July 2010
5 posts
A New York Idea
Today I was walking around Brooklyn, New York, where I live, and I realized that almost every corner store’s awning features a random selection from the same bank of about 30 words. “Mart.” “ATM.” “Cold Beer.” (Always “cold.” Even if the beer inside isn’t actually cold.) “Deli.” Nevermind that most of these stores stock...
The Fugs - Slum Goddess
Rest in peace, Tuli...
UV Race - Society Made Me Selfish
My Essay About the 1968 Monkees Movie Head Is Up... →
I had been sitting on this for way too long, and I am glad it has finally seen the light of day.
June 2010
18 posts
Three Random Lines From the First Three Ramones... →
I could probably come with some witty “and oh I don’t know why”-based comment on the reasoning behind my creating this, but in reality I’m late for band practice and I wanted to stick my feet into learning jQuery. Some of these end up being oddly profound, though.
What can I say?
Now I wanna have somethin’ to do
But isn’t it always that way?
Jim Shepard - One Percent of Nothing
“Byrd’s death also makes senator Daniel Inouye the president pro tempore of...”
– Sam McPheeters. I had no idea Inouye’s son was in Marginal Man. And here I didn’t think the guy could get any cooler.
“Sooner or later, life is going to humiliate and kill all of us, but there is a...”
– George Saunders (via)
A Public Service Announcement
Pootie Tang, one of the funniest and most underrated movies of all time, is on Hulu for free. If you have not seen Pootie Tang, watch Pootie Tang. If you have seen Pootie Tang, you have probably already clicked that link and are anticipating seeing it again. Good on you.
PS: Did you know that Louis CK has apologized for writing Pootie Tang, because he views it as so unsuccessful? That is the...
Medication - Didn’t Wanna Know
“So we’re all hanging out in the green room. The dudes with the headphones...”
– John Brannon of Negative Approach, on witnessing FEAR’s 1981 performance on Saturday Night Live.
Husker Du - I’ll Never Forget You (Live,...
A Game I Just Made Up
1) Think of a dumb, vaguely topical-sounding pun.
2) Google it in quotes.
3) The person whose pun is the title of the most ham-fisted news articles or alarmist books wins.
So far I still haven’t been able to beat the first one i came up with: “The Kids Are All White.”
The Oblivians - Bad Man
The Oblivians are...
May 2010
18 posts
The Wipers - Romeo
“Sometimes it feels as if we’re literally in the back seat of the car, auditing a...”
– If the “W” in “wipers” were capitalized, I feel like this New York Times review of that new David Lipsky/David Foster Wallace interview transcript would make me drastically more inclined to actually purchase the book.
Today I was walking to get lunch and I realized...
Sam Cooke - Sad Mood
It’s strange, now, to...
Created in the service of a forthcoming and...
2 tags
Ty Segall - Imaginary Person
I’m almost...
“There were a bunch of idiots there. I didn’t consider myself an idiot, but maybe...”
– Kenneth Anger, to Arthur Magazine, on the October 1967 march on the Pentagon. He goes on to explain that he once snuck into the Pentagon and left parchment papers filled with occult imagery in 93 of the Pentagon’s men’s rooms.
A Redesign
I have redesigned my Tumblr. My friend told me the old layout was as if “I wanted people reading my blog to feel stressed out.” In retrospect, I kind of agree, but now I think it looks pretty good. There are still some issues, but they remain small-ish. If anyone reading this encounters any big-ish issues, they are encouraged to contact me.
I felt obligated to post about this for...
The Fall - Breaking Rules
As much as I wanted to...
Re: Haddaway
I wonder if Haddaway ever thinks about how he has more or less permanently destroyed the world’s ability to have an earnest conversation that begins with somebody asking “what is love?”
(Update: Apparently this was my 666th post. Well, all right.)
“Dean played a vintage Gibson; he had great shirts, and that Velvets-y delivery...”
– Simon Raymonde of the Cocteau Twins, on Dean Wareham of Galaxie 500. (Via this great oral history of the latter that went up on Pitchfork today.)
April 2010
13 posts
Last night I had some sort of vague bad dream that...
Overheard Outside the Only Strip Club in Boston
Man 1: It is what it is, you know?
Man 2: If that's how they're gonna play it, that's how they're gonna play it.
Man 1: I gotta do what I gotta do.
Both: (Laughter)
“Rambo down there commenced to beat on them. I saw the first fist thrown. In...”
– Harry Dwinell, the neighbor of Father Parnell, a priest involved in an altercation with some Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Anonymous asked: where can i get a good burrito?
DNA Test Fest Rundown:
Road trips providing an excuse for guilt-free consumption of Subway.
Stopping at a liquor store across from Subway and revealing the existence of a handle of whiskey costing only $9.95. (We didn’t purchase it for some reason, but still.)
LAMPS and Pissed Jeans steamrolling everyone on earth to death with their music.
Neon Blud and Chickens being standouts in spite of my not having...
Anonymous asked: What is 'philly style'?