"When I do not want to say things in real life I often say them here." — Mimi Smartypants
Dateline Las Vegas, Nevada. The proximate excuse for this trip is a Las Vegas Hash House Harriers weekend event, but we’re really here to let the kids know we’re still kicking (so that they won’t forget us and neglect to care for us in our rapidly-approaching dotage). Also they wanted to see Schatzi, who once […]
Last month I decided to read some banned books. I gave myself a year to finish the project. I’m sandwiching these books in with my regular reading, rather than tackling them all at once. One month in, I’ve finished four controversial books for children: And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell Looks […]
“It was beauty killed the beast.” — Robert Armstrong, King Kong (1933) Shine a Light (2008) I think the idea was that Martin Scorsese would turn a concert film into cinematic magic, and I must say the photography and staging is brilliant, but really it’s just another concert film and not all that memorable as […]
“As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams, he found himself transformed into a giant insect.” – Franz Kafka, Metamorphosis (1915) The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Diaz I didn’t finish it, I’m slightly ashamed to say. It’s sort of a Dominican version of Catcher in the Rye. Four or five […]
Steve Benen comments on the Washington Monthly blog: Long-time regulars may know I have quite a few “conversation enders.” These are comments that lead you to know, the moment you hear them, that the writer/speaker is either clueless or intellectually dishonest, and there’s really no reason to engage the person in a serious dialog. He […]
I bought a used motorcycle wheel chock at a friend’s garage sale on Friday. It’s the kind you can ride into, but I decided to wait until Donna could be in the garage with me before trying it, just in case. Saturday I rode the motorcycle to a car show. When I got home, I […]
My friend Darrell gave me a free ticket and VIP parking pass to the annual Tucson Classics Car Show, so I spent a happy morning mooning over beautiful metal. Car shows and auctions these days are dominated by 1970s muscle cars (this one was no exception), but I’m interested in older, stock cars, the kind […]
I rode my bicycle down to the corner coffee shop this morning, my favorite mode of exercise (it’d be good exercise too, if it weren’t for those damn scones). A leisurely cup of coffee at an outdoor table, reading the book and movie reviews in the latest Tucson Weekly, makes for a great morning. But […]