And to think, I wasn't going to post today.
I'm feeling very at one with the unvierse universe at the moment. I think I blame swankyfunk, for an unexpectedly beautiful line about Ossie Davis.
Before Clay came over last night and inundated me with music I now desperately want and will have to steal from him (The Black Keys? Holy hell, white and nerdy and sound like fucking Mississippi bluesmen and Kimi [whoa interesting typo!] Jimi Hendrix!), I was looking through job listings on Craigslist for Chicagoland (which I will never get tired of as a word and a concept). I found this, which is tempting, even though I wish I knew the name of the site that's put up the ad. I'm also trying to come up with ways I could get work I really truly enjoy. My dream job right now would be working for Vertigo Comics in some capacity. I was gasming to Clay about Lucifer, and he was just like, "Why don't you write comics for a living? You'd love it. You'd be good at it." This came from my whining that he actually knows what he wants to do, which is music journalism, while I'm just kind of like, "Durr, I like words!"
But yeah, I am happier nowhere else than when I'm immersed in dark literary fantasy. I need to follow that somehow.
Which leads to my next point. I am so beyond tempted to app Mazikeen or Gaudium for Milliways. I'll settle for making icon sets at the moment, but Mazikeen, oh. Mike Carey, you have realized her so fucking well. I am... three trades, I think, from the end of the series (one of which doesn't come out until December, my geeky comic store connection tells me). I have to pace myself. I have to I have to I have to. And I have to go one series at a time or I'll be broke in no time. That is the only thing keeping me from snagging that Rex Mundi volume right this minute.
Last night I also downloaded Stella Maris, the new album by Trio Mediaeval. Those women should not be allowed to be so sublime. The second track, "O Maria, Stella Maris," is hands down the most beautiful, haunting track I've ever heard in my life. Not to be superlative or anything. (As with Lhasa de Sela, I'd YSI, but damn you, iTunes copyright protection!) I'm halfway through the album, and it does not disapoint. I like it more than Soir, dit-elle, I think: it's not so modern and strange yet. Well, that's not true: it is strange. It feels more distant. More Orthodox, maybe? It smacks of Isabel Bayrakdarian's Joyous Light at times. Anyway, if nothing else, I cannot recommend "O Maria, Stella Maris" enough; if you've got an extra buck or two to spare on iTunes, snatch that and "Dou Way Robyn/Sancta Mater." Guh.
To switch tracks, I found this post via friendsfriends, obliquely. The poster's inability to grasp the basic theme of the Robin Hood story aside, it made me wonder how I'd respond to this, which sounds like such a stock conservative talking point. Her argument is that taxation is a vicious cycle that makes people poor, and workers should be allowed to keep the money they earn, and why don't liberals believe in that? I'm not even going to try and cite Rousseau and Locke, as I've never been able to keep most political writers straight (aside from the fact that Rousseau is a romantic twit and I remember really liking Locke), but I do buy into the idea that living in a community engenders an obligation to the community beyond yourself. Somebody very smart -- and I'm sad that I can't remember who said this -- pointed out that there is a fundamental conflict of interest for people in government who don't believe government should exist, and thus these people can't possibly perform their functions well. Taxation is not only important to help pay for vital services ("beloved welfare programs" aside, and I do genuinely believe in the goods of social programming, would you like little interference when it comes to collecting your trash or purifying your water?), if properly applied it creates incentives and oversight for private companies that would otherwise run rampant over employee and environmental concerns for a profit. Am I in the right direction? This is not something I think about a lot, and I am rather a starry-eyed liberal who doesn't believe in exploiting differences and playing on fear for personal gain, so if I'm off-base, please don't be shy about pointing out flaws in this (admittedly simplistic) system.
I think perhaps I wandered on that. I know it's one of my idealogical flaws that I'm much more interested in social justice and moral issues than fiscal policies and economics. I think it's wonderful than an economist won the Nobel Peace Prize this year -- I glad there are people who use the free market not just for good but for awesome. Okay, friendslist: what should I read to get me more fluent in economic theory? The titles I can think of off the top of my head are Freakonomics and Nickel & Dimed, but at least one of those has an agenda, yes? And I'm not certain they address government issues either.
Wow, that post didn't go where I thought it would at all. Oh, blogging. I think it's time to end here and wander off to write some six-word stories. (She touched his face. "How interesting.")
Before Clay came over last night and inundated me with music I now desperately want and will have to steal from him (The Black Keys? Holy hell, white and nerdy and sound like fucking Mississippi bluesmen and Kimi [whoa interesting typo!] Jimi Hendrix!), I was looking through job listings on Craigslist for Chicagoland (which I will never get tired of as a word and a concept). I found this, which is tempting, even though I wish I knew the name of the site that's put up the ad. I'm also trying to come up with ways I could get work I really truly enjoy. My dream job right now would be working for Vertigo Comics in some capacity. I was gasming to Clay about Lucifer, and he was just like, "Why don't you write comics for a living? You'd love it. You'd be good at it." This came from my whining that he actually knows what he wants to do, which is music journalism, while I'm just kind of like, "Durr, I like words!"
But yeah, I am happier nowhere else than when I'm immersed in dark literary fantasy. I need to follow that somehow.
Which leads to my next point. I am so beyond tempted to app Mazikeen or Gaudium for Milliways. I'll settle for making icon sets at the moment, but Mazikeen, oh. Mike Carey, you have realized her so fucking well. I am... three trades, I think, from the end of the series (one of which doesn't come out until December, my geeky comic store connection tells me). I have to pace myself. I have to I have to I have to. And I have to go one series at a time or I'll be broke in no time. That is the only thing keeping me from snagging that Rex Mundi volume right this minute.
Last night I also downloaded Stella Maris, the new album by Trio Mediaeval. Those women should not be allowed to be so sublime. The second track, "O Maria, Stella Maris," is hands down the most beautiful, haunting track I've ever heard in my life. Not to be superlative or anything. (As with Lhasa de Sela, I'd YSI, but damn you, iTunes copyright protection!) I'm halfway through the album, and it does not disapoint. I like it more than Soir, dit-elle, I think: it's not so modern and strange yet. Well, that's not true: it is strange. It feels more distant. More Orthodox, maybe? It smacks of Isabel Bayrakdarian's Joyous Light at times. Anyway, if nothing else, I cannot recommend "O Maria, Stella Maris" enough; if you've got an extra buck or two to spare on iTunes, snatch that and "Dou Way Robyn/Sancta Mater." Guh.
To switch tracks, I found this post via friendsfriends, obliquely. The poster's inability to grasp the basic theme of the Robin Hood story aside, it made me wonder how I'd respond to this, which sounds like such a stock conservative talking point. Her argument is that taxation is a vicious cycle that makes people poor, and workers should be allowed to keep the money they earn, and why don't liberals believe in that? I'm not even going to try and cite Rousseau and Locke, as I've never been able to keep most political writers straight (aside from the fact that Rousseau is a romantic twit and I remember really liking Locke), but I do buy into the idea that living in a community engenders an obligation to the community beyond yourself. Somebody very smart -- and I'm sad that I can't remember who said this -- pointed out that there is a fundamental conflict of interest for people in government who don't believe government should exist, and thus these people can't possibly perform their functions well. Taxation is not only important to help pay for vital services ("beloved welfare programs" aside, and I do genuinely believe in the goods of social programming, would you like little interference when it comes to collecting your trash or purifying your water?), if properly applied it creates incentives and oversight for private companies that would otherwise run rampant over employee and environmental concerns for a profit. Am I in the right direction? This is not something I think about a lot, and I am rather a starry-eyed liberal who doesn't believe in exploiting differences and playing on fear for personal gain, so if I'm off-base, please don't be shy about pointing out flaws in this (admittedly simplistic) system.
I think perhaps I wandered on that. I know it's one of my idealogical flaws that I'm much more interested in social justice and moral issues than fiscal policies and economics. I think it's wonderful than an economist won the Nobel Peace Prize this year -- I glad there are people who use the free market not just for good but for awesome. Okay, friendslist: what should I read to get me more fluent in economic theory? The titles I can think of off the top of my head are Freakonomics and Nickel & Dimed, but at least one of those has an agenda, yes? And I'm not certain they address government issues either.
Wow, that post didn't go where I thought it would at all. Oh, blogging. I think it's time to end here and wander off to write some six-word stories. (She touched his face. "How interesting.")