“Midnight in Dostoevsky” / More Monsters

By Don Delillo. Another steal from the New Yorker this week. And that makes 3 about/from New York this week. All I have to say, I suppose, is that I live on the West Coast. And I live in a big house. And maybe I don’t blog enough.

While I’m at it, I’d also like to introduce my Portland family to the blog. Beth’s joined us already with a good post on pop. And Brad, the last quarter of NE Monroe will hopefully join soon and I’m sure provide a lot of corn. Muahaaa,

Now, THAT said, do you guys remember Wes’s “Dummy Monster” story from way back when? Well, for those that haven’t heard it, ask someone who has or just believe these ones we (Beth) recently found on the interweb. The information highway has become a farily big place, I’d say. Good thing we have this small space to talk about it. I hope to hear from all of you regarding this matter.

2666

Inconclusive and sprawling, 2666 embarks upon a search for the unsearchable – delighted to confront and accept the void. Along the way, Bolano leads you along a path that is as inconclusive as it is real and real to the point where it seems fantastic. During part one, I couldn’t stop thinking of Bouvard and Pecuchet (Flaubert’s unfinished novel which is mentioned in passing on page 227) as three well to do Europeans search, sometimes comically, for an obscure German author and engage in a Jules et Jim-esque love triangle.

Part 4, about the killings of dozens of young women, offers a stark contrast to the flighty world of word. In the section about the killings in Santa Teresa, Bolano’s repetitively relentless  prose (etched with penknife) carves a bloody tunnel with no end in sight. His documentary-esque account of the rapes and murders is certainly not spineless, although, in another sense, it has no stable anatomy. It lives and breaths the carnage it documents, refusing to look past the barest of details (delivered in sparce and simplistic language). When it ends (or dies), you feel as if the narrator is as beguiled and leery of the bleak repetition as you are.

The part about Archimboldi, while certainly not bringing things anywhere close to safe ensemble, offers a minor reconciliation between the reader and the narrator. Some bridges are drawn over the converging rivers of plot the novel offers and, instead of attaining comfortable satisfaction, the reader is left thirsty in the midst of an abyss. This is a good thing. 2666 is a two way train between one’s brain and a dark defiant place.

A passage I liked (and dutifully transcribed) after the…

Let’s Share Music!

My cousin just showed me this program. It’s like iChat, but instead of sharing silly comments, you share tons of music! Its a great concept. I don’t know if it works. Let’s try it out! It works for both Macs and PCs. It’s called Mojo, and here it is.

**edit: Some of you may have been having problems. I figured it out: if you pay for the fucking PRO edition, you can access more than 2 libraries. If not, keep your friend list down. I have access to John’s. So i guess I’ll keep it for a bit. He’s up to date. I suppose that’s how I think it works. That was the message I got. It also seems like the installation process differs depending on the time/user. Any thoughts?

(Oh, and I apologize for this turning into a geeky software blog. This software did, however, seem too good to be true; it might we worth it to keep trying).

Putin’s Tiger

Since this blog has no real need (or reason) to remain releveant, I am here with some old news that slipped my attention. Vladimir Putin was given a tiger for his birthday last year. What the fuck? All I know is that it puts Obama’s puppy to shame.

Dance me to the end of love

Two things Kevin likes and listens to a lot; NPR presents Leonard Cohen live in London. Because none of us really have the dough to shell out and see a living legend, we must resort to the internet. Get yourself some live Leonard Cohen right here! He still sounds spectacular, by the way. Gotta love that voice.

UPDATE: I just listened to all three hours of this and it is spectacular. Do yourself the favor!

Francis Harold Sweeps The Nash’

Just thought I’d mention that one of my favorite friends’ band Francis Harold and the Holograms (ahem, Greg) has a their self-titled 7” posted on one of my favorite music blogs OngakuBaka. Greg, I can’t wait to hear more. And explain that fucking great picture already. They have an LP and tour lined up. I’ll be going to the one in Portland!

Holy Boop! We’re One Year Old

In fact we missed it, it was January 10th.  Why not put together a little retrospective?

Our First Post

Welcome

Our 10 Most Popular Posts

Great Pacific Garbage	14,235
hot dogs	6,395
bee-el-zeh-BOOF-oh	3,330
Dead Monster on Montauk Shore	1,470
Teeth in the Motherfuckin’ Ovary	1,003
The Moon Versus Us Sleeping Together Eve	612
Cultural Borders vs Political Borders in	515
Colossal Squid, big peepers	398
Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie	354
Post Post Post Post	342

Least popular and stats below.

Re-rack.

I just went outside to have a cigarette and could hear my neighbors playing Beer Pong in their backyard; it made me miss you guys a lot.

A real post with pictures from Vancouver and a sorta-late-top-ten-for-two-thousand-eight soon.

H COLUMN’s (in conjunction with Put It Up) top 10 albums of 2008

10. ATLAS SOUND – let the blind lead those who can see but cannot feel

9. THE STREETS – everything is borrowed

8. BRITISH SEA POWER – do you like rock music?

7. FRIGHTENED RABBIT – midnight organ fight

6. CUT COPY – in ghost colours

5. BONNIE “PRINCE” BILLY – lie down in the light

4. FLEET FOXES – fleet foxes

3. NO AGE – nouns

2. THE WALKMEN – you and me

1. DEERHUNTER – microcastle/weird era cont.

Top 10 songs of 2008 PLUS top 10 college albums sept ‘04-may ‘08, maybe

Japanese Game Show (Cute Animal Cruelty)