This morning, I ventured out to the Post Office. I had to mail some packages for Christmas, and I wanted to get my Christmas cards in the mail. I thought about going into Randallstown, but they have a small, difficult-to-navigate parking lot. Eldersburg, I decided, would be easier to get to. I expected, since itContinue reading “On Leesburg’s Christmas Controversy”
Author Archives: Allyn
On LEGO Lord of the Rings
Today, I frightened my cubicle neighbor. I’d come into the office, and I walked into the middle of a conversation he was having with another writer in the Bullpen. “I bet,” said my cubicle neighbor, “that you can’t jump up and down for joy.” So without taking off my coat, without unslinging the BPRD bagContinue reading “On LEGO Lord of the Rings”
On Peanuts Christmas Music and Specials
My mom loves Christmas, and she always has. She puts up four or five Christmas trees each year, and each tree has a theme. There’s a Santa Claus tree, a Candy Cane tree, a fruit tree, a tinsel tree, and a couple of other themes besides. She also watches the Hallmark Movie Channel frequently, andContinue reading “On Peanuts Christmas Music and Specials”
On A Very She & Him Christmas
As many people know, in spite of my infidelic nature, I love Christmas music. I don’t confine myself to the time around the Christmas holidays, either; I’ll listen to a Christmas album in spring or summer just because I feel like it. A few days ago, the Guardian reviewed A Very She & Him Christmas,Continue reading “On A Very She & Him Christmas”
On the BBC’s Oliver Reed/Keith Moon Radio Play
This week, Radio 4 broadcast “Burning Both Ends: When Oliver Reed Met Keith Moon,” an hour-long radio play starring Sean Pertwee as Reed and Doctor Who‘s Arthur Darvill as Moon. Burning Both Ends tells the story of one of the most infamous, unexpected and touching of friendships between two icons of the 1970s, Oliver ReedContinue reading “On the BBC’s Oliver Reed/Keith Moon Radio Play”
On Mad Thoughts of Blogging and Coding
This morning, I had a moment of insanity. Or rather, I had a random thought and then my brain simply would not let it go. Even now, it’s not entirely willing to disengage from the idea, even though I know it’s a stupid idea. It has to do with my website redesign, which I planContinue reading “On Mad Thoughts of Blogging and Coding”
On Remembering John Lennon
Thirty-one years ago today, John Lennon was gunned down outside his apartment building in Manhattan. He was two months past his fortieth birthday. I’ve had a tradition, going back more than a decade, of listening to Lennon hardcore on the anniversary of his death. Today, I generally didn’t. I put on a CD at workContinue reading “On Remembering John Lennon”
On Taking the Wonder Victory
Last night, after a particularly grueling day at the office, I decided to blow off some steam by grinding civilizations under my boot. But instead of pulling out Age of Empires III, as is my wont when I feel the urge to pillage and conquer, I went older school — Age of Empires II. IContinue reading “On Taking the Wonder Victory”
On Guest-Blogging About Tennyson
While blogging here has gone from a nearly-daily thing to a twice-a-week thing (if I’m lucky — life’s become an endless deadline), today saw the publication of a guest blog post I wrote for Stuart Ian Burns, a blogger in Liverpool. Stuart asked me to ponder the two most quoted lines of Alfred, Lord Tennyson’sContinue reading “On Guest-Blogging About Tennyson”
On Linus and the Meaning of Christmas
My niece turned three on Monday, and on Saturday I went down to Virginia to spend the day with my sister and her family to celebrate my niece’s birthday. For my niece’s birthday, I gave her some Christmas socks and a recordable storybook of A Charlie Brown Christmas that I picked up at Hallmark aContinue reading “On Linus and the Meaning of Christmas”