Pigeons playing roller derby.

05-08: I can't seem to say anything useful about books anymore

2009-07-10T00:51:00.004-04:00

Nor can I stay on topic for more than a sentence or two before digressing all over myself. Yuck.

05: Snow is Silent by Benajmin Prado
I bought this because I liked the cover. Spanish literary crime fiction that didn't feel awkwardly translated, despite the way the plot sort of trips lightly over all the tragedy. From a review in The Guardian:

Snow is Silent exemplifies the Eros-fuelled plot at its most structurally pure, stripped of all the extraneous cladding of social context and psychological credibility. Though less ambitious than Amis's London Fields^* and not nearly as wacky as Iain Banks' Walking on Glass, it shares with both the core conceit of an average bloke who is first set up and then coldcocked by a tantalising tease^** for reasons that he could not possibly hope to understand, thus adding intellectual insult to emotional injury.

What a mouthful, Guardian folks! It also reminded me a little bit of Ian McEwan's The Comfort of Strangers in the way that the characters seemed really keyed up and blank at the same time.

* I loved London Fields when I read it in high school. I wrote Martin Amis a fan letter and he wrote back and told me that my comments were "spot on." So there. Every time I read a review or profile where they talk about what a jerk he is I think, yeah, but the guy wrote back to me when I was 15 in real handwriting on personal notepaper. That was really cool.

** "Coldcocked by a tantalising tease" is an excellent phrase and makes me sad that all I write are catalogs, where there is no way that a copy block for Monet-inspired Waterlilies Cutting Boards would accommodate it.

06: Trespass: Living at the Edge of the Promised Land by Amy Irvine
Oh man is this book depressing. But really, really good. I have yet to pick up a suggestion from the Bookslut blog that's failed me. Recommended for anyone who feels really alienated from the place they grew up. Not recommended for people who are easily bummed out. Drunk suicidal relatives, uppity Mormons, conservatives who hate conservationists, rednecks running over hippies with ORVs...

The Chicago Tribune's article is good. The Smart Set takes it on as nature writing.

07: A Death in Brazil by Peter Robb
What a perfect book to bring on a trip to Rio when even total strangers (who have also never been there) are self-righteously telling you that you'll probably be gunned down by a strung out favela kid because you have the extreme stupidity to be a tourist in the city. Neither the book nor the vacation came anywhere near to being that dire.

A Guardian review and a Telegraph profile (where the author starts in on Robb's "fearlessness" by paragraph 3, which I think is kind of bunk). The story it unraveled as it ended and I was left with the impression of an overstuffed white guy who thinks he's quite badass because he's spent time in some of the poorest towns in Brazil, despite the cushy bank account that must be enabling his travel. The bulk of the book—the center before it falls apart—concerns the corrupt early '90s presidency of Fernando Collor and his advisor PC Farais, and the opposition candidate Lula. It's worth getting into the book far enough to pick up that story, but once that administration is over, so is the narrative.

(Robb also wrote M The Man Who Became Caravaggio, which I started reading in college, liked a lot, but never finished.)

08: Sickened: Memoir of a Munchausen by Proxy Childhood by Julie Gregory
Pretty much an episode of Tyra in book form, written by someone for whom it was very clearly more about therapy than literature. I'm not sure if Munchausen by Proxy wasn't really known before this was published in 2004, but I feel like it's come up on talk shows and hospital dramas enough that this felt like voyeurism more than revelation. It wasn't bad, if you like that kind of rubber-necking, which I sometimes do.

I like this blurb on Amazon where Ann Manguson compares it to (a pre-debunked) JT LeRoy. Ha ha.

“Set in a southern-culture-on-the-skids world reminiscent of J.T. Leroy, Sickened is written with a lyrical directness that is both riveting and horrific. Julie Gregory reminds us that those who find the courage to slay the dragons of their past and stop the cycle of abuse are the true heroes of the world.”
--Ann Magnuson, actress, singer, writer

Seriously though, who can write something like that with a straight face?

Oh right, this blog is about roller derby.

2009-07-09T17:23:00.004-04:00

Saturday, July 11: Cosmonaughties vs PVRD Western Mass Destruction @ Greenfield, MA
Sunday, July 12: Skate clinic #1 for 2010 recruiting @ Rollerworld, Saugus
Monday, July 13: eBay auction for Massacre memorabilia ends
Buy things, help them get to Las Vegas for a July 31 bout at RollerCon against the B.ay A.rea D.erby Girls. (Punctuational hand-holding theirs, not mine.) But don't forget that BDD has a July bout at home first...
Saturday, July 18: Massacre vs. Albuquerque + NUTCRACKERS vs Wicked Pissahs
If the Nuts win, we'll be 4-0 in the regular season and get a bye into the championship bout, so come out now or possibly go Nutsless until October.

Dear badass guy in Inman Square

2009-07-09T16:56:00.003-04:00

The huge spider web tattoo across your throat looked pretty tough, but you were still standing around with a baggie watching your poodle finish pooping. I'm just saying.

song of the day

2009-07-08T22:05:00.003-04:00

Still stuck in the early '90s.

"Bakersfield" by the Jazz Butcher Conspiracy, 1993

Space Tiger reunion in NYC in 3... 2... 1...

2009-07-07T21:18:00.006-04:00

(She is wearing shoes made out of her space friends. That is not cool.)

We're going to drink fancy stupid drinks and eat junk food with lots of MSG and pick fights with models-slash-actors and there will probably be some roller derby I suppose and if we're really lucky there will be more joke tattoos.

cartoon realism

2009-07-03T12:39:00.003-04:00

Yesterday's Achewood exactly nails the intersection of my two flagging careers. It's funny, in that it's not at all funny.

I can say without hyperbole that this is the creepiest thing I've seen in weeks.

2009-07-02T19:33:00.003-04:00

R U SO EXCITED ABOUT THE SUMMER!?

2009-07-02T14:09:00.006-04:00

OMG ME TOO! I AM SO NOT SITTING AT HOME ALONE IN MY DARK OFFICE GROWING MOLDY AND LISTENING TO DOWNBEAT MUSIC WHILE TRYING TO UNDERSTAND WHAT LESSON GOD IS HOPING TO TEACH ME BY MAKING IT BE WINTER FOR SIX MONTHS AND THEN INVENTING A NEW ENGLAND MONSOON SEASON. NOT ME! I AM SOOOO EXCITED!

song of the day

2009-06-30T23:14:00.003-04:00

I am officially no longer interested in this century or any of its music made by hipster robots. From now on^* I'm only listening to bands that I saw at all ages shows.

"Unbelievable Things" by Superchunk, 1997

^{*Or until I forget I wrote that.}

ECE part 3, NSFW version

2009-06-29T03:15:00.006-04:00

And finally there was Montreal vs Ohio (Montreal lost in the last minutes due to some dumb lead-jam-not-calling/calling-too-late), the pool, Flying Sparkling Object Posse dropping a bomb on Team not-so Awesome, the pool, Boston vs Windy City (BDD lost by 30 after leading 53-35 at the half, not too shabby against #2 in the nation; so many douchey WCR fan comments that didn't make it into the boutcast. WCR skaters, however, are made of glitter and magic and I'd love to see us play them every weekend. I couldn't get online to boutcast until the first period was almost over which made me want to kill kittens), the pool, still more Erotic Photo Hunt (Hamas edition?), and then, Dear Internet: quasi strip club in Feasterville named Scruples (says Jeff, "In PA? You mean Scrapple?") Really? Really. I forgot my souvenir matches and it's almost worth going back at 11 am to get more.

Now it's already tomorrow. Sheesh.

ECE part 2

2009-06-28T01:56:00.000-04:00

So then there was breakfast buffet, Genuardi's, parking in the middle of way too much nature, Atlanta vs Montreal (ATL won--yay! Montreal lost--boo!), N.E.R.D. taking a beating against the Midwest Mega team but acquitting themselves quite respectably nonetheless, the pool, boutcasting Brew City vs Minnesota (really nice tight derby from both sides), the pool, Boston vs. Carolina (no comment), the pool, Nifty Fiftys, and three hours of Erotic Photo Hunt at the hotel bar (her arm! her hair! everything! everything in the lower left is wrong! hover Justin hover!) We hold all of the top 15 scores on the machine now.

ECE part 1

2009-06-27T01:21:00.001-04:00

Oh hey guys, remember that time when we drove to Feasterville and it took nine and a half hours what with the apocalypse and Friendly's and tornadoes and hurricanes and flying plastic debris and the traffic jams of people going down the shore and/or trying madly to escape End Times? And then how that hell trip magically ended in a suburban business traveler hotel bar with a more extensive drink selection than almost anywhere in Cambridge and then a karaoke night broke out around us? And then the part where you couldn't sleep because you kept singing "Stop Dragging My Heart Around" over and over and OVER in your head since you never got a chance to actually sing it because your stand-in Tom Petty left early to go to bed and so did everyone you were bunking with? And how you So Totally Get that song?

Those were super times, and things haven't even started yet!

I don't think anyone who doesn't play roller derby reads this, but if you don't, here's where I am.

And even though my family gets in such a twist and tattles to my Nana when I swear on the internet, this song is for you, motherfucker. Yes, you.

You are so jealous of the weekend I'm about to have.

Hell on Wheels

2009-06-23T14:05:00.001-04:00

Now available to watch for free online: Hell on Wheels

Millions of Brazilians

2009-06-22T13:09:00.001-04:00

Photos from Rio. Or at Flickr w/ commentary.

marshmallow distribution fail

2009-06-22T13:00:00.002-04:00

Look, it's sad enough that I even consider this stuff food. Do you have to make me work for it too?

city of Cambridge chronology fail

2009-06-17T13:32:00.002-04:00

(We got a letter the same day saying the violation was dismissed anyway, but it's nice to know that I'd have had a good excuse for missing the hearing.)

Science and roller derby do mix

2009-06-17T12:13:00.005-04:00

And not just if you're a Cosmonaughtie.

~~Anyone know which banked league this is?~~ Never mind: LA Derby Dolls. I guess it's worth reading the YouTube comments sometimes.

(Rio photos soon. I'm still recovering from sleep deprivation and something unfortunate that I picked up from either the orange juice or the room-temperature milk at breakfast on Monday.)

Jets to Brazil

2009-06-10T21:07:00.000-04:00

Vacation has begun.

Dear PA roller derby leagues (or Mike)

2009-06-08T03:01:00.006-04:00

Jeff's got a ref or mascot name for you:

Punkroxsutawney Phil

Ha ha!

(I'm sorry.)

Oh ho! It's 1:26 am and sleep is far away!

2009-06-08T01:37:00.001-04:00

Insomnia on the internet. Even more dangerous than being drunk on the internet. Trust me.

We leave for Rio on Wednesday and all I've retained from my pirated Pimsleur mp3s is Eu não falo português, which seems unnecessary, since it will be obvious that I do not speak Portuguese. I also have yet to look at a guidebook, but guys, Rio Zoo!

Song of the Day

2009-06-04T15:51:00.002-04:00

"Space Orgy" by Lungfish

Gooooooo 1999!

Song of the Summer!

2009-06-03T12:04:00.003-04:00

Just kidding. For a stirring anti-fascist folk song, those folks on the jumbotron seem pretty unmoved.

Cf, Dog Faced Hermans:

Cf x 2, Mirah:

Here's the real song of the summer. Try not to throw up at minute 1:23.

Just kidding.

GUYS! It's almost summer.

2009-06-02T21:42:00.005-04:00

I have bouts in June and July, but definitely not in August and chances are decent that the Nuts will skip the September playoffs and go straight to the October championship bout. Plus I have only half a job and will have exhausted my interest in Guitar Hero and it's progeny in about two weeks. To quote myself circa 1992: This summer is going to be fucking momentous.

So much garter-unfastening and complete loss of equilibrium in my future! Weeping and nausea are so winter/spring.

Ka-BLAW 1977!

2009-05-27T10:04:00.000-04:00

I've been slowly scanning a few boxes worth of old family photos I scavenged from my mom's attic. Let's take a moment to appreciate how fully my parents embraced the late 1970s when decorating their home.

NASA blue carpet in their bedroom.

Shower mural.

Orange shag in the living room, dining room, hallway, and stairs.

The kitchen wallpaper matched the goldenrod-colored appliances.

A two-story, hand-painted, rust-colored X that
included the word "Exit" on the front door.

Quilt wallpaper in the basement.

This is not even to mention the brown vinyl sofa and recliner; the brown, black, and white speckled shag that was my bedroom carpet until 1989; the various wrought-iron light fixtures; or the oil paintings—a storm-tossed ship in the dining room and a flamenco dancer we named Chiquita in the living room.

This chromatically challenged Mickey Mouse cake from my
brother's first birthday seems telling in retrospect.

robot sweater

2009-05-25T22:12:00.003-04:00

Oh how I wish this weren't hand knit and priced accordingly. In elf518's Etsy shop.

Pigeons playing roller derby.

05-08: I can't seem to say anything useful about books anymore

Oh right, this blog is about roller derby.

Dear badass guy in Inman Square

song of the day

Space Tiger reunion in NYC in 3... 2... 1...

cartoon realism

I can say without hyperbole that this is the creepiest thing I've seen in weeks.

R U SO EXCITED ABOUT THE SUMMER!?

song of the day

ECE part 3, NSFW version

ECE part 2

ECE part 1

Hell on Wheels

Millions of Brazilians

marshmallow distribution fail

city of Cambridge chronology fail

Science and roller derby *do* mix

Jets to Brazil

Dear PA roller derby leagues (or Mike)

Oh ho! It's 1:26 am and sleep is far away!

Song of the Day

Song of the Summer!

GUYS! It's almost summer.

Ka-BLAW 1977!

robot sweater

Science and roller derby do mix