Silver Jews - "Night Society". Abe did likewise but scarcely touched it. Afterwards, he just sat, happy to live in the past. The drink made past happy things contemporary with the present, as if they were still going on, contemporary even with the future as if they were about to happen again.
A passage from F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night. I've never read it. I assume the Dane must be Hamlet, and Abe must be Abraham Lincoln, because with those characters, the passage becomes quite pointed. But if my life and my whole damn aesthetic has any marching song it's "down with context", so let's just let the words fade in and out like passing by a fist-fight while riding in a cab. In a way, that's what this year has been like. A lot of heavy rumbling, some loud thunder, and a great big night that just turns the volume up and down on the sun.
Her Majesty's Orchestra - "Ms. Christmas Tree, I Dig You". I was swayed by the title too. Don't be. This song is strong enough on its own, it rises above "Christmas novelty" into a swaggering, staggering thug of a carol that is only vaguely recognizable as festive.
It's Christmas in a tight Union Jack tee. It's like a Friedberger holiday party, where Eleanor, sauced, has lost her voice from reading ingredients lists on all the items in the charity bin. Everybody: salt rennet! Mother: "I warmed him milk when he couldn't sleep" Barber: "I cut his hair every 3 months, tapered from the bottom" Bully: "I taught him the value of healthy suspicion" Neighbourhood kitty: "I gave him bad luck, and kisses" Mayor: "I shook his hand on a cold day in March" Best Friend ages "He made me la--" KA-BAM!
There's nothing quite like being thrust from sleep into an unexpected situation. Each time we wake up we are acclimatized to this world anew. Mostly this is an indiscernible process - a quick, confused moment, passed before we're fully conscious. But sometimes, when we wake to a surprise, our bodies and minds fight each other to get their bearings: our hearts race and our brains drag. For instance, imagine my surprise this morning when I looked out of my office window to find below me a fruit grove replete with lemon, persimmon, and pomegranate trees.
