Urville.

This is the Pont des Investitures in the city of Urville. Urville is beautiful, thriving, and completely imaginary. It was created by Gilles Trehin of Cagnes sur Mer, France.

Eggsbaconchipsandbeans.

Russel Davies is an urban planner and writer. My favorite of his sites is eggsbaconchipsandbeans. It's a wonderfully obsessive photo blog on English diners. From what I can tell, a plate of "ebcb" is kind of like a cheeseburger and fries in the American idiom–something greasy and comforting you can order any time of day. Of course, Davies is enough of a connoisseur to realize that it's not just the entree, but the atmosphere and details (i.e., condiments) that make for a great culinary experience, even on the cheap.

They need Tabasco sauce though.

Neko Case–Fox Confessor Brings the Flood

Neko Case seems to have scratched most of her rock itch with the New Pornographer's Twin Cinema, but luckily her fourth studio album packs a warmth and energy that's completely her own. Amplifying the lush, atmospheric arrangements of Blacklisted, Fox Confessor is a testament to the fact that as she grows more confident as a songwriter, Case isn't afraid to take chances.

More interested in narrative than ever before, songs like "That
Teenage Feeling" and the album's closer, "The Needle Has Landed," tell familiar love stories in strangely compelling ways. The title track and songs like "Star Witness" show her delving into less familiar territory where "There's glass in my thermos / And blood on my jeans." A sense of guilt and longing comes through clearly, even if the events in question are far from obvious.

Late to the Party.

Please don’t hate on me because I tend to pick up on pop cultural movements four years late. I grew up in D.C. but didn’t listen to Fugazi until college. I got into Buffy well after the show had ended. I still haven’t seen Brokeback Mountain, and will probably just stick with the short story.

But driving around today I caught myself grooving to the new Kanye single, “Touch the Sky.” Proof that nobody rips of Curtis Mayfield better than him. You can see part of the video here at Rocafella’s site (which looks nice, but is real glitchy).

So it’s clear–either I’m getting old and desperately grasping for cool points, Kanye has jumped the shark when someone like me thinks he’s a creative genius, or, once in a long while, pop culture gets it right.

(And my new pornstar name is Lupe Fiasco.)

You’re So 93.

Overlooked films of the 1990’s [via].

Lists like this are stupid. Art is not a competition. However, I love these types of lists. And along with your music, your favorite director sucks.

I’ve actually seen most of these, and I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing. The only egregious inclusions are The Sweet Hereafter (“What can we do to make kids drowning in a schoolbus any sadder? I know–incest!”) and A Midnight Clear (War is bad. Jesus imagery in war is more badder). And I fell asleep during Fast, Cheap, & Out of Control but I should probably give it another shot in light of Fog of War.

I’ve spent far more time than I should thinking of other 90’s flicks that deserve some attention, so I’ll limit myself to four:

Viennese Aktionists

Metafilter has an FPP regarding a group of precocious Austrians who, in the 1960’s, decided that art had become stale. What it really needed was animal guts, excrement, and copious amounts of fucking. The Vienna Actionists are yet another group of incredibly provocative people who I would love to know more about, although the story of Rudolf Schwarzkogler is a lot to take. The myth of his death is really not much better than the reality of it. I wonder what Joseph Beuys thought of these guys–equally if not more weird, but with absolutely no redeeming social function, mythopoetic imagining, or other esthetic pleasantries. So suck it Thomas Kinkade.

Impalement (fig.) over Impeachment (lit.)

I enjoyed reading this piece by Harold Meyerson on why all the impeachment talk is dumb. A cold, hard fact is simple: it ain’t going to happen with a Republican controlled Congress, and although the 2006 mid-terms are looking juicy, I’d be (realistically) satisfied with gains that don’t necessarily swing either the House or the Senate.

That said, I’d go a step further than Meyerson in terms of Democratic strategery. Why let Bush and his cohorts off the hook so easily? 2008 is pretty far away, and with things going the way they are in Iraq and with regards to Congressional scandals, not to mention a public awakening on the Dubai ports deal, why not let the mutual laws of gravity and history do their thing with Bush II and company? There is literally nothing that could boost his polling short of curing cancer. (Capturing bin Laden might have meant something a few years ago, but by now I’m afraid many of my fellow Americans won’t remember that it was our favorite 6′6” Yemeni that helped topple the WTC, not Saddam.) Somewhat counterintuitively, impeachment would be about the only thing that could save Bush and his wreckless, failed policies from the contempt and derision that will be poured upon them in the coming decades.

Elizabeth Bishop: Rainbow Redux

A book of Elizabeth Bishop’s uncollected work is now out. I’m happy to see that the author of the piece doesn’t autmotically assume that everything a poet writes is worth publishing. In Bishop’s case, given the relatively small amounts she did publish, I’m really looking forward to it. Amazon can hook you up, or you can wax poetic on a thread over at metafilter.

From “In The Waiting Room”:

I said to myself: three days
and you’ll be seven years old.
I was saying it to stop
the sensation of falling off
the round, turning world
into cold, blue-black space.
But I felt: you are an I,
you are an Elizabeth,
you are one of them.
Why should you be one, too?

A casement is a type of window.

Welcome to Wet Casements. Try and stay dry.