Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette

Either because I got it free from lil bro or because I actually have grown to love David Sedaris, maybe both, I liked this one a lot, and it just put him in my Imma-read-all-your-books list this year. Shame on me for thinking his Naked is Chic Lit for non-chicks; I blame National Bookstore for displaying it with the bestselling titles I chronically ignore. Like the blurb says, he may be in his midlife, but his spring of tragicomic combo ain’t showing signs of running out. I just love this early van Gogh cover,  also by a favorite (Chip Kidd!). It echoes throughout the collection–his partner’s skeletal fascination, his attempt to finally quit smoking, all those due deaths saying “You are going to die,” or “You are going to be dead…someday.” Something like that.

Open Palm Technique

One day, Revolution brought his old film camera to work. It was noon, the sun direct on our heads, when he took this. Said it’s so me to take a puff with my palm open. I never noticed that. In harp, there’s this thing called the “open palm technique,” which is basically playing half-muffled.

Seeing Blankers

It’s hard not to gallop through prose that uses commas instead of full stops, but once I learned to slow down, the rewards piled up: his sound, sweet humour, his startling imagination, his admirable dogs and lovers, the subtle, honest workings of his mind. Here indeed was a novelist worthy of a reader’s trust. So at last I could read his great book – or his greatest until its sequel.

-Ursula K Le Guin on Jose Saramago’s Seeing, which I recently finished after swapping it with Blindness eons ago, the same woman (Julianne Moore above in Fernando Meirelles’ movie adaptation) who didn’t lose her vision now absurdly accused of an anti-state conspiracy, a massive blank voting in the city elections, a slower read as you watch his devices unfurl in reverse, but just as amazing.

World’s Riches on Her Shoulders

I’ve seen a review of this collection praising the lavish belts, but there’s a bold phenomenon which I think that missed–these shoulder embellishments. Joel Escober, ladies and gentlemen.

Long-haired Goat Sees

Just because–
1) Dhon of Runway2Reality says this is becoming a fashion blog.
2) I miss the stolen Sony Ericsson W760 I used on this. It took way awesomer photos than the Nokia E71 I scored from mothership.
3) I remember recently mentioning Murakami to someone, him running tired and seeing goats chewing mindlessly.
4) The last time I went home, they had sheep in the yard. Just as random as this long-haired goat.
5) I saw in Tumblr an illustration of goats forming the letter C–goatse, get it?