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Primary Identity
Thursday, July 2, 2009
It’s amazing how kids can hear the same story over and over again and never get tired of it. My nieces could watch Finding Nemo everyday, and it would be magic every time. Adults are the same—at least to some extent. We all have our favorite books and movies. The narrative equivalent of comfort foods. Same thing goes with memories. Memories as narratives. Our favorite ways of remembering own existences, both good and bad. Some people define themselves, I suspect, through their worst memories. They develop their sense of self from their worst memories. Others: their best memories. Others: somewhere in the middle.
Posted In Books, Childhood, Psychology | 3 Comments
The View From Your Phone
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Nashville, TN. 4:45 p.m.
To send me the view from your phone, please email phone photos to:
brad AT bradlisti DOT com
*Be sure to remember to include the location and the time the photo was taken.
Thank you.
Posted In Fatigue, View From Your Phone | Leave a Comment
“Extreme Base”
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
I have this friend who thinks Barack Obama is the “most liberal president we’ve ever had.” He also thinks that Ronald Reagan “was who he was,” a real “straight shooter.” Obama, he complained, is a stealth revolutionary who is currently steering the country into the gaping maw of a star-spangled toilet.
I asked my friend what the metric is for measuring “liberalness.” My friend said something about inflation and taxes and deficit spending.
Posted In Crime, Current Events, Drugs, Economics, Fatigue, Fear, Insanity, Life, Paranoia, Politics, War | 66 Comments
The View From Your Phone
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
San Diego, CA. 8:08 p.m.
To send me the view from your phone, please email phone photos to:
brad AT bradlisti DOT com
*Be sure to remember to include the location and the time the photo was taken.
Thank you.
Posted In View From Your Phone | 1 Comment
The View From Your Phone
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Tucson, AZ. 7:53 p.m.
To send me the view from your phone, please email phone photos to:
brad AT bradlisti DOT com
*Be sure to remember to include the location and the time the photo was taken.
Thank you.
Posted In View From Your Phone | 1 Comment
The Complete Pigfucker Threshold
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
The day that Farrah/Jackson died I was on Twitter, grieving, and there was a tweet from TNB contributor James Michael Blaine that went as follows:
Everyone deserves to be remembered for their best rather than their worst.
Posted In Celebrities, Death, Opinion | 69 Comments
What Else?
Monday, June 29, 2009
I’ve just recently discovered Pandora, which is kind of embarrassing considering how great it is. It sort of mitigates the need for iTunes, I think—but maybe I’m somehow mistaken. And I’ve also heard that it—meaning Pandora—might not be long for this world due to licensing and legality issues. So maybe my intoxicated state of Pandora love is to be short-lived. Ah, well. For now it’s bliss.
Posted In Confusion, Death, Deficit, Economics, Education, Friends, Life, Personal, Pets and Animals | 37 Comments
Tweet It
Friday, June 26, 2009
When I heard the news about Michael Jackson yesterday, I immediately got up from my desk chair, grabbed my French bulldog, Walter, and dangled him over the balcony of my second-story apartment. The skies over Hollywood were filled with helicopters, and in the distance I could hear “Human Nature” blaring from someone’s car stereo. I let out an involuntary, guttural wail, and my whole body shook.
“Oh my god!” my wife said. “What are you doing?”
I turned around and put Walter down and felt a wave of nausea sweep over me.
“Didn’t you hear?” I said. “He’s dead. Michael Jackson…he died.”
Posted In Celebrities, Death, Humor, Music | Leave a Comment
Yurt to Yacht
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Haven’t posted much lately. Have been getting emails from people, asking me where I am, if I’m okay. I’m fine. Just been busy. And then sometimes when I tried to post I found that my brain was empty and I had nothing to say. And then I pondered saying something about having nothing to say—which is common, I think, for people sitting in front of computer screens trying to think of something to say—but then I figured that saying something about having nothing to say would be, well, silly. And possibly trite. So I said nothing about having nothing to say.
Posted In Books, Economics, Religion | 70 Comments
The Listi Meat Market
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
I have one great uncle left on my father’s side of the family: my uncle Manuel, my grandfather’s brother. Full-blooded Sicilian-American. Never married. Had a bad war experience; never talks about it. Very endearing. Always been kind to me. Wears nerd glasses. Cardigans. The quintessential sweet old man.
Avuncular.
Blood.
Manuel was a part of the Listi Meat Market. He and my grandfather and a couple of their other brothers ran a butcher shop in small-town Louisiana for more than forty years. The Listi Meat Market, they called it. No irony.
Posted In Childhood, Death, Family, Fatigue, Life, Personal | Leave a Comment
On Not Yet Having Been Mugged (Yet)
Thursday, June 18, 2009
I’ve never been pick-pocketed. Never been robbed. (Knock wood.) I almost got mugged in Prague once, by a guy who was trying to sell me a joint. He insisted that he knew where a party was. Told me to follow him. I followed him a bit. I was twenty-three, wandering through Europe. A party sounded nice. But it soon became clear that this guy was a scoundrel. There was a palpable nervous energy in his voice, a birdlike intensity in his eyes. And he was leading me, quite literally, down a dark alley that bent away off of Old Town Square.
Posted In Confusion, Crime, Paranoia, Travel, View From Your Phone | 10 Comments
The View From Your Phone
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Pauls Valley, Oklahoma. 2:46 p.m.
To send me the view from your phone, please email phone photos to:
brad AT bradlisti DOT com
*Be sure to remember to include the location and the time the photo was taken.
Thank you.
Posted In View From Your Phone | 8 Comments
The View From Your Phone
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Stillwater, MN. St. Croix River Bridge. 8:30 p.m.
To send me the view from your phone, please email phone photos to:
brad AT bradlisti DOT com
*Be sure to remember to include the location and the time the photo was taken.
Thank you.
Posted In View From Your Phone | 10 Comments
The View From Your Phone
Friday, June 5, 2009
Orange, CA. Wal-Mart parking lot. 12:37 p.m.
To send me the view from your phone, please email phone photos to:
brad AT bradlisti DOT com
*Be sure to remember to include the location and the time the photo was taken.
Thank you.
Posted In View From Your Phone | 2 Comments
Notes from the Sea of Cortez
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Went down to Mexico last minute over Memorial Day Weekend. Swine flu deals. Irresistible. I had no fear of the flu. It was ridiculous from the beginning and for many days it was clear that the story was overblown. Still, people were afraid. The psychological impact of the media scare continued to resonate. People in masks at the airport. Airfares from LA to Cabo San Lucas: $250. The plane less than half-full. The resorts: ghost towns, running at 30 percent capacity. Hotel employees standing around, almost sad-faced, hoping for something to do.