"The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter." —Mark Twain
It’s in the dictionary, somewhere between “shit” and “syphillis.” Two quick reviews of movies whose main characters I could not sympathize with: Secretary (2002) My wife got up and stomped out of the room halfway through, mumbling about perverts . . . and the seriously perverted stuff hadn’t even started yet! Self-mutilation and sadomasochism, the […]
Every year a local car club puts on a car show in Tubac, a resort community halfway between Nogales and Tucson. I started to aim my camera at hood ornaments and grills, as I did at the Barrett-Jackson auction last week, but there were always people in the way, so I gave up and just […]
At 10:06 MST, Barack Obama became our new president. I don’t usually check the clock when important things happen, but I did this morning. My overwhelming impression, watching the crowds in DC? America’s finally coming to after an eight-year stupor. Have you ever seen such an outpouring of optimism and goodwill? Now we wait to […]
A friend in Melbourne sent me this absolutely chilling video of a Russian IL-76 taking off from an RAAF base in Australia. Granted, I flew the F-15, a fighter with so much power we never had to compute takeoff data, but in training I flew T-37s and T-38s, where running the numbers (gross weight, pressure […]
Wow. Just wow. Who doesn’t need a bit of good news once in a while, especially lately? The incredible and ongoing story of US Airways Flight 1549 delivers the feel-good in spades. Of course I’m heavily prejudiced in favor of fighter pilots, and the actions of the former fighter pilot in question, the captain of […]
So how’s Barrett-Jackson? About like it is on TV, only keener. I was there all day Tuesday. That night in Phoenix I bored my daughter Polly to tears watching B-J live on Speed, saying “I saw that car,” and “Oh, that one too!” Wednesday night, back in Tucson, I did the same thing to Donna. […]
Speaking of cars (see previous entry), I’m riding my motorcycle up to Scottsdale tomorrow to see the Barrett-Jackson Auction. Judging by the prices people pay for cars at B-J, I figured it probably cost a couple of hundred just to get in the gate. This year I took the trouble to Google ticket prices, and […]
I knew my car was the inspiration for Star Wars’ imperial storm trooper helmets and 2001: A Space Odyssey’s EVA pods. What I didn’t know until today was that it also carries a SAG card and has acted in 43 movies. Amazing things flow through the Series of Tubes. Thanks to Biomes Blog for the […]