Needle in the hay

just came back from the city

Wed, 20 Jul 2005 04:23:58 GMT

saw Topaz and Edmar Castaneda trio tonight at Knitting Factory old office w/little

they were both incredible, edmar needs to be seen, and Topaz was like an organic whole breathing together
ridiculous.

random poem

Tue, 19 Jul 2005 20:49:32 GMT

ignite a stare
a lonely stare
six bird-like shadows on the wall

and they stare back
no that's absurd
lonely though not alone at all

conversely seated and conversing
and god knows what fills up the air
sad-happy faces make me nervous
but even so, choose one and stare

the shadows flutter
door cracked open
drafts make them anxious
them and me

the waiter stutters
som'mor coffee?
i stutter back
the water's free?

books i've read....ever.

Mon, 18 Jul 2005 04:11:09 GMT

I'm gonna keep the tab on all the books i've read, ever. Should be fun, here it goes.

Sign of the Beaver - Speare
QB VII- Uris
Mila 18 - Uris
Lost Childhood- Yehuda Nir
1984 - Orwell
Animal Farm - Orwell
Lolita - Nabokov
King Queen Knave - Nabokov
Invitation to a beheading - Nabokov
Pale Fire - Nabokov
Pnin - Nabokov
Despair - Nabokov
Tom Sawyer/Huck Finn - Twain
The Mysterious Stranger - Twain
We - Zamyatin
Brave New World - Huxley
Crime and Punishment- Dostoevsky
Brothers Karamazov - Dostoevsky
Notes from the Underground - Dostoevsky
Memoirs from the House of the Dead - Dostoevsky
Poor Folk - Dostoevsky
Jailbird - Vonnegut
Player Piano - Vonnegut
Cat's Cradle - Vonnegut
God Bless you Mr. Rosewater - Vonnegut
Mother Night - Vonnegut
Breakfast of Champions - Vonnegut
Sirens of Titan - Vonnegut
The Godfather - Puzo
War and Peace - Tolstoy
Death of Ivan Ilyitch - Tolstoy
Big Sea - Langston Hughes
My Name is Asher Lev - Potok
In The Beggining- Potok
The Chosen - Potok
Master and Margarita - Bulgakov
Heart of a Dog - Bulgakov
My Teacher is an Alien - Coville
My teacher fried my brains - Coville
My Teacher Glows in the Dark - Coville
My Teacher Flunked the Planet - Coville
Vengeance - George Jonas
Sarah Bishop - odell
Johnny Tremain - forbes
Fight Club - Palahniuk
Justine - Sade
Philosophy in the Bedroom - Sade
The Rainmaker - Grisham
The Client - Grisham
Lost World - Crichton
Jurassic Park - Crichton
Timeline - Crichton
Prey - Crichton
Sphere - Crichton
Andromeda Strain - Crichton
Congo - Crichton
Hannibal - Harris
Red Dragon- Harris
Silence of the Lambs - Harris
Hammer of the Gods - Davis
Dream Brother - Browne

a small consolation

Sun, 20 Mar 2005 02:28:12 GMT

a small consolation as me and my ham have made an all-new exposition, and all you've to do is click

naked world and snow

Mon, 17 Jan 2005 07:25:40 GMT

spent the morning/afternoon at hell on russian earth death-trap eat-me-alive bloodsucking nightmare store.

there. I feel better now.

watched Naked World, very interesting documentary, I'm lazy so just hit the link up for information.

this is not the blogathon, that has yet to happen.

I'm tired and as you can see its late.

two more links:

The game to which Chools and I are now addicted. Eats money like a kangaroo, which incidentally was the word of the slam at the Starry Plough on Wednesday the 5th of January, the blogathon shall answer all your questions.

What's the name of the lame staind song? or "Hi there" or "eat me" or "."

Sun, 16 Jan 2005 07:36:40 GMT

my first day back from frisco and its quite surreal, words like 'miserable' and 'comforting' come to mind simultaneously and on top of that I'm jet lagged with the miniscule time difference.

The trip was amazing, I won't go into it now that will be the topic of a forthcoming blogathon (which will come forth i tell you)

went ice-skating today for the first time in probably a year and I wasn't as retarded as before on the ice and I daresay it was actually fun though my feet did hurt like hell which I understand is part of the whole thing.

some random links etc:

Black People Love Us - It's probably been around for ages but I've just found it thanks to Little and its funny

Des Animaux - Keeps me sane, please come visit and adopt Samantha immediately!

From my newfound love wikipedia I give you some things I've found as of late (looked up five seconds ago because i like the pictures)

I saw this band in Fairfax, a small town in San Rafael county in California (blogathon to follow)

I have been listening lots to the projects of this guy. As well as this guy.

I have been reading Jailbird by this guy. I spent the night watching him.

Had enough?

Blogathon (its so trite I love it I love it) to follow

L	Loud
E	Earthy
V	Vigorous

Name Acronym Generator
From Go-Quiz.com

Sun, 31 Oct 2004 05:21:05 GMT

what a fucking beautiful night
bathed in fog, wet leaves everywhere,
every single streetlight projects a differently colored mirage onto the darkness
just incredible, and the smell of it all is so intoxicating...

I'm afraid to go to sleep to lose a moment of this, how can i be sure i will ever experience it again?

Tue, 26 Oct 2004 05:46:37 GMT

bored? try going to Archive and typing in the following url: ourworld.compuserve.com/members/fridman ...see what you get.. few of you have known me long enough to have seen this when it was actually up (unless of course there are some ghosts lurking in the shadows checking the profiles of those they used to know)..anyhow i found it amusing, may you will too

Listening: Segovia,, Mahavishnu Orchestra , Tortoise, Jeff Buckley, Critters Buggin, Bonobo et al

Reading: Nietzsche, Poe, assorted intellectual music history, sensationalist trash from the 1840s, Spin magazine

Watching: Mean Girls (A+), Laws of Attraction (ass), The College Plays (excellent), X-Files ad infinitum

-to see a superb adaptation of Bizet's Carmen by Al Dimeola and a Hungarian orchestra go here

-Check out The Exile its a fantastic expatriate magazine based out of Moscow.

Wed, 15 Sep 2004 04:19:41 GMT

so,
I was asked by one of my four friends to update this journaux so the other three can know what's up, i suppose its a legitimate request
and so for putting up with me all these years I humor you now.

Been listening lately to the Mahavishnu Orchestra, I'm really getting into Mclaughlin as a result, the last time I heard him was when I listened to the flamenco album (Friday Night in S.F.) and there he seemed to be eclipsed by Dimeola, but in the Mahavishnu context he's fantastic.

ja rule is quite intriguing, I was content with the season finale of six feet under, Ali G however understayed his welcome, come back borat! I need you so.

I'm reading Poe, its relaxing.

if you play chess, I'm on playsite.com on a regular basis my name is lfny. come and beat me.

what else
i have this fractal image on my desktop and I just saw the repeating pattern for the very first time about two seconds ago, i've had this thing here for months.

keep looking.

Sun, 08 Aug 2004 06:23:32 GMT

my serotonin seesaw had a good time today
maybe I should just do ecstasy, seems to have the same effect except that you get to see more colors, like people more and end up getting more exercise.

we walked a dog named freckles today, it was heavenly mmmmmm

the end of Zuma was a ripoff, kind like "the village" only less predictable.
i had that all along by the way, m.nightshyamallaman you didn't fool me this time mwahaha

remember they used to have a little filler called "brain games" on HBO.?
of course you don't.

well I just did about 5 hours of 4th grade math, combined with a little eighth grade algebra, wtg ETS make the moments last

good night.

Wed, 04 Aug 2004 04:15:14 GMT

tired and nervous
nervous and tired

its all good i suppose.

I spend the day reading Marquis de Sade, I spend the evening watching nip/tuck
the difference i ask you?

i liked pittsburgh, it had a nice river/mountain thing going on

Elliott Smith's "2:45am" and the Cranberries "Zombie" differ by only one chord

Ali G. is fantastic, Kazakhstan kills me.

I scored one hundred points higher on my math than verbal on a GRE diagnostic, maybe it means I have a tumor, or my hemispheres just got confused.

listened to the Simon and Garfunkel greatest hits album tonight, also listened to Fat Joe

what's in your head.

Fri, 23 Jul 2004 20:31:38 GMT

just got off the phone with moscow, it was nice. They bought me a book with "today in st. petersburg history" for every day of the year. aww

so we were gonna go biking today and it rains...sigh...guess i'll go to the golds' beef factory instead, 10 bucks down the proverbial drain

whatever though, no disaster, same time next week

so yeah if someone can convince me that there's no harm in voting for Kerry then i'll vote for Kerry because bush scares me
on the other hand if someone can convince me that Bush will not go through with any of his christian right kill fags make prayer pro life crazy shit then i'll vote for him

if anyone has problems with the fence then they should seriously question their tolerance for shards of broken glass and nails being embedded in their bodice as a result of stepping outside.

yeah so my vacation will be about three weeks in total, i'm kind of getting tired of Queens College, 9-9 on campus is tough

immersion classes are fun though, the ACT daunts my little flock, they'll be taking it at the end of the month. they'll be confronted by such questions as: "Your friend Jane has been awarded a partial scholarship to Harvard and a full scholarship plus room and board at a State University, write her a letter telling her where she should go" or "A tract of land has been freed up in your town the board has two proposals to build a state of the art medical facility or a new power plant, write a letter to the board in support of either decision"

so yeah

Mon, 19 Jul 2004 03:05:07 GMT

my little black book was stolen you know
the one i used to write in;
so occasionally, so so so

even more the reason to propagate the lameness here

even more the reason.

I wonder what the prolonged exposure to airplane noise does to you...I remember wondering about it when I first moved to long island

no one understood what i meant, "what noise?" they said.

incidentally that kid that's been living in my room is here no more.

My chess game is improving; I finally have regained the attention span necessary to play a full game.

Mikhail Bakhtin is quite a boring read, though a god in his own right, a literary deity just like well everyone else...I'm disapointed with Timequake someone should tell Vonnegut

I know the title of the forthcoming Harry Potter title, do you?

today's boondocks is funny; something to the effect of having a white chicks sequel entitled "black dudes" starring mary kate and A as said males in a prison

i'm drawing a

.

Thu, 22 Apr 2004 15:11:52 GMT

Walk through a park, or maybe down a sidewalk, walk walk walk, early evening surrounded by friends and motion youth life and laughter the things you know, walk except you know that any moment a hole is gonna be punched right through the atmosphere and you'll be the only one feeling it, right here right now, all the air is gonna be sucked the fuck out of your bubble, don't bother trying to explain to them that you're about to suffocate but you don't know when, how the hell do you explain that anyway? don't bother, its pointless and what difference will it make, so savor those breaths motherfucker make them last you...

except that the hole just doesn't seem to get punched, its like the line to the hanging just keeps getting longer and longer right before you make it to the front, more people showing up i guess..

every now and then the air thins out though, but not fatally, just enough to get you gasping a little, take some color out of your face, as if the little kid thats trying to punch the straw through your head just can't seem to get the sharp part within the perforations

this is how my life has been for many years now, maybe as long as I can remember.

this morning i came up for air for a little bit, and with little surprise it came to me in the form of a sunrise, with the sun to be a little bit less subjective

does my earnestness bother you? it should you know, another's always should. But remember we are all adults now and it was your decision to peep...the bottom line is I need this here and now, I do, me, and honestly i'm not even sure how you fit, but you'll figure it out for yourself.

I remember very clearly the first time I heard Siamese Dream;

It must have been in seventh grade...I remember how intoxicating the opening of "today" was...I remember clearly Jonathan teaching it to me on guitar, high up on the e string, those notes ringing like chimes

I remember Jon asleep at my side, myself listening to his cd player, riding on the bus along Israel's eastern border, bus-full of soldiers trying to get home to their families before sundown.
Before sundown.

I remember listening to it again in Spain as the sun was coming up, spring of 2000.

and again at sunrise home in the U.S. my last year of high school.

Incidentally I do remember when the hole was finally punched through; it was that following fall.

I don't think I ever told anyone let alone myself but I do remember the exact moment in Rochester when I knew something broke; I was watching a snowstorm and I just couldn't take it.

my phantom hand allready scribbled all this in my little black book. The hand isn't real but the book is.
Allison bought it for me for my 18th birthday.

that morning I had woken up and couldn't think of anything to do but die. My life hurt, my head hurt, my soul fucking hurt.

you think i'm exaggerating; I would have to be wouldn't I?
right?

wrong.

I know something else, as of this morning actually;

I know why billy wrote Siamese Dream

no, though you're close, it wasn't for me.

but as of this morning I know that he meant it, they meant it, every fucking note.

I have no doubt of that as I sit here right now, I don't doubt it.

I don't know what that means to you, but I do know that it is completely irrelevant.

because it means the world to me. my world to be exact.

in my very very limited reading of Nietzsche i came across this;

"only as an aesthetic phenomenon do existence and the world appear justified"

an aesthetic phenomenon..that's what I had this morning

except that something is different now.

after many years (of the few that I've known)

I can feel my life again.

-Lev

Fri, 16 Apr 2004 05:00:33 GMT

so it turns out I can't take Yevtushenko's Pasternak course because its a 1-1 conflict with the music philosophy class..ah what the hell i'll take the music, its honors afterall

saw a beautiful wonderful playful dachsund named Lui today, he was two years old and so so friendly

Kill Bill tonight, woo

mmm mmm mmm

Thu, 15 Apr 2004 02:04:42 GMT

So my pets, here it goes:

chool alex and I saw Air last night, the opener was a puddle of ass of Brasilian origin it stunk like a raccoon with rabid diarhhea, Air themselves were mighty fine and I really liked Hammerstein Ballroom its much cooler than irving and roseland

Stephane Wrembel was again wonderful on sunday, totally rocked my ass especially when the dude in the suspenders came out of nowhere with the trombone, made my night

Ron likes girls; all can apply...while we were inside listening to gypsy la-la Ron was macking it to a soandso francaise, good for you sweetheeart...wtg on the bar she took us to, I think it was called moe's...and bella the Chow at fort greene park was FANTASTIC.

so i'm digging the fog and clouds and flower-feeding-come-on-and bloom my dear plant- weather but i would appreciate sun, sometime soon..would be nice..

yeah, so i'm done with my major apparently, since that "advanced seminar" in translation was an "advanced seminar" and counted as such.

now to fill up another year.

I'm getting a kick out of Nietzsche's "Birth of Tragedy"..I finished Invitation to a Beheading now on to Lolita

I've watched about 9/10ths of "Renaissance Man" starring the crispy creme danny davitto..woohoo

ah yes now i remember:

me and chools went to thith dog pahk where theweh a wholelot of doggiess and gay men the end. it was in chelsea.

done for now.

Fri, 09 Apr 2004 17:45:19 GMT

time management is not my forte:

quick synopsis:

people: i like people.

movies: "Identity" starring Cusack and some other people was very very nice, with a fun solipsist hook, "The Fly" with Davis and Jeff Goldblum was surprisingly un-excruciating..."Starsky and Hutch" was also not painful.

muzak: good god, Stephane Wrembel avec trio was SICK, the best gypsy jazz I HAVE EVER heard in my life.....I also have nothing but good things to say about seeing Aaron Goldberg at the Fat Cat w/Omer Avital & Al Foster; it was fantastic.

Animals: Giant Pomeranian on Hendrickson, Blue Chow next to the U.N., Samoyed somewhere near upper west end of the Park, Feather-Cat around my house, Sandy the chow on the lower east side, Newfie in Barbershop and so many more

yup.

Wed, 07 Apr 2004 17:41:26 GMT

"At least part of what I?m feeling when I listen to music is a kind of displacement, one that involves the constant shock of not actually being able to meet its presence directly, melt into it and achieve the consummation that it advertises. In this understanding, the pleasure of listening is at least partially masochistic. Think of your favorite piece of music as a lap dance: There you are, cowed into a submissive state, perfectly useless to the rest of the world, salivating before its tonal landscape while it wags its ass in front of you." -Brad Mehldau on Brahms

Tue, 30 Mar 2004 03:53:37 GMT

jittery, writing this should do the trick...
listen.

We saw Spivakov at Queens College on saturday night......it reduced me to a quivering drooling shaky mess, it was INSANELY good....the best classical concert i have been to in my life hands down.

the night before, Jul and I saw Brad Mehldau at the Kaplan Penthouse in Lincoln Center, it was way up on top of the Julliard School, incredibly beautiful, Brad as usual was fantastic, while I had a ridiculous migrane headache and would have enjoyed it more without it. He played Paranoid Android which I by then thought I would never hear him play.

I'm running out of adjectives, the hyperbole between the temples is just not expressing itself well...oh the frustration

new israeli place opened up on the corner of main and jewel in flushing, good shit

honors lounge moved to the trailer park, we have been modulated, and its actually quite nice. I feel like eminem

ups to Charlie Haden's "Nocturne" album as well as Rush "Live in Rio" and a lovely hour long video of Tom Waits from 1978.

i entrust my nightcap to vladimir vladimirovich.

Tue, 23 Mar 2004 03:52:12 GMT

WORLD A DANGEROUS PLACE"

"The world is clearly a very unsettled and dangerous place and that's demoralizing to investors," said Hugh Johnson, chief investment officer at First Albany Corp.

Israeli officials signaled that Yassin, the most prominent Palestinian leader killed since Israel's assassination of commando chief Abu Jihad in 1988, would probably not be the last to die. "The waiting list is long," a security source said.

.....hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhhhaaaaaaaaahahahahahahahahahah...sorry..hahahahahahahahahahahaha....

-------------------------

wow, damn, i'm tearing...that was so good.

---------

so anyway

turns out I have 68 credits and it takes 120 to graduate...as far as requirements i'm 12 away from being done.....that leaves about 40 or so more...hmmmm.summer session here I come!!!!!!

wait one more time i'm sorry...hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha did you see the pictures in the papers? the bastard looks like fucking santa clause hahahahahahahahahahahahaha
i'm done.

anyway
and how are you doing?
.

Mon, 22 Mar 2004 03:21:46 GMT

Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind was fantastic, new variation on the recursive-dream-within-dream scenario compounded with a painfully accurate lost love thing...also impressive was the trailer for an indie film called "Garden State"

I finished reading Nabokov's "Despair" which was intriguing as well...i'm so glad i am in this course

I wonder if it is a sin to covet your neighbor's chow...if it so then I am neck deep....

this is actually winding down but I promise more next time; I'm tired and have yet to play bubble bees tonight

PS: I listened to 92.7 FM all day, the Merengue was first rate as was the embarassingly lame commentary...

good night

Tue, 16 Mar 2004 04:54:07 GMT

yossi is snoring away...i'll be witness to his sonambulance all week i'm sure
you see my mom is having heart surgery tommorow at st. francis hospital in roslyn and my grandma is here to "oversee" the familial grounds...hence the little squirrel creature is sleeping up in my room

Fernando finally called me on sunday night, he said he and his family had been out on the streets all weekend at the manifestaciones and voting out the partia popular...no one in his family was hurt in the bombing..some family members of his cleaning lady were murdered though

"We didn't deserve this, Spain didn't deserve this, only my government did, we should have had no part in the war" ...I wasn't about to argue with him

He's happy that the socialist party was voted in on sunday, he wants things to change..don't we all...

-Lev

Sat, 13 Mar 2004 06:07:36 GMT

just watched the 90's version "Lolita", completely this time and it made me sad...

Last night we saw Marc Ribot with a quartet at Makor, they were doing "Django Tribute"..it was nice but sounded nothing like Django...the highlight of the evening was definitely Bear, a chow puppie we caught a glimpse of earlier in Wash. Sq. Park.

I've yet to make a dent in the Orwell biography and in my laziness I've simultaneously picked up Vonnegut's "Timequake"supplied again by my mom.

The CUNY library system sends me mail on a daily basis, I don't hesitate to say that the affection is mutual...we milk each other it seems.

more to come (I should hope)
-Lev

Sat, 06 Mar 2004 19:43:41 GMT

need to spill this before it leaves my mind, have to put these things down when they're still warm:

saw a film called "The Dreamers" last night at the sunshine landmark theatre on Houston on the Lower East Side. This movie hit me hard, really hard I couldn't take my eyes off the screen when it was over....there was nothing especially amazing about this film but somehow the combination of some erotic frenzy and 60's emotional swelter just got to me. I highly recommend this movie.

afterwards choolie ron and I dined at the superbly embarassing ShipShedBay's own El Greco diner...where we heard embarassing lamers of russian extraction say things like: "I Kent Beeliv itz nat Bawter" etc etc

My musical raping of the library system continues, the current victim is a Charles Mingus record, i think as of two days ago the count is about 23 (thats 3.5 Gigs for all those who care)

oh yeah..two new books: Kerouac's "Big Sur" (compliments of Savers and my Mom) and an Orwell biography written by a D.J. Taylor (courtesy of Lynbrook Public Library)

oh and thumbs up for the so called "megalomaniac assylum" room on the third floor of the D Building, a most hospitable and quiet atmosphere for reading.

-Lev

Fri, 05 Mar 2004 07:34:34 GMT

at the moment I am doing about 8 simultaneous things on my poor overworked computer...its quite cranky for a two year old....i can't wait for the terrible 3's...

I am conducting a serial rape of 20 jazz albums from my local library..wait no my "former" local library...

so about last night: (that being wednesday night : after a delicious meal at the one and only (no other jews could possibly come up with a name like this) "pita hot" replete with hoomoosy ocean of shawarma and perpetual flow of diet coke, I went by myself to North Six in williamsburg to see Don Caballero. Now I had never heard a single song of theirs and was going there purely on instict because their reputation was quite impressive and I thought i was bouind to like them....Well, I was right....the first opening band was a waste of electricity, but the next one called "The Detachment Kit" was just awesome....a Patton-esque vocalist and two other frenetic guitarists...great songwriting melodies arrangements everything...and awesome presence...definitely would like to see them again....serendipitously enough I happened to meet Kat's friend Cori at this locale completely by accident..we had a fun time...Don Caballero was great I could use lots of ill-fitting adjectives and oblique metaphors here to describe them..I could but I won't.

-Lev
PS: saw an amazing animal on thursday night; it was a Samoyed named "Attaboy" what a lame name for such an incredible creature..pure fur..pure siberian chow...i love it.