things I love this week, vol. 40

Then jet the blue tent topple, stars rain down,
and god or void appall us till we drown
in our own tears: today we start
to pay the piper with each breath, yet love
knows not of death nor calculus above
the simple sum of heart plus heart.

- from "Love is a Parallax," Sylvia Plath. 

. . .

A man feeding swans in the snow.

. . . 

It came up on one of my tango Pandora stations. The Google translation of the lyrics is as beautiful as the melody.

. . .

Made of shards of glass.

. . .

A fascinating NYTimes article about Linsday Lohan and a micro-budget film shot last summer.

. . .

"I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do." 

- To Kill a Mockingbird

. . . 

Sublime.

. . . 

[I want

to eat that
light.] Every
thing that grows
does.

- from “Honeysuckle,” Lyn Lifshin.

things I like this week, vol. 30

Steve McCurry, again. The entire post was beautiful, but this one was my favorite.

. . . 

Insight from Oscar Wilde:

All women become like their mothers.  That is their tragedy.  No man does.  That’s his.

- The Importance of Being Earnest 

. . . 

I have been craving tango dresses instead of shoes, lately - flowy ones. This is from INDI Apparel's recent line. There are lace insets along the sides of the skirt, too.

. . .

Allen Ginsberg's "An Eastern Ballad" is a fitting description of how I've felt the last six weeks or so, and much better than I could articulate it, even if I had tried:

I speak of love that comes to mind:
The moon is faithful, although blind;
She moves in thought she cannot speak.
Perfect care has made her bleak.

I never dreamed the sea so deep,
The earth so dark; so long my sleep,
I have become another child.
I wake to see the world go wild. 

. . .

It says "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," which is from Harry Potter's Marauder's Map. It's a clever touch to do it in black light ink (although why the random purple spots in the background?).

 . . .

This line, in a post about a Black Keys concert:

The music performed a miracle. It made the seats disappear.

things I like this week, vol. 28

Amanda Fucking Palmer. With a keytar. And here's a lovely write-up of what she called a "ninja gig" at a record store.

. . .

Speaks for itself.

. . . 

I refuse to pay $200 for something I could make myself if my sewing machine worked, but her designs are lovely. Michelle is wearing an outfit of hers in the video above.

. . . 

A map of the wind.

. . . 

A friend linked me to these. They would be perfect for tango shoes, if they had a leather sole (which you could actually get a cobbler to put on) and if one could afford the absurd price tag.

. . . 

It's so much better because it's in French.

. . . 

A craft. 

. . . 

Bukowski.

. . . 

It's Stonehenge as a bouncing castle, and it's called Sacrilege.

. . .

Lines from the Princess Bride that double as comments on Freshman Composition papers. 

. . . 

I hate covers that sound just like the original. It has to innovate, somehow.

. . . 

Totally remarkable testament to the perseverance of literacy. (via my lovely aunt)

. . . 

The new Norah Jones album is fucking awesome. And the mp3 download is five bucks on Amazon.

. . . 

Also in the interest of bargains, this is a 10 year Tempranillo. It was given 90 points by Wine Advocate. It tastes like a dream. And Costco is selling it for eight bucks.

things I love, tattoo edition

It's in her daughter's handwriting.



I wish we could see the one on her back. I love that it's an unusual design and that it's all in red.



The Golden Ratio, in a temporary tattoo.



Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar: “I took a deep breath and listened to the old bray of my heart: I am. I am. I am.”

. . .

It's my 200th post. Thanks for sticking with me this far. <3

things I like this week, vol. 23

Venetian Carnivale Masks. One more reason to move to Italy.

. . .

The opening lines of T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland - a worthy choice for a literary tattoo.

. . .

The flash of red beneath the black - so sexy. Even if I had no idea that the sole was a status symbol.

things I like: poetic tattoos

Lilies, laurel, roses, and the refrain from "Dirge Without Music", by Edna St. Vincent Millay:

I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground.
So it is, and so it will be, for so it has been, time out of mind:
Into the darkness they go, the wise and the lovely. Crowned
With lilies and with laurel they go; but I am not resigned.

Lovers and thinkers, into the earth with you.
Be one with the dull, the indiscriminate dust.
A fragment of what you felt, of what you knew,
A formula, a phrase remains, --- but the best is lost.

The answers quick & keen, the honest look, the laughter, the love,
They are gone. They have gone to feed the roses. Elegant and curled
Is the blossom. Fragrant is the blossom. I know. But I do not approve.
More precious was the light in your eyes than all the roses in the world.

Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave
Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind;
Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave.
I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.

The full text, by Margaret Atwood.

(both via The Word Made Flesh)

things I like this week, vol. 4

(image link leads to source)

inscribed

Turns out it's difficult to get a good picture of one's wrist with a cell phone camera.

See: Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five.