Tuesday, July 31, 2007
SETS OF THREE BOOKS
1. The Decadent Traveller, The Decadent Gardener and The Decadent Cookbook, By Durian gray and Madlar Lucan. Durian and Madlar have dedicated their lives to decadence and write about the lifestyle with humor and aplomb -thats right, aplomb. I was never interested in cooking before I was introduced to the bizarre manner in which they violate of the laws of food.
For those who scorn not only the Prohibitions of Leviticus but also the dictates of common sense, good health and kindness to animals." -John Ryle in The Guardian
The chapter headings say it all: Corruption and Decay;Blood, the Vital Ingredient; The Gastronomic Mausoleum; and I can Recommend the Poodle. This is not a normal cookbook but a slightly sinister and highly literate feast of decadent writing on food. -The Sunday Times
2. Phillip Pullman's trilogy, His Dark Materials. Dear gentle reader please don't oblige me pull out your eyes and make you to read this book by force, just do it. READ IT BEFORE THE MOVIE (STARRING NICOLE KIDMAN) COMES OUT IN DECEMBER! This is ace Sci-fi/fantasy literature recommended to me by Mrs. Cub. The story takes place across the multiverse, quantum physics and philosophic ideas and allegory are woven through-out. The trilogy was featured last summer on NPR's All Things Considered, check out the review here. The movie will, no doubt, be spectacular, but it can never capture the profound depth of the relationships and the scope of the story in the books. One of the books features the most heartbreaking scene I've ever read. It wrecked me, left me crying. I've never cried over a book before. I read His Dark Material over a year ago, and still resonates with me. Here is a list of awards His Dark Materials have won.
Winner of the Carnegie Medal (England)
Winner of the Guardian Fiction Prize (England)
An ALA Notable Book
An ALA Top Ten Best Book for Young Adults
A Horn Book Fanfare Honor Book
A Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books Blue Ribbon book
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
A Booklist Editors’ Choice – “Top of the List”
A Book-of-the-Month Club Main Selection A Children’s ABBY Honor Book
3.The Patrick Melrose trilogy by Edward St Aubyn, Never Mind, Bad News, Some Hope, published collectively in the UK as Some Hope: A Trilogy. Recommended by Seamonkee, AKA Laure Weeks, who doesn't often suggest books, but when she does, I obey. The protagonist, Partick is an arrogant and consummate snob, he turns his razor sharp wit on the vapid aristocracy he runs with. The books reflects St. Aubyns life, he was "born well" but raped by his father and became a heroin addict at a young age. Bad News opens in the Pierre Hotel, Patrick is out of his mind on heroin. It's down hill from here. The books are hilarious and moving.
"St. Aubyn's vaguely satanic British upper-class life is an unlikely blend of Henry James and Bret Easton Ellis." Kirkus Reviews
Friday, July 27, 2007
Cat related posts.
1. Oscar the cat seems to have an uncanny knack for predicting when nursing home patients are going to die, by curling up next to them during their final hours. His accuracy, observed in 25 cases, has led the staff to call family members once he has chosen someone. It usually means the patient has less than four hours to live. "He doesn't make too many mistakes. He seems to understand when patients are about to die," Dr. David Dosa said in an interview. He describes the phenomenon in a poignant essay in the New England Journal of Medicine
2. Robocat -I posted this last year but I assure you, it's worth revisiting
3. Elaine Paige my ex-shrink has that hair.
4. Cats/Oklahoma style, by Cave Spring Hights Elementary, Ok.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Monday, July 16, 2007
Nights in San Fransisco (2 in Stinson beach) beginning tomorrow night. We'll see you when we get back on Monday. Meanwhile, here is an interview with Elvira Bach, a contemporary of Georg Baselitz, Jörg Immendorff, Rainer Fetting, Markus Lüpertz and Helmut middendorff -a precursor to Katherine Burnhardt? She was one of the few women artists who successfully established herself in that nutty circle of testosterone driven painters; "the Neue Wilden". Thanks to Mr. Boadwee who reminded me of her work.
"These male networks: when it comes down to it, men are brought up to form teams. " -Elvira Bach
Saturday, July 14, 2007
We interupt the Countdown to Oblivion to bring you this video with extreme cutes -it brings to mind this mental pabulum: Once a month I drive Foghorn up to the Bronx to 33rd and Bird for a grooming; could he fly forward inside the car without ever hitting the front windshield if I was driving the same speed he was flying?
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
FIRST THIS:
Dangerous Made-In-China Products: 2007 Timeline
THEN THIS:
A wagish young dear tick has penetrated my delicate vale of alabaster and introduced poison into my blood!
Consequently, I am two small men about to be crushed by a truck
I am a broken highway.
I am severed limbs. It doesn't matter if you don't believe me.
I am a Doo Tone record lable
I am Stony Pit disease, worse even.
I am Albert Einstein, the robot, bowing down to his German creators
Dangerous Made-In-China Products: 2007 Timeline
THEN THIS:
A wagish young dear tick has penetrated my delicate vale of alabaster and introduced poison into my blood!
Consequently, I am two small men about to be crushed by a truck
I am a broken highway.
I am severed limbs. It doesn't matter if you don't believe me.
I am a Doo Tone record lable
I am Stony Pit disease, worse even.
I am Albert Einstein, the robot, bowing down to his German creators
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
for today:
1. Are you like most people, bored of the old Seven Wonders of the world? There are only three days left to cast your vote to replace them with the new Seven Wonders.
2. Disney figures Americans won't know how to pronounce Ratatouille so they spell it out phonetically on their website under the title. Rat-a-too-ee is a great animation. You'll find more musing about the role of artists and critics in society then you usually get in a kids movie. I've liked most of the past Pixar films but the rave review last week in The Times really got my attention.
“Ratatouille” is a nearly flawless piece of popular art, as well as one of the most persuasive portraits of an artist ever committed to film.3. Giornale Nuovo continues to be one of my favorite art blogs. Check out their archives, dig around a little and you'll come up with something unexpected. The author of the blog is an Englishman who has lived in Rome and presently lives in Sweden. The entries are scholarly and often the posts illuminate obscure corners of art history. I suggest going to the archive which is listed by subject and browse around. I guarantee you'll find some wonderful arcane bit-o-honey.
4. "Stripped of my clothes, I climbed into a tree", so begins
A night of love in Lesbos.
Some sneaky person from 1960 traveled forward in time and did a first person play by play of our life at The Mounds. read more about it here 
5. Glore Psychiatric Museum
6.Acoustic Radars
7. Feminist Science Fiction featuring separatist societies
