Like/Not Like?

Desperately trying to catch up with the culture I live in and failing miserably, I've been listening to this tUnE-yArDs (Do we have to write it that way? So silly.) song for a few days, trying to decide how I feel about it. I think I've decided I really like it. Reminds me of that mid- to late-eighties minimalist and afro-inspired American avant garde pop, like Laurie Anderson, Talking Heads, and Philip Glass. Peter Gabriel a bit, too. Maybe because all those people shamelessly ripped off Steve Reich, just as this does. But what the hell, I like it all anyway. It's not like Reich INVENTED polyrhythms or anything. Jeez...

Merrill Garbus' voice, on the other hand, is definitely a deal maker or breaker, as all great voices are. But I'm on board and quickly being carried out to sea.

You?

Bike Brake Broke

My rear brake cable snapped on the weekend, so I had to take my bicycle into a shop to get it fixed. I asked them to give her a tuneup while they were at it, as it's been a few years since I've done any real adjusting of anything. I've had the bike for probably 14 years now, and it still runs pretty great. But I used to give it a yearly cleaning and tuneup every spring, and in the past few years I've let it slide.

Anyway, they kept it overnight and gave me a call to come and pick it up this morning. It's really unbelievable how much better it feels to ride. New brake cable and shoes, both brakes were tightened, the rear derailleur got a new cable and the gears have all been adjusted, the crank's been tightened, and the chain and gears are all clean and oiled. It's like I got a whole new bike for 45 bucks! Fast, cheap, and good — the supposedly impossible combination. Friendly, too! Bikes by Dave on Young Street, if you're interested.

Now to go for a nice long ride...

Transcendental Dilemma

What I've Been Listening To

Here's some music mixes I made for my friend Tim, who claims controversially that hiphop is the only relevant musical genre. These are meant to convince him otherwise, and generally give him a taste of what's on my iPod these days. Click on the front covers to download. Limited time only!








UPDATE: I just tried downloading these myself, and noticed that there are a couple of tricky ads pretending to be what you want by looking like big green "Download" buttons. What you actually need to click on the sendspace page is the blue rectangle that says, "Click here to start download from sendspace."

Just Because I Love It

Here's a short film written by and starring Miranda July, about whom I was raving in my last post.

Cooped

Summer's slowly winding down, I guess. How's everyone's been going? I'm finally feeling like I don't have a cold anymore, two weeks later. What a weird summer. Finally got in the ocean for the first time on Saturday, although it was at Blomidon in the Minas Basin, so there were no waves. Plenty of mud, though. I really need to get out more. Cabin fever is supposed to be a winter phenomenon, right?

I'm reading a collection of short stories by Miranda July, the director of Me and You and Everyone We Know. Her stories are just as weird and genuine and internally consistent in surprising ways as that movie was — really great stuff that takes an unexpected twist every couple of sentences or so. And all the characters are sooooo damaged and so sympathetic. Makes me feel like sitting down and just starting to write, but also like just giving up entirely, because it could never be that good.

I finished The Pale King awhile back. Did I already tell you that? I'd been wondering in what sense it was an unfinished novel as I read it, since it all seemed to cohere and there weren't any mistakes or gaping holes I could see. But towards the end I got a sinking feeling as I realized that the story had barely started and there were only a few pages left to go. So I imagine it was meant to continue for at least as long again as what we get in this posthumous version (548 pp.). Maybe even longer. It is still really great, though. Just makes you wonder what DFW would've come up with if he hadn't surrendered to the darkness.

That's it for now, I guess. I'll report back when there's more actual life to fill you in on.

PEI

Alison was on PEI a couple of weekends ago, visiting our friends Tim & Roberta & Tom & Jenny. I wasn't able to go, but I wish I had been, because the photos I've seen are beautiful. This is what the grass was doing one day.

Summer Bummer

Oh man, this summer's way too busy. No time to blog or even relax. The latter was the plan this last weekend — I took Friday off so Ali and I could spend four days camping at Five Islands Provincial Park, on the north shore of the Minas Basin. It's gorgeous there! Weird volcanic cliffs and red rocks like some planet from Star Trek.





These photos are all from the web, because Alison only had a chance to take a few Holga shots, which aren't developed yet. The second day we were there it started raining, and then it started REALLY raining. At around 4:00 in the afternoon, sitting in a leaking tent and listening to the thunder, we decided it wasn't worth waiting around to find out whether the next day would be nicer. Packed everything up in about 10 minutes and headed back home.

Of course, the next day was beautiful, as was the one after that. We went for a long bike ride with our friend Johanna and then a very short swim, despite the cold I'd somehow come down with overnight. Two days later, and I'm still pretty much immobile with a lousy flu that makes it hurt to open my eyes. Bleh.

Other than that, the summer's been mostly about work. Even though all my clients keep going on vacation, they still seem to have tons of work they need me to do. Maybe I'll get to take a break at Christmas...