One of the complaints I've regularly heard over the years about "social media" is that it's very boring. Often complainers will say, "why would I want to know what [so and so] had for breakfast?" or something along those lines. This week, it occurred to me that social media can, in fact (prepare for a shock), be very boring -- and more than boring, dispiriting -- but not for the stated reason that we are learning about the meaningless and un-profound details (hereafter "breakfast items") of someone's life. To the contrary, it's boring because people are often trying to make themselves seem very interesting or happy or successful by talking about the great things they or their loved ones have accomplished (or purchased) or by having strong, reasoned opinions about whatever seems to merit a strong opinion on any given day. (Or by making you try to buy something.) (Or by name dropping.) At the same time, however, I think social media can be entertaining for the exact reason that we (sometimes) find our friends and colleagues entertaining and interesting and, to some extent a reflection of ourselves, meaning that we are curious to know details about their lives that in some objective world (on a scale from "what I had for breakfast" to "who I murdered today") might seem pretty useless, i.e., closer to the breakfast item, but, because it struck them as noteworthy, makes us interested for that reason alone (and not because they're bragging or trying to seem intelligent or in close proximity to a famous person we're supposed to care about). I don't know if I'm making a ton of sense here, honestly, but in the spirit of rectifying a past in which I've devoted quite a bit of social-media time in the attempt to make myself seem noteworthy or interesting (or trying to make you buy something, or name dropping, which should only be done with famous animals you have met, e.g., "yesterday when I was having coffee with Lil Bub, she mentioned that..."), here are some things that this week struck me as boring in what I hope is the best (breakfast-item) sense of the word. (Note that I will not literally be talking about what I had for breakfast, although I'm not at all opposed to hearing about it from others, and often wish that my Twitter and FB feeds were filled with nothing but [metaphorical and literal] breakfast items!) Let's start with the above picture of Zephyr napping in Dante's arms.
Here's a picture of the card my mother sent to Stephen for his birthday: she crossed out "daughter's" and wrote in "son's," which I thought was pretty funny. Defacing store-bought cards has always been one of my favorite activities, and I never knew that I had inherited this trait from my mother!
The Empire State Building from my office. This is maybe a little bit of a brag, but it's not like I own the office or anything, and Manhattan is pretty boring these days. (Though not as boring as Brooklyn!)
Here's the same view without the zoom.
And the same view a few hours later as the sun was setting. Everything looks better in the western sun, obviously.
Here are some flying saucers above Manhattan. (It's never boring when people brag about things that didn't actually happen to them.) Every morning Stephen spritzes the orchids: here's a picture of what they look like with the water collected on the flower petals.
This January has so far been very cold; here's the birch tree and a few plump sparrows in the branches.
Here's a picture of me getting ready to go out in the cold.
Cactus/cacti enjoy hot days and cold nights, as our cactus/cacti will attest.
Zephyr: I can't bear to log on to FB anymore.
Dante: But what if someone posts something very boring?
Zephyr: Do you mean in the good or bad sense?
Dante: IDK...let's ask Elektra? "I am at peace with the sun and will harness its light to one day soon rule the world." -- Elektra
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01/17/2015
ORDER HERE
A RADICAL NEW MYTH ABOUT SEX, FAITH, AND THOSE OF US WHO WILL NEVER DIE
A young boy wanders into the woods of Harlem and witnesses the abduction of his sister by a glowing creature. Forty years later, now working as a New York City homicide detective, Gus is assigned to a case in which he unexpectedly succumbs to a vision that Helen is still alive. To find her, he embarks on an uorthodox investigation that leads to an ancient civilization of gods and the people determined to bring them back.
In this colossal new novel from the author of The Metropolis Case, the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice collides with a new religion founded by three corporate office workers, creating something beautiful, illogical, and overwhelming. Part sex manifesto, part religious text, part Manhattan noir—with a dose of deadly serious, internet inspired satire—#gods is a sprawling inquest into the nature of faith and resistance in the modern world. With each turn of the page, #gods will leave you increasingly reborn.
Praise for #gods
“#gods is a mystery, an excavation of myths, an index of modern life, a gay coming-of-age story, an office satire, a lyrical fever dream, a conspiracy. One of the most ambitious novels in recent memory—and a wild, possibly transformative addition to the canon of gay literature—it contains multitudes, and seethes with brilliance.” —Mark Doten, author of The Infernal
“Matthew Gallaway’s #gods is a novel so brilliant, so funny, so full of strange and marvelous things, I couldn’t stop writing OMG WTF I <3 THIS SO MUCH in its margins. It’s rare to find a novel that so dazzlingly reinvigorates age-old meditations on faith and f&!*ing, art and eros. Luminous, enterprising, and sublimely cheeky, #gods tells the story, the myth, the dream of the human soul in all its glorious complexity.” —Suzanne Morrison, author of Yoga Bitch
“Matthew Gallaway’s storytelling manages to be both dreamy and serious; lean and luxurious. His words carry an incantatory power of mythic storytelling where beauty and savagery wrap around each other like bright threads in a gorgeous tapestry.” —Natasha Vargas-Cooper, author of Mad Men Unbuttoned: A Romp Through 1960s America
“If the ancient gods were just like us, only more so, then the same could be said for this strange, wonderful book, in which the mundane sorrows and small triumphs of very ordinary lives glow ever so slightly around the edges, sometimes quite literally. At once an oddly romantic send-up of dead-end office culture and an offbeat supernatural procedural, #gods is terrifically weird, melancholy, sexy, and charming.” —Jacob Bacharach, author of The Bend of the World
'It’s to the credit of Matthew Gallaway’s enchanting, often funny first novel that it doesn’t require a corresponding degree of obsession from readers, but may leave them similarly transported: the book is so well written — there’s hardly a lazy sentence here — and filled with such memorable lead and supporting players that it quickly absorbs you into its worlds.'
-- The New York Times
Music: Death Culture at Sea and Saturnine
Listen or download songs and records from my indie-rock past with Saturnine here and Death Culture at Sea here.
Music Video: Remembrance of Things Past
Watch the rock opera Remembrance of Things Past written and performed by Saturnine and Frances Gibson, starring Bennett Madison and Sheila McClear.
Video: The Chaos Detective
The Chaos Detective is a series about a man searching for 'identity' as he completes assignments from a mysterious organization. Watch the first episode (five parts) on YouTube.