[This entry is cross posted at ordinary-times.com]

The work week’s nearly finished, at least technically; barely a few hours left. Truth is it was over the moment you went to lunch. What are you accomplishing? You’re not getting anything done between now and quitting time. Cut out and stop pretending. Make it a POETS Day and Piss Off Early, Tomorrow’s Saturday.

First, a little verse.

***

Factinate appears to be a slapdash updated Tiger Beat or National Enquirer cousin for the SEO age: a digital scandal rag, numbered and fractured by “You won’t believe what happened next!” anticipatory phrase variations as segue to the next “You won’t believe what happened next!,” anticipatory phrase variation. It’s a fun, untrustworthy listicle and gossip sheet about famous places, and more interestingly, famous figures conveniently dead enough to not sue. Though it’s in the style of a tabloid, there’s nothing of the moment about it. It’s aimed at trashy people who read or at least paid attention enough in high school and college to know enough not to out themselves as dullards in front of those who actually know things, at least until an hour after introductions are made. I kinda love it.

Given the salacious and contrary life lived by Nancy Cunard—Cunard shipping line heiress, publisher, and poet or poetaster depending on how kindly or cruel you’re feeling—their expose on her is tame. Contrast with Wikipedia’s dry statement of verifiable fact. Even without a hint of sensationalism or wink-and-nod moralizing, Wikipedia out gossips Factinate by a furlong. Compare:

Factinate:

“She Slept with a Literary Celebrity”

Wikipedia:

“She became a muse to some of the 20th century’s most distinguished writers and artists, including Wyndham Lewis, Aldous Huxley, Tristan Tzara, Ezra Pound and Louis Aragon—who were among her lovers—as well as Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, Constantin Brâncuși, Langston Hughes, Man Ray and William Carlos Williams.”

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