links/2023w13

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(more) adventures in big little antique malls

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Hadn’t been to the I-76 Antique Mall in years but I more than made up for lost time today:

The Dick Tracy Playing Card game (all cards present!) and Big Little Book date from 1934 and ‘35 (same as the Pop-Up book), respectively, and are in exquisite condition; The Shadow pulp (July 1944), has, on the other hand, clearly lived a life – but I’ve always wanted to own an original Shadow pulp. And, five bucks later, I did.

Bit of a theme with the last photo, but hey, I’m a sucker for secret agent stuff, particularly if they’re created by Ian Fleming and Dashiell Hammett (SECRET AGENT X-9 was not, unfortunately, written by Hammett - THAT would have been a find; G-MEN ON THE JOB was next to SECRET AGENT X-9 so I said what the hell).

Shelves… I need more… shelves…

Clotheslined OHMSS Telly Savalas Blofeld, by Howie Noel

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When Dick Tracy Rogues Gallery artist Howie Noel mentioned in his Instagram Stories that he was thinking of doing a series on Bond villains, I sprung into action with a special request / commission: that he draw me a Telly Savalas Blofeld from OHMSS (still my favorite Bond film of all time with my favorite Blofeld of all time) after he was clotheslined by the tree at the climax of his bobsled chase with Bond.

Though Howie’s been cool enough to send me updates at each stage of Telly’s birth, it didn’t prepare me for how awesome the final result was: a place of framed honor in The Paintshop is guaranteed. Be sure to check out Howie’s Dick Tracy Rogues Gallery project on Instagram, where he shares all sorts of amazing stuff, including CLEW, his detective comic strip, and, of course, a bounty of Dick Tracy rogues.

(back in the) grooves(?)

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Banner day yesterday of site transformation, rebalancing: added pages for Attendance Cards, for VIOLENTLY ADORABLE, and Frequencies and "latest" (back) to the About page LINKS. Hoping that Squarespace adds a Mastodon social link icon soon but I suspect it will fall under their "such and such takes awhile to implement so please be patient (while we try to add stuff and break everything)" canned response.

Also nifty: the inspirations behind my new Principles page dug my efforts.

In word-land: banner morning this morning of getting back into the fiction groove – one of those rare mornings when I have a lot to write here but also managed to get a lot done in The Work: usually the amount of writing in this space is in inverse proportion to the amount of writing in The Work – of finding what wasn't working (efforts to combine – didn't need to combine stories, only to switch the medium of one) and how to – possibly – make it work for me again; also set a goal of releasing a new Etude by year's end.

I have now listened to Mr Leonard Cohen on vinyl for the first time and it was like listening to him for the first time ever – and this coming from someone who has a piece of his wisdom tattooed on his arm, "(if your life is burning well), poetry is just the ash."

Related: this was also my first time listening to music via physical media in years and I seem to have forgotten how, the patience, the focus it deserves. Efforts underway to return to that sort of patience from streaming befitting the investment in aural physicality. As I replied to K when she asked, "Why vinyl?": streaming is an e book, cd a paperback, vinyl the hardcover.

If you haven't checked it out, that Amazon Prime documentary on the music of Bond, featuring Billie Eilish and a ton of others, is fantastic. Helped to crystalize an unrealized goal I had as a music student: to have written a song as beautiful (and tragic) as "We Have All The Time In The World" and a score as rousing and exciting as ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE (still my favorite Bond film).

Today's (and all moving forward) Attendance Card drawn in 4'33": Barry said she had her students draw for the duration of a song, so I decided to draw for the duration of John Cage's 4'33". Initially conceived card as a shrug but turned into what I can only approximate as a "Hallelujah" response to Mr Cohen on vinyl.

the morning's attendance card, a sketchy me which was initially conceived of as a shrug but morphed, over the four minutes and 33 seconds of creation, into an approximation of a "Hallelujah" response to Mr Cohen on vinyl.