Friday, November 18, 2005
1) I was ungracious in not thanking Joshua for the space he made, for suggesting the manner of exchange in the first place, and for his recent profession of respect, which is surprising, not in all respects warranted, and mutual. (Parties otherwise at odds seem to agree that I'm "decent." And what are you wearing?) I also respect Ange and John Shaw for engaging in a fairly fraught set of exchanges.
2) The article of Badiou's that Joshua linked to was edifying. Here are two others, one quite personal, the other (from '04, on the headscarf law) more sardonic, and a bit Derridean in tone. Of course I can't vouch for the translations.
3) "Criticism reading" doesn't have quite the thrilling ring of "poetry reading," but J. Niimi and myself will be giving one at Quimby's this Saturday, at 7 p.m..
I only brought about 6 copies of AF from Cali, and was too busy last week to remember to request more from the publisher. But I will have Taste The Flavor on hand, in case you like music.
4) I want to say this is a nadir in the annals of song-commercial placement, but it's probably a 50-way tie: EMF's "Unbelievable" reworked in an ad for Kraft Crumbles as "Crumbelievable."
5) Rockists tend to legislate as to who has taste; popists tend to legislate as to who is actually experiencing pleasure.
6) A no-longer-recent Boston/Portland Phx piece I never linked to, on Bjork and Wire one-song cover albums. (A slight coda to this summer's cover-album fest.) There's supposed to be one about Made In Sheffield and a Human League live DVD floating around somewhere by now, but heck if I can find it.
7) Fine piece by Richard Byrne on the ever-underrated Great Plains, courtesy Paul Nini. (Order their newly released live album from Old 3C.)
8) I like: "Laffy Taffy"; Voxtrot's "Long Haul"; leading Bree and family to the Joseph Cornell boxes at the Art Institute*, and noting that there's still a Tibor de Nagy tag on one; feeling homesick on encountering a Felix Gonzales-Torres candypile; the "Bank Book" section of Laura Sims' Practice, Restraint; conversing with Jacob Knabb and John Beer; Ted Mathys' semi-colons; dumplings; discussing Cavell and Danto with double philosophy/theater majors; manageable amounts of snow. I don't like: Having to miss a student production of The Threepenny Opera; leaving the house too late to get to the Minutemen documentary; the fact that I haven't seen a movie in weeks; still getting lost in town sometimes; waiting.
*Don't worry Jordan, I won't write poems to them. Would Ray Johnson be ok?
2) The article of Badiou's that Joshua linked to was edifying. Here are two others, one quite personal, the other (from '04, on the headscarf law) more sardonic, and a bit Derridean in tone. Of course I can't vouch for the translations.
3) "Criticism reading" doesn't have quite the thrilling ring of "poetry reading," but J. Niimi and myself will be giving one at Quimby's this Saturday, at 7 p.m..
I only brought about 6 copies of AF from Cali, and was too busy last week to remember to request more from the publisher. But I will have Taste The Flavor on hand, in case you like music.
4) I want to say this is a nadir in the annals of song-commercial placement, but it's probably a 50-way tie: EMF's "Unbelievable" reworked in an ad for Kraft Crumbles as "Crumbelievable."
5) Rockists tend to legislate as to who has taste; popists tend to legislate as to who is actually experiencing pleasure.
6) A no-longer-recent Boston/Portland Phx piece I never linked to, on Bjork and Wire one-song cover albums. (A slight coda to this summer's cover-album fest.) There's supposed to be one about Made In Sheffield and a Human League live DVD floating around somewhere by now, but heck if I can find it.
7) Fine piece by Richard Byrne on the ever-underrated Great Plains, courtesy Paul Nini. (Order their newly released live album from Old 3C.)
8) I like: "Laffy Taffy"; Voxtrot's "Long Haul"; leading Bree and family to the Joseph Cornell boxes at the Art Institute*, and noting that there's still a Tibor de Nagy tag on one; feeling homesick on encountering a Felix Gonzales-Torres candypile; the "Bank Book" section of Laura Sims' Practice, Restraint; conversing with Jacob Knabb and John Beer; Ted Mathys' semi-colons; dumplings; discussing Cavell and Danto with double philosophy/theater majors; manageable amounts of snow. I don't like: Having to miss a student production of The Threepenny Opera; leaving the house too late to get to the Minutemen documentary; the fact that I haven't seen a movie in weeks; still getting lost in town sometimes; waiting.
*Don't worry Jordan, I won't write poems to them. Would Ray Johnson be ok?
