PicoBlog

“How ingenious an animal is a snail… When it encounters a bad neighbor it takes up its house and moves away.” —Philemon (c. 300 B.C.) Hey y’all, A few weeks ago my friend Clive Thompson linked to a funny little piece about how many medieval manuscripts feature illustrations of knights fighting snails. I’d never really thought much about snails, but I loved these images. Something in them spoke to me.

When it comes to dance music, it’s fair to say that no one has approached it quite like Drew Daniel. Over the past few decades, the Baltimore artist (whose musical career began in San Francisco) has zigzagged across the electronic and experimental map, most prominently as one half of Matmos—his wildly creative collaboration with partner M.C. Schmidt, who Drew simply refers to as Martin—but also with his solo project, The Soft Pink Truth.

This is another entry in my ongoing “songs that visited me and decided they wanted to stay” series. I hope you like these enough to become a paid subscriber, because I really need you to keep this series going. This one is free, but not all of ‘em are! Ain't Wastin' Time No More - The Allman Brothers Band So, hear us now, we ain't wastin' time no more 'Cause time rolls by like hurricanes

This is another entry in my ongoing “songs that visited me and decided they wanted to stay” series. I hope you like these enough to become a paid subscriber, because I really need you to keep this project going. America - Simon and Garfunkel "Kathy, I'm lost", I said, though I knew she was sleeping I'm empty and aching and I don't know why Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike

POLITICS DEP'T. THE FUN AND cheerful thing to say about the Ron DeSantis presidential campaign is that it fell apart two days before it even got to New Hampshire. Say it! It does feel good! This goon tried to bully his way to the top of our nation's politics and was fully, mercilessly rejected. He got nine figures worth of PAC and campaign funding and a year's worth of coverage hailing him as the most serious alternative to Donald Trump and he cashed it all in, or out, for a grand total of nine delegates, or two more than Ben Carson collected in 2016.

Dear Friend, Of course there are other Sophie Johnsons. When Facebook was first available to me, I looked all of them up and Friended them. Facebook was small at the time, so there were twelve. I browsed all the other Sophie Johnson profiles and mentally ranked them and fantasized about throwing a party where only the best Sophie Johnsons were invited. Then the internet ballooned and there were all-of-a-sudden too many Sophie Johnsons.

After two posts, you might be asking, "What's the win here in exploring Bulgakov's sophiology? What's to be gained by thinking about this strange, new thing?"  Well, I hope you saw one win in the last post. The panentheistic vision of Bulgakov's sophiology reveals to us that all of creation, because it exists, because it is real, is founded upon God's divinity. Everything is spiritual. And this, I would argue, is a critical and valuable insight.

This month marks the third anniversary of Wells $treet, and also the 26th anniversary of the “Seinfeld” finale, in which I had a small role. One of the best things about being part of the finale in 1998 was seeing so many famous faces whenever I stepped out of my tiny trailer on the Warner Brothers lot. I was especially starstruck by “The Soup Nazi.” There he was, grabbing lunch at the commissary, though I don’t believe he had soup.

In Spain, the menu del dia or menu of the day is offered at restaurants during lunch. Ordering the menu del dia is the most economical way to eat in Spain and it’s also when you’ll see the most locals because lunch in the main meal of the day in Spain. Most restaurants and bars will be packed, and there will be plenty of day drinking going on around you. (Don’t ask me how many Spanish people can drink three beers at two and then go back to work.