-despot or sexpot?
-1984, online
-Virginia Woolf's "Dark Cupboard" of suicide
-Cher disses Michael
"Morrissey fans will be surprised to learn that he has 'done an Osbourne' and become the star of his own fly-on-the-wall documentary. The former Smith is shown drinking and visiting a strip joint."
Back at home, I have two wonderful dogs, Tillie and Sammy. So, when I read about Dog Island, I immediately thought of them: would they be happy there?
Over 2,500 dogs are already enjoying a better life at Dog Island. Separated from the anxieties of urban life, dogs on Dog Island live a natural, healthy and happy life.
They live with almost limitless space, and tens of thousands of rabbits, rodents and other natural prey. Surrounded by thousands of other dogs, this is the only place for them to be truly social and create healthy families.
My dog is very high strung and often gets into fights with other dogs. I can control this now, but what happens when fights break out on the island?
Fights break out occassionally, but this is not a real issue, because eventually, the dogs learn to get along. Every now and then some dogs gang up and kill and then eat another dog, but this is just natural, and it's okay for it to happen now and then, but normally this is not the case.
A couple nights ago, deep into the early AM, I started thinking about tanning salons: how crazy it is that people lock themselves inside radiation-beds and sizzle in rows like hot dogs at a state fair. The radiation turns the skin's outer layer into a protective callous; a tan is nothing more than crust.
But, maybe even crazier than tanning beds are these things, facial tanning units. Look at the model's beautiful and authentic sun-blasted rash:
-teenage angst fest: it's a contest to find the most humiliating piece of teenage writing out there
-ny city culture, up in smoke
-apathetic online journal generator: "I just don't have much to say recently. I've just been letting everything wash over me these days. Today was a complete loss, not that it matters. That's how it is. I feel like a fog, but it's not important. I've just been sitting around not getting anything done, but shrug."
-every insult there is, is here.
-how to stimulate death
-am i annoying or not . com
-the stella awards, for "the most frivolous [and] successful lawsuits" that [could only] happen in the US.
-most coveted book covers
-That last link was found at kottke, which has a lot of other good links this week, including one to a free literary map of NYC
The cognitive differences start with basic sensory perception. In one study, Michigan's Taka Masuda showed Japanese and American students pictures of aquariums containing one big fast-moving fish, several other finned swimmers, plants, rock and bubbles. What did the students recall? The Japanese spontaneously remembered 60% more background elements than did the Americans. They also referred twice as often to relationships involving background objects ("the little frog was above the pink rock").[more>]
Simon, desperate for superficial approval, updates Hitler's look and wages a competition between himself and Der Furher on hotornot.com. Guess who's winning; poor Simon.
Imagery from the history of medicine.
-a graphical interpretation of J.L. Borges "Book of Imaginary Beings"
-and, somewhat related: strange science's goof gallery, "a collection of mistakes about living and extinct organisms."
-As I hope you can tell, I'm not blogging the war. Hundreds of sites are already doing that, and doing it better than I could. But I have to mention this one little headline: Would the real George Bush please stand down.
-a page of portraits
-Etch-a-Sketch online. While drawing with a mouse is harder than drawing with a pen, online etch-a-sketching is much easier than using the original.
-all the rules for every game
Everyday, since I was 12 or 13, I've seen 1:11 and 11:11 on my alarm or computer clock. I never see 2:22, 3:33, 4:44, etc. Only 1:11 or 11:11.
A few years ago, my friend Michael said 1:11 and 11:11 are numbers you make wishes on, and so, two to four times a day, I make the same wish (always the same wish).
I wouldn't mention this -- I store away my obsession with, and exposure to, 11:11 under "personal superstitions." But today, cleaning out my favorites folder, I found a site that I swear I've never seen before.
Some of you have recognized this symbol as something of significance, yet have been unaware of its true meaning. With the advent of digital clocks many years ago, the significance of 11:11 began to make itself felt, often appearing on clocks at times of accelerated awareness. For those of you who have know that 11:11 was something special, we now need you to come forth into positions of leadership. For you are important parts of the key.
It's pretty ridiculous. But I decided to do some web research, and see what else people have to say about 11:11.
NVisible, some kind of religous cult, has a 11:11 forum for people to share their experience of seeing 11:11. Also, their website informs us, "The Doorway of the 11:11 opened on January 11, 1992"--which is creepy, because that's around when I started seeing 11:11--"and is now scheduled to close on November 11, 2011." They also have a page of intense New Age-y articles on the subject.
And, this is the most amazing page I found. Absolutely crazy:
After the mid 1980s adjudication of the Lucifer Rebellion, and with the beginning of the Correcting Time, the 1,111 Loyal Secondary Midwayers have found more purpose in life.Under the direction of our Planetary Prince, Machiventa Melchizedek, answering to Christ Michael's call and His mandates for this planet, the Midwayers, and many other Celestial Personalities are ready to assist us in our spiritual, social and technological, educational, ecological and economical progress.
The Midwayers 11:11 time prompts are now being received world wide -- directed at anyone potential mortal assistant who might dare to form an association with these brilliantly minded, and greatly learned creatures who exist "just outside our facet of time".
"The Search for 11:11" details my association of decades with these valiant and trustworthy creatures. Its 260 pages relate to my discovering who they are, and the many ways in which a platoon of Midwayers and a lone mortal can make themselves useful and for the benefit of many.
So far, the best page on 11:11 is this kid's ; it has a decidedly non-religous bent.
other 11:11 sitings:
11:11 merchandise
the 11:11 cult
111 and other triple numbers explained
Portal 11:11 (in Spanish)
11:11 googlism
scary 11:11 story (not real, right?)
quartet 11:11
random 11:11 google hit
11:11 magically (?) appears in a photo
Girl fights python to save kitten27mar03
A SIX-year-old girl became the first female to receive the RSPCA's humane award for saving her kitten from a predatory python.
Marlie Coleman did not think twice about taking on the scrub python when it wrapped its jaws around her kitten Sooty in their Cairns backyard earlier this year.The sharp-toothed python let go of the kitten, but attached itself to Marlie's lip, hanging on until her mother heard the screams and shook it off.
Her mother, Shakira, remembers seeing Marlie standing on the barbecue with a snake attached to her face, bleeding and sobbing "Snake trying to eat Sooty".
RSPCA Queensland chief executive officer Mark Townend said Marlie's only concern on her way to hospital after the attack was for the kitten.
"The RSPCA does not want to see children place themselves in danger," Mr Townend said.
"However, this little girl, who was only five at the time, showed exceptional bravery.
"Marlie performed a selfless and courageous act on behalf of her kitten friend and she has captured the spirit of animal welfare."[more>]
"An obsessively omnivorous polymath, a speed-reading insomniac, an incomparably prolific reviewer and just some regular folks—here are our favorite people who read more than you do."
The state smoking ban comes just four days before New York City begins enforcing its own smoking ban, and will pre-empt sections of it. For instance, the state ban limits special tobacco-promotion events at restaurants and bars to two nights a year, instead of the five allowed under the city ban.In addition, the state law will close several exemptions that were added at the last minute by the City Council. Smoking will no longer be allowed at establishments personally operated by their owners, and bars and nightclubs will no longer have the option of building specially ventilated rooms that can be used for up to three years.[more>]
The 50 Most Loathsome New Yorkers. Some excerpts:
50 Naomi Campbell, Model
The quintessential don’t-you-know-who-I-am celebrity has made headlines for her Mansonesque behavior toward bellhops, assistants and other people with real jobs. It’s easy to hate models; we’d all like to make a living getting fucked in speedboats and staying hooked on other peoples’ heroin. But a model who’s an ungrateful asshole to boot actually deserves the inevitable cruel fate of her lot: an early middle age of sagging tits, Botox, secret Rogaine treatments and fat stockbroker boyfriends with hairy backs.
46 Yoko Ono, Artist
This shameless, atonal publicity hag and lawsuit machine grows more frightening with age. The second wife of the only good Beatle regularly competes with Kim Jong Il and Louis Farrakhan in televised international sunglasses competitions, but otherwise sends skin crawling with helium-filled public statements and conceptual art that makes you want to give nuclear war a chance. What’s the only thing worse than this Godzilla nemesis moaning like a wounded banshee over a minimalist cello? Her son Sean on stage with a $700 six-string and that shit-eating grin on his face.
5 Jonathan Safran Foer, One-Hit Wonder
Joyce Carol Oates invented this Jewish mother’s wet dream in a Princeton laboratory, and now we have to live in a world where eager-to-please frauds like Foer receive unearned comparisons to geniuses like Burgess and Joyce. Continuing a disturbing recent literary trend, his overhyped, cutesy first novel, Everything Is Illuminated, features a fictional protagonist whose name is Jonathan Safran Foer. Incidentally, most of us get along just fine with a mere two names, dick.
4 Ann Coulter, Pundit
Yes, she does live here. What a depressing age we live in, when a horse-faced Tri-Delt who spends her days hurling genocidal threats at foreigners and liberals—whose best come-hither look promises jackboots, pepper gas and the switch—can somehow be considered a sex symbol. What’s next? Vlad the Impaler Beanie Babies? A children’s show called Joseph McCarthy’s Neighborhood? Please, before it’s too late, bring back Charlene Tilton, and send this pampered, vicious bitch back to the stenographic pool where she belongs.
-Most people cite Michael Moore's speech as the Oscars' most embarrassing moment. I disagree and nominate this moment instead: about to open the envelope for best picture, Kirk Douglas said, "We're going to reveal tomorrow's headline."
-GirlHacker figures out what went into the Oscar goodie bags. (scroll about halfway down)
-The Center For Vanished Celebrities tracks just that.
-short film clips of chemical reactions (via reenhead)
-"Nail biters at risk of lead poisining" (via quasimeta)
-atlas of human parasites, organized according to body parts (via dublog)
-You know you're not supposed to smoke weed when you're pregnant, right?
In celebration of Flannery O'Connor's birthday, wood.s lot has collected links to her short stories and some online O'Connor criticism.
Some friends mentioned this video at the Foxhead the other night, and I finally found it: Bush and Blair, a love duet. No comment.
In celebration of Haruki Murakami's newly translated and published book, After the Quake, the Guardian is giving away Murakami's entire fiction backlist.
For the chance to win all nine titles, email books.competition@guardianunlimited.co.uk with your name and address by noon, Thursday March 27, marking the subject heading 'Murakami,' and answering this question:
What is the title of Murakami's non-fiction book about the 1995 Tokyo subway attack? (The answer: Underground, which Josh bought me and I should really read. There: I put it on my desk. One step closer to reading it.)
Atomic Tonic has a pretty good links collection. And, to save you time, and waste my night on nothing, I've selected some of the best links for you:
-Apology Note Generator. It can at least help with the first draft.
-drokk.com. Includes gallery of creepy cards and family indigestion.
-The Easter Egg Archive and the Easter Egg Page. Don't know what an easter egg is? Go away.
-fax foods. "In business for over twelve years, Fax Foods is the premier manufacturer of Food Display Solutions. What are Food Display Solutions? Perfect reproductions of foods mostly created with FDA approved plastics and resins."
-404 Research Lab. Links to the internet's best 404 Not Found Pages.
-MUM, or the MUseum of Menstruation. MUM sez, "Discover the rich history of menstruation and women's health on this Web site." If history implies some kind of change, I'm not sure menstruation can have a history; but the NY Times says the site's "odd, funny and well researched."
-Pacman! Sure, you have to use the arrow keys, but it's Pacman!
-Unclaimed Baggage Center. Buy people's unclaimed baggage.
-Where's George? See where your money's been.
A while ago, I linked to SDL, the Squirrel Defamation League. Today, I discovered an equally good site-- a scary squirrel world.
Some schoolday mornings while I was in high school a rabid squirrel would appear at the top of the stairs leading to our front door. Sometimes the squirrel wouldn't let us pass, or it would chase my brother down the stairs, trying to bite him. So, yes, squirrels are evil.
Related entries: Nature's Suicide Bombers, April 27, 2002; Animals Attack!, June 11, 2002; killer squirrel update, June 16, 2002.
Fox's Married by America may be the last step in the evolution of reality TV. The show embodies every permutation of the reality genre: contestants vie for an eligible bachelor, become couples and live in a Big Brother-style house, and, each week, try not to get voted off. Next week, the couples who survived Meet the Parents. And, finally, in a month: Who Wants to Marry a Stranger.
Not all of the elements mesh well. What couple gets ousted each week is decided by a triumvirate of harpy shrinks, and the ousting has a forced and tired solemnity: the camera pans slo-mo as the woman removes her ring and hands it to the man, who then stands and brings it to the host. The shrinks nod with fake compassion. And the set, a living room, makes the ring-exchange more casual than the show's music intends.
But, still: I think Married by America is one of the most riveting hours on TV. Its subject is love, the bliss of new relationships, but its tone is stark and ominous. It tracks the couples into their bedrooms, where women plead for a kiss from their cold partners, where men admit they're not yet in love, where new partners have their first, clumsy sex. It's emotional and sad and over-orchestrated and sort of brilliant.
Milky the Marvelous Milking Cow
"To get Milky to drink from its bucket of water, you simply had to 'pump its tail gently' until Milky lowered its head and sucked it down dutifully. When Milky was done drinking, it would raise its head and let loose with a meek 'moo,' and then the milking fun could begin! All that was left to do was place the sturdy plastic bucket directly underneath Milky’s midsection and pull gingerly on the fairly lifelike soft rubber udders. Not surprisingly, Milky would issue forth a stream of cloudy water into the bucket." (from yesterdayland)
17th-century poet John Dryden [wrote]: "Great Wits are sure to Madness near ally'd."Just how they are allied, of course, is a matter of intense interest, to the mentally ill, their families and their doctors. An entire smorgasbord of relevant topics, including lectures, workshops, panel discussions, art exhibitions, theatre, musical and dance pieces -- many of them performed by troupes whose members are themselves victims of mental illness -- is now underway (until March 30) at Toronto's Harbourfront Centre.
Produced by the Workman Theatre Project and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, it's being billed as the world's largest festival of Madness and Arts. [more>]
Those who suffer from mental illness tend to like the madness-art association. I'm one of those people. Here's why:
1. Depression creates the type of interiority that modernism worshipped and literature continues to value. Depression might not have created the language of interiority, but depressives, borrowing from that language to explain their illness, learn that language well.
2. Mental illness can inhibit creation, but creation allows for the sense that ones mental suffering, otherwise senseless, can be redeemed.
3. Madness may be an interpretation of stimuli that fails to rely on conventional contexts for understanding stimuli. Art may be, in part, the process of making things new. Then, both rely on disassociating from convention-- but one is a partial disassociation, still able to reference itself in terms of convention, and the other is a disassociation so complete, reference is impossible.
related entry: And, still not Van Gogh, May 25, 2002.
-naughty food items
-sliced sections of a human head
-evolve creatures in your browser
-table of condiments that periodically go bad
-other people's stories
Sorry, none of these links are properly attributed. Most of them have been wasting away in my favorites folder and I can't remember where they came from.
-the "only video of a skull and bones ritual" (via spitting image)
-created languages (via incoming signals)
-monster cards: "Movie Monsters, TV Monsters, Classic Monsters" (via speckled paint)
-Chinese characters: A Genealogy and Dictionary (via muxway)
-fimoculous has Matthew Barney links (scroll to last item)
"R.J. Reynolds has come up with a cigarette called Eclipse, which produces no second-hand smoke." more>
Also found on Gawker: a mixed drink that's supposed to taste like Marlboro Reds.
-From MeFi: "Decoding Visual Language Elements in News Content is an MFA thesis examining how layout, cropping, image selection et al. influence the way the content is perceived." Try out the interactive demo.
-Enter your God in The Great God Contest, or bet on the winner using the handicapper's tip sheet. (via idle type)
-how to write sex fiction (not erotica) (via bookslut)
-"Genius Creates Robot Orangutan With Mind of Baby" (via fark)
-retrocrush's list of the coolest toys ever
-old cig tv ads (via muxway)
-candy-colored drugs and pills (via the redesigned six different ways)
-Pride and Prejudice is now a hypertext
-Scientology---based on the teachings of Aleister Crowley? (via fimoculous)
-For Menard: Fischerspooner update
-latino Morrissey fans (found on asciirock's ref-log)
-abandoned subway stations (via ascii)
-manhattan skyscraper timeformations (via muxway)
-instruction manuals (via coudal partners)
Financial aid awards went out today, and I got a bum deal. So: I think I'm going to have some liquor.
And, tomorrow: Spring Break 2003. The weblog will take a short hiatus while I get drunk and drunker.
[Biographers] we get to write the story. The true story. Except it is not, because biography is the least naturalistic of literary genres. Poetry and fiction, in comparison, are pure documentary. Think about it: the experience of living a life is nothing at all like writing or reading a Life. [more>
-"New York's revival of '80s pop produces the worst album of the year."
-Merriam-Webster's newest additions
-The NY Times reviews Sontag's Regarding the Pain of Others
-kissing school (via the presurfer)
-The Comics Characters Database
-torture test
Our tongue can taste sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and unami.
The 2003 Bloggies winners have been announced. And Geoff, get this. "Best Tagline" award goes to Electric Bungalow: "Still cool, like the other side of the pillow."
I found some left-over modafinil, and decided to make a night of it. Daniel, if you're reading this--- I've been cleaning my apartment.
-tree houses for adults
-Zagat Survey outtakes
-famous name changes (via six different ways)
-iconography portfolio (via coudal partners)
-popcrazy: for your deepest animal lusts, WB shows.
-Products available before the drugs they contained became illegal (via whatsthewhat)
-Alternate Reality Gaming
-Ganguro pics (via boingboing)
-all the patron saints
-an IMDB for books?
-Nudibranches, "probably the most beautiful creatures in the ocean!" (from dublog)
la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la.
March is National Novel Editing Month. The concept is as natural as its abbreviation, NaNoEdMo, is simple.
-toilets really are beautiful
-Italo Calvino's American Diary
-Neil Pollack hates Jonathan Safran Foer
-NYC in legos (via the presurfer)
-50 years of TV dinners (via reenhead)
-self-portraiture in five lines
-pictoplasma, character designs
-a better translation service (via wood s lot)
-Christina, the new face of Versace
-My cat, Bobo, is a very lucky black cat.
-Gawker currently has a gentrification map of Manhattan, based on the distribution of Starbucks.
-my sense of humor is devolving
-visual tours of abandoned insame asylums (via the ultimate insult)
In a reversal of decades-old wisdom, environmentalists and waste campaigners now argue that burning cardboard, plastics and food leftovers is better for the environment and the economy than recycling.[more>]
So I repeat: I look to find my book as I go along. Plot comes last. I want a conception of my characters that's deep enough so that they will get me to places where I, as the author, have to live by my wits. That means my characters must keep developing. So long as they stay alive, the plot will take care of itself. Working on a book where the plot is already fully developed is like spending the rest of your life filling holes in rotten teeth when you have no skill as a dentist. [more>]
-highly recommended: digital diorama/ cardboard animation (via magnetbox)
-names of the full moons (off MeFi), and China's three-phase exploration plan
-Slate on France's Red Bible
-The Private Dick: matrimonial spying (found at the morning news)
-an American fan translates the prologue of the new Murakami book, Kafka On The Shore (via injection)
-What does music look like?
-goth girls gone wild. Yes, it's porn.
-Britney gossip
Muxway has several good, good links this week: illustrated timeline of human evolution, rolling ball sculptures, bum wines, history of comedy/tragedy masks, and breakfast cereal character guide.
Two artists Leslie Hill and Helen Paris approached me with their Wellcome-sponsored "On the Scent" project, which is an installation/performance project to investigate the potential of smell to trigger memories and emotions. . . . There will be four chambers: reminiscence, false scents, making scents and on the scent. "Reminiscence" will be a sort of olfactory museum of smells from different times and cultures, designed so that people will encounter a range of familiar and new odours depending upon their age, ethnicity and place they grew up in. [more>]
-pretty girls make graves: Cemetery Girlz (spotted at six different ways)
-"the style and class of vintage telegrams, with the speed and convenience of email." (via kottke)
-your beating heart (change its pace with your mouse) (found at the presurfer)
-the geek hierarchy
-our world leaders:
It's horrible when tiredness masquerades as sadness. I have this limp feeling inside me, like my veins were once hard like toothpicks and just turned to spaghetti. I walk around my apartment and flap my arms in front of me. I smoke deep and sink into my office chair. I read in bed, and feel useless.
Recent articles about witches-- the subject of my novel:
From the TLS: "Feb. 26, 2003 — Witches, derided for centuries as evil and haggard crones, were officially declared to be hip and groovy Tuesday by a British scholar."
From the BBC: "Teenage girls think witchy-types like Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Buffy are more attractive and glamorous 'girl power' role models than stars like Ms Dynamite. " (Huh?)
-dialect survey maps
-the eskeletons project
-leaflet drops
-On the web, the big headline of the moment is "Revealed: US dirty tricks to win vote on Iraq war"
-"Raymond Radiguet died at age 20, having completed two novels and some poetry, encouraged by his mentor Jean Cocteau."
-anxieties of the famous (for SL)
-Clark Kent's glasses (last two links via incoming signals)
You might have noticed one of my categories is Evil Animals. I should probably trash it, and use that spare cup for a new category. But, until then, here's the headline of a story found on Fark:
Parents of Baby Attacked by Raccoon in Court
-Sam writes today's papers
-archnet's images (via muxway)
-"top tips for besting your enemies"
-What does it take to get called The Breakfast From Hell?
-more to come, I think.
Get to the fourth paragraph.
Jesus. If any of you out there are college juniors, check out this internship: $2,000/month while you write a book, and the chance to get it published.
-"People say it would be terrible if we made all girls pretty. I think it would be great."
-Lisboa photographs (off mefi)
-images of the Southwest
-audioblogger
-the perfect pick-up line
-If you're going to plagiarize fiction, at least change the names.
-New York songlines
-Solve this for me.
-morning simulator
-make Oulipo a word burst.
-the most reclusive writer of the 20th century
-inventing new games
-ephemera now
I'm getting a lot of google hits on the topic, so here's a DIRECT LINK TO MY BHHS/TOXIC POST. I'll keep this link at the top of my page for at least another week.
Other articles: 1 2 3 4
I went to BHHS (class of '97), and welcome feedback from fellow classmates.
In the meantime, here's an exchange between me and my friend Sam. I think he makes some good points.
To Sam, Feb.13
Neurotoxins: reminds me of White Noise, in which the airborn toxic event had little emotional effect on me. I feel a sense of unreality, or, more precisely: we expect a causal relationship between events and feelings. Neurotoxic exposure should trigger hypochondria, anxiety, fear of death, etc. But, in my case, it triggers nothing; it's like a failed chemistry experiment. Maybe my h.s.'s toxicity is too abstract, or maybe I get through every day using defense mechanisms, denial, and I see no reason not to enlarge denial's scope.
To Nathalie, Feb. 15
. . .I totally understand your blank reaction; the whole thing's so abstract that it's impossible to assimilate.
I think the real danger, though, isn't hypochondria, isn't in the existence
or absence of some kind of empirically verifiable mental symptom. Rather,
the danger is taking this on this as some kind of symbol, as a narrative
signpost, rather than just some bizarre thing that happened. High school is
such a potent time, so to find out it was literally contaminated -- it
sounds like a literary device. I mean, the airborne toxic event in White
Noise was itself a metaphor, so perhaps that's part of why you would
associate the two.
To Sam, Feb. 17
Tonight, watching Buffy after reading your letter, I realized that the Hellmouth is located right under Sunnydale High. I guess the narrative of "toxic/evil high school" is already in place; but I think, if I do adopt the narrative, the elements will be correspondent, not causal.
