the medium is the massage

mmm - input

i've actually finished a couple of books this past month -

londonstani by gautam malkani (rudeboys in suburban london, getting into all sorts of trouble, confronting both culture and the question of manhood; the indian diaspora's version of trainspotting, with the entire book written in "proper" rudeboy patois. the whole punjabified english thing works quite well in this book as a unifying element; the book is both amusing and scary, and makes for a rather entertaining read. the biggest downside was its lack of a proper ending - it was a bit "ali g" ... i'll say no more.)

adverbs by daniel handler (this is the book that i want to write someday, but d.h. beat me to it. it is a bunch of short stories and it is a novel. which is a little bit like love. it is about love, or rather how love is done. the adverbs instead of the verbs or nouns or adjectives. and i'm totally lifting his style here, while doing a piss poor job of it. have you ever listened to 69 love songs by the magnetic fields? well, this is 69 love songs reimagined as a book. make no mistake - it will happen choppily, unevenly, frustratingly. but also beautifully and magnificently and adorably and lovely-ly. which is what love is and which is why i fell in love with this book and its writer, who sometimes calls himself lemony snicket. go forth and love this book.)

also digging juana molina's new album "son" (argentinian weirdo-folkpop goodness), battlestar galactica 2.0 (sci fi meets political thriller meets human drama), dollar vinyl at garage sales, douglas coupland's microserfs (horribly dated, but i love coupland), and, of course, lots of pregnancy books.