White Map on the Mississippi

lunch

Fancy

something new

rr.com is now up.

Drawing of Sperm Whale by New York Whaleman from 1800s

Roman 6 weeks

The new Raschke

Everything you need to know about childbirth

Best soundtrack ever?

The gist

I've been enjoying books.google.com, lately. Here's the title page to the last book I read --


It's beautiful, no?

related to the last post

Pitchfork posted a track from Zak's forthcoming record. Enjoy it here.

Heliotrope - Thursday, May 15th, 2008

I'm playing a small keyboard through a big amp with Zak Sally/F.O.S.

More information here: http://www.flaneurproductions.com/heliotropefive.html

Your assignment for today

Buy this book from here - http://www.king-cat.net/catalog_other.html

Questions to Consider*

• What do you think most motivated Thoreau to leave his life in town?
  
• Select three different quotes from the text and explain what you think
  Thoreau means by them.Why do you think people enjoy collecting and
  sharing quotes from famous people or texts?
  
• Who most inspired Thoreau’s work? How do your friends influence your
  own interests and work? How do you influence theirs?
  
• Which feature of nature does Thoreau call its most beautiful and “the earth’s
  eye?” Do you agree? Which feature of nature is most important to you?
  
• How did Thoreau feed himself during his time in the woods? What odd jobs
  have you done for money? How does Thoreau feel about work in general?
  Why?
  
• Do you think your life could ever become its “own amusement”? Why or why
  not? What amusements do you rely on? Do you think Thoreau would consider
  your life a happy one or not? What in your life could you be happy without?
  
• Thoreau was rich in time but not in money. In what ways are you rich?
  
• Is there any issue for which you would be willing to go to jail? Why did
  Thoreau go to jail? Do you think he should have been incarcerated?
  

* Taken from a study guide found here.

Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles ...

Lowry and Central NE - Three Views

1953:


2008:Bird's eye:

Untitled

How sweet

How sweet I roam'd from field to field,
And tasted all the summer's pride
'Til I the prince of love beheld
Who in the sunny beams did glide!

He shew'd me lilies for my hair
And blushing roses for my brow;
He led me through his garden fair,
Where all his golden pleasures grow.

With sweet May dews my wings were wet,
And Phoebus fir'd my vocal rage
He caught me in his silken net,
And shut me in his golden cage.

He loves to sit and hear me sing,
Then, laughing, sports and plays with me;
Then stretches out my golden wing,
And mocks my loss of liberty.

- William Blake

Words to live by?

“To me, self-description is a calamity.”
-- Jasper Johns

No style

"To see so many Vasari drawings — there are 14 — makes for an interesting study in personal style, mostly because none is apparent. You can tell a Pontormo or Rosso at a glance. To scan a dozen Vasaris is to see a dozen artists, all related, all slightly different, some more imaginative than others." - From the New York Times article 'Artistic Muscle, Flexed for Medicis'

Why does Vasari get a bad rap for not having an easily identifiable style? What's wrong with trying things out and messing around? Does consistency make an art work better?

Could a signature style be a way of signaling an insecure audience that you know what you're doing? Is having a recognizable style a sign of artistic strength or a sign of artistic indifference?


Further reading:
One
Two
Three
Four

All over

"I feel not necessarily nostalgic (punk was and is decidedly anti-nostalgia, and if ever a band kicked against the pricks of preservation societies like books and halls of fame it was these guys), but I admit that I feel a need to know if any of it mattered, or if it even happened."

That's a quote from the introduction to Jim Walsh's book about The Replacements. It's funny that a book that is all about reminiscing about a bygone era and talking about how great it was includes a disclaimer that it's maker is not nostalgic about the subject. What are you talkin' about? This book is 100% nostalgia. Why deny it or apologize?

One of the great things about Paul Westerberg's songs is the romance and nostalgia they contain and project. Songs like 'Heyday' and 'Talent Show' (among many others) are about being aware of yourself in time. They are about instant nostalgia, about catching yourself existing outside the moment you're in and reflecting on that. They are about feeling the past in the present and contending with it.

Where is my friend?

In keeping with the classic punk theme of the week ...

Mick Jones and Tony James have a band that I just heard about. On the band's website blog Tony James answers a question that has come up for them a lot since the release of their first record. They've been posting mp3s for free download on their site for 4 years, so why release a record? The funny thing is his answer jives with my experience of discovering the band. They only hit my radar after the CD was released and they did interviews and TV to promote it. So the CD is still the motivation for people who control media to write about a band and for record companies to promote a band. They aren't really promoting the band, just the record. I had never thought about that fact before - that the band and the record are different things in the eyes of the sales people.

On this day in history

Is it you?

1. Anxiety about death.
2. Indifference to living.
3. Mistrust of seeming perfection.
4. Mistrust of Institutions and Authority.
5. Empathy for the seemingly pathetic.
6. Tendency to take the blame for bad events.
7. Prefer anonymity in the face of success.
8. Acceptance of the unexplained/Appreciation for the obscure.
9. Tendency to be overwhelmed by emotion.
10. Ability to laugh out loud at themselves.
11. Seem to live by the motto: If it scares you, laugh at it.

What does contemporary look like?

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Red velvet

>> The legend

>> The debunking

>> The thorough examination with one error

>> The vegan version with guilt and self-pity

In the wake of Andy