by bill | Jun 12, 2026 | The sporting life |
The World Cup is starting — started yesterday, actually — but I for one will not be watching. There are a few reasons for this.
For years and years and years I tried, out of a desire to be cosmopolitan and not be a slave to my short attention span, to train myself to care about this tournament. But the truth of the matter is — and it feels good to finally say it — I find soccer boring. I know this makes me a provincial American yahoo who needs action in his sports, but so be it. I’ve spent my last two hours watching a scoreless tie that ends in a shootout.
Also FIFA, the organization that runs this thing, is cartoonishly corrupt. Now, I know the NBA — my chosen source of sporting entertainment — isn’t perfect. It’s mostly quite groovy on social issues, but it’s also a corporation, and for instance actively suppresses criticism of China for business reasons. But it’s never given a made-up Peace Prize to a lunatic who turned right around and started a war in the Middle East.
I would think that even actual soccer fans would want to starve FIFA of attention in hopes that it would go away and be replaced by something more like, say, the IOC. (Which has its own problems, I know. You can only hope for so much.)
Having said all that, I am of course curious about the train-wreck aspects of this international event meeting the Orwellian horror that is 2026 America. Will there be empty stadiums, ICE raids, riots? I wish only the best to those who attend the games, but given the morons in charge of national security these days, how likely is it some sort of Bad Shit will go down? I hope it doesn’t, but I wouldn’t be surprised.
Anyway, no shade on those who want to watch the games — you have to get your jollies where you can. I will be looking for other forms of entertainment. Which reminds me, we’re pretty much caught up on all the TV shows. Anyone have suggestions? See you in the comments.
by bill | Jun 8, 2026 | Dancing about architecture |
Today I decided that it’s time for me to finally listen to Lulu, the album Lou Reed made with Metallica back in 2011. At the time the buzz on it was so uniformly brutal that I gave it a pass — that being the pre-streaming era, at least for me, I would have had to secure the actual CD, which seemed risky.
In the intervening years I’ve heard some people say it’s not that bad, and a few even claim it’s a lost masterpiece. But I’ve never had the guts to actually tackle it. Then I heard Laurie Anderson’s recent live album, which includes a version of one of the songs using isolated tracks of Lou’s vocal, so now I am Curious.
As with my valiant but doomed tilt at Metal Machine Music, I figure the only way is to write my way through it. The 10 tracks clock in at an intimidating 87 minutes, but it’s a rainy afternoon in Humboldt, so what the hell. As I click the Play button it’s 2:12 PM PDT.
Out of the gate, it’s briskly strummed acoustic guitars. Nothing too scary. And here’s Lou talking about Boris Karloff and… boom! Here comes the noise. It’s getting a bit hairy, but this first song is only a little over 4 minutes, how bad can it be? Sheets of noise now, pounding drums, and someone singing the phrase “smalltown girl” over and over.
Not a real promising start.
(more…) by bill | Jun 6, 2026 | Moving pictures |
I’m sorry, but why does a Mandalorian need a moustache?
by bill | Jun 3, 2026 | Read it in books |
Acquired:
Here Lies, Eric Ambler
Passage of Arms, Eric Ambler
Martin Amis: The Biography, Richard Bradford
The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham, Selina Hastings
Vigil, George Saunders
Absurdistan, Gary Shteyngart
Offloaded:
The Intercom Conspiracy, Eric Ambler
Sometimes a Great Notion, Ken Kesey
Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell
The Emperor of Ice Cream, Brian Moore
Pagan, W.F. Morris
Progress Made:
Cause for Alarm, Eric Ambler
The Courts of the Morning, John Buchan
The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham, Selina Hastings
Finished:
The Intercom Conspiracy, Eric Ambler
Other People, Martin Amis
The Razor’s Edge, W.S. Maugham
The Woman Who Married a Bear, John Straley
“D’you remember how Jesus was led into the wilderness and fasted forty days? Then, when he was a-hungered, the devil came to him and said: If thou be the son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But Jesus resisted the temptation. Then the devil set him on a pinnacle of the temple and said to him: If thou be the son of God, cast thyself down. For angels had charge of him and would bear him up. But again Jesus resisted. Then the devil took him into a high mountain and showed him the kingdoms of the world and said the he would give them to him if he would fall down and worship him. But Jesus said: Get thee hence, Satan. That’s the end of the story according to good simple Matthew. But it wasn’t. The devil was sly and he came to Jesus once more and said: If thou wilt accept shame and disgrace, scourging, a crown of thorns and death on the cross, thou shalt save the human race, for a greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Jesus fell. The devil laughed till his sides ached, for he knew the evil men would commit in the name of their redeemer.”
Isabel looked at me indignantly.
“Where on earth did you get that?”
“Nowhere. I’ve invented it on the spur of the moment.”
—W.S. Maugham, The Razor’s Edge
The Razor’s Edge is an odd duck of a book. It’s structured like a memoir, with Maugham narrating in the first person, but all the other characters are either composites or wholesale inventions. W.S. himself was coy about which it was, and who if anyone might have served as models, with the result that several people have made dubious claims of serving as the basis for the pivotal character of Larry.
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