Archive for September, 2006

My sister Jen reviews Sufjan’s show in Milwaukee last night:
So the stage is set—thirteen stools and a veritable menagerie of instruments set out in rows and groups. The string section enters from the left, and at first you don’t really notice what they’re wearing, because you’re still in shock that there’s actually a string section. Then comes the brass section—two trumpets and a trombone—followed by a drummer, two miscellaneous instrumentalists and then finally, Sufjan. It is now that you notice what they’re all wearing: faux-communist Chinese army uniforms and butterfly wings. Yes, butterfly wings. Except, of course, for Sufjan, who has the larger, more stately wingspan of an eagle or a hawk. He steps to the microphone and says simply, “Hi, my name is Sufjan Stevens. Tonight I will be your Majestic Songbird,” he points to the ensemble, “and they will be your Magical Chinese Butterfly Brigade.”

(If you couldn’t tell, Yahoo’s MyWeb API is broken, and all my links are missing their attached notes. I think it’s time to drop MyWeb and write my own WordPress plugin to handle links…)

Knit graffiti


I need to get on this here in Venice. I got skillz wit da needles, yo.

puppy

puppy

I love that she’s the kind of girl who carries around balloon-animal supplies in her purse.

“I am like a deaf mute with a message of the utmost importance addressing someone ignorant of my fantastic language, who must resort to a frightful pantomime of sighs and gestures. Laboriously, I am transcribing reality.” —Evan S. Connell

John Zorn is one of the winners of the 2006 MacArthur “genius” grants


That means he gets half a million dollars over five years to support whatever he wants to do, with no strings attached. As if he wasn’t prolific enough already…

“The Eskimo has twenty words to express the conditions of snow. The Tokelau Islander has nine words for the ripeness of coconut. I have not one word to express my longing.” —Evan S. Connell

Pictopia, an online photo developer that specializes in huge prints


Good quality, reasonably priced

Emptiness, an article by Jonathan Safran Foer


JSF has been collecting blank sheets of paper from notable authors for years, building a “museum of pure potential, the unfilled page.” This article was published in Playboy, and it was accompanied by a blank page, which the author asked his readers to send in.

At the beach in Santa Cruz, the fat seagulls’ legs look like produce-section twist ties…

I read somewhere that Saint Bibiana is the patron saint of the diocese of Los Angeles. Apparently she refused being forced into prostitution, was then imprisoned in an asylum, and was subsequently flogged to death. Supposedly her body was left to the dogs, but none would touch her. I find all of this oddly humorous and perfectly appropriate. Oh, Los Angeles, I love you.