Sing Along Home

You should start your Sunday off with this video with live versions of “Home” and “40 Day Dream” from Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. It’s not new, but trust me, it’ll do you a world of good.

Via La Blogtheque

Errant Reader: “Under the Rose” – Thomas Pynchon (1961)

I’m breaking my usual work pattern for “Under the Rose.” First, I’m not bothering to read it through multiple times – something I’ve done for each of the stories up to this point. Frankly, “Under the Rose” is so mixed up with a chapter of V. in my memory that I probably should go through it again. I’m opting for a bit more haste this time. I’m eager to move on to the novels. Second, and perhaps more importantly, I’m not going to have the luxury to reread each novel in its entirety before I write a post. I need to get used to tackling these posts with a bit more flexibility. All of this is a preamble to a major caveat: I’m not sure I “get” “Under the Rose.” I lost the narrative a bit at the end. While I went back through the last few pages as I was reading, I’m still struggling with the story’s final scenes. Continue reading “Errant Reader: “Under the Rose” – Thomas Pynchon (1961)” →

A Heavenwide Blast of Light

I’ve been taking in all the news and video about the meteor explosion over Russia this morning. Amazing stuff. It just goes to show just how vulnerable we are as a planet and as a species.

Neither of these videos are “new” or anything. I just wanted to post them here for posterity (and research).

And the tremendous shockwave:

More detailed information from the ever informative Phil Plait at Bad Astronomy.

[The title of this post is from the episode covering the 1908 Tunguska Event in Thomas Pynchon’s Against the Day.]

These are the places I will always go…

My current music obsession: The Head and the Heart‘s “Down in the Valley.”

Errant Reader: “Entropy” – Thomas Pynchon (1960)

I’m going to be honest with you. This post was a difficult one to write. I actually started reading “Entropy” in December. The story’s pessimistic conclusion made it a little difficult for me to linger over though. There’s also the fact that this was the story that I was least looking forward to writing about in this series. It wasn’t the one I least wanted to read. I find it to be an intriguing story. My reluctance to write revolves around a collection of causes: trouble settling in and really reading the story, difficulty finding the time to sit down and write, and – I’m just going to admit it – a lot of the story revolves around my weakest areas as a Pynchon reader/scholar. I’m rubbish at physics. Nevertheless, here goes. Continue reading “Errant Reader: “Entropy” – Thomas Pynchon (1960)” →

Ain’t Got Much Time

Current music obsession: Alabama Shakes – “Hold On”

Losing My Minor Key

This is…kinda weird:

<p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/57685359″>Major Scaled #2 : REM – “Recovering My Religion”</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/majorscaledtv”>major scaled</a> on <a href=”http://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a>.</p>

via Boing Boing (which has an explanation)

A few other odds and ends from the week:

Hunter S. Thompson’s daily routine (it’s as wild as you’d expect)

Esquire on the physical costs of Football

The Atlantic on the real Cuban Missile Crisis (not as revelatory as I thought it might be. Thanks once again to Mr. White for all those historical digressions in Political Sci I)

Bogged Down

I’ve spent the last week bogged down with a pretty wicked bug. It started out as a minor cough and quickly turned into a sore throat and then a sniffling, sneezing, and “oops there went a lung” coughing fit that lasted most of the week. Oh and I had a fever. The end result was that I spent the entire week working at about 20% my usual ability and I even missed two days of work. Admittedly, I’m lucky. I have a job where I can stay home and recover (oh, and not infect my co-workers). Many people do not have that luxury.

Speaking of luxury, time for serious blogging is a luxury I obviously haven’t had lately. I thought I should put something up here regarding the lack of meaty posts lately. It’s likely to be a bit sparse for another week or two while I play catch-up. In the meantime here are links to two nifty photo-essays:

A basement in Portland holds an intriguing juxtaposition.

LA’s original subways.

Enjoy!

Rumor mill

Apparently there is some new rumors swirling around all things Pynchon today. I’ve heard mention about the Inherent Vice adaptation, but the rumor of a new book is a new one for me. Could it be? That would be three novels within the span of a decade. One would guess that it would be a smaller novel rather than a tome like Against the Day. Another historical novel? Also, Bleeding Edge? What’s it all mean?

…I just lost all ability to be productive in 2013 didn’t I?

[Edit]: I forgot to add that the picture at that link has to be one of my favorite photos of Pynchon ever.

A Playlist for 2012

In many ways this post is a day late. I sat down to start writing about 2012 in retrospect and found myself incapable of really setting things down in words. It is impossible for me to write about 2012 without noting the pall my grandpa’s death casts over the entire year. It’s difficult to call the year anything but bittersweet. It was a year of inevitable transitions and new beginnings.

Sitting down to write though led to an overabundance of topics. I was faced with too many problems – a stack of work left over from my rush to leave town, family pictures and items that once belonged to my grandfather, a variety of projects I had let slip, everyday annoyances, and a very messy desk. In all, I sat down and was immediately overwhelmed. I suppose that was a fitting close to 2012 though. It ended a lot like it started: with me in over my head.

Still, the year deserves to be marked somehow. So, obviously, I made a playlist. I stole the idea (as is usually the case with good ideas). Oh well. This is about the best I can muster at the moment. Most of them are older tracks rather than albums I picked up in 2012. Lately I’ve just I found myself gravitating to old favorites. Here goes (with minor annotations, links, and a few videos):

Dissertation Song: The Decemberists “Rox in the Box”