Cassandra

It wasn’t really meat

The woman behind the counter said “pork” when citing the “pork,” “chicken” when mentioning the chicken stand-in and shrimp in reference to the shrimp replacement, without flinching.

This was an Asian vegan eatery, and she acted as if she believed herself. O, there was “beef” in the rice dish I ordered, as well. Anyway, the woman reminded me of Mrs. Baylock from the original Omen. I wondered if she delighted in her ruse. She also reminded me of Klimt’s women, or a Picasso sketch — I’m talking about those 1940s lithograph studies.

Overall, she was friendly but had Mrs. Baylock teeth and an omnivorous grin.

You can probably relate…

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A cartoon by @b_loper, from 2019. #TNYcartoons

A post shared by The New Yorker Cartoons (@newyorkercartoons) on Jan 25, 2019 at 3:59pm PST

Observation

Mozart is to Marquis de Sade
as Chopin is to Oscar Wilde
(physical appearance-wise)

Client v. customer

Perhaps “client” denotes those for whom services are provided, while “customer” is the lower-rung term reserved for the retail industry. In our either/or culture, would you rather purchase goods or services? Experiences or objects?

Intermission commentary

Where things stand today with intermission

The planet seems to be away at one right now. Wherever there is noise and empty chairs there is one underway. The world is on recess — smoking, eating, jabbering, visiting the restroom en masse. The attendants are collecting tips in exchange for folded towels and mints. There is smoke everywhere as if in a lobby. Paper and plastic wrappers. People’s voices combine to create a din. Filler scenes as the curtains pull back.

Lofty living with my cat

When my cat is on my bed there is nothing left for her to attain. In her feline world, it is the pinnacle of places in which to rest and roam.

My bed is like New York City, where there is nowhere left to go. Meaning, anywhere else is a step down. So you just park yourself and enjoy the view — in this case, a skyline of book piles — some of them hefty tomes resting vertically like architectural showpieces.

My book on contemporary collage art can be the Flatiron Building, while certain stacks of literary paperbacks — built with the biggest on the bottom to the smallest on the top — evoke skyscrapers of note: Central Park Tower.; the Woolworth Building; 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Continue reading “Lofty living with my cat”

Classical likes

For those who enjoy a good dose of baroque music, I’d like to recommend Gabrielli & Scarlatti: Complete Cello Works, by Guadalupe López-Íñiguez. It is quite exquisite…

If you’re into supporting women classical musicians like I am, then also check out the following:

J.S. Bach: French Suites — Chopin: Mazurkas, by Alexandra Sostmann
A Chopin Diary (Complete Nocturnes), by Claire Huangci
Vivaldi: Complete Cello Sonatas, by Ophélie Gaillard
The Baroque Harp, by Judy Loman
The Genius of Salzedo, by Judy Loman
Anything by pianist Yuja Wang

The question

Basically:

Are you gainfully or painfully employed?

Morning Meanderings

A cow’s moo and the muffled grunt of Frankenstein’s monster (Karloff). Compare & contrast.

I am in my cocoon right now, complete with classical music (Chopin’s Mazurkas) coffee and Wayne Koestenbaum’s Pink Trance Notebooks, dudes. In a bubble I might instead be listening to Bach or Brahms and per chance reading Bukowski?

Thought in the back of my mind is … 2019 is just crazy tawk.