In the shape of this night, in the still fall of snow, Father“At the New Year” by Kenneth Patchen
In all that is cold and tiny, those little birds and children
In everything that moves tonight, the trolleys and the lovers,
Father
In the great hush of country, in the ugly noise of our cities
In this deep throw of stars, in those trenches where the dead are, Father
In all the wide land waiting, and in the liners out on the black water
In all that has been said bravely, in all that is mean anywhere in the world, Father
In all that is good and lovely, in every house where sham and hatred are
In the name of those who wait, in the sound of angry voices, Father
Before the bells ring, before this little point in time has rushed us on
Before this clean moment has gone, before this night turns to face tomorrow, Father
There is this high singing in the air
Forever this sorrowful human face in eternity’s window
And there are other bells that we would ring, Father
Other bells that we would ring.
I feel like this particular blog has outlived its usefulness in some ways, and the end of 2011 feels like a fitting time to move on.
I stopped doing the LiveJournal thing at around the same time I started dating Mon, feeling like the things I wanted to write about were suddenly too private and secret. Besides, I was starting to feel a little bit like this classic XKCD comic.
But it turns out that quitting this process really yanked the rug out from underneath my mental health, and that writing about my day-to-day life is one of the most important things I can do for myself. I still believe that diarizing is a form of self-deceit, but so is fucking being alive most of the time — and at least these are lies that help me keep my organize my mind.
I’ve started yet another new blog. It’s going to be a journal instead of whatever this thing is. If anyone wants the URL, feel free to send me a message — but be forewarned that it is going to be a lot more explicit about sex and depression and general life messiness. And there may be poetry, so I can totally understand people not wanting to read that.
There are a handful of people I know in real life who I’d be comfortable linking to the new blog, but don’t take it personally if I say no. I really need a space where I don’t second guess every single thing I post.
Happy New Year, friends. I hope that no matter how good or bad the last 12 months have been, that this next year will be better than your last one.
Intellectually, I know nothing’s going to be posted on ROSI on Christmas or Boxing Day, but I keep logging in anyway. I want my marks.
Fuck this IPR shit, SERIOUSLY.
So you want to be entertained
I made a mixtape for deli.sub that is doubling as a kind of motivational New Year’s mix for me.
If anyone is interested, the link is here. The extremely original theme is “songs that I love that are mostly upbeat”. And I think only one of them was released in the last year, so if you are looking for cutting-edge cool… I am not sure why you are even reading this blog at all, actually.
Tracklist:
Usinibore - Just A Band
Entertain - Sleater-Kinney
List of Demands (Reparations) - Saul Williams
Gloria - Patti Smith
C’mon Baby, Say Bang Bang - Jane Vain & The Dark Matter
Something I’m Not - Penguin Prison
The Stand - Mother Mother
Rich Doors - NewVillager
Meyrin Fields - Broken Bells
Half in Love With Elizabeth (Delorean Remix) - Mystery Jets
Money (Mike the 2600 King’s Fuck You Pay Me Remix) - The Beatles
Man - The Bird And The Bee
Real Life - Tanlines
A Cheater’s Armoury - Hanne Hukkleberg
WHALE - Yellow Ostrich
I Believe - Simian Mobile Disco
Since You Been Hard to Find (Kelly Clarkson v. American Analog Set) - Aggro1
Malediction - Stephen Malkmus
Decepta-Freak-On - Le Tigre/Missy Elliot
Coffee (ft. John Darnielle) - Aesop Rock
Seasun - Delorean
Fish Tacos (Immuzikation ExtraTartarBlend) - Immuzikation
2,380,000 Google results
In the interesting of making the world a better place in 2012, I propose a boycott on the phrase “disingenuous at best.”
Meyrin Fields // Broken Bells
I’d so much rather see a new Broken Bells album than a new Shins album.
This particular song is going to be my anthem of 2012. It’s coming. Wait for it.
(I’m back again in this one light town
I cut the tie and I don’t have to rely
On nothing no more)
(Your tiny vengeful life might pass through my mind
But I blink and it’s over)
I kind of wish that everyone just instinctively understood metaphors based on attending Mary Ward
And while looking up these Christmas carols, I also came upon something a friend said that struck me enough to write it in the margins of my agenda. (And guys, I never used my agenda.) ”Believing in religion is like thinking life is a TA Interview.”
So, I went to mass today. Guys, what the FUCK is up with the new edition of the missal? And the new responses? ”I have sinned through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault.” Way to up the ante on self-flagellation, Catholicism!
And what happened to “Peace be with you.” “And also with you”??? THAT WAS A CLASSIC.
I also am loving that this new translation has destroyed all those musical versions of the responses. Try to sing Holy, Holy, Holy now, bitches.
(I have legitimate thoughts about the new translation and it’s relationship to the Church’s constant high-level freakout about “secularism,” but I am finding this too hilarious/annoying to write about them. Also, I’m only a Catholic in the way that John Darnielle is a Catholic, which is to say: it’s complicated.)
Kirk inspired me to look up our old philosophical Christmas Carols. (We actually wrote out the lyrics to at least two of them, but I can’t find them now.)
- Jingle Bell Locke
- Lo, How A Rousseau E’er Blooming
- “Marx!” The Herald Engels Sings
- The First Hegel
- Kant-a Claus is Coming to Town
- I’ll Be Hume for Christmas
- O Little Town of Bettelheim
what is this soft vinyl cafe shit
