The Self
"If their eyes were closed, and they were asked to point to their hand on the side where the fake hands were, they'd point to the rubber one. The experiment changed the perception of self. The volunteers swore that the rubber hand was their real hand. 'It is a strong sensation,' said Ehrsson, whose study was published in Science." 

Adolph Menzel "Rear courtyard and house" 1844.
 
Ok review of Menzel's Realism: Art and Embodiment in Nineteenth-Century Berlin
" Fontane penned an affectionate poem on the occasion of the painter Adolph Menzel's seventieth birthday in 1885. In it he queried, 'Indeed, who is Menzel? Menzel is many things, if not everything; he is in any case a great Noah's ark, animal and human being.'" Discovering the huge & incredibly varied output of Menzel was one of the most interesting aspects of my long ago trip to Berlin. 

Adolph Menzel "Much later in the show, there is a painting by Adolph Menzel of an empty room, painted in 1845. The door to the balcony is open, the light filters into the room through a translucent curtain. The painting seems to ask us questions about what is real, what is reflected, what is painted. It is an inconsequential view of an unoccupied room on a sunny day, with the light coming in. We are made aware of the light, how it moves through the room, catches on a chair back and on a picture frame, pools on the polished floor. The air in the room feels very present. We are aware, somehow, that the painter is in the room, observing, and that he has bought us with him. " I disagree with this guy about Friedrich, though. 

Don't Stop the Presses!--sign the petition to save the venerable Coach House, certainly the most influential Canadian small press.

Virtual Flickbook "the rougher feel of plastic keys brushing against your filthy paws..."

my 2001 review of Clark Coolidge's Far Out West 

(Clark Coolidge, drums, at the top of the stairs) Equanimity on prosody, etc--
"The secret of Coolidge's (of Ashbery's of Yau's of Mayer's of...) work is that unlike, say Tate's (or Simic's or Young's or ...), is that there is no guarantee that he will or won't be goofing on you in any given poem. Civilians at poetry readings have remarked to me a couple times that non-slam non-traditional poetry can be like stand-up comedy without the tension and release tracked by the set-up and punchline of the joke." 

E l s e w h e r e visits temples in Japan only to discover--

"VERY IMPORTANT MOSS// (like VIP)' appeared above a sectioned table displaying 20-some-odd varieties of moss. That sign appeared above the six or so mosses to the far right of the display. 'Mold the interrupter' appeared above the mosses in the middle. 'Mold the interrupter' was totally lost on me. It's obvious that the translator was trying to get a particular idea about mold, or that particular mold, across. But these words don't get that idea across--except maybe *invasive* mold? Tough to tell. 'VERY IMPORTANT MOSS// (like VIP)' may very well have been written with a smile on the lips. But that does not take away from the fact that it was, indeed, very important moss--everything in these temples is very carefully arranged, manipulated, imbued with meaning. Part of what makes that funny for us, is our own cultural cynicism. Moss? Important? And so glibly put! 'Very Important Moss.' *Yeah, right*, we snort. So this is one cultural difference making the words resonate very differently to us." 

short interview with Matthew and Rich from Clear Cut Press

cat haiku from Kobayashi Issa (via
Plep as usual)

"heat shimmers--
how the cat talks
in her sleep!"

Maggi: the new Worcestershire sauce? 

("Love is Shit" by the Dishrags, 1980, three young women from Vancouver Island. I saw them open the Clash's first North American show, at the Commodore in Vancouver, along with Bo Diddley!)
Punk Rock Comes to Canada video and audio from the CBC archives 

(longtime CBC kid favourites Jerome the giraffe and the Friendly Giant. The rooster's name escapes me. Missing are the little band of cats "Friendly" liked to jam with.)
Words: Woe and Wonder--a CBC guide to Canadian English 

1 All Night Long / Mary Jane Girls
2 Don't Look Any Further / Dennis Edwards
3 Heartbeat / Taana Gardner
4 Funky Sensation / Gwen Mcrae
5 I Want To Thank You / Alicia Myers
6 Just A Touch Of Love / Slave

7 Watching You / Slave
8 Inside Out / Oddyssey
9 Walking Into Sunshine / Central Line
10 Mama Used To Say / Junior
11 Over Like A Fat Rat / Fonda Rae
12 Come Let Me Love You / Janet Lady Day

13 I Like What You Doin To Me / Young & Co
14 Rock Your World / Weeks & Co
15 Search To Find The One / Unlimited Touch
16 I'll Do Anything / Denroy Morgan
17 I Hear Music In The Streets / Unlimited Touch
18 A Little Bit Of Jazz / Nick Striker

 

MOODYMANN - Black Mahogani is fantastic--deep deep jazzy house doesn't begin to describe it... 

Gentle hobbits hire lawyers from Mordor
"'The incorporation of the SHIRE name into a domain name by you is a misrepresentation to the public that the domain is connected to the Lord of the Rings books and/or films. In particular, the registration by you of the domain name constitutes a representation to persons who consult the Whois register that you are connected to or associated with the name registered and thus the owner of licensee of the goodwill in the name, which of course you are not.'" 

Christopher Brayshaw generously reviews my book Hammertown on his new blog. 

Images of England

Ron Silliman quietly announces the completion of "The Alphabet" and rightly calls for a Spicer circle anthology.

lyrics by Johnny Mercer
music by Bernard Hanighen

I was talkin to the whippoorwill
He says you got a corny trill
Bob White!
Whatcha gonna swing tonight?

I was talkin to the mocking bird
He says you are the worst he's heard,
Bob White,
Whatcha gonna swing tonight?

Even the owl-
tells me you're foul
Singin those lullaby notes,

Don't be a bring down
If you can swing down--
Gimme those high notes

There's a lotta talk about you, Bob
and they're sayin you're 'off the cob',
fake it, Mister B
take it, follow me,
Bob white
we're gonna break it up tonight...

Even the owl,
threw in the towel
After you sang the gato,
and the flamingo
hollered by jingo!
what a vibrato!

recorded by Mildred Bailey, September 1937, with whistle solo by the composer & a hard swinging Eddie Sauter chart...
 

"Dirty Pretty Things"' Chiwetel Ejiofor to play 70's hero Frank Wills--the security guard who brought down the Nixon administration. 

from Tekoa, Washington--Mildred Bailey: "Her voice is light but not weak, and she never sounds calculating. There's almost never any melodrama; her favorite ambiance is well-lit and calm. On "Now That Summer Is Gone", the way she sings the line "You liked me on the tennis court" brings a sudden clarity of bathos, like a plain Edward Hopper light falling over everything. " 

from Puget Sound, Kalakala: The World's First Streamlined Vessel (via I like, which has plenty of other Art Deco links) 

Walden

"White Pond and Walden are great crystals on the surface of the earth, Lakes of Light. If they were permanently congealed, and small enough to be clutched, they would, perchance, be carried off by slaves, like precious stones, to adorn the heads of emperors; but being liquid, and ample, and secured to us and our successors forever, we disregard them, and run after the diamond of Kohinoor. They are too pure to have a market value; they contain no muck. How much more beautiful than our lives, how much more transparent than our characters, are they! We never learned meanness of them. How much fairer than the pool before the farmers door, in which his ducks swim! Hither the clean wild ducks come. Nature has no human inhabitant who appreciates her. The birds with their plumage and their notes are in harmony with the flowers, but what youth or maiden conspires with the wild luxuriant beauty of Nature? She flourishes most alone, far from the towns where they reside. Talk of heaven! ye disgrace earth. " 

Ashcroft's Book Club

"Yesterday (July 8, 2004) I took the Internet Bookmobile to Walden Pond in Concord, Mass. It was the 150th anniversary of H. D. Thoreau's book 'Walden.' The Thoreau Society had a dawn to dusk reading.

After an hour of having readers print and take away free copies of 'Walden,' I was asked by the Walden Pond Reservation police to pack up and leave and threatened with arrest. I left.

The park supervisor told me I could not pass out free literature without a permit. And she would not give me a permit because, as she explained, the state park gets money from a concession by the Thoreau Society, which operates a store that sells 'Walden'--and I was competing with them by giving away free copies. "