"But there was nothing about the little, low-rambling, more or less identical homes of Northumberland Estates to interest or to haunt, no chance of loot that would be any more than the ordinary, waking-world kind the cops hauled you in for taking; no small immunities, no possibilities for hidden life or otherworldly presence; no trees, secret routes, shortcuts, culverts, thickets that could be made hollow in the middle – everything in the place was right out in the open, everything could be seen at a glance; and behind it, under it, around the corners of its houses and down the safe, gentle curves of its streets, you came back, you kept coming back, to nothing; nothing but the cheerless earth."
Thomas Pynchon, "The Secret Integration"
This is Ian Mathers' Tumblr. I live in Canada. I've written about music and other things for Stylus, PopMatters, Resident Advisor, the Village Voice, and a few other places. Hi.
imathers@gmail.com
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
But the most important thing that happened to me at that age was meeting the girl who I wanted to be with, and who is still with me to this day, Angie. When we met in 79, I was just 15, she was 14. My hormones were not so much of a distraction because Angie and I went full-time straight away. She wanted me to be who I wanted to be and she wanted to be with me to do that. And she was like, ‘Hey, I like Johnny Thunders and Iggy Pop and the good bits of the Rolling Stones a lot.’ Of course we’re still together! I’m not an idiot.
5-10-15-20: Johnny Marr | Features | Pitchfork
I talked to Johnny Marr about the music in his life for a Pitchfork 5-10-15-20. One of the most enjoyable interviews I’ve ever done. This guy loves talking about music. This bit, about when he met his wife, I found touching.
(via markrichardson)
This is a great interview, but this is my favourite part because I like it when people talk about good, enduring love like it’s neither a big deal nor difficult, because for them it’s not.
Feminists talk a lot about the privileging of penile-vaginal intercourse. We talk a lot about how the word foreplay is misleading at best and sexist at worst. We talk a lot about how most women can’t come from penetration alone, and how treating non-intercourse forms of sex as simply a preamble — not even sex at all, really — trivializes female pleasure.
What we don’t talk about as much is how this assumption trivializes male pleasure. We don’t talk about the pressure it puts on men to “perform” — pressure that, ironically, can make said “performance” more problematic. And we don’t talk as much about the ridiculous limitations it puts on male sexuality. We don’t talk as much about how enjoying full-body sensuality, nipples and ears and toes and hair and the huge range of sexual pleasures available to all human beings, is typically seen as girly. We don’t talk as much about how men who like receiving anal sex are widely assumed to be gay… even if the people they like receiving anal sex from are consistently women. And we don’t talk as much about how this assumption reduces men’s pleasure, their possibilities, their entire sexual beings, to a few inches of erectile tissue between their legs.
5 Things Society Unfairly Expects of Men | Reproductive Justice | AlterNet (via sexisnottheenemy) (via feminism4fun) (via anotherfeminist) (via thechocolatebrigade) (via kittensandskeletons)
I’m not sure I agree with everything in the linked article, but this part is spot on.
Just consider how much learning happens when you choose a mate. Along with thrilling dependency comes glimpsing the world through another’s eyes; forsaking some habits and adopting others (good or bad); tasting new ideas, rituals, foods or landscapes; a slew of added friends and family; a tapestry of physical intimacy and affection; and many other catalysts, including a tornadic blast of attraction and attachment hormones — all of which revamp the brain.
Human beings took our animal need for palatable food … and turned it into chocolate souffles with salted caramel cream. We took our ability to co-operate as a social species … and turned it into craft circles and bowling leagues and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We took our capacity to make and use tools … and turned it into the Apollo moon landing. We took our uniquely precise ability to communicate through language … and turned it into King Lear.
None of these things are necessary for survival and reproduction. That is exactly what makes them so splendid. When we take our basic evolutionary wiring and transform it into something far beyond any prosaic matters of survival and reproduction … that’s when humanity is at its best. That’s when we show ourselves to be capable of creating meaning and joy, for ourselves and for one another. That’s when we’re most uniquely human.
And the same is true for sex. Human beings have a deep, hard-wired urge to replicate our DNA, instilled in us by millions of years of evolution. And we’ve turned it into an intense and delightful form of communication, intimacy, creativity, community, personal expression, transcendence, joy, pleasure, and love. Regardless of whether any DNA gets replicated in the process.
Why should we see this as sinful? What makes this any different from chocolate souffles and King Lear?
Greta Christina (Sex and the Off-Label Use of Our Bodies) (via lesbianoutlaw) (via bubonickitten) (via queerandpresentdanger, sexisnottheenemy) (via konjum-mainakkale) (via zurik)
Why didn’t you get this for me for Valentine’s Day?
Ladies and gentlemen, my girlfriend part 3.
