Chicago Window Displays, 1950s - 1970s

via Guttersnipe City

all of the strings

portland cello project covers kanye west's all of the lights

Up Against It

It’s the way they cannot understand the window
they buzz and buzz against, the bees that take
a wrong turn at my door and end up thus
in a drift at first of almost idle curiosity,
cruising the room until they find themselves
smack up against it and they cannot fathom how
the air has hardened and the world they know
with their eyes keeps out of reach as, stuck there
with all they want just in front of them, they must
fling their bodies against the one unalterable law
of things—this fact of glass—and can only go on
making the sound that tethers their electric
fury to what’s impossible, feeling the sting in it.

-Eamon Grennan

It's the Freakin Weekend

Someone who appears to be Actual John Darnielle gives us 100 reasons why "Ignition - Remix" is so damned great, including the fact that

10. Therefore, R Kelly has won and the terrorists have lost.

Diagnosing Home Alone

"Assuming Harry doesn't lose the hand completely, he will almost certainly have other serious complications, including a high risk for infection and 'contracture' in which resulting scar tissue seriously limits the flexibility and movement of the hand, rendering it less than 100 percent useful. Kevin has moved from 'defending his house' into sheer malice, in my opinion."

 - A medical professional weighs in on the seriousness of injuries sustained by the Wet Bandits in Home Alone (1990).

Never a Lovely So Real

“If you feel you belong to things as they are, you won’t hold up anyone in the alley no matter how hungry you may get. And you won’t write anything that anyone will read a second time either.”

-The Believer profile on Nelson Algren. The story of Algren living in New Orleans, surviving on chicory coffee and bananas while making a living printing counterfeit gift certificates is especially worthwhile.

Rich Blocks, Poor Blocks

Curious about the distribution of income across your community/neighborhood/city/state? This map uses information from the American Community Survey to put pretty colors on things you already know.