Why I Oughtta

At dinner with Lauren and Tressa in a dimly lit, broken-benched pub. We’re mid-conversation and mid-beer (Bass is on special, extra special because the server forgot to charge us for the last round) when two guys sit down at the table next to us.

I check them out without even thinking about it. A totally unconscious reaction.

Then, this conversation between the two of them happens in what feels like two and a half seconds.

“He’s checking those out.”

“It’s okay, he can’t help it.”

“I know.  He’s actually better than most gay guys.”

Subsequently, I defend myself by claiming that I was listening to what they were saying even though I wasn’t maintaining eye contact.

This is about 60 percent true.

wrath (4 pack)

Originally uploaded by Marc Johns

I just found the Web site of this artist named Marc Johns. He is wonderful.

His style is pretty much exactly what I’m into these days — minimal, weird, childlike. It’s both sensical and nonsensical.

His visual style kind of reminds me of a gentler Edward Gorey.

Visit him.

http://www.marcjohns.com/

I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with my Twitter feed.

Previously, I had vigorously opposed the communications tool — claiming that it was a useless gimmick. I still remain skeptical of most uses of the Twitter feed.

But this still leaves me with the question of what I do with mine. I had a few ideas:

• Adopt an alter ego and always write to my Twitter feed while in character.
• Only use my Twitter feed to describe one thing. — What I eat. What I’m listening to. Things I see on the street.
• Random bits of correspondence I get taken out of context. — Although that might get me in trouble at some point.
• Factoids. — But I don’t come across many of those.  And I’m not all that interested in facts to begin with.
• Tweet only in verse.

So far, though, I think the only direction I’ve taken thus far would be classified under “ramblings of a madman.”  This has been accomplished so far with my third update, which was simply “I’m a bird!!!!”  I could consider going further down this avenue with things like “Polio was the result of a conspiracy by the Canadians!”

That will get tiring though.

I will probably strike a balance between all of these.  Even the verse one.

Me neither.

Change will come soon, though.  Can’t say in what form, though.

Bloc Party, ‘This Modern Love’ – A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

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There was a fire at the propane factory in Toronto.

I’m way too tired to write anything insightful or funny.  Luckily David Sedaris is here.  Read this interview he did with Seattle’s The Stranger.

Frankly, I think what he says there is funnier than much of what he’s written.

An excerpt:

Would you ever like someone to call you Dave?

Daves are different from Davids. David Letterman doesn’t care if people call him Dave or David but he’s the only one that I know of like that. I don’t like to write either when I sign books, though. Recently, instead of signing my name, I’ve been drawing little things in people’s books. You know, just little mementos. Like, I’ve been drawing these old-timey signs and on them I write “Abortions: three dollars.” And I just think I’m hilarious. Sometimes I’ll draw a little knot in the sign to make it look even more quaint. I don’t know why that makes me so happy. This woman, she introduced herself by saying she was very liberal, but she just didn’t want the abortion sign in the front jacket of her new book. So, I asked her, ‘what if I changed it to thirteen dollars [for an abortion]?’ Again, I have no idea why that makes me so happy. I used to draw Abe Lincoln with a bubble coming out of his mouth that says “friendship is a cancer” or an owl saying “I like black people.” This is what happens when you’ve been signing books for nine hours.