Picking up from here. There are a few hair-raising quality-of-life issues in Los Angeles, such as the fact that attitudes towards racism, instead of getting more enlightened with education and time, are rampantly degenerating—a retrogression completely supported and for all intents and purposes whipped further backwards by the torch holders of Hollywood status quo. Racism, which you don’t see an… Read more →
Author: Mr. McLaren
Really Old Books In The News
I noticed a couple of interesting–at least to me–stories in the news recently about some really old books. By far the more sensational story was the one about Codex Gigas, or Devil’s Bible, being put on display in Prague. That fact that it’s on display is perhaps less interesting than the fact that it exists at all. There’s quite a… Read more →
A little more on my little brother
One thing that the article about Steve didn’t go into was how he was spending his “summer off” after ending his hockey career. I think I can explain that in pictorial form. Here’s a picture from late summer: and here’s a picture from early fall: Steve’s quote: “42.5 inches, 16.5 lbs. I still want the big one.” I wonder if… Read more →
One Thousand (and one)
I am shocked to discover that the previous post was number one thousand. Damn, that’s a lot of my blather. To celebrate my millenipost, I present some of my favourite Latin poetry. This piece is commonly referred to by the highly creative and poetic name “Catallus 5”, since it’s the fifth of surviving works of Catallus. Vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque… Read more →
Steve In The Hometown Paper
I just had a Thanksgiving conversation with my littleMy “little” brother. Heh. That always makes me smile–sure I’ve got some size on him, but he’s not exactly what you imagine when you hear “little brother”. brother, who is five days into his new career today. That reminds me that I need to post something about the big story that ran… Read more →
Any System
Any system you contrive without us will be brought down We warned you before and nothing that you built has stood Hear it as you lean over your blueprint Hear it as you roll up your sleeve Hear it once again Any system you contrive without us will be brought down You have your drugs You have your guns You… Read more →
Cintra on L.A. (One)
You may recall my mention that I’m really enjoying my couple-of-pages-a-day reading of Cintra Wilson‘s book. Well, here’s a quote about Los Angeles that stood out for me while reading the book, presented for your amusement: The “Ha-ha, Satan lives in L.A.” jokes are not really funny anymore, because they’re too eerily true. There’s so many hoof tracks and triple-6… Read more →
The Farouche Assemblage
If you read this blog closely, you will have noticed a few mentions of Matt Hughes, particularly including my mention of being startled at finding out there was a Hughes chapbook forthcoming from a publisher I had previously never heard of. Well, you can be sure I’ll be paying a lot more attention to Payseur And Schmidt from now on.… Read more →
Regular Service To Resume Shortly
In the meantime, enjoy a little bit of Get Your War On: Read more →
What I’m Reading Right Now
Sometimes people ask me what I’m reading right now. I usually pick something interesting that I’ve finished recently and talk about that. This is primarily because I am always loathe to commit much of an opinion to a work until I finish it–if it’s terrible enough that I don’t want to read it, I can comment on why I stopped,… Read more →
Lachryma Dolti
(image from Gallery Of The Absurd) Look, I’m not sure I can add much to this–it would be gilding the lily. Blue Bush does ‘a lot of crying’ WASHINGTON – President George W. Bush is prone to bouts of crying caused by the stress of his job and claims to have seen ghosts emerge from the Lincoln Bedroom in the… Read more →
Bertrand Russell Essays
For your edification tonight, I present three essays by old Bertie, in audio form. A couple of hours of listening that might expand your mind. (It’s not him doing the reading–his voice, which I may share with you later–was not nearly as appealing as this reader’s.) The essays are: What I Believe: This is the big one–Russell outlines what he… Read more →
Whether you believe it or not, you should be jealous
Why? Why should you be jealous? Not because I just spent 9PM-midnight on the phone in conference calls with Australia for work. I am jealous of you all because you didn’t have to do that, and don’t have to do it every Thursday. No, you should be jealous of me because I have just finished these calls, and now I… Read more →
Punting
Since my blogging time today got subsumed into a lengthy debate about the gender-neutral pronoun in English, the use of “man” to mean homo sapiens and not “a single male human”, and related matters, I have to punt on blogging tonight. (Although the discussion should be the seed of a good post later.) So, for your entertainment tonight, I turn… Read more →
Last Call
And so we’ve had another night Of poetry and poses And each man knows he’ll be alone When the sacred ginmill closes. And so we’ll drink the final glass Each to his joy and sorrow And hope the numbing drink will last ‘Till opening tomorrow. And when we stumble back again Like paralytic dancers Each knows the question he must… Read more →
