Vincent Van Gogh without an ear,
Paul Gaugin with a Tahitian girl,
Arthur Rimbald, drunk with rage,
Allen Ginsburg, the bearded sage!
Ohh, a new religion with Martin Luther!
Fidel Castro's gone to Cu-ber!

I borrowed a book of Jean Follain's poetry from Jordan. He's a french author (duh), and the book is presented as a side-by-side with WS Merwin's (read: god of poetry's) translations. I decided to test my mettle against the institutional standard:

Mutilation Volontaire, by Jean Follain
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( Pour s’éviter de servir )

I recently went back and made a bunch of entries public again - the ones that could hold general interest - so I'm putting up another Friends Only banner. Just so we know what's going on. Comment and be added.

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Well, I've been enchanted with poet/novelist Wendell Berry off and on since my high school English teacher advocated him in my senior year. I'm about to use him as a major source in my essay on Ringuet's Trente Arpents (link in english), a narrative that chronicles the intersection of agricultural/cyclical and industrial/linear chronologies. Berry ( Read more... )

I really like the moment that someone's face grows out of the self-consciousness of the first few statements of their conversation into the abandonment of expressiveness. I watched this 30-year old guy talk to his wife on the sidewalk for what must have been at least 5 minutes. It was through a window; I have no idea what he was saying but I was ( Read more... )

a few days ago, i stayed up till 3am to watch antiques roadshow. i think i want to get into furniture...

"Furniture is a composite which contains several sorts of furniture - chairs, tables, beds and so on - which have uses and dimensions that have only little in common (apart from the fact that a set of furniture that is intended to be used ( Read more... )

so, i have finally decided to admit that my organic, propylene-glycol deodorant is not nearly strong enough. i smelled absolutely like shit by the end of yesterday. granted, it was a 21 hour day, but still! yuck!

On monday, my french grammar teacher caught me doing a crossword hidden behind my notebook. she made some crack about how i had to do intellectually stimulating things at all times, even if they got in the way of her roll call. i said that was probably true. the whole class laughed at me in a malicious way. i felt like i was in 4th grade again.

( the background story: )

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in a previous post, i said something about "institutions of consumption and desire." some might see the terms in the preposition as mutually repetitive. i would like to bring up two examples (prof schehr would be telling me right now that hegel would be ashamed) of how they are in fact distinct ( Read more... )