Continually Confused? Or Continuously Confused?
The lovely deborah keeps us up-to-date on what David Foster Wallace calls the seamy underbelly of American lexicography. Here, deborah clarifies the differences between and correct usages of frequently mixed-up pairs of words. This article, and the one that follows it, Infer What You Will From What I Imply, are witty and fun, and are much, much easier to read and digest than Foster’s meandering, footnote-filled treatise in the most recent issue of Harper’s. Not that Foster’s article isn’t good, and entertaining, and witty, and revealing. It’s just that he is the Prince of Excessive, Precious, Self-referential Footnotes, and it does tend to get tired after a while. That said, this essay is the best thing of his I’ve read since A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, so either try to read it at your local library, or let me know if you want a copy of the article & I’ll mail one to you.
Friday, April 20, 2001 11:59 p.m.

Chinese Pop Posters, Part 1
Andrew is one of my link idols. I've never even e-mailed him. Hi, Andrew! You're my link idol! Anyway, this is a particularly awesome treasure trove of cool Cultural Revolution-era posters from China. I love them. Just look: this looks just like something from one of my old Girl Scouting manuals!
Friday, April 20, 2001 11:54 p.m.

Chinese Poster, Part 2T
This will look familiar to anyone who's seen Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Also via gmtPlus9.
Friday, April 20, 2001 11:37 p.m.

The Crankiest Man in Rock
My pals Miss A & END went to see the Magnetic Fields perform in Philly last weekend. I was sad to miss it. This review sounds not unlike what Miss A described in her e-mail review of the Philly show. Except that, in true Philadelphia fan form, the audience at the Troc shouted rude things, like "play louder!", which incited a round of "shut up!" and "fascists!" Heh. Anyway, all the rest of it sounds very familiar -- quiet playing of instruments, a barely communicative Mr. Merritt, and showcasing of his brilliant lyrics. Oh, and chain smoking.
Friday, April 20, 2001 11:27 p.m.

The Last Joey Ramone Link
I promise. I just can't let this one go, though. Thanks to Alex for the best obit I've read of the late Jeffrey Hyman.
Friday, April 20, 2001 11:23 p.m.

Early Bird Review of Forever
Which I won't be reading, because I'm trying to go spoiler-free for the rest of this season of Buffy. We'll see how long that lasts.
Tuesday, April 17, 2001 10:14 a.m.

El Cine de Vampiros en Mexico!
In honour of the new episodes of Buffy and Angel being broadcast tonight. Finally! Via gmtPlus9.
Tuesday, April 17, 2001 10:11 a.m.

More Joey Ramone Stuff
It's not as though I was the world's biggest Ramones fan or anything, but, you know, I'm sad about this. So this is the obit from sonicnet, which is much better than the one I posted on Sunday. Via Matt. My only gripe about this article is that while it discusses in more detail Ramone's work with the amazing Ronnie Spector, it doesn't mention how similar his voice was to hers. So, ok, their music is thematically not similar at all. But can't you imagine Ronnie getting up on the mic and singing about her rock & roll high school? Or, maybe when things were at their worst with Phil, wanting to be sedated? She could totally pull those songs off. And he could easily have done "Be My Baby," no question about it. They both have that earnest, world-weary, knowing, might cry at any moment throatiness that makes me crank up the stereo really, really loud.

In addition, whatsername's written a very nice Joey remembrance, while schup's simple elegy works for me. More tangentially, Sars talked a while back about a Ramones-influenced band that she likes a whole bunch.
Tuesday, April 17, 2001 10:00 a.m.