Deceptuary

http://friends-academy.com/

2010-03-15T19:57:00.001-04:00

http://friends-academy.com/

plus random.

2009-11-27T18:31:00.001-05:00

etc

2009-10-04T23:50:00.004-04:00

Policy Wonk.

2009-08-11T01:04:00.006-04:00

Weird Sequence.

2009-06-08T22:18:00.009-04:00

Thanks, Jess!

Surfacing.

2009-04-23T02:56:00.011-04:00

The Wash

2009-04-13T23:15:00.003-04:00

Get Happy!

2009-04-09T02:07:00.000-04:00

Haruki Murakami - 1Q84

2009-04-08T08:13:00.004-04:00

Rumor has it that Murakami's "most ambitious and most voluminous" work will be released this year in Japanese. It's title, so far as one can tell for sure, will be 1Q84. The English translation is hopefully not too far in the future - can't wait.

Two more by Nate Dorr.

2009-04-06T14:51:00.005-04:00

Sjømannskirken, Manhattan.

2009-04-01T14:54:00.003-04:00

Today I went to the Norwegian Seamen's Church and had lunch. Here's a video:

FRIENDS ACADEMY EP - FINISHED!

2009-03-12T15:37:00.005-04:00

1) No Comment
2) Gotham News
3) Windfall
4) Mesomorph

*UPDATE - We are changing up the track order on a disc by disc basis.

Recorded at Thump Studios in Brooklyn.
Email us if you want one: friendsacademytheband@gmail.com

Happy New Year.

2009-01-06T03:20:00.005-05:00

Brief debrief: we're about a third of the way finished with the mixing of the record. We're very happy with how the music reflects what we like about music. Mixing and mastering should all be completed in January. Can't wait to get the tracks out to all of you. Thanks for your continued interest and support as we put the pieces together.

Happy New Year.

With love,

Friends Academy

P.S. Fight bad news with intrepid care.

Goodbye, sweetheart.

2008-11-14T13:18:00.006-05:00

Vivre Sa Vie.

2008-11-11T00:26:00.002-05:00

Vivre sa vie is painful, and exactly what I want out of a movie: beauty, philosophy, sex & death. I viewed it again this night.

The Lake.

2008-10-27T00:09:00.001-04:00

High School.

2008-10-24T14:38:00.003-04:00

NYT Blogger - http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/21/if-you-dont-look-good-we-dont-look-good/?apage=13#comments

2008-10-22T12:26:00.000-04:00

302. October 22, 2008 11:36 am Link

What if the Obama’s had paraded five children across the stage, including a three month old infant and an unwed, pregnant teenage daughter?

What if John McCain was a former editor of the Harvard Law Review?

What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?

What if McCain had only married once, and Obama was a divorcee?

What if Obama was the candidate who left his first wife after a severe disfiguring car accident, when she no longer measur ed up to his standards?

What if Obama had met his second wife in a bar and had a long affair while he was still married?

What if Michelle Obama was the wife who not only became addicted to painkillers but also acquired them illegally through her charitable organization?

What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard?

What if Obama had been a member of the Keating Five?

What if McCain was a charismatic, eloquent speaker?

What if Obama couldn’t read from a teleprompter?

What if Obama was the one who had military experience that included discipline problems and a record of crashing seven planes?

What if Obama was the one who was known to display publicly, on many occasions, a serious anger management problem?

What if Michelle Obama’s family had made their money from beer distribution?

What if the Obamas had adopted a white child?

You could easily add to this list. If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are?

This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when there is a color difference.

Educational Background:

Barack Obama:
Columbia University - B.A. Political Science with a Specialization in International Relations.
Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude

Joseph Biden:
University of Delaware - B.A. in History and B.A. in Political Science.
Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)

vs.

John McCain:
United States Naval Academy - Class rank: 894 of 899

Sarah Palin:
Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester
North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study
University of Idaho - 2 semesters -journalism
Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester
University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in Journalism

Education isn’t everything, but this is about the two highest offices in the land as well as our standing in the world.

-hw

We're recording.

2008-10-14T10:18:00.004-04:00

Hamar

2008-10-08T23:11:00.003-04:00

The Keating Five.

2008-10-06T12:50:00.002-04:00

http://www.keatingeconomics.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keating_Five

Welcome to California.

2008-08-27T09:21:00.003-04:00

Norwegian Print Shop.

2008-08-18T09:20:00.004-04:00

Maja's father is the great Norsk artist Jan Braende. Here's a clip of some of his prints being produced as they tweak colors. In Oslo.

People.

2008-07-17T17:09:00.007-04:00

July 4th.

Guest of Honor.

Kid i Vikingskiphuset.

Manhattanhenge.

2008-07-11T11:48:00.008-04:00

Here's a fun fact: tonight and tomorrow the sun will set directly parallel to the east-west streets of Manhattan, a cosmic phenomenon some refer to as Manhattanhenge. In street parlance, it looks something like this:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=FdcseaeQ9MI

Portraits of a Dude.

2008-06-16T00:05:00.003-04:00

Filial Piety.

2008-06-12T17:39:00.008-04:00

This is my father. Respect.

Self Portrait.

2008-05-26T23:27:00.001-04:00

Bad As I Wanna Be.

2008-05-08T09:17:00.001-04:00

Griffin digs Olafur.

Martha, My Dear.

2008-05-02T10:25:00.006-04:00

This is Martha Argerich, pictured in 1962, the year she turned 21 years old.
This is the way I imagine Fermina Daza, from Love in the Time of Cholera, to look.
She is capricious and reneged on a concert we bought tickets for.
We went anyways - first gin and tonic of the season!

Barack Obama. President.

2008-05-01T08:53:00.001-04:00

Mother Mary.

2008-04-28T20:02:00.004-04:00

This is my mother, outside the chapel, after we attended the wedding of Jillian Angell (now Threadgill) and Marcus. We brought the flowers along with us to the reception.

Farm Frame, Part 2.

2008-04-28T13:31:00.006-04:00

Lectern. Kitchen at 9 o'clock.

Drafting tables. Greenhouse outdoors 11 o'clock.

Spring Thaw: VT.

2008-04-20T16:13:00.002-04:00

Pictures taken last weekend at the Weston Priory in Vermont.

Wintering: NYC.

2008-04-20T16:00:00.007-04:00

As spring dawns, a look back at some of this winter's snowfalls. McGolrick Park & Bryant Park.

What I Did On My Saturday Vacation, Part 2.

2008-04-20T11:08:00.005-04:00

Thank you, Tyler Kremberg.

Legend.

2008-04-13T12:05:00.002-04:00

Stephen J. Billick

2008-04-11T16:59:00.003-04:00

Although I could thank him for any number of exceptional things, including his perspicacious insight and band-of-brothers-esque camaraderie, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Stephen J. Billick for Deceptuary's handsome new banner.

Stephen, you're absolutely one in nine billion.

Me and Dan.

2008-04-03T19:52:00.005-04:00

Dan and I went to Scotland together a few years ago I need to show the pictures.

Now that we can look out the window.

2008-03-25T13:45:00.004-04:00

Jules et Jim me détruit.

Tim moved into my apartment and we cleared the spare room.
It's now half a dining room and half Tim's painting studio.
Below is a garden that the Rzonca's cultivate.
There are many sorrowful kitties living in the courtyard.

What I did on my Saturday vacation.

2008-03-15T17:39:00.009-04:00

I went to the water today and started playing with rocks. Then I found some heavy nasty wood and started playing with it too. Now I'm bruised and fatigued, but I think I found a new hobby. Oh, and I also came across a cat. Here are some pictures.

THE CAT

I also want to mention that I finally viewed Truffaut's
Small Change. I thought it was terrific.

Should children have the right to vote?

Let cake be.

2008-03-10T21:18:00.004-04:00

"Mohair"

2008-03-10T12:01:00.023-04:00

"Mohair"

All real-estate is valuable, including this suit. Maria tells me it is not real estate, this gorgeous Mohair three-piece, but I contend that, yes: it is real estate. It is a sheath and I am its sword. Besides, I truly love this suit: my father never owned a suit like this.

Maria came up with the box of baking soda and my newspaper, The Wall Street Journal. This is my preferred paper, though naturally I read everything within reach. I am a businessman in the fullest sense - that is to say, I take pleasure in life's great commerce - and distrust ideologues. Growing up, my special phrase was, "Just the facts, ma'am," as they say on television. The facts suit me fine.

Maria makes certain to point out when I have become encumbered by the rungs and railing-bars of routine, as she says, rolling her R's. Of course, Maria is a poet—though not as "all women are poets"—but, as she likes to say, as a woman with a difference.

Moments of difference interest me greatly, though as I say, almost colloquially, all real-estate is valuable. What I mean is, I'm happy to be here, among such good company. Maria came up with the baking soda and the Journal, which she handed to me and then she leaned on the counter like a woman in a painting. While she appeared to turn over the thoughts in her mind, Maria touched the silver cross that dangles above her bosom from a brown necklace. When she does this, my next thought is always: vampires.

Even logic has its limits.

Bathers.

2008-02-28T22:09:00.004-05:00

Home Economics.

2008-02-25T23:29:00.003-05:00

Farm Frame.

2008-02-13T23:12:00.011-05:00

This is a look at my Gramps' farm out my parents' kitchen window.
I took this while home for Thanksgiving, 2007.

This is where I grew up and it's where I'm starting a gallery.
The first piece is a small painting (5" x 7") by Matthew Feyld, called
"Untitled (green sweater)," which I purchased at the lovely
Cinders Gallery, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Below is the same view, facing thirty degrees to my right.

Variant.

2008-02-11T01:21:00.003-05:00

I found this piece of sincerity/doggerel in my jacket pocket.

XX

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.

Write, for example, 'The night is starry
and the stars are blue and shiver in the distance.'

The night wind revolves in the sky and sings.

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too.

Through nights like this one I held her in my arms.
I kissed her again and again under the endless sky.

She loved me, sometimes I loved her too.
How could one not have loved her great still eyes.

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
To think that I do not have her. To feel that I have lost her.

To hear the immense night, still more immense without her.
And the verse falls to the soul like dew to the pasture.

What does it matter that I could not keep her.
The night is starry and she is not with me.

This is all. In the distance someone is singing. In the distance.
My soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.

My sight tries to find her as though to bring her closer.
My heart looks for her, and she is not with me.

The same night whitening the same trees.
We, of that time, are no longer the same.

I no longer love her, that's certain, but how I loved her.
My voice tried to find the wind to touch her hearing.

Another's. She will be another's. As she was before my kisses.
Her voice, her bright body. Her infinite eyes.

I no longer love her, that's certain, but maybe I love her.
Love is so short, forgetting is so long.

Because through nights like this one I held her in my arms
my soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.

Though this be the last pain that she makes me suffer
and these the last verses that I write for her.

-Pablo Neruda

(translated by W.S. Merwin)

2008-02-11T00:43:00.000-05:00

Tibetan prayer stones. Sichuan, China.

Endgames.

2008-02-08T15:25:00.001-05:00

Endgameshesophicaryatidallentriestartedyingoterrestrophysicalibrarsenallentriesys-
temperattitudderlyricallingnomusicolographicaltechniqu'est-cequestionalismallereali-
smallerealisticalongitudinaltitudentistryanobodyingamersatzoolongeeringatoraspect-
yourselforoncellularcenycynicalifornightyleringitintannabulousedentarpaulinsiderever-
sageweatherselfulgencemergenerationationalistickledbellyricannedromedaringleade-
readagentilenderridandysfunctionallentriesonofabreadwinnereadingtokidsomemories.
I WOULDN'T TRUST DURESS: YOUR OWN DECISIONS
ofwhatstocomeditragicalifoundatingonlineareasonablemish.
allgauliscomprisedofthreepartisandwichinghourglassestuaryandrewardentedamhave-
regardstopulencentralalalalalalalalatitude. I admit :slowingamesmitherestoforher-
epiphanywhere cast for those who love her. a boon to all mankindnessencesquest.
Inourtimesirredeemabundanceriffyingledappledtocertainanityedulocusamoenusbaum-
gescheftsfraulinearealismelterrificlenientitypogratiatorphanniemalicenteradiushinterd-
untillerpullsthewooloutofmyeyeswhatcanIsay:rulessayImustplayonuntilthegamesend.

Just merged.

2008-02-04T00:42:00.001-05:00

A hypocrite is a person who - but who isn't?

-Don Marquis (1878-1937)
__________________________________________________

Recording: we're working to try and improve the sketches we've done so far.
Marathon to keep the spirits high after weeks and weeks and months and months of grim days in offices in Midtown.

Songs include:
Drugged on Lotus
Rejoiner
Alfa Romeo
Mint Condition
No Comment
Red & Purple/Mesomorph
Bloop Control
Midnight Moms
Roses
We're Friends

This also roughly makes up our live set. We're playing next at Pete's Candy Store
in Williamsburg, BK. on February 25, 2008.

Basement Books.

2008-02-01T14:04:00.000-05:00

The mind tends to wander at work, especially with the silent encouragement of books surrounding me.

Basement Books

The basement books can wait a while
Their jackets’ dust cannot defile
What lies within, belabored words
Of spirits hoping to be heard.

For I am writing my own mind.
It found me, I sought not to find.
And locked in rhythmic lengths I stride
To sew some seams I cannot hide.

Or maybe something darker lurks
Within the mildewed cellar works.
That keeps me cuddled to the sun.
Down there I’d be the only one.

It would be nice to have a friend.
To face the call of lonely men.
‘We’re not them!’ I’d say to him.
‘Our futures, they are not so dim.’

But where am I? Now the sun is slight.
Am I so different in the light?
Up here or there, I’m still alone.
And through my dust, we’ll all be one.

Written at the New York Public Library

There is no There.

2008-01-31T14:03:00.001-05:00

Because you have a responsibility to be reachable in case of emergency.
Because this responsibility is supporting your lifestyle.
Because your soul hangs loose in your skin.
Because there really is no long-term solution.

*
It was in front of kids, etc.
It wasn't like debbie gibson singing I think we're alone now

but you drink from passion's cup
so it played well against yr scorpio instinct
to externalize repression

*
Pneumafevr (3:37:22 PM): (I never thought the point was to get anywhere as much as it was to put comforting hands on the anxious arms of my day allocated to being here daydreaming)
smadeleineb (3:38:41 PM): that's a long sentence
Pneumafevr (3:39:03 PM): well, it's a tale of two cities
Pneumafevr (3:39:06 PM): invisible cities
Pneumafevr (3:39:22 PM): two loves I have of comfort and despair
smadeleineb (3:39:56 PM): that sentence is unclear
smadeleineb (3:40:01 PM): PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER< despair =" 2">

Vermont Weekend, pt. 2

2008-01-29T22:10:00.000-05:00

Some images from Jenna Levine's film, Black Box, as taken from the wall.

Vermont Weekend.

2008-01-29T10:34:00.000-05:00

We had a magnificent weekend in Vermont with our friends and loved ones. Saturday evening the group attended an art show by Jenna Levine. It knocked our fucking socks off: completely uncanny. It was SO GOOD. We'll post some screen grabs from her work and other photographs soon.

Later that night, we played a set in the famed Gamut Room. We also walked around in the snow and saw the sun come up. A great adventure. More soon.

Alphabet Forest.

2008-01-24T15:30:00.001-05:00

The Scottish Gaelic Alphabet is named for different trees native to that locality.

ailm (elm)
beith (birch)
coll (hazel)
dair (oak)
feàrn (alder)
gort (ivy)
uath (hawthorn)
iogh (yew)
luis (rowan)
muin (vine)
nuin (ash)
onn/oir (furze/gorse)
ngetal ("reed")
ruis (elder)
suil (willow)
teine (holly)
ura (heather)

More than simply beautiful, this is sensible and provides an ontology for language that's rooted, quite literally, in the ground beneath your feet.

Vermont

2008-01-24T15:30:00.000-05:00

Upon thinking about our trip to Vermont this weekend for a show at our alma mater, I remembered one of the many great charms of the state. It's a simple yet startling example of what environmental stewardship looks like. There are no billboards anywhere in Vermont.

No billboards?!

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the legislation which outlawed roadside billboards across Vermont. Although it's hard to imagine today, many people at the time were strongly opposed to this ban, particularly the farmers who leased their land to advertisers and the businesses who utilized and/or profited from advertising. Fortunately, one man tenaciously spearheaded the effort to rid the state of billboards, one Ted Riehle. Mr. Riehle passed away a few weeks ago on New Year's Eve at the age of 83. I hope his legacy remains forever untarnished.

http://www.vpr.net/news_detail/78949/

Artist Discovered.

2008-01-24T13:00:00.000-05:00

My friend Tyler just alerted me to this artist, Xavier Cha. I love her work, and I wanted to share it with you.

www.holidaycruise2006.com

Typical.

2008-01-23T23:13:00.000-05:00

Paraffin.

2008-01-23T19:51:00.000-05:00

This is from when we cleaned out our ears.

It took over 40 minutes, so we listened to Sigur Ros.
A good opportunity for the buddy system.

The Heart of the Matter.

2008-01-23T08:44:00.000-05:00

True confusion: when a person dies he seems for a moment more alive than ever before. Life flares up around him. The entire chronology of his life becomes encased in crystal.

The last thing he might have been doing, he might as well do this for eternity. Every instance of his life suddenly resembles a kind of "final moment." Each memory breaks apart from the interweb of the others, calcifies and is ascribed with a sense of weight and worth. Those moments, which once were free for us to manipulate, have become finished moments.

In death he lives his life over and again in a tandem sequence of moments, time out of mind.

Dinner With Friends.

2008-01-21T08:42:00.000-05:00

Genealogy of Morals.

2008-01-18T20:12:00.001-05:00

Everything That Rises Must Converge.

2008-01-18T15:46:00.000-05:00

Greetings,

We take our initial post title from the eponymous Flannery O'Connor short story, which Andrew made me aware of in 2003 in the backyard of our former house in Middlebury, Vermont.

"Everything That Rises Must Converge."

Let's let that be our working hypothesis.

Thus begins the new blog for the musical outfit, Friends Academy.