tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39634642011-11-27T19:48:37.673-05:00A Spiritual Anti-Journey by Matt BorondyMatt Borondynoreply@blogger.comBlogger273125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3963464.post-21568966867478686922011-08-11T18:23:00.001-04:002011-08-11T18:23:37.181-04:00

I am easily amused.

Matt Borondynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3963464.post-45500593784425671212011-08-11T17:17:00.001-04:002011-08-11T17:17:49.358-04:00

Finally got a smartphone. It knows what I'm going to say before I type it.

Matt Borondynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3963464.post-61285870945237809812011-05-24T13:34:00.000-04:002011-05-24T13:34:17.577-04:00

I will be blogging from the road over the next couple of weeks as I drive through impossibly exciting locales such as upstate New York and rural Ohio. If circumstances allow, I will also be posting random quotes from Alain de Botton's The Art of Travel, which I'll be reading along the way (though not while driving).

Matt Borondynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3963464.post-72576111011235566312011-05-21T22:37:00.001-04:002011-05-21T22:37:32.383-04:00

I will be blogging from the road. All five of you who are interested:prepare to be still-interested.

Matt Borondynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3963464.post-60138651751245688762011-05-03T05:09:00.001-04:002011-05-03T08:06:00.103-04:00

And so on.

Matt Borondynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3963464.post-24140910015766819972009-09-08T20:50:00.005-04:002009-09-08T21:23:44.560-04:00

I was thinking the other day, how can I become a better me? And then I realized, hey, didn't that smiley guy from TV write a book about that?Yes, he did. According to the press material, "In Become a Better You: 7 Keys to Improving Your Life Every Day, Joel Osteen, America's best-known pastor, will inspire and motivate you to live with more joy, hope, and peace — truly a life of victory!"But

Matt Borondynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3963464.post-11049437928110961942009-09-07T19:55:00.005-04:002009-09-07T20:37:42.915-04:00

Sometimes when I have regrets, I think, "At least I am alive. If I had done something differently, I might have ended up dead."What if I had chosen a more lucrative career, bought a different car, eaten somewhere different for lunch? Any change, small or big, in my lifeline could have caused a chain reaction leading to my untimely death.The path I have chosen so far has kept me alive. The outcome

Matt Borondynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3963464.post-7734093468931267932009-09-06T12:53:00.003-04:002009-09-06T13:42:55.597-04:00

This morning, two days after my 31st birthday, I awoke with the thought that it was time to revive this long-lost blog. So, I am flipping the Tourist Information switch back to the ON position. The posts will still be random in both frequency and subject matter, but they will focus more on spirituality. Not in a Joel Osteen sort of way, though--more like Leonard Cohen (except without the Judaic

Matt Borondynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3963464.post-1164738415651612312006-11-28T13:24:00.000-05:002006-11-28T13:26:55.666-05:00

It's time to say goodbye to this blog.Goodbye to this blog.Goodbye.

Matt Borondynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3963464.post-1152713657839967692006-07-12T10:05:00.000-04:002006-07-12T10:14:17.910-04:00

Have you been getting these William Burroughs Cutup Method spam emails lately? They generally come from .ru addresses and have subject lines like "4ZG" and "OVV." In case you haven't, I've been collecting them for your enjoyment:"PB" by Randall Shermanonly miracles did happen, some voice said inside, and he repressed the voice"That was just a sample. Get up, what are you loafing around for?"

Matt Borondynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3963464.post-1150853905597497962006-06-20T21:34:00.000-04:002006-06-20T21:38:25.610-04:00

"Art gallery loses its head, displays plinth"One of Britain's most prestigious art galleries put a block of slate on display, topped by a small piece of wood, in the mistaken belief it was a work of art.The Royal Academy included the chunk of stone and the small bone-shaped wooden stick in its summer exhibition in London.But the slate was actually a plinth -- a slab on which a pedestal is placed

Matt Borondynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3963464.post-1150760602277946782006-06-19T19:26:00.000-04:002006-06-19T19:43:22.366-04:00

Yesterday while driving north on I-75 to Gainesville, traffic suddenly stopped, and I found myself parked on the highway for nearly an hour. Fortunately, I had a professional entertainer directly behind me: "Uncle Luke" (Luther Campbell from the explicit Miami rap group 2 Live Crew) was trailing me in his tour bus, which was elaborately decorated with images of scantily-clad young black females

Matt Borondynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3963464.post-1149477160223576602006-06-04T22:54:00.000-04:002006-06-04T23:15:57.276-04:00

We just launched a social justice blog which will probably take up most of my newly renewed blogging energy.Birnbaum & IDT were mentioned in an LA Times Op-Ed today, "All literature is local" by Susan Straight: "A FEW WEEKS ago, I spent an afternoon in Boston with Robert Birnbaum, who conducts interviews for identitytheory.com, and an evening with Tim Huggins, who owns Newtonville Books just

Matt Borondynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3963464.post-1147969923011197022006-05-18T12:24:00.000-04:002006-05-18T12:32:03.040-04:00

Christian Bauman's latest piece for NPR's All Things Considered aired the other night. Titled "First Day on the Job," it runs about 2 min 35 sec.Richard Grayson (whose Grandma is a superstar) informs us that an interview with him regarding his story "Hitler in New York" is available at http://reader-of-depressing-books.blogspot.com/.Laurel Canyon: The Inside Story of Rock-and-Roll’s Legendary

Matt Borondynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3963464.post-1146055306110352082006-04-26T08:26:00.000-04:002006-04-26T09:23:06.576-04:00

My dad lives on top of a remote hill in Dripping Springs, Texas, somewhere near Sam Beam (Iron and Wine) and about an hour from downtown Austin. I spent a couple of weeks at his house last Summer, and my options for entertainment included playing with his three Labrador puppies (and two grown Labs) and watching complete seasons of Keifer Sutherland's 24 show on DVD. I had never watched 24 before,

Matt Borondynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3963464.post-1140495383344468292006-02-20T22:49:00.000-05:002006-02-20T23:16:23.360-05:00

A few days ago, the mailman brought me an invitation to my ten-year high-school reunion. This meeting will take place at John Bryan State Park between Cedarville and Yellow Springs, Ohio, on June 17th. That's more than 1000 miles (and quite a few cultures) away from me. I always felt it was somewhat poetic that I went to high school in Cedarville because it's the birthplace of the guy who

Matt Borondynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3963464.post-1139346438163804102006-02-07T16:02:00.000-05:002006-02-07T16:07:18.180-05:00

There is a girl with whom I attended high school who emails from time to time. Five days ago, she wrote me the following message:god, i am so bored. please tell something, anything, interesting. She followed up that message a few minutes later with:I meant to say, "please tell me something, anything, interesting." see, I am so bored I cannot even write straight.And so, five days later, assuming

Matt Borondynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3963464.post-1139339438510036372006-02-07T13:37:00.000-05:002006-02-07T14:31:27.196-05:00

During the latter part of 2005, while temporarily living in Las Vegas, I essentially ate at the same two places over and over again: Chipotle (near UNLV) and the In-N-Out Burger (near Wild Wild West)("Those are good burgers"). Following that regrettable indulgence, the prospect of EVER eating at In-N-Out again moves me to thoughts of jumping headfirst into the Grand Canyon. It's a good thing they

Matt Borondynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3963464.post-1138874880799974202006-02-02T04:58:00.000-05:002006-02-02T05:08:00.810-05:00

I Love the Idea of My Wife (From The Onion via Louis):Do I love my wife? It's a complicated question...I love the stability of my wife. I like knowing that she's there, sort of like how you feel about a good life-insurance policy or new luxury storm windows in the den. It's like having the high-end weed-whacker in the garage. It's good to see it and know it's there, even if I don't use it more

Matt Borondynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3963464.post-1138320586414232692006-01-26T19:07:00.000-05:002006-01-26T19:09:46.423-05:00

The triumphant return of Sophia Spellman, official baby of identitytheory.com, now with size 18 month t-shirt. (She's 15 months old.)

Matt Borondynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3963464.post-1138057018044171502006-01-23T17:40:00.000-05:002006-01-23T17:58:56.876-05:00

My old roommate Louis is presenting on behalf of his company Fundable.org at a Plone conference in New Orleans this March. The rest of the conference features people who are involved in the "development, support, and use of the Plone platform."For some reason, the keynote speaker on the morning Louis presents is Andrei Codrescu, a hyper-productive NOLA writer who edits Exquisite Corpse and who

Matt Borondynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3963464.post-1137367167002080402006-01-15T18:17:00.000-05:002006-01-15T18:32:43.506-05:00

I was sitting around Maude's and opened a blank Word document and started typing nonstop without thinking. Here is what came out:I like to imagine that people are more entranced by my presence than _______. All of these years and still no reputation. Do you get it?? Does anyone eat broccoli anymore without feeling guilty? A combination of things. For one, what color is death? And is it an open

Matt Borondynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3963464.post-1133395456248274012005-11-30T18:48:00.000-05:002005-12-04T20:08:37.763-05:00

I'm staying in Las Vegas at Binion's Gambling Hall & Hotel (formerly known as Binion's Horseshoe, original home of the World Series of Poker). In the course of rereading Jim McManus' Positively Fifth Street on a recent plane ride, I discovered that he stayed in Room 1016 here at Binion's while researching the material for the book ("research" that included making the final table of the World

Matt Borondynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3963464.post-1131384307362620382005-11-07T12:11:00.000-05:002005-11-07T12:25:07.373-05:00

I'm leaving Austin (for a couple months? a couple years?) to go do some travelling out West (Vegas, baby, Vegas!). Austin's not an easy town to leave--there are so many cool places here.Like, there's a gigantic Whole Foods on 6th and Lamar, really close to BookPeople (a gigantic bookstore--the largest in Texas). The coffeehouses in Austin--from SpiderHouse to Halcyon--make it impossible to even

Matt Borondynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3963464.post-1129715311043155682005-10-19T05:44:00.000-04:002005-10-19T05:48:31.043-04:00

"Now the senator came down hereShowing ev'ryone his gun,Handing out free ticketsTo the wedding of his son.An' me, I nearly got bustedAn' wouldn't it be my luckTo get caught without a ticketAnd be discovered beneath a truck.Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,To be stuck inside of MobileWith the Memphis blues again."-Bob Dylan(I'm stuck at the airport in Gainesville, FL. It's not much of an

Matt Borondynoreply@blogger.com0