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1000 results for “NearerAndFarther”
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"The Salinas Valley is in Northern California. It is a long narrow swale between two ranges of mountains, and the Salinas River winds and twists up the center until it falls at last into Monterey Bay."
-- #FirstSentences of John Steinbeck, *East of Eden*
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This is my first read of East of Eden.
I am finishing the first Library of America volume of his novels, 1942-1952. Page numbers for these #ReadingNotes will reference that edition.
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Posted a few thoughts on Shalom Auslander's *Feh: A Memoir* on my blog.
One of the longer, more formal-ish pieces I've written so far getting the site up a few months ago. Still finding my writing groove in this space.
"The Story and Stories of Feh, or: Stories of the Story of Feh"
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"One morning, some years ago, like millions of other innocent men and women around the world, I found myself suddenly bombarded by miserable stories. They were stories of despair, cruelty, and evil. There was no escape from them. They came at me every minute, every second, without cease. [...] They'd been around for years, but now they appeared on my phone, on my laptop, on my desktop, as texts, as videos, every minute of every hour of every day and night, a vomit of stories spewed upon the world by the foul coupling of twenty-four-hour news cycle and the internet. Some of these stories were delivered to my phone. Some were delivered to my email. Some were told to me by friends [...] all of whom had been bombarded themselves. *Did you hear about this?* they asked. *Did you hear about that?*
[...]
*Feh* is the only story the news ever tells, and soon I could take it no more. I needed the barrage of contempt, criticism, and condemnation to end."
p. 44
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"That night [...] I wrote a story about a bug who woke up one morning to find himself transformed into a hideous Franz Kafka. He was in Franz Kafka's body, in Franz Kafka's house, in Franz Kafka's bedroom. Bug lay on his back and with great effort lifted his oversize human head to peer down at his hideous naked being: at his pigeon chest, his flabby belly, his spindly legs, a meager two now, when the night before he'd had a magnificent six."
-- Shalom Auslander, *Feh* (p. 53)
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Started this last night and it's absolutely hilarious and heartbreaking, all at the same time. Also, hitting a little close to home at times -- but that can also be good.
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Soundtrack was mostly Les Louanges, their new album "Alouette!" and their prior album "Crash."
I've been loving Alouette, great record. Also made me pull out the Hubert Lenoir album from a few years ago, some similar eclectic electropop (?) Vibes.
(Very similar sound palettes as Dijon's album from last year, to my ears.)
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@NearerAndFarther Thanks for the great work of food production you are doing.
We are doing same work like you,and we have also tomato nursery beds that we prepared in the previous evening with other seeds.
Though we are in different regions,can we keep on sharing and exchanging knowledge and ideas?
#foodproduction #plants #agriculture -
Just realized Bobby Watson, the main bass player of Rufus, has a Youtube channel talking through old stories and ish, practically teaching the tunes along the way.
Here he is talking about the making of Sweet Thing. Could listen to him talk all day.
Key points:
* He didn't get writer's credit but he contributed several key parts* He played bass for Rufus but had a solid guitar background
* Chaka would often track her vocals at night, not having been around when the band was tracking the tunes originally
* Chaka wrote the words and vocal lines for Sweet Thing in "20 or 30 minutes" (!!! feel like I did hear that before, but still -- mindblowing!)
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Deep cut, but:
I have a sneaking suspicion that when Prince had Clare Fischer do the strings for Crystal Ball, he said: "You know what you did for Rufus and Chaka Khan's "Egyptian Song"? Do that, but a bit more sinister."
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I definitely did not need an end-of-year recap from #JimmyJohns to remind me of how many times I spent too much money on an overpriced sandwich bc I forgot to plan to feed myself during a long work day.
Seriously.
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For the #HipHop heads:
#GhostfaceKillah - "Rap Kingpin"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvt5VF5WKM8
Single from SC 2, out 8/22
I did not have high hopes for this as Ghost's rapping has not impressed in a minute, but he went off on this track.
Plus the lp has a #GZA feature.
More details on the album here:
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#MorningListening was GZA's *Beneath the Surface*, and afternoon listening was *Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...*, and this is keeping up a week or so of steady listening to the Wu that came out of nowhere.
I'm not complaining.
Three random observations about Beneath the Surface, an album I've probably listened to top-to-bottom at least a hundred times, likely more:
1) The album's sound isn't as cohesive/holistic as Liquid Swords - LS being 100% the RZA on production, BtS being a mix of Wu members & affiliates - but I am not sure there is a bad track on the thing. It doesn't hurt that neither LS or BtS suffers from the CD era's overstuffed-album-length problem. LS is the obvious classic but album for album, BtS is arguably just as good.
1/2
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New #MenITrust record, "Equus Asinus," is crazy good!
I was already in love with "All My Candles" but the whole album is a true keeper. And I think they are supposed to release a companion to this album later this year.
This turned out to be a great #NewMusicFriday and I haven't even dug too far past the bigger names yet.
But all four of these records will get a lot of play for a while (Japanese Breakfast, Previous Industries, No ID/Saba, Men I Trust).
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If you...
1) like the producer/DJ Quantic, and/or
2) like a range of Latin and Caribbean musics, and their related diasporas, and/or
3) like mostly wordless but upbeat music to work to
you should know that #Quantic released an edition of the DJ Kicks series this year that is slamming.
https://quanticmusic.bandcamp.com/album/dj-kicks-quantic-2
So good.
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@Neddyo Went to look this up on Tidal, excited to listen. While there, I saw that one of their recent singles had a cover image from a #DJKicks release I hadn't seen before, one from Quantic.
Turns out that was released this past Friday.
So bc of this post and a cover art snafu, I get some dope cumbia *and* a set from #Quantic --- thanks!
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Woke up a little crabby (headache) but I now have a biga fermenting for a loaf of pugliese, and dough mixing for my first-ever attempt at #Conchas, so I'd say things are looking up!
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I am familiar with Caputo's basic argument, and quite a bit of his other writings, but have not read this through before.
I admittedly have a soft spot for Caputo's work, and for this vein of deconstructionist thought, so I expect to generally enjoy this.
Less sure how much I'll agree/disagree, which is part of why I decided to give it a go. It's been a while since I've really engaged with #Derrida et al, who played a very big role in my (intellectual? philosophical?) journey.
I'm as interested in my own response as I am in the book itself, I think!
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"It's refreshingly simple in design: a plastic rectangle with a hole punched out the middle, then split into two inward-curving hooks that keep the bag snug. When produced en masse, they're printed in an extraordinarily long row with small arms connecting the clips, then wound like a movie reel.
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About twenty machines are scattered across the factory's cement floor. Colorful clips spiral out at an unimaginable speed, each hue corresponding to a specific day of the week--not for branding, but for efficiency. [...] It's impossible to comprehend just how many bread clips, nevermind the sheer variety in cuts and shapes, are being churned out around you in teh factory. In one year alone, Kwik Lok sells billions."
from Nina Corcoran, "Consider the Bread Clip," in *Cake Zine* (Winter 2025)
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#HipHop folks -- there's a new #Raekwon album out today.
Halfway through and it's really solid so far. Lots of different folks handling production, from big names (Justice League, Swizz) to less-known, but seems pretty cohesive.
Features from much of a good chunk of the Wu, Griselda (Conway, Westside, Benny), and Nas.
Definitely a priority listen.
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A few more sprouts over the last two days, including the PEPPERS:
* Siam basil
* Broccoli di cicco
* brussels catskills
* chard, burpee rhubarb
* peppers, fresno chili hot
- Peppers, korean beauty (3/6)
- peppers, midnight dreams
- Peppers, shishito
- peppers, thai hot
- spinach, nobel
- black simpson lettuce
- romaine cimarronAnd one lone seedling of delphinium.
The peppers really did all come up, at once, all in the space of a day. I don't know why but I find them very humorous that way.
Feeling like things are already getting leggy. Adding a fan to our shelves today to possibly help.
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oh geez this #NoID and #Saba record is going to be a problem
collabs w/Raphael Saadiq, Kelly Rowland, Eryn Allen Kane, Madison McFerrin
reminds me of the JID album two years back but a little more fun, a little less intense, and clocking in at a perfect 41 minutes
definitely one to watch for 2025 #HipHop lists, really good feel and Saba's rapping his butt off
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Where my imaginary line
Bends square in woods, an iron spine
And pile of real rocks have been founded.
And off this corner in the wild,
Where these are driven in and piled,
One tree, by being deeply wounded,
Has been impressed as Witness Tree
And made commit to memory
My proof of being not unbounded.
Thus truth's established and borne out,
Though circumstanced with dark and doubt --
Though by a world of doubt surrounded.
THE MOODIE FORESTER-- "Beech" by Robert Frost
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I've been reading Robert Frost's *A Witness Tree*, the first full volume I've read of his (although as a volume, it's really quite slim).
Thought I'd share a few reading notes here.
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Oh, stormy stormy world,
The days you were not swirled
Around with mist and cloud,
Or wrapped as in a shroud,
And the sun's brilliant ball
Was not in part or all
Obscured from mortal view--
Were days so very few
I can but wonder whence
I get the lasting sense
Of so much warmth and light.
If my mistrust is right
It may be altogether
From one day's perfect weather,
When starting clear at dawn,
The day swept clearly on
To finish clear at eve.
I verily believe
My fair impression may
Be all from that one day
No shadow crossed but ours
As through its blazing flowers
We went from house to wood
For change of solitude.-- Robert Frost, "Happiness Makes Up in Height for What It Lacks in Length"
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The new young chickens survived their first night in the coop with the older hens.
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New little chickens hung out with the big chickens for a bit today while I worked nearby.
Mostly ok interactions. I can tell which of the older birds is going to be the pecker of the pecking order.
We'll probably start doing this everyday this week. My spouse is handling most of the adjustment process, not sure what the timeline is for them sleeping together at night.
I did not get as much work done as planned bc I kept stopping to make sure everyone was alive and well, lol.
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I haven't been as good about my #Barnscape and #MorningWalk photos lately --- it's been so cold in the mornings!
So thinking I'll add a few new views to where I typically take my morning walk photos. Here's one candidate -- a different view of the barn, not the most scenic -- along with some milkweed pods I was smitten by this morning, looking abandoned and forlorn.
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Snow is gone! (This was actually taken on Friday morning...)
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Snowscape with dog.
Our morning walk was super quick this morning. Even Winchester was ready to call it quits after just a few minutes (and a few sniffs).
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Wild storm line just passed through. Short but super intense. Now, in the next 6 hours or so, major temp drops and even stronger winds.
(they've already been notably strong!)
Crossing our fingers for no major damage, but won't be able to get out and check for a bit.
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Good morning Mastodon!
Here's a #Barnscape from our #MorningWalk.
Winchester desperately wanted to run in the snow, so we went up to my normal pic-taking spot. By the time I was done snapping this, he was ready to pack it in.
Another pic tomorrow will probably look very different. We're expecting another 3 - 5 inches, I think? (Hard to tell, but already snowing in the pic.) And arctic temps to match beginning overnight. Brrr.
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#Barnscape, an un-barnscape, and chickens getting up to no good.
The un-barnscape is taken from where I normally take my semi-regular barn landscape photos, but I'm turned around, 180 degrees.