Gay Superbowl…
Anyone else planning to watch?
Dear clusterflock
What activates your denial? When do you shut down instead of maintaining your awareness?
quote out of context
The phrase “chest toupee” has appeared in the New York Times exactly twice, first in a 1966 Russell Baker column classing that hairpiece as a London fad to rank with the miniskirt. (The other occurred, seven itchy years later, in a humorous travel article about how to impersonate an Italian.)
(via @mattyglesias)
tweet of the day
Rediscovering Gertrude Stein
I recently found my way back to Gertrude Stein after many years. Her writing is even more astonishing, more moving than I remembered. I plan to read her all summer.
Here are two excerpts from Paris, France.
Sarah Bernhardt made me see the thin arms of frenchwomen. When I came to Paris and saw the little midinettes and Montmartoises they all had them. It was only many years later when the styles changed, in those days they wore long skirts, that I realised what sturdy legs went with those thin arms. That is what makes the french such good soldiers the sturdy legs, thin arms and sturdy legs, if you see what I mean, peaceful and exciting.
~~~~
And then the way they feel about the dead, it is so friendly so simply friendly and though inevitable not a sadness and though occurring not a shock. There is no difference between death and life in France and that too made it inevitable that they were the background of the twentieth century.
Straight Description
Had to cut roots to reach level. Had to dig down around them and under them before using the chainsaw; an instant’s contact with dirt will dull the teeth. I cut the ropey arms and tendons of them. Made a pile of curves and hairs. They had grown around a concrete pier and pushed it up like a molar sensing the absence of an opposing tooth. Used a heavy-gauge pipe as a fulcrum lever to exrtract it. Blunt cylinder of stone. And in the hole a spiral of roots, going round. A woven thought of going around and of squeezing. Of expulsion. Of giving birth. But the tree was gone, and the embattled pier as well.
Yacht – Psychic City (Classixx Remix)
I have had this song on repeat for a week. Thanks, Mary Jeys.
non-observational
This is probably a big yawn, but I downloaded a bunch of screenshots from movies I like, photos from admired photographers, illustrations, graphics, designs and other images and have them stretched to match the dimensions of my screen, rotating on the desktop every fifteen minutes. I’m sure lots of people do this, but I’ve been surprised how much it pleases me.
Destruction Party
Now my t-shirt is worth something
(The greatness of) Pizzicato Five (as exemplified by “Twiggy Twiggy”)
Crazy historical Japanese mania, 1990s-style.
(Thanks, Shelby.)
headline of the day, IV
David Simon Agrees to Make Sixth Season of ‘The Wire’ If U.S. Agrees to End War on Drugs
But it exists…
The hoverbike:
Thus far, it has done little more than hover three feet while tethered to the ground.
When Is It OK for Me to Send a Girl a Picture of My Penis?
Like, Drew Barrymore seems like a cool lady who likes penises. Remember when Drew Barrymore surprised David Letterman with her breasts, and everybody was like, Ha ha. Oh, that Drew. If David Letterman had surprised Drew Barrymore with his penis, everybody would have kind of been like, Whoa! Not cool, Dave.
It’s a double standard, to be sure, but we knew this. So, for the life of me, I don’t understand why you would send a penis-surprise to somebody who you weren’t absolutely sure would treasure it.
Tim Carmody on “The Dictatorial Perpendicular: Walter Benjamin’s Reading Revolution”
The fellow talks as well as he writes.
headline of the day, III
Man With Dead Weasel Accused of Assault
R.I.P. Sir Patrick Leigh Fermor (1915-2011)
‘A dangerous mixture of sophistication and recklessness’: Patrick Leigh Fermor in Saint Malo, France, in 1992. Photograph: Ulf Andersen/Getty Images
Not unexpected. And he led a long and wonderful life. But I am tearing up. This is someone I never met who meant a lot to me in ways that are hard to explain just now. So here is the Guardian obituary. And I hope you will read at least one of his books.
Patrick Leigh Fermor, who has died aged 96, was an intrepid traveller, a heroic soldier and a writer with a unique prose style. His books, most of which were autobiographical, made surprisingly scant mention of his military exploits, drawing instead on remarkable geographical and scholarly explorations. To Paddy, as he was universally known, an acre of land in almost any corner of Europe was fertile ground for the study of language, history, song, dress, heraldry, military custom – anything to stimulate his momentous urge to speculate and extrapolate. If there is ever room for a patron saint of autodidacts, it has to be Paddy Leigh Fermor.
Today’s Countdown
123, 124, 126, 128 129 backers. 52 hours to go.
Bill Callahan – Riding For The Feeling
headline of the day, II
Germany Opens New Nude-Friendly Nature Trails
Update: More naked Germans:
“A German passenger took all his clothes off on the plane,” on Thursday night, an Iberia spokeswoman said.
“Staff on board tried to dissuade him but he became aggressive and finally locked himself in the toilet. The pilot then decided to turn around and land in Madrid.”
coming soon to a theater bookstore near you
I guess today is Errol Morris day on clusterflock, but he announced this morning that his book Believing Is Seeing: Observations on the Mysteries of Photography will be available at the end of the summer.
Joyce McKinney calls Pete Ashton
In honor of the impending release of Errol Morris’s Tabloid, I give you Joyce McKinney’s call to Pete Ashton.
Update: clusterflock’s visit from Joyce.
More teens are having . . .
Seven seconds is all it takes.
(via @mattyglesias)
dear clusterflock
Best summer beer.
spam name
Jesus Crum.
