posting on a saturday? what?

I just spent about an hour going through a bunch of posts in Google Reader, and there are 98 left. It’s down from over 300 yesterday, but you know, sometimes there is just too much internet. Still, I finally got around to this, and it made me happy. Nothing like a little William Carlos Williams joke to make my day brighter.

And in other literary nerd news, I read about an online Ulysses graphic novel. The purpose is to make Ulysses more accessible and less frightening. The people behind the project say “…it kills us that it has gotten the reputation for being inaccessible to everyone besides the English professors who make their careers teaching the book to future English professors who will make their careers doing the same.” I’ve read Ulysses (well, mostly… I did skim parts), and even now, I have conflicting feelings about it. I think I would’ve enjoyed it more if it hadn’t been so long, because it wasn’t really so terribly difficult. Sure, it took some getting used to, but eventually I fell into its rhythm. I think a person could easily spend a lifetime studying the book; there’s a lot of stuff in there, and I’m sure I didn’t catch it all. In fact, I know that as I read, I’d notice some things, and I’d pretty much say “Ah,” and move on, whereas if I had been studying the book, I’d have noted them more carefully. But I don’t think the book has to be studied — it is possible to read it and follow the main narrative threads and have a worthwhile experience. And besides, how many other books do you know of that get an annual holiday? Anyway, all of that to say, yay, pictures!

I’m going to do some stuff later. Well, mainly just the one thing. I’m going to a graduation open house for this kid, and you guys, I remember when he was born. I remember when his parents got married. I feel old.

In other news, I got an email from Julie last weekend, informing me of the following ad:

She kindly took a photo of it for me, which I have obviously posted above. I posted a small version of the photo, so I don’t know if you can read it all. If you can’t, it says, “IN AN ABSOLUT WORLD TRUE TASTE COMES NATURALLY.” (Har har.) And it also says “ALL ABSOLUT FLAVORS ARE MADE WITH NATURAL INGREDIENTS.” And then the artwork is…. um, ladyparts inferno? (Not to be confused with “Disco Inferno.” Or Dante’s Inferno.) I’ve seen one of these before, but it involved a lemon vagina. Tart! Ahem. Anyway, I fired up the Google and noted that Absolut says this ad series is called “Streams” and nobody ever mentions that they went all Georgia O’Keeffe with things. The ad makes my brain go in so many directions that I’m a bit overwhelmed, so much so that I’m not sure I can write complete sentences about it. My brain is all “VAGINA FRUIT VODKA ORGASM STOP IT NOW I’M NOT KIDDING.” So I’m not about to tempt the impending aneurysm, but out of all the things I think when I see this ad, not a single one of them is “Gosh, I wish I had some vodka right about now.” So, I guess that means you fail, Absolut.

And finally, one of the things I know for sure, since I’ve been going through what feels like approximately ninety million blog posts is that a lot of people are writing about Michael Jackson lately. And though my interest in him waned as I got older, when I was a kid, he was the coolest ever. I would listen to his songs on my little blue record player and I would dance around the house. Probably not well, because I can’t say that dancing has ever been one of my skills, but it didn’t matter because I knew how to have a good time. I had an orange t-shirt that said “THRILLER” in silver sparkly letters, and I wore it ALL THE TIME, so I was obviously awesome. If I had a photo of me in that beloved shirt, I’d share it with you, but alas, I do not. I’ve dug up a few of his songs and listened to them over the past day or so and you know? I still love them. When I first read the news of his passing, I felt like a part of my childhood was gone, but I also know that’s not true: I can still listen to those songs and dance around badly if I want. And I’m sure I will. I guess all that’s left to say is that Michael Jackson didn’t seem to have a very happy life, and he didn’t even really seem to like himself very much, if all that plastic surgery is evidence, but he was a hell of an entertainer, probably one of the greatest pure entertainers of all time, so despite all the squicky things about him that gave us pause, his ability was worth something, and when I was a kid living in the projects, proudly wearing my orange t-shirt that said “THRILLER” in silver sparkly letters, he brought me some joy. I know he brought joy to countless others as well, and I hope that finally, he’s found some peace.

Now seems like a good time to get on with my Saturday. Have a good one, kittens.