plain and simple, in that order

Little Wings - So What?

I moved to this new city. "So what?" you might say. Still, I haven't found a job. And I get lost on city buses but love to take the trolley. It is easier and I ride backwards everywhere watching everything get smaller and sucked into the distance. Woosh woosh so what!

I went to an interview downtown and changed into dress attire in a broken down McDonald's. I ate a sandwich after the call simulation and interview was completed. I drank chocolate milk and watched people wait for a bus. So what.

I went to a sports bar and drank gin and tonics where they told me "hey, it's always happy hour here!" and I said uh-huh so what, so what. We ran to the T before it got dark so I wouldn't get lost. We made it! Sarah fell asleep on the train and we almost missed our stop and the operator said $2. I shoved it in the little machine thinking "so what..." but I had spent $6 total taking the T that day.

I walked down to BP or AM/PM to get a half gallon of milk. The first time I left the house in two days! I could not find my keys. Tearing apart my room, I emptied all of the bags and purses I had used in the past four days... No sight of them. Finally I went to my front door and opened it. There the keys were, jingling in the deadbolt. I laughed and thought 'so what'.

i'll mess up my color just to feel you correct it

Recently I read a way to make a simple home air conditioning system. It involved one large bag of ice, a powerful fan and a tray to empty the bag of the ice into. After placing the ice in the container, turn the fan on high. The coolness put off by the ice rises into the air and is blown into your face by the fan. This can be pretty messy and only lasts a short while.

If you are searching for other ways to cool down this summer, I suggest Melbourne, Australia's The Crayon Fields. Forming in 2002, the band put out their first LP in 2006 called Animal Bells. In September they will release their second full length called All The Pleasures of the World.



Reminiscent of The Beach Boys and The Zombies they are a great way to shake down this summer. Click on the links below to download your own 1960's pop cool. No fan required.

Crayon Fields - Voice Of Paradise from Geoff O'Connor on Vimeo.

The Crayon Fields - All the Pleasures of the World
The Crayon Fields - Living So Well

you'd stay home, oh, if only they'd let you

I will preface this by saying I usually like books and writing in general not because they are good, but because I somehow managed to read them. That somehow by reading them and making it through the texts they become 'good' to me.

So sad, really.

But I am pretty sure that JD Salinger is good. I'm sure of it. And I love Nine Stories. Mostly I love "Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut."

1948. Things were very different then. But parts of this remind me of how I manage to reminisce about college. The dialogue reminds me of the way memories are recollected together, especially among women.

I'm not saying that in my life I have much to do with either of these characters. But I am vastly interested in them.

"Well, wudga marry him for, then?" Mary Jane said.

"Oh, God! I don't know. He told me he loved Jane Austen. He told me her books meant a great deal to him. That's exactly what he said. I found out after we were married that he hadn't even read one of her books. You know who his favorite author is?"

Mary Jane shook her head.

"L. Manning Vines. Ever hear of him?"

"Uh-uh."

"Neither did I. Neither did anybody else. He wrote a book about four men that starved to death in Alaska. Lew doesn't remember the name of it, but it's the most beautifully written book he's ever read. Christ! He isn't even honest enough to come right out and say he liked it because it was about four guys that starved to death in an igloo or something. He has to say it was beautifully written."

***

Belle & Sebastian - Put the Book Back on the Shelf

best of: gentleness

I love Loney, Dear. And I have written of him, of them at least one time already.

"To be able to cope with life you have to see the dark side...
And we need sad music."

Emil Svanängen



I really enjoy this short documentary on the band. I enjoy the way he speaks... There is something about the way a non-native English speaker explains things. It is special, always poetic and straight to the point.



Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy this mP3. I think this has a much different tone and tempo than any previous work by Mr. Dear.

Loney, Dear - Airport Surroundings

weeping rock, rock

It is a signal morning in some ways.

Even though it is 1:13pm. Even though I haven't showered or brushed my teeth.

Even though they say they don't like poetry--they don't like love poems.

I wake up in the worst ways.



Circulatory System - Signal Morning 2

I'm melting okay

It's usually the cold weather that spikes the forever running sap of my bottoming out in the areas of love, tenderness and overall efghuuuooooh.

However, on this rare June evening, sticky with the ceiling fan's ineffective twirlings, I find this bullshit seeping out of me. Frustrated, forlorn and still tinged with the red of pillow marks from a five hour nap, I can feel the usual ache that seems to follow me.

Drink, drink, drink all of the wine in the world and all of the pink champagne. It's what happens to you in the evening, in the night, when there is nothing but hums and whispers and sighs.

Drunkenly, I seem to find the perfect life-encompassing metaphor in the differing advice provided in what to do in case of a bear attack.


drawing by Paul B. Drohan

Some say to tower your hands above your head, making your body taller and larger in hopes of intimidating the bear. This way, the bear will see you as an equal threat, or even a greater one than he. Somehow he will know to continue on.

Conversely it has also been advised to curl your body into a small, lifeless ball. That by somehow folding your arms and legs you will make yourself seem as tiny as possible, disappearing into the forest green. To play dead, taking shallow breath upon shallow breath until the bear believes, and often you as well, that you have ceased to exist, or never did in the first place.

And as we all go on living and dreaming, I find myself stuck between the two plans, waiting for my bear attack to see what it is that I really am.

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The Softies - Stormy Weather
Bishop Allen - Butterfly Nets

Scener ur ett äktenskap (1973)

I wanted to write a little bit about the genius of Ingmar Bergman's Scenes From a Marriage. I'm not classy enough to have seen many of his films so this is my introduction to him. This began as a television miniseries and then they cut it down to make a movie. Both are available... I happen to be watching the mini series version.

I wanted to find a video clip but I cannot find any with English subtitles.

It is so good and so intense and I really do recommend watching it. And unlike these stills, it is in wonderful 1970's color film.










Ingmar Bergman shooting Scenes From a Marriage with Erland Josephson and Liv Ullmann.

And some accompanying Swedish songs. One by the Acid House Kings, a great Swedish pop outfit. Another by the one and only Jens Lekman.

Acid House Kings - Save it for the Weekend
Jens Lekman - Psychogirl