homo ludens

Apr 28

nonstoperotik review

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Nonstoperotik is fantastic. One great thing is that if you heard each track individually, you would not think you were hearing a black francis song initially. I consider that a sign that BF is branching out. There is a lovely variety on this disc. Definitely worth the purchase--in fact, I would put it in one of the top five BF works.

Mar 10

Song of Myself

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Stop this day and night with me and you shall possess the origin of all poems,

You shall possess the good of the earth and sun, (there are millions of suns left,)

You shall no longer take things at second or third hand, nor look through the eyes of the dead, nor feed on the spectres in books,

You shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things from me,

You shall listen to all sides and filter them from your self.

--Walt Whitman

Dec 27

Three Uses of the Knife

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"The Russians say: laughing bride, weeping wife/weeping bride, laughing wife. The couple who write their own marriage ceremony have, we can predict, a rocky time ahead.

This supposed ability to sidestep, to forgo, ritual comes from a mistaken belief in one's own powers and a misapprehension of personal grace. It is misplaced and it is sad, like the viewer at a magic show who confides, 'You know, he really didn't make that duck disappear.'

Now of course the magician didn't make that duck disappear. What he did was something of much greater worth--he gave a moment of joy and astonishment to some who were delighted by it.

In suspending their disbelief--in suspending their reason, if you will--for a moment, the viewers were rewarded. They committed an act of faith, or of submission. And like those who rise refreshed from prayers, their prayers were answered. For the purpose of the prayer was not, finally, to bring about intercession in the material world, but to lay down, for the time of the prayer, one's confusion and rage and sorrow at one's own powerlessness."

--from David Mamet's "Three Uses of the Knife"

Dec 27

Save the world

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"Everybody wants to save the world; no one wants to help Mom do the dishes." --P.J. O' Rourke

Dec 27

By Blue Ontario's Shore

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Have you thought there could be but a single supreme?

There can be any number of supremes--one does not conuntervail another any more than one eysight countervails another, or one life countervails another.

---

I will confront these shows of the day and night,

I will know if I am to be less than they,

I will see if I am not as majestic as they,

I will see if I am not as subtle and real as they,

I will see if I am to be less generous than they,

I will see if I have no meaning, while the houses and ships have meaning,

I will see if the fishes and birds are to be enough for themselves, and I am not to be enough for myself.

Dec 27

Sisters of Mercy

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Oh the sisters of mercy they are not departed or gone,

They were waiting for me when I thought that I just can't go on,

And they brought me their comfort and later they brought me this song,

Yes I hope you run into them, you who've been travelling so long.

Yes, you who must leave everything that you cannot control,

It begins with your family but soon it comes round to your soul,

I have been where you're hanging and I think I can see how you're pinned,

When you're not feeling holy your loneliness tells that you've sinned.

Well they lay down beside me, I made my confession to them,

They touched both my eyes, and I touched the dew on their hem,

If your life is a leaf that the seasons tear off and condemn,

They will bind you with love that is graceful and green as a stem.

When I left they were sleeping, I hope you run into them soon,

Don't turn on the lights, you can read their address by the moon,

And you won't make me jealous if I hear that they've sweetened your night,

We weren't lovers like that and besides, it would still be all right.

Dec 27

Song of Myself

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I have heard what the talkers were talking, the talk of the
beginning and the end,
But I do not talk of the beginning or the end.

There was never any more inception than there is now,
Nor any more youth or age than there is now,
And will never be any more perfection than there is now,
Nor any more heaven or hell than there is now.

Urge and urge and urge,
Always the procreant urge of the world.

Dec 12

Winston Calling was amazing

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I just went to the Winston Calling show, and boy was it amazing. In case you didn't know, here are some of the events: Tenacious D played. The Pixies played minus Kim Deal, so various people sat in for her including Flea(!) Flea goes bananas when he plays bass. Also, "Weird" Al Yankovic sang "I Bleed," with the Pixies which was very surreal.

Anybody else go to this, and were you as wowed as I was?

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