B. Michael and His Truly Epic Shit

06 Jul

Buber for the new millenium.

Typing on my iPhone, I realize the difficulty of ‘i’ and ‘u’ being proximal.
06 Jul
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Plays: 17 | Download

White Stripes - When I Hear My Name

Over the course of constructing a White Stripes mix CD for a would-be paramour, I realized that “When I Hear My Name” is by far my favorite White Stripes song. By far. There’s something narcissitic about self-effacement, as if the self were worthy of effacing. Also, rock to the max.

06 Jul
Every objective description, so called, implies an ethical background.

— Simone de Beauvoir

06 Jul

advice

If you want to be perceived as smart, you (obviously) need to know a little about a lot of things, and a lot about some things. But if you’re one of those people who wants to be able to make passing reference to most areas, a mistake I see people make all the time is picking an esoteric figure/group/etc to mention.

Say you’re talking about classical music (I don’t mean the era, but in general). To look smart to your companion, you pick John Cage as your favorite artist. This is too specific, because now your companion, who is more knowledgeable than you, thinks you know more than you do. Perhaps he even starts to ask you what your favorite piece is.

What you should have done is pick someone in-between. Obviously Bach or Mozart will make you look a philistine fool. You need to pick someone who isn’t so well known that you look stupid, or someone not known enough that you are questioned. In this case, you should go with Ravel or Rimsky-Korsakov. The conversation will flow more smoothly and you won’t be unveiled as a poser.

Other examples:

Russian Literature: Not Dostoevsky (too well known) or Bulgakov (too specific, but Nikolai Gogol

Film: Not Scorsese (too known) or Bunuel (too esoteric), but Kurosawa or Godard

Italian Cities: Not Rome or Montecatini, but Bologna or Siena

There, don’t say I never helped anyone.

(natface is a down-the-middle type.)

This is actually pretty good advice for the too-busy-to-read/listen/watch set. I just wanted to throw out some others and a few comments.

Others:

  • Husserl, not Heidegger or Nietzsche
  • Eggleston, not Cindy Sherman or Ansel Adams
  • Jasper Johns, not Ed Ruscha or Rothko
  • Messiaen/Charles Ives, not Schoenberg or Cage *shudder*
  • Yo La Tengo, not Pere Ubu or Deerhunter

Comments:

  • Bunuel is maybe my favorite filmmaker and I don’t think he’s too esoteric. He has a goddamn Pixies song written about him.
  • Gogol is a perfect choice, although if you’ve ever taken a good Dostoevsky class in college and paid attention/are smart, then you can be a layman’s expert on him. Most people have not read anything other than Notes… and/or Crime & Punishment.
  • I’m generally against boning up cursorarily on a topic in order to seem cool, yet I do it all the time; then again, that’s how I learn a lot of stuff. As they say, “Fake it until it’s real.”
06 Jul

Are you kidding me?

It’s been so long since I’ve gone running that I forgot which knee I put my patela band on. I guess I’ll find out soon enough.
06 Jul
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Plays: 15 | Download

White Stripes - Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground

Do you guys remember how awesome this song was?

06 Jul

Mountain Goats - Going To Georgia (plus some banter stick with it!)

I have two big hands and a heart pumping blood and a 1967 Colt .45 with a busted safety catch!

06 Jul
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Plays: 10 | Download

Belle and Sebastian - String Bean Jean

She asked me, “Do I need to lose a bit of weight?”
And I told her, “Don’t be stupid ‘cause you’re looking great”
And I call her String Bean Jean because the label on her jeans says,
“Seven to eight years old.” Well that’s pretty small

06 Jul
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Plays: 8 | Download

Roxette - It Must Have Been Love

I heard this song on the radio the other day and it made me think of how awesome school dances must have been in the late-80s/early90s. Also, it’s very pretty.

06 Jul

I think I'm going to write a song, today on my run.

It’s going to be called, “God Fucking Damnit I Wish I Was (sic) Your Lover.”
06 Jul
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(fuckyeahexistentialism sells out its convictions with languour.)

06 Jul
The easiest time to add insult to injury is when you’re signing someone’s cast.

— Demetri Martin

05 Jul
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(tristn read my mind in some way.)

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