Bought at Wal-Mart today: From the Earth to the Moon, for thirteen dollars. I’ve been wanting this series for years, but I couldn’t justify the rectal violation prices that it went for. I actually had to ask the guy, “Is this really thirteen dollars? I could go to Best Buy and pay seventy or eighty.”Continue reading “On a Lucky Find”
On Mark Prior’s Baseball Career
Baseball. It looks like Mark Prior’s career is probably done. Once, I was on the Prior bandwagon. He was going to pitch us into the promised land. It didn’t happen. His pitching mechanics were destructive to his elbow and shoulder, and Dusty Baker’s over-reliance on, overuse of Prior exacerbated his problems and hastened his breakdown.Continue reading “On Mark Prior’s Baseball Career”
On the Arrival of the Print
A week ago — well, eight days, if one must be precise — I ordered an Arthurian art print. Created by Todd Klein and J.H. Williams III, “Drawing the Sword” depicted the moment in the Arthurian mythos when young Arthur, unaware of his birthright as King of England, pulled the magical sword from the stone.Continue reading “On the Arrival of the Print”
On the Flight of the Cheese Wedge
Some news of the weird for the previous week. To commemorate the 40th-anniversary of Apollo 11’s landing on the moon, a group of cheesemakers in Somerset, England, decided to send a piece of cheddar into space on a high-altitude weather balloon. The logic of this, so it seems to me, is that some thought inContinue reading “On the Flight of the Cheese Wedge”
On the Things I’ve Been Reading
So, here’s the situation. I’ve hit a minor lull in my day, so I’m reading comics. Specifically, I’m reading Phonogram: The Singles Club #4. As long-time readers know, I’ve raved about Phonogram before; it’s a cool comic about the power of music and magic. The Singles Club, the second series, takes place on a singleContinue reading “On the Things I’ve Been Reading”
On Elbow’s Late Night Appearance
Elbow is performing tonight on the Late Show with David Letterman. From an e-mail I received from the band a few weeks ago: Elbow On Letterman - July 29th Great news! Elbow will be live on the ‘Late Show With David Letterman’ on July 29th. The band will join Dave in the studio to closeContinue reading “On Elbow’s Late Night Appearance”
On Nick Hornby’s An Education
I stopped by Amazon today, to check on the status of an order. Normally, I don’t look at the recommendations on the first page, though it did amuse me that Amazon was recommending that I buy a copy of Grand Designs, especially as I wrote the first story in the volume. 🙂 Today, however, IContinue reading “On Nick Hornby’s An Education”
On Today’s Word Coinage
I had to coin a word today. “Hyper-south.” I was writing some dialogue. Two characters were talking about a situation that had gone horribly wrong. “It went south,” as one might say. But then the situation, which really couldn’t or shouldn’t have gotten any worse, did. Saying it went “further south” didn’t work. It wasContinue reading “On Today’s Word Coinage”
On Merlin, Sword-Pulling, and Random Research
Last night I was talking with a friend of mine about the Todd Klein print I ordered, “Drawing the Sword.” I’ve been on a medieval kick since May. The release of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun kicked it off, then a reading of The Saga of the Volsungs to reacquaint myself withContinue reading “On Merlin, Sword-Pulling, and Random Research”
On This Week’s Musical Discovery
I’ve learned over the years that writing is occasionally less a planned activity than it is a series of serendipitous accidents. Consider the BBC’s Scotland Introducing podcast. I can’t tell you why, over a year ago, I started listening to this podcast. But I do. Every Friday, I download the new episode and give itContinue reading “On This Week’s Musical Discovery”