Monthly Archives: April 2014

Have not made the correct sacrifices to Morpheus

Where is my sleeping? I cannot find it. I am running on the barest minimum of dreams, and many of them are no good, like the one in which a fluffy red-and-black spider with about a 3-foot diameter was hanging upside down from the ceiling next to my bed.

“Don’t worry,” the friendly voice said in my dream. “It won’t hurt you. But it will climb down and cross the bed once you’re asleep.”

So in my sleep, I was … terrified to go to sleep.

I don’t even mind spiders. But come on.

Some things that make me squeaky:

1. Jim Jarmusch movies (do not ask me to choose whether I like Dead Man or Ghost Dog better, such a choice cannot be made amen)

2. Tilda Switnon (my hero)

3. vampire movies (the bitey-bite)

4. FINE OKAY (Tom Hiddleston too)

Which is to say, I dearly hope Only Lovers Left Alive comes to Houston, or everyone will have to endure yet another in the endless rounds of This Is the Stupidest Town Ever To Be Stupid (Also Stupidly Hot) (and Ugly).

And I love this interview with Tilda Swinton who seems to be so strange in very entertaining ways and way more warm than anyone who looks like a pillar of magical moon alabaster should actually be.

Particularly this quote:

“This, of course, is very close to what Eve in Only Lovers knows and values: the company of fellow travelers, the slow burn, the long view—and the perpetual guiding change of nature. Both are ­bigger than us; they support and carry us. We can fly at the back of the formation they form and take our place as a part of ­patterns they make … We set out to make something about ­companionship and wonder in the face of bitterness and ­disillusionment—and we set out to hope that companionship and wonder might win. And, in addition, Eve expresses something very accurate about me, which is not the artist in me but the cheerleader of artists, the bird at the end of the phone, the dance partner, the ­appreciative reader of proofs, the bearer of the bucket, and the sponge in the ­corner, sometimes the jester with the balloon on a stick. This is, beyond ­anything I think, the part of my work that I treasure the most, my job, above all, as artist’s moll.”

Because THIS. Because this, goddammit! Do you know I have hear people say they won’t even click “like” on someone’s publication announcement if they “can’t fully support the work”?

I want you to succeed. Your succeeding does not take anything from me. I want you to make the stuff you want to make, even if that’s just pie. I want you to pick up your failures and figure out how to make them better going forward. I want you to have those moments when you blow yourself away. I want your work to find the hearts it will comfort. And I will tell you this whenever you ask.

A project!

Through the Book Arts listserv, which I faithfully read despite having the bookbinding skills of a second grader, I found out about Ottawa artist Mary Kritz‘s project “365 days of handwriting.”

Handwriting! It is near and dear unto me. I sent in a poem. Here is a video about the project. You can see a glimpse of my contribution around 12:50.

Places where I have recently dined:

L. Woods Tap and Pine Lodge: Muddled Kentucky, breaded pork tenderloin

Hot Doug’s: Foie Gras and Sauternes Duck Sausage with Truffle Aioli, Foie Gras Mousse and Fleur de Sel, Smoked Venison Sausage with Blackberry-Cherry Mustard, Espresso Bellavitano Cheese and Chicken-Veal Pâté, Swiss Cheese-Stuffed Tongue Sausage with Horseradish Mustard, Chopped Chicken Liver and Pork Shoppe Pork Belly Pastrami, cherry Coke

(For pity’s sake, I split those. Eating all 3 would have split ME)

Hopleaf: Potato/bacon/leek soup, Mussels for two Belgian style, an excellent cider alas not seen on the site

Edited to add Great Harvest: Black bean and rice soup, hummus and veg sandwich on spinach-cheese bread, a great desire to have room to eat all the bread ever

Spice House: ginger nibs

Takashi: omekase menu with pairings

Kopi Cafe: Russian tea, bagel & lox plate (their Russian tea is one of my Top Five Drinks)

Pannenkoeken Cafe: apple-ginger pancake, deliciously bad diner coffee

Rockwell’s: skirt steak sandwich, Original Sin cider

Taste of Heaven: chocolate chip scone, sour cherry scone

Sadly, all of this debauchery ended in The Barfs. Worth it.

Oh hey, guess where I have been?