Michelle Branch "Creep"

Like me with posting on this blog, only way more extreme, it's been a long time since Michelle Branch has released any new recordings. Apparently, she's had record label problems and what not, but recently posted a cover of Radiohead's "Creep" on Soundcloud:





Anyway, Michelle is one of my favorite musical artists--singer, songwriter, musician--so this is cool to hear. Hopefully, it won't be too long until we finally get another album of original songs from her.

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Poem "Make a Gesture"

[part one]

can't escape the feeling / that the only way to get anything
is to chase it down and catch it
can't get around the apparent reality / that the only way to get anything
is to give something better in return
that the only way to get there is to be there first

maybe that's just life / maybe it's just thermodynamics
maybe it's not supposed to make sense

can't escape the feeling / that nothing i have to give will get me in the door
the toll of the bridge / is a bottomless pit
that only exists to swallow more and more
maybe if you fall, someone will catch you / maybe that's what it takes

[part two]

now with a clear mind / i ascend the staircase to you
to find that my grand gestures were only smoke screens
for running my fingers thru your hair
like clumsy thimbles thru a feather
they don't match
but like sometimes different shades of blue
together they make something like music

[part three]

hello / this is different / it's familiar
it's a sliver of what i've been waiting for
and that's a start
in a wind tunnel, i can finally breathe
and falling from far up in the atmosphere, i can finally see

reverb and echo, and a modulating bassline
have restored my spirit, and now i can feel okay
about painting my face with racing stripes
give me a short sleeve shirt under a windbreaker
and some dark red running shoes and a faded pair of jeans
and i'll map the coastline
just to be able to throw my arms around you


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The Fisher King

So, I just watched The Fisher King for the first time ever, tonight. It had been on my to-watch list for quite a while. In light of the events of the past couple of weeks...anyway, for me, now was the time. I expected it to be an interesting film for several reasons (Robin Williams of course, story elements from Arthurian legend, director Terry Gilliam) but even expecting the unexpected, I was surprised at how beautiful it was.

In particular, the scene in which Parry (Williams) recounts the story of the titular Fisher King to Jack (Jeff Bridges):

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This film also made me think of the lyrics to the song "I've Been Waiting" by Sixpence None the Richer:

The lyrics to the first verse, to get right to it:

So I'm waiting by a phone, for the blessed ring

Like a holy grail for a fisher king

Time is ticking down like a metronome

Rhythm for my brain and its ceaseless scares...

It's an incredible song, and I now I have a bit more insight into those words, which is very cool.

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When I saw the headline saying the Robin Williams had died, I found myself more affected than I can recall having been for any celebrity's passing. I don't mean to suggest that I absorb the news of most deaths with indifference, but rather that I don't usually feel as though someone whom I've never met was somehow a close personal friend. That's how I felt this time.

There's something very sad about the way that we, as humans, so often find ourselves reappraising people and things--and coming to realize the depth of their meaning--only after they're gone. It feels tragic in itself, a symptom of our tendency to be overwhelmed by the day-to-day details of life to the extent that we don't manage to stand still and really look at and think about things. (I'm speaking for myself.)

I don't know that there's anything that I can say, except that it's an amazing thing to consider that even as fragile and short-lived as we are, that one life can bring so much laughter, joy, wonder and inspiration to so many people. There's great power in that.

To end this post, here is a commercial that Robin and his daughter Zelda did. Like so many of these things, I only saw it after the fact, but it's just about the sweetest thing ever:

If life can be this beautiful, even for just a moment, that's an incredible thing.

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Poem "The Aftermathematics of Recovery"

don't remember / the best thing you can do is to forget

you need a short memory / if you're to recover for the next set

don't overthink it / just take a moment to be dormant

still your thoughts and collect your wits

all that you need is a handful of pine needles / and your quadriceps

and a low fire flickering in the autumn wind

you will wake again / into the stillness of oblivion

as you climb through the clouds at the summit of this moment

into the clear / into the the wings as you reset again

don't go it alone / a fist has nothing on the grip of another hand

but we don't always get to choose

and you do what you have to do to make it thru today

maybe this is how it has to be

and maybe that's okay

you will wake again / into the stillness of oblivion

as you climb through the clouds at the summit of this moment

into the clear / into the the wings as you reset again

have seen it all before

and am so tired of going around and around in this revolving door

don't come back this way / find a different, better path

the whole point of the experience

is to escape the darkness of the past, for the light

because there's something better over the horizon

just take a moment more to be dormant

collect your spirit and collect your wits

let the lava rise to light your eyes

and drink up the ocean of this moment

with your inner fire

you will wake again / into the energy of infinity

as you inscribe the sky with calligraphy

one dream to find you, one dream to bring you back to life

one dream to put the magic back in your eyes

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i see fire

Werner Herzog Reads Where's Waldo

This is fake--it's a parody of how Werner Herzog sounds, and what he says when he narrates his documentaries. The humor is an acquired taste of sorts, but I could listen to this sort of thing for hours. It's seriously thoughtful, funny, absurd and hypnotic all at once.

Also, Encounters at the End of the World (trailer below) is a really good documentary by the actual Werner Herzog. Its subject is Antarctica--the people, creatures and landscapes there. Beautiful and interspersed with moments of dry humor and bizarre interjections. Classic.

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Poem "Citrine"

i’m feeling just a little bit miserable

still recovering from that high / that i hit a little while ago

tied to the same clichés that we try to transcend

and the end looks suspiciously like the beginning

step in from the heat, to where the l-e-d's come on at night

absorb the sound and suck in the ghostly whites

from the audio cones and the black lights

i don’t know if this is gonna work out this way / but it’s worth a shot

sometimes good things happen when you just let the music play

don’t stop the music / it’s okay to go crazy when you dance

it’s no problem, the only problem is in your mind

sometimes ya just havta to break down and take a chance...i know that

‘come on’ is what came from me

put myself out there to take it all in / and i am afraid now

a victim of the very thing that i tried to avoid

and now the music just sounds like noise

well, turn it over / pull the ripcord with a vengeance

i need you more than i can admit

as afraid as i am of interpersonal fission

my eyes need to see you in my peripheral vision

need to know you’re there

need some sort of reassurance / that you’re not going anywhere

she said / that it’s not me it’s you

well, isn’t that always the way that it always is?

conventional wisdom says that it’s all in my mind

and no one ever got anywhere by going insane

she said / that she flipped the switch for faster than light

and i can’t keep track of that velocity

it’s just a stream of details that are already obsolete

there's no access to a tesseract without a cardigan sweater

is that you in it? / is that a euphemism? 

if these small consolations are the background pattern in my mind

and the small constellations are the background noise in the sky

then i just need to bleed in broad strokes

so take the high that you hold in your hand

turn it over, and pour the syrup straight outta the sun

i can feel it coming up, mercury in a vertical line

things’ll get better, no life till indiana jones leather

i'm sorry for the conflict of interest, but it'll all make sense

when you see how i've got it arranged on pinterest

okay, so i sold my soul for an easy way out of that

but no damage done, damn it, the world isn't flat

the best moments are always the most eccentric and distorted

and there's no beauty without some eccentric proportions

and this may get it wrong

but as long as you know what i mean

don’t stop the music  /it’s okay to go crazy when you dance

it’s no problem, the only problem is in your mind

sometimes you just havta to break down and take a chance

bring down the horse and leave it all out on the floor

and that’s the variable that summons the singularity

leaves with you and me, hand in hand, through that door

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w/i/p / meanttobelyrics / cstar

Poem "Voyager"

i’ve already spent half a lifetime / mining data for you

in the pipeline defined by my programming

taking photographs / and slowly unraveling the truth

i’m getting farther away from the beginning

but i can’t figure out how to stop being the same thing

and i can’t shake the sensation that I’m spinning

maybe not spinning in place / but what’s the difference / it’s still spinning in space

i’d give anything / nay / i’ve already given everything

just to get away from this place

i’ve nearly spent a half-life / burning through the sky

my thermoelectric generators’ radioisotopes

are approaching their expectancy / and getting so damn tired

the knowledge of the meaning of the universe

can be your blessing, or it can be my curse

and the way that the radiation reads depends on where you are

out here, there are no falling stars / just crossing lights

i’d give anything / nay / i’ve already given everything

just to get away from this place

i’d give anything / to break the bad habits that hold me

i’d give anything / to break out of orbit

but who i am / is something to do with hieroglyphics

and gold and white sands

an encrypted construct of someone's mind

and a bunch of other stuff that there’s a chance

that no one will ever understand

so set me to music / light me on fire

program me with your deepest desires

in space, no one can hear you dream

but if you listen very closely, you can hear your own heart breathe

i'd give anything for it to be quiet enough

to hear myself when i stop thinking

i'd give anything / nay / i’ve already given everything 

just to break away / into interstellar space

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a metaphor, of all things

stardate oh-eight-two-five-two-oh-one-two