Posts that focus on and link to the doings of others.
302 Posts
Groundbreaking NY Poet and performer John Giorno -- creator of Dial-A-Poem (call now: +1-641-793-8122!) and Giorno Poetry Systems, landlord to Wm. S. Burroughs, star of Andy Warhol's Sleep – died today, aged 82.
I cannot tell you how many times I've listened to his performance of Eating the Sky. Literally, hundreds:
Update, August 4, 2020: Giorno's autobiography, Great Demon Kings: A Memoir of Poetry, Sex, Art, Death, and Enlightenment, was released. Of course, it's wonderful. What a life!
9-Eyes, artist Jon Rafman's blog of images from Google maps is back after resting for 5+ years.
Lenivko Kvadratjić's bleak reinterpretation of The Simpsons.
Felix Colgrave's wonderful film about love and regicide.
Pocket is a short film meant to be watched on your phone using headphones. It has mature themes and is excellent. 18 minutes. Directed by Mishka Kornai.
"Turn out the light, put on your headphones and freedive with me around the world." — Guillaume Néry
Anna Mantzaris' brilliant short, Enough.
What do you get when you combine the terrain of table tennis with the head-skill of soccer? Headis.
Everything is Alive is an unscripted interview show / podcast in which all the subjects are inanimate objects. In each episode, a different thing tells us its life story--and everything it says is true." There have been three episodes so far: 1. Louis, can of soda; 2. Maeve, lamppost; 3. Dennis, pillow. They're not "sequential," but I do suggest listening to them in order.
I pitched them on participating as on a particular vinyl record, but I never heard back.
Land of the Strays is a short documentary about Lya Battle and her dog sanctuary in Costa Rica. Outside published an article about Battle a few years back.
Over the years I've lived in a few countries with significant stray dog populations: Cuba (1 month); The Dominican (2 months); Spain (3 months); Vanuatu (5 months).
In Playa Oliva, Spain, many homes had guard dogs which lived outside on fenced properties. At night, packs of wild dogs would hunt rabbit, cat, or whatever they could find. They'd spook the guard dogs, sending them into a frenzy, which was answered in kind by the pack until you had a cacophony of vicious barking that would last what felt like hours while you were trying to sleep.
I'd been hired to look after Blanche the cat, who was indoors with me, and I remember recording the howls and barks to share with the landlord to impress upon him the seriousness of the situation. Though technically I was not his tenant (my employer was), I was trying to help him, as he was renting the place out as a vacation spot and I thought he should speak to his neighbors about the situation.
Instead, the next day he turned up at the house with a rifle. I said, "Miguel, I'm a pet sitter. I'm not going to be shooting any dogs." He taught me how the rifle functioned and some nights I'd scare off large packs of the wild beasts by firing shots into the sky in the direction of the ocean, which was not much further than a stone's throw. Unsurprisingly, it was quite effective. It's the only real gun I've ever fired or even held.
