Micah Nathan's Blog, page 3

An Unfortunate Soul.

The matching scars appear to be the result of retribution and the smile–defiant, daring, possibly stoned–indicates she’s been through this before. Look at her nails; vanity is not lost on this woman.

Sloth, With a Chance of Activity.

We’re stuck in D.C. and watching news of devastation. I’m lying on a giant couch in a giant house in Arlington, with a metric ton of food, a dog, two cats, and a well-appointed basement gym. The biggest inconvenience has been difficulty in finding decent sushi. And we ran out of white cheddar crackers last [...]

King of POP

It’s here, folks. The fifth issue of LEMON sits on my desk. Who says print is dead? Last year I assembled a squad of writers and tasked them with composing Michael Jackson-themed short stories. Not an easy assignment–this coming from the guy who wrote about Elvis (or not)–yet they nailed it, and the folks at [...]

150 Million Year-Old Tragedy in Miniature

“This juvenile spider was going to make a meal out of a tiny parasitic wasp, but never quite got to it.” -George Poinar, Jr. Professor Emeritus of Zoology  

A Collyer Brother.

“Hearings were started yesterday in Surrogate’s Court to determine the heirs to the estates of the recluse Collyer brothers who were found dead after a search of their refuse-cluttered brownstone home at 2078 Fifth Avenue.” – NYT, March, 1947

Asunder.

This is what war hammers do. (from the Battle of Towton)

On Kubrick, Cynicism, etc.

Which brings me to Kubrick’s “Eyes Wide Shut,” a film I stubbornly defended for years, never having enjoyed it all that much yet insisting its meandering pace was atmospheric brilliance, its performances purposefully wooden, and its overall themes (the first sign that something was amiss: when we search for theme it usually indicates the story [...]

She fell.

Or, rather, she jumped. “The worm is in a man’s heart. That is where it must be sought. One must follow and understand this fatal game that leads from lucidity in the face of existence to the flight from light.” - Albert Camus, “The Myth of Sisyphus”

Seized.

“…long of tentacle and sharp of beak, the leviathan plucked my men from their posts as one would pluck petals. Down, down into the ink-colored depths it ferried them. Down, down, to their watery doom.” – Ned “Old Buck” Buckles, Captain of the HMS Hippomenes

Not a whaler, he.

“…the powder exploded, carrying an instrument through his head an inch and a fourth in [diameter], and three feet and [seven] inches in length…The iron entered on the side of his face … passing back of the left eye, and out at the top of the head.”