So, I am finally home from the interminable Boston séjour. I had a minute or so of relief at being home, after a nice drive, when I realized that my taxes are due by the end of April. I.e. Monday. Damn it. I guess I know what I’ll be doing tomorrow night. Read more →
Author: Mr. McLaren
Go Jon Go!
I am watching Jon Stewart on the new Bill Moyers show right now. I have never been more impressed with Jon. And that’s saying something. If you missed this, you should be able to watch it from the show’s web site some time soon. UPDATE: Damn, the second half of the show is talking to Josh Marshall. Yes, Josh Marshall… Read more →
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol is the leading cause of inexplicable rug burns on the forehead.
No, this is not another post about me getting epically drunk. I just thought that title was funny. (It was selected from Rob’s Beer Quotes page.) What it’s actually about is the acquisition of new (to me) and interesting (I hope) beers. If you’ve been paying attention, you know I’m coming to the end of a three week run of… Read more →
The Fate of the Artist (and/or Writer)
I must share with you this anecdote that I ran across today at The Fate Of The Artist, blog of genius artist Eddie Campbell. (NOTE: For those of you not familiar with Campbell let me just say that his book The Fate Of The Artist, in my not-so-humble opinion the finest comic/graphic novel/whatever to be produced last year. How many… Read more →
Buying The War
Look, Bill Moyers kicks ass. There’s no disputing it. After a while in “retirement”, Bill is back with a new show on PBS, Bill Moyers’ Journal. The show starts its regular run this weekend with an interview with Jon Stewart, which should be fun to watch. However as a kind of kick-start for the show they ran the documentary “Buying… Read more →
I know at least one author/musician who will be pleased by this…
Democrat says expect online gambling bill Thursday House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (news, bio, voting record) on Wednesday said he will introduce a bill this week to lift a ban on online gambling. “Why anyone thinks it is any of my business why some adult wants to gamble is absolutely beyond me,” Frank told a community bankers group… Read more →
Are the spammers finally giving up?
This site has gone from over 30,000 spam attempts a week to around 2,000 over the last month. The number that get through my multi-tier blocking system hasn’t changed–it’s still more-or-less zero–but I am wondering why the sudden drop. I’m not complaining, mind. I’m just worried that this pause signals a new wave about to start any minute now. Read more →
An old wine softens old regrets
I mentioned in an earlier post that I had been delighted to find a whole bunch of Santayana stuff at archive.org, including a poetry collection I was unfamiliar with. Well, while in Boston, I’ve been using stolen moments to work my way through that collection. I haven’t made much headway with the initial sections–there’s a two-part 80-pager there that will… Read more →
Perspective. That’s all I’m saying.
A pick me up
I’m back in Boston for week three of “Don’t-see-my-family-April”, and today work got me incredibly down. However, as it is (or, as midnight just clicked over, was) International Pixel-Stained Peasant Day, I have lots of free fun stuff to read and cheer me tonight. If you don’t know what I’m talking about you need to first see this, then read… Read more →
Politics + Nerdery: Two great tastes…
Not subtle, but pretty funny. I especially like Cheney stalking out of Iraq with the sacks full of money. Oh, and Rove’s fear checklist. More information here. Read more →
Fellow pedants rejoice!
Here’s the thing: precision of language allows for both more elegant and more useful communication. I love that English has this dizzying variety of words, many of which are similar in meaning, but with a difference of connotation that allows us to increase our precision. However, I am also a pedant, so the flip side of my love of precise… Read more →
There was at least one moment of true genius.
I see that Brant Parker has died. I take this moment to claim (again) that mixed in with the years of formulaic and unfunny, there was at least one Wizard of Id strip that was pure comedy gold. I know you don’t believe me, but you’re all wrong. It occurs to me that this is funny for exactly the same… Read more →
Proud and Unrepentant: Part 3
So, our discussions of the proud and unrepentant brings us to my personal favourite: the Lucifer of George Santayana. Santayana‘s book-length poem/five-act play, Lucifer: A Theological Tragedy, was one of his early works, and I think it’s fair to say is it’s pretty obscure. Santayana is well-known for his contributions to philosophy, perhaps most notably in the field of aesthetics,… Read more →
QOTD
Another quick aside, this time for the definite quote of the day, as Danny explains the real secret of art for art’s sake in an interview: Once you learn to be poor, you can do anything and no one can stop you. —Danny Michel (Or, as Terence put it “Pecuniam in loco negligere maximum est lucrum“.) Read more →
