Shinsengumi

Today the word shinsengumi is rolling around in my head like an electric marble. Not sure what to do with that; the storm troopers of the embattled Shogunate don't seem likely to have many useful lessons for me to incorporate into my daily work, though I certainly feel inspired (in an ADD kind of way) to run to the library and pick up a book or two on Meiji Era Japan.

Mental Records

A big shout out to a new voice in the blogosphere! My old mate Brandon Terrell has set up shop over at mental-records.blogspot.com, and so far it is stellar stuff from top to bottom. Expect lots of reviews: Brandon is an avid consumer of books, comics, movies and television (as well as an up-and-coming author and filmmaker), and loves to share his eloquently-readable thoughts thereon (sort of like some of what we try to do here, except BT actually has time for all this stuff, plus he knows what the hell he is talking about). So check it out, sign up to follow Mental Records, and keep coming back for more savvy observations on pop culture and art (sometimes they are the same thing!).

DeVotchKa!

I confess that I do not know this band at all, nor do I even know what they sound like. But their name has suddenly become my favorite driving-in-traffic expletive.

only one more day until new Portishead!

It seems futile to attempt to parse this statement out any further. Such an exercise would only serve to highlight the inadequacy of mere words to address the magnitude of this event: the first album of new material from this group in eleven very long years.

Of course, it is horribly likely that such anticipation will end in disappointment; what collection of tracks, after all, can stand in the same room with their 1994 debut Dummy, or even with the less staggering but still astonishing Portishead (1997)? But no matter the length against the odds of Third delivering the same degree of excellence as its predecessors in the Portishead catalogue, this is without rival the musical event of the year.

Trying a new trick

Today I am trying to learn to use the mouse with my left hand.

This is something I have always wished I had learned to begin with for eccentric productivity reasons, but I fear this may be a very old dog moment. My right hand and wrist have been exhibiting escalating signs of not being well, so this is an earnest (some might say desperate) attempt to salvage my ability to wield a pen before things get too gnarly.

found in an old notebook

Como Park is a most diverting place to make a film or a baby.


I wonder what that was all about.