"Just because this plan is never going to work is no reason to be negative."

from Buffy the Vampire Slayer

The lyrics dour, the music energetic

. . . his real home, the one he never named anymore, was the dark and sooty chamber in his heart that contained his sister and brother and, because it was an accomodating kind of space, the entire filthy history of the industrial revolution. It was amazing how much dark matter you could crush inside the black hole of the heart."

from "When Will There Be Good News?" by Kate Atkinson

Celebrity Sighting

Overheard at a restaurant in Hollywood:

Man #1:   That's Steve Earle!

Man #2:  I don't know. I don't think so.

Man #1:  Oh, no, that totally is.  That's absolutely Steve Earle.

Self

"Your self is not about you"


Lewis Hyde, commenting on the lesson of Bob Dylan's statement that listening obsessively to Woody Guthrie records when a teenager made him feel like himself for the first time (or words to that effect).

Sept 1 -- Eros and Dust, uncertain and afraid

http://blog.loa.org/2010/09/w-h-auden-j-liebling-september-1.html

http://poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15545

The anniversary & the unceasing low dishonest decade.

Heartwarming Tale

Bob and Ray reunite a brother and sister after 66 or 70 years:

https://www.box.net/shared/8vgpopd2og

The World Gives You Lemonade . . . .

Frank Kermode R.I.P.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/18/sir-frank-kermode-obituary

On reading Updike's "Couples"

Updike is vaunted as a realist par excellence, a careful chronicler of our suburban mores, but what I found in these pages seemed pretty fantastical to me. Certainly it bore no resemblance to the suburbia I knew. His characters talked about Bertrand Russell, bristled at undercooked lamb, and screwed each other senseless at every possible interval. It called my own world into question.

Dan Piepenbring, at The Paris Review website:  http://blog.theparisreview.org/2010/08/10/couples/

"I'll fix your head" -- Gene Tierney

"I suggest you use an ax" -- Dana Andrews

in "Where The Sidewalks Ends"

Customer Service

Exchange at the concession stand:


Customer: And two Cokes.

Worker: You want a Pepsi?

Customer: Yes.

Worker: Sorry, we don't sell Pepsi, only Coke.

Dream about a bee

In my bedroom with the door slightly ajar, was disconcerted when Kristen Wiig of Saturday Night Live fame was walking back and forth by the bedroom door, and then walked in, as I had no clothes on. 

[It surprises me to learn that Kristen Wiig is apparently a woman of my dreams, as previously I had thought her primary distinction that she was perhaps the only person you could taunt by saying "Two i's; two i's."]

She climbed on top of naked me, and we started a passionate openmouthed kiss.  Then I heard a faint buzzing, and I realized that a bee was flying around in our open mouths.  She realized it too, shortly thereafter, and we stopped kissing and let the bee fly out.   Without saying anything to each other we both seemed to realize that was the end of anything sexual between us.  I apologized for the state of the apartment and started picking up clothes.  She was impressed, though, by my ability to toss clothes in the hamper without missing.

Job

NEWS FLASH: Help Wanted

Part-time Salesperson, 20-25 hours per week

Rachelle is going to grad school! So we are looking for additional part-time sales help, seeking someone with a rough (or better) knowledge of mysteries, eager to learn more and to share that enthusiasm with customers, and a flexible, can-do attitude. Ideally, your hours would be 9:30am - 2:00 pm Monday through Thursday. We offer a unique opportunity to meet authors, and to be surrounded by books and people who love books, in a vibrant section of Westwood Village. Please contact Bobby McCue or Linda Brown at orders@mystery-bookstore.com.
See More

Overheard

"There was a woman at Western Mutual that Tony thought was hot. With reason. She was Venezuelan."

Hindsight

Lonnie Franklin Jr. would share violent fantasies about prostitutes and say they deserved to die, according to neighbors. "I should have made a better choice," says a longtime friend.

http://scpr.org/news/2010/07/15/friends-say-accused-grim-sleeper-dropped-hints


from: http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2010/07/grim_sleeper_suspect_drop.php

Kitties and Mel Gibson

http://www.buzzfeed.com/awesomer/the-13-worst-mel-gibson-rant-quotes-presented-by/

Not polite or proper