After the snowstorm last weekend, we shoveled out a path for Clio, who seemed to appreciate the effort, despite being a bit confused by the altered landscape.
"Wtf." -- Clio
"Srsly?" -- Clio "Laterz." -- Clio.
The older cats, who refused to go out in the snow, stayed inside with the orchids. Recently I bought a new "macro" lens for my camera -- it was only $9.99 (via one the daily Kinja specials) -- and these are the results.
Like most rational people, I suppose, I can't help but view capitalism in its present form as a 'voracious cancer on the body of civilization' but I have to admit that I look forward to scrolling through the daily specials on Kinja and seeing the diverse array of material crap -- 100 percent of which I don't need, but which (as with the macro lens) I sometimes buy -- being offered at reduced prices. I find it soothing to pretend for a few minutes that the world is a technological utopia, where all that really matters are the latest deals in video games, home accessories, and useless gadgets.
The orange orchids had been begging me to take a 'macro' of them for a while; when they saw the result, they felt a temporary bliss that was quickly pierced by an overwhelming doubt and -- finally -- more lasting sense of melancholy as they contemplated their place in the world.
"Welcome to modern capitalism." -- Elektra (via Walter Benjamin).
Meanwhile, the 'Christmas Cactus' bloomed a month late because of global warming.
And generally speaking there was a lot of confusion about exactly where to sit.
I wondered if, like Zephyr, I could ever comfortably sleep in a 'full-pike position.' With another summer Olympics approaching, it seemed like my chances of 'bringing home gold for the U.S.' were pretty slim.
Remember how I told you that I bought a 'macro' lens for $9.99? Well, it also came with a 'wide angle,' which you can see here.
Here's the Empire State Building; to the right is one of the new 'super tall' luxury condominiums lining Central Park South. Seems like it probably took a team of architects a long time to come up with such an 'innovative design.' In five-ten years, the city is going to be filled with these things.
Before the snowstorm -- as in two weeks ago -- I went to Fort Tryon Park, which had received its first dusting of snow. This was not long after David Bowie died, and I had "Life on Mars?" going through my head.
Two weeks later, I still have "Life on Mars?" going through my head.
Not that I'm complaining: it's one of my favorite 'David' songs, and I always like to think of the lyrics as being 'gay men' instead of 'cave men.'
This morning I went back to the park, where there was still quite a bit of snow.
I still had 'Life on Mars?' going through my head.
The heather was still in bloom.
But I forget to bring my new 'macro' lens.
I sang my version of a familiar song:
Sailors fighting in the dance hall
Oh man!
Look at those gay men go
It's the freakiest show...
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01/30/2016
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.