Posts you had second thought about and decided not to post - put them here

i don't think I am clear on what sophistipop is and isn't ... are we talking Joe Jackson "Stepping Out" or ... idk

IIRC sophistopop consists mainly of Spandau Ballet.

And Bruce Springsteen's "Brilliant Disguise."

MAYBE "Tunnel of Love" plus "Life in a Northern Town" and "Smooth Operator."

Blue nile - eh
“stepping out” - ruined by bad voice
Spandex ballet - eh
“brilliant disguise” - yes
“tunnel of love” - yes
“Life in a northern town” - fuck off forever
“smooth operator” - hell yes

Music Hall Comic #1: I went on holiday to Iceland last month.
Music Hall Comic #2: Reykjavik?
Music Hall Comic #1: No, I hardly touched a drop.

the upside of not making friendship a thing where people have to be perfect is that, as long as they're sufficiently self-confident without being an asshole, you can celebrate people's individual oddness and wonderfulness and not get bogged down in things that would be dealbreakers if you were, say, looking for someone to live with as a roomie. like for instance, the guy who i am hanging out with tonight is somebody who i've hung with about four times in the past year because we're both busy but we've been cordial via email. he's a sweet, soft-spoken, intelligent guy with a lot of interesting tastes and a martial arts background who has informed me he doesn't ever want to visit my favorite cemetery because of his "connection to the spirit world." our lives wouldn't likely overlap unless i took the time i take to hit him up once every two weeks or so but as long as i get a sense that diligence is appreciated and neither taken for granted or resented, I'm happy to do it.
i guess i'm encouraging anyone who has issues connecting with other people to treat it like dating where you know you're not going to have sex and make the necessary concessions as such. it's easier if you approach being/having a friend with realistic expectations and can spread your needs around to multiple people. It's become a real hobby for me and is surprisingly fulfilling.

i guess that all sounds really dispassionate and removed on paper but it comes from a place of wanting to share and receive kindness.

ulysses the wishing for kindness comes through hugely.

hi5

I have no idea what sophistipop means, but "Brilliant Disguise" is awesome and so is the video. It reminds me of this weird fear of mirrors I had as a child, where I would just lock eyes with myself and not be able to stop staring.

Shpandex Ballet

lol

this thing you have anxiety and fear surrounding -- treat it like this even scarier thing that generally ends badly -- lol

Put down the callipers pls

butt problems were a go to for me at various horrible jobs ... no one wants details of your butt problems.

Starbucks should close at like 11am every day

Promising thread titles that turn out not to be about jazz

Be the change you want to see on ILM.

you were a gaffer on the weakest link?

you're right, we need more literature fans

lmao

should i say here or in the other thread that i haven't even read toni morrison myself (nothing on her i just don't read much literature)

sometimes w/ this sort of thing it's a little bit a lot of ppl feeling they need to chime in even tho they have nothing to say and i'd almost prefer ilx not say much if it has nothing worthwhile to add

the point is not that we need to gin up response to events outside our experience but that the community's homogeneity is showing and it's part of the reason why the petri dish is souring a bit

we need some racist alt-right gun nuts on ilx ...?

though i do wish we had threads for shows like Insecure and Dear White People ...

should i say here or in the other thread that i haven't even read toni morrison myself

Never read anything of hers either. I admire her attitude toward her own work — basically, "I know who I'm writing for, and if anyone else wants to read it, that's fine" — and figure I'll get around to her eventually.

On the other hand, I tried listening to a David Berman song last night on YouTube and stopped after 90 seconds or so - it just did absolutely nothing for me. People who like what he did are seeking something from music that I am not, and that's fine. There's a whole world of things that are Not For Me.

There's a whole world of things that are Not For Me.

Pretty much. As a general rule, I have little affinity for writers who are in it to tell stories or who wholeheartedly embrace language. It's not a value judgement – their work simply doesn't resonate with me.

the point is not that we need to gin up response to events outside our experience but that the community's homogeneity is showing and it's part of the reason why the petri dish is souring a bit

― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Thursday, August 8, 2019 11:32 AM (twenty-five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

ya this is it

how does a writer not wholeheartedly embrace language"? Are there examples of those who don't?

Sam Beckett: 'Every word is like an unnecessary stain on silence and nothingness.'

Becket wholeheartedly embraces language, whether in Murphy or The Unnameable. I'm not sure we're using the adverb and the noun it modifies in the same way, lol

That he does so reluctantly is a fairly uncontroversial statement.

That's judging his intentions, which have no interest in doing. Spare prose bespeaks an embrace of language.

i.e. you love English/French enough to respect minimalism.

No, it stems from the prose itself. The terror-stricken struggle with language is there at every step.

He speaks of writing as an 'obligation' to express.

fwiw I always got him confused with that comedian

Yeah, but Beckett was "performing" "Samuel Beckett" in a lot of his writing. Remember, his early stuff was super-Joycean and positively besotted with word-power and language's expressive capability. His later, minimal stuff was a reaction, and he fully understood the absurdity of what he was trying to do.

Hm. I understand your point now, but I know few writers for whom a struggle with language wasn't a terror!

though i do wish we had threads for shows like Insecure and Dear White People ...

*AHEM*
Issa Ray's "Insecure" HBO show

I am bummed no one posts on that thread but me tbh

most thread here could be titled Insecure and Dear White People imo

lol

*clink*

I didn't post about TM because it's like leaving a scribbled note at the foot of a mountain and besides I don't feel qualified (short version: I'm insecure and white). Then I dribbled some inadequate bollocks on the thread and am thinking I'll stick with my insecurity from now on.

Yeah, but Beckett was "performing" "Samuel Beckett" in a lot of his writing. Remember, his early stuff was super-Joycean and positively besotted with word-power and language's expressive capability. His later, minimal stuff was a reaction, and he fully understood the absurdity of what he was trying to do.

All writers perform 'themselves' on some level (and Beckett was more aware of this than most, as evidenced by the never-ending authorial chain in The Unnamable, for instance), but his early stuff is already shot through with 'great black pauses', as he says with reference to Beethoven's 7th. Its stylistic lavishness often comes across as a front, which is almost never the case in Joyce's writings.

Btw Alfred, you're certainly right to point out that a difficult relationship with language isn't necessarily indicative of terror or torture or tortuousness, etc. Conversely, some writers claim to loathe the ease with which they write. Whether this is made manifest in the prose (or poetry) itself varies from author to author, but I would argue that in Beckett's case it most certainly is (that said, the opposite argument has been made, and I don't think it unpersuasive!).

fair enough! That makes sense.

think yer all wrong and prob wilfully so but cba needling the winkle out of the shell

Conversely, some writers claim to loathe the ease with which they write

aaaaaah screw these people!

black, white, purple

aaaaaah screw these people!

cosign

most threads here could be titled "aaaaaah screw these people!"