flash fiction

for sale baby shoes never worn

the shortest story ever told? maybe the most meaningful? i’ve read some discrepancies about hemingway’s origination of the quote, but no matter who wrote it, this is some consummate flash fiction. by sv

fifteen things i’ll never do by mae west

mae west black and white

1] Take another woman’s man. Not intentionally, that is. Even though all’s fair in love and war and it ain’t no sin.

2] Try to be anything but myself at all times, publicly and privately, except on the stage or screen, for that’s where acting belongs.

3] Cook, bake, sew, wash dishes, peel potatoes, eat onions, or bite my nails.

4] Wear white cotton stockings or join a nudist colony.

5] Like opera, number thirteen, yodelling, cold spaghetti, rats, snails, men who shave their necks, or over-ripe bananas.

6] Care for people who whistle in dressing rooms or checks that bounce as high as the stratosphere.

7] Play mother parts, sad parts, dumb parts, or a virtuous wife, betrayed or otherwise. I pity weak women, good or bad, but I can’t like them. A woman should be strong either in her goodness or badness.

8] Go nuts about classical music, sandwiches, cigar smoke, places that smell like hospitals, and black nail polish.

9] Get excited over night clubs, contract bridge, fan dancing, bobby sox, the stock market, badminton, or bust developers.

10] Be thrilled to death by orchids, anonymous love letters, souvenir postcard folders, earthquakes, slave bracelets, or beds with hard mattresses.

11] Be bothered by Scotch money-lenders or boys who lisp.

12] Believe the worst about anybody without complete proof nor will I believe that it’s useless to struggle against so-called Fate – the phony!

13] Walk when I can sit, or sit when I can recline. I believe in saving my energy – for important things.

14] Write a story that is unsophisticated, because I believe that innocence is as innocent doesn’t.

15] Marry a man who is too handsome, a man who drinks to excess or doesn’t carry his liquor like a gentleman, a man who is easy to get, easily led into temptation – unless I do the leading.

 

wise words from the blonde goddess of doing wrong but making it feel oh-so-right. such the temptress! by sv

love song

rainer maria rilke german poet

How can I keep my soul in me, so that
it doesn’t touch your soul? How can I raise
it high enough, past you, to other things?
I would like to shelter it, among remote
lost objects, in some dark and silent place
that doesn’t resonate when your depths resound.
Yet everything that touches us, me and you,
takes us together like a violin’s bow,
which draws one voice out of two seperate strings.
Upon what instrument are we two spanned?
And what musician holds us in his hand?
Oh sweetest song.

some beautiful words from rainer maria rilke on this friday; to lighten and enlighten. by sv

austrian artist, klemens torggler, reinvents the door

i was expecting this to come from a japanese artist not an austrian one, but ill take 2. torggler calls this his flip panel door, or “dryehplattentür”, also referred to as the evolution door. its made of paper stretched to structural beams. he has a few variations on this door, one with the origami-esque triangles that fold out to help the door move, and another system with rods that rotate two square panels. the door is currently a prototype but will come in glass wood and steel versions. by ht

ms. 45

zoe tamerlis lund ms 45

here’s the trailer from abel ferrara’s 1981 exploitation film about a beautiful mute girl, and the tumultuous events surrounding her over the course of a few days in the pre-Giuliani-sex-ridden new york city. starring the late zoe tamerlis-lund, she gives a hilariously awkward and sexy performance. ferrara can be a bit too gritty for me sometimes, but having the pleasure of seeing this over the weekend with great company was certainly a night of joy. by sv