This is just *awful*.

[via joeri]

Sugar recommended “A Winter’s Tale” by Mark Helprin to me in the comments to this post. Since today was a surprise day off, before heading back home from the office I went to the British Bookshop in Vienna’s First District to look for the book.

Continue reading →

Tell me which books you love. Which ones, whether or not they’re great books, affected you in some way, changed your life or the way you think.

Continue reading →

I just wanted to mention that the group blog with which I am loosely affiliated, Raising Hell, was named #13 top pick of 2002 by yahoo.com. I thought a good use of the cash prize would be to sponsor a “free hosting for all” thing, until I found out there was no cash prize.

If you are not yet familiar with the site, go there now and read everyone’s stories. There are some funny ones, and some that make you cry. Thanks to Yahoo, and thanks to everyone involved with the site in any way for all your help. Thanks to everyone who’s helped out with hosting, coding and design at some point, and to all the writers – the guest authors, and the regulars past and present, including Melly, Michele, Brian, Pat, Jason, and Ratty.

Got to work this morning and had to look forever before I found a parking spot. The embassy was crowded with guests.
I entered, and a colleague said, “Oh, Mig, didn’t anyone tell you?”
And I was like, “ah, no big deal, I’ll just make a few blog posts and go shopping for books in town. Happy Eid al Fitr.”
Shook a few hands.
I’ll file for overtime for coming in today.
They’re never precisely sure when Ramadan ends, you see, because it depends on moon phases and sightings of the moon etc. You’d think, if I can go to a website that tells me the phase of the moon on January 3 1990 then they could predict the exact end of Ramadan the same way, but apparently not.

Context is everything with him. From the context – him barging into my office, closing the always-open door after him, waving a smallish sheaf of papers with musical notes on them – I concluded he was saying, “Take a break for a second from what you’re doing.”

Ok.

I then concluded that he then said that, although he could understand the surface meaning of the English song lyrics, would I be so kind and explain the deeper meaning to him, because he was playing this song on organ, possibly in a church.

Ok. Lemme see the lyrics.

First they appear to be getting drunk, then I dunno what after that. I’ve never given it a lot of thought, it’s just a pretty song.

He then asked for further elucidation, I concluded from his words and actions.

So I told him that in the sixties and seventies people got high a lot and wrote mystical, meaningless shit. Only I told him in other words.

To bolster my case, I did a quick google search and found a site that described an interview, where the organist of the band was asked what the lyrics meant and he had no idea.

My colleague asked me to print out the website, I think. I did, and he took the printout and seemed happy. This made me think I was right to assume he wanted me to print it out.

He then gestured and made sounds, and I printed out another website I’d found about the band.

It’s a very pretty song.

“Henry Kissinger? Jesus Christ, are we fucking MOVING BACKWARDS IN TIME???”