When your friends are in town and they’ve got time for ya,
When you and them hangin’ round and they don’t ignore ya,
When you say what you will and they still adore ya,
Is that not appealin’?
It’s that summer feelin’.
That summer feelin’ is gonna haunt you one day in your life.
(Jonathan Richman, “That Summer Feeling,” I, Jonathan, 1992)
Here’s another one from central Illinois on the way to the Last Chance Ranch:
Taken from Sandy and Sarah’s (old) car.
In case you missed it, now I’m really into heavy metal, esp. the early days of heavy metal when it was still just called hard rock. Discovering Deep Purple is like never having heard Led Zeppelin before, then hearing them, and then they change lead vocalists 3x in the next 10 years, and lead guitar every now and then too. So, anyway, the cover to their much maligned 2nd album with vocalist David Coverdale is easily, hands-down, the best album art of all time. Dig it:
It might help your appreciation if you listen to the title track:Stormbringer.
You should have no trouble deciphering the lyrics, but if you do they are easily found online, and well worth your time. After this album, lead guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, citing creative differences with Coverdale, split with Deep Purple for a while, grabbed the lead vocalist (and most of the members) of DP’s opening band, Elf, and formed the best heavy metal band of all time: Rainbow. You didn’t know that rainbows figured so heavily into heavy metal, did you? But they do, man, they positively do. And when you hear Ronnie James Dio sing on that record, you too will believe. But that, of course, is a different song…
Saw this in central Illinois on the drive to The Last Chance Ranch this summer:
Hee hee! At least he wasn’t threatened with a charge – - – oh, wait.
“The Golden Compass” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). Some intense scenes involve children in danger and warfare between bears and humans.”
Is anything cool anymore? I know that for a long time youth trends and alternative culture have been co-opted by corporations quickly and exploited, dulling the edges of cool. But I also wonder if the Internet (its omniscience, its democracy) is cutting into cool.
Or is it just being in my thirties? I really like some video games, some indie rockers, some alternative comics, some bike projects – but I wouldn’t consider any of them especially cool (more like nerdy!) and I certainly don’t think any of them make ME cool. Nor am I even remotely interested in anything coming out of youth culture. What is cool anymore? Mashups? Subversion? Antiquities? The alien? Dear Readers, if you know of something cool, or can give a theoretical description of something that might be cool, or have any further thoughts about the death of cool, please share.
(I still like bats. Bats are kind of cool.)
An extratextual revelation of authorial intent. Used as a noun or as a verb. ”The publication of Dickens’ ongoing literary correspondence has the potential to Dumbledore-is-gay the unresolved ending of his unfinished Mystery of Edwin Drood.” ”Kubrick created quite the Dumbledore-is-gay when he spoke about the film at Cannes.”
A banana that you eat on a train, esp. for breakfast during morning commute. Due to inherently absurd nature of bananas and problems associated with disposal or retention of banana peel, widely considered to be the funniest thing that can be eaten on a train. ”It’s already 2 o’clock and I haven’t eaten since my train banana.”
Barista: Order?
Barrister: Grande Latte Mocha Frappe.
Barista: Ex gratia. De bonis asportatis?
Barrister: Order!
Not your birthday, but the day of your birthday party. ”Is it Friday already? Oh my gosh, Happy Birthdaypartyday!!!”