Halema and Chet

"Compassion"

2007-07-03T16:28:00.000-06:00

Not bad for under $8!

Argent (I'll take this over "Milkshake" as an anthem ANYDAY!)

2007-05-05T14:24:00.000-06:00

And if it's bad
Don't let it get you down, you can take it.
And if it hurts
Don't let them see you cry, you can fake it.

Hold your head up (woman), hold your head up (woman)
Hold your head up (woman), hold your head high.

And if they stare
Just let them burn their eyes on you moving.
And if they shout
Don't let it change a thing that you're doing.

Hold your head up (woman), hold your head up (woman)
Hold your head up (woman), hold your head high.

Curious about Movie Title Screens? No? Well look anyway!

2007-04-15T17:34:00.000-06:00

http://shillpages.com/movies/aa.shtml

New Energy drink "Cocaine"?

2007-04-12T10:42:00.000-06:00

Taking aim at 'Cocaine'
ENERGY DRINK Alderman wants product to join smoking, BB-guns on long list of restrictions
April 12, 2007
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter fspielman@suntimes.com

An energy drink billed as more than three times stronger than Red Bull and marketed under the "shameful" brand name "Cocaine" would be banned in Chicago, under a crackdown proposed Wednesday by the City Council's most powerful alderman.
Finance Committee Chairman Edward M. Burke (14th) has already championed a 2005 ban on the sale of marijuana-flavored candy.

Now he's setting his sights on "Cocaine," an energy drink produced by Las Vegas-based Redux Beverages that's made to "glamorize" the namesake drug and "simulate" its effect.
With 280 milligrams of caffeine and a secret "throat-numbing" ingredient, "Cocaine" energy drinks are "marketed to give a high coupled with a tingly, euphoric feeling within five minutes of drinking it, followed by an initial boost and a buzz" that lasts as long as six hours, according to the proposed ban.
Energy drinks have become the rage among American teenagers, with 7.6 million or 31 percent of the teen population drinking them. Hundreds of new energy drinks reportedly hit the shelves this year. It has become a $3.4 billion-a-year business.
Burke's ordinance would prohibit licensed Chicago retailers from "selling and storing" energy drinks sold under the brand name "Cocaine." Violators could lose their licenses and face fines of $300 a day for each offense.

(Now, that is marketing)

Thriftstore Cookbooks (I am enjoying The Benevolent Bean)

2007-04-08T21:41:00.000-06:00

2007-04-05T18:06:00.000-06:00

Today was one of those unending days.
"S" called off and the phones were ringing
off the hook. The noise shook me down.

Red Line to Howard.
Four tracks to three. Congestion not
so bad as expected.
End car.
Sat next to a writer.
He quickly put away pen and paper
as I sat down and I wanted to tell
him, "It is okay."

I am the same way. The minute someone sits next
to me when I am writing I feel as though
someone has walked into my apartment and
sat on my lap and though some people could care
less, I assure you most people will peek. I do sometimes!
I do not read but I take an odd joy seeing someone writing.
Whether it be a journal entry or a letter.
(I realize the hypocrisy of this though so today
I caught myself.)

As soon as I pulled out my notebook and began
scribbling, he took his back out and continued
to write. It was a rather pleasant ride.
Both of us peering out and down.

Going to download some Mazzy Star tonight.
I think I need her voice.

Still reading Durrell's poetry.
I do not like most of it!
:(

There is one piece I will post tomorrow
that I did like though.

Until then:

"A city becomes a world when one loves one of it's inhabitants."
I believe that is from Justine.

Apropos of nothing

2007-04-05T14:38:00.000-06:00

Save that I love sushi and this is a sushi guide.
So if you are out of your element/place/town
you can still find some sake.

http://www.sushi.infogate.de/

4 3 0 9 R e s t a u r a n t s i n 1 1 5 8 C i t i e s

2007-04-02T09:58:00.000-06:00

Just came back from an EXHAUSTING roadtrip with my mother
to New Iberia, LA. I live in Chicago mind you.

I will not even get into the drama that ensued as this is not the forum.
But I will say I did come up with some wonderful fodder.
The luxury of being in the passenger seat.

I also have my notes from my Megabus trip to St. Louis
and so I really need to get to work!

pas·tor·al [ pástərəl ]

2. idealizing rural life: presenting an idealized image of rural life and nature
pastoral poetry

Pastoral. I do not think this is what I am looking for in regards to what these notes will bring. But that is what popped into my head first so I will leave it here.

Man, people were so crazy friendly in the South I loved it! Not that I was surprised but we spoke to such a wide rangeof people from Memphis to Louisiana that is was refreshing. Did not get to see much since our destination was a Tropical plant nursery and we had to be home by a certain time.

Drove past Durant, MS where my great grandmother was born. I wanted to stop so badly but my mother is not the type to appreciate that type of nostalgia.

So. Let me arrange these notes before I lose their taste.

Midnight Special

2007-03-29T15:10:00.000-06:00

Wow,I just discovered YouTube has Midnight Special
performances!

Marc Bolan & T.Rex - Hot Love...
Be right back!

Poetry

2007-03-28T21:09:00.000-06:00

So I need a more appropriate diversion.
Going back to reading poetry. Fiction will
come when I have read too much of the former.

I decided on Durrell first because I like his fiction/travel writing
but not so much the poetry. At least what I have read so far?
I feel like if nothing else I will at least find lines that I love
but even that is enough.

Deleted my Livejournal because I feel like I lost my voice/focus?
I am certain I am just being temperamental but hey, whatever works.
It has become such a distraction for me that I spend all my time checking up
on everyone else.

How did I not know there was a film adaptation of Justine ?

Cover Art

2007-03-15T18:58:00.000-06:00

I have this thing about covers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_cover
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~jimthing/

Well, at least when it comes to a
book that I have enjoyed. I have multiple copies of Durrell
and Purdy books simply because of the cover art.

Different artists, styles, perceptions.
Cheaper than collecting Renoirs.

Why are covers so neglected nowadays?
Or perhaps I am out of the loop because I rarely
buy anything new? No, I still look at books for godsakes
and the covers are blah.

Perhaps over the weekend I will post some examples.

2007-03-12T21:18:00.000-06:00

The red one is a Radiohead book I picked up.

A favorite picture of mine "Jacob Lawrence and Gwen Knight"

2007-02-18T12:22:00.000-06:00

What I managed to pick up this past week/weekend besides 2 colds

2006-09-26T22:07:00.000-06:00

Crab Orchard Review: Writers on Food Spring/Summer 2003
VIA:Voices in Italian America. Fall 1995
the poker (A literary magazine out of Cambridge)2004
Delmar 7 (Out of St. Louis) Spring 1999

I do not read enough contemporary poetry. I am still stuck in
the past. Currently 1940-50's Mexico.

Have not quite made it to 2006 save friends and writers published
in spaces I wish to occupy.

I also picked up "My Venice" by Harold Brodkey because I have quite a thing
for Venice, sight unseen. Let us hope the book is enjoyable.

I am currently reading Durrell's Mountolive which I will post excerpts of when my hands are a bit more agreeable.

"A Public Space"

2006-09-18T18:40:00.000-06:00

I submitted two poems to them yesterday
via their on-line submission page.

I only had two that I felt were ready
and one I still fussed over at the very last minute.

We will see what happens.

I have also finally found and was able to download
Torso by Sergio Martino.

I am a sucker for a good giallo.

Evergreen Review No. 7

2006-09-13T21:10:00.000-06:00

I have only read two poems but I am not taken (yet) by Octovio Paz.
I am however enjoying Juan Rulfo's, From Pedro Paramo.

It was the hour when the children play in the streets in every village,
filling the afternoon with their shouts. When the walls still reflect
the yellow light of the sun.
At least that's what I saw in Sayula yesterday at the same hour. I also
saw the doves flying in the still air. They circled around and disappeared
over the rooftops, and the shouts of the children flew up like birds.

I know it is simple but sometimes simple works.

Flipping through the journal I learned two things:

1. You could pick up up a hell of a lot of good writing for $1.
2. You could buy a Thelonious Monk album for $4.98
(okay 3)

3. You could pick up a sweet pair of bongos for $6.95!

Just purchased this for $5! Was the best $5 I've spent in a while.

2006-09-03T06:57:00.000-06:00

Evergreen Review
Vol. 2 No. 7 Winter 1959
"The Eye of Mexico"

Anand Lall - The Continuing Position of India
A special statement on India's foreign policy by its permanent delegate to the United Nations.

The Eye of Mexico

Octavio Paz - Todos Santos, Dia de Muertos
Octavio Paz - Two Poems
Juan Rulfo - From Pedro Páramo
Alí Chumacero - Two Poems
Elena Garro - A Solid House
Carlos Fuentes - The Life Line
Manuel Durán - Three Poems
Jaime García Térres - Two Poems
Ricardo Pozas A. - Juan Pérez Jolote, Part I
Marco Antonio Montes de Oca - Poem
José Luis Cuevas - The Cactus Curtain
Guadalupe Amor - My Mother's Bedroom
Esther McCoy - Felix Candela
Juan José Arreola - Nine Sketches
Jaime Sabines - Two Poems
Elena Poniatowska - Interview With Juan Soriano
Manuel Calvillo - Book of the Migrant
Miguel Léon-Portilla - A Náhuatl Concept of Art

Views and Reviews

Edwin Denby - Three Sides of Agon
Martin Williams - Thelonious Monk
Lysander Kemp - Fly Away, Little Dove
William Carlos Williams - E.E. Cummings
Kenneth Koch - St. John Perse's Nerw Poem
James Schuyler - Anthology of Mexican Poetry
Maurice Blanchot - Where Now? Who Now?
Frank O'Hara - About Zhivago and His Poems
Correspondence

Cover photograph by Martin Sameth
This issue contains 256 pgs.

2006-08-22T21:58:00.000-06:00

I have caught the tail end of P.O.V.: Lomax The Songhunter
and ahh! The Sicilian folksongs chilled me.
I remember wanting to buy up all the CD's I could on Amazon
and I still have yet to.

Please tell me
someone is still preserving these songs. Please?

I am going to ask a friend to record it for me. It does not air again until Thursday at 3:30am of all times.

The poem is shaping up.
It just may become something.

Still awaiting the arrival of the second
issue of "A Public Space."

I am getting antsy.

I like it here.

Motivation

2006-08-21T21:41:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I stopped in at a new bookstore on Broadway, 'City Bookshop Inc." to look for some Durrell. They had none. They also did not have any Purdy and I was turning to go when a cover caught my eye:

I am 33 pages into it and damn! I mean I love Neruda anyway but this was the slap across the cheek I needed. The hollows of my cheeks were drawn and moist. Hunger.

I was tempted to call up "A" and read all 33 pages to him but alas my minutes had run out and so I kept it to myself. It is the thought that counts though. Right?

I also jotted down a quick piece today.
More than rough around the edges but it is
something.

I am watching "Murder Ahoy" for the umpteenth time.
I want a t-shirt with Dame Margaret Rutherford on it.
Stat!

Completion, Collections, Cookbooks

2006-08-07T23:15:00.000-06:00

We turned the film in today.
20 days to shoot a feature film.
Everything that could have gone wrong
in the last 24 hours did.
Breakdowns were had and
sleep lost. I have had a steady
headache since Friday.

It is out of our hands now.
I can whisper, "I am a filmmaker.
That I can write a screenplay, can pen
a mean narrative and can help
one find their "motivation."

When I arrive no one will notice
not even me.

I bought a bottle of
Riesling and a bottle of "Cruz-Garcia
Real Sangria." The latter on a whim.
I need proper ice trays.

I also found a 40 year old
"The Art of Scandinavian Cooking" Cookbook
for "M". She will squeal with delight I am sure.
Danish Hash, Stegt Aal med stuvede Kartofler,
Madeleine Hamilton's Potato-Mushroom Ragout

For two people that have a rather shoddy
relationship with food we have a quirky
pre-occupation with it.

I want another tattoo.
I want to build up my wrists.

I need to ween myself off of TV again.
Reality shows = hole in my head.

Luckily, I found a Salvation Army that takes
credit cards which means my album collection
will multiply at a freakish rate.

Newest additions:

1."The Best of the Big Band Singers"

2."Welcome Back, My Friends, To the Show That Never Ends" ELP
Though I am missing one of the albums. Dammit.

3. "Miles of Aisles" Joni Mitchell and The L.A. Express

4. "Nancy- Naturally" Nancy Wilson for "A." I promised to wait
for him before I listened to her.

5. Leonard Bernstein "Latin American Fiesta"

6. "My Funny Valentine " Miss Gloria Lynne

All for $4.50

Excerpt

2006-07-14T08:10:00.000-06:00

...Then to escape from the eyes of the world into some quiet corner
where I can possess myself. There are whole parts of my character
I do not understand. I need time.

Balthazar,
Lawrence Durell

Nothing better than a list to make you feel inadequate

2006-07-13T16:44:00.000-06:00

QUAINT FRAGMENT, 1931
TEN POEMS, 1932
BALLADE OF SLOW DECAY, 1932
BROMO BOMBASTES, 1933
TRANSITION, 1934
MASS FOR THE OLD YEAR, 1935
PIED PIPER OF LOVERS, 1935
PANIC SPRING, 1937 (as Charles Norden)
THE BLACK BOOK, 1938 - Musta kirja (Read)
POEMS, 1938
A PRIVATE COUNTRY, 1943
PROSPERO'S CELL, 1945
CITIES, PLAINS AND PEOPLE, 1946
ZERO, AND ASYLUM IN THE SNOW, 1946
THE PARTHENON, 1946
CEFFALÚ, 1947 - Pimeä sokkelo
ON SEEMING TO PRESUME, 1948
A LANDMARK GONE, 1949
DEUS LOCI, 1950
SAPPHO, 1950
KEY TO MODERN POETRY, 1952
THE TREE OF IDLENESS, 1953
REFLECTIONS ON A MARINE VENUS, 1953
THE TREE OF IDLENESS, 1955
PRIVATE DRAFTS, 1955
SELECTED POEMS, 1956
ESPRIT DE CORPS, 1957
BITTER LEMONS, 1957 - Katkerat sitruunat (suom. T.A. Engström) * (Read)
WHITE EAGLES OVER SERBIA, 1957 - Serbian valkoiset kotkat
Alexandria Quartet: JUSTINE, 1957 (suom). (Read) BALTHAZAR, 1958 (suom.) MOUNTOLIVE, 1959 (suom.) CLEA, 1960 - (suom. T.A. Engström)
STIFF UPPER LIP, 1958
ed.: THE HENRY MILLER READER, 1959
ed.: THE BEST OF HENRY MILLER, 1960
GRODDECK, 1960
COLLECTED POEMS, 1960
ACTÉ OR THE PRISONER OF TIME, 1961
THE POETRY OF LAWRENCE DURRELL, 1962
L.D. AND H. MILLER,1963 (a private correspondence with Henry Miller)
AN IRISH FAUSTUS, 1963
A PERSIAN LADY, 1963
SELECTED POEMS, 1964
ACTE, 1965
THE ICONS, 1966
SAUVE QUI PEUT, 1966
TUNC, 1968
NUMQUAM, 1970
FAUSTUS, 1970
THE RED LIMBO LINGO, 1971
ON THE SUCHNESS OF THE OLD BOY, 1972
VEGA, 1973
THE PLAIN-MAGIC MAN, 1973
LIFELINES, 1974
COLLECTED POEMS, 1974
THE BEST OF ANTROBUS, 1975
MONSIEUR, 1975 - suom.
BLUE THIRST, 1975
SICILIAN CAROUSEL, 1977*
LIVIA, 1978 - suom.
THE GREEK ISLANDS, 1978
COLLECTED POEMS 1931-74, 1980
A SMILE IN THE MINDS EYE, 1980
LITERARY LIFELINES, 1981
CONSTANCE; OR, SOLITARY PRACTICES, 1982
SEBASTIAN, 1983
QUINX, 1983
ANTROBUS COMPLETE, 1985
THE DURRELL-MILLER LETTERS 1935-1980, 1988
LETTERS TO JEAN FANCHETTE 1958-63, 1988
CAESAR'S VAST GHOST, 1990
HENRI MICHAUX, 1990

*I think I am getting addicted to travel literature. Reading Durrell has done that to me. His attention to detail is as intense as mine.I am in the midst of Sicilian Carousel and will now bludgeon "A" with all types of questions about his birthplace. It is on our listof places to be.