Coming Soon to a Radio Near You

If Austra's "Lose It" doesn't become a hit, the world is a crueler place than I thought. It's an amazing track. You can stream it along with some other of her songs here.

Deep Thought

I'd watch more TV with my son if the shows he watches weren't so inane. Yes, I'm looking at you, Dora the Explorer.

How to Sleep

Scott Adams, of Dilbert fame, shares a tip:

It's impossible to clear your mind of all thoughts. But I find it somewhat easy to switch off the language center of my brain. What happens after that is a flow of images, starting with ones that make some sense to my current life, quickly followed by randomness, then sleep. It usually takes less than a minute.
Let's say something is bugging you, or fascinating you, and the thought is keeping you awake. I'll bet that in those situations you're obsessed with the verbal elements of your problem. You're imagining what you will say to someone, or how you will explain yourself, or maybe what words someone else chose when annoying you. To fall asleep, don't abandon the troublesome topic, because you probably can't. Just picture the situation in images alone. That will satisfy the part of you that can't let go of the problem while putting you on the sleep trajectory.

Worth a shot!

A Discussion

Guidelines on how to have a rational discussion.

Streaming Now...

Stream the awesome new album from The Pains of Being Pure at Heart album Belong at their website.

Gone Fishin'

You may have noticed that the volume of posts here have diminished as of late. It's not because I haven't been writing - quite the contrary - but that nothing I've been writing lately is worth sharing. I'll get there soon, but until that point you'll probably only get quotes or pithy comments on interesting links.

See you soon!

Laugh of the Day

Bassett Hounds Running.

Ras na hEireann 2011

Finished up the Sommerville 5K in 21:27, a 6:55 pace. Surprisingly good, considering I started out in the back of the pack and spent the first mile dodging in and out of people. Next up, the Cohasset 10K, the first 10K i've ever run. Not trained up for it, but I figure whatever time I get will be my PR so I can't lose!

Creating Female Characters

A visual guide.

Science Fiction as a Squid

Or some sort of crazy monster. It's pretty neat: check it out.

Quote of the Day

Anger is an Energy - John Lydon

Quote of the Day

This is at bottom the only courage that is demanded of us: to have courage for the most strange, the most singular and the most inexplicable that we may encounter. That mankind has in this sense been cowardly has done life endless harm; the experiences that are called "visions," the whole so-called "spirit-world," death, all those things that are so closely akin to us, have by daily parrying been so crowded out of life that the senses with which we could have grasped them are atrophied. To say nothing of God.
- Rilke

First Lines of The Snow Leopard

At sunrise the small expedition meets beneath a giant fig beyond Pokhara - two white sahibs, four Sherpas, fourteen porters. The Sherpas are of the famous mountain tribe of northeast Nepal, near Namche Bazaar, whose men accompany the ascents of the great peaks; they are Buddhist herders who have come down in recent centuries out of eastern Tibet - sherpa is a Tibetan word for "easterner" - and their language, culture, and appearance all reflect Tibetan origin.
- Peter Matthiessen, The Snow Leopard.

The little that I've read of this book so far has been intense. It's prose is fiercely felt, and demands that you experience it at its level, so it's an exhausting read. Interesting so far, tho. I'll let you know how it goes.

Can't Stop the Dance

Trey has really started dancing to the music. Yesterday during dinner, I was listening to mid-90s Paul Westerberg, and as soon as one of his groovier tunes came on ("Eyes Like Sparks" off of 2002's Mono as recorded by Grandpaboy), Trey started wiggling in his chair to the music. The performance was repeated when Kelly arrived and put on Estelle's "American Boy." My boy can not only dance, but he's got good selection!

Quote of the Day

Capital burns off the nuance in a culture. Foreign investment, global markets, corporate acquisitions, the flow of information through transnational media, the attenuating influence of money that's electronic and sex that cyberspaced, untouched money and computer-safe sex, the convergence of consumer desire -- not that people want the same things, necessarily, but that they want the same range of choices.
- Don Delillo, Underworld, page 785

Charlie Sheen: Cartoon

The more outrageous Charlie Sheen quotes attached to New Yorker comics. IMO, makes them much funnier then they were originally!