tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-335713612011-10-26T04:26:48.744-04:00The ongoing adventures of a southern academic transplanted to New York. A search for meaning, culture, humanity, and a great meal for under ten dollars.Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.comBlogger2081100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-43782617807604766182009-07-11T13:22:00.005-04:002009-07-11T15:12:03.883-04:00

As some of you have pointed out, it's been a while since I last posted. To be honest, I've more or less decided that it's time for me to move on from Crankster. I started this blog when I was hitting my mid-thirties, living in southwest Virginia, and seriously afraid that I was turning into an old man. It was a place to put those worries, talk them out with the world, and generally stop my

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-24408662476327447232009-07-10T21:14:00.001-04:002009-07-12T16:10:56.324-04:00

As I was clearing out my blog, I came across this old post. I think I held off on running it because I wanted to tell a much longer story. In retrospect, though, I think it gives a good glimpse of the meeting of a few bloggers.I feel like Lee gets short shrift here, to which I can only say that meeting her, both on this day and on other days since, has been a huge joy. She's a pretty amazing

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-10535341219107168252009-07-10T08:36:00.000-04:002009-07-12T16:14:35.508-04:00

This is another old post that I came across. It highlights some of the burned out places in my neighborhood. Since we moved in, however, all of these old houses have been demolished, leaving behind vacant lots.

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-27298217952066720862008-10-09T17:35:00.003-04:002008-10-09T17:39:44.614-04:00

This picture appeared in the New York Daily Post today. Yes, those are Sarah Palin's legs and that is, indeed, a young Republican. And, yes, this is photojournalism at its finest.

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-72484952929748694442008-10-01T00:18:00.003-04:002008-10-01T00:30:36.165-04:00

It's been a really good day. Early this morning, I got an e-mail from an editor who wants to publish the first half of my Master's thesis in a journal. Granted, it doesn't really pay, and I'm not really working on climbing the academic ladder anymore, but it's still kind of nice. I'm thinking of sending a copy to the jackass second reader who made me jump through a few flaming hoops during the

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-63196433082061376632008-09-19T22:23:00.003-04:002008-09-19T22:31:34.252-04:00

Everyone-For everyone whose been checking in, thanks for visiting. As I imagine you can guess, things have been a little hectic of late. I'm still working on making the freelance writing thing pay, and we're still living in the Bronx. In an interesting surprise twist, my sister Ella has left Pennsylvania and is now shuttling back and forth between my sister Sue's place in Connecticut, my

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-84626958684779747212008-06-04T15:22:00.002-04:002008-12-10T08:58:00.158-05:00

The wonderful CEO, a great soul if ever I knew one, sent this to me yesterday:Best wishes to all of you and to everyone you love.Crankster

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-72898714036063284862008-06-02T15:01:00.006-04:002008-12-10T08:58:00.453-05:00

Sometimes I'm amazed by the things that upset me and the things that don't. A couple of weeks after I moved to the Bronx, my sister Ella drove my old Mustang up for me. It was a 1990 LX convertible with high mileage, a scarred paint job and a missing back window. In spite of its shortcomings, it drove well, and I was hoping to sell it for a thousand dollars or so. I put an ad in Craig's list,

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-64534555935504156082008-05-16T18:44:00.005-04:002008-12-10T08:58:00.624-05:00

For the last year or so, I've been conducting a survey of literature about, inspired by, or written by residents of the Bronx. While I've occasionally gotten off track, I've worked through a lot of what's out there, from a re-read of Poe's "Annabelle Lee" and "The Bells," both of which were written about a block from my house, to Abraham Rodriguez's oeuvre, which I'm pretty sure will become

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-52188365633593484302008-03-10T23:09:00.002-04:002008-03-10T23:12:41.375-04:00

Here's another Ella video. Once you get past the extremely serious opening, it gets pretty weird. Gotta admit, it's bizarre seeing my sister in makeup and a bikini. I love that my sister never ceases to amaze me.

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-72995491191804969762008-03-09T22:40:00.011-04:002008-12-10T08:58:01.565-05:00

Let me start off by saying that it's not my fault.Having spent half of my life living in the vicinity of Blacksburg, Virginia, I have picked up some generalized concepts of beauty. You see, Blacksburg is a college town; this means that, every year, the little burg of 20,000 or so is deluged with a demographic tidal wave of people between the ages of eighteen and 21. From the middle of August on

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-86486217424215028352008-02-25T18:18:00.004-05:002008-02-25T20:03:24.719-05:00

You know how, in my last post, I talked about Ella and her new bile paintings? You probably thought that I was joking, right?Wrong.Here's her latest video, which documents her bile postcard project: Weird kid. She keeps trying to blame me.

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-65919208688319391322008-02-19T20:58:00.003-05:002008-12-10T08:58:01.750-05:00

It's interesting: Isaac Asimov is credited with the saying "The only constant is change," but the sentiment, in a variety of words, goes back to at least Plato. I wonder if perhaps the only constant is plagiarism.At any rate, changes have been coming fast and free in 2008. In Ella news, the January operation didn't really do much. She came out of her endoscopy in perfect, if totally unchanged,

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-53447535462697023202008-02-01T12:48:00.000-05:002008-02-01T13:00:39.156-05:00

Here are a few signs that your Optometrist is a scheming sack of shit:1. When you check in for your appointment, they ask you about insurance before they ask your name.2. They double check to see if you're insured before they dilate your eyes.3. They hesitate to mention any conditions you might have until after they've...you guessed it, checked that you're insured.4. They try to hard sell you on

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-5149775088608526892008-01-30T13:55:00.000-05:002008-12-10T08:58:01.952-05:00

I try to avoid stealing blog ideas, but I'm about to make an exception. Recently, the great Jamiesmitten linked to Goodbye Art by Phil Hansen. This guy is fantastic. Basically, he makes temporary art and then destroys it. In addition to photos documenting his art, he also has videos showing how he made it. Here's his portrait of Amy Winehouse, which he carved from frozen red wine, filled in

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-49572918034668499952008-01-22T18:20:00.000-05:002008-12-10T08:58:02.067-05:00

My wife subscribes to numerous magazines, most of which I don't read. However, there are times when I find myself in the bath or eating breakfast, and an issue of Oprah, Glamour, Lucky, or Romantic Times Book Review just happens to be sitting nearby. While I sometimes read a bit, I often just get a kick from checking out the article titles. For example, this month's Romantic Times Book Review

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-38525821886922014852008-01-21T21:42:00.000-05:002008-01-22T07:02:19.640-05:00

Well, Ella had her latest "procedure" on Friday and came out with flying colors. Unfortunately, the operation--a combination endoscopy and choledochoscopy with a side of general anaesthetic--didn't do jack, but at least she is no worse off than she was before. I intend to write far more about Ella and the delights of modern medicine, but that is for another day. For now, I want to offer some

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-80780206016747645512008-01-13T23:19:00.000-05:002008-01-14T00:41:50.658-05:00

Nota Bene: So I decided to write a Walletpop post about saving money on funerals. However, my wife argued that this was more ideally suited to my blog. Having organized my parents' funerals, I discovered fairly early on that dark humor was my way of getting through the tough times. However, the wife thought that this seemed seemed a little insensitive. Looking over it again, I think that

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-53169448541394789462008-01-10T22:08:00.000-05:002008-01-10T22:31:56.978-05:00

I try to avoid talking about politics. This isn't because I don't have strong political convictions or definite ideas about the path my country is following. Rather, I think that political discussion has largely been replaced by dogmatic trumpeting. All too often, I see two people holding intractable positions and refusing to budge. For discussion to work, both sides have to be willing to

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-12407206722167755222008-01-02T19:36:00.000-05:002008-12-10T08:58:02.507-05:00

Although I am a liberal, and therefore officially immoral, I have always considered myself a values-based kind of guy. And during this season, when the long, frozen winter nights give me a lot of time to think about my values, I like to consider the things that are really meaningful.Values are fundamental and basic. They can't be bought or sold, and they're the things that stay with you long

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-49903327084844223012008-01-01T16:20:00.000-05:002008-01-02T23:49:40.432-05:00

Please excuse my silence over the last few weeks. I could offer all sorts of excuses, but I won't. You, my loyal readers, deserve the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And now, without shame or hesitancy, I will give it to you:I was locked in a life-and-death struggle with 2007.I imagine that this seems to be a joke; on some levels it is. However, there is more than a grain

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-86864609009878256202007-12-19T22:15:00.000-05:002008-01-02T23:48:40.199-05:00

Well, I'm off tomorrow to see Ella. I still haven't packed, need to shower, and want to finish cleaning up the place before I go to bed in 45 minutes or so. In other words, it's business as usual for the night before a trip.The temp job goes on, but I've moved on to a new part of the filing routine, so it was a little more fun today. I've got a line on a good job that will give me a lot of

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-78206743169437919122007-12-17T21:53:00.000-05:002007-12-18T07:24:00.192-05:00

Whenever I take a little time away from blogging, my brain fills up with all sorts of weird useless screeds that I feel the need to download. Unfortunately, there isn't a lot of time to do so right now, so here are three things that are currently floating around, in no particular order:1. A few weeks ago, I mentioned that I had started reading Raymond Chandler. Well, last week I finished.

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-49749006828622124212007-12-16T21:49:00.000-05:002007-12-16T22:43:34.069-05:00

Last week, Verizon screwed up and wiped out service for my entire building. This being the Bronx, and Verizon being...well, Verizon, our phones and internet were out for four days or so, during which I was only able to access the internet through the generous offices of the New York Public Library. Added to this, I am currently doing a temp job in the Human Resources department of a large

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-59631152519253024562007-12-11T07:48:00.000-05:002008-12-10T08:58:03.323-05:00

Recently, I was reading about my area of the Bronx, and I came across an interesting historical tidbit. It turns out that Thomas Edison's largest movie studio, which was built in 1907, was located on the corner of Decatur Avenue and Oliver Place, only a few blocks from my apartment. In 1910, the Edison company filmed the first Frankenstein movie in this studio. Later, they used it to film the

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-67365984387026219672007-12-09T19:16:00.000-05:002008-12-10T08:58:03.906-05:00

Well, I'm back from Pennsylvania. When I got to Lewisburg on Friday, I quickly visited Ella at the Geisinger Medical Center, where she was staying. She was pretty energetic, given the fact that she was sporting a tube that entered her upper abdomen, threaded behind her abs, and punctured the left-hand side of her liver. This tube was attached to an equally nifty ostomy bag, which was

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-40635413184368882352007-12-07T00:49:00.000-05:002007-12-09T20:44:13.315-05:00

So, it's almost one in the morning and I have to get on the subway at 6 to catch a 7:30 bus to Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.And I can't sleep.My youngest sister Ella, the one I raised, is in the hospital. She had some liver problems when she was a baby. They were very, very serious, and we were amazed that she survived. Yet, survive she did, and she has thrived for 24 years now. A few days ago,

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-19482616869710573712007-12-06T10:40:00.000-05:002008-12-10T08:58:06.456-05:00

A few days (weeks?) ago, the wonderful and ever-generous Glamourpuss nominated me for the "Roar for Powerful Words" award. The people who get this award are required to list three things that they consider vital for good writing. They then must pass the award on to five others.So, here we go. First off, here are three things that I consider vital for good writing:1. Thought: Not to get too

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-18846885952419616032007-12-04T14:44:00.000-05:002007-12-05T20:34:19.750-05:00

One of my first experiences with courtesy in New York occurred the summer before last, roughly a year before I moved to the city. George, the wife, and I were all on a car, and I was trying to juggle the baby, the stroller, and myself, all while dealing with the rocking of the train. An older Jewish woman, seeing my difficulty, offered me her seat. Obviously, I couldn’t take this lady’s seat,

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-76766842131310004292007-12-01T14:35:00.000-05:002007-12-03T14:56:37.876-05:00

Well, I've made it through NaBloPoMo and managed to post every day. I didn't do quite so well with NaNoWriMo: between one thing and another, I only wrote about 20,000 words, to a goal of 50,000. Still, hell, I did manage to get out 20,000, which is nothing to sneeze at.Unfortunately, my internet is still on the fritz, which means that I only have about 45 minutes per day (thank god for the New

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-78440402243351337832007-11-30T12:54:00.000-05:002007-12-01T14:35:09.520-05:00

In 1999, before we met and long before we were married, my wife was living in Giles County, Virginia. In need of a pet, she answered an ad offering a litter of barn cats to good owners. One of the cats was a strong, aggressive little orange tom. She fell in love and took him home, naming him "Jerome" after one of Morris Day's backup singers.Over the years, my wife has told me many tales of

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-23074904499776713192007-11-29T12:30:00.000-05:002008-12-10T08:58:09.133-05:00

Please excuse my recent absence from your blogs. Unfortunately, Verizon has recently cut off my internet connection, so I can only access the web from the local library! Hopefully, the problem will be dealt with soon. In the meantime, here's a final Flushing Meadow post.Near the Unisphere, there's a huge marble neoclassical building that is the only surviving remnant of the 1939 World's Fair.

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-30159838768430662272007-11-28T12:51:00.000-05:002008-12-10T08:58:11.392-05:00

Walking through Flushing Meadow, it's easy to forget to look down and up, but some of the most beautiful remnants of the World's Fair are on the ground, in the sky, in places just out of the range of easy sight.When you enter the park from the Shea Stadium subway stop, there is a plaza with several mosaics. One of them, by Andy Warhol, shows Robert Moses:Up close, he looks a little psychotic,

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-21867022570385074312007-11-27T07:41:00.000-05:002008-12-10T08:58:20.283-05:00

Wandering through Flushing Meadows, one sometimes comes across huge cast-metal sculptures. Poorly proportioned and painfully self-conscious, these statues don't have a lot of artistic merit, but they say a great deal about the combination of sophistication and prudery that was New York in the mid-1960's. One of my favorites lies between the Unisphere and the Fountain of the Planets. It has an

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-86298915593459913492007-11-26T11:00:00.000-05:002008-12-10T08:58:22.268-05:00

When I was a kid, Indiana Jones was my hero. James Bond, Bruce Wayne, and Clark Kent were all well and good, but I could imagine nothing cooler than hours of research followed with hours of fieldwork, as I pursued the world's greatest treasures, a pack of fiendish Nazi rivals hot on my heels. I knew exactly who I wanted to be when I grew up.Somewhere between then and now, a few things went awry

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-27023353301353385772007-11-25T10:32:00.000-05:002007-11-25T10:39:56.047-05:00

I actually had a post lined up for today, but I was doing a little You Tube surfing with my friend Jorie last night when we came across this trailer for Top Gun. There have been a few recut trailers that made me laugh out loud--for example, The Shining romantic comedy, the Mary Poppins slasher flick, and the West Side Story zombie movie. The thing, though, is that most of these edited trailers

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-65272666168985917882007-11-24T10:19:00.000-05:002008-12-10T08:58:25.197-05:00

One of These Kids Is Doing His Own ThingIn the 1970's and 1980's, at about the same thime that I was bugging my father to take us to Grant's tomb, it was caught in a rapid decline. A lack of interest about the Civil War, a major increase in crime, and a total lack of vision on the part of the Park Service, led to vandalism, graffiti, and generalized decline. The Grant Monument Association's

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-15691063499585741502007-11-23T10:45:00.000-05:002008-12-10T08:58:27.533-05:00

The Death of RestraintWhen I was a kid, my father had dozens of little routines that he constantly threw out. My sisters and I were placed in the role of straight man as he hit the key punchlines in various Abbot and Costello, Laurel and Hardy, and Marx Brothers routines. One of his favorite lines was "Who's buried in Grant's Tomb?"Unfamiliar with Marx's TV show "You Bet Your Life," I always

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-56515767230274945412007-11-22T08:46:00.000-05:002008-12-10T08:58:28.401-05:00

I didn't put up a big post today, figuring that most of you will probably be driving all over the place, visiting family, and consuming mass quantities of food. However, if you have a moment or two in the midst of your revelry, you might want to check out The Perry Bible Fellowship. It's loaded with disturbing, bizarre, and utterly inappropriate comics like these ones. If you can't read them,

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-74501953490547299342007-11-21T11:25:00.000-05:002008-12-10T08:58:30.229-05:00

When I was preparing to move to New York, I raided the Virginia Tech library's collection of New York books. It was an eclectic selection, leaning heavily towards dense histories and scholarly treatises. After reading a few of these, I was overjoyed to discover David Yeadon's New York Nooks and Crannies. A strange and eclectic guidebook, it was a fun read, and I finished it quickly. I soon

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-58153418891342313722007-11-20T12:14:00.000-05:002008-12-10T08:58:31.430-05:00

This summer, while in the process of moving to New York, I regularly stopped in to visit my friend John in Alexandria. John was an amazingly helpful resource: he once lived in the Bronx, had several other friends who had also made their homes in the blighted borough, and generally had a good feeling for how things worked in the City. Also, his home lay roughly halfway between New York and

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-36234435672469566102007-11-19T20:18:00.000-05:002007-11-20T12:39:20.397-05:00

It was an interesting day. It began with three and a half hours at work in which I trained my wife to do the job that I've been doing for the last two weeks and which she will be doing for the forseeable future. It was a lot of fun, and most people seemed sad to see me go. There's some talk of bringing me on in a part-time capacity. We'll have to see what happens.Afterwards, we met Sue, my

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-6643883790239918672007-11-18T11:33:00.000-05:002008-12-10T08:58:31.634-05:00

Monty, the infamous CEO, was kind enough to nominate me as a "Rockin' Girl Blogger" a few months ago. Unfortunately, I was knee deep in packing and getting sodomized by the White House Moving Company, so I didn't thank him and pass the award along.As a liberated male, I, of course, aspire to be as evolved, brilliant, and generally with it as even the least advanced woman. (Incidentally,

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-64493745059236728952007-11-17T09:57:00.000-05:002007-11-17T11:10:15.940-05:00

Recently, My Reflecting Pool nominated me for the "Be the Blog" award. I was honored, but also really surprised. When I started blogging, I saw it as a way of emptying out some of the ideas buzzing around my head. Rather than have all these random thoughts taking up a lot of my time, I thought, why not write them down somewhere. I could come back to them later on; in the meantime, they would

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-89222478356253706002007-11-16T14:18:00.000-05:002008-12-10T08:58:33.107-05:00

While I was doing my research on Bronx literature, I came across a couple of Yiddish poems about Edgar Allen Poe's cottage, which is located just off Kingsbridge Avenue, near my home. My first impulse, of course, was to wonder why Yiddish writers would choose Poe as a subject. On the surface, at least, they would seem to go together like gefilte fish and bananas. After thinking about it for a

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-30596634481747069302007-11-15T12:34:00.000-05:002008-12-10T08:58:33.309-05:00

The amazing, incomparable Glamourpuss has nominated me for the "Blog Most Likely to Inspire a Pair of Pyjamas" award. I was, of course, deeply honored, although her post forced me to look up the word "winceyette," which apparently refers to a kind of flannel that is soft on both sides. I'm already trying to find ways to fit my new word into sentences. Of course, I could go with the obvious:"

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-52642485270934245812007-11-14T13:51:00.000-05:002007-11-14T15:08:37.956-05:00

Every so often, just when you start to question your path, something comes along that makes you realize that you've made the right decisions...Over the past month or so, I've had a few moments of weakness, in which I questioned my decision to leave academe. I've wondered if, having lived in the rarified atmosphere of the university for so long, I am capable of surviving in the "real world," or

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-83725938283663833002007-11-13T14:10:00.000-05:002008-12-10T08:58:36.585-05:00

Woodlawn cemetery is about a mile north of my house. It's roughly 400 acres large, and is chock full of famous people, including Herman Mellville, Miles Davis, Fiorello LaGuardia, Duke Ellington, Countee Cullen, and many, many others. The most amazing graves, however, are the gargantuan crypts that New York's movers and shakers built for themselves in the late 19th and early 20th century. In

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-17178575157585810342007-11-12T11:31:00.000-05:002008-12-10T08:58:40.051-05:00

Thanks to my incredible friend Alex and the wonders of Picasa, I can now pepper my blog posts with pictures. This is particularly lucky, as I went exploring this weekend.I went back to the Hall of Fame yesterday. My friend Justin was visiting, and he'd never been there, so we took a little walk. As always, it was deserted. He chose to have his picture taken with Thomas Jefferson.Here's a

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-21963278879316375832007-11-11T18:15:00.000-05:002007-11-25T10:47:03.758-05:00

I'm sure that most of you have already seen this, but for those of you who haven't, it's amazingly cool. I'm not going to give anything away...just check it out!Rejected has reached the level of mythology in our household, to the extent that we occasionally screech "I am a Banana!" or "My anus is bleeding!" and laugh maniacally, while other people stare at us.I hope you get a kick out of it, too!

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-8610389898677735922007-11-10T18:03:00.000-05:002008-12-10T08:58:40.280-05:00

One side effect of taking a couple of months off blogging is that you miss an awful lot of things. One thing that I missed was the massive proliferation of awards. This isn't to say that I didn't get any awards; rather, I didn't get the time to give them the attention that they deserved, nor did I get the time to pass them on to the bloggers who move, inspire, and stimulate me.So, anyway, one

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-87655432911726192512007-11-09T21:02:00.000-05:002007-11-25T10:51:54.636-05:00

One of my hobbies has become reading novels and stories written about the Bronx. About a month ago, I was reading "Vito Loves Geraldine," a short story by Janice Eidus. Most of Eidus' stories fit into the "self-important literary fiction" genre; they're peopled with oversensitive prima donnas who are having incredibly meaningful moments that change their worlds forever in ways that lesser souls

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-30570962462863823132007-11-08T22:27:00.000-05:002007-11-12T12:01:41.023-05:00

Sorry for taking so long to post today. It's just been a generally crappy day. To begin with, Georgia's getting over a cold, which meant that she was cranky and sluggish about going to day care. I couldn't really blame her, as it was a bitter and blustery day, and I would have preferred to stay at home, too.After I dropped her off, I rushed off to work. That's right, I've got a job: I'm

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-69532320681807161232007-11-07T14:14:00.001-05:002008-12-10T08:58:40.451-05:00

I had some vague plans for today's post, but I forgot about Peace Day. When this day came last year, I had only been blogging for a few months, and it was one of my first glimpses of the blogging community. I was surprised to see that many of my favorite blogs, which were so different from each other, had gathered together to think about peace: how to achieve it, what it meant, how it made them

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-43767175371504429412007-11-06T17:34:00.000-05:002008-12-10T08:58:41.771-05:00

My friend John came for a brief visit last weekend. As I tend to do whenever I've got a captive audience, I set out to expose him to some of the wonders of the Bronx. In John's case, this was a little harder than usual, as he lived in New York for several years, and even stayed in the Bronx for a while, so he's seen a lot of what the green borough has to offer.(I'm field-testing nicknames for

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-88345362640606025452007-11-05T19:53:00.001-05:002008-12-10T08:58:41.930-05:00

In the mail today, amongst the bills, library notices, and magazines, I found this postcard:It was a gift from Nat Dickinson over at Nat Dickinson Doing Art. Nat is trying to complete NaBloPoMo, so he is posting every day. As an enticement to other bloggers and blog readers, he is giving away a selection of postcards on which he has done drawings and paintings. My super-cool pumpkin top was

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-51012414294660203722007-11-04T14:07:00.000-05:002007-11-25T10:47:34.554-05:00

I'm running late, as usual, and am trying to find my way out of Union Square Station. I see a handy exit sign and am headed toward it when I hear a familiar-sounding song with acoustic guitar accompaniment echoing through the station. It's a young man's voice, a soft tenor, and it's pleasantly rough. I stop and listen. After a few seconds, I realize where I've heard it before. It's Dorian

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-19311279790236757002007-11-03T11:17:00.000-04:002007-11-04T10:07:10.490-05:00

The Stand-Up GuyI'm sitting on the two train on my way to pick up Georgia from daycare. The car is full, but not stuffed, and I've got room to read my book, so I zone out. Suddently, I hear a couple of guitars, a concertina and some familiar words:AY YI YI YICanta y no lloresSeben y crecen..."It's the Mariachis.Clad in jeans and straw hats, the Mariachis sometimes show up on the one, two, and

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-84622049049374628542007-11-02T09:43:00.000-04:002007-11-14T15:10:33.877-05:00

The New York FaceI had been here for a few days and was still feeling my way around. It was a sunny day, and I stepped out to do the laundry. I would later realize that this was a particularly dangerous time, as a laundry bag automatically translates into a pocketful of cash. As I was crossing Bainbridge, a black guy in a doo-rag started walking towards me. Catching my eye, he grinned widely.

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-40079751200752704572007-11-01T14:33:00.000-04:002007-11-25T10:55:17.563-05:00

I'm going to interrupt this particular series of navel-gazing posts to insert a little non-paid advertisement.Raymond Chandler is God.Okay, I've been reading some Chandler lately, as I am working on my story plotting skills and figured that it would be a good idea to take a peek at some of the best. I had previously read a few of his short stories, but had never really delved into his longer

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-91321663694468397882007-10-31T11:30:00.000-04:002007-11-14T15:11:00.799-05:00

The Fighting IrishmanOne night, I had to take the four train into lower Manhattan to go to a party. At my stop, Kingsbridge, the four is elevated, and as I walked up the clattering metal steps, I noticed the guy in front of me. He was blond-haired and ruddy, about 5'6", with a backwards-facing Yankees baseball cap, baggy pants, and a baseball shirt. As he swaggered up the steps, he carried a

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-80926113857314700042007-10-30T14:16:00.001-04:002007-11-01T22:17:58.592-04:00

A year or so ago, when the wife and I first determined that we were moving to New York, I began to contemplate the return to apartment living. I knew that, for me, this was going to be the most difficult part of the transition, as I had spent the previous decade living in a succession of townhomes and houses. I was used to spreading out my stuff over a very large space, not to mention having

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-22357053636336555292007-10-29T12:23:00.000-04:002007-11-02T09:50:21.925-04:00

My first visit to the City sans father came when I was in fifth grade. My class visited most of the major sites, including the RCA building, Rockefeller Center, the World Trade Center, and the Statue of Liberty. We wandered through Chinatown and Little Italy, and ate at open-air vendors. Looking back, I realize that my only real danger came from our lodgings: my school was run by Opus Dei, an

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-14404672189276079532007-10-28T21:59:00.000-04:002007-11-02T09:52:09.412-04:00

I apologize for the lack of images. Since giving up my work-supplied G5 Macintosh, working on pictures has been almost impossible. I'm not sure when I will be able to deal with the pictures that are piling up, much less make the beautiful picture-based posts that I've been planning. Consequently, I've decided that a single post without pictures is far better than a thousand "I'll get to it

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-23668978136183963872007-10-27T14:11:00.000-04:002007-11-02T09:54:40.805-04:00

When I was a kid, we used to visit New York every summer. Generally, we'd plan to spend a week or so with my grandparents on Long Island, but would leave after three days. Part of this was the fact that there was very little to do in Floral Park, and part was the fact that my Grandparents were miserable, rotten people, and were very adept at spreading their unhappiness to others.On these trips,

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-34764097032918610282007-10-07T22:05:00.000-04:002007-11-06T09:19:48.218-05:00

Everyone-I was recently downsized, laid-off, shitcanned, fired...use your term of choice. My favorite euphemism is "I am no longer encumbered by employment."The job concluded amicably, and I'm not too ticked off about the whole thing. However, I do find myself, once again, in the uncomfortable position of trying to find work. Ugh.Hopefully the next one will be more up my alley.Many thanks to

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-57816135246807125062007-10-01T21:34:00.000-04:002008-12-10T08:58:43.065-05:00

I don't really know how to discuss Breast Cancer Awareness. I strongly believe in fighting breast cancer, funding research, offering free or reduced-cost mammograms, and so forth, but I can't really get on the "Support Breast Cancer" bandwagon. I think it's because of the confusing structure. After all, I don't support breast cancer. Quite the opposite, really. In fact, it would be far more

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-47928851748507180192007-09-25T15:25:00.000-04:002007-11-06T09:20:53.252-05:00

As always, I apologize for the time away. Over the last month, I've gotten a job, had my car totaled, had a birthday, and generally been running around like an insane person. I will endeavor to tell the long and sordid tale of my first quarter in the city so nice they named it twice (Manhattan, of course, being the other name), but I just wanted you to know that I'm alive, albeit a little more

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-54087742017240168982007-08-20T15:22:00.000-04:002008-12-10T08:58:43.328-05:00

Looking at this image, one might imagine that it's a postmodern interpretation of a bowl of spaghetti, or perhaps a flowchart representing a baboon's thought processes. Maybe it's an outline of the capillaries in one's pancreas, or maybe it's the circuit board on one of those new Japanese vibrators, the ones that simutaneously tittillate and download the latest top 40 hits.It's hard to imagine

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-63417229724414132442007-08-14T22:50:00.000-04:002008-12-10T08:58:45.203-05:00

I moved to the neighborhood in the first week of July, which means that I've only been in New York for a little over a month. Although I have yet to witness a fatality (knock on wood), I have seen two rainstorms that were massive enough to flood out the subways, a tornado that chewed up Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, an underground explosion that blew off two manhole covers and took out a car, a

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-63500693803680522342007-08-08T13:00:00.001-04:002007-11-06T09:25:11.610-05:00

I was recently trying out for a writing position at an online magazine that reviews outrageously expensive consumer goods. My job would have been ghostwriting pieces for a fictional character who is extraordinarily wealthy, tends to name drop, and has the sexual morals of an alley cat. As I don't really have access to luxury goods right now, I decided to write a review of some of the street

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-44572648020793379322007-08-07T22:11:00.001-04:002007-11-14T15:09:47.058-05:00

(Apologies, of course, to Glamourpuss and Jude).I try to avoid copying these sorts of things, but this was too funny to resist.The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent terrorist threats and have raised their security level from "Miffed" to "Peeved". Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to "Irritated" or even "A Bit Cross". Londoners have not been "A Bit Cross"

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-11439053221264492922007-08-03T00:34:00.000-04:002008-12-10T08:58:45.984-05:00

Or In the Middle of Life, The Author Changes His Mind and Starts Wearing Orange and MaroonThis is a piece that I've been drafting and re-drafting in my head for the past three months or so. It isn't particularly topical anymore, but is like a clog in a drain...I have to get it out in order to write a few other things. On the other hand, after being harassed by John's friend Andrea for my

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-68060320566729859292007-07-07T21:57:00.000-04:002007-11-14T15:29:02.702-05:00

Everyone-Georgia, Misanthropster, and I are currently ensconced in our wonderful new apartment in New York. Unfortunately, however, we still do not have phone service or internet service, and are involved in a cold war with our movers, a vile collection of walking bags of pus otherwise known as The White House Moving Company. Seriously, assuming I can legally do so, this will become a post of

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-58877205319121130232007-06-24T23:04:00.000-04:002008-12-10T08:58:46.845-05:00

I visited John again this weekend as I traveled for one last time from New York to Christiansburg. While in Arlington, I was able to go on a pilgrimage to John's local bar, Kitty O'Shea's, home of the famous Three-Mile Island shooter. Kitty's, by the way, is located at 2403 Wilson Blvd, in case you were wondering. Here's their website.The creator of the famous glowing green goo is Erik, who

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-87466281397548684712007-06-19T00:53:00.000-04:002007-11-14T15:31:12.820-05:00

I meant to write about the NRA museum, but I got a little sidetracked on the back story, so it'll have to wait for a few days. I'm going back up to New York tomorrow, and hope to be back on Saturday. I will probably be running all over the place, so I won't be posting for the rest of this week. I promise to get back to it by next Monday. In the meantime, this is just a little vignette about

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-70072547555536656792007-06-17T11:01:00.000-04:002008-12-10T08:58:47.537-05:00

Dear Everyone,As my friend John has pointed out, it is almost a month since I last posted. It seems like only a few days, but I'm beginning to realize just how much time flies when your life is in total flux. I deeply apologize for my neglect, but I'm not sure that I can even express just how crazy things have been. I have, however, discovered a few useful things. First off, I've noticed how

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-50017974768458456942007-05-22T13:28:00.000-04:002007-11-15T13:21:32.076-05:00

The outstanding El Guapo posted a link to this video, and I had to play copy cat. It's simply too damn funny.

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-10593319235188648062007-05-21T17:09:00.000-04:002008-12-10T08:58:47.881-05:00

Keep the needle above 75, and you'll get home before 11.For most of the ride, the speed limit was 65. Fifteen over was reckless. Normally, he kept it at seven over, but he'd been on the road for seven hours, and still had at least three hours to go. Between 75 and 80 seemed like a reasonable risk. He wasn't worried about getting a ticket, but the time spent pulled over would cost him his

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-28380749815902673422007-05-08T11:15:00.000-04:002007-11-25T10:44:35.761-05:00

Okay, still caught up in grading and like pursuits. In the meantime, I'm sending you Alexander Petrov's version of The Old Man and the Sea. I'm a little hesitant to put this up, as the two videos are, combined, almost twenty minutes. However, Petrov's style is unique and beautiful. He paints on glass, which yields a soft flow to his images. I think he captures the lyricism of Hemingway's

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-72994320617523070662007-05-07T09:22:00.000-04:002007-11-15T13:26:35.037-05:00

Unfortunately, I'm knee-deep in grading. I hope to see sunlight by tomorrow, an I plan to post a few more this week. In the meantime, here's another Ella movie: This version runs a little long, but it still seems like a good thing for a Monday.

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-83413813815627188922007-05-03T11:17:00.000-04:002008-12-10T08:58:48.612-05:00

Okay, as a (now former) teacher, I'm officially allowed to have a few favorite Shakespeare quotes. One of these is the line that Prospero says at the end of The Tempest. Speaking of Caliban, the twisted servant who recently tried to kill him, Prospero says, "This thing of darkness, I acknowledge mine."I really love that line, both for its mildly goth structure and for the honesty that it

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-13189910156269508292007-05-01T21:51:00.001-04:002007-11-15T13:31:20.669-05:00

Sorry for dropping off the face of the earth. I've been working on a few posts related to April 16th, and they're taking longer than I expected. I'm also trying to finish up grading while ending the semester with grace, dignity, and a minimum of felonies.While I'm working through a few demons, I'd like you to take a peek at this. It's one of the videos that my sister Ella did of her

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-20799806693249272382007-04-26T11:40:00.000-04:002007-11-15T13:31:59.312-05:00

Okay, as anyone who knows me will tell you, I have horrid taste in music. However, I have gamely undergone this somewhat painful meme that the profoundly evil Judith developed. I have done so for one reason--so that I can now inflict it on three people who undoubtedly have better taste in music than I do.So, drumroll please: Misanthropster, Alex (of Holtetboards), and Matt (of Animal Mind), you

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-36929206523031938832007-04-24T13:18:00.000-04:002008-12-10T08:58:53.593-05:00

The first day went really well. I chatted with my students before class began, and after everyone had filed in, I told them all to take out a sheet of paper, as we were going to have a quiz. They looked at me with terror. They hadn't read the book in a week.I smiled and said "joke." The students started laughing. I think they were happy to see that some things hadn't changed.We talked about

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-1279445049977035382007-04-22T22:30:00.000-04:002008-12-10T08:58:54.173-05:00

I drove back from New York today. It was wonderful spending a few days with the wife and George, not to mention seeing my sister Jen, her fiance, and my godmother. Misanthropster and I played tourist on the south end of Manhattan, and she helped iron out a few of my creases, putting up with my occasional bursts of crankiness. It was amazing reconnecting with my daughter, who has really grown

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-39213635477658514142007-04-17T20:57:00.000-04:002008-12-10T08:58:59.130-05:00

Today I tried to wrap my mind around yesterday. I went to the Tech campus to meet with a few students. We talked a little, but nobody really had much to say. On the way to school, I kept seeing signs about yesterday. Here's the off-campus bookstore:Virginia Tech was a weird mix of bustle and silence. I had to park about a mile away from campus, as Blacksburg was overwhelmed with media,

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com36tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-32808968248994242392007-04-16T14:12:00.000-04:002007-11-15T13:39:16.164-05:00

As some of you know, I teach at Virginia Tech. I was on my way to class today when I almost walked into a cordon of police cars blocking off access to much of the upper campus. I went back to my office, where my colleagues and I tried to glean information from news bulletins, e-mails from the University Relations office, and streaming video. The police let us out at noon, and I went home.A

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-2614604646536800872007-04-16T08:02:00.000-04:002008-12-10T08:58:59.587-05:00

Going through some old papers, I came across notes that I made for a post back in January. As some of you may remember, Misanthropster, my sister Ella, and I reviewed all the deodorants that Wal-Mart carried. For those of you who weren't around yet, here's the post on men's deodorants, and here's the post on women's deodorants.Having had so much fun "taste-testing" the mass-market deodorants,

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-78931412510838780242007-04-13T14:53:00.000-04:002007-11-25T10:51:26.611-05:00

Martin Luther King once said that "If a man has not found something worth dying for, he is not fit to live." I like the idea that the things we support, that we would die for, define us. I have a pretty long list of things I'd die for: my family, the Bill of Rights (except for the second amendment), my country, and so on. On the other hand, I feel like the decision to die for a cause is

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-92068712883097019132007-04-12T12:31:00.000-04:002008-12-10T08:58:59.990-05:00

I don't usually write on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but today is a special occasion. One of my heroes died yesterday.I've found that, sometimes, knowing the right artist can unlock doors. Years ago, I was travelling to a wedding with a couple of gay gentlemen, Ken and Darius. They were nice enough, but had some of the standard defensive nervousness around straight men, and the ride started off a

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-54943553883101361812007-04-11T07:41:00.002-04:002007-11-18T14:07:02.747-05:00

First off, sorry for all the You Tube postings of late. Basically, it's been pretty busy and is taking me a while to write a couple of huge pieces. I promise they'll come up fairly soon.In the meantime, here's The Asylum Street Spankers, a politically-charged bluegrass group cum performance art troupe. Frankly, I'm not sure how to feel about it. I do warn, however, that it features strong

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-53591459664203204332007-04-09T08:25:00.000-04:002007-11-25T10:56:11.922-05:00

I always knew that Scooby Doo was trippy, but it only gets better when you add in Valerie Solanas, Patty Hearst, the Son of Sam and...is that Ted Bundy?Oddly enough, the quotes actually come from Solanas' SCUM manifesto.

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-29393006916236569612007-04-06T08:10:00.000-04:002008-12-10T08:59:00.361-05:00

Uncle Don was my father's only sibling. When I was growing up, he was a shadowy figure, shrouded in legend. Don was the one who told off my bitter, miserable grandparents, left his wife and son, and ran away to Mississippi. He remarried, fathered a couple of other kids, divorced again, and moved to Orlando. I met him years later, when I was in my early teens. He looked like Kenny Rogers,

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-38466711781450526622007-04-04T08:06:00.000-04:002008-12-10T08:59:00.735-05:00

By the time I got to New York on the Friday before Spring Break, I was exhausted. Several hours of flying, not to mention cooling my heels in Atlanta when Delta randomly decided to cancel my connecting flight, had left me cranky and fried. Consequently, I didn't really catch on when the wife mentioned that we would be meeting one of my favorite bloggers, Odat, for lunch the following Tuesday.

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com27tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-55809148351300755372007-04-02T08:25:00.000-04:002008-12-10T08:59:00.879-05:00

Warning: Although this post begins with relatively harmless reminiscence, it ends with a muppet in a compromising position. To put it mildly, there are things that one cannot un-see. If you will regret seeing Kermit the Frog delving into the depths of amphibious depravity, turn back now. I promise, I'll put something a little more PG up tomorrow!When I was in third grade, I got in a fight with

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-11570332115116337442007-03-28T07:31:00.000-04:002008-12-10T08:59:01.540-05:00

I'm sure that all of you have seen this, but I think we need to revisit the Soy Planet:In case you're wondering what the hell's going on, here's a slightly different version with English subtitles:I'm not sure if I'm impressed or repulsed by this. Regardless, it makes me wonder about Japanese culture. On the one hand, I wish that all my sauces had superheros to represent them. Ketchup man,

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-40301336725454850462007-03-27T11:03:00.000-04:002007-11-20T12:40:43.806-05:00

So, after spending a week taking care of my sick wife and daughter, I was still healthy. Best of all, they were both on the mend, and we were able to spend the last couple of days wandering around New York seeing wonderful things and enjoying each other's company.Unfortunately, I was booked on a 6:30 AM flight out of LaGuardia. Since we don't have a car in New York, this meant that I had to

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-27269780576230716742007-03-07T20:04:00.000-05:002007-11-20T12:41:27.286-05:00

Everyone-For Spring Break, I decided to visit the wife and George in New York. After a travel experience that made me long for the days of the Conestoga wagon (avoid Delta Airlines, if at all possible!), I arrived in the city to discover that my nearest and dearest were both plagued with the dread ick. So, anyway, the last four days have been a blur of nursing, cooking, and cleaning, with the

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33571361.post-66682963795763164942007-03-01T10:48:00.000-05:002008-12-10T08:59:03.480-05:00

Maybe it's a lingering side-effect from growing up on the outskirts of Washington, D.C., but I have a warm spot in my heart for memorials. There's something wonderful and magical and creepy about statues of our heroes; I love these idealized forms, permanently frozen in the middle of giving a speech, riding a horse, or just sitting in a chair. More to the point, the way that we position them

Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02963261408896541210noreply@blogger.com13