nytimes blogs [BABL]

this is really obvious, but if you're still reading after seeing the title and graphics, then perhaps not. this post exists because i've had a bunch of conversations recently where i've been shocked/judgmental/half-offended guy regarding the blogs at nytimes.com ["you don't (insert verb of knowledge or participation here) (insert cultural niche/cool signifier here)?"]. what i'm saying is, you may be wasting your time reading this blog right now. i do far too much unrewarding trolling and wandering on the internet and when the times blogs flash back into my consciousness i'm always absorbed. for instance, right now you can win free old books, get belated tips on how to survive pitching to one of the greatest hitters ever, and find out how to extend your vacation from a week to months. of course there are also loads of things on politics, health, tech, business, whatever, whatever. [sidebar: is it humorous that the graphic for lens got out of focus when i stretched it to fit?]

paul ford // f train [writing // BABL]

i first ran across paul ford last spring when i read his 'six-word reviews of 763 SXSW mp3s.' when he came back with 'six-word reviews of 1,302 SXSW mp3s' (click for loads of downloadables) this year, i backtracked to his blog, f train, to see what he's about. ford, a harper's editor and npr contributor, muses sporadically on laughs, literature, and life in new york, and there's really something to it. read steering wheel below.

I've been walking home--my bike is in the shop forever and the weather is nice. I listen to episodes of the Jack Benny program on my phone, waiting for Mary Livingstone to laugh. I'm up through 1946.

The traffic where I live is so bad that sometimes I am stuck in my minivan for forty minutes before I get to work. So I use the steering wheel as a kind of prayer wheel. Each notch reminds me of a prayer. I go from notch to notch saying prayers for my husband, for each of my children, my parents, my friends, and the students in my class.

I read something like that 19 years ago in Guideposts. I was sitting in my grandparents' living room on their black sofa. I think of it whenever my computer gives me the pinwheel, or when I am on the phone at work helping an old lady onto the website, explaining that email doesn't need stamps. At the top right of the screen, I asked, do you see a little box? And to the left of the box is the word “Username?” You put a special name into that box. We have to make that special name.

“I'm old,” she said.

Down through Soho. People walk into traffic while text-messaging. I also have on headphones. It's warm, crowded, and progress is slow. I see a girl in canary leggings and short bangs, backlit by a storefront. She is laughing at a joke made by a boy in a vest. No wonder people want to live here. Right then Mary Livingstone laughs in 1946. A man with his tongue out is trying to shake hands with everyone. On Bowery I pass the New Museum, which has a sign reading “HELL YES!” in great rainbow letters. Faces lit from below or on the side by cell-phone screens and media players. I am moving slow but light is absolutely everywhere.

john cowper powys // bookride [writing // books // BABL]

what a history of human excesses a second-hand book-shop is! as you 'browse' there– personally i can't abide that word, for to my mind book-lovers are more like hawks and vultures than sheep, but of course if its use encourages poor devils to glance through books that they have no hope of buying, long may the word remain!–you seem to grow aware what a miracle it was when second-hand book-shops were first invented. women prefer libraries, free or otherwise, but it too often happens that the books an ordinary man wants are on the 'forbidden shelves'. but there is no censorship in a second-hand book-shop. every good bookseller is a multiple-personality, containing all the extremes of human feeling. he is an ascetic hermit, he is an erotic immoralist, he is a papist, he is a quaker, he is a communist, he is an anarchist, he is a savage iconoclast, he is a passionate worshipper of idols. though books, as milton says, may be the embalming of mighty spirits, they are also the resurrection of rebellious, reactionary, fantastical and wicked spirits! in books dwell all the demons and all the angels of the human mind. [continue // part 2]

bookride is a blog dedicated to the noble pursuit of book collecting and all of the peculiar quirks thereof. not only do they offer thoughts and statistics on used and rare books, but they also often post various verbiage on books and book buying as a culture. the excerpt above is appropriated from an essay by "that gigantic mythopoeic literary volcano" john cowper powys.

BABL: jjjjound

from jjjjound:

The blog posts will have no titles.
The photos will be random.
No text either.
Just great photos.
(BTW, this is going to be your favorite blog)

BABL: we have lasers!

we have lasers! is all about your fourth grade dreams and aspirations, complete with turtlenecks, feathered bangs, and side ponytails. a visit to lasers will as likely get you musing on playground crushes as stewing about "the rich kids" whose pogoballs and new kids on the block t-shirts you feigned apathy about.

BABL: la blogotheque

this isn't new, it's just really...je ne sais quoi? face the facts: the french continue to seem like jerks (mostly because you don't speak french), and you continue to aspire to the noir they exude. be that as it may, all your favorite bands get hyped by and do arty videos for this gang of enfants français. if you go here and ask google nicely, they will traduire from the french. and now i'll stop with the french as kitsch bit. other favorites: fleet foxes // bowerbirds

LINK: if you liked that, blah blah blah
LINK: lykke li + bon iver

BABL: BONER PARTY!!!

blame friday for this, but at least have a laugh (or a boner). in case you didn't know, kelly kapowski is the 2pac of boners, neve campbell is like the teddy ruxpin of boners, and prince is everybodys boner party. top shelf stuff boner party! thanks for all the memories.

BABL: Arch Daily

[I've decided I'm going to feature a blog every now and then, which is why this post is entitled BABL (acronym... Blogging About BLogs).]

While sore necks quickly subside for new New Yorkers, those folks do still look up, and it's not always just because they've been in a city rut and nearly forgotten what it's like to go Central Park. Often, it's for reasons like this. For those of us who don't live in New York, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, etc., there's Arch Daily. Arch Daily is a wildly shiny but not-too-big-for-its-britches architecture blog that previews skylines-to-come and dream houses too angular to have actually dreamed about (at least in my dreams, which could be why i'm not an architect). There's little news available about who these guys actually are, but they appear to - most obviously - be architects with some skilled writers in tow. That is to say, read the words, too. I'm no design buff, but I could gawk and puzzle and wonder at this for entirely too long. Maybe shiny is enough for me. Maybe it's enough for you. Take a look, you don't even have to crane your neck.