Goodnight

August 21st, 2011

Though I lay on this gurney, seconds away from my death, I am at total peace. Hate is going on in this world and it has to stop. Hate causes a lifetime of pain. I feel it; I am going to sleep now. Goodnight, one, two, three, there it goes.

Mark Stroman

Music And Living

August 21st, 2011

“How would you explain it, Pooh?”
“With a song,” he said. “A little something I just made up.”
“Go ahead.”
“Certainly … (cough).”

How can you get very far,
If you don’t know Who You Are?
How can you do what you ought,
If you don’t know What You’ve Got?
And if you don’t know Which To Do
Of all the things in front of you,
Then what you’ll have when you are through
Is just a mess without a clue
Of all the best that can come true
If you know What and Which and Who.

“That’s it,” he said, leaning back and closing his eyes.
“A Masterpiece.”
“Well, better than average, maybe.”

Sooner or later, we are bound to discover some things about ourselves that we don’t like. But once we see they’re there, we can decide what we want to do with them. Do we want to get rid of them completely, change them into other things, or use them in beneficial ways? The last two approaches are often especially Useful, since they avoid head-on conflict, and therefore minimize struggle. Also, they allow those transformed characteristics to be added to the list of things we have that help us out.

In a similar manner, instead of struggling to erase what are referred to as negative emotions, we can learn to use them in positive ways. We could describe the principle like this: while pounding on the piano keys may produce noise, removing them doesn’t exactly further the creation of music. The principles of Music and Living aren’t all that different, we think.

“Wouldn’t you say, Pooh?”
“Say what?” asked Pooh, opening his eyes.
“Music and Living —”
“The same thing,” said Pooh.

The Tao of Pooh

Four

August 19th, 2011

Judge: So, young oaf. You are accused of getting a bit drunk and setting up a Facebook group to start trouble. How do you plead?

Wannabe looter: Guilty, m’lud. Though I’d like to point out that me and my mates were so pissed that we fell asleep, so none of us turned up for the ruck.

Judge: That only makes it worse. You are typical of the work-shy youth of today who is unable to stick to his promises. In my day, if you said you were going to do something, you did it. Four years.

John Crace

Cat

August 18th, 2011

First date ended with him running to a bus stop shouting “I have to go to my friend’s cat in Tottenham”. We were outside his flat.

celialikesbooks

Die

August 18th, 2011

I am clear that I no longer wish to continue to live and hope that people can respect this wish and now allow me to die. I want it over with without delay.

Martin

The Dick

August 18th, 2011

We originally shot Spencer — one dunk, give him a little shove, bang bang bang — and that was it, a half a roll of film. But that’s a difficult thing to deliver to a client, like, “Here’s your one frame, gimme my check,” and it was such a dick shot. So I went to this school where they teach babies to swim and offered $50 to bring their kids to try out and $200 if we picked them as a model. This one girl was like a machine — couldn’t walk, couldn’t talk, but she would just motor around underwater. The labels saw the photos and were like, “We want the dick, we want the dick.” It was bizarre.

Kirk Weddle

Love Boat

August 12th, 2011

Pukao

Love, sometimes, can
be a pukao
… a heavy hat

Love Errs

August 12th, 2011

Be my lov manager

Immigrants

August 12th, 2011

Turkish and Asian groups have stood up to & chased off rioters. Bloody immigrants. Coming over here, defending our boroughs & communities.

Sally Can’t Dance

Soul?

August 11th, 2011

You may find yourself approaching a senator, someone with money, and asking him: ‘Do you know, sir, to whom you have entrusted the care of your horses?’
‘I do.’
‘Is it some random person with no knowledge of horses?’
‘Of course not.’
‘What about your money and clothes?’
‘I don’t hand them over to just anyone either.’
‘And as to your body, you’ve already found someone to entrust with its care?’
‘Naturally.’
‘An expert, obviously, in either exercise or medicine?’
‘Yes.’
‘Are these the things you value most, or have you got something better than them all?’
‘And what would that be?’
‘The faculty that uses all of them, and assigns each their place and value.’
‘You mean the soul?’
‘Good guess; that’s precisely what I mean.’
‘Absolutely, I think that is far and away a more precious possession than the others you mentioned.’
‘So, then, tell me the steps you’ve taken to care for the soul. As intelligent as you are, and as politically prominent, surely you would not casually look on and allow the most prized of your possessions to be neglected and go to ruin.’
‘No, of course not.’
‘Well, if you have looked after it personally, did you learn how from another person, or discover the means yourself?’
At this point you run the risk of him saying, ‘What business is that of yours, sir? What are you to me?’ Pester him further, and he is liable to punch you in the nose. I myself was once keen for this sort of discourse, until I met with just such a reception.

Epictetus