matthew.gruman.org

How Do I Smell? I woke up at 4am today. This seemed like a...

Sat, 05 Nov 2011 10:22:00 -0700

I woke up at 4am today. This seemed like a perfectly valid use of my time.

Twitter

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 12:31:49 -0700

It looks like I’m mostly done with Tumblr and Facebook, but with all the Twitter integration in iOS 5, I’ve decided to give that a legit shot.

My “main” Twitter account is @canadianlit, which I use for work. Today I’ve set up @gruman, which I’ll use for non-work things. Maybe.

Rheostatics - “Record Body Count (Live)” I mentioned...

Sat, 17 Sep 2011 13:00:00 -0700

Rheostatics - “Record Body Count (Live)”

I mentioned this when I posted my cover of the song. It’s from the Big Wheelz 98 compilation, by Chart Magazine. In one my many early-2000s moves, I got rid of 100s of CDs because… well, do I really need to explain?

I was thrift store shopping for a Backgammon set today and, poor vision and all, caught an acrid lime green in the corner of my eye. And there it was—a cracked-case but otherwise pristine copy of the one regretted victim of my CD donation spree.

Note: if you know the original version, pay attention to the two significant lyric changes: “so I decided to skip the day” to “and I am,” and the removal of the last verse.

Tom Waits - “Bad As Me” New track!

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 13:42:00 -0700

Tom Waits - “Bad As Me”

New track!

Via @MargaretAtwood

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 14:50:50 -0700

Via @MargaretAtwood

tomwaits: Today is the day! Tune in to Tom Waits’ Private...

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 08:53:56 -0700

tomwaits:

Today is the day! Tune in to Tom Waits’ Private Listening Party and get more info at http://www.tomwaits.com/news

First time in my life, I’m looking forward to October.

Tim Minchin - “F Sharp” If you like note interval...

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 13:49:00 -0700

Tim Minchin - “F Sharp”

If you like note interval humour (but let’s be honest here, who doesn’t?), you’ll love this.

RIP Jack Layton

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 12:01:00 -0700

Before the last election, my brother took his two daughters (then 1 and 3) to an NDP rally in Edmonton to see Jack Layton speak. The older one asked why there were so many people:

Him: you know how Ms. Johnson runs your pre-school classroom?
Her: yeah
Him: well Jack Layton wants to run the whole country
Her: woah…

She spent the next half hour watching him talk in silent amazement.

Photo

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 23:21:57 -0700

I’ve just realized this was my 1000th “like”...

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 18:23:38 -0700

I’ve just realized this was my 1000th “like” here on Tumblr, and it’s mighty appropriate. I caught the first episode of Freaks and Geeks on TV way back in the late 90s with my older brother. We both loved it immediately and will both refer to it as “my favourite show” when it comes up in conversation.

For their first wedding anniversary, my sister-in-law’s sister bought them the DVD box set. The next time I visited we of course watched a few episodes, but there wasn’t enough time for me to catch all the unaired ones. On the way home, my then-girlfriend picked me up at the airport:

Her: hi!
Me: heya!
can we stop by Best Buy on the way home?
Her: sure, why?
Me: I have to buy the Freaks and Geeks boxed set
seriously, like right now

Best show ever.

When I was buying herbs this year, I decided to pick up a small...

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 20:03:18 -0700

When I was buying herbs this year, I decided to pick up a small romaine lettuce plant and see how it would grow in a fairly small pot. For most of the summer it stayed small, but I was able to cut a few leaves off here and there for sandwiches—very fresh and delicious.

I haven’t eaten any for a few weeks now, and this has happened. It’s about a foot and half tall.

"[Dany Larivière] joked that his ex-wife, Isabelle Prévost, had always wanted a big rock, quipping..."

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 16:01:18 -0700

“[Dany Larivière] joked that his ex-wife, Isabelle Prévost, had always wanted a big rock, quipping that this one was between 18 and 24 “carat-tonnes.””

- Mayor dumps gift-wrapped 20-tonne boulder on ex-wife’s lawn

Kate Nash - “Happy Merry”

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 22:48:42 -0700

Kate Nash - “Happy Merry”

I don’t consider myself superstitious at all—I walk under...

Sat, 13 Aug 2011 18:22:00 -0700

I don’t consider myself superstitious at all—I walk under ladders, meow at any black cats crossing my path, and when I have to pick a number I always go with thirteen (it’s always available). But when I worked at an ESL camp 7-8 years ago, one of the Chinese students gave me this thing (talisman?) to defeat any nightmares that try entering my home. I’ve had it nailed near every bedroom window I’ve slept in since.

Just now I realized it had been flipped over, and the sword was facing inwards instead of outwards. Without a second’s pause I thought “well *that’s* why I haven’t been sleeping well lately!” and turned it back around.

Photo

Sat, 13 Aug 2011 18:16:11 -0700

blownspeakers: The Streets - Fit But You Know It Bronwen and I...

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 11:59:45 -0700

blownspeakers:

The Streets - Fit But You Know It

Bronwen and I are just reminiscing about 2005 and talking about using the phrase “fit but he/she knows it” in every day conversation.

I fully support this initiative.

"[Sherlock Holmes’] career has been a long one - though it is possible to exaggerate it;..."

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 19:38:00 -0700

“[Sherlock Holmes’] career has been a long one - though it is possible to exaggerate it; decrepit gentlemen who approach me and declare that his adventures formed the reading of their boyhood do not meet the response from me which they seem to expect. One is not anxious to have one’s personal dates handled so unkindly.”

- Arthur Conan Doyle

Also, if we got a divorce, she would get half of my money; ...

Sun, 07 Aug 2011 19:08:22 -0700

Also, if we got a divorce, she would get half of my money; making me ostensibly poor, yet still paying her to just get *pounded* by other dudes. Which will happen because she is still smoking hot, whereas I look like a Nazi propaganda cartoon of a Jew.

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 20:51:47 -0700

Matthew: holy cow
Clooney's in this with a moustache!
movie just went to 11
Greg: nice
i absolutely love that guy
especially w/ a moustache

“If You Got the Money” (Jamie T. cover) Closest...

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 20:23:55 -0700

“If You Got the Money” (Jamie T. cover)

Closest you’ll get to hearing me rap.