It’s My Two Cents: Reznor, Lennon, Ving, Mordor, Burt, Wakoski, DiNovis, Banks
[admin / February 12th, 2010 / Young Bright Things ]
Was it a former coach of the New Jersey Nets who said, “Don’t be the lion who stares at the legs of the chair? I think it was…I’m not sure if this guy is for real, but he sure knows how to wear a sweater…I tried to read Brian Lennon’s thick review of Mark McGurl‘s The Program Era. Â I really tried. Â I took two Advil PM and washed it down with Tsingtao…
I like everything about Trent Reznor–the attitude, the smarts, the Freddie Mercury obsession–except the music…I’ve never thought Amy Poehler was funny…I once owned the 12-inch single of Stanley Clarke’s cover of “Born in the U.S.A”…I stood in line for coffee with a 20-year-old student whose ears perked up when my friend mentioned he saw Oingo Boingo in concert in 1985…Irish butter is disgusting…The smell of melting cheddar cheese makes me dry-heave…Former Fear frontman Lee Ving is still working as an actor. And that is a good thing…Sure, everything Chuck Klosterman says about Led Zeppelin is smart and perfect and mot-just-y. It all falls apart, for me at least, at that mention of mordor in “Ramble On”…
One of the first “new” books of poetry I bought as a high schooler was a very cool book of Diane Wakoski‘s; its full title This Book is Dedicated to All Those Men Who Betrayed Me at One Time or Another, in the Hopes That They Fall off Their Motorcycles and Break Their Necks: The Motorcycle Betrayal Poems…Someone please scan a bigger copy of the cover than this teenie one, and I’ll post it here…
I don’t know about you, but when I need to want to feel fierce, I watch guitar shred videos…Burt Reynolds turned down the James Bond role?…Here’s a quote from Jeffrey H. Gray: “Most poets today are magnificently oppressed, lashing out fearlessly against the “mainstream,” which consists of everyone except the poet in question”…Here’s another quote from “Distinctive Virginia Pronunciation“: “If we say the word putt and, after sounding pu, try to change the word to pout as pronounced in Eastern Virginia, we find little difficulty”…
I could have sworn I saw a trailer for a BBC TV movie with actors Paul McGann and Richard E. Grant, billed as the reunion of the Withnail & I team. Maybe it was a dream…I now have officially moved from Blogger to WordPress, and I have to say, my life is easier. What’s next, a Mac?…
Actress Elizabeth Banks’ first role, I’m pretty sure, was in my old friend Kevin DiNovis‘ dark comedy Surrender Dorothy, winner of the Slamdance Film Festival back in 1998 and described as “Singapore Sling for the gay festival set.” Â Back then, she was known then as Elizabeth Casey…Play the Pull My Finger game online…Neither my undergraduate college or my graduate college has invited me back as an alumni. I don’t blame them, in a way…
Daniel Nester‘s latest book is How to Be Inappropriate, a collection of mostly humorous nonfiction. He teaches at The College of Saint Rose in Albany, NY. Photo by Joe Putrock.
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I cannot believe you’re not on a Mac. I mean, I was going to write a long comment addressing a lot of the other tidbits herein but I mean really, all that pales in comparison to the PC tragedy. I am shocked, Daniel Nester. I’m going to need a moment.