"I threw just as hard. The ball just didn't go as fast."
-Bob Feller
I think I have my new motto.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Tough Week To Be A Wordsmith
Word broke across the Twitterverse today that JD Salinger, the author arguably more famous for his decades of reticence than for his prose, is dead. Honestly, I haven't read him in quite a while. It will be interesting to see, if I reread him, if his work resonates differently with me after all these years.
***
I finished Michael Chabon's "Manhood For Amateurs", and I really enjoyed it. Chabon is a marvelous writer, and the book consists of essays arranged around the general topic of manhood-fatherhood, and his life as a child. There are a couple of frankly sexual sections, but it would make a great Father's Day gift for literate leaning husbands out there.
***
I finished Michael Chabon's "Manhood For Amateurs", and I really enjoyed it. Chabon is a marvelous writer, and the book consists of essays arranged around the general topic of manhood-fatherhood, and his life as a child. There are a couple of frankly sexual sections, but it would make a great Father's Day gift for literate leaning husbands out there.
Monday, January 25, 2010
A Cowboy Looks At Thirty
Yet another 100 Words, inspired by the wondrous prose stylings of Velvet Verbosity, on display aqui.
What is Thirty?
Thirty is when “I'm gonna be” becomes “I used to think I was gonna be”.
when “ACTIVE-Will Play” becomes “DOUBTFUL-Hamstring”.
when “I'll meet you there” becomes “I have to be up early tomorrow”.
when “Why not?” becomes “Do you think it's worth the effort?”
when “Yes, we can” becomes “Do you really think that's wise?”
when “I saw them play downtown” becomes “I've never heard of that band.”
when “I will do what I want” becomes “I'll do what is best for them.”
What is Thirty?
Thirty is when “I'm gonna be” becomes “I used to think I was gonna be”.
when “ACTIVE-Will Play” becomes “DOUBTFUL-Hamstring”.
when “I'll meet you there” becomes “I have to be up early tomorrow”.
when “Why not?” becomes “Do you think it's worth the effort?”
when “Yes, we can” becomes “Do you really think that's wise?”
when “I saw them play downtown” becomes “I've never heard of that band.”
when “I will do what I want” becomes “I'll do what is best for them.”
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Sad, and somehow, funny
A sad, and somehow funny, post from the Bloggess, the immortal, and immoral, Jenny.
I May Be Wrong
They say it takes a big man to admit when he's wrong. And those of you who have met me in person know I am nothing if not a big man.
I may be wrong.
Senator Elect Scott Brown may be the wisest man since Solomon, and a legislator to rival Daniel Webster. Tying the Obama Administration in knots may be the key event that saves America from the Red Menace. Stopping people from being able to see their doctors when they are sick may have just prevented us all from having to dress the same and carry the President's autobiography around with us everywhere we go. Torture may be a key element of the war on terror, and climate change may just be some loony plot cooked up during a hash reverie at The Nation magazine. Saving corporations from having any restrictions on political spending may be the key that unlocks the new American Arcadia.
Charlie Pierce does not agree.
Maybe Charlie and I are wrong.
But I doubt it.
I may be wrong.
Senator Elect Scott Brown may be the wisest man since Solomon, and a legislator to rival Daniel Webster. Tying the Obama Administration in knots may be the key event that saves America from the Red Menace. Stopping people from being able to see their doctors when they are sick may have just prevented us all from having to dress the same and carry the President's autobiography around with us everywhere we go. Torture may be a key element of the war on terror, and climate change may just be some loony plot cooked up during a hash reverie at The Nation magazine. Saving corporations from having any restrictions on political spending may be the key that unlocks the new American Arcadia.
Charlie Pierce does not agree.
Maybe Charlie and I are wrong.
But I doubt it.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
RIP, Robert B. Parker
Author Robert B. Parker, the dean of American detective fiction, has died at age 77. Parker wrote many books, but his most popular creation was Spenser, a wise cracking Boston private detective. He also wrote a series of Westerns, novels about police chief Jesse Stone and female private eye Sunny Randall, as well as a novel depicting a fictional bodyguard working to protect Jackie Robinson in 1947.
I've read Parker for a long, long time-25 years at least. I have read nearly all of his books-all of the Spenser books, save that I haven't read the most recent, plus there are two more coming, according to the publisher. For me, he is one of the few who completely captures a male voice and a male perspective. As tough as Spenser has to be, he has genuine regrets and insecurities, and Parker writes like a dream-lean, tough, beautiful prose, with just enough detail. I have written papers on Parker in both high school and college, and I feel like I have internalized parts of Spenser like few fictional characters I have ever encountered.
Parker's departure, though certainly no surprise at age 77, leaves a void in my mental life. His voice will be missed.
I've read Parker for a long, long time-25 years at least. I have read nearly all of his books-all of the Spenser books, save that I haven't read the most recent, plus there are two more coming, according to the publisher. For me, he is one of the few who completely captures a male voice and a male perspective. As tough as Spenser has to be, he has genuine regrets and insecurities, and Parker writes like a dream-lean, tough, beautiful prose, with just enough detail. I have written papers on Parker in both high school and college, and I feel like I have internalized parts of Spenser like few fictional characters I have ever encountered.
Parker's departure, though certainly no surprise at age 77, leaves a void in my mental life. His voice will be missed.
Heard on the West Wing this morning...
“The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral; returning violence with violence only multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.”
-Martin Luther King Jr.
-Martin Luther King Jr.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
100 Words On Breakfast
Another week, another 100 Words Challenge from Velvet Verbosity. Get your own peek at her verbosity.
Breakfast.
Most important meal of the day, right?
Right.
When you wake up with nausea and a sense of unease, and this happens every day, you don't eat breakfast. You don't eat lunch. You go without food until raging hunger compels you to eat, then you make stupefyingly bad food choices.
Then you feel sick again, because you waited so long to eat. Then you feel bad, because you made a foolish food choice that you know will make you feel bad later. So you feel bad now, and you feel bad later. So you eat more.
Good call, chief.
Breakfast.
Most important meal of the day, right?
Right.
When you wake up with nausea and a sense of unease, and this happens every day, you don't eat breakfast. You don't eat lunch. You go without food until raging hunger compels you to eat, then you make stupefyingly bad food choices.
Then you feel sick again, because you waited so long to eat. Then you feel bad, because you made a foolish food choice that you know will make you feel bad later. So you feel bad now, and you feel bad later. So you eat more.
Good call, chief.
Cri De Coeur
Tweetbookz.com-Possibly the stupidest idea I have ever seen outside of the Republican Party platform.
***
Now, I told myself I was going to be nice. I guess I lied.
***
“Once there was a way to get back homeward…”
***
“We note our place with book markers/
That measure what we’ve lost…”
***
Did I mention I love the IPod? Squeeze’s “Tempted” rolling into the Fugees’ cover of “Killing Me Softly (With His Song)”. Gorgeous. Lauryn Hill could sing the phone book, and I’d want to listen to it.
***
I’ve been writing this post for a while now. You may notice (you probably won’t, but you indeed may) that I haven’t posted anything in nearly a week. You may notice, and be worried. You may notice, and be grateful. You may notice, and not care in the least. Or you may not have noticed at all.
I have been having a crisis. Not exactly a crisis of faith. Not exactly a midlife crisis-although, fortunately, I have managed to be unattractive enough to make an affair a physical impossibility. (I wasn’t tempted to begin with, in any case.) Not exactly a crisis of conscience-although there are certainly elements of that.
Dan Carlin told a story on his latest podcast. He says his daughter, age 7, was complaining about the fact that her schoolwork and other household chores were preventing her from doing the things she wanted to do. Carlin says that he told her, in typical parent fashion, that in life, sometimes the things that you have to do get in the way of what you want to do. Typical-you can’t have your ice cream until you finish your carrots. Simple, right?
Carlin then thought about what he had said. Carlin’s show has been focused for a while, and particularly so recently, on the problem of political corruption. Carlin’s view, which I find very hard to dispute, is that the way we fund elections in this country amounts to legalized bribery. Both parties siphon in enormous amounts of cash from corporations and special interests, and then, to no one’s surprise, we get wars fought for corporate profit, health insurance reform that won’t and financial reform that doesn’t. In short, the government responds to the needs of those who pay for it-large corporations and lobbyists. This makes America, essentially, crony capitalism, as corrupt and rotten as Columbia or any other state where the government is for sale in the marketplace.
Carlin noted that, despite his writing and podcast ranting on the topic, he hasn't really done anything to change it. This makes him a hypocrite-he tells his daughter that she has to do the “have to's” before the “want to's”, and then he doesn't lift a finger to do the biggest “have to” of all-saving democracy.
Carlin's story is an apt one-I'm not doing my have to's either. I am having a crisis, at the end of the day, of relevance. I am having an enormous amount of trouble seeing the point in continuing the effort, at blogging in particular and at everything else in general. I can't escape the feeling that we are doomed.
***
On an unrelated note, another Red Sox season is approaching, and longtime readers of the space will probably remember that I posted here accounts and commentary about every game during the 2008 and 2009 seasons. It seems a shame not to do so again, given that the first two seasons were enjoyed by enough people to fill a Volkswagen, at the very least. I'm thinking that this year, I have to do something a little different. I am thinking maybe poetry, or starting each entry with a letter of the alphabet, or something like that, to keep myself interested.
***
***
Now, I told myself I was going to be nice. I guess I lied.
***
“Once there was a way to get back homeward…”
***
“We note our place with book markers/
That measure what we’ve lost…”
***
Did I mention I love the IPod? Squeeze’s “Tempted” rolling into the Fugees’ cover of “Killing Me Softly (With His Song)”. Gorgeous. Lauryn Hill could sing the phone book, and I’d want to listen to it.
***
I’ve been writing this post for a while now. You may notice (you probably won’t, but you indeed may) that I haven’t posted anything in nearly a week. You may notice, and be worried. You may notice, and be grateful. You may notice, and not care in the least. Or you may not have noticed at all.
I have been having a crisis. Not exactly a crisis of faith. Not exactly a midlife crisis-although, fortunately, I have managed to be unattractive enough to make an affair a physical impossibility. (I wasn’t tempted to begin with, in any case.) Not exactly a crisis of conscience-although there are certainly elements of that.
Dan Carlin told a story on his latest podcast. He says his daughter, age 7, was complaining about the fact that her schoolwork and other household chores were preventing her from doing the things she wanted to do. Carlin says that he told her, in typical parent fashion, that in life, sometimes the things that you have to do get in the way of what you want to do. Typical-you can’t have your ice cream until you finish your carrots. Simple, right?
Carlin then thought about what he had said. Carlin’s show has been focused for a while, and particularly so recently, on the problem of political corruption. Carlin’s view, which I find very hard to dispute, is that the way we fund elections in this country amounts to legalized bribery. Both parties siphon in enormous amounts of cash from corporations and special interests, and then, to no one’s surprise, we get wars fought for corporate profit, health insurance reform that won’t and financial reform that doesn’t. In short, the government responds to the needs of those who pay for it-large corporations and lobbyists. This makes America, essentially, crony capitalism, as corrupt and rotten as Columbia or any other state where the government is for sale in the marketplace.
Carlin noted that, despite his writing and podcast ranting on the topic, he hasn't really done anything to change it. This makes him a hypocrite-he tells his daughter that she has to do the “have to's” before the “want to's”, and then he doesn't lift a finger to do the biggest “have to” of all-saving democracy.
Carlin's story is an apt one-I'm not doing my have to's either. I am having a crisis, at the end of the day, of relevance. I am having an enormous amount of trouble seeing the point in continuing the effort, at blogging in particular and at everything else in general. I can't escape the feeling that we are doomed.
***
On an unrelated note, another Red Sox season is approaching, and longtime readers of the space will probably remember that I posted here accounts and commentary about every game during the 2008 and 2009 seasons. It seems a shame not to do so again, given that the first two seasons were enjoyed by enough people to fill a Volkswagen, at the very least. I'm thinking that this year, I have to do something a little different. I am thinking maybe poetry, or starting each entry with a letter of the alphabet, or something like that, to keep myself interested.
***
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
I Love The Internet, Volume MCMLXVI
This gentleman took the time to try and calculate Charlie Brown's win-loss record as a pitcher. I love the Internet.
Monday, January 11, 2010
100 Words On Nervous
Another shot at Velvet Verbosity's 100 Words Challenge-Exactly one hundred words, no more, no less, on a given keyword. ( Look here to learn more.)
Am I nervous?
I think of Jack Nicholson's Colonel Jessup when I hear that word-looking at Tom Cruise, sneering, “So don't think for one second that you can come down here, flash a badge and make me nervous.”
What do I have to be nervous about? What do I fear?
What don't I?
I fear for my child. I fear he has inherited my fear, my reluctance to change.
I fear for my country's and the world's future. I fear the results of our ignorance and shortsightedness.
I fear that tomorrow won't be better than today. Yes, I'm nervous.
Am I nervous?
I think of Jack Nicholson's Colonel Jessup when I hear that word-looking at Tom Cruise, sneering, “So don't think for one second that you can come down here, flash a badge and make me nervous.”
What do I have to be nervous about? What do I fear?
What don't I?
I fear for my child. I fear he has inherited my fear, my reluctance to change.
I fear for my country's and the world's future. I fear the results of our ignorance and shortsightedness.
I fear that tomorrow won't be better than today. Yes, I'm nervous.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
In Defense of Donovan McNabb and Andy Reid
Tonight, the Philadelphia Eagles got waxed in Dallas, ending their season and being eliminated from the NFL playoffs once again.
Philadelphia sports fans, being the level headed, rational types that they always are, will soon be suggesting calm, sensible remedies like firing the coach, hanging the quarterback in effigy, and burning down the stadium and salting the ground that it stands on.
This is probably a little extreme.
The primary criticism is that McNabb and Reid have not won a Super Bowl, which is indisputably true. It is imagined that McNabb or Reid have some sort of character deficiency or lack of passion that prevents them from doing so.
However, neither have Jim Kelly, Dan Fouts, or Dan Marino, who were all Hall of Famers.
Yes, the Philadelphia fan base wants a Super Bowl-I've been a Boston Red Sox fan since 1978. I understand waiting for your team to win a title. But the best way to win a title is to make the playoffs again and again, and hope the bounces go your way. That is precisely what Reid does, but he's not going to receive the credit he deserves.
Philadelphia sports fans, being the level headed, rational types that they always are, will soon be suggesting calm, sensible remedies like firing the coach, hanging the quarterback in effigy, and burning down the stadium and salting the ground that it stands on.
This is probably a little extreme.
The primary criticism is that McNabb and Reid have not won a Super Bowl, which is indisputably true. It is imagined that McNabb or Reid have some sort of character deficiency or lack of passion that prevents them from doing so.
However, neither have Jim Kelly, Dan Fouts, or Dan Marino, who were all Hall of Famers.
Yes, the Philadelphia fan base wants a Super Bowl-I've been a Boston Red Sox fan since 1978. I understand waiting for your team to win a title. But the best way to win a title is to make the playoffs again and again, and hope the bounces go your way. That is precisely what Reid does, but he's not going to receive the credit he deserves.
Thursday, January 07, 2010
Go here, before someone gets sued.
I forget who clued me into this, but it was someone on Twitter.
The website begins, "On Sept. 9, 2009 I experienced something that I still am having trouble believing happened to me. I came into the possession of a cassette tape containing a Beatles album that was never released. I dont expect you to believe what happened to me, I sure wouldn't, but thats why I grabbed the tape as proof that my experience was real."
The download links to a series of remixed "songs" consisting of snippets of Beatles tracks and solo tracks mixed together to make it sound a little as if the band were still making music. It clearly took a lot of effort on someone's part. I haven't listened to all of it yet, but I have found it interesting and somewhat enjoyable.
If you're a Beatles geek like me, go grab it before it disappears. (I can't imagine someone's not going to get sued over this.)
The website begins, "On Sept. 9, 2009 I experienced something that I still am having trouble believing happened to me. I came into the possession of a cassette tape containing a Beatles album that was never released. I dont expect you to believe what happened to me, I sure wouldn't, but thats why I grabbed the tape as proof that my experience was real."
The download links to a series of remixed "songs" consisting of snippets of Beatles tracks and solo tracks mixed together to make it sound a little as if the band were still making music. It clearly took a lot of effort on someone's part. I haven't listened to all of it yet, but I have found it interesting and somewhat enjoyable.
If you're a Beatles geek like me, go grab it before it disappears. (I can't imagine someone's not going to get sued over this.)
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