Posted in Chicago, Leisure, Uncategorized, tagged art, cognitive psychology, photography on February 25, 2010| 2 Comments »
The following conversation is real, and concerns the exploits of a photographer whose work can be examined at the daily photo weblog WHITEBLACKRED: PHOTOS OF MY DAYS. To protect the subjects, their names have been changed. The photographer, will be referred to here as Person(s) A, while the critic will be referred to here as Person(s) X. Person(s) M was unavailable for discussion.
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Posted in Uncategorized on February 16, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Okay, not really. We’re hardly even right here most of the time. But in at least this one instance, we’re happy to share that Benjamin Kumming has an account of the history of soccer in the United States between the collapse of the NASL and the rise of MLS, over ‘pon yon Pitch Invasion.
Posted in Uncategorized on June 22, 2009| Leave a Comment »
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged 2008, batman, black mountain, canopy club, Chicago, joy division, lollapalooza, michael chabon, Michael Jordan, monotonix, mumblecore, paul verhoeven, the amazing adventures of kavalier and clay, the dark knight, the escapist on January 16, 2009| Leave a Comment »
It’s hard to know where to begin with a book like The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. It’s big in a lot of senses: 639 pages, spanning nearly 30 years across the lives of two men, and dealing with what the back of the book blurb calls “American possibility,” which really means a bunch of complex and difficult emotions, themes, and ideas that are hard to put into a single word, all of which are kind of not American.
UnAmerican?
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged 130db, aragon, Chicago, earplugs, fucking loud, holocaust, kevin shields, laudatory, loud, mbv, my bloody valentine, real fucking loud, smoke weed, spaceship, sunn 0))), when you sleep, you made me realise on October 1, 2008| 5 Comments »
This past Saturday I attended the My Blood Valentine (reunion?) show. It was really loud, and for my money, really awesome. Instead of writing a boring fanboy recap myself (e.g. “When You Sleep” was the JAM!), I asked a handful of friends who also attended, to weigh in.
Posted in Music, Uncategorized, tagged African debt relief, Bono Vox, irish bodyguards, Lego, Records of Desperation, U2 on September 17, 2008| 2 Comments »
Celebrity
Sunday sucked. I was late, hungry, hungover and disappointed to find Jeannie in the office instead of Mitch. “Hi. Greet,” she said.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged engineering feats, Lego, Nitro Menace, Records of Desperation, this job sucks, toy cars on September 10, 2008| 2 Comments »
My feeling of accomplishment is completely out of proportion with what I’ve actually achieved.
During my last shift, I had started building a Lego car, the Nitro Menace, that would be put in a display case. In two hours I had barely finished 10 pages of the 62 page instruction booklet. The age suggestion of the book, 12+, infuriated me. This simple thing proved a logistical and engineering nightmare.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged homelessness, Lego, Records of Desperation, this job sucks on September 2, 2008| 1 Comment »
Mitch*
Today at 2 PM, after nearly a full two a half days at Lego, I finally saw Mitch. Mitch is a funny guy, and I had hoped to see him a bit more, because, well, my life is terrible and laughing makes me feel better. The day had gone by quickly enough; a constant line about 10 insufferable Mag Mile shoppers deep kept me busy on the register. None the less, the depression of my situation did not escape me (Ed. note: as you may have noticed).
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Lego, Records of Desperation, retail, this job sucks on August 27, 2008| 2 Comments »
There was a brief time in my life, not very long ago, when I was nearly out-on-my-ass poor. In the end, I came out both more compassionate and more resolute because of it, but at the time, it was desperate. I couldn’t turn the heat on in my apartment unless it was dangerously cold, and even when I did, the heater wasn’t strong enough to do the job. I often only ate one meal a day – usually pasta in melted butter. I had been more gainfully employed before that and had managed a small savings, which was quickly used up paying rent. I remember nearly crying because my state tax return came back in the negative; I simply did not have $50 for the State of Illinois.
Posted in Hamiltons, Uncategorized, tagged bogey, books, clubber lang, crazy germans, friendship, hemingway, kirk gibson, martyrdom, political implications of dissident Soviet literature, sarah conner, terminator 2 on August 13, 2008| Leave a Comment »
I witnessed a rare moment of humanity the other day in which two strangers ended up hugging after a near-miss car collision. So, in the spirit of turning enemies to friends and friends to lovers, here’s a list of 10 inspirational classic Hug-It-Outs.
runningdownhill.wordpress.com 