Wednesday, December 30, 2009

You Are Tired (I Think)


You are tired,
(I think)
Of the always puzzle of living and doing;
And so am I.

Come with me, then,
And we’ll leave it far and far away—
(Only you and I, understand!)

You have played,
(I think)
And broke the toys you were fondest of,
And are a little tired now;
Tired of things that break, and—
Just tired.
So am I.

But I come with a dream in my eyes tonight,
And knock with a rose at the hopeless gate of your heart—
Open to me!
For I will show you the places Nobody knows,
And, if you like,
The perfect places of Sleep.

Ah, come with me!
I’ll blow you that wonderful bubble, the moon,
That floats forever and a day;
I’ll sing you the jacinth song
Of the probable stars;
I will attempt the unstartled steppes of dream,
Until I find the Only Flower,
Which shall keep (I think) your little heart
While the moon comes out of the sea.

e.e. cummings


ps i can't sleep - can you tell?

Oh Yes


there are worse things than
being alone
but it often takes decades
to realize this
and most often
when you do
it's too late
and there's nothing worse
than
too late.
- Charles Bukowski

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Be of love (a little) more careful than of anything


If I like you that means (at least one of these things) you are disinterested, I am scared to admit I like you so I am not going to call you back, I will write about the possibility of us everywhere, I will email my best friend about your voice, you are not single, you don’t know my name, I really have to know what your favorite sort of music is, I like to eat green apples and think of you, I didn’t mean to become your best friend but now I don’t know how to tell you I think I am in love with you, you are not my type but I like your t-shirt (and your eyelashes), I am an idiot, you are beautiful, I really want to call you, I didn’t see you today so I am going to yell at everyone, you are miles away, I am desperate, you don’t even know me, I want to get drunk with you, let’s sleep under the sky together, I wonder if you would ever like to wake up next to me, I want you for my birthday.” - Mehmet Erdogan


Tuesday, December 22, 2009

I was fooled by the way you take me seriously even when I'm joking


I don't know where you're from but here in Australia Sharon isn't really a name we associate with anything remotely awesome - unless you're really into irony. Sharon or Shazza as we like to refer to everyone of the aforementioned name is known only as badge of bogan suburban pride.

Anyway. Sharon van Etten has managed to successfully reclaim the name in my Aussie little mind. As lazy a comparison as it is she reminds me of old school lo-fi Cat Power and all the rest that goes along with her - Bonnie Prince, Smog, M Ward et al....She manages to hop-quick-jump over the yawn-fest-3-star pit that most girly singer-songwriters fall into and make something more beautiful and slightly more complex. Remember grower albums? AKA the musical land before before i-tunes/pods/phones. Oh and yeah she's from Bushwick but we're gonna pretend she's not.

PS Key tracks - um I totally have a new one everyday but Much More Than This is pretty amazing - so listen to that...a few times, but you should really buy the album (Because I Was in Love - on her website) because its one of those ones you'll probably keep and play a lot and stuff.
PPS Please know Sharon if you ever tour Australia we will refer to you affectionately as "Shazza" van Etten.

Also whats a post here without a youtube to match?

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Question is the truth

I know these are both everywhere but I am also obsessed with them both - so if you haven't you really should give them BOTH a listen.





i'm waiting for a better quality vid of this (JAM)

How did it happen that their lips came together?



"How did it happen that their lips came together? How does it happen that birds sing, that snow melts, that the rose unfolds, that the dawn whitens behind the stark shapes of trees on the quivering summit of the hill? A kiss, and all was said. - victor hugo



“At any rate, let us love for a while, for a year or so, you and me. That’s a form of divine drunkenness that we can all try. There are only diamonds in the whole world, diamonds and perhaps the shabby gift of disillusion.”
— f. scott fitzgerald

Thursday, December 10, 2009

We are never deceived; we deceive ourselves.

Excerpt from "The Sorrows of Young Werther," Goethe.
May 22.

That the life of man is but a dream, many a man has surmised heretofore; and I, too, am everywhere pursued by this feeling. When I consider the narrow limits within which our active and inquiring faculties are confined; when I see how all our energies are wasted in providing for mere necessities, which again have no further end than to prolong a wretched existence; and then that all our satisfaction concerning certain subjects of investigation ends in nothing better than a passive resignation, whilst we amuse ourselves painting our prison-walls with bright figures and brilliant landscapes,—when I consider all this, Wilhelm, I am silent. I examine my own being, and find there a world, but a world rather of imagination and dim desires, than of distinctness and living power. Then everything swims before my senses, and I smile and dream while pursuing my way through the world.

All learned professors and doctors are agreed that children do not comprehend the cause of their desires; but that the grown-up should wander about this earth like children, without knowing whence they come, or whither they go, influenced as little by fixed motives, but guided like them by biscuits, sugar-plums, and the rod,—this is what nobody is willing to acknowledge; and yet I think it is palpable.

I know what you will say in reply; for I am ready to admit that they are happiest, who, like children, amuse themselves with their playthings, dress and undress their dolls, and attentively watch the cupboard, where mamma has locked up her sweet things, and, when at last they get a delicious morsel, eat it greedily, and exclaim, "More!" These are certainly happy beings; but others also are objects of envy, who dignify their paltry employments, and sometimes even their passions, with pompous titles, representing them to mankind as gigantic achievements performed for their welfare and glory. But the man who humbly acknowledges the vanity of all this, who observes with what pleasure the thriving citizen converts his little garden into a paradise, and how patiently even the poor man pursues his weary way under his burden, and how all wish equally to behold the light of the sun a little longer,—yes, such a man is at peace, and creates his own world within himself; and he is also happy, because he is a man. And then, however limited his sphere, he still preserves in his bosom the sweet feeling of liberty, and knows that he can quit his prison whenever he likes.

May 26.

You know of old my ways of settling anywhere, of selecting a little cottage in some cosy spot, and of putting up in it with every inconvenience. Here, too, I have discovered such a snug, comfortable place, which possesses peculiar charms for me.

About a league from the town is a place called Walheim. (The reader need not take the trouble to look for the place thus designated. We have found it necessary to change the names given in the original.) It is delightfully situated on the side of a hill; and, by proceeding along one of the footpaths which lead out of the village, you can have a view of the whole valley. A good old woman lives there, who keeps a small inn. She sells wine, beer, and coffee, and is cheerful and pleasant notwithstanding her age. The chief charm of this spot consists in two linden-trees, spreading their enormous branches over the little green before the church, which is entirely surrounded by peasants' cottages, barns, and homesteads. I have seldom seen a place so retired and peaceable; and there often have my table and chair brought out from the little inn, and drink my coffee there, and read my Homer. Accident brought me to the spot one fine afternoon, and I found it perfectly deserted. Everybody was in the fields except a little boy about four years of age, who was sitting on the ground, and held between his knees a child about six months old: he pressed it to his bosom with both arms, which thus formed a sort of arm-chair; and, notwithstanding the liveliness which sparkled in its black eyes, it remained perfectly still. The sight charmed me. I sat down upon a plough opposite, and sketched with great delight this little picture of brotherly tenderness. I added the neighbouring hedge, the barn-door, and some broken cart-wheels, just as they happened to lie; and I found in about an hour that I had made a very correct and interesting drawing, without putting in the slightest thing of my own. This confirmed me in my resolution of adhering, for the future, entirely to nature. She alone is inexhaustible, and capable of forming the greatest masters. Much may be alleged in favour of rules, as much may be likewise advanced in favour of the laws of society: an artist formed upon them will never produce anything absolutely bad or disgusting; as a man who observes the laws, and obeys decorum, can never be an absolutely intolerable neighbour, nor a decided villain: but yet, say what you will of rules, they destroy the genuine feeling of nature, as well as its true expression. Do not tell me "that this is too hard, that they only restrain and prune superfluous branches, etc." My good friend, I will illustrate this by an analogy. These things resemble love. A warmhearted youth becomes strongly attached to a maiden: he spends every hour of the day in her company, wears out his health, and lavishes his fortune, to afford continual proof that he is wholly devoted to her. Then comes a man of the world, a man of place and respectability, and addresses him thus: "My good young friend, love is natural; but you must love within bounds. Divide your time: devote a portion to business, and give the hours of recreation to your mistress. Calculate your fortune; and out of the superfluity you may make her a present, only not too often,—on her birthday, and such occasions." Pursuing this advice, he may become a useful member of society, and I should advise every prince to give him an appointment; but it is all up with his love, and with his genius if he be an artist. O my friend! why is it that the torrent of genius so seldom bursts forth, so seldom rolls in full-flowing stream, overwhelming your astounded soul? Because, on either side of this stream, cold and respectable persons have taken up their abodes, and, forsooth, their summer-houses and tulip-beds would suffer from the torrent; wherefore they dig trenches, and raise embankments betimes, in order to avert the impending danger

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it.



John Lennon is my favourite Beatle - Oh Yoko, Women is the Nigger of the World, Ballad of John and Yoko etc. Nowhere Boy (2009)a possibly terrible biopic - as they often are -that i will see ASAP anyway

“Los Angeles is just New York lying down”



Thom Andersen's film-essay masterpiece Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003)

Los Angeles more than any other city is defined by the movies made there.



In other news I want to live in the Bradbury building. Dream house found.