April 3, 2013
Refinement
“Herr Dr Feld now brought a new magazine into existence. It was richly endowed and appeared irregularly, not because it lacked money but, rather, because its publisher and creator considered irregularity a quintessential characteristic of refinement.”
Perlefter, Joseph Roth
April 2, 2013
Soviet Ghost Town in the Czech Republic
In 1992, Russia generously gave the already crumbling buildings and polluted, explosive-riddled land to the Czech government, claiming that the value of this piece of real estate would make up for the cost of cleaning it. It seems the Czechs had little choice but to accept.
Roth and Mann
I’m about 2/3 through Perlefter, and it’s kind of reading more like notes for a novel than a novel itself. But there is some clever writing in it, and some funny stuff. How about this?:
“…and as a result one saw that she had a high, pale, arched mathematical brow and small, pretty earlobes whose delicacy was lost in consideration of this significant forehead. Every young man grew afraid of this head.”
or this?:
“After [Fredy] had definitely decided on the female sex he slept with one of the servant girls and earned himself his first sexually transmitted disease, of which he was quite proud and of which the entire family knew but about which nobody spoke.”
But seriously, try The Radetzky March, Right and Left, or The Silent Prophet, for your introduction to Roth. Silent... is a novel inspired by Trotsky, was written before his murder, and includes an already chilling fictional version of Stalin. Right… deals with two brothers divided by the advent of the Nazis, likewise written while things were still unfolding.
On the other side of the ledger, I have been trying to read Thomas Mann’s Doctor Faustus, but at not quite halfway, I have given up. It’s so much a novel of ideas, of the discussion of ideas, that I just don’t see any reason to continue. I hate theory and abstraction.
April 1, 2013
OK Go: Needing/Getting
Okay, I missed OK Go’s “Needing/Getting” when it played during the 2012 Super Bowl, and I’m one of the last eight or ten people in the world who had not seen it before this evening.
Be sure to view the video for “This Too Shall Pass.” It’s within the linked article.
(via Co.CREATE)
Abridged
This is the story of a snake, a bear, and a little girl. Three great friends living together on the forested slopes beneath a mountain. There is a glade within the forest. Evergreens surround the meadow-grass, fireweed, and bee balm. The mountain’s snowcap is visible on clear days. Warmed by the sun, the three friends lay in a lazy pile near a broad, flat boulder. The bear licks the bottoms of the girl’s bare feet. The coiled snake dozes on the boulder. Summer is over but the days remain pleasant.
Bacon-Flavored Scope Mouthwash
This is an April Fools’ prank from those wacky knuckleheads at Procter & Gamble, but with an enduring appeal. Maybe we shouldn’t joke about bacon?
A day late and a dollar short,
but that’s me all over.
Image courtesy of @asimone, who tweeted last week that “this feels very Sheila to me.”
“The bees make it,” noted Andrew. He knew I’d dig the bees.
Also, the upright rabbit kind of reminds me of Andrew.
March 31, 2013
Joseph Roth: Perlefter
I’ve just begun Roth’s Perlefter, a novel he abandoned several years before he died (a state I see as categorically different from a novel unfinished because of death…) So I can’t say if I will like it or not, but I already love this from the (apparently) unfinished first chapter: “Professor Tobias was the only man in our town with a top hat. As he had holes in his pockets he needed to wear such a hat. On his head he comfortably hid an inkwell and a feather. This had the disadvantage that he could not offer greetings to anyone.”
If you’re new to Roth, go for Rebellion or Hotel Savoy for early work with an absurdist bent, or Right and Left or Radetzky March for the later realism.
Happy belated birthday, Deron!
I’m late in wishing Deron a happy 44th on the 29th! (I get distracted and I’m rarely on the Internet except at night.) I wanted to make a post on the 25th saying “Deron will be 44 in 4 days,” but things got away from me. Happy birthday, Deron.
Easter Thoughts
The origin of belief in prayer:
when crying alone—the faint wish that some other could see us
The origin of belief in hell:
the suspicion that nobody will ever see our tears
The origin of gods:
mothers who scoop up their weeping children and rock them
March 30, 2013
From One Life to Another
I started prepping the Iowan early. “We’ll hug him, then walk away.”
Mr. Boudreaux’s dad had cried at the end of his high school graduation, I mean really cried. This was after the Iowan spent parts of the evening trying to get me to leave early. “You can’t be interested in hearing all of this,” he said.
Then, the 90 seniors climbed the stage steps for last pictures. Our only child Mr. B. was bunched in back with his boy pack, arms thrown over shoulders. It was beautiful and wrenching. While taking photos, I noticed his dad’s tears. “This is the very last time they will ever do this. It just hit me.”
The Iowan was losing it. He is tall and hard to miss. Internal mother alarms shrieked: Warning, teenager humiliation. I took the Iowan’s hand and joined the slow line to the exit. For the last time, we read Mr. B.’s senior quote, painted on the wall just outside the gym. “When things get too heavy, just call me helium, the lightest known gas to man.” Jimi Hendrix.
Then, too fast, it was college move-in day. We got up at O-dark-30 and headed south. Several hours later, we were moving Mr. B. into the dorm. The roommates put clothes away while parents sweated and wrestled gear. The helpful RA from North Carolina kept referring to me as “Miss Alabama.” A graduate student dropped by to check laptop connections. He told us the weather was terrible during his first move-in day and his parents got into a huge fight so he couldn’t wait for them to leave.
When we couldn’t think of anything else to do, we took the boys to dinner. Then we dropped them off, back at the dorm.
It was time. I hugged Mr. B. tight and whispered, “Fly high, free bird,” my version of a goodbye joke. Dad and son hugged, shook hands and exchanged I love you’s. The Iowan and I turned and retreated, crisply. We were holding it together. All business.
A few heartbeats later, I looked back. Mr. B. had turned around and was watching us walk away, a little smile on his face. His eyes were shiny with tears.
March 29, 2013
Rory Gallagher: Cradle Rock
Cradle Rock (Montreux 1975)
This was on my mind today, although I’m not sure what made it jump out of my memory.
One of the most influential guitarists of the Seventies, Irish-born Rory Gallagher passed away at the age of 47 in 1995, of complications from a liver transplant. Although he remains relatively unknown, Gallagher is remembered by a devoted fan base, and listed as an inspiration by other, more famous guitar heroes.
March 28, 2013
Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola: Prada Candy L’eau
Well-dressed filmmakers and genii Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola have got their brains together and come up with an idea for a short film for Prada entitled Candy in celebration of the brand’s new perfume.
(via It’s Nice That)
March 27, 2013
Portland, Oregon Is a Paradise
If you need any more persuasion to visit, here’s a set of pictures by occasional cross-dresser Bryan Kyckelhahn. The greenest (and arguably weirdest) city in America awaits you.
(via Vice)
Good dog
Humunga Stache Durable Dog Toy. Go indognito to the park with this fun toy! For the pooch with a good sense of humor; this shiny black toy is a ball on one end and a giant cartoon mustache on the other. Dogs naturally pick up the ball leaving an outrageously funny mustache sticking out! Dogs also love to hold the ball in their mouth and shake the mustache back and forth! Get your pup a stache today!!
(via The Gadget Flow)
From the Archives
And I mean the way-back days. Sheila Ryan Coiffed like a Pinhead. One of the first things I remember seeing in my early days here. For the record, I believe the chick in the photo is now a regular on American Horror Story Asylum. I am addicted.
