metanoia museum

January 31st 2012

I love Mike. And this read is as timely as reminders come.

Posted at 5:10pm.

“

If I had the opportunity to go to Brazil or star in a sitcom or live my academic dream, at a youthful age, I’d probly take it every time, even if I was in a relationship. Why? There comes a point where you give up on dreams. It’s inevitable. Dreams are fucking selfish. And life shifts to a thought process where you begin to dream, not only about, but with and for, someone else. The dreams of one become the dream of two, or seven if you live in Utah.

”

January 30th 2012

twenties

Reblogged from lookedlikelaughing|8 notes

growing is a verb to fear
along with the sensation
of what follows each year:

that which accompanies
this type of (holi)day,
how special it’s supposed to be,
and the certainty that it isn’t

give the earth a smooch! I say
give it ein kuss and slap yourself silly
sing a prayer of thanks
and share a drink with Millie

wars burn all the lord has made
a couple hundred latitudes beneath
but (for now) they matter seldom to me

[wrote my 101st eighty-word poem via a lit collective that’s tops]

Posted at 8:25pm and tagged with: one column, around the day, 101,.

January 29th 2012

1 note

Check out this fox.

It takes a genius twenty years and a memory recalled in a Cuban idioms message forum to learn Celia Cruz was truly a Queen. And, somewhere along the faint trace of nostalgia and cultural relativity, I think that’s something to be said about language: how each one carries its own personalized sense of humor and clever aphorisms that use mangoes or sandpaper to denote disbelief or vanity.

Because, come on, what does it mean to actually fling a mango?

You can gauge how raunchy a culture is by the song in its mouth. How free or reserved the people are, generally. If they trust the cleaning lady to not tamper with their valuables. Whether they lift the couch or sweep the dust under the rug. Whether it’s socially acceptable, or even encouraged, to make fun of the elders.

I used to hate Spanish diminutives, but I caved in when I learned how passive-aggressive they can make a culture seem. Gordita. Feita. Negrita. Except my mom. She forgoes the -ita all together and calls her children Feo(s) without batting an eyelash. ‘Ugly’ doesn’t have the same ring to it.

Posted at 4:43pm.

Check out this fox.
It takes a genius twenty years and a memory recalled in a Cuban idioms message forum to learn Celia Cruz was truly a Queen. And, somewhere along the faint trace of nostalgia and cultural relativity, I think that’s something to be said about language: how each one carries its own personalized sense of humor and clever aphorisms that use mangoes or sandpaper to denote disbelief or vanity.
Because, come on, what does it mean to actually fling a mango?
You can gauge how raunchy a culture is by the song in its mouth. How free or reserved the people are, generally. If they trust the cleaning lady to not tamper with their valuables. Whether they lift the couch or sweep the dust under the rug. Whether it’s socially acceptable, or even encouraged, to make fun of the elders.
I used to hate Spanish diminutives, but I caved in when I learned how passive-aggressive they can make a culture seem. Gordita. Feita. Negrita. Except my mom. She forgoes the -ita all together and calls her children Feo(s) without batting an eyelash. ‘Ugly’ doesn’t have the same ring to it.

January 24th 2012

Marksmen — You Used To Run

2 notes

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

27 plays

You Used to Run
Marksmen (now Tallhart)

When I went to The Orpheum last December, this here band opened for a nameless, more popular band’s lead singer and his incomparably talented wife. They had a modest introduction. I had expected the usual jeering that accompanies opening bands but the crowd, mostly locals, stayed attentive. I don’t even remember what song they played first but the singer’s pipes brought an existential tear to my otherwise glassy eye before I went for drinks. It was just him on the plain stage with his fellow guitarist, dressed in an XL flannel shirt a centimeter too tight and jeans whose fringes started to de-thread.

It was the Americana appeal, man. It was alive in them.

I’m not sure what exactly happened to me that night, but I was swaying. A lot. I became a bag of water and glitter, and I wobbled in and out of the bathroom like ten times and smiled alone in a stall and banged my head to the door and didn’t care. Then I cried and the tears seeped into my teeth because I had a huge grin and I was in love. I fell in love with Ybor City that night. It was colder than my usual 70 degrees during the winter—the fine hairs on my limbs shot up like toothpicks—but my insides still felt warm.

I think you should give them a listen. Their talent is spreading via word of mouth all on its own but it doesn’t hurt to share.

Posted at 7:49pm and tagged with: marksmen, tallhart,.

January 23rd 2012

13 notes

From Miami, F.L.A. and way across the USA, METANOIA MUSEUM presents its third musical mélange. Contents best served out of those damn white ear buds and onto the Crosley in the living room, where you can shake the cowbell in your hips to the tunes of the 20th century.

1. Bell Pepper Hop—The Bell Peppers
2. I’m in a Lonely Way—Stephen Merritt, Esquire.
3. Cut and Run—Electrelane
4. Deadpan Romance—Jareaux Jareaux
5. Driver’s Seat—Sniff N’ the Tears
6. In Love With You Thing—Beat Happening
7. Panchito Blues—Peach Kelli Pop
8. Don’t Worry About the Government—Talking Heads
9. Whiskeyclone, Hotel City 1997—Beck
10. I Know There’s an Answer—The Beach Boys
11. This Magic Moment—The Drifters
12. Anna—The Beatles
13. Panis et Circenses—Os Mutantes
14. Got to Give it Up—Marvin Gaye
15. The Lion—Heroes and Heroines

And don’t forget to check out a rising local (and by local, I mean 3000 miles away, and uh, internet) favorite of mine, Heroes and Heroines, at their Bandcamp page. They, along with the baroque tones of Jareaux Jareaux, have been on my radar for a few months now, and their sound absolutely rules. With that said, have a listen and take a walk on the wild side.

Metanoia Museum Mélange, No. 1; No. 2.

Posted at 5:05pm and tagged with: MMMM,.

From Miami, F.L.A. and way across the USA, METANOIA MUSEUM presents its third musical mélange. Contents best served out of those damn white ear buds and onto the Crosley in the living room, where you can shake the cowbell in your hips to the tunes of the 20th century.
1. Bell Pepper Hop—The Bell Peppers2. I’m in a Lonely Way—Stephen Merritt, Esquire.3. Cut and Run—Electrelane4. Deadpan Romance—Jareaux Jareaux5. Driver’s Seat—Sniff N’ the Tears6. In Love With You Thing—Beat Happening7. Panchito Blues—Peach Kelli Pop8. Don’t Worry About the Government—Talking Heads9. Whiskeyclone, Hotel City 1997—Beck10. I Know There’s an Answer—The Beach Boys11. This Magic Moment—The Drifters12. Anna—The Beatles13. Panis et Circenses—Os Mutantes14. Got to Give it Up—Marvin Gaye15. The Lion—Heroes and Heroines
And don’t forget to check out a rising local (and by local, I mean 3000 miles away, and uh, internet) favorite of mine, Heroes and Heroines, at their Bandcamp page. They, along with the baroque tones of Jareaux Jareaux, have been on my radar for a few months now, and their sound absolutely rules. With that said, have a listen and take a walk on the wild side.
Metanoia Museum Mélange, No. 1; No. 2.

January 22nd 2012

5 notes

Screenshot of a Girl Living for Almost Two Decades:
An Anvil Dropped Onto a Trampoline

Or, the Torpedo of Your Love. 2012.

I was clearly going for the Don Bailey pose in that godforsaken advert people in the land of Cuba, United States have acquired a creepy liking to after 39 years (yes, thirty-nine years!). How I wish I could recall the undoubtedly damaging effects looking at those ads everyday on the Palmetto had on me.

Dad? Is that you?

Carpet.

Posted at 7:56pm.

Screenshot of a Girl Living for Almost Two Decades: An Anvil Dropped Onto a Trampoline
Or, the Torpedo of Your Love. 2012.
I was clearly going for the Don Bailey pose in that godforsaken advert people in the land of Cuba, United States have acquired a creepy liking to after 39 years (yes, thirty-nine years!). How I wish I could recall the undoubtedly damaging effects looking at those ads everyday on the Palmetto had on me.
Dad? Is that you?
Carpet.

January 19th 2012

The Beach Boys — Pet Sounds

12 notes

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

19 plays

Pet Sounds
The Beach Boys

This is (what should be) the soundtrack to munching on a leaf.

To loafing on a canopy. The soundtrack to eating a Spicy Italian at the small Formica kitchen table. To waiting inside a bathroom stall, smiling until your teeth hurt. To doing your business. To waiting for public transportation.

To living as a caterpillar and focusing on getting fat.

Eric Carle wrote the children’s book,
and Brian Wilson created the sound.

Posted at 8:54pm.

January 19th 2012

Reblogged from lifeaquatic|23 notes

Life Aquatic

Raise your hand if you think your profession entitles you to dress like Frida Kahlo. You know, the whole tie your side braids at the crown of your head and stuff the knot with flowers and sugar skulls and pigeon bones ‘do. ~~Don’t know if she shaved her legs and pits, though. Highly, highly doubt it.~~ Well, of course.

¡Que Dios nos bendiga! and all that’s good.

I guess this is also a warning to my future students. Yep.

Posted at 12:55pm and tagged with: slightly kidding... about the pigeon bones,.

“

I should point out that anthropology professors wear some crazy shit. Like, there’s one lady in our department who wears Hello Kitty tights and see-through blouses (she studies Japan, obvs). Another wears Mexican and Paraguayan tribal stuff, etc. The men tend to be pretty conservative, except for one guy who used to dress like a punk rocker (who now wears suits).

”

January 17th 2012

15 notes

I spent the long weekend in New York. Bought a Daniel Johnston record in Brooklyn. Made a snow globe out of Equal and real deal sugar in an Irish pub called The Perfect Pint. Shared two unusually strong Long Islands while conducting a petty “ethnographic survey” on white, male twenty-somethings and loyalty to their partners based upon commitment to their hometown teams. Strong patterns found in undisclosed data, since you’re so curious, showed non-applicable to Jets fans. Findings also indicated a strong preference for homers—god bless them, they make it easier (to find love, ya dolts) than you’d believe.

Sat on a skinny toilet seat in a swank hotel in Times Square. Shrugged. At the toilet. Alternated sleeping on a yoga mat and a thin twin mattress in Manhattan. Gave the change in my coat to a man who played the flute with a missing piece en route to 242 Street-Van Cortland Park. Shared a few When Harry Met Sally moments. Got separated from my party on the E train from JFK. Made it my mission to never let that happen again, even if it meant forming a human chain.

I recommend, if you find yourself in such a situation, pulling and pushing the limbs of someone who has no problem being pulled and pushed. I recommend going with someone who remains docile during three-day vacations, someone just as happily lost and new as you are, someone willing to wear your sartorial preferences. Grab the arm of someone, and believe me on this, who will seize any opportunity to shock you with a kiss, all thanks to a static-ridden coat and your pathetic fears.

I imagine someone must have thought, as he or she gazed upon a Greek marble scrotum or entered a room raging with Rococo design at the Met, what it would be like if we were the exhibit and they were the voyeurs. If people were behind the plexiglass and velvet ropes and animals went around with pocketbooks and cameras. Surely this someone must be an anthropologist, voluntarily or otherwise. Surely this someone must have thought about this during the last ten to thirty years, because today we are much more invested in exploring our emotions than actively seeking to make our footprint on another planet or replace ground transit. Which is fine. The earth is a field, and the people are test subjects.

And the earth, I’m learning, can find its model in New York.

Posted at 9:41pm.