August 2010
13 posts
7 tags
cinematic reënactments presents "withnail and i"
a pivotal scene from our favourite tale about two out-of-service actors who are on holiday by mistake.
10 tags
BRIDGING CULTURAL GAPS, PART ONE
i present you with BRIDGING CULTURAL GAPS, PART ONE, featuring roberto benigni as mc einstein and nicole kidman as the princess of oz as they square off in the land of missed opportunities…
it starts off a little bit slow but it is sure to please.
based, in part, on a genuine conversation that i had not too long ago…
5 tags
economic indicators
is it a sign of the apocalypse that upon walking outside in the moments after midnight, i notice that our neighbor’s brownstone is enveloped by COCKROACHES? a shimmering writhing sea of cockroaches, thousands of them, darting quickly in different directions across the facade of the building.
perhaps they were waterbugs. just waterbugs.
i suspect that i’ll close the windows tonight.
7 tags
greaser
a fat man with slicked back silver hair sits in his white thunderbird, waiting for cars to park on either side of him, at which point, he leaps out from behind the steering column, flapping his arms in an emphatic appeal for more room.
“you gotta give me some space,” he said to me after i parked in front of him and then started to walk away.
his voice was hoarse, like a throat...
6 tags
august sonata
with neither fanfare nor ceremony, the skies turned to soot and then suddenly opened up, bestowing upon new york an unholy barrage of lightning and vitriol; which new yorkers, in their usual state of complacency and resignation, duly accepted.
some sought cover beneath store awnings while others chose never to leave the office, opting to work late instead of making the mad dash home.
those...
10 tags
o' skagerak
they are cumulus clouds, bloated and without menace, moving impatiently across the sky, like commuters who won’t stand for being late.
the air is fragrant with primrose, rye grass, beech and birch, and traces of the sea.
a stand of elm trees sways with the wind.
it takes me eighteen hours to reach this place, an escape from the cruel tropical temperatures of the american east coast and...
10 tags
a letter of recommendation
two of our friends have asked me to write them a reference letter, as they are in the final stages of buying an apartment in a co-op. as such, one of the last steps in this process is that they are required to present no less than twelve letters of recommendation to the members of the co-op board. ah, the good life in new york. i was more than happy to oblige my friends, allowing my zeal...
faithless, he said.
it is rather cowardly to complain about insomnia.
instead, one must sit with it. lay down with it.
wait with it.
investigate it.
hypnosis, melatonin and a faint memory of vetiver sometimes delivers a resolution.
cicadas in our midst
the day starts with my wife asking me if i succeeded in getting a decent recording of the cicadas. ever since we’ve moved to new york city, she’s become obsessed with them, their persistent singing - a shrill rattle of their timbals located in their abdominal cavity that only increases with a rise in temperature. it’s been very hot of late.
as we walked to the subway station in...
