In Which We Look Back At The Week From Space

ganymedeThe Week In Review

The opportunity to visit other worlds was strong in this one. Jupiter has the loveliest of moons, each complementing some aspect of its vast and unusual personality. Everything you need to know about a planet, you learn from seeing it from space.

callistoThe profession of shaman has many advantages. It offers high status with a safe livelihood free of work in the dreary, sweaty sense. In most societies it offers legal privileges and immunities not granted to other men. But it is hard to see how a man who has been given a mandate from on High to spread tidings of joy to all mankind can be seriously interested in taking up a collection to pay his salary; it causes one to suspect that the shaman is on the moral level of any other con man.

But it's lovely work if you can stomach it.

• We went crazy for Leonard Michaels here.
• Somewhere far along this road capitalism lost its soul.
• We reviewed the path of destruction in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

I started clipping and filing by categories on trends as early as 1930 and my "youngest" file was started in 1945. Span of time is important; the 3-legged stool of understanding is held up by history, languages, and mathematics. Equipped with these three you can learn anything you want to learn. But if you lack any one of them you are just another ignorant peasant with dung on your boots.

• Molly fought the terrorists and won.
• Britt on Do the Right Thing.
• We unwrapped a package of John Currin and Leonard Michaels.

Instead of taking revenge on someone, consider offering him the spare bedroom of your house. It's a great way to grow closer.

• We detailed the new season of True Blood.
• We mourned the King of Pop.
• Leonard Michaels learned the value of pop art.

Next week is Woody Allen Week, enjoy it.

You can find last week's WIR here.

"Paint the Moon" - The Czars (mp3)

"Summer Kisses, Winter Tears" - Julee Cruise (mp3)

"Hit Parade" - Tim Booth and Angelo Badalamenti (mp3)

In Which We See The Week The Way It Was Not The Way We Wish It Was

Week in Review

It goes by rather fast when you start thinking about it. There's always something to treasure, to revisit, to bring your mind back to. We highly recommended The Proposal starring Ryan Reynolds and the creature formerly known as Sandra Bullock. She was just someone on Keanu Reeves' bus, and now she's playing opposite of Scarlett Johanssen's fuck-buddy? Imagine our surprise.

The new Fiery Furnaces leaked, life went on as before. The Yankees lost because Johnny Damon couldn't catch a fly ball. Donte Stallworth got 26 days in jail, Plaxico Burress said what the fuck? The people of Iran desired a free election, but try making that happen!

• Molly debated whether Jack Nicholson was worth saving.
• Yvonne reviewed the Francis Bacon exhibition at the MOMA.
• Eleanor made fun of The Hangover, most people didn't get the joke.

Makeshift sex tapes of Leighton Meester and Robert Pattinson circulated like flies. Imagine being one of their mothers. No one wants to be famous if they're really famous, it's like a Gypsy curse. Leonard Michaels had better ideas about these things, but he's a misogynist, and he's no longer with us. To be dead is to be happy.

• Alex explained the brilliance of Sam Raimi's Drag Me To Hell.
• Bill Watterson explicated his love affair with Schulz's Peanuts.
• Ellen Page's favorite music was brought to the fore.

Was in the supermarket the other day and a young woman came up to me and asked does the blinking light meant it is open? Could make no sense of what she was saying, was listening to a book on iPod. Took a moment and decided on phrasing of correct answer: You ought to go and see.

• Molly's favorite movies about the corrupting nature of fame.
• Father's Day gifts from Alex's bookshelf.
• Leonard Michaels' brilliant diaries.

It's better to give advice, any advice. It doesn't matter what it is; it would probably go a long way. We try to forget everything, even things we know are important, because remembering it is so difficult. Our memories are to us as Johnny Damon is to a fly ball hit straight at him.

• Symbols you can recognize even from a fair distance.
• The return of True Blood was hailed by all knowledgeable folks.
• Eleanor showed you how to appreciate Roman Polanski's The Ninth Gate.

We'll keep wandering here for a while in case you want to ask us something.

You can find last week's WIR review here.

"My Love For You Is Real" - Ryan Adams (mp3)

"Evergreen" - Ryan Adams (mp3)

"Answering Bell" - Ryan Adams (mp3)

In Which We Understand That It Was A Rough Week

Week in Review

This is a calling from the Age of Aquarius. It doesn't matter if you're a run-away bride or a murdering hottie or an extra in The Hangover. If someone just farted, it might be Lebron James. To wit:

On the plus side, you can came back from this. As the poet wrote, "The mind of sinner isn't all that different from the mind of a saint."  I was the poet in this apocalyphral saying, which you will soon find yourselves coming across in Bartlett's. (I ransomed Bartlett's daughter.)

This week was about going to those places. To challenge yourself intellectually, you can look forward to reading our Summer Reading coverage, and we can look forward to the return of the One Week Only phenomenon when our coverage of a certain Jewish comedian hits your RSS readers.

Until then, all our emotions will be resolved through black-and-white photography and copious masturbation. Let all our days be so.

• Molly entered paradise, which looked like a library.
• We found sustenance in the perspective of our own self-portrait.
• Tyler evaluated the potential of the so-called nice guy.

Programming alert: Molly will be liveblogging the True Blood premiere this sunday. She just loves Anna Pacquin in the role, esp. Anna's accent. No JK, Molly is just jealous of Anna Paquin, it's sad how jealous.

• Will discussed Ashbery's finer moments.
• Jake brought up one of Robert Mitchum's finer moments.
• Sarah took a spicy bite of the new season of True Blood.

If I ever met Anna Pacquin, I would ask her what Harvey Keitel was like during the filming of The Piano.

• Alex reviewed the import of Calvin and Hobbes.
• Anna on the secret of Dolly Parton's success.
• The poetry of Frank O'Hara paid what was owed.

Was I to have made this far journey, only to find the very thing which I had fled?

-- Paul Gauguin

• Molly blogged through an earthquake.
• Eleanor on the highs and lows of The Mentalist.
• Alex explained what Up! is actually all about.

You can find last week's WIR review here.

"Ocean In The Way" - Dinosaur Jr. (mp3)

"There's No Here" - Dinosaur Jr. (mp3)

"Imagination Blind" - Dinosaur Jr. (mp3)