caricatures from Denmark's Jyllands-Posten paper included drawings of Muhammad wearing a headdress shaped like a bomb, while another shows him saying that paradise was running short of virgins for suicide bombers.


"This is a far bigger story than just the question of 12 cartoons in a small Danish newspaper."

- Flemming Rose, culture editor, Jyllands-Posten


"No religious dogma can impose its view on a democratic and secular
society."

- Arnaud Lévy, editor in chief, France Soir


"I can't call a newspaper and tell them what to put in it. That's not how our society works."

- Danish prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, rejecting demands for an official apology


"I understand that it may shock Muslims, but being shocked is part of the price of being informed."

- Robert Ménard, secretary general, Reporters Without Borders


"You can understand the feelings of Muslims, but we're in a pluralist state. We have a right to do that."

- Dominique von Burg, editor in chief, Switzerland's Tribune de Genève


"My guess is that no one will draw the Prophet Muhammad in Denmark in the next generation, and therefore I must say with deep shame that they have won."

- Carsten Juste, editor in chief, Jyllands-Posten

I Wonder

I wonder what people do with their free time?