Finnegans Wake – Book I Chapter 2

[This is part of a longer series - previous post (I.1) - next post (I.3)] This part of the text is way easier-going than the first chapter. I think to some extent the first chapter is an overture to the book (just like the first 3 lines are an overture to the chapter). And the … Continue reading Finnegans Wake – Book I Chapter 2 →

Finnegans Wake – Book I Chapter 1

[This is part of a longer series - previous post (project intro) - next post (I.2)] Introduction Whenever you read a book you make assumptions as you go along. There is some sort of “narrative contract” between you and the author. Those contracts are all arbitrary and contingent, even in the most “genre-fiction”-type books you … Continue reading Finnegans Wake – Book I Chapter 1 →

The Most Daunting Reading Project of Them All

[This is part of a longer series - next post (Book I Chapter 1)] There once was a man named Michael Finnegan He had whiskers on his chin-again Shaved them off and they grew in again Poor old Michael Finnegan begin again... I've just spent the last 10 weeks re-reading James Joyce's short stories, novels, Ulysses, … Continue reading The Most Daunting Reading Project of Them All →

A Day without My Devices

Let me make something clear: this is not one of those posts about an experiment a self-conscious writer tries to manufacture to see "how much we've changed" - this was purely by accident. Thursday night, after weeks of increasingly futile plug-jiggling and old NES-style dust-blowing, my iPhone 5 refused to charge. I knew this day … Continue reading A Day without My Devices →

Twelve Years a Slave

As Solomon Northrop is drawn away in a carriage headed north towards his freedom, he casts a glance back at the Patsy and the slaves he's leaving behind. Two things crossed my mind at that moment, neither expected: 1) Words from Barack Obama's acceptance speech at the 2012 Democratic convention - We don't turn back. … Continue reading Twelve Years a Slave →

Loaded [Part 4 of 4]

Anyone putting Loaded on for the first time, having heard the other three Velvet Underground albums (but especially if they've only heard the first two) is in for a shock. It's more of an un-shock - you go from feeling like you're at one of Andy Warhol's Happenings to thinking maybe you accidentally just cued up the … Continue reading Loaded [Part 4 of 4] →

The Velvet Underground [Part 3 of 4]

I've got this silly analogy I kick around sometimes - Einstein wrote four papers in 1905 that redefined four different sciences. The Velvet Underground have four albums that created or redefined four musical genres. To those historians of music out there that know more about this period than I do, I apologize in advance - … Continue reading The Velvet Underground [Part 3 of 4] →

White Light/White Heat

Freshman year in college, in a fit of the sort of idealism you only really get to experience in that phase of life, I was sitting with a friend I had newly made, and he was playing me music and telling me how much he liked each song and why. [Again, youtube links accompany song … Continue reading White Light/White Heat →

Lou Reed, The Velvet Underground and Nico [Part 1 of 4]

I decided to write four posts about the four Velvet Underground albums. I didn't really know how to react to Lou Reed's death - he's one of those celebrities I didn't know anything about as a person. What I do know is that I've deeply loved and enjoyed some of his music, hence these posts. … Continue reading Lou Reed, The Velvet Underground and Nico [Part 1 of 4] →

Why This Compromise is a Win for Democrats (I think)

It's complicated but I'll try to explain why. The senate has just voted to open the government and raise the debt limit. There's some discussion around the internet about whether this is really a win for the GOP, even though it appears to be a win for the president. The argument (for example here on … Continue reading Why This Compromise is a Win for Democrats (I think) →