Jean Dubuffet's Groupe de Quatre Arbres (1972) @ Chase Plaza

Trinity Church on Broadway @ Wall Street

Trinity Church Graveyard

synchronicity

Reminiscent of Ghyslain Raza a.k.a. The Star Wars Kid, this boy demonstrates that teenagers will find all manner of amusements when left alone in their rooms.

Via Mike Daisey

I've overstayed my welcome

I got the letter I've been dreading...my graduate school wrote to tell me I'm taking too long to complete my degree. So tell me something I don't know. There was an element to it that made me sort of giggly, like when you're getting away with something for a long time and someone finally calls you out.

it's an honor just to be nominated...

I have happened upon two entertaining competitions under way:

To uncover the world's worst ex, Lindsayism.com and TMFTML are hosting The Cruddy Award. Boy oh boy, are there some episodes from my 20s that could rival the best of them, but I will not participate.

Every month over at Nerve, excerpts are pitted against one another for The Henry Miller Award, given to the best literary sex scene. Since it's almost impossible to describe sex in writing without completely taking the magic out of it, many other interesting literary style choices are brought to the forefront.

32% nerdy and proud of it

According to this "highly advanced test," 32% of those surveyed are less nerdy than I am. If I actually complete my Ph.D. this year, my score will automatically go up 2 points.

we'd like to accept you, but...

...you just look too damn good in leather pants. Archivists at Florida State University have uncovered an ad from the '60s in which Jim Morrison plays a clean-cut student denied acceptance because the school is suffering from a lack of resources. You can view it here.

I'll miss views like this...

no esther for you

This story of Julia Stiles getting booted from the film version of The Bell Jar makes me feel happy inside. Maybe she'll learn not to count her Oscars before they're hatched.

Via Bookslut

is it slander if it's true?

Most people call that last one "English major"...

palm americana

I was recently forced to buy a new Palm Pilot. I'm going through them at a rate I used to go through portable cassette players as a young chit. Not quite, but it felt that way when I had to buy a third Palm in about as many years. The other night, I was checking out the new features and discovered Palm Reader, pre-loaded with two novels already: James Fenimore Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans and L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. I am intrigued by the executive decision that decided on these two titles, together. Of all the books that could be scanned and digitized into tiny letters on my tiny screen, why these? Were they the most reputable books that are now only watched as movies? If I buy a Palm Pilot in Amsterdam or Mumbai, what books do I get? Do they actually think I'm going to read The Last of the Mohicans this way when I probably wouldn't read it in book form? Puzzling...

spit lit?

Apparently, London's "annual celebration of women's writing" is called the Spit Lit festival. I don't get it. Anyway, this is a fairly depressing article on the lack of literary heroines over 40. In some ways, literature is even worse than film when it comes to giving this very large demographic a voice (that demographic being women over 40...not literary heroines).

Via Bookslut's Michael Schaub, who adds: "Asked for comment, the publishing world stuck their fingers in their ears and commented "NA NA NA NA NA NA WE'RE NOT LISTENING NA NA NA NA NA NA."

the hairy call

For anyone who's ever witnessed Jonathan Ames's hairy call, you might enjoy this animated tale with music by One Ring Zero.

does anybody really know what time it is?

This morning...

Scraggy Old Man in Street: Hey! Is today Saturday or Sunday or what?
Me: Thursday.
Old Man: Thursday. Thanks.

Three blocks later...

Handsome Young Latino on Corner: Is today Friday or Thursday?
Me: You're the second person to ask me that in five minutes! Thursday.

But then I thought...is it Thursday? What makes me so sure it's Thursday? No one else seems that sure about it.