Tales from the Meleverse

Strangely Appropos

2010-05-23T08:22:00.002-04:00

Ahhh... Dionne prior to Psychic Friends... and Bacharach. The best combination ever.

Where I outbark the Aardvark

2010-05-20T15:03:00.005-04:00

Was yesterday an Aardvark fail?Or was I being particularly - and egregiously - obtuse?For the past four or five months, I've been answering random questions (they're only nominally reference-y in scope) on Aardvark - which Google picked up about a month ago. At first, it was really fun. Some of the questions were Yelp-like: best location for X in the City, doctor recommendations, etc... And

[Not Quite New Music] Where Dan Seals is a Prophet

2010-05-19T11:50:00.004-04:00

I had the realization yesterday that Dan Seals is (was, apparently!) a prophet. And not the alien variety who inhabit the Bajoran wormhole.This might, topically, seem like blasphemy. Owning to Danny Wayland "Dan" Seals being a sweet, guitar toting country western star whose fame lay in the wasteland of the 1980s with no particular religious calling that I can discern. Which under normal

[PoemADay] No. 5 (although this should be No. 18)

2010-05-18T16:30:00.006-04:00

I am the biggest slacker in the world. Thankfully, I'll just be minding one library as of next Monday. And maybe my thighs will recover from the AIDS walk NY last Sunday. Fresh from my crazy mind (and having read the Wikipedia entry for glitter (I was curious as to what it was made of):No. 5 [all that glitters...]my stupid heart hurtsthe part of me that wants to hear you say: stop! wait! I made a

[PoemADay] No. 4

2010-05-07T09:34:00.003-04:00

I realized recently that I completely suck at writing a poem-a-day. I'm already in debt for three poems as it's already the 7th and I only just wrote a fourth poem. I'm kind of in awe of my 17-year-old self who could toss out lines like nobody's business (of course that facility might have been predicated on dressing in black and reading Camus, smoking clove cigarettes and drinking vermouth -

[PoemADay] No. 3

2010-05-04T14:52:00.001-04:00

Bluebeard [No. 3]i was not always a laughing girl,pleased with the sun and skyand the brown silk of your skinfor i once had it in my head to marry a manwhose secrets were dark and deepthough I did not know it thenhe said,do not look into my closet, girland all that is mine will be yoursand i did not i wore the key to his house on my ringfingera wealth of emeralds and diamondstoo heavy for my

[PoemADay] Nos. 1 & 2

2010-05-02T22:28:00.005-04:00

My new initiative for the month of May is a Poem-A-Day. I was belatedly inspired by April being National Poetry Month. And the wonder of how likely most of these poems will be about zombies.These are going to be bad. They're going to be awkward and stumbling and first drafty. But I really need to be more creative and don't have time for writing more substantial pieces right now. Even if the

[Poetry Warp] Sunday, April 25, 8:35 A.M.

2010-04-25T08:26:00.004-04:00

So I woke up this morning after a particularly intense dream about my father. He was on the roof of the garage of our old house on Silman and was making something on the roof with rope. It was my Mom's name. At this point of the dream, the thought hit me (unwanted and rather rudely) that this could not be happening. Particulary in light of having been dreaming about kicking asses with strange

[True Work Tales] The Case of the ID and the Eyebrow

2010-04-22T15:08:00.002-04:00

I am a librarian. A librarian at a private medical affiliated college in the Metropolitan NY area. My students are awesome. But sneaky. This is a true story. As of March, I am officially in charge of the ID making machine for my (very small) college. At some point (probably during the massive overtime of accreditation), the ID Machine and I – not unlike King Arthur and England – became one.

[32 Years] Day #1

2010-04-21T10:25:00.004-04:00

So, as of 10:53 AM today, I have been 32 for 24 hours. Personally, I’m kind of amazed that I – and most especially my body – has been around and functioning for quite this long. With normal respiration at 12 breaths/minute, I have taken 22,0752,000 breaths since my first. Equally, there have been 3,195,648,000 heartbeats between April 20, 1978 and April 20, 2010. 168,192,000 eye blinks. So

[New Music] Too Much to Name, Part 2

2010-02-22T22:05:00.007-05:00

Back for Part Two, because I almost forgot about the Spoon Off!I have been doing a lot of crazy... oh, alright... normal things lately. Drunken martial arts (this is a bad idea!), fondling strange bear nipples, dancing about amai ebi in Brooklyn Heights, Pac-Mania, donating blood to my students... and most especially... participating in the first annual SPOON OFF.What is the Spoon Off, you ask?

[New Music] Too Much to Name, Part 1

2010-02-22T20:29:00.004-05:00

Damnit Anna, don't you give me away ... You know very well you say you got a soul to sellbut if you want to meet the devil you've got to go to hell...Now that I've distracted you with the Morning Benders, who were going to be my birthday concert until I realized the Nurses and the Tallest Man on Earth were actually in town on my birthday (April 20) - perhaps you haven't noticed that I've been

Good Crushes... and Bad (I didn't intend this to be about crushes at all)

2010-02-08T11:36:00.004-05:00

I want to start this blog entry with something incredibly mundane. I finished reading the second volume of Scott Pilgrim Cary loaned me on the train this morning. About the same time I realized I hadn’t brushed my hair this morning. I would like to say these two things are mutually exclusive, despite being hallmarks of my semi-slacker lifestyle. I would also like to say that I don't very

Daring Glove Interventions!

2010-01-20T10:16:00.003-05:00

I have these gloves that are the textile equivalent of juvenile delinquents.They might also be running a fledgling anarchist ring out of my bedroom.They enjoy attention (alternating striping between lime and pea green. C'mon!), drink too much Blue Moon (or at least aid in the attempts at such) and most importantly attempt to run away from my tough love at every junction.First, they pulled a fast

[ChiNeYeRe] Update #1

2010-01-19T19:22:00.002-05:00

So, in keeping with my drive to accomplish my Chinese New Year's Resolutions - regardless of the fact that sometimes I feel like I'm stuck in Karo syrup, forcing one gigantic step forward after two or three or twenty tiny steps backwards - I called my brother.As for the necessary caveat: I am the worst correspondent in the world. Ok, I'll admit that's hyperbole. I know at least two other people

Grrrrr!!!

2010-01-17T00:32:00.004-05:00

A sort of cavalcade of my current mindscape (which is surprisingly alright - considering):(Although AC in sequin spandex is kind of awesome in it's own right, of course. And of course, I couldn't post that version).Crazy weekend so far. Of particular note the 1 am mochi run in Queens after quite a few more beers than was strictly necessary. And the introduction of my red patent leather heels.

Burgled! The Amazingly True Adventures of a Casual Burglary

2010-01-15T10:39:00.000-05:00

Ok, the first thing I have to say is… Enough already! I know I am a smart-ass. I know my sarcasm rivals only my punnery, but seriously this is beginning to lose hilarity at an alarming pace. I know I said I like to do scary things that “Melissa Allen” (my alter-ego) would not do, periodically. I do. This is why I fell in love with judo (although the affection was not reciprocated to the

Chinese New Year's Resolutions*

2010-01-12T23:00:00.003-05:00

*Understandably a bit early, but I'm being proactive here! As my official resolution deadline doesn’t approach until the apocalypse… er… Valentine’s Day, I thought I would start to sort out what exactly I was being so resolute in doing in 2010. Apparently 2010 is the year of the Tiger. A year whose mantra is “I win” and signified by the colors green and purple. It seems to share, at least

Subway Poems & Chaos

2010-01-11T10:47:00.003-05:00

I was reading about Kinesics (the study of body movement) this morning in response to the black eye I narrowly missed when a woman tried to take out my eye with her computer bag. This is not the first time I've nearly or been slightly injured by random carried belongings of women who ride the subway. I was slammed in the head once with a purse - although I shared quite a laugh with the guy

A Baguette's Progress

2010-01-10T18:15:00.012-05:00

Today was a wonderful day! And that has nothing to do whatsoever with the fact that Amaretto+Melissa=Warmandfuzziness (and a liquor-painted blush)! (Although, it probably has something to do with exclamation point quantities...)After waking up around eight-ish, I picked up the Melepad and then bought foodstuffs. Glorious foodstuffs to the accompaniment of my friendly butcher (who recognized me

New Job! Happiness ensues!

2010-01-08T12:35:00.002-05:00

I am writing this post while I am at ... work! (Actually waiting for tech correspondence on exporting catalog into a hard copy when the web version is down and importing MARC records). Yes, I now have a full time job (along with my private cataloging gig in Manhattan) with a small medical academic college in New Jersey*. And like magic (really, it's real magic) new, strange, amazing, crazy

Nerd Year's Eve! With Pictures!

2010-01-02T08:22:00.003-05:00

I am so tired this morning. I can't decide whether it's a serious lack of willpower or the inability to stop having a good time in the midst of having it (because you have to wake up early to take the train and bus to Queens for your car). It's probably a little of both. Pictures from New Year's Eve with the Nerd New York crew. I had so much fun I didn't get home until the wee hours of the

Snowed In! The blogpost

2009-12-19T15:15:00.004-05:00

Because I have been snowed out today - even before the snow came down - with a gallon of hot assam black and sushi I walked ten blocks for, I thought I would update my blog.Firstly, I am going to make a shirt that plays lip-service to the doomsayers of NYC:It is cold, though. And I've been warming up with Farscape - wondering what I was smoking in 1998 when I forsook that spectacular series for

Harddrive Deaths & Other Mysteries of Life

2009-12-14T23:51:00.003-05:00

Ever since finishing NaNo on November 30th, I have been having inspirational deliriums that are seriously waking me up from a sound sleep! Or keeping me from sleeping at all. Dreams about a Fae named Arsar and souls caught to bodies and Restoration astrologers and Rune-Earls – seriously, I have no idea where this shit comes from. Probably the same place where Vamperace, the Vampire Liberace,

[New Music] The Republic Tigers & The Stereotypes & Rocky Votolato

2009-12-02T19:42:00.003-05:00

Recuperating from NaNoWriMo (and having actually written 5K more words on a project I was on the fence about completing, *oh well*) and listening to lots of Pandora. Because I'm inundated with new music all the time, I thought I would throw up three of my latest finds so I don't forget about them (and hope to get an iTunes gift card for Xmas although I don't deserve one).Firstly, Toto-incarnate:

[NaNoWriMo] Day #27 (as written on Day #28)

2009-11-28T10:35:00.003-05:00

50,716. I have officially put in my 50K words for the month of November - which, like sands through an hourglass, has almost completely evaporated... As for the story itself, it's nowhere near finished. Captain Asing came back (I love Captain Asing) and Robin still doesn't have a personality. I figured out how to weave Harry deeper into the plot, so he's not just an amazingly hilarious

[NaNoWriMo] Day #25 (also, Thanksgiving Eve)

2009-11-25T22:12:00.004-05:00

46,395. And I just wrote what I think is the best of all of it, culminating in the small, but personal verse one character wrote for another just before she marries the man she's been betrothed to since the age of seven:No matter my wedded hoste,I crave Gaverick's kisses the moste.Mr. Torquay was sort of nebulous before this. I knew a few things about him. That he was murdered at 43 - although

[New Music] & [NaNoWriMo] Day #22

2009-11-22T17:58:00.006-05:00

I'm taking a moment here - at 38,165 - to watch an episode of Murder She Wrote, ponder proto-Colt percussive flintlocks (my most valued possession is a book with pictures of how they work!) and listen to new music.For some reason, my Imeem has been taken over by constipated sparkly vampires. I will take this moment to point out that while I have been occasionally guilty of writing Twilight

[NaNoWriMo] Day #20

2009-11-20T23:32:00.005-05:00

36,118. I keep on chugging along. I only have 500 words to write to finish my Sunday totals this week - so I can afford to game tomorrow. Yeah!I finally started writing the scene where Anne and Jem are in the Moors and they are forced to spend the night under a makeshift tent from Anne's skirts (not quite a generous as the following decades would be) fending themselves from a pack of feral

[New Music] Shirley Collins & Davy Graham

2009-11-18T13:57:00.002-05:00

I'm not sure what twisted by-way landed me on Shirley Collins & Davy Graham's version of Hares on the Mountain from Folk Roots, New Routes (1964), but I'm fairly certain that the last hundred plays clocked on this song have been due to me alone.The lyrics make me laugh - as I'm quite certain the "Sally" in question quite thwarted the male in the song:Oh Sally, my dear, it's you I'd be kissing,Oh

[NaNoWriMo] Day #18

2009-11-17T20:06:00.006-05:00

30,453. Had a writing jag of nearly 3,000 words in the past two hours - yes! Introducing Harry Breadon to the brew - although I had no intention of doing any such thing three hours ago. Apparently, the plot has begun to morph slightly - now necessitating Breadon and Anne's older brother, Charles, to show up. And causing Anne's brother Achilles to become a sister. Which is good, since I had

[NaNoWriMo] Day #17

2009-11-17T00:16:00.003-05:00

27,563 as of tonight. I am 1200 words up on tomorrow night. Wrote most of tonight's installment via longhand at the Laundromat. There are exceedingly creepy people at the Laundromat on Monday nights.I also started reading Georgette Heyer's Black Sheep. Miles Calverleigh is absolutely hilarious. Particularly when the heroine, Abigail Wendover, accosts him (believing he is someone else) and he

[NaNoWriMo] Day #16

2009-11-16T00:00:00.003-05:00

26,388 words. I'm almost better than the postal service these days: writing through vomit, horrific cat maulings and three computer crashes (caused by Firefox, which was strange).I think in the past few days I have put some of the worst prose known to man - of Bulwer-Lytton status - to the page. Although, despite this, I have decided to sally forth (and I really want to read Pelham). It is,

[NaNoWriMo] Day #12

2009-11-12T22:11:00.003-05:00

20,601 words. And a new job starting December 1, 2009. How sweet is that?Listened to Jeff Buckley tunes all day wondering what "intensely personal" meant in terms of the relationship between Buckley and the Cocteau Twins' Elizabeth Fraser. This is probably why I need a serious hobby. Although I posted it on Facebook, here is one of my favorite Buckley tunes:All flowers in time bend towards

[NaNoWriMo] Day #11

2009-11-11T22:19:00.002-05:00

18,401 for today's total. Still on schedule, but running a very lean word overage. I blame 21 Jump Street. I remember it fondly from what apparently were re-runs post 1990. In the first episode(s) alone, I have grave misgivings about the American education system circa 1987. Particularly as one of the students was driving to school in a never-ending procession of drug-earned vehicles and was

[NaNoWriMo] Day #10

2009-11-10T23:18:00.001-05:00

17,115 words. 35 pages of prose. I am up by 500 words or so for the week already, which is a relief. I am a little typed out owning to a day where I clocked a million miles on foot, a doctor's appointment, food shopping, cat puke clean-up and cataloging, so I will offer up a little of today's writing:For long moments, Robin laid on the deep couch of Roseward Lodge’s library, as intimate with

[NaNoWriMo] Day #9

2009-11-09T12:08:00.004-05:00

I completely broke the law of NaNo and revised my first 2,808 words on Saturday night. I felt confident in my rules breaking in that I had preemptively written enough words to cover Saturday so I could game.So technically, what I was doing wasn't NaNoing so much as an exercise in wasting time... yeah.Completely revised the first haul - and after Sunday's 2-6pm typestravaganza am up to 13,960

Taking a Break from NaNo

2009-11-07T12:01:00.002-05:00

So I started watching ABC's refashioned V today - as soon as it was streaming on Hulu. I have some nebulous (as I was 6) but slightly fond memories of the 1984 version stemming from a particularly embarrassing incident featuring a sticker of Diana and my parent's front window. I'm fairly certain that that sticker was still on that window well into 1985.30:14 minutes into it, I realize that

WTF Fort Hood?!?

2009-11-05T23:03:00.003-05:00

As an addendum to my earlier post: what the fuck is going on at Fort Hood?I am just disgusted. It's bad enough (in my estimation) that those poor families have to deal with the stress of deployment and wondering if their family members are going to die overseas without having to worry whether they're going to be killed on base!Although now I am curious as to what aids a war-time army have

[NaNoWriMo] Day #5

2009-11-05T22:42:00.003-05:00

Alright. So somehow I have survived to Day #5.At this point last year, I think I was vegging on the couch watching TV and thinking about how much of a loser I am.I have attained 9, 503 words. In five days. And although I have to completely re-write the 2,808 words of completely shite I put down to bytes on Sunday and spontaneously changed the lead male's father's title, I'm still slightly

[NaNoWriMo] What am I listening to?

2009-11-03T22:01:00.003-05:00

I started making a playlist for my story - not particularly of period specific music - after catching up on all the Spill podcasts this afternoon. I love 'Let's Do This' and 'A Couple of Cold Ones' the best - as the ladies of the 'League of Extremely Ordinary Gentleman' are incredibly shrill and give me a headache.To give a hint of the impending plot, here's what I have so far:Seth Lakeman's

[NaNoWriMo] Odds and Ends

2009-11-02T23:28:00.002-05:00

Some excerpts from my fevered brain:In an action so indicative of Anne after her return to Macao that her intimates would liken it to breathing, she brought a small, white fist to her torso just under the breast bone, holding it there a while before she could gather her wits about her. Beneath the layers of paramatta silk, crinoline, cotton sateen and linen the long links of a locket lay buried

[NaNoWriMo] Insanity? Obsession? Corsets?

2009-11-02T23:02:00.003-05:00

Officially as of November 1, 2009, I am once again attempting NaNoWriMo. That would be National Novel Writing Month. The rather ambitious goal of which is to write 50,000 words - the length of a 170+ page novel - by the end of November.Last year, I only made it to some nebulous area of 8-10K words and then burned out. I learned a valuable lesson: if you don't have an outline - or really, no

Strange Anniversaries

2009-09-30T22:40:00.001-04:00

The first anniversary of my father's death has come and gone.One of the most seminal and heartbreaking things I've ever experienced in my life still resonates. I haven't been able to write anything about my father not couched in pseudonyms and teenage vampiric fluff. Which probably doesn't count.And I don't think tonight is going to break that strange spell.So I sigh and offer this:There's

Dedicated to the One I Love: Jack the Plucky Hybrid

2009-09-24T20:17:00.004-04:00

This is my ode to transportation - or lack thereof. Read to the accompaniment of the Shirelles (and not the Mamas and Papa's version in deference to the very squicky Mackenzie Phillips allegations of late):My beloved hybrid, known colloquially as "Jack" (yes, my car is male), which I have been waivering between selling or keeping has been held hostage by Bay Ridge Honda now for 1.75 weeks. This

2009-09-06T00:34:00.003-04:00

A blog, by definition requires actually... I don't know... blogging?In honor of September - the gateway to my favorite month of October - I thought I would update on my social whirl of the roach-that-wasn't, the Bensonhurst street fair that never ends, midnight run-ins with the DEA, the lost virginity of my Cleric and other random things of note.Firstly: today was an auspicious day. For the

[Not Quite New Music] Lanegan, Toadies and Wylde

2009-08-11T18:56:00.004-04:00

I have such a voice crush on Mark Lanegan. That's just an FYI.I can't embed this vid, but listen HERE.In what sort of amazingly sweet world could I listen to the Toadies, be directed to the Screaming Trees "Sweet Oblivion" and from there Zakk Wylde's "Sweet Jesus" ??There are people out in the world like me. It's kind of awe inspiring and makes me giddy.Thwarted by copyright. Fuck. Well,

[New Music] Greg Laswell & Aqualung

2009-08-10T23:21:00.002-04:00

In between the joyous news of Blitzen Trapper touring NYC in October - I am so there - and the triumphant return of the Great Lake Swimmers in September - I found two new solo acts that have won over my jaded ear.Firstly, Aqualung. A British man and his piano venture (not to be confused with Jethro Tull's ode to pervs of the same name) - that for a moment during Strange and Beautiful was almost

[Not Quite New Music] Keelaghan, Irvine, Brady

2009-08-09T19:38:00.002-04:00

Because I hate cleaning with a passion I didn't know I was capable of until I moved out of my folk's pad - I cheated a little and spent a goodly portion of the day finding old folk vids on Youtube.Yes, Mom, I did get my apt cleaned. It's always a treat chasing my cat around the place with the vacuum cleaner, of course...It started with James Keelaghan, who while admittedly not technically old,

[WFOTM] Bosom

2009-08-07T23:03:00.004-04:00

ed. note: this installment, dedicated to my diminishing tracks of land, comes courtesy of Mark Morton's The Lover's Tongue (2003), a book that has supplied many a fine euphemism in my stories. And which, if I remember correctly, was purchased for the princely sum of $1 from a Xtian book store. Without further ado...Bosom.Denotes the breast of a human, male or female, not the breasts of a woman

The Surreal Life [now including maximum suckage]

2009-08-07T10:48:00.002-04:00

This week has been a mixed bag.In between the strange (almost losing an eye to Queen Elizabeth's Bensonhurst clone), horrifying (waking up to find a $0 checking account balance on Wednesday), and just plain hilarious (I might have to start stuffing my bras) - I'm not sure if I'm going to be happier to see a week end than this one.To start: I am genuinely cursed and I'm not 100% sure my Ex hasn't

[Lameness Factory] Walking with the Ghost

2009-07-29T23:45:00.004-04:00

I'm super lame, yes.But in the three hours since I posted Chapter 5 of my bastardization of Stephenie Meyer's New Moon (today), I have had 150 unique reads.And no one's even taken their clothes off yet. Which, I'll admit, is very unusual for one of my stories.Between the two sites upon which I have dropped my very first Fanfic, I have had just over 1000 reads in the last two weeks.So despite the

[New Music] Sharon Van Etten (and where I fawn over Hey Rosetta)

2009-07-28T14:08:00.003-04:00

Last night, I went to the best show ever (well, at least until the next awesome show rolls around) at the Mercury Lounge.I will admit, I wasn't actually there for the main act -> Josh Mease. I'm sure he was great, but Michelle and I had to ditch prior to his taking the stage.I was there in my capacity as an Hey Rosetta! addict.Things I intrinsically know about Hey Rosetta!: (1) they are, as my

NYPS: The Saga Continues

2009-07-23T08:04:00.002-04:00

Despite the fact that I believe that I would be a good travelling correspondent - the lack of posts while I was in South Carolina (Saturday-Wednesday of this week) prove otherwise.But this is not a tale of correspondence. But a tale of stalking.Once upon a time, there was a girl who moved to New York from Detroit. Owning to her place of origin, not having a car would be tantamount to not

I can't get to sleep

2009-07-15T18:40:00.003-04:00

As a card-carrying nerd, I have spent far too much time watching YouTube videos on 'social networking' and working on DnD dungeon maps this week. I am boning up for my interview on Friday, particularly in marketing taxonomies and terminologies so I don't sound like a librarian from the sticks and boning up for my new DnD 4.0E campaign: Shadow of the Sundered.I have also not been sleeping.Which

2009-07-11T00:05:00.000-04:00

My caveat is that I absolutely abhor Jack Johnson, the {very} poor man's Ben Harper.However, this song really takes the words - or attempts to use them while I'm mute - out of my mind regarding the way I feel about my Dad.Lots of mind weirdness as the Rocket Gibraltar moment looms nearer and nearer. Two weeks, now.But,There're still so many thingsI want to say to youBut go onJust go onWe're

Minor celebrations

2009-07-09T23:22:00.005-04:00

In honor of not having a parking ticket waiting for me when I had to move the Meleride I thought I would jam out to Stevie Wonder.In celebration, I thought I would share:He was only 18 at the time, but damn, I wonder too, Stevie.

A meditation on wasting time

2009-07-07T23:53:00.005-04:00

In between applying for jobs, dodging my arch-nemesis the NYPS (the New York Parking Syndicate), bonding with the NYS Emissions guy over the Stooges and generally languishing in malaise, I have started watching Heroes.Yes, I started watching because NewSpock was reputedly a main (albeit patently evil) character.A penchant for brain collection and consumption have a lot to recommend itself to a

What I did for July 4th... a brief essay

2009-07-06T00:37:00.004-04:00

Zombies.The very word strikes fear in the heart of man, woman and child.But to me, nothing could be sweeter. Except maybe Zombie Nazis!Several weeks ago, Eric (a fellow gamer who shares my penchant for the undead), gave me a postcard featuring the cinematic genius of Tommy Wirkola. I subsequently lost it in the dark and somewhat crumbly depths of my backpack - second only to my hands as a place

[New Music] The Kooks

2009-07-03T20:17:00.004-04:00

I absolutely cannot get enough of this song. It's like my personal obsession of late:A little disappointed by the remainder of the album, as it veered a little too closely into Oasis territory (and secretly, the only song I ever liked by Oasis was the verbally awkward Other Gallagher number off their self-titled album of ages past - but on trying to find it, realize that all of the songs suck

[New Music] The National

2009-07-01T10:50:00.008-04:00

While having to move my car yet again to avoid another parking ticket in the desolate streets of Bensonhurst, I caught a couple minutes of a song by a group called the National. Caught by the way Matt Berninger's voice dropped on the line: think I better follow you around, I started a frenzy of trying to find out what the song was.Luckily, bestowed with keen librarian skills and a modicum of

[New Music] Throw me the Statue

2009-06-29T19:04:00.003-04:00

I found Throw me the Statue's track Ancestors on Insomnia Radio --> http://insomniaradio.net/2009/06/29/throw-me-the-statue-ancestors/ and like, like the band.Listen also here:[From their label Secretly Canadian's website: http://www.scjag.com/mp3/sc/ancestors.mp3/. I'm assuming, from my recent spate of music research, that that means they're Secretly Awesome, owning to the awesomeness of

[Poetry Warp: Prose] Heart like a wheel (2001-2002)

2009-06-29T13:42:00.004-04:00

http://www.myspace.com/bloodsugars/The aforementioned tune has a very sweet, lyrically loopy, poppiness that reminds me of Ra-Ra-Riot (which, being one of my favorite bands in the

[Poetry Warp] January 1, 1997 - William Cries

2009-06-18T23:20:00.002-04:00

William Criesand in the beginningi can't ease your pain -love dies by its own hand.you say i cannotknowi don't.but between the stripper,a friend of mine whowalks home to the earlymorning moonand the ghost whosits on the edge of yourbed when you're hurting,maybe the smile of a girlyou once loved in thefluorescent lights of aparking lot --i have a lot to offeryou,once the novelty of coincidental

[New Music] Twilight Sleep

2009-06-09T18:56:00.004-04:00

I've been working on a couple of mixes for myself and my Mom rather diligently of late, and came across the band Twilight Sleep --> www.myspace.com/twilightsleep/I have realized that I have some deep, inchoate love of lyrical intensive electronica and have decided to just give into the desire. I'm glad I did when I stumbled across this (disregard the video itself, per favore, as its lameness is

[Poetry Warp] January 8, 1996: meditations on JPS

2009-06-05T12:37:00.002-04:00

ed. note: I don't remember writing this, exactly. It's on Ramada Inn stationary and clearly dated 01/08/96. Senior year of HS. Probably for Josh** * * * *meditations for JPSI'm going to make a bust ofSartreI don't particularly lovethe man himselfbut the emptiness ofhis mind interestsmephilosophies outside of myown are hard for meto conjugatewhere are you coming from?mnemonic devicesif I begin

[Mixes] Werewolves & Convicts

2009-06-02T21:43:00.008-04:00

I like to make music mixes.Finding corollaries between songs is something I seem to do automatically- perhaps the downfall of having an indexing mind - and recently I've been working on a couple of interesting ones (to me).Firstly: WerewolvesThis would seem like a strange theme for mixes, and the tenor of what I'm working towards is always in the back of my mind (folksy, lyric intensive and

[WFOTM] Word Facts of the Moment #4

2009-06-02T21:32:00.004-04:00

Niceoriginally meant foolish, from the Latin nescius, ignorant, Chaucer has --For he was nyce and knowth no wisdomand he uses 'nice fare' for foolish to do. To be 'over-nice' still means to be foolishly particular, and 'more nice than wise' also carries the original meaning. Archdeacon Hoare*, however, derives the word from the French niais, simple; and speaks of 'That stupid vulgarism by which

[Poetry Warp] March 31, 1998: Meditations on Klimt's Der Kuß

2009-05-26T17:39:00.003-04:00

Meditations on Klimt's Der KußI.It was August, golden in the climax ofsummer,and caught in the vines of yourtrust we turned towardseach other for a second,eyes tangling,armsaching,your lithe body swaying like the beat ofwarmth against my torsoin the late afternoon,my fingers had found the ruddy tendrilsof your hair,browning flowers in funeral ritesamong the curlsI leaned towards you.II."I have

Just a Small-Town Girl

2009-05-26T17:18:00.003-04:00

Somewhat arbitrarily on Wednesday afternoon, I made the decision to drive from New York to Detroit. With my cat.I learned a lot of new things during this journey:Dunkin' Donuts is THE hangout in Bensonhurst at 3amThis City was indeed built on Rock'n'Roll - just the bad, Bon Jovi kindApparently, cats don't like to travel in a small box for 12 hours - mine channeled Linda Blair and I had to inform

[Snippet] Thalassa (SciFi)

2009-05-20T11:00:00.000-04:00

Sunsets on Anthrôpos IV Thalassa were always an Off-lander favorite: the densely jungled cityscape of its few landmasses violently giving over to the ageless black powder of the beaches, emptying into the endless seas therein – all this colored in brilliant jewel-tones of synth ultramarine and saffron as far as the eye could see. The rising of the enormous gilded light orb was akin to Tellus, the

C'est la vie, Wilson

2009-05-20T10:44:00.000-04:00

As of Tuesday, May 19 I am officially unemployed (although my PT job pays the same as my former FT job). I'm not surprised and am actually taking this as the kick in the pants to complacency that I really needed. As long as that kick in the pants doesn't require a trip to the doctor's office ;) In some ways, it's awesome to have some non-working time. Although I really feel for my co-workers

[WFOTM] Word Facts of the Moment #3

2009-05-18T10:12:00.000-04:00

BelomancyDivination by means of arrows.Shipley's Dictionary of Early English (1955) classes belomancy under aeromancy as one of many methods of divination involving appearances in the air, including but not limited to these gems:aichomancy: divination by sharp pointsaleuromancy: divination by doughanthomancy: flowers (she loves me, she loves me not)axinomancy: divination by balanced

Chinese New Year's Resolution #1: Your ears have requested new music, NOW!

2009-05-16T18:03:00.000-04:00

[ed. note] This was originally on Facebook, but I moved it for purposes of unwieldiness.One day I woke up and realized that there was more music in the world than I could ever possibly know about (about two weeks ago - so I guess I'm following the Chinese New Year... yeah...). Probably because I'm a Librarian (i.e. Nerd), I decided that a a thorough study needed to be made. So utilizing methods

[WFOTM] Word Facts of the Moment #2

2009-05-15T14:43:00.000-04:00

Hurrah:Probably a corruption of Tur aie! 'Thor, aid,' a battle-cry of the Norsemen. - Wace. *The word is very generally now (ca. 1888), and was formerly invariably, spelt huzza. The pronunciation in Pope's time, and even until living memory, was hurray. The following couplet from the 'Rape of the Lock,' shows the current pronounciation at the time the poem was written:One self-approving hour

[WFOTM] Word Facts of the Moment

2009-05-15T14:32:00.000-04:00

So, I stole this book from work: "Word facts and phrases," which I have found to be inordinately hilarious. So I thought I would occasionally bug the hell out of my listers by divulging the secret history of some of the English language's craziest phenomenon.* * * * *Gibberish:The etymology of this word is uncertain.*Johnson says, "As it was anciently written gebrish, it is probably derived from