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January 31, 2010
Sad Sunday Nite
I stumbled upon this almost comically maudlin scene walking home on 4th Ave through Sunset Park just now. I looked over both shoulders, wondering if it was a set-up. But no one was to be seen. This is how it's going down tonight.
Posted by caps at 09:06 PM | Comments (0)
Sunday Night
Posted by caps at 07:09 PM | Comments (0)
January 24, 2010
Sunday PM
Living in the past over here.
Posted by caps at 04:37 PM | Comments (0)
January 23, 2010
Saturday Nite
Posted by caps at 08:57 PM | Comments (0)
January 20, 2010
Clarification
Rereading my conversation with Louis, I want to clarify the record: I meant no shots at the kids who liked punk rock in high school. I liked punk rock in high school. Rather, I meant to voice my frustration with purity tests and narrow conceptions of what's possible/desirable - and insofar as lots of high school scenes rely on an us-vs.-them narrative, with unflagging allegiance to a certain ideal prized over all else, the crux of my comment is entirely applicable to any crew of kids really into a genre. Like the kids who got mad when you liked Jay-Z and, I dunno, Jeru tha Damaja or somebody like that. Also: when I called the American public a bunch of idiots - fucking idiots, I think I said - well, I do not exclude myself from that characterization.
Waking up this morning was kinda tough, but this piece from The Awl helps kinda. Entitled "Initial Reaction To Scott Brown's Senate Victory In Massachusetts: An Imagined Monologue By The Republican Party," here's a stage-setting excerpt:
Hey you, come here. I need you to do me a favor. Hold on to this bag for a little bit, okay?
Well, yeah, it is on fire. Funny story about that, I'll tell it to you some time.
In it? Well - and get ready to laugh, this is pretty great - I filled it full of shit. Yep, shit. This, my friend, is a flaming bag of shit, and you're holding it.
Why? You're holding a flaming bag of shit and you're asking me why I filled it full of shit and set it on fire? I was you I'd be figuring out a way to extinguish it rather than doing some kind of, what do you call it, searching moral inventory on how the bag came to be full of shit and set ablaze. Lemme tell you something, kid, I've been around a while: People don't care why the bag is full of shit and on fire. They just want you to put it out. All these questions: Why did you fill the bag full of shit? Why on earth would you set it on fire? Why am I not helping you put it out? Nobody gives a fuck. You're holding the bag. You took it from me. You put it out.
Posted by caps at 12:15 PM | Comments (0)
January 19, 2010
Freaked
caps (5:52:15 PM): Typical Liberal Self-Sabotage
Mother Jones's Kevin Drum sees nothing new. "Conservatives gave Bush five or six years before they really turned on him, and even then they revolted more against the Republican establishment than against Bush himself. But the left? It took about ten months. And the depth of the revolt against Obama has been striking too," he writes. "It's extraordinarily self-destructive behavior -- and typically liberal, unfortunately. Just ask LBJ, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton. And then ask them whether liberal revolt, in the end, strengthened liberalism or conservatism."
louis (5:53:10 PM): seriously. see the current jane hamsher blow up. with norquist last month, now with coakley...
caps (5:53:22 PM): I cannot stand Jane Hamsher
caps (5:53:30 PM): I unsubscribed from all FDL lists a couple months ago
caps (5:53:35 PM): http://www.theatlanticwire.com/opinions/view/opinion/Why-Are-Liberals-So-Disaffected-2229
abelmanlouis (5:54:01 PM): I keep feeling like there is a sleeping giant of obama support around here somewhere
louis (5:54:27 PM): that's why there is a silver lining here... maybe. but let's wait till 9:30 for the postmortem, eh??
caps (5:54:44 PM): fair enough
caps (5:54:49 PM): but we are not winning this race
louis (5:55:31 PM): no. HCR has been this stomach churning monster!
louis (5:56:47 PM): do you think-- that this is what allowing the legislative branch to legitimately do its thing looks like? and in which case, perhaps separation of powers is not all it's cracked up to be? and Obama should be more like Bush?
louis (5:57:03 PM): fucking steamroll them?
caps (5:58:29 PM): dems are idiots
caps (5:58:31 PM): we are idiots
caps (5:58:38 PM): we are like the kids who liked punk rock in high school
caps (5:58:46 PM): we are neurotic, self-conscious idiots
caps (5:58:52 PM): who insist on purity tests
caps (5:59:14 PM): who are infatuated with perfect archetypes over good pragmatic solutions
caps (5:59:20 PM): we are freaked out
caps (5:59:23 PM): we are shell-shocked
caps (5:59:27 PM): we have battered party syndrome
caps (5:59:31 PM): and we are imploding
caps (5:59:39 PM): we have a president who thought biography was enough
caps (5:59:55 PM): and, most of all, we inherited the worst mess in the world
louis (6:00:01 PM): well, that.
caps (6:00:02 PM): also, the american public is a bunch of fucking idiots
louis (6:00:06 PM): that too.
louis (6:00:10 PM): those last two
caps (6:00:15 PM): with absolutely no desire to solve problems
caps (6:00:20 PM): distracted by shiny baubles at every turn
caps (6:00:27 PM): and utopian talk
caps (6:00:40 PM): with no patience whatsoever for sacrifice, focus, or self-appraisal
caps (6:00:42 PM): we're fucked
caps (6:00:49 PM): this boat is now officially too big to turn around
caps (6:00:53 PM): next step: HELL
louis (6:00:58 PM): end of empire baby
louis (6:01:14 PM): to quote that one intermission from GZA's liquid swords:
caps (6:01:20 PM): "OH WHAT A TIME U CHOSE TO BE BORN"
louis (6:01:24 PM): HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Posted by caps at 07:48 PM | Comments (0)
January 18, 2010
Pa pa pa pa
Posted by caps at 06:48 PM | Comments (0)
Sullivan on Brown-Coakley
Brown is not a step forward; he's a throwback to the Bush years: more debt, more executive power, more war, more spending, more politics over governance, more Rove tactics and no substantive proposals except more tax cuts. He has no plans to help the uninsured or to control healthcare costs.
But it seems pretty clear to me that he will win, which means that the FNC/RNC machine has succeeded in perpetuating the meme that somehow Obama is a communist elitist out of touch with real Americans who want their government slashed, while they want no cuts at all in any entitlements, who want the budget balanced without any tax hikes or spending cuts, who demand access to unrestricted healthcare for ever, but refuse to support ways to reduce soaring costs. They want an end to crippling occupations overseas, but they also don't want to retreat or surrender to terrorists. They want to restore America's moral standing but retain the torture camp at Gitmo. And when told they cannot have all this, they vote for someone else who can promise it, however utopian their plans are.
Yup.
Andrew Sullivan: "The Crux of the Matter"
Posted by caps at 03:09 PM | Comments (0)
January 16, 2010
Zack Kassian...
... ain't nuthing ta fuck with.
Damn! Glad he's a Sabre prospect - he was our first round draft pick last year. Unfortunately, this hit's earned him an indefinite suspension. That's gotta be the right call - the last replay really demonstrates just how vulnerable Kennedy was, and Kassian looked like he was gunning for his brain. Can't do that.
It's my birthday and I'm going to see Sabres - Islanders tonight on the Island. Reminds me of P's classic take on the Nassau Coliseum, following his visit to the league's worst rink during the 06-07 playoffs. Here's the opening:
Yo the Coliseum is trash and the Islanders fans are trash. It feels like the Boulevard Mall 1985 in that place. The music, the haircuts, the style. I've never felt so classy in my life.
Fuckin a! I'm ready.
Got a new Sporting Observations up over at the Bloglin: Dizzy Dean's 100th birthday and my divisional round picks.
Posted by caps at 04:10 PM | Comments (0)
January 14, 2010
Thursday AM
1. Letterheady.com - "interesting letterhead designs." I like Lawrence Welk's. And obviously the Star Wars one - love how the person who designed that was like, "Yeah, that iconic Star Wars titling? Not gonna use it. Fuck that."
2. Helsinki 78-82: Cruising.
I lived in Helsinki for a year when I was 7. Our apartment was right by the Church in the Rock.
Posted by caps at 01:13 PM | Comments (0)
RIP Teddy Pendergrass
One more:
Posted by caps at 11:35 AM | Comments (0)
January 13, 2010
Wednesday PM
Things I'm reading:
1. Nicholas Carr on what the internet does to the human mind.
I find this particularly interesting, because I can feel the internet's effects on my own mind, attention span, modes of thought. Maybe you can too. Since leaving law school in 2006, I spend 8 hours minimum - and in reality, more like 9-10 - per day in front of a networked device, be it the laptop or the phone. The weekends aren't much better. ("Better"? Or worse? Should I be ascribing a positive or negative quality to my internet usage?) The internet beckons, always: checking my e-mail is literally the first thing I do when my eyes open in the morning. And although I've been trying to be more respectful of my circadian rhythms since reading some weird Gwyneth Paltrow essay Finny sent me last year - which means turning off the computer, the tv, and the phone an hour or two before I'm into bed - it's often a losing battle. When I get to work, I have at least 8-14 windows open at all times, and when I take the elevator downstairs to get lunch, I'm checking my email as I travel down 18 floors.
Being constantly plugged has changed the way my mind responds to stimulus and processes information, I'm sure. I can feel it in ways both large and small. When I used the word "circadian" above, I first Googled it to make sure of its spelling. And while I've been typing this entry, I've also had six other tabs open. I've written work emails, kept up on my twitter feed, received emails about Haiti and China, and researched radio personality Delilah. That's small stuff, of course - but over time, the rivulets established by such activity become more established, right? Slowly but surely cutting deeper pathways into my circuitry? I think so. I remember how after I first signed up for Twitter - more than 2,500 posts (sorry; don't like "tweets") ago - I found myself walking the streets in a mini-haze for a couple weeks afterwards, silently composing my thoughts in 140 word droplets. That hasn't totally left - and how much of it becomes internalized?
At any rate, does worrying about this kind of stuff make me a cultural or technological conservative? I hope not, and I don't think it does. For one thing, I'm not sure this change is (a) negative or (b) any different, in a fundamental way, than any other change in the way that human beings have communicated information of whatever type to each other. I know that folks freaked out at the advent of the printing press, the novel, the radio, the television. (I could Google some more examples, if I was so motivated, and provide primary sources here. Ha!) And I remember that one of the blessings of having an older Dad growing up was realizing, via long conversations with him, that certain facts of human life were absolutely constant, absolutely vivid and particular, no matter the age, the means, the surroundings. Talking Heads: "Same as it ever was!"
My dad, for one, loved the democratic potential of the internet right from the start, and earlier than most - the transmission of information quickly, personally, across space and time without apparent barrier, save the limits of the croaking dial-up modem - well, he loved it and realized its galvanizing, equalizing potential right away. He died in 2005; I wish he was here to talk to about this. I think he might say that what's lost is ours to remember, if we wish, and that in the meantime, awfully hard to begrudge anyone the power to talk and listen to the world, in the way the internet allows, out of some sense of "preserving" one's attention span, or keeping things otherwise as they "ought" to be. That's not what I think Carr is doing here - not as a primary goal, at least - but those currents are evident at some level.
Ok.
2. Larry Quinn on the state of the Sabres.
3. Michael Kinsley on "The Decline of the Racist Insult."
4. Ta-Nehisi Coates: "What Gangsta Rap Has To Say To The Gentlemen."
5. Oh snap! Delilah's playing my jam.
Posted by caps at 10:13 PM | Comments (0)
January 11, 2010
$$$
caps (2:31:17 PM): guess what this number is
caps (2:31:20 PM): $128,705.77
finny (2:31:25 PM): wha
caps (2:31:26 PM): that's my student loan number
caps (2:31:34 PM): I am now in the 120,000's
finny (2:31:38 PM): WHOOOT
caps (2:31:42 PM): :)
Posted by caps at 04:16 PM | Comments (0)
Wave To Your Mom
LT in a new Nike video. Gotta be Tim & Eric, no? Gotta be.
Feel kinda weird posting a "viral" video pumped by a big corporation, but fuck it. I've done worse in this space. Like, uhhh, supporting John Edwards' 2008 presidential bid.
Posted by caps at 02:32 PM | Comments (0)
January 09, 2010
Wild Card Picks
...are up over at the Bloglin.
Posted by caps at 05:52 PM | Comments (0)
Saturday Morning
Good rap shit from the rapper with the worst name for your Saturday afternoon.
Posted by caps at 01:11 PM | Comments (0)
January 08, 2010
Next Bills Coach?
Posted by caps at 01:06 PM | Comments (0)
January 07, 2010
"Neverending Rooster"
Via my vote for Twitter MVP, the one and only LG. As she said: "FUCK YEAH BRO IT'S 2010."
Posted by caps at 07:39 PM | Comments (0)
January 04, 2010
Find of the Day
Posted by caps at 08:24 PM | Comments (0)
10 Years Gone
The Bills won in the snow today to bring a merciful and long-overdue end to their hellish 2009 campaign. I'll ignore the fact that Indy was sitting their starters - it was just nice to see the team win in the elements. Me and Dom were reminiscing earlier this afternoon about when January games used to mean something. Been too long. But today, Fitz threw strikes, TO and Lee caught pretty touchdowns, and Freddy "Beast Who?" Jackson ran for 212 yards and became the first player in NFL history to top the thousand yard mark in both yards rushing and kickoff returns. Fuck yeah; way to go out on a high note.
But of course our season was done a long time ago. The ol' Bills dipped below .500 in Week 3 - and that, dear readers, was that. The bubbles stopped coming up and the dudes never resurfaced. Really, it was all underwater once October hit. My personal rock-bottom moment was sitting in the stands at the Ralph for the Cleveland game. On a beautiful fall day, just absolutely perfect for football, my Buffalo goddamn Bills lost by the ignominious score of 6-3. Cleveland's starting quarterback went 2 of 17 for 23 yards and still beat us. I was sitting in the Rockpile with a couple of my oldest friends from Black Rock, and they donned their paper bags about five minutes into the second quarter. It was a long, long Sunday night drive back to Brooklyn. Like Nick Mendola says, it's been a rat salad of a year.
Now, at season's end, the Bills have officially finished in last place in the AFC East. Again. 10 years with no playoff appearances, not since I was a freshman in college. So I could have put this up a hell of a long time ago, but it didn't feel right somehow. It's not like I enjoy the fact that it's been over 3,000 days - 3,000 DAYS! - since the Bills have made the playoffs. But I have no choice.
So like we always do about this time:
Come on, Buddy Nix. With an accent that country, you gotta be good. I'd pay five bucks to hear Nix say "varmint" out loud - and I'd pay even more to see the Bills reborn. Start by hiring Cowher... but I'm getting ahead of myself. That's next year. For now: Go Sabres!
Posted by caps at 12:15 AM | Comments (0)
January 02, 2010
Saturday Nite
Going to The Rub. See you there.
Posted by caps at 10:31 PM | Comments (0)
Senator Ensign Ducks
Hahaha. Wow.
Via TPM:
Posted by caps at 04:29 AM | Comments (0)
January 01, 2010
New Mix from PJ
Happy New Year, beloved readers! Hope yours was good as me and Finny and Cornelius's.
Here's an opening day treat from Mr. Pandemonium Jones, who checks in with Splendid Moments 2009.
Tracklist & download at his site - click the picture. He writes:
I thoroughly enjoyed the first Splendid Moments mix and it went wood on the internet to boot, so I made another: another year in California, another farm in the mountains, another hazy, gazy, lazy mix of sensitive whiteboy daydream music. This year I was even less focused on current releases as a result of an increasingly hippie lifestyle and my reliance on Pitchfork's Best New Music picks is embarassingly evident but I'm happy to report that the ends in this case justify the means. There really are some splendid moments, in the songs themselves which I obviously can't claim credit for, and also in the transitions. It flows, baby. There's also a misstep or two, but 2009 was a wabi sabi sort of year so roll with it.
Meanwhile, I'm off to the 36th Annual New Year's Day Marathon Benefit Reading at the Poetry Project here in New York. It's a really terrific way to start the year; gets one's mind right and full of possibility. List of readers:
Ammiel Alcalay, Bruce Andrews & Sally Silvers, Penny Arcade, Ari Banias, Jim Behrle, Charles Bernstein, Anselm Berrigan, Edmund Berrigan, Ana Bozicevic, Donna Brook, Michael Brownstein, Franklin Bruno, Tyler Burba, Peter Bushyeager, Reuben Butchart, Callers, Steve Cannon, Yoshiko Chuma, Church Of Betty, Michael Cirelli, Todd Colby, John Coletti, CAConrad, Cori Copp, Geoffrey Cruickshank-Hagenbuckle, Mónica de la Torre, Mina Pam Dick, Steve Dalachinsky, LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs, Maggie Dubris, Douglas Dunn, Marcella Durand, Steve Earle, Will Edmiston, Joe Elliot, Christine Elmo, Laura Elrick, Maggie Estep, Avram Fefer, Jess Fiorini, Corrine Fitzpatrick, Foamola, Tonya Foster, David Freeman, Ed Friedman, Greg Fuchs, Joanna Fuhrman, Cliff Fyman, Kelly Ginger, Pepi Ginsberg, John Giorno, Philip Glass, John Godfrey, Toby Goodshank, Nada Gordon & Gary Sullivan, Stephanie Gray, Tim Griffin, Miguel Gutierrez, John S. Hall, Diana Hamilton, Janet Hamill, Robert Hershon, Tony Hoffman, Eddie Hopely, Lisa Jarnot, Paolo Javier, Patricia Spears Jones, Pierre Joris, Adeena Karasick, Erica Kaufman, Lenny Kaye, John Kelly, Aaron Kiely, David Kirschenbaum, Bill Kushner & Merle Lister, Susan Landers, Joan Larkin, Dorothea Lasky, Denize Lauture, Joel Lewis, Brendan Lorber, Michael Lydon, Kim Lyons, Dan Machlin & Serena Jost, Judith Malina, Filip Marinovich, Chris Martin, Gillian McCain, Legs McNeil, Tracey McTague, Taylor Mead, Jonas Mekas, Sharon Mesmer, David Mills, Rebecca Moore, Tracie Morris, Will Morris, Eileen Myles, Roy Nathanson, Elinor Nauen, Murat Nemat-Nejat, Jim Neu, Geoffrey Olsen, Dael Orlandersmith, Richard O'Russa, Eugene Ostashevsky, Yuko Otomo, Gary Parrish, Simon Pettet, Nicole Peyrafitte & Miles Joris-Peyrafitte, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Kristin Prevallet, Brett Price, Arlo Quint, Elizabeth Reddin, Evelyn Reilly, Citizen Reno, Renato Rosaldo, Bob Rosenthal, Douglas Rothschild, Tom Savage, Michael Scharf, David Shapiro, Frank Sherlock, Elliott Sharp, Nathaniel Siegel, Patti Smith, Christopher Stackhouse, Stacy Szymaszek, Anne Tardos, Steven Taylor, Susie Timmons, Edwin Torres, Rodrigo Toscano's Collapsible Poetics Theater, Tony Towle, David Vogen, Nicole Wallace, Lewis Warsh, Phyllis Wat, Karen Weiser, Simone White, Dustin Williamson, Emily XYZ, Don Yorty, Rachel Zolf, Peter Zummo Group (with Ernie Brooks and Bill Ruyle), Magdalena Zurawski & more t.b.a.
More soon - haven't even talked Buddy Nix yet.
Posted by caps at 01:45 PM | Comments (0)