A week ago today Emma and I landed in St. Joseph, MI, her hometown on the southwestern Lake Michigan beachshore, and land of ice-cream, fudge, and spectacular Bells Beer (actually based in lovely Kalamazoo). All of this time has been greatly appreciated after two happy weeks on the road, camping in northeastern Oregon at Wallowa Lake, driving ( Read more... )

Goodbye 1514 Garden St., goodbye Santa Barbara, and most importantly, goodbye friends. Your heartfelt and thoughtful words, especially of the livejournal kind, are gratefully noted ( Read more... )

Last year I spent several months happily devouring "Nobody's Perfect", a series of movie and book reviews by the New Yorker's most excellent critic, Anthony Lane. Since being denied a lengthy fix of his incisive wit, every week with luck one can find his reviews on the New Yorker website. Here is his latest, a sharp take on Pixar's latest, Cars ( Read more... )

Come one, come all: friends get discounts, especially on LPs of the classical record kind... TAKE EM', PLEASE ( Read more... )

Yesterday I got my teeth cleaned. Typically, this wouldn't be worth discussing beyond this point, but the visit was particularly memorable, in that I was unfortunate enough to be a captive audience to the most obnoxious hygienist I've ever had stick a sharp pick in my mouth. Now, I understand that the art of conversing while in a dentist's chair ( Read more... )

Here's a front page headline you don't see too often: from today's LA Times- "Christians Sue for the Right to Be Intolerant." The article is not so straightforward as the absolute-sounding, borderline intolerant I dare say, headline would indicate, but the jist is that the far right has decided that evangelical Christians are being persecuted by ( Read more... )

Alright, it's time for my eight month journal entry ( Read more... )

Hello friends ( Read more... )

Whoah, when I think even a for a moment about it, switching from Black Sabbath's 'Paranoid" to the US Marine Band's "Salute to Washington" IS a weird musical transition. Although maybe in those early 20th century days, listening to the Marines play was like attending a metal show (although I doubt the Corps would have been have as wild as Ozzy was ( Read more... )

First, apologies to Anthony Lane, whose first line of his latest review of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith I just ripped off in the subject line (the hilarious review can be read in full for free at www.newyorker.com/critics/cinema/articles/050523crci_cinema). Second, this Star Wars hoopla is already beginning to make me ill. Certainly, I have an ( Read more... )