Seriously.

Maps and Lamps and Radish Kings, Oh My!

Well, the Radish King had a post about this, but it seems to have disappeared. So, I'll mention it.

From the good folks at Ravenna Press:

AND currently at the printer's is A Map by a Dim Lamp, the long-awaited short pieces by Ron Starr who gives more than a nod to Oulipo. And, coming this week from the designer and soon to go to press, Rebecca Loudon's long-heralded and finally about-to-reign Radish King. Radish King follows Rebecca's popular Tarantella, a Ravenna favorite.

Swing by and buy some books. And be sure to buy these two new books when they're out.

Björk

I'm wasting way too much time on YouTube. A Björk video in which the narrative turns back in on itself before it's all undone and unwritten.

"I heard many men lying, I saw many more dying...."

Phil Ochs singing "I Ain't Marching Anymore." Thought maybe listening to some protest music might make my skin stop crawling after listening to Chimpy talk about the "Freedom Agenda" today. Sounds like a business meeting: "I'm sorry, that won't work for me. Is your calendar clear for invading Iran on Thursday?" Sweet Jesus, we're governed by fools.

Saved!

"Second hand smoke kills."
"I'm counting on it."

Teen angst, contempt for the out-crowd, the queen bee prom queen, the outcasts. They're all here and all the more toxic in the atmosphere of a Christian high school. The satire wasn't as sharp as I thought it would be, but some aspects of Fundamentalism are nearly immune to satire (as demonstrated in the documentary Hell House where the "Wicca" expert draws a Star of David inside a circle). Enjoyable, though I think I prefer the broader and bloodier ox-goring of Dogma. Macaulay Caulkin is amazing and almost redeems himself for all that "Home Alone" dreck.

finnhill fiberarts

Ann Maki, aka "the ex," has a Web page up about her work. You can see it here. More to come as her Web person (me) gets the site into shape.

All Things Muppet

...at the Muppet Wiki. The muppeteer for the new Sesame Street character Abby Cadabby began her muppet career as Spamela Hamderson in Bay of Pigs Watch.

Ain't the internets amazing?

When Opportunity Knocks

Brilliant deconstruction of Bush regime rhetoric courtesy of the Daily Show.

Remember: it's an "improvised explosive opportunity."

James Tiptree, Jr.

Or, more accurately, Alice Sheldon, a writer new to me. A sympathetic and interesting review of a new biography of Sheldon over at Salon.

An interesting current in the review is how the desire to become some particular sort of person interferes with actual becoming. Or, how the desire to be recognized sabotages doing the thing for which one wants recognition. A little close to home, perhaps....

Bliss

Documenting interoperability interfaces while "Ella Megalast Burls Forever" fills the office.

You think I'm kidding, but I'm not.

Fundamentalist Christianity

One of the early acts of Christian fundamentalists discussed here. Anti-intellectual and anti-woman from the get go.

Also notice that Islamic fundamentalists came through and finished the job—something I didn't know.

Tarantella

Interview with poet (and Radish King) Rebecca Loudon about her first book, Tarantella.

Guilty Pleasure

OK, not so much guilty as shameful.

Hollywood fashion disasters documented, dissected, and dissed here. Oh Keira Knightley, when will you learn?