Did you do anything exciting this weekend?

Besides going to church?

We did.

We collected treasure the entire weekend.

Well, not the entire weekend.

It was broken up by occasional comments on a certain post.

It felt good and strange and weird and exciting.

And it gave me the feeling that this move to NY was starting to pay off a little bit.

Now if I could only convert all this attention into subscriptions.

Whatever. In a way, it’s just cool and satisfying to be connecting with some people I respect and admire.

But back to the treasures…

When you have someone special in town, everything you see becomes a treasure.

A 1970 Chevy Impala is always a treasure.

Treasure is all around you.

These hazy little pockets of life captured by Lina Scheynius seem appropriate for winter. Her photos remind me of your eyes being a bit dried out from the heater, hair perpetually mussed up from wool hats and the static clicking of moving your arm across a bed sheet in the middle of the night, trying not to stir the one your with.

Documentary photographer Dave Jordano’s work is simply stunning. I suggest checking out his Articles of Faith project. Click here for an interview with the artist.

Some random images from the holiday weekend:

This was Chase’s first attempt at a fried turkey. I thought it was delicious. But I think he was expecting the heavens to open up and waves of light to wash over him as he took the first bite. He was a bit let down.

Also, congrats to Chase for receiving the nod from Pitchfork for one of the best vids of ‘09!

This guy was turning his beak up to all the turkeys that got screwed this year. Don’t get cocky dude, Christmas is just around the corner and I ain’t never cooked a goose before.

Or a turkeygoose.

We played a show. This guy’s band didn’t show up and he had to play all his jams solo. The brass balls on this dude. Hats off to you sir.

Viernes with their new multimedia setup.

It wouldn’t be Turkey Day without football.

And it wouldn’t be football without me wishing I was in the marching band.

I was about to make a joke along the lines that I was forming an all-tuba band and call it Tuba Gooding Jr. But apparently he already exists.

In other news, I met a Transformer.

And the cute alert has been ringing off the hook.

Back to work! Back to burning calories! Keeping the gut at bay! To pressing forward and pressing hard until the end of the year! Finish line is in sight everyone! Don’t give up yet! We believe in you if no one else does! Count on that! Set your watch to it!

Speaking of which, keep an eye out for a new video next week…

Literary costumes are weird. Unless you hang out with a dedicated book crowd, chances are you’re going to be standing in the corner by yourself at the party, occasionally launching into 5 min+ speech explaining your costume to the sexy maid who was unfortunate enough to ask.

But maybe I’m wrong. Send pics of your literary costume I’ll post them and we’ll let the internet decide if they were effectively scary/funny. Best costume gets a free copy of Annalemma Issue Five!

Pic: The Inkwell

Dear friend and issue five contributor Bryan “Bear” Soderlind recently uploaded a cache of photo gold. He exhaustively covered the 32nd Annual Orlando Gala. For decades it has been considered the social event of the season not because everyone dresses their best and looks fantastic, but because of all the scandalicious activities that take place there.

Check out the facebook album.

Speaking of facebooks, don’t forget to add yourself to the Annalema page while you’re there!

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I got a package in the mail the other day with some very pretty stamps on it.

I was already pretty excited about that, then I opened it up and saw a new photo zine thingy from Rose!

It’s all about discarded umbrellas. It made me think about all the shitty days that must have happened to all those people who gave up on their umbrellas like that.

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I don’t know much about Stephen Berkman, except that his other-worldly images have the power to make you smile with inspiration and freak the hell out of you at the same time.

Most interesting is how he gathers heavily from the late 1800’s to create a vibe of surreal whimsey, particularly his use of old-timey ambrotype technology (positive image burned on to a sheet of glass, as opposed to daguerreotype, in which the image is exposed to polished silver). I couldn’t decide on which image I liked the best, so I just included all my favs. Here’s to a delightfully nightmarish weekend!