Franklin Bruno
@humanfranklin.bsky.social
I read three (short) Muriel Spark novels this week. What a weird writer. I had no idea.
October 30, 2025 at 7:02 PM
I read three (short) Muriel Spark novels this week. What a weird writer. I had no idea.
Sorry to hear about Bellos's passing - besides the translations, his biography of Perec, A Life in Words, is invaluable. And I recently read and enjoyed his 2024 book on (and mostly against) copyright, co-written with legal scholar Alexandre Montagu.
October 27, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Sorry to hear about Bellos's passing - besides the translations, his biography of Perec, A Life in Words, is invaluable. And I recently read and enjoyed his 2024 book on (and mostly against) copyright, co-written with legal scholar Alexandre Montagu.
Curious: I saw a recent thread about The Human Hearts song "The Heavenly Jukebox" and what it may say about the streaming era. (Writerly license: "heavenly" was more singable than "celestial.") I'd reply, but the OP disabled both comments and quotes; given that, it seems rude to @ or screenshot.
October 7, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Curious: I saw a recent thread about The Human Hearts song "The Heavenly Jukebox" and what it may say about the streaming era. (Writerly license: "heavenly" was more singable than "celestial.") I'd reply, but the OP disabled both comments and quotes; given that, it seems rude to @ or screenshot.
The Human Hearts have one more full band show in 2025, at Mama Tried (787 3rd Ave., Sunset Brooklyn) on 10/12. We hit at 8 pm, preceded and followed by other good folks with guitars &c. We all look forward to seeing you.
September 30, 2025 at 7:30 PM
The Human Hearts have one more full band show in 2025, at Mama Tried (787 3rd Ave., Sunset Brooklyn) on 10/12. We hit at 8 pm, preceded and followed by other good folks with guitars &c. We all look forward to seeing you.
If you are in Southern California, I am playing some songs, solo and w/ Kyle from Nothing Painted Blue, in the Redlands Library's performing arts series next week. (Actually a couple buildings away - see address below.) Early evening, family friendly, free.
September 9, 2025 at 12:09 AM
If you are in Southern California, I am playing some songs, solo and w/ Kyle from Nothing Painted Blue, in the Redlands Library's performing arts series next week. (Actually a couple buildings away - see address below.) Early evening, family friendly, free.
Reposted by Franklin Bruno
Thirty years late, I came up with a word for, e.g., Winona Rider's '90s persona: "grunginue."
August 21, 2025 at 10:39 PM
Thirty years late, I came up with a word for, e.g., Winona Rider's '90s persona: "grunginue."
Reposted by Franklin Bruno
I was going to read a history of the bourgeoisie by Peter Gay, but realized I had picked up (used) the fourth volume of five.
August 7, 2025 at 8:56 PM
I was going to read a history of the bourgeoisie by Peter Gay, but realized I had picked up (used) the fourth volume of five.
Sara Nicholson, April. Strongest when she lets herself be a meditative lyric poet w/ ekphrastic leanings. Less taken by pro forma nods to "complicity" and "reproductive labor," and by well-turned but haughty aphorisms on her distaste for poetry institutions, which is to say other poets.
July 30, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Sara Nicholson, April. Strongest when she lets herself be a meditative lyric poet w/ ekphrastic leanings. Less taken by pro forma nods to "complicity" and "reproductive labor," and by well-turned but haughty aphorisms on her distaste for poetry institutions, which is to say other poets.
Against Reason: Tony Smith, Sculpture, & Other Modernisms, v. 1, ed. J. Voorheis. Essays on Smith's work & influence; I knew little beyond Die. 1 on his daughters' work constructing models is edifying (he's Kiki's dad); 1 gets basic math facts wrong, misdefining "irrational" & vitiating the title.
July 29, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Against Reason: Tony Smith, Sculpture, & Other Modernisms, v. 1, ed. J. Voorheis. Essays on Smith's work & influence; I knew little beyond Die. 1 on his daughters' work constructing models is edifying (he's Kiki's dad); 1 gets basic math facts wrong, misdefining "irrational" & vitiating the title.
Carter Ratcliff, The Fate of A Gesture: Jackson Pollock and Postwar American Art. Readable survey, from AbEx to 80s boom. Pro: doesn't swallow artists' theories whole, but still thinks they achieved something. Con: w/ slight attn to feminism and none to race, the lineage is hidebound, even for 1996.
July 21, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Carter Ratcliff, The Fate of A Gesture: Jackson Pollock and Postwar American Art. Readable survey, from AbEx to 80s boom. Pro: doesn't swallow artists' theories whole, but still thinks they achieved something. Con: w/ slight attn to feminism and none to race, the lineage is hidebound, even for 1996.
Reposted by Franklin Bruno
do you ever stare at the ceiling and think about how the worldwide scientific establishment did the impossible and created a COVID vaccine in under a year and the response of the general public has been to go on an unstoppable rampage to destroy science and scientists
July 20, 2025 at 6:46 PM
do you ever stare at the ceiling and think about how the worldwide scientific establishment did the impossible and created a COVID vaccine in under a year and the response of the general public has been to go on an unstoppable rampage to destroy science and scientists
Less federal funding for education, research, weather prediction, and disaster relief; more for this. That's the plan, apparently: roll back the Enlightenment, take away what people need, and rule by fear.
July 19, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Less federal funding for education, research, weather prediction, and disaster relief; more for this. That's the plan, apparently: roll back the Enlightenment, take away what people need, and rule by fear.
Awesome polylingual new wave, and an excellent counterweight to the racist p.o.v. of X's "Los Angeles." Check out the full lyrics, complete w/ reference to the Chicano graffiti artist Gronk (Glugio Nicandro).
Been thinking about this song in solidarity with los angeles these days. Lyrics: genius.com/Los-illegals...
June 14, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Awesome polylingual new wave, and an excellent counterweight to the racist p.o.v. of X's "Los Angeles." Check out the full lyrics, complete w/ reference to the Chicano graffiti artist Gronk (Glugio Nicandro).
Reposted by Franklin Bruno
Downtown Los Angeles, 1937
June 9, 2025 at 1:41 AM
Downtown Los Angeles, 1937
"Only individuals with an aberrant temperament can in the long run retain their-self esteem in the face of the disesteem of their fellows." Thorstein Veblen, Theory of the Leisure Class
May 10, 2025 at 4:21 PM
"Only individuals with an aberrant temperament can in the long run retain their-self esteem in the face of the disesteem of their fellows." Thorstein Veblen, Theory of the Leisure Class
Watched Rossellini's The Flowers of St. Francis (1950) tonight, and the Straub-Huillet's late films in the Italian countryside begin to make a lot more sense. The script, by Fellini, even mentions ricotta.
May 8, 2025 at 6:02 AM
Watched Rossellini's The Flowers of St. Francis (1950) tonight, and the Straub-Huillet's late films in the Italian countryside begin to make a lot more sense. The script, by Fellini, even mentions ricotta.
Man - I don't know if I am free to get to Chicago in Sept., but this is a packed lineup.
Chicago venue Constellation (owned by former Pitchfork fest booker Mike Reed) is throwing a multi-day, multi-venue fest (imo the future of niche fests) in September called Sound & Gravity
April 30, 2025 at 5:08 PM
Man - I don't know if I am free to get to Chicago in Sept., but this is a packed lineup.
Surprised to find the phrase "Asciano spread" - a sleight-of-hand move named for the Spanish card magician Arturo Asciano - in poet Ken Taylor's book Self-Portrait as Joseph Cornell (Pressed Wafer, 2016). What's next, Jim Berhle on the Erdnase Diagonal Palm Shift?
April 11, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Surprised to find the phrase "Asciano spread" - a sleight-of-hand move named for the Spanish card magician Arturo Asciano - in poet Ken Taylor's book Self-Portrait as Joseph Cornell (Pressed Wafer, 2016). What's next, Jim Berhle on the Erdnase Diagonal Palm Shift?
Forgive me, I just coined the term "emo-torial labor" in an email to another writer.
April 9, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Forgive me, I just coined the term "emo-torial labor" in an email to another writer.
Reposted by Franklin Bruno
This is the perfect Tedium post -- a history of Manila folders. Love thinking about a thing I've never thought about a thing I have never thought about
tedium.co/2025/02/03/m...
tedium.co/2025/02/03/m...
Manila Folder History: The Dossier On Dossier Containers
How we got Manila folders and envelopes, and what “Manila” means in the context of said folder. Hint: It’s not a color, and you may find the source surprising.
tedium.co
February 3, 2025 at 8:52 PM
This is the perfect Tedium post -- a history of Manila folders. Love thinking about a thing I've never thought about a thing I have never thought about
tedium.co/2025/02/03/m...
tedium.co/2025/02/03/m...
Jessica Laser, The Goner School. I read her Planet Drill w/o comprehension; this is more approachable, ranging from deadpan vignettes of teen love and gym flirtation to evocations of Wm. James & Valéry. I love a lyric called "Extra"; am nonplussed by the last section's big spiritual & formal swings.
January 7, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Jessica Laser, The Goner School. I read her Planet Drill w/o comprehension; this is more approachable, ranging from deadpan vignettes of teen love and gym flirtation to evocations of Wm. James & Valéry. I love a lyric called "Extra"; am nonplussed by the last section's big spiritual & formal swings.
Started the year (more or less) w/ 2 hrs of Ellington(ia) on KSPC yesterday: less-heard 60-70s work , a 1945 V-Disc of "Frankie and Johnny," and renderings of Duke classics by Archie Shepp, Anthony Coleman, Bob Dorough, Eydie Gormé, &c. Streaming for 2 weeks, here: spinitron.com/KSPC/pl/2002...
The Manila Folder Thu Jan 2 with Wax Eloquent on KSPC Claremont 88.7FM
spinitron.com
January 3, 2025 at 6:53 PM
Started the year (more or less) w/ 2 hrs of Ellington(ia) on KSPC yesterday: less-heard 60-70s work , a 1945 V-Disc of "Frankie and Johnny," and renderings of Duke classics by Archie Shepp, Anthony Coleman, Bob Dorough, Eydie Gormé, &c. Streaming for 2 weeks, here: spinitron.com/KSPC/pl/2002...
I don't have poems published too often, but there are 3 in the new issue of @trilobitebond. First 1's drawn from life, i.e., mine, other 2 are hard for me to say much about. Other good poets, most new to me, in the issue as well, if you have a moment them: trilobite.bond
Trilobite
Trilobite is an arthropodologist's delight: many bizarre creates; no two alike.
trilobite.bond
December 29, 2024 at 6:53 PM
I don't have poems published too often, but there are 3 in the new issue of @trilobitebond. First 1's drawn from life, i.e., mine, other 2 are hard for me to say much about. Other good poets, most new to me, in the issue as well, if you have a moment them: trilobite.bond