Virtual Flaneurism

It's all been sugared nuts and buttercups spending the last three posts relieving my perpetual blog-boner for all things literary and touchy-feely, but let's not forget what brought us here: cat videos and memes ridiculing hipsters. Also, may we not overlook our love of laughing at the unfortunately life-inept:

God, I could be sleeping but instead I am reveling in my long literary crush on Frank O'Hara. Ahoy, one of the few poems to ever make me laugh audibly:

New York Times has a terrific photo-article up entitled "Who Lives There: The Pyramid Atop Seattle's Smith Tower", which looks at the family who lives in a small glass lighthouse atop a nearly forty story tower in Washington. The photos are really worth a look at - I would love to live in a place like this.

Looking at the photos last night, I was immediately smitten with the home and found myself imagining the couple's path toward renting the space. I like to think that their decision to live there was one of those life moments where you initially dismiss an idea as absurd ("Live in a lighthouse atop an office building? Preposterous.") then this reasoning gives way to the realization that the idea is not actually absurd, nor impractical or impossible, and the prospect of doing whatever it is is actually incredibly exciting - an adventure if you will. The most universal example that comes to mind is that moment after a friend offhandedly invites you along on a trip and, after poo-pooing the idea, you realize it is possible for to go, that you really want to go, and finally, that you will go on the trip. It's the freedom of responsible spontaneity, if you will.

In some ways, I think that feeling may be one of my favorites.

Let's talk short fiction: Timothy McSweeney's website has a wickedly humorous collection of short (they'll take you five minutes each to read) imagined monologues. The monologues themselves are delightful, though I found myself laughing even more at the random titles. A few of my favorites (both in title and in substance):

"I Am the Invisible Thing That Holds Together the Two Halves of a Compound Word."
By Ben Greenman

"We Are Going to Turn This Fake Christmas Tree Into an Art Piece So I Don't Have to Haul it Down to the Basement Again."
By Lily Langerud

"A Father Tells His Eight-Month-Old Son to Scatter His Ashes On Top of All the Places That This Asshole He Knows From Work Is Going to Have His Ashes Scattered."
By Christopher Geno

"It Was I Who Flipped Over the Risk Board Last Night."
By Colin Nissan

This song came on my iPod today, and I was struck with a desire to check out the video. Little did I know that I was going to be diving head first into a Bridget Jonesesque hellsphere. Song's catchy, though.

Context

From Erin and Ben:

PS. XD @ the random Windows disk space menu shots

I adore this: