alternative to what?

May 21

goodnight, NATO.

goodnight, police bus transports and deserted downtown.

goodnight, occupy folks crashing on our apartment floor.

goodnight, cow jumping over the moon.

May 08

[video]

May 02

Notes on Flannery O’Connor

• As far as I can tell, she was the first user of “biddies,” in “The Displaced Person,” 1956 (to mean young BIRDS, but I’ll let that slide). The OED has not caught up with me, but I have the word circled, highlighted, and practically bedazzled in A Good Man is Hard to Find, p. 219. Flannery O’Connor, vocabulary pioneer. 

• She uses down-homey language to distance herself from her most earnest beliefs, mainly deeply intellectual Catholicism. How many times have you described yourself as ~really growing this year~ or ~finding yourself~ or the like with a groan (or, my favorite, waving your arms to the side to look like tildes) to describe genuine but cliche/vulnerable feelings? I thought this was a totally modern phenomenon until I read about Flannery writing in letters about the “Catlics,” and how she is “gawdshile,” and her “pilgrumidge” to Lourdes to cure her of lupus. Flannery O’Connnor, original Thought Catalog writer.

• “I hope you don’t have friends who recommend Ayn Rand to you. The fiction of Ayn Rand is as low as you can get re: fiction. I hope you picked it up off the floor of the subway and threw it in the nearest garbage pail. She makes Mickey Spillane look like Dostoevsky.” - Flannery O’Connor, truthspeaker. 

• She was good friends with Robert Fitzgerald, author/translator of my back of the book answer key to Latin II and III, “The Aeneid,” Vintage Classics Edition, 1981. Flannery O’Connor, ran with awesome folks.

• One of my favorite and saddest stories about my mother has always felt like an O’Connor story to me. Our family cat, Sarah, died of old age a few years back. My devastated mother was the only one home at the time. She tearfully buried her in one of Sarah’s favorite boxes in the backyard under my window. For the rest of the day, my mother was plagued with guilt. What if Sarah wasn’t actually dead? What if she had actually BURIED the beloved family pet ALIVE in the BACKYARD? What if she could have been SAVED? My mom didn’t call me to tell me the news until after she a) dug up Sarah to double check, b) had my father triple check once he got home, and c) convinced herself Sarah died warm in her bed, not two gravelly feet underground. Catholic guilt, a dead animal, and an overactive internal dialogue = Flannery O’Connor, always relevant.

Apr 30

A short story about moving from Chicago to San Francisco.

For sale: snow boots. Hardly worn.

Apr 17

and I’m BACK ON THE INTERNET.

(Source: poetsorg, via tersaudades)

Mar 20

“That’s a big lava lamp, congratulations.” — Mitt Romney, admiring a desk decoration at Google Chicago. (via officialssay)

(via cheatsheet)

Mar 11

It’s annoying to be my friend.

I spend 60% of every roller derby game leaning over to the group, listing off nerdy potential roller derby names:

Charlepain, Zelda Hitsgerald, Gory Vidal, A Fight in August, Stahitstically Significant, and my favorite, Slamdra Day O’Connor. 

Feb 04

“Now I know there’s no fire in space, but it is a movie, and most people don’t know that.” —

Michael Bay

I regret reading through the entirety of this commentary on the commentary of the Criterion collection edition of Armageddon, as I would have liked to experience it firsthand.

Jan 29

“‘Ladies, if you love your man, show him you the flyest’ is the truest thing Beyonce has ever said. Unless she said ‘Everyone is sad’ or something in some song and I missed it.”

Jan 23

OH YOU FANCY HUH

Jan 08

bringing a knife to a gun fight

There’s a manichean arms race going down on the corner of North Ave. and Throop.

Home Depot and Lumber Liquidators are directly across the (very narrow) street from each other, and the tension seems to be getting a bit much for both parties.

and most recently:

Best part of my bus ride to Whole Foods, for sure.

this means just one thing.

January 7 - Nicolas Cage’s birthday

January 8 - David Bowie’s birthday

Con Air/The Labyrinth double feature tonight.