Dutch Gothic

Mowed the lawn yesterday. Cleaned house, as well, and vacuumed the cat. Even rearranged this page (well, you might already have noticed). The pretty pictures section has some excellent are-they-bizarre-are-they-genius links, especially Bezembinder's Geïllustreerde, which is INSANE in a very positive and uplifting Dutch Gothic sense. That's right—Dutch Gothic. And in the precious words section—well, first off, The Absorbascon. His other blog is in Latin, and this one's in a bizzare language as well, very facetious, sarcastic, devoted. Comic books aren't my thing, but that's not why you read this blog. You read it cause the author is over-the-top hilarious. No, he's better. Get Beastie Boys on his blog already! And after you're done scanning that, link on over to You Cried For Night, whose bark definitely has some bite. Wait, I don't even know what that means. But it's a great blog, even if the title does sound charmingly like the left hand of darkness. She's Down Under, and very literate. Thank-you, btw, Genevieve, for your kind words.

I'm no Alfie, making and breaking connections, but what's it all about? What is this business of links, then? Me, I don't mind them, found some of my favourite sites through other people's sidebars, but not everyone thinks that way. Michelle over at Syntaxfree had a post ages ago, detailing how she hated the way these blogrolls (Godsake, what an ugly word) were merely in the business of namedropping each other. I get where she's going, and it's true, the blogroll can easily devolve into a clique-ish List me! List me! type of excercise, but there's more, isn't there? What, besides the I'm-cool-look-at-MY-links mentality, you say? Oh, be quiet! Yes, there's that, too. But there's also just enjoying being listed, isn't there? The first blog I ever read was also the first blog to ever list me. The link was unasked for. Unhinted about. Unlooked to. That's a generous gesture, and it made my day (sometimes it still makes my day). Because that's what these blogs can be about. A new community, right? Maybe not the New Jerusalem and twelve pearls for gates, but still, a new city, a new kind of neighbour. There'll always be those people who collect business cards or wedding invitations or blogroll links. Let them. Me, I link for four reasons: 1st, it's only polite to say hello to someone when that someone says hello to you; 2ndly, if you can't be proud of the people you know, who the blazes are you proud of, exactly?; 3dly, it's my library, and I read them nearly every day, or at least check them out (ha!); and 4thly, just like your friends, your clothes, too, the books on your shelves, or lack of books, the movies you watch, what you drink (or not), just like everything you surround yourself with, these links help define you. Define me. Is that the worst thing in the world?

Reading: Back on this horse again, and it's a good ride. The author is a master stylist, with a subtle, almost snide sense of humour. Does that sound like a bad thing? It isn't. You need every bit of entertainment you can get when reading The History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire + Edward Gibbons

Listening: Tony Bekker released a sophomore cd recently, and now's he's got a date opening for Final Fantasy on July 22. You know what that means, right? He's practically best friends with Arcade Fire, that's what that means. Man! Anyway, the new stuff got me thinking about the old stuff. There're some beautiful tracks on that first cd, "Moving Pictures, Silent Films" especially, but the unquestionable stand-out is the fragile Lightfooted resignation of "I Will Never See The Sun" + Great Lake Swimmers