In the eleventh grade I moved to a new town; I didn’t know anyone, but I started at a new high school, and I was still fit enough to cycle around the neighborhood. I decided to cycle in the direction I’d seen a cute girl in my class walk home, as a way of choosing a direction more than in the hopes of running into her. (In the eleventh grade, I wouldn’t have known what to say to her anyway.) [I should note here that my definition of cute girl is idiosyncratic. Rachele Akerman was not every guy’s idea of …
Author: gordsellar
The Gate
Have you ever listened to that Belle & Sebastian song, The Gate? If you haven’t, here’s a chance… ] There’s something so sad, and yet also so hopeful about this song. I don’t mean just the lyrics, I mean there is something about the music. As I walked around downtown tonight, lost in my thoughts, reflecting on how amazing it is that I should be walking on this street, here, in a place I never imagined even existed only a few years ago, as I thought of that I listened to this song and you know what I heard? I …
What’s Your Digital IQ?
You can find out here. Mine’s 112. This surprises me.
Scary Love Cartoon
One of the first friends I ever made in Korea sent me this cartoon, instructing me to send it to whichever girl I like best. I decided not to send it to the girl I like best because that girl already knows my feelings, and because, well, this cartoon is really quite scary. Isn’t it? And anyway, she’ll see it here. My friend, mj, told me she emailed it to a fellow she calls “White Face Man”, a (Korean, despite the pale face) man who lives in her city and studies English with her. Here is the little horror of …
Another Man Down…
Hugh Kenner is dead. I remember reading a lot of his The Pound Era when I was studying modernist lit with Andre Furlani at Concordia University. Kenner was probably the most interesting and evocative literary scholar whose work I’d ever studied. It made Pound’s world, and the world of his cohorts, so lucid for me, in a sort of mythic way, anyhow. I don’t know what he’s done of late, and I won’t mourn his death personally, for I know little of him personally. But on his passing it’s only fitting to stop for a moment and think of how …
The Bookshelves In My Room
The current issue of City Online has an article about Broadway songwriter Richard Rogers. People find his way enigmatic, his reclusion and difficulty with other people. I have to admit, it’s not something to aspire to, but I can understand why people close themselves up that way. Some people need to do that to be creative, I guess. Some people are really different, it’s just their way. Being different isn’t bad. I sometimes get apologetic about it, but I shouldn’t, and I know I shouldn’t. I stood in front of my bookshelf this morning, asking myself, “Can I be one …
Which Johnny Depp Are You?
I should have known. You Are Ichabod Crane From "Sleepy Hollow." You’re a deep thinker – most times logically. You’re a bit of a neat freak and a wuss (hey, you do faint a lot!) but you do have the ability to overcome your fears and come out stronger in the end. And you never lose your head over things. (Gufaw gufaw!)Take The Johnny Depp Quiz! Thanks, Adam.
Snow Monkeys?
Everyone voting so far on the poll is going with the Snow Monkeys. I am alarmed. Perhaps I shall have to actually get near the little buggers? I’d best bring an extra winter hat, methinks.
Dabang Fans In Beijing?
Is it possible that our band has fans in Beijing? I found a message from a Chinese woman in Shanghai (who goes by the net name Navy Blue) who says her musician friends in Beijing know of our band and recommend us to her, with some praises of our “expecial strongpoints”. I really have no idea if it’s the same Dabang Band, or maybe another Korean band called Dabang, but she said she was searching the net for a Korean band by that name, found our site, and it seemed to be the right one. How strange and interesting, this …
Schedule Sorting
The badness of my schedule a few days ago was beyond belief. It’s still somewhat ridiculous. Well, now, wait a minute. Maybe I’m being unreasonable to call one horrible class ridiculous. I do have a couple of days where I have to start at 9:30, but that’s not so bad. I just find the idea of teaching English to an even remotely hostile class from 8:45 – 10:00pm on a Friday night ridiculous. Read that last sentence one more time: I just find the idea of teaching English to an even remotely hostile class from 8:45 – 10:00pm on a …