Posthuman Blues

What I'm reading: "First and Last Men" by Olaf Stapledon, "Day of the Triffids" by John Wyndham

What I'm listening to: various Cure, David Bowie's "Heathen," Bjork

Inside Starbucks, embalmed in ersatz serenity. The furnishings and posters and sale items are dangerously immaculate: ranks of stainless steel thermos bottles and miniaturized espresso machines with sports-car curves . . . I admit to a strange longing for Starbucks' spurious sense of order, where the most difficult decision I have to make is whether to have my espresso topped with steamed milk.