warm fuzzy freudian slippers 2.0

Checkin’out the affairs of the soulful Brings it all home...

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 20:52:17 -0500

Checkin’out the affairs of the soulful
Brings it all home
Take a minute to receive
It’s not sin to believe, baby
To relieve baby of all his clothes
How else can he know?
How else can he grow?
How’s a man gonna show what he’s made of?

-Sons of Champlin, “Swim”

"The writing community is full of lame-o people who want to be published in journals even though they..."

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 10:53:47 -0500

“The writing community is full of lame-o people who want to be published in journals even though they don’t read the magazines that they want to be published in. These people deserve the rejections that they will undoubtedly receive, and no one should feel sorry for them when they cry about how they can’t get anyone to accept their stories.”

- Dan Chaon on what writers can learn from young rock stars

A lot of things have happened Since the last time we spoke Some...

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 01:29:13 -0500

A lot of things have happened
Since the last time we spoke
Some of them are funny
Some of ‘em ain’t no joke
And I trust you will forgive me
If I lay it on the line
I always thought you were a friend of mine

Sometimes I think about you
I wonder how you’re doing now
And what you’re going through

The last time I saw you
We were playing with fire
We were loaded with passion
And a burning desire
For every breath, for every day of living
And this is my Thanksgiving

Now the trouble with you and me, my friend
Is the trouble with this nation
Too many blessings, too little appreciation
And I know that kind of notion—well, it just ain’t cool
So send me back to Sunday school
Because I’m tired of waiting for reason to arrive
It’s too long we’ve been living
These unexamined lives

I’ve got great expectations
I’ve got family and friends
I’ve got satisfying work
I’ve got a back that bends
For every breath, for every day of living
This is my Thanksgiving

Have you noticed that an angry man
Can only get so far
Until he reconciles the way he thinks things ought to be
With the way things are

Here in this fragmented world, I still believe
In learning how to give love, and how to receive it
And I would not be among those who abuse this privilege
Sometimes you get the best light from a burning bridge

And I don’t mind saying that I still love it all
I wallowed in the springtime
Now I’m welcoming the fall
For every moment of joy
Every hour of fear
For every winding road that brought me here
For every breath, for every day of living
This is my Thanksgiving

For everyone who helped me start
And for everything that broke my heart
For every breath, for every day of living
This is my Thanksgiving

-Don Henley, “My Thanksgiving” (Don Henley/Stan Lynch/Jai Winding)

“If the inside is on the outside/ There is no...

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 09:59:01 -0400

“If the inside is on the outside/ There is no pain.”

-Sons of Champlin, “1982-A”

…99% of the writing that arrives on the desk of a mass...

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:35:32 -0400

…99% of the writing that arrives on the desk of a mass media guy is pretty therapeutic writing. These are people who generally preface by saying, “I ain’t such a good writer but I got this real good idea in my dream after eating the rancid mayonaise…”

Rod Serling, interviewed by James Gunn, 1970.

Two streets away from Prospect/E. 2nd…

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 12:28:31 -0400

Two streets away from Prospect/E. 2nd…

Prospect & E. 2nd, 2009

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 12:26:46 -0400

Prospect & E. 2nd, 2009

Slacker. (Soldiers’ & Sailors’ Monument,...

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 12:25:14 -0400

Slacker.

(Soldiers’ & Sailors’ Monument, Cleveland, OH 2009)

Stuff You Can't Make Up

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 07:59:32 -0400

DonP: #foundwhilewalking A different cat sleeping on the abandoned bed/box spring thrown behind some bushes.
calistataylor: Thought I found a stray. Collar had hidden message. "I know how to get home. I am not lost." It was a siamese walking around town. bzr
DonP: I'm so stealing that for a future story, fyi ;).
calistataylor: Even funnier since we dragged the cat a block to the petstore not realizing the message was in the little brass bell. Not a happy cat.
calistataylor: We were hoping they'd either recognize the cat as being local or have a lost sign. I'm surprised I came through it w/o a scratch.
DonP: Wow. Throw in the looming specter of divorce, alcoholism, or disease, and you've got the plot of an Amy Hempel story! lol

"There’s a general rule we have on [LEVERAGE], in that the villain should be brought down by..."

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:42:53 -0400

“There’s a general rule we have on [LEVERAGE], in that the villain should be brought down by some version of his original sin.”

- John Rogers

Some surprisingly cogent graffiti found behind the local mental...

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 08:02:01 -0400

Some surprisingly cogent graffiti found behind the local mental health clinic. (September, 2009)

Apparently, I’ve been listening to Laura Nyro’s...

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 18:48:05 -0400

Apparently, I’ve been listening to Laura Nyro’s songs for years without ever knowing who she was. I kept seeing her name listed as the composer for a bunch of songs in my player and looked her up. Needless to say I’ve got new music to binge on.

kayfabe: wellthatsjustgreat:optimisto: BILL HICKS’S PRINCIPLES...

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 22:10:28 -0400

kayfabe:

wellthatsjustgreat:optimisto:

BILL HICKS’S PRINCIPLES OF COMEDY

1. If you can be yourself on stage nobody else can be you and you have the law of supply and demand covered.

2. The act is something you fall back on if you can’t think of anything else to say.

3. Only do what you think is funny, never just what you think they will like, even though it’s not that funny to you.

4. Never ask them is this funny – you tell them this is funny.

5. You are not married to any of this shit – if something happens, taking you off on a tangent, NEVER go back and finish a bit, just move on.

6. NEVER ask the audience “How You Doing?” People who do that can’t think of an opening line. They came to see you to tell them how they’re doing, asking that stupid question up front just digs a whole. This is The Most Common Mistake made by performers. I want to leave as soon as they say that.

7. Write what entertains you. If you can’t be funny be interesting. You haven’t lost the crowd. Have something to say and then do it in a funny way.

8. I close my eyes and walk out there and that’s where I start, Honest.

9. Listen to what you are saying, ask yourself, “Why am I saying it and is it Necessary?” (This will filter all your material and cut the unnecessary words, economy of words)

10. Play to the top of the intelligence of the room. There aren’t any bad crowds, just wrong choices.

11. Remember this is the hardest thing there is to do. If you can do this you can do anything.

12. I love my cracker roots. Get to know your family, be friends with them.

Sing all hail What’ll be revealed today When we peer into...

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 08:35:11 -0400

Sing all hail
What’ll be revealed today
When we peer into the great unknown
From the line to the throne.

The New Pornographers, “The Laws Have Changed”

Sci-fi in film, done properly.

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 08:40:20 -0400

Sci-fi in film, done properly.

Boston’s North End, 2009.

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 12:26:28 -0400

Boston’s North End, 2009.

Boston Harbor, 2009 (Probably the only pic of myself in the last...

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 12:19:49 -0400

Boston Harbor, 2009

(Probably the only pic of myself in the last 2 years that I like.)

St. Leonard’s Peace Garden, Boston, 2009

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 12:16:34 -0400

St. Leonard’s Peace Garden, Boston, 2009

"One of the great delights of reading science fiction and fantasy stories is the feeling of being..."

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 08:34:36 -0400

“One of the great delights of reading science fiction and fantasy stories is the feeling of being immersed in a world where everything is a bit different. Ordinary people—even children—have unusual abilities. The dangers are different, the power relationships are different, even “normal” is different, and the reader has to figure out this new world on the fly. Every word has potentially a different meaning than in the familiar work-a-day world. New words—made-up words, words you have never heard before—can indicate entirely new ways of thinking.”

- Eileen Gunn, “Where Everything Is a Bit Different.” Introduction to the story collection Filter House by Nisi Shawl.

"…the purpose of George Orwell’s landmark novel 1984 was not to prevent the rise of a..."

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:53:26 -0400

“…the purpose of George Orwell’s landmark novel 1984 was not to prevent the rise of a totalitarian government in 1984 but to describe unnerving trends he observed around him in 1948.”

- Lou Anders, “Introduction: the Business of Lying” in Futureshock.