the point of inquiry

Erykah Badu - "Window Seat" (video, NSFW, click on the ankh)
Breaking Bad (website)
David Foster Wallace - Infinite Jest (Amazon)
The Fall - Your Future, Our Clutter (out soon)

The new Erykah Badu video is at the node connecting Maya Deren, historical appropriation, Shawn of the Dead, fine-assedness of the booty, and quick draw conceptualism. In other words, a few of my favorite things. The Fall is that mangy, barking dog that makes my hair stand on end no matter how many times I pass that yard. On the fence of that yard hangs one of Badu's discarded garments.

I'm guessing no one watches Breaking Bad because it either looks boring (it does a little but it isn't AT ALL) or you don't want to bone everybody on there (anybody) or you hate everybody on the show (you're supposed to) or you don't watch TV (good for you) but it is the best thing on TV right now, occupying a similar node of high art, camp, and mirror sharpness that I can't quite get my metaphor around.

I should put all this into a spreadsheet like I suggested most of the science fair kids do with their projects this afternoon. The good ones realize that the point of inquiry is not to know but to find out what else you find out.

Infinite Jest took a surprising turn toward the sweet around page 190-something, which kinda saved me from putting it down. It was starting to seem like a elaborate and artful scaffold around the Emptiness Inside, but no, there is life squirming around in there.

Edited to add: There's a ballad on the new Fall album, like a convincing one. That is a surprising turn toward sweetness.