...I got a gripe or two. Y'know, architects live in houses just like everyone else. I'm sure every architect on earth has had to deal with a water heater that spontaneously starts leaking at some point in their lives, just like everyone else. So why don't houses come with, say, a built-in floor drain under the water heater and a three-inch-high ( Read more... )

Every now and then, I remember that I have a blog. The urge to post strikes me less often ( Read more... )

Just sat down with Melinda to watch Beowulf, which is all motion-capture CGI. We watched about five minutes of repetitive background textures, wonky lighting effects, cracked physics, and unnecessary rotation and bullet-time cuts, heavily salted with clothing that hangs just a bit wrong on bodies that just don't quite move like humans under ( Read more... )

So, I first recall coming across Alexander Woollcott in the Mencken bio I read a while back. Later noticed him popping up regularly in a collection of Dorothy Parker's work. Then he appeared as a major player in Harpo Marx's autobiography, being one of Harpo's closest friends throughout his adult life, and apparently a truly fascinating person. ( Read more... )

The phrase "weasel pinata" does not currently appear on Google, but it will soon, thanks to Melinda's inspiration and this post.

Hey, any of you guys who took copious digital photos of the wedding party, you could send them anytime now, hint hint.

And we saw The Tempest at the Folger this past Sunday, an excellent small-cast production. Prospero ( Read more... )

We are married!

Well, Kurt Vonnegut is in Heaven now. Say hi to Debs and Asimov for me...

Yeah, I'm busy. Got stacks of books piled up to review. Most of those books aren't pushing me for a write-up; they're good, but not that good. This one, though, is that good, so good I can't help but mention it...

Harpo Speaks! by Harpo Marx with Rowland Barber - That Harpo, yes. I sometimes pick up books solely on the grounds that any book ( Read more... )

Been reading too many books at once, will get around to reviewing any day month now. In the meantime, here's an eerily current passage from Mencken: The American Iconoclast by Marion Elizabeth Rodgers, concerning the 1920 political conventions and presidential race.
The conventions had made it impossible for Mencken to generate enthusiasm for ( Read more... )

Just got a spam with the subject line "RE: To Stop Pie".

Foolish spammer, know that there is simply no way to stop pie. And there never will be.