And we are criminals that never broke no laws

I have an ear infection in both ears. I'm on my second antibiotic for it. The first one . . . didn't help. I haven't been sleeping much.

I fell asleep this afternoon, after getting back from the doctor's. I think I had a dream influenced by Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach: I dreamed that our plumbing broke and the living room flooded with a thin sheen of clear water, but it was a permeable place in the world. From certain angles, the flooded room looked through to a huge swamp of black water and pines, with the sun just beginning to slide out of afternoon into sunset. It was always the same time of day in the swamp, no matter the time in our house. Not much happened. It didn't need to.

1. About a verse into "Once in a Lifetime," during last night's screening of Stop Making Sense (1984) at the Somerville, I leaned over and said to rushthatspeaks, "I had forgotten how much of this concert is David Byrne being hot while dressed unflatteringly and/or possessed."

I stand by this assessment. Also, that film is even better in 35 mm.

2. I discovered she speaks in tongues with their debut EP gloria, GUITAR (2014). It's an amazing collage of reinterpretations, mash-ups, and breakdowns, drawing from source materials as diverse as Bessie Smith's "Saint Louis Blues," Patti Smith's "Gloria," Kate Bush's "Cloudbusting," and the theme from Reading Rainbow. None of it is ever quite a straight cover, but it's a very conscious exploration of women's voices in rock and roll and it works brilliantly, as well as being a lot of fun to listen to.

Also discovered by random Bandcamping: Stick in the Wheel. I downloaded their free EP Cuts (2014), but Bones has the really stellar Tom o' Bedlam with all the verses.

3. I am much more ambivalent about The Secret History's Americans Singing in the Dark (2013) than I was about either of their previous releases, The World That Never Was (2010) or Desolation Town (2008), but I really like "Eleanor (The City & Sea)." It feels like an ashlyme soundtrack.

This city never liked me—I blow about like trash
Between the pillars of salt and the piles of ash

4. Aleister Crowley, wickedest man in the world? Debatable, but he did write some terrible tentacle porn.

5. There are many blistering takedowns of John C. Wright, but this one is popelizbet's. Do not make specious generalizations about law where a lawyer can hear you. Or say any of those things, really.

P.S. Annemarie Schwarzenbach. Always.