Taking a bit of inspiration from Cliff Sargent’s Better Than Food Patreon page, I have decided to list five things I find incredible beautiful today. I highly recommend subscribing to Cliff’s Patreon for the Better Than Fridays newsletter alone. He is always a fantastic source of book, music, and video recommendations. To get a feel for his style check out his YouTube channel, where he posts absolutely stellar book reviews.

Here are five things that I find to be beautiful today.

1. Locust Abortion Technician by The Butthole Surfers

I first fell in love with this record when I stole my mother’s cassette player from her closet at the beginning of the summer of 2006. She had a few albums by the Butthole Surfers, Black Flag, REM, The Doors, and Patti Smith. I love all of these artists to death, but The Butthole Surfers will always hold a special place in my heart. I took her cassette player with me when I went to work for the carnival. I sold blankets in a worn down tent and learned way too much way too fast. Needless to say, I wore out all of her Butthole Surfers tapes by the end of the summer. There is a documentary about them in the works now that looks absolutely brilliant. You can get updates on the documentary from their website, or their Instagram. As a bonus, here is Gibby Haynes’ wild Instagram.

2. Tuli! Tuli! Tuli! A film on Tuli Kupferberg

Tuli Kupferberg has always been an enigma to me. I first discovered his work in an anthology I have long since lost. The poem included was 1001 Ways to Beat the Draft. I was hooked and sent down a rabbit hole that introduced me to The Fugs, which in turn brought me to Ed Sanders, whose Fuck You: A Magazine of the Arts has been a constant influence on my work as a publisher. This upcoming documentary is currently in production, directed by David Liver with considerable assistance from Tuli’s daughter Samara Kupferberg. Updates on the film can be found on the film’s Instagram.

3. Jeffery Beam

Many years ago I took a chance on a bargain book that would ultimately change my life forever. That book, published in 1995 by Black Mountain College alumni Jonathan Williams’ legendary Jargon Society Press, was Visions of Dame Kind by North Carolina poet Jeffery Beam. I devoured that book. It was unlike anything I had read before. My world at the time was fully steeped in Surrealism. Nothing else mattered. Beam’s work opened my eyes to nature, the rediscovery of Zen, and a whole world of possibilities that intertwine with the surrealist aesthetic I so admired (and Beam himself also identified with, see his great work Submergences, which was included in Peter Dubé’s anthology Madder Love: Queer Men and the Precincts of Surrealism). I had the pleasure of meeting with Beam and his husband Stanley Finch while I lived in North Carolina. His friendship and inspiration quite literally saved my life from an abusive relationship and downward spiral I was suffering at the time. To this day whenever I am asked about writers I admire Beam is the first name I mention. I read from his collection Gospel Earth regularly, and often list it as my favorite book. He is, without a doubt in my mind, the greatest living poet we have the honor of sharing the Earth with. Here is a quote from a 2002 interview with Nantahala, where Mark A. Roberts asks Beam his advice for aspiring writers:

My advice is to listen.  Listen to yourself.  You can’t go off with just this idea of what you have to say … the world is there to tell you what to say so you first have to listen to yourself and listen to the world.  You can’t do one without the other.  And then write down what you hear.  Believe once you’ve done that, [that] what you have said is important.  It doesn’t matter if the world ignores it because saying it is the important thing, writing it down is the important thing; it changes the molecules of the world! Whether some critic in New York or wherever says something good about it or not, you have still changed the world by writing down and speaking those words.

4. Polaroid selling expired film

While doing some research today I discovered that Polaroid has started selling expired film. I have spent so much time over the last few years scouring eBay for expired Polaroid film. I prefer to shoot with expired film due to the pure chance involved in the process. There is no telling how the film will turn out, how it will react to my deconstruction methods. Polaroid has been my go-to medium for photography for nearly a decade, and the decision to start selling expired film solidifies that for me. It truly is beautiful. Additionally, if you are interested in Polaroid, clicking the link below will give you 10% off your first purchase, and give me a small kick-back. It truly is a win-win-win. You get the best instant film on the market at a discount, I get some Polaroid reward points, and we support one of the greatest legacies in the history of photography. Click here to get 10% off your first purchase from Polaroid.

5. This life

Despite the horrors of modern life; the decline of the environment, the ongoing political and social errs of this country, dismal working conditions, the rise of artificial intelligence, I have made it a point to bring light to the areas of my life that bring me joy. I will be marrying the love of my life in November (a woman who has given me everything, and taken nothing). We’ve recently adopted a sweet kitten named Marceau. I have rediscovered my love of chess. I get to enjoy the Chattanooga nature around me, if I listen closely from my apartment I can hear the Tennessee River not far away. And most importantly, I can influence the world. By fixing myself I can fix the world. By fixing yourself, you can fix the world.

Having no destination, I am never lost.
-Ikkyu

There is no room in this short life for hate. What are some things you love? Comment below.