"Under the spreading chestnut tree, I sold you and you sold me..."

"I betrayed you," she said baldly.

"I betrayed you," he said.

She gave him another quick look of dislike.

"Sometimes," she said, "they threaten you with something -- something you can't stand up to, can't even think about. And then you say 'Don't do it to me, do it to somebody else, do it to so-and-so.' And perhaps you might pretend, afterwards, that it was only a trick and that you had just said it to make them stop and didn't really mean it. But that isn't true. At the time when it happens you do mean it. You think there's no other way of saving yourself and you're quite ready to save yourself that way. You want it to happen to the other person. You don't give a damn what they suffer. All you care about is yourself."

"All you care about is yourself," he echoed.

"And after that you don't feel the same toward the person any longer."

"No," he said, "you don't feel the same."

The food is cold

Your eyes are cold

The window's cold

The bed's cold

Give me something that's not

Cold, come on, come on

Give me something thats not

Cold, come on, come on

Give me something thats not

Cold, come on, come on

Give me

Give me

Give me

The chair's hard

Your voice is hard

The money's hard

The living's hard

Give me something that's not

Hard, come on, come on

Give me something that's not

Hard, come on, come on

Give me something thats not

Hard, come on, come on

Give me

Give me

Give me

Ill give you my heartbeat

And a bit of tear and flesh

It's not very much but while it's there

You can have it

You can have it

-"Give Me Something," Yoko Ono

Meat Marketing

Beef. It's what's for dinner.

Pork. The other white meat.

Chicken. The other other white meat.

Lamb. Don't forget about me!

Veal. You heartless monster.

Turkey. You are getting sleepy.

Fish. We swim around in our own filth.

Tripe. At least I'm not haggis.

Haggis. The only thing worse than tripe.


(thanks to John for these swell slogans)

Found In The Stacks Today

Excerpt:

"Man, I just don't dig this. I never made an instructional package before, I don't even know what one looks like, I had better go back to page 6 and do the assignments and learn about packaged instruction." (p.5, "Path Selection")

Got You Sussed

I think the difference between my love for The Beatles and my love for The Who is the fact that I've been alive to experience more of The Who's musical journey. To me, The Who are less mythical, I suppose. But seeing "Amazing Journey", the new documentary (or "Roc-Doc", as VH-1 insists) tonight made me realize how important the band and their music have been to me ever since I was old enough to like rock and roll.

The film is propelled by interviews, performance footage and photos, with (thankfully) no "Behind The Music"-style omniscient narrator or swelling, ominous background music. The early biographical sketches of the band members, especially Pete's, really caught my attention; I was following Pete's autobiographical blog posts earlier this year. I also enjoyed the commentary by everyone from Eddie Vedder to Keith Moon's mum, and hearing so many fun facts about the band (was Pete sincerely worried that Jimi Hendrix was stealing his moves?).

To me, the most interesting part of the film had to be Pete's commentary on his songwriting career. He mentions that he found songwriting to be "boring" up until the time of Tommy, and after its success, he worried about playing God from that point on, especially during Quadrophenia. He confessed to feeling like a puppeteer pulling the strings his bandmate marionettes in order to put on his little shows. But gradually, he gave himself more and more permission to make his songwriting personal, and he credits Roger with always being the perfect vocalist to interpret his songs.

The interviews and comments are candid and, for the most part, sincere. The Cincinnati concert tragedy is mentioned toward the end of the film, with respectful comments from Kenny Jones and others, but neither Pete nor Roger speaks about the event. Pete does speak frankly about his arrest on suspicion of possessing child porn. And as much as I love the guy, I guess he just wouldn't be Pete without saying something shockingly egotistical and dumb; in this movie, the top award has to go to his observation that "Keith was a genius, John was a genius, I was certainly on the edge of it . . . Roger was a singer." Okay, Pete.

The film covers just about all the major events in the life of the band. Keith dies. Sad. Band breaks up. Sad. John dies. Sad. Roger and Pete live on, and Pete claims that only now have the two of them been able to feel truly close.

"Amazin Journey" is a perfect mix of history, trivia and music. Who knows, maybe they'll make it into an album, a stage show, a film of the stage show....

"...but the weather turned around."

Written seventy years ago today:

Poem On His Birthday (read and hear it here)

I have a Caedmon LP somewhere of Dylan Thomas reading this and other poems... he often said that poetry should be spoken, not merely read. He certainly had the perfect poet's voice; he very nearly sings his poems.

Somehow I always remember his birthday, but I usually think of this poem rather than the one actually called "Poem on His Birthday":

Poem in October
by Dylan Thomas

It was my thirtieth year to heaven
Woke to my hearing from harbour and neighbour wood
And the mussel pooled and the heron
Priested shore
The morning beckon
With water praying and call of seagull and rook
And the knock of sailing boats on the net webbed wall
Myself to set foot
That second
In the still sleeping town and set forth.


My birthday began with the water-
Birds and the birds of the winged trees flying my name
Above the farms and the white horses
And I rose
In rainy autumn
And walked abroad in a shower of all my days.
High tide and the heron dived when I took the road
Over the border
And the gates
Of the town closed as the town awoke.


A springful of larks in a rolling
Cloud and the roadside bushes brimming with whistling
Blackbirds and the sun of October
Summery
On the hill’s shoulder,
Here were fond climates and sweet singers suddenly
Come in the morning where I wandered and listened
To the rain wringing
Wind blow cold
In the wood faraway under me.


Pale rain over the dwindling harbour
And over the sea wet church the size of a snail
With its horns through mist and the castle
Brown as owls
But all the gardens
Of spring and summer were blooming in the tall tales
Beyond the border and under the lark full cloud.
There could I marvel
My birthday
Away but the weather turned around.


It turned away from the blithe country
And down the other air and the blue altered sky
Streamed again a wonder of summer
With apples
Pears and red currants
And I saw in the turning so clearly a child’s
Forgotten mornings when he walked with his mother
Through the parables
Of sun light
And the legends of the green chapels


And the twice told fields of infancy
That his tears burned my cheeks and his heart moved in mine.
These were the woods the river and sea
Where a boy
In the listening
Summertime of the dead whispered the truth of his joy
To the trees and the stones and the fish in the tide.
And the mystery
Sang alive
Still in the water and singingbirds.


And there could I marvel my birthday
Away but the weather turned around. And the true
Joy of the long dead child sang burning
In the sun.
It was my thirtieth
Year to heaven stood there then in the summer noon
Though the town below lay leaved with October blood.
O may my heart’s truth
Still be sung
On this high hill in a year’s turning.

--------------------------

Source: Poetry (February 1945).

Balm Cartoon!

I was so tickled to see this:
This other balm mention was cool, too: Late Show Top Ten List from July 19th.

"Nobody's Erasing!" - My Favorite Online Comics

I rarely get the chance to shop for comics anymore, but I seem to spend more and more time reading them on the web. These are some of the online comics I try to keep up with daily. It's a shame these strip images have to be so small, but they're all links that will take you to the big version. You can also follow the title links to the artists' websites. Most of these strips are free to view, but the paid-subscription one (American Elf) is definitely worth the few bucks.

Dinosaur Comics

Possibly the funniest comic on the web. Like David Lynch's "Angriest Dog In The World" strip, the panels never change; but T-Rex's inane comments to his dino pals are different in each strip. Ryan North rules people's lives with this comic.

Quote: "Lesbians! I respect their choices and don't fetishize their sexuality at all."

The Journal Comic
Even though Drew Weing kept this journal strip going for only a year or so, it remains one of my all-time favorites. The unfortunate paradox of autobio comics is that only cartoonists produce them; how great would it be to read the comic journal of a firefighter or a copy editor or... I dunno, a librarian?

Starting point: Might as well start from the beginning -- sixteen months' worth of three-panel strips goes by quickly when they're this good.

Perry Bible Fellowship

Unsettling but sometimes hilarious, these beautifully-painted strips range from dark humor to absurdism.

Starting Point: The "Random" feature is most appropriate for this one.

Achewood

Well-plotted and sweetly surreal, this Web comic follows a bunch of bizarre, anthropomorphic stuffed animals from northern California. The artist, Chris Onstad, is insanely prolific, posting new strips several times a week and even maintaining blogs for each of the main characters.

Starting point: You can browse the archives to see how the strip has evolved, or use the pull-down menu to jump to a story arc. "Volvo of Despair," in which two cats buy Trent Reznor's high school car, is a great start.

For Better or for Worse

Kind of a guilty pleasure, but I can barely stand to miss a single day of this daily newspaper strip. Yes, sometimes it's smarmy (especially the Sunday strips), but it really does seem as though I grew up with these characters.

Starting Point: The online archives only go back as far as 2003, but several of the older compilation books are still available.

American Elf

One of the best-known web comics of all (it's also published in Burlington's Seven Days newspaper), American Elf is rock star James Kochalka's daily chronicle of his own life. He's been keeping this sketch diary for years and years now. This is a subscription site, but you can check the current strip every day.

Quote: "While Amy read a story to Eli, I looked at her crotch."

Spamusement

This one is extremely silly and I wish I had thought of it: spam subject lines accompanied by crude cartoons.

Quote (from above panel): "It's time to Refill armadillo"

Bob The Angry Flower

An irritable flower takes on aliens and wheelchair basketball. Stephen Notley is the creator of this strip. He's probably the only adult male (apart from Peter Gabriel) to dress up as a flower in public on a regular basis. His movie reviews, which he posts on his site, are entertaining, too.

Starting Point: Anywhere, as long as you don't miss "Bob The Angry Flower Struggles With The Time Looker-Forward Tube."

I Meme Mine

You've seen them by now, right? Web pages and blogs featuring cutely-captioned photos of cats and other creatures, exemplified by the now famous I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER? site.


Wikipedia and even the mainstream news are getting hip to the emerging LOLmeme. So, after delighting in lolpresident, loltrek, lolgod and even lolbrarians, I couldn't resist starting up...


lolbeatlz

Triptych

I've been slowly attempting to decorate the side door of the garage. I've painted two panels in the past three years. Here's the one I finished today:

Here's the whole door. Two more to go, but I'll have to sit on the ground to reach them.

Five Things I Did To Avoid Answering Reference Questions On My Last Day Of Work Before Taking A Week Off

1. Made pretend phone calls
2. Sneaked away for 45 minute nap in my car
3. Used two computers at once to look extraordinarily busy
4. Took eight extended trips to the restroom
5. Avoided eye contact

Faux Fungus

Today I planted the ceramic mushroom from the Essex Junction craft show. I like how it offsets the actual fungus on the trunk of the crabapple tree. The mushroom was made by Ripple Pottery of Rumney, NH.

The Else

It's actually kind of spooky. I was reading This Might Be A Wiki this afternoon and I realized that certain lyrics in every song on TMBG's upcoming album The Else could have been written about my life -- specifically, about this year of my life. (Okay, except maybe "The Mesopotamians".)

I hope I'm not suffering from "Famous Polka" syndrome:

"A famous person wears the same size waterskis as me.
She's got three cars, as many years I've lived in this city.
Her hair is blonde and mine is brown. They both start with a B.
But when the phone inside her ribcage rings, it's not for me.
But when the phone inside her ribcage rings, it's not for me. "

Wild Wild Life

I sure wish I could find the charger to my camera so I could capture some of the suburban wildlife I've been seeing this week. This morning alone in the back yard, to complement the daffodils and violets and pretty plantlife springing up all over, I saw the following fauna:

- A pair of purple finches perched on the power cord that runs from the house to the garage
- A brilliant, loud male cardinal, which landed on the same wire and scared off the finches
- Two gray catbirds in the flowering crabapple
- Several sparrows
- Several gray squirrels
- A chittery chipmunk
- Chickadees in great quantity
and the most special spotting:
- a large bright-eyed brown bunny, which slowly hopped across the driveway, under the Adirondack chair and across to the neighbors' back yard

I'll have to look up rabbits in my Celtic Animal Oracle. But no matter what sort of omen the Druids may have thought it, seeing a soft, sweet wild thing this morning just felt a little bit magical.

Checking Out John Flansburgh

Cinco de Mayo weekend marked another Vermont visit for me, this time to beautiful Burlington on a springy, sunny weekend. The Best Friend had booked a hotel for us and whisked me away a day early; we checked in late Friday afternoon. As we walked from our room to a nearby restaurant (and a "surprise" for me, I was informed) on Friday evening, we passed by the Higher Ground Ballroom. "THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS - MAY 4", annnounced the marquee. It took me a while (nearly halfway through our meal, really) to assimilate the info, but when I did, I was ecstatic -- the BF had gotten tickets just the day before, and... we were going to our third TMBG concert together, that very night! Wahoo!

The show was to start at 8:00, so after dinner we went back to the room for a while to play Word Sweep and check out the Red Sox pre-game stuff on TV. Later, as we prepared to head over to the concert, I glanced out our fourth floor window to the walkway below. A dark haired dude with glasses was passing below. He was sipping a coffee and munching a muffin or donut as he walked. "Cute guy," I thought. I had just been thinking about Burlington and how a lot of interesting people around my age (but with perhaps a younger mindset) tended to live there, and here was a perfect example bobbing along the sidewalk 40 feet away. Then a flash of recognition: his slightly gray, slightly spiky hair, his build, his features... "Flans! It's Flans!" I shouted to the BF in the bathroom. John Flansburgh was staying at our hotel. "It was Flans! I just saw him!" I repeated.

"Cool. What channel?" came the voice from the bathroom.

"No, no... he's HERE. I just saw him out the window! I think he was walking into the lobby!"

We grabbed our room keys and took the stairs down to the lobby, but I guess we were a bit too slow: there was no sign of Flans. We paced around outside and even camped out on a bench for a while, but as 8:00 approached and Mr. Flansburgh continued not to appear, we decided to stop our spontaneous stalking.

I told the BF as we walked to Higher Ground: "I can't believe I was checking John Flansburgh out".

The show? Yes, of COURSE it rocked. There are some very good accounts of it here.

Personally, it just may have been my favorite concert ever.

Crow And The Sea

by Ted Hughes (from Crow: From The Life And Songs Of The Crow, London : Faber and Faber, 1970)

He tried ignoring the sea
But it was bigger than death, just as it was bigger than life.

He tried talking to the sea
But his brain shuttered and his eyes winced from it as from open flame.

He tried sympathy for the sea
But it shouldered him off -- as a dead thing shoulders you off.

He tried hating the sea
But instantly felt like a scrutty dry rabbit-dropping on the windy cliff.

He tried just being in the same world as the sea
But his lungs were not deep enough

And his cheery blood banged off it
Like a water-drop off a hot stove.

Finally

He turned his back and marched away from the sea

As a crucified man cannot move.

My Trip (For People Who Like To Click Links)

I had a very nice mini-vacation last week. On Thursday afternoon I took a beautiful drive here to meet up with my best friend. The day was clear and I arrived there in the late evening, just as it was getting dark. We ate some of this, watched TV, then watched another show on DVR and some of a DVD before going to bed.

On Friday morning, we ate these (I had some of this on mine), watched more of this, and I looked at some of his old LP's like this one while he played my new guitar. Then we drove into town and hit the post office, the bank, and this place. We shopped here, ate lunch here, and then did some more shopping here (where I got some of these to bring home to The Boy). Then I spotted this store where we were lucky enough to find some of my favorite chocolates. We shopped here for groceries, then went back to the house for a game, which we played while listening to the CD we bought. The mail arrived, along with a gift for me (so sweet!). We cooked a delicious chicken stir-fry dinner and watched the DVD we had purchased earlier that day. Before and after the movie, we saw an exciting baseball game on TV. Then to bed.

Saturday was the day of the big book sale, so after breakfast and a stop at a drug store (because I had the sniffles), we made our way there. It was crowded, but fun to pick through the rooms and rooms of books; we each found a few interesting things, including this, all for very cheap. Then we stopped for a soda and a juice while I filled up my gas tank. We went for a private and pleasant walk near here, following a trail through a closed-down mini-golf course to a pretty meadow beside a red barn. It was all so very... this. Then it was time for lunch here. And of course, we browsed here, where I got this interesting set of... things (does anyone know what they might be?) and some candy.

We went back to the house for some song-swapping, Sox and Skip-Bo. Then dinner (he had leftovers from Friday night, while I had this), after which we watched the remaining episodes of this. Afterwards he gave a private piano concert just for me and the kitty. Later, we started another game but soon opted for the show and sleep.

Sunday was my departure day, but first we decided to head back here for breakfast, and here again for a few things. Then back to the house, where I finished packing my stuff and we played one final game while listening to his jukebox music.

The weather was sunny, breezy and beautiful all weekend long; although I was sad to be leaving, I knew my drive home would be pleasant. So, after we said "til next time!", I got on the road, listening to some re-discovered mix tapes, including one with great alternate versions of all my favorite Beatles songs. I've been back to work a few days now, but my head is still on vacation, and my ears are still hearing the Ab Fab Four For Jan.

Snow Globe

"April is the cruellest month..."

A few weeks back, I thought it was safe once more to set outside the beautiful glass globe my best friend gave me. It's one of my favorite things; a hand-blown sphere dotted with specks that absorb light during the daytime and glow like a galaxy at night. However, today it was looking more like a snow globe:



Here's where it lives on my shelf during the cold months, and where it's been put back for another week or so:














Yeah, I'm pretty sick of snow, and wondering if I'll ever see the back garden looking like this again:

Father Kurt

I was probably too young to read Breakfast Of Champions when I first noticed it on my stepfather's bookshelf. Actually, I didn't read it when I first noticed it -- with its Wheaties-slogan title and its garish orange, yellow and blue jacket, I probably thought it was a book about sports. But adolescent boredom eventually led me to pull it down and look through it. I remember being so surprised that there were pictures: the author's own artless line drawings which illustrated the darkly comic text in a way that reminded me of The Little Prince, which we had just read in English class. I finished Breakfast of Champions in an afternoon, and I remember feeling changed... more grown-up in some way, because I had read and understood and genuinely liked this ironic adult novel.

Later there were trips to Book Thrift, the store where used paperbacks were sold by thickness; the owner/cashier would stack up your purchases, measure the stack height with a ruler, and charge a dollar per inch. I got Cat's Cradle, Slaughterhouse-Five, Wampeters, Foma & Granfaloons, and my favorite (to this day) Slapstick. All through high school, college and life beyond, I had the pleasure of anticipating and purchasing Kurt Vonnegut's new books as they were released: Jailbird, Palm Sunday, Galapagos, Bluebeard, Deadeye Dick, Hocus Pocus. To me, reading Vonnegut was like listening to Bob Dylan or even The Beatles: a shared generational experience (although again, I was born a bit too late to be an actual member of the relevant generation). But it felt personal at the same time, because I had discovered this author for myself and I could always identify with at least some of the themes in each book.

I loved Kurt Vonnegut for his prose and his philosophy, his ideas and his ideals. His catchphrases became part of my consciousness and his persona, expressed through the lectures, interviews and essays of his later life, became very dear to me.

He was born on the 11th and he died on the 11th.

So it goes.

Ten Of The 70 Games I Found In The Attic

“You know, the Parker Brothers took the time to think this all out; I think we should respect the game.” – The Sopranos' Bobby "Bacala" Baccalieri on the Monopoly free parking rule

This week is Spring Break for The Boy and me. Since the weather is still snowy, we needed some indoor entertainment, so I went up into the attic in search of games we might play together.

Mexican Train and Chicken House Domino Game - The name alone intrigues, doesn't it? This is a game I got for Christmas a few years back. It's similar to regular dominoes, except each player works outward from a hub to make his own "train". The hub has a switch which can be set to "TRAIN" or "CHICKEN". Pressing the center of the hub makes either a "toot-toot" or "cluck-cluck" noise. I'm still not sure why. There is no reference in the instruction sheet to the sound options. When I played this with friends, we pressed the hub at random intervals just to distract each other.

Quest For Makuta Bionicle Adventure Game - Because this was one of those games that The Boy would often ask for at the height of his obsession with a particular toy or TV show, I didn't expect it to be as much fun as it is. Quest for Makuta is a complex and ever-changing game with interlocking board pieces, strategic elements, puzzle elements and beautiful graphics.

Pokemon Master Trainer - Another of The Boy's toy tie-in games that turned out to be really enjoyable. The object is to make your way across the board to the Indigo Plateau, catching Pokemon along the way (with the help of dice throws). The Unknown Pokemon Dungeon contains four rare creatures which, if captured, almost assure you of winning -- unless the other player is also able to reach the Dungeon before the game ends. Colorful and fun.

Snail's Pace Race - The Boy got this one when he was very young. Colorful wooden snails race along the board track, advancing when their color is rolled on the two dice. Since it's the snails and not the players who are racing, no one loses. This was perfect for my kid (who, at age 6 or so was known to weep and wail "my career is over!" when games didn't quite go his way).

The Doonesbury Game - I got this back in the early 90's and I don't think I've ever played it. A look at the instruction card might explain why, although I suspect that this is the kind of game that requires a fun gathering of creative people in order to make it enjoyable. And I can't explain why, but creative people never seemed to gather at my house in the early 90's.

Facts In Five - I asked my mom to buy this at a garage sale in the mid-1970's. It was a "Bookshelf Games" edition, which has since gone missing and been replaced with a less-attractively packaged 1964 version I found on ebay. Facts In Five is sort of a more intellectual precursor to Scattergories; players have to fill in a grid with categories across the top and initial letters along the left-hand side. But what categories! 'Artificial Satellites'. 'Scientific/Engineering Organizations'. 'African Military Figures'. I realize now that I grew up wondering if I'd ever be smart enough to play this.

Happiness - Touchy feely I'm OK you're OK free to be you and me pop psychology fun! This game was all about Hang-Ups, Self-Improvement and (curiously) Fate. Six little mini-games on the big 3-D board made it interesting to play. Fun playing pieces, spinners, reward keys and rainbow racks made it a pleasure to look at, too. My stepsister and I would often play this together, the subtext being "Oh, yeah? Well, I'm WAY more self-actualized than you, so there!"

The Bride Game - Gosh, did I ever love this game when I was young. There was something about the art nouveau style of the cards and the soft pastel colors that just captivated the girly-girl side of me. I could never decide whether to be a Formal Evening Bride or an Informal Bride (with that oh-so-chic floppy picture hat). This is another one I was compelled to re-purchase as a grown-up. (I can't ever imagine a time when I might have said "sure, let's throw away the Bride Game", but I guess it happened somehow.)

Tricky Mickey Magic Colorforms - Technically not a game, but I couldn't exclude this childhood favorite. I wonder how many little kids actually tried to amaze their friends with this thing? I mean, by the age of four or five, the concepts of transparency and color matching are pretty much concrete, right? It was still a fun set, though. Now if I could only find the other Disney colorforms I had as a child, featuring Horace Horsecollar, Clarabelle Cow and a three-dimensional pop-up stage, I'd be truly fulfilled.


Stay Alive - The original survivor game. The TV commercial featured a group of kids stranded on a desert island, a la Lord Of The Flies. The game washes ashore: "Let's play!" Despite Stay Alive's hideous colors(especially those olive green and burnt orange marbles), I always liked this game. It was a front-porch favorite -- when I was growing up, we kept most of my games on the front porch. It worked out well for rainy days; if I had to come in from playing, I could just pull in a friend or two and we'd be occupied for the rest of the afternoon.

Here's the full list of games I found in my attic this week. So... got any board game memories of your own to share?

Abalone - The Amazing Game Board Book - Backgammon - Barrel of Monkeys - Batman & Robin Monopoly - Battleship - Quest For Makuta Bionicle Adventure Game - Blinkers - Boggle - Brainquest - The Bride Game - Candyland - Chairs - Chess - Chutes And Ladders - Clue - Connect Four - The Couch Potato Game - Cranium Cadoo - Doonesbury - Facts In Five - Fairly OddParents - The Great Dalmuti - Guess Who? - Hands Down - Happiness - Harry Potter Trivia - Jenga - Life - Marvel Trivia - Mastermind - Mexican Train and Chicken House Domino Game - Monopoly - Mousetrap - Nickelodeon Ultimate Trivia - Operation - Outburst - Outburst, Jr. - Pocket Farkel - Pokemon Master Trainer - Pokemon Monopoly - Pop Smarts - Rack-O - Rugrats Uno - Scattergories - Set - Settlers of Catan Travel Edition - Skip-Bo - 'Smath - Snail's Pace Race - Song Burst 50's and 60's Edition - Sorry - Squint - Stage II - Star Wars Epic Duels - Stare - Stay Alive - Stratego - Think 'N' Jump - Tipover - Top Trumps Lord Of The Rings - Top Trumps Simpsons - Top Trumps Star Wars - Total It! - Tri-Ominoes - Trivial Pursuit 20th Anniversary Edition - Trivial Pursuit Volume II - Uno - Wordrop - Yahtzee - Yahtzee Jr. Pokemon Edition