If I knew how, I'd blow town now

[sovay]

1. Dinosaur feathers, preserved in amber. This is even more wonderful than the Tibetan woolly rhino.

2. I believe this is the nerdiest thing I've ever seen published in a military magazine: "Don't Come to the Dark Side: Acquisition Lessons from a Galaxy Far, Far Away."

3. These would be the songs I've had stuck in my head recently. I apologize in advance for whatever you go around humming for the next few days, unless it turns out they're catchy only by me.

Lisa Hannigan, "Braille"

We swim without a word between us
Our breath held in
We read enough in the rush of
Braille on our skin

Marbles, "Red Lights"

I would sell my mother
For a chance to play guitar in his band
We're still playing all the old songs
In the garage, but it's just a mirage

Modest Mouse, "Ocean Breathes Salty"

And maybe we'll get lucky and we'll both grow old
Well, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know—I hope so

The Pack a.d., "Sirens"

You needn't fear
Say you trust me
My back has wings

Pray for Polanski, "9191991"

And if you want me, are there cigarettes and coffee?
And if we're going, I'll need a place to do my laundry

Richard Hell & The Heartbreakers, "Blank Generation"

It's such a gamble when you get a face
It's fascinating to observe what the mirror does
But when I dine, it's for the wall that I set a place

The Silent Comedy, "Bartholomew"

Wash your hands, get out the stains
But you'd best believe, boy, there's hell to pay
Yeah, you'd best believe, boy, there's hell to pay

Talking Heads, "Psycho Killer (1975 CBS Demo)"

I'm criticized, but I know it's worthwhile

4. Thanks to nineweaving, I have tickets for the live broadcast of One Man, Two Guvnors tonight at the Coolidge Corner Theatre. I wish I were seeing Nicholas Farrell in The Browning Version. Eventually someone will invent the teleporter or I'll invent a budget.

5. Written to margavriel, who thought it would make (avert!) a good Facebook status: "There are lots of things I wouldn't miss about the '50's, but the proliferation of extremely intelligent people doing silly things at a piano may never be seen again."

Off to catch a bus.

Comments

[cucumberseed.livejournal.com]

*yoink*

[sillylilly-bird.livejournal.com]

I take great joy in introducing people to Flanders and Swann :)

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

When you see the feather fragments in amber, it's hard not to imagine that all flying dinosaurs had amber-gold wings.

If I get a chance, I'll be back with an illustration.

[teenybuffalo.livejournal.com]

Downloaded all the songs--thank you very much indeed. The ongoing project to broaden my musical horizons may last as long as I do.

[ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com]

1. Dinosaur feathers, preserved in amber. This is even more wonderful than the Tibetan woolly rhino.

They're both pretty wonderful.

I find woolly rhinoceri interesting, for reasons I find difficult to articulate. Perhaps it's that on some level and for no very good reason they seem borderline mythical to me in a way that mastodons and mammoths don't. I remember a small plastic one from a set of little plastic prehistoric creatures, the usual anachronistic mix of dinosaurs, synapsids (the inevitable token Dimetrodon), and Pleistocene megafauna. The remains of Ice Age pachyderms were a constant in my childhood, as there was a mounted mammoth skeleton in the Ohio Historical Society Museum, but I don't have much conscious memory of seeing skeletal material from a woolly rhinoceros, although I'm sure I must have done, and for some reason the cave paintings of them didn't make as much of an impression, either. On some level every time I hear of them there's an instant when I think: "Wait a minute. Did those really exist, or were they imagined because it didn't seem reasonable to have extinct furry elephants without furry rhinoceri to join them in the Pleistocene zoo?"

2. I believe this is the nerdiest thing I've ever seen published in a military magazine: "Don't Come to the Dark Side: Acquisition Lessons from a Galaxy Far, Far Away."

Awesome. Thanks for sharing!

Did you ever see Mogmart's School of Magical PM, complete with Madame Houche's lesson on broom preventive maintenance, Professor McDonagal on wand PM, and Professor Snappy on potions PM? (Jump to pdf page 16 for the relevant comic--I couldn't locate a stand-alone version online.)

5. Written to [info]margavriel, who thought it would make (avert!) a good Facebook status: "There are lots of things I wouldn't miss about the '50's, but the proliferation of extremely intelligent people doing silly things at a piano may never be seen again."

Indeed.