BillyBlog

Civilization by Marco Brambilla

2009-12-05T18:40:00.002-05:00

One of my co-workers sent this to me back in June. Well worth a peek, these many months later.

The description on YouTube reads: "Civilization, a video mural created for the new Standard hotel in New York City, depicts a journey from hell to heaven interpreted through modern film language using computer-enhanced found footage..."

Enjoy!

Divorce by Billy Collins

2009-10-15T08:42:00.003-04:00

I am just finishing Ballistics by Billy Collins.

Toward the end of the book is this gem of a poem:

Divorce
Once, two spoons in bed,
now tined forks
across a granite table
and the knives they have hired.

Cool Stuff People Send Me: Public Performance Art

2009-10-11T11:44:00.002-04:00

I'm a sap, I admit it. This is a wonderful video:

Thank to my Aunt Lee for sending this my way!

Arthur Schopenhauer's Train of Thought

2009-09-09T10:54:00.001-04:00

The latest in the New York City MTA "Train of Thought" series:

"Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits
of the world"

--Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860), "Studies in Pessimism"

First spotted by BillyBlog on the R train, 9/9/09

--
Sent from my mobile device

BillyBlog Plays 52-Card Pick-Up: The Pooh of Spades, A Card of Destiny

2009-08-17T05:00:00.000-04:00

I found this tattered and beaten card on 4th Avenue, between 89th and 90th Streets, on Saturday, August 15:

It has certainly seen better days!

The following cards have been found previously:

The Ten of Diamonds (July 2, 2009 - found June 1, 2009)

The Five of Spades (June 18, 2009)

The Eight of Spades (January 6, 2009)

The Eight of Diamonds (December 5, 2008)

The Two of Hearts and the Queen of Spades (November 1, 2008)

The King of Spades (October 26, 2008)

The Ace of Spades (September 22, 2008)

The Jack of Diamonds (September 18, 2008)

The Six of Hearts, Queen of Hearts, and Eight of Clubs (August 10, 2008)

The Six of Clubs (July 21, 2008)

The Seven of Hearts and The King of Diamonds (April 24, 2008)

The Three of Clubs (March 29, 2008)

The King of Hearts
and the Three of Spades (February 28 and March 25, 2008)

The Ace of Diamonds (July 7, 2008)

The Jack of Hearts and Five of Hearts (July 19, 2008)

View the whole set here.

And here's the scorecard with the latest addition:

Hearts: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, Ace
Diamonds: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, ~~Ace~~
Clubs: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, Ace
Spades: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, ~~Ace~~

Cool Stuff People Send Me: Sheep Art

2009-08-16T14:54:00.001-04:00

This is pretty cool:

Thanks to my Aunt Lee who sent this to me back in April!

An Update

2009-08-16T14:33:00.002-04:00

A lot has happened since I last posted. But what hasn't happened is the composition of 32 additional 42-themed poems.

For what it's worth, I even took a week off from posting on Tattoosday as well.

So, thanks for checking back. BillyBlog is not dead in the water, just slouching along in the shadow of its spawn.

42 Days of 42: Day 10 - Adventures in Googling

2009-07-12T07:17:00.003-04:00

Forty-Two (Adventures in Googling)

Forty-two is an abundant number,
the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything,
version one-point-six is the easiest way to convert a DVD into an AVI movie,
a bidding domino game,
scientific facts about the demise of forty-two have been largely exaggerated,
an Athenian software company,
Mr. Forty-Two Roads is back from his conference in Switzerland!
a fresh art gallery in Door County, Wisconsin,
another Apted film
a number in a George Bellows painting
forty-two pages in
(yes, I go that far)
I hit the goldmine:

Forty-Two new condos in the Old First Ward
Forty-two million iPods. Which is mine?
i am a forty-two year old female that had braces as a teen.

And there are forty-two reasons to stop this poem.

42 Days of 42: Day 9 - Beginnings

2009-07-11T06:41:00.002-04:00

For tea to have a calming effect,
For teetotalers to quit their vice,
For thee to speaketh in a modern tongue,
One must have
Fortitude.

42 Days of 42: Day 8 - 42 Down

2009-07-10T06:38:00.001-04:00

42 Down

The answer to 42 Down eludes me
and 42 Across is a scientific term
and I was never any good at science.
So I circle backwards, looking
at all the clues,
the witty puns masquerading
as answers
and I am having no luck.
I am blind to knowledge
and it is a grid
mocking me
calling me ignorant
and I pull my hair.
Is this the beginning
Of the end?
Oh, if only I had known
the answer
to 42 Down.
If only.

42 Days of 42: Day 7 - $1814 Per Square Foot

2009-07-09T16:28:00.000-04:00

$1814 Per Square Foot

I drove forty-two miles
to 635 West 42nd Street,
Unit 42-A.
Approximately 1042 square feet,
I would have to work forty-two lifetimes
to afford the mortgage
but oh, what a view!
The sunset alone would make me forget
I'm forty-two.

42 Days of 42: Day 6 - Shall I Rest on the Seventh Day?

2009-07-08T05:32:00.003-04:00

Six days in and I look at all that I have created.
Shall I rest on the seventh day?

By the time that the Lord had toiled for six full days,
would it be a stretch to say
that forty-two just-born species
went extinct?

Another one vanished since you started reading this poem.
Nothing big like the albino rhino or the pink skink,
but perhaps, the forty-second generation
of a tapeworm
or a fruit fly
or some rare fish
no one has ever seen,
forty-two thousand leagues under the sea.

42 Days of 42: Day 5 - Haiku 42

2009-07-07T16:45:00.001-04:00

Un(fort)unatel(y)
my waste is expanding, (two),
that's just how it is.

42 Days of 42: Day 4 - Behind the (4x2)-Ball

2009-07-06T06:42:00.001-04:00

I am trying to catch up but,
at forty-two,
I am not as fast
on my poetic feet.

42 Days of 42: Day 3 - An Acrostic

2009-07-05T06:04:00.002-04:00

Fascination with one's age
outweighs any
reasonable attempt
to cling to
youth.
-
Tell me,
why do we have to get
old?

42 Days of 42: Day 2 - Forty-Two Facebook Friends

2009-07-04T06:50:00.002-04:00

Forty-two Facebook friends will read this poem in the next forty-two hours.

Forty-two Facebook friends make me smile just by being back in my life.

Forty-two Facebook friends haven't made a peep since accepting my friend request.

Forty-two Facebook friends have seen me naked.

Forty-two Facebook friends are going to un-friend me after reading this poem, feeling somehow indirectly insulted.

Forty-two Facebook friends wouldn't recognize me if they passed me on the street.

Forty-two Facebook friends have never been to Forty-Second Street.

Forty-two Facebook friends use their children as their profile pictures.

Forty-two Facebook friends went to my 20th college reunion.

I have Forty-two Facebook friends in common with Forty-two Facebook friends, but that is all.

Forty-two Facebook friends have severe financial problems.

Forty-two Facebook friends are rich.

Forty-two Facebook friends are single.

Forty-two Facebook friends disappeared in 1989 but reemerged twenty years later.

Forty-two Facebook friends have tattoos.

Forty-two Facebook friends have come to New York and left without saying hello.

Forty-two Facebook friends gained weight.

Forty-two Facebook friends have grayed.

Forty-two Facebook friends are strangers I met on the street.

Forty-two Facebook friends are poets.

Forty-two Facebook friends accepted my friend request because we had Forty-two Facebook friends in common.

If I could convince Forty-two Facebook friends to each give me $42.00, I'd be on to something.

At some point in my life, I have been madly in love with Forty-two Facebook friends, but now I only love my wife.

Forty-two Facebook friends wonder what it would be like if it had worked out with me.

Forty-two Facebook friends are better off having gone their separate ways.

Forty-two Facebook friends probably think I'm being too hard on myself.

Forty-two Facebook friends have eight-four hands and four hundred and twenty toes.

Forty-two Facebook friends are admirable.

Forty-two Facebook friends are not.

I owe an apology to Forty-two Facebook friends for various wrong-doings over the years.

Forty-two Facebook friends would most likely forgive me.

Several of my Forty-two Facebook friends have poems written about them, but they don't know it.

When I make general statements about Forty-two Facebook friends, I speak with 42% accuracy, with a margin of error of 42%.

Forty-two Facebook friends wished me a happy birthday on my Facebook wall.

Forty-two Facebook friends did not.

Forty-two Facebook friends who I have never met in person are better friends than Forty-two Facebook friends who I have.

Forty-two Facebook friends think that last line was awkward.

Forty-two Facebook friends have had drinks with me.

Forty-two Facebook friends have not.

Forty-two Facebook friends have Forty-two Facebook friends have Forty-two Facebook friends, ad infinitum.

Forty-two Facebook friends wonder if this poem will ever end.

I tell Forty-two Facebook friends that it will, after forty-two lines.

42 Days of 42: Day 1 - Forty-Two Words for Forty-Two

2009-07-03T05:20:00.000-04:00

In honor of my forty-second birthday, I will attempt to post for the next forty-two days, forty-two poems. These poems will have something to do with the number 42. I don't promise anything great, but if you like what you see, please stoke my ego and leave a comment.

Today begins the experiment.

If you're curious, you can see how I celebrated 41 on BillyBlog here.

And forty, here.

And away we go....

FORTY-TWO WORDS FOR FORTY-TWO

Twenty-one was
half a lifetime ago.
What will my life be like
at eighty-four?

The thought
harasses me
silently.

Birthdays
are like poems.
Great ones
are memorable.
But most are not.

Forty-two words
are two too few
and,
two too many,
too.

BillyBlog Plays 52-Card Pick Up: The Ten of Diamonds

2009-07-02T18:40:00.000-04:00

I found this card on 31st Street in Manhattan, between 6th and 7th Avenues, on the morning of June 1st. It only took me a month to post it.

The following cards have been found previously:

The Five of Spades (June 18, 2009)

The Eight of Spades (January 6, 2009)

The Eight of Diamonds (December 5, 2008)

The Two of Hearts and the Queen of Spades (November 1, 2008)

The King of Spades (October 26, 2008)

The Ace of Spades (September 22, 2008)

The Jack of Diamonds (September 18, 2008)

The Six of Hearts, Queen of Hearts, and Eight of Clubs (August 10, 2008)

The Six of Clubs (July 21, 2008)

The Seven of Hearts and The King of Diamonds (April 24, 2008)

The Three of Clubs (March 29, 2008)

The King of Hearts
and the Three of Spades (February 28 and March 25, 2008)

The Ace of Diamonds (July 7, 2008)

The Jack of Hearts and Five of Hearts (July 19, 2008)

View the whole set here.

And here's the scorecard with the latest additions:

Hearts: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, Ace
Diamonds: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, ~~Ace~~
Clubs: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, Ace
Spades: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, ~~Ace~~

BillyBlog, R.I.P?

2009-07-01T07:42:00.002-04:00

I just noticed that I posted a whopping singular time in June. How sad.

As one might expect, Tattoosday has been my primary focus, although the importance of BillyBlog as a cultural bastion of useless information cannot be denied.

But here it is July.

And I have some living up to do.

Forty posts on my fortieth birthday in 2007.

Forty-one posts of forty-one consecutive days (and beyond) of riding my bike in 2008.

What of this July 3, when I turn 42?

Alas, I have an idea, but it is not nearly as ambitious as 2008, but is moreso than 2007. My only concern is whether I will be able to rise to the occasion.

Stay tuned and see.....

BillyBlog Plays 52-Card Pick-Up: The Five of Spades

2009-06-18T07:05:00.001-04:00

It has certainly been a while since I've found any cards, so it made sense that a return to my bike on May 24 allowed me to find the following card on the 65th Street Pier in Bay Ridge:

The following cards have been found previously:

The Eight of Spades (January 6, 2009)

The Eight of Diamonds (December 5, 2008)

The Two of Hearts and the Queen of Spades (November 1, 2008)

The King of Spades (October 26, 2008)

The Ace of Spades (September 22, 2008)

The Jack of Diamonds (September 18, 2008)

The Six of Hearts, Queen of Hearts, and Eight of Clubs (August 10, 2008)

The Six of Clubs (July 21, 2008)

The Seven of Hearts and The King of Diamonds (April 24, 2008)

The Three of Clubs (March 29, 2008)

The King of Hearts
and the Three of Spades (February 28 and March 25, 2008)

The Ace of Diamonds (July 7, 2008)

The Jack of Hearts and Five of Hearts (July 19, 2008)

View the whole set here.

And here's the scorecard with the latest additions:

Hearts: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, Ace
Diamonds: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, ~~Ace~~
Clubs: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, Ace
Spades: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, ~~Ace~~

Train of Thought - Henri Poincare

2009-05-11T18:26:00.002-04:00

"To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally
convenient solutions; both dispense with the need for thought."
Henri Poincare (1854-1912) "Science and Hypothesis"

First spotted on the B16 bus, 86th Street, Brooklyn, May 11, 2009

Craig Arnold, 1967-2009

2009-05-09T08:36:00.001-04:00

I'm numb today after learning that the poet Craig Arnold, whose poem was featured last month on BillyBlog here, died just a few days after my posts, just a few days after we chatted via instant message on Facebook.

I certainly did not have the level of interaction with him that many of the other people in his life, I had only really known him for a short time. But his interest and eagerness to participate in the Tattooed Poets Project brought me closer to him, I can only imagine that the sadness I feel is intensified a hundred-fold by the people that really knew him. And I am torn:

I envy their memories of Craig, their experiences with him, all the wonderful recollections of good times, yet I am saddened not just by the loss of Craig, but the heartbreak I feel oozing through the various portals of the internet.

I contacted many poets in the months leading up to April. Some were too busy to respond, or just said "thanks, but no thanks". But Craig, in my book, someone with a great excuse not to help a fellow writer out, came through despite being halfway across the planet, working on what he loved until the very end.

My thoughts and prayers go out to Craig Arnold's friends and family.

I feel blessed to have had just a sliver of time with Craig, in the form of some messages, e-mails, a poem and two tattoos.

Embrace the memories, the words, the experiences. Embrace them and treasure them. They are what sustain us. They give us strength and hope. They make it possible to go on.

New Train of Thought - Abraham Lincoln

2009-05-07T17:36:00.002-04:00

"If we could know where we are and whither we are tending, we could
better judge what to do and how to do it"
---Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), "House Divided" Speech, 1858

First spotted on the 2 train, Brooklyn-bound, May 7, 2009

Bookpeeping on the D Train

2009-05-06T09:36:00.001-04:00

In my post-National Poetry Month haze, I did a little bookpeeping on
the subway this morning. For those of you not familiar with this
feature, it's just a list of books I see people reading at a moment in
time.

The Deadalus Book of French Horror: The 19th Century. (Being read by a
red-haired, be-spectacled, pony-tailed, wild-haired, bearded and
side-burned commuter)

Civil Rights and the Presidency by Hugh Graham.

Finishing Touches by Deanna Kizis

Box Ovens and Box Oven Cooking. Technically not a book, but an article
of undetermined origin that had been copied. The title was compelling.

Two people next to one another doing today's Sudoku in the New York Post.

2 Chinese-language newspapers.

The New York Daily News.

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri.

The New York Times.

Chad Kultgen's The Lie

************************

--
Sent from my mobile device

Craig Arnold Needs Our Help

2009-04-30T05:33:00.000-04:00

Craig Arnold, whose poem was featured just last Friday here, has gone missing on an isolated island in Japan.

He needs our help. The Japanese authorities are close to calling off the search, and we need to do what we can by contacting our elected officials in Washington to put pressure on the Japanese government to not give up on finding Craig.

There's more info here.