February 2012
14 posts
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“A hater he came and sat by a ditch,
And he took an old cracked lute;
And he...”
– Percy Bysshe Shelley, “A Hate-Song”
Haters really ARE gonna hate.
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Eugenio Montale, "Satura"
History isn’t the devastating bulldozer they say it is. It leaves underpasses, crypts, holes and hiding places. There are survivors. History’s also benevolent: destroys as much as it can: overdoing it, sure, would be better, but history’s short of news, doesn’t carry out all its vendettas. History scrapes the bottom like a drag net with a few rips and more than one fish...
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This recording and post is because I wanted to...
“Many a poor sore-eyed student that I have heard of would grow faster, both...”
– (via thedailyvictorian)
This has sort of been my philosophy lately but the school doesn’t agree with the cranky-Yankee wisdom of Mr. Thoreau.
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A Note from the Artist
permanentsmile:
by Bill Callahan (from the Lincoln Center program)
To start off with I should mention that I invented the sun. And also that it’s a pleasure to be here tonight.
They say life is short, but I’m not so sure. I’ve been putting off writing these notes for what feels like a century. And I know most of you quickly checked the length of this piece before you started reading it and...
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I guess I should write about this
When my mother and her sister Genevieve were young women, they moved from New Waterford in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia to Ottawa. Their two brothers eventually followed, one moving out to Alberta and one living with us and taking care of me in my early childhood. It’s a big, tight-knit Scottish-Catholic family, and my aunt Genevieve was always at the hub of things. People always stay at her...
January 2012
11 posts
“The lame rides a horse, | the handless is herdsman,
The deaf in battle is bold;...”
– Hávamál, Edda (via inatt)
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“VIII.2 (in the basilica); 1864: Samius to Cornelius: go hang yourself!
VIII.2...”
– Graffiti from Pompeii
Eternal wisdom. Don’t try to have anal sex with a fire, guys. You’ll only get hurt!
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Canada Is About To Pass Sopa’s Evil Little... →
cptfunk:
bonedust:
livelaughawesome:
“I’m a Canadian.
We’re a quiet bunch; prone to enjoying hockey, drinking stronger beer than our friends south of the border, and lovers of fries smothered in cheese curds and gravy.
We also, apparently, have an inferiority complex when it comes to being evil dirt bags, because we’ve decided to pass our very own version of SOPA up here.
Only better*
...
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The Elkdog Men: ecrivaine: storybinding a répondu... →
flowerandbirds:
ecrivaine:
storybinding a répondu à votre question : I feel like all my friends love Doctor Who, but…
Start with Nine’s season. Just do it.
I think that is what I’m doing. Does it get…better? I dunno, I pretty much have the same tastes as a few friends of mine who like it, and…
One of my favorite occupations has been to try to hook people in Who by showing them “Blink.” So...
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ecrivaine:
storybinding a répondu à votre question : I feel like all my friends love Doctor Who, but…
Start with Nine’s season. Just do it.
I think that is what I’m doing. Does it get…better? I dunno, I pretty much have the same tastes as a few friends of mine who like it, and I trust their taste, but…I dunno, I don’t find it gripping yet.
ETA: I don’t think it’s bad by any means, but it’s not...
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“English is a half-Latin language, and we’ve done our best to absorb the Latin...”
– Robert Lowell
ETA: I don’t really agree with him about Latin frankness, when allusion and circumlocution are essential building blocks for Roman poets, but that may be another post in itself.
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I will not be posting any year-end lists
Because all you people with your functioning long-term memories who actually tried new things this year ain’t SHIT
December 2011
13 posts
How a Holiday Party Went Wrong →
tetw:
by George Saunders
At twenty-six, at the embarrassing end of a series of attempts at channelling Kerouac, I was beyond broke, back in my home town, living in my aunt and uncle’s basement…
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To the Immaculate Virgin, on a Winter Night
Lady, the night is falling and the dark Steals all the blood from the scarred west. The stars come out and freeze my heart With drops of untouchable music, frail as ice And bitter as the new year’s cross.
Where in the world has any voice Prayed to you, Lady, for the peace that’s in your power? In a day of blood and many beatings I see the governments rise up, behind the steel...
Martin Tielli (with the Art of Time Ensemble) -...
Martin Tielli - River (Joni Mitchell)
Everyone...
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A Nocturnal upon St. Lucy's Day, Being the...
‘TIS the year’s midnight, and it is the day’s,
Lucy’s, who scarce seven hours herself unmasks ;
The sun is spent, and now his flasks
Send forth light squibs, no constant rays ;
The world’s whole sap is sunk ;
The general balm th’ hydroptic earth hath drunk,
Whither, as to the bed’s-feet, life is shrunk,
Dead and...
Interview with J. Z. Smith – The Chicago Maroon →
A word of advice for anyone hoping to contact Jonathan Zittell Smith before he returns to campus next fall: Use the mail slot. The religious studies professor— better known as J.Z.—doesn’t pick up the phone and has never “seen the Internet.” In a two-hour interview, Smith weighed in on chain smoking, dead religions, and the Babylonian Talmud.
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November 2011
25 posts
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“But we are going to cite another case involving Chebotaryev because it combined...”
– Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago, Vol. 1
I swear that when I read this before, the description of the meal also included a loaf of black bread, sliced diagonally (that detail stayed with me). But the edition I have now doesn’t mention it. Maybe that was in a different incident....
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“Int: You said before that you don’t like America.
NC: I promised that I...”
– Old interview with Nick Cave from 1996
Nick, if you’re going to backpedal, put some fucking effort into it.
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“With a crooked smile and a heart-shaped face
Comes from the West Country where...”
– Nick Cave
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Names from this census of 1838 Halifax that I am...
Moses Dry
Judge Shivers
H.H. Cogswell
John Blackadar
S. Fraction
Miss Tutmarch (a Spinster)