this artist life
Our truest responsibility to the irrationality of the world is to paint or sing or write, for only in such response do we find the truth.
- Madeleine L'Engle
bon hiver!
(this will hopefully solve my “romantic interlude” problem. this and some christmas jazz).
This is insanely beautiful. I’m really into J. Tillman right now. It might be a little trite for some people, but I think it says so much for being so little.
This video really hit me. It probably helps that Year In The Kingdom has been my go-to record this week.
Yeah! This reminds me a lot of slacker films, like Before Sunset.
Who am I?
the murry o'keefes
a weird story about a band I liked in high school: 38th Parallel, after releasing a great and promising record, found themselves without a label after Squint Records closed down. They broke up soon after. One member of the band went on to stat a Republican rock band. Two other members of the band started a Harry Potter Tribute Band. How weird! I think I might start a Wrinkle In Time tribute band. We’ll call ourselves The Murry O’Keefes.
experiences
I read an essay about poetry awhile ago that said, to summarize, that writing poetry isn’t really about trying to create better poetry. It’s about trying to pursue better experiences. Our experiences, and our interactions with experiences, is where our art flows from. Anais Nin perhaps said it best- “We write to taste life twice, once in the moment and in retrospection”.
It can be a challenge to really capture an experience we are in sometimes. For example, I’m considering moving to a different house next year, and my thoughts of moving to that different house have consumed much of my thinking, making enjoying the place I’m in right now more difficulty. While it’s good to look forward to an experience that will happen we should never forget to enjoy the experience we are in now. By ‘we’ I mean ‘I’.
Let me make a case, here, for being more present- to be more attentive in our conversations, to be less distracted by worries and doubts. I think it’s too easy to get so distracted by what we don’t have that we forget to be thankful for the experiences we have now. How much are we missing?
The question becomes, is it about waiting for God to meet us, or is it about learning to recognize where God is already trying to meet us, through words of love from friends, through rainy days, through the occasional poem we are somehow able to write?
Bon Iver’s Daytrotter Session is, as Laureate once said, like the perfection of the dawn. I’m down.
Oh, I’m doing ok, speaking of me. I’m spending a lot of my time this thanksgiving alone, reflecting on how art ties directly to experience. More later.
I’m finding a lot of my art is getting stifled by trying to avoid the responsibilities of everyday life- like paying bills, contacting artists, writing papers, handing in papers (sigh), and meeting with people consistently. Simply said, creating art can’t be divorced from ordinary life. It just doesn’t work. When we avoid dealing with life our art is negatively affected.
I like it.
TMBLG
Here’s my impression of Aidan posting on Tumblr:
“Man, here’s this absolutely insane Great White Shark video! Someone actually dies in it! Oh boyo, here’s a photo of Star Wars! Here’s another Star Wars photo that no one else will like and will, in fact, make my Tumblarity go to -90. How about a hilarious new online comedy show; Sure why not! Nice! Tumblr Bookmarklet! Aaaaand just wait for those reblogs to start pouring in. Anytime now. Here they come. Nope. Okay, I guess I’m a failure and I have no idea what anyone wants.”
“Hold on, that photo I posted last week of “Matthew McConaughey Can’t Stand Up” just got reblogged by Andrew”
“Oh god. Oh my god. MY PAGER IS BLOWING UP.”
And that’s about it, guys. That’s about it.
I finally picked up Joel Plaskett’s “Three”, and I’m loving every bit of it! This is one of those rare ‘tell all your friends to go buy it’ records’ that only come around every so often. I’m sure the new Two Hours Traffic will be the same as soon as I track down a copy.
“Deny Deny Deny”.
Jon needs a girl.
(via garfieldminusgarfield)
Today is the first day of school, which, if all goes well, will be my last year. With all things considered- the combination of small miracles it took to get here, the semi-rainy weather, the host of friends I’ll spend the next 3 days straight catching up with- this song seems fitting. It would be a shame not to acknowledge Jesus in all this.
The Welcome Wagon, Jesus
