Headvirus purge
Wolves, Lower
Suspicion yourself, suspicion yourself, don't get caught.
Suspicion yourself, suspicion yourself, let us out.
Wilder lower wolves. Here's a house to put wolves out the door.
In a corner garden, wilder lower wolves.
House in order. House in order. House in order. House in order.
Down there they're rounding a posse to ride.
(repeat verse)
Suspicion yourself, suspicion yourself, don't get caught.
Suspicion yourself, suspicion yourself, suspicion us all.
Wilder lower wolves. Here's a house to put wolves out the door.
In a corner garden, wilder lower wolves.
House in order. House in order. House in order. House in order.
Down there they're rounding a posse to ride.
Random book news
1. If there's truly a decline in literary reading, I blame books like this. (See also Slate's scathing review.) 2. I don't know much about Neal Pollack (although I gather that I should), but a graphic novel (final item) about 1840s New York sounds pretty great to me.Music on the East River
Saturday was a great day for an outdoor show; the rains stayed away and the day wasn't too hot. The bands, though, were like a house afire. Tigers and Monkeys started the set, with songs inspired by blues and Southern rock. T&M, a project of singer Shonali Bhowmik, is currently touring with Ted Leo, Saturday's headliner. Next up, Brooklyn-based Sea Ray, a sort of wispy-rock combo with shades of The Polyphonic Spree, Belle and Sebastian, and Brit-pop bands like Travis. Sea Ray, however, blows the Coldplay types away by not being whiny navel-gazers. Jen loves 'em for their prog-rock tinkering with chord progressions. After Sea Ray came The Natural History, a pop-punk trio out of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Ordinarily, I'd suspect Upper East Side "punks" as poseurs, but Natural History has chops. Finishing the afternoon: Ted Leo and the Pharmacists (or Ted Leo/Rx or Ted Leo and the Pillbox Hats or whatever he's calling his band these days). Leo and his band played a tight set, of Clash- and Jam-influenced punk-pop. Leo is a rock hero in New York, playing a legendary South Street Seaport show during the blackout last August. When the power failed, Leo convinced the barrista inside a nearby Starbucks truck to loan Leo his generators. Leo and band plugged in and treated the crowd to a latte-powered jam. All four bands have MP3s officially available, as all good bands should, so dig 'em out and have a listen. Jen has pictures from the day, here.Sick nephew
My six-year-old nephew, who spent the weekend in the hospital, has been diagnosed with Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP), an autoimmune disorder in which the immune system attacks and destroys blood platelets. Idiopathic means the disorder has no known cause. Jake's doctor treated him with a IV of gamma globulin, which stimulated new platelet production. He was released yesterday, his platelet count back to normal. According to the NIH, "[a]bout 85 percent of children recover within 1 year and the problem doesn't return."Understanding Evolution
One thing I've picked up from indexing education journals is that publications aimed at teachers often provide good backgrounders on complex topics. These backgrounders present complicated information in concise and understandable formats, without oversimplifying the topic. Understanding Evolution: An Evolution Website for Teachers is such a backgrounder. It provides guides for both learning and teaching evolution, including an explanation of scientific methods, the mechanisms of evolution, evidence to support evolutionary theories, and misconceptions about evolution. There's even a section that helps educators overcome roadblocks they face when teaching evolution. This section would also help lay readers understand and counter some of the objections that some have toward evolution. I hope to read this thoroughly when I have a chance.Alice's Adventures Underground
In 1862, the Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson took a rowboat outing with friends, among whom were three daughters of the dean of Oxford's Christ Church. Dodgson made up a story to entertain the girls--Alice, Lorina, and Edith Liddell--during the short trip. Alice asked Dodgson to write the story down, which he agreed to do. The result was an illustrated manuscript, Alice's Adventures under Ground, which, in revised form, became Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Scans of this manuscript reside online; I'm displaying three of them, but you can read the whole story by following my first link. Each image links to larger images:
Blade Runner meets High Line
Lockhart's right: The High Line plans look like a dystopian hellscape. I need to get back up there with my camera before the High Line is twisted beyond recognition.Squid shoots in Brooklyn
On the way to work this morning, I saw No Parking signs up along Seventh Ave. in Park Slope. The signs indicated that a production called "Squid + Whale" would be filming, tying up several blocks. Back Stage West reports (scroll way down):Beginning July 12 and spooling through mid-August is The Squid and the Whale. Set in Park Slope, Brooklyn in 1986, the film focuses on a writer who's going through a divorce.
The film, written and directed by Noah Baumbach and produced by Wes Anderson, stars Jeff Daniels as the writer, Laura Linney as his wife, and Jesse Eisenburg and Owen Kline as their sons. (Earlier reports had the Daniels role going to Bill Murray; Owen Kline is the son of Phoebe Cates and IU-grad Kevin Kline.) IMDB offers this plot description:The patriarch (Jeff Daniels) of an eccentric Brooklyn family claims to once have been a great novelist, but he has settled into a teaching job. When his wife (Laura Linney) discovers a writing talent of her own, jealousy divides the family, leaving two teenage sons to forge new relationships with their parents. Linney's character begins dating her younger son's tennis coach. Meanwhile, Daniels' character has an affair with the student his older son is pursuing.
Whereas this synopsis focuses on the parents, reports on other sites (Film Jerk, for example) seem to indicate that the film centers on the sons, Walt and Frank, and their friends. More as I hear it.Track-splat three
From cheesedip.com, via Jen, three songs that make me want to jump in front of a moving train. Santeria, Sublime "If I could find that heina and that sancho that she'd found Well I'd pop a cap in sancho and I'd slap her down" The fuck? Shine, Collective Soul This song, along with that stupid Joan Osborne thing, once prompted a newspaper (I've forgotten which one) to ask, "Has Gen X discovered God?" (Also.) And lest you think I only hate songs recorded in the last ten years... Age of Aquarius, 5th Dimension I've hated this ever since a hippy music teacher made us sing it in grade school. In earlier centuries, the hippy would have been burned as a witch for this New Age drivel, and burning's too good for her.Hilary Clinton responds to marriage-sanctity amendment
Received in e-mail: July 12, 2004 Mr. Michael Dietsch [address snipped] Dear Mr. Dietsch: Thank you for writing to share with me your thoughts regarding the President's support of a Constitutional amendment on marriage. I have heard from many New Yorkers on this subject and, as always, welcome the comments of my constituents. I do not support amending the Constitution to address this issue. The Constitution is a sacred document and should not be used to divide the American people. Please be assured that I am monitoring this situation very carefully. Again, thank you for taking the time to write. Please check my website at http://clinton.senate.gov for updates on this and other important issues being debated before the United States Senate. Sincerely yours, Hillary Rodham ClintonCoddling the stupid and famous
From today's NYTimes, one reason I wouldn't go to hot spots even if I could get in.The Big Napple?
I could use a nap myself. High above the bustling streets, honking taxicabs and crowded sidewalks, on the 24th floor of the Empire State Building, is MetroNaps, a month-old company offering the Big Apple version of the Spanish siesta: a 20-minute nap.I love the Internet, installment 23
Via the Librarians' Index to the Internet: the home page of the International Dutch Oven Society I'll bet you never even knew such a thing exisited. Off the topic of librarians and dutch ovens, I'll be working on a blog piece about Our President and his religious beliefs. Politics ain't usually my bag around here, and I'll try not be too ranty, but I find Mr. Bush's views too fascinating to ignore and too easy to misperceive and mischaracterize. It'll take me a while to research and write it, though, so don't expect it soon.Clash outtakes on new CD
As TMFTML says, fuck, I'll have to buy it again. (This'll make the third time.)Blog, the magazine
Hey, U! magazine is hiring, and although the CL description calls the publication a "reality magazine," it sounds like a printed blog to me. Read on for the description, in case it runs off the CL site. Continue reading "Blog, the magazine"Priorities out of wack
Here's an idea: Let's cut funding to Hubble, which is still doing good science, so we can maybe send a guy to Mars by 2045.Weird spam
Among the spam in my inbox this morning was a Cialis advertisement. That's not the weird part. The weird part is that the name of the "sender"--spoofed, no doubt--is the name of a woman I worked with for several years, back at Macmillan/Pearson in Indiana. I've been out of touch with this person for years, so it's highly unlikely she has my e-mail address. I think it's complete coincidence, not a virus or anything like that, but it's still weird.1924 - 2004
"What have I ever done to make you treat me so disrespectfully? If you'd come to me in friendship, then this scum that ruined your daughter would be suffering this very day. And if by chance an honest man like yourself should make enemies, then they would become my enemies. And then they would fear you."
Zero over Berlin
