Alex Balk
Most Recently: Marriage Troubled
You know the phrase "Knifecrime Island"? I don't want to boast but, yeah, that's one of mine.
But What Is Kanye West's Baby Doing For Our Economy?
"From Union Jack booties to 'Born to Rule' sleepwear, the British royal family has joined retailers in offering baby products to mark the arrival of the royal heir. Analysts estimate the baby fever could boost the economy by 240 million pounds ($380 million)."
Bear Video A Classic Example Of The Form
I can't vouch for the vintage or provenance of this video but whatever, it is TOTALLY AWESOME and all I can say is that even if it were staged I would still be making a big doody in my pants if I were starring in it. (As the guy, not the bear. Bears don't wear pants, usually.) [Via]
Martin Scorsese Will Keep Making 'Goodfellas' Until Everyone In America Who Was Alive In 1991 Apologizes
You ever get the feeling that Martin Scorsese is never gonna get over losing out to Dances With Wolves and Kevin Costner at the Oscars twenty-odd years ago?
Motives Impugned
"When British editors or writers do stories like this they are punting for a job in New York."
Arctic Monkeys, "Mad Sounds"
Visually there's not much happening here, but the audio is pretty solid for "fan-filmed footage." God, remember when Arctic Monkeys were new? They must all be like 23 by now.
Bear A Food Critic
"A man was mauled by a bear near the Eklutna Lake Campground on Saturday after he threw barbecued meat at the animal, the Alaska State Troopers said Sunday. The man was at the lake, north of Anchorage, for a church picnic, said Alaska State Troopers spokeswoman Beth Ipsen. 'He’d been drinking,' she said." [Via]
Men Old
Newton Leroy Gingrich turns 70 today, and it says something about his level of appeal that I am fairly confident all of us would much rather see Barry Manilow (also 70 today) sing "Copacabana" than watch anything involving Gingrich. Anything. The man is pure evil, and all the crazy you see today is full of his DNA. (Gingrich, not Manilow.) Anyway, these people have birthdays on this date, and here we are.
Book Enjoyed
"[S]uch pure pop storytelling that reading it is like hearing the best song of summer squirt out of the radio. Both the author and his subjects are so audacious that they frequently made me laugh out loud.... 'Even the dullest skyjacking made for scintillating copy. And the truly sensational ones were like gifts from the journalism gods.' Upon Mr. Koerner, those gods have smiled." READ MORE
Error Honored
One of the nice things about being at a geographical remove from another culture is that you can come to most of its luminaries unburdened by the prejudices proximity engenders. For instance, when I hear something about Simon Armitage, I think, "Oh, I like his poems" or "Gee, All Points North was a really enjoyable book," rather than, say, "Cor blimey, that insufferable twat again?" which is how I imagine British people might express it (if indeed they consider him an insufferable twat, which I have no evidence about either way; the point is just that he's so much less prominent in these parts that I haven't developed the distaste for him that I have for celebrities with a considerably more local presence. Also, I don't really think British people say "Cor blimey" a lot, but it was the easiest signifier I had handy at the time of writing). In any event, here's a half-hour radio program in which Armitage discusses Brian Eno's Oblique Strategy cards. I have to imagine at this point you will have a fairly good idea of whether or not this is something you'd be interested in listening to, so I will leave it here.
Poems Are Selfies Your Mind Takes
"my new book is called if u dont love the moon your an ass hole: poems and selfies, it comes out june 25th! it’s a very small/cute book, yet its much 'longer' than my other books in terms of word count. the goal of this book is to make you excited to be alive" READ MORE
