i've been having nightmares lately ...

old man v. pop music

a hilarious moment reported by The Times Online:

Sir Harrison Birtwistle, 71, had been invited to the Ivor Novello Awards for composers and songwriters to receive the classical music accolade for his contribution to contemporary British composing.

But it was all too much for him, mainly because he had to listen to [terrible pop music like that of] James Blunt, performer of You’re Beautiful, voted international hit of the year ...

Taking the stage to accept his own award, Sir Harrison chose the moment to compose some particularly discordant phrases:

“Why is your music so effing loud? You must all be brain-dead. Maybe you are. I didn’t know so many clichés existed until the last half-hour. Have fun. Goodbye.”

It was one of his shorter works.

mygoal ...

i want to be so well-rounded, that i'm fucking SPHERICAL!
(in eleven dimensions)

thank god .. i mean DOUG .. for Canada!!

:. mixtape .: may edition

friend of mine; the national
paris; patrick wolf
thinking of a dream; the walkmen
there is no there; the books
wake up (live); the arcade fire w/david bowie
seven cities; herman düne
the predatory wasp of the palisades is out to get us!; sufjan stevens
sur le fil; yann tiersen
you are what you love; jenny lewis & the watson twins
you could win a rabbit; animal collective
a dangerous woman up to a point; destroyer

see last month's :.mixtape .:

so dark, the con of mac ...

what if steve jobs was involved in the da vinci conspiracy?! welcome to Apple Dei ...

(the new cilice is iPod ready!? ha)

reëngineering tab

ruine'd,i

exceedingly clever
read so many books
classic contempt
or airy slight looks
yet she is so different
else crazy in sane
linguistic el a-bomb
a nation in bane

its trekkER, dammit

the scary thing is, i would LOVE to have some of these!! ha

10 things i hate about commandments ...

... a HILARIOUS movie trailer mash-up!!

e = mc(hammer)

these (brief) animations are quite funny!!

jokes with Einstein

RARRR!!!

BBC heaven!

two amusing stories from the BBC:

a man went to the BBC office for a job interview, was mistaken for a subject-matter expert, and WAS PUT ON A LIVE NEWSCAST!! ... he thought it was all part of his job interview, and was concerned with how unprepared he was! ha ...

oh, and a python tried to consume a live alligator in Florida and EXPLODED (enlarge the picture and try to figure it out) ...

hehe

easemy [re:treat]

creative homework ...

i once complained to a friend that i was bored at work (who, me?!) ... she responded with a list of 'creative homework' for me to complete to keep myself (and her) entertained ... the first assignment read as follows:

Your shampoo has fallen in love with your soap. Help it write a love letter.

i am quite proud of my response:

Over there
on your shelf
I can hardly contain
my volumizing self
And when you work
to trap the dirt
that’s when I look down in awe
from my hairy perch
And see you, darling
your bubbly true self
released from behind bars
your spring-like smell
And soon, my sweet
we will take that ride
down the body together
when I can’t hide
My exhilaration
at our sudsy union
a PH balance
made in heaven
A roller coaster
of emotion and pain
as we loose ourselves
down the drain


My soapy lover,

I know that you are Irish and I am nothing but a silly Italian concoction, but I assure you … I do have style! My friend xxxxxxx has arranged a meeting for us on this dirty-girl we clean. Take the right shoulder down past the collar bone and you’ll hit a beautiful, smooth, almost horizontal bit. Hang on there, my love, and wait for me. Try not to slip ... and I will try not to come too early this time!

Thinking of you,
Alberto

pooh-urns ...

one art

The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.

--Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

~ Elizabeth Bishop

dead Caufields ...

you may have noticed my recent (and ongoing) obsession with J.D. Salinger ... i've read all of his collected works multiple times and they are amongst my favourites. so, you can imagine my surprise and excitement when i discovered a site with links to MORE of his short stories!! these are ones which were previously published (e.g. in The New Yorker), but never collected into published works (a la Nine Stories) ...

of particular interest to me (so far, for i've yet to delve into the others) are the stories which continue the saga of Holden Caufield (of The Catcher in the Rye fame) and his family! listed (and linked) below, are the Caufield stories of which i speak. most of them are fabulous!! if you enjoyed Catcher, or enjoy Salinger in general, i highly recommend clicking and reading ...

Last Day of the Last Furlough
This Sandwich has no Mayonaise
A Boy in France
The Stranger

i want to go through hell on earth ... no no, i don’t want to go through hell on earth, i need to go through hell on earth. how can we have any decent perspective on life without having battled demons ... how can this be heaven for any of us, if we haven’t experienced the opposite? we of the rich nations are far too privileged ... we are far too safe ... we've become far too detached! oh, to have heroism thrust upon me ... to have lived! ..... like a boy in france ...

glacial ...

i am quite certain that my coworker here would describe my situation as ‘skating on thin ice.’ ... little does he know, i have been jumping up and down on said ice for years now with little to no affect!

hapworth 16, 1924

"I find it magnificent how beautiful loose ends find each other in the world if one only waits with decent patience, resilience, and quite blind strength."