Soap&Skin

interesting minimalist, mostly instrumental, mix of electronica.

Soap&Skin intrigued. How about these song names:

• janitor of lunacy
• turbine womb
• Thanatos - sounds vaguely familiar. Poppier than the rest.

http://8tracks.com/atruma/spies-hackers

Bobby Blue Bland - "Ask Me 'Bout Nothing But The Blues"

Old fashioned blues, quite good.

La habitación de Fermat

Fun film about four math wizards getting lured into a room that slowly crunches them. Not spectacular, but a fun watch.

Valeria Luiselli - "Sidewalks"

Amazing collection of short essays, vignettes, to be read and reread constantly. If you need to get inspired by a place, a city, any city, read this.

Tom Lanoye - "Gelukkig slagen"

Leuk om te lezen en mooie zinnen en omschrijvingen, maar het verhaal zelf deed me niet heel veel.

Beth Hard and Joe Bonamassa - "If I Tell You I Love You"

On "Tito & Tarantula", very Vaya Con Dios.

Bell Orchestre - "Elephants" (As Seen Through Windows)

Strange instrumental music.

zerO One - "rOcketship" (sOnar)

beats, with 80's strings. Nice.

Swans - "The Seer Returns"

hard to define this kind of music. Gritty, audio landscape, mesmerizing.

I guess "southern gothic" could apply as well.

http://8tracks.com/helen-bennett-7528/something-deep-and-dark

The Wytches - "Annabel Dream Reader"

psycho surf, aka "evil surf doom".

Crazy voices. Power. Aggressive.

Metallica - "Master of Puppets" (Master of Puppets)

That guitar solo in the middle is still the pits...

Kees Torn - "Drinklied"

Moet zeker bij de verzameling alcoholica.

(ugly translation)

Drinklied

Laat het heffen van de glazen
het klinken en het proosten
en de borrelpraat maar zitten
want daar gaat het mij niet om

Als ik met mijn rum of whisky
of cognac of jonge klare
maar een beetje comfortabel
aan mijn promillage kom

Ruk nog maar een paar karaffen
of een kratje beugelflesjes
of een literfles of blikjes
of kartonnen pakken aan

Rol de fusten maar naar binnen
en de tonnen en de vaten
en de kannen en de kruiken
Laat de tap maar open staan

Ik giet mezelf maar vol
zet mijn hersens op sterk water
totdat de boel verdoofd is
en volkomen lam gelegd

Want denken aan het heden
het verleden en aan later
is voor mijn hart en zenuwstelsel
honderd keer zo slecht

Als je perse wil genieten
of een beetje helder blijven
als je drinken wil met mate
nou dan ga je maar je gang

Maar laat mij mezelf bedwelmen
wijs me niet op de gevaren
hou die tegelspreuken voor je
want die ken ik echt al lang

En wat zou ik me verzetten
ik ben toch allang verloren
ik ben allang verslagen
ik heb alles al verspeeld

Geef me liever wat te drinken
om dat niet te hoeven voelen
en de wonden te ontsmetten
die de tijd nooit krijgt geheeld

Om niet aan wat mislukt is
en teloorgegaan te denken
en aan de dingen die ik
allemaal heb fout gedaan

Laat mij nou maar die
alcoholica naar binnen tanken
Dus trek nog maar wat open
sla nog maar een vaatje aan

En ik hoef ook geen gezelschap
van zo’n drinkebroer te hebben
om gezellig mee te lallen
in een vrolijk drinkgelag

Morgen zien we wel weer verder
als ik opsta met een kater
en ik hoef geen aspirientje
want ik leef van dag tot dag

En ik hoef ook niet te weten
of het Ierse is of Schotse
heerlijk helder of mousserend
of rosé of rood of wit

Puur ambachtelijk gebrouwen
ongefilterd, koud gelagerd
het kan mij alleen maar schelen
of er alcohol in zit

Blijf de bekers en de kroezen
en vooral de pullen vullen
want ik kan me nog bewegen
dus doe mij nog maar een pint

Om de algehele wanhoop
om de spijt en om de leegte
om mijn eigen onvermogen
en om wie ik heb bemind

Ik weet wel dat mijn alcohol-
consumptie excessief is
en dat je daar je lever
en je nieren mee vergalt

Maar zoals drank nu eenmaal
meer kapot maakt dan je lief is
maakt liefde meer kapot
dan tegenop te drinken valt

Drinking song

Leave the rising of the glasses

the toasting and the clinking

and the small talk, just leave it

that's not what I care about

As long as with my rum or whiskey

or cognac or oude klare (like Ketel)

just get comfortably

to my permillage

Bring a few more carafs

or a crate of bottles

or a litre or cans

or carton boxes

Roll the fusts inside

and the barrels and the casks

and the jugs and the pitchers

and leave the tap open

I keep filling myself up

put my brains on "strong water" (the kind of liquid you use to conserve something)

until everything is numb

and completely paralyzed

Because thinking about the present

the past and the future

is for my heart and nerves

as hundred times as bad

If you really want to enjoy

or stay a little bit sober

if you want to drink moderately

well just go ahead

But let me intoxicate myself

don't point out the dangers

keep those wise proverbs to yourself

I've known them for too long

and why would I resist

I am lost beyond redemption

I have been defeated,

I've gambled and lost it all

So give me something to drink

so I don't have to feel that

and I can disinfect the wounds

that time never heals

To prevent thinking of all that

has failed or has been destroyed

and all the things

that I have done wrong

Let me tank that 

alcoholica inside me

Open something more

Break open another cask

And I don't need no compagnions

of another drunken brother

to sing with a double tongue

in some drinking bout

Tomorrow we will see again

when I get up with a hangover

and I don't need no aspirin

because I live from day to day

And I don't need to know

whether it is Irish or Scottish

beautifully red or with bubbles

or rose or red or white

Pure artisan brewery,

unfiltered, cold stoked

I only care if it

does contain some alcohol

Keep them glasses and cups

and goblets full

because I can still move

so give me another pint

Because of general despair

regret and the emptiness

and my own incapability

and whom I have loved

Oh I know my alcohol 

consumption is excessive

and that you kill your liver

and your kidneys just as well

But as drinking wrecks

more than you know,

love wrecks more

than can be drank away

Vi Hart - numbers

Kees Torn - cabaretier
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78hdDIBrGco

King Britt - "New World In My View"

Intriguing parlando. James Brown kind of voice.

Stephen King - "On Writing"

Paperback. Fast read. Enjoyable enough for a few nuts 'n bolts, but nothing special. Not a book I'll quickly return to.

strange playlist: Floral Canary Sludge

http://8tracks.com/thelizardking/floral-canary-sludge

• The Grass Roots - "Let's Live for Today" - extremely flower power and yet I liked it. There was a haunting feeling to it
• Emily Wells - "Let Your Guard Down" - high wailed voice, but interesting. Sad. Should look her up.

Ctenoid

"Ctenoid” means “having an edge with projections like the teeth of a comb.” It could refer to rooster combs or the scales of certain fish.

Anosognosia

Anosognosia is a condition in which a person who suffers from a disability seems unaware of or denies the existence of his or her disability

scotoma

scotoma, a blind spot in our field of vision that we are unaware of

Dunning-Kruger effect

our incompetence masks our ability to recognize our incompetence

If Wheeler was too stupid to be a bank robber, perhaps he was also too stupid to know that he was too stupid to be a bank robber — that is, his stupidity protected him from an awareness of his own stupidity.

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/20/the-anosognosics-dilemma-1/

Dunning:

The notion of unknown unknowns really does resonate with me, and perhaps the idea would resonate with other people if they knew that it originally came from the world of design and engineering rather than Rumsfeld.
If I were given carte blanche to write about any topic I could, it would be about how much our ignorance, in general, shapes our lives in ways we do not know about. Put simply, people tend to do what they know and fail to do that which they have no conception of. In that way, ignorance profoundly channels the course we take in life. And unknown unknowns constitute a grand swath of everybody’s field of ignorance. 

To me, unknown unknowns enter at two different levels. The first is at the level of risk and problem. Many tasks in life contain uncertainties that are known — so-called “known unknowns.” These are potential problems for any venture, but they at least are problems that people can be vigilant about, prepare for, take insurance on, and often head off at the pass. Unknown unknown risks, on the other hand, are problems that people do not know they are vulnerable to.
Unknown unknowns also exist at the level of solutions. People often come up with answers to problems that are o.k., but are not the best solutions. The reason they don’t come up with those solutions is that they are simply not aware of them. Stefan Fatsis, in his book “Word Freak,” talks about this when comparing everyday Scrabble players to professional ones. As he says: “In a way, the living-room player is lucky . . . He has no idea how miserably he fails with almost every turn, how many possible words or optimal plays slip by unnoticed. The idea of Scrabble greatness doesn’t exist for him.” (p. 128)
Unknown unknown solutions haunt the mediocre without their knowledge. The average detective does not realize the clues he or she neglects. The mediocre doctor is not aware of the diagnostic possibilities or treatments never considered. The run-of-the-mill lawyer fails to recognize the winning legal argument that is out there. People fail to reach their potential as professionals, lovers, parents and people simply because they are not aware of the possible. This is one of the reasons I often urge my student advisees to find out who the smart professors are, and to get themselves in front of those professors so they can see what smart looks like. 

 

Is an “unknown unknown” beyond anything I can imagine? Or am I confusing the “unknown unknowns” with the “unknowable unknowns?” Are we constituted in such a way that there are things we cannot know? Perhaps because we cannot even frame the questions we need to ask?