Jane Birkin & Goats

I was trying to explain to Ichabod why Jane Birkin’s death made an impact on me.

“It’s ‘cause you liked her as an artist,” Ichabod said helpfully.

But, no.

Seventies It Girl. Minor actress. French pop music star (and the French make the worst pop music in the world.) Jane Birkin was no kind of artist.

“It’s ‘cause she was close to you in age.”

Jane Birkin was 76 when she died. Five years older than me. So, yeah—she was standing in line just a few places ahead of me.

But, no: It wasn’t that either.

Then today, poliphilo wrote, They pass like landmarks seen from the windows of a train...

And I thought, Yes-s-s-s-s-s-s-s… That’s it.

Jane Birkin was the momentary embodiment of an archetype, and the human psyche is configured to revere archetypes. Archetypes are landmarks dotting the internal landscape.

The whole concept of branding, in fact, is an effort to artificially create archetypes in the service of supplier-induced demand—which I suppose is one of the more dangerous aspects of capitalism.

Anyway, Jane Birkin, Marianne Faithful, all those other 70s whimsey princesses were how the Aphrodite Archetype manifested 50 years ago.

The Aphrodite Archetype: Capricious. Playful. Superficial. Hedonistic. Alluring. Deceitful. Self-involved.

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Those archetypal manifestations do change from zeitgeist to zeitgeist, though. In interesting ways.

Though the older you get, the worse your archetype radar grows.

So, I’d be hard-pressed to identify any of the Aphrodite Archetype’s manifestations in this present-tense moment.

Except to say it’s definitely not a Kardashian. The Kardashians came off an assembly line. Prime examples of supplier-induced demand.

It might have been Greta Gerwig back when she was acting.

And Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag had the glimmer for a moment.

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Anyway.

I tromped again yesterday and felt very virtuous.

It wasn’t hot, but it was humid. So, you know. A chore.

The whole time I tromped, I kept reminding myself: There are so few aspects of your life you have much control over. But exercise is one aspect of your life you have total control over! And it’s good for you! So, shut up and dew-w-w-w-w-w it.

There were goats!



I do love goats.

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Today, the Canadian Wild Fires Smoke is doing an encore.

So instead of tromping, maybe I’ll just stay home and smoke five packs of cigarettes. It’ll achieve exactly the same effect as exercising.

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I’m on the home stretch of the current Remunerative Project.

Could finish it tomorrow. Although it’s more likely, I’ll finish it Wednesday.

After that, I’ll have four days to work on my own stuff.

Plus, the Sims are coming out with a horse expansion pack! And J. Randy Taraborrelli is coming out with a 500-page Jackie Kennedy biography. Distraction City, I am taking the turnoff to yew-w-w-w-w.

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Also, I figured out the next road trip.

It’s not any of the places I thought it would be.

Couple of months back, pinstripe_bindi mentioned that the Oddities & Curiosities Expo would be going to Buffalo in August—so I’ll go, too!

If the Bread & Puppets Theater survived the flood, I’ll do another road trip to Northern Vermont later in the month.

But I haven’t managed to extract any info whatsoever on the state of the puppets. And I actually called the theater! On a telephone!

It would be stupid and sad to make that trip to Glover if all that was left of the puppets is one big swamp of gooey papier mâché.