On Veteran’s Day

Ninety-two years ago today, from the English Channel through the fields of Flanders, across the French frontier and into the Alps, the guns on the Western Front fell silent. World War I, one of the great follies in human history, came to its bitter end. As Garrison Keillor might say on The Writer’s Almanac, twoContinue reading “On Veteran’s Day”

On Beady Eye’s First Single

A little more than a year ago, Oasis went its separate ways. Always a volatile group, the Gallagher brothers had finally had enough of one another, and Noel bolted. In a few months, the first post-Oasis album from either of the Gallaghers will be out. Liam Gallagher has carried on with the last Oasis line-up,Continue reading “On Beady Eye’s First Single”

On Flattening Pennies on Train Tracks

I flattened a penny on the train track. Today was grey and gloomy. The alarm, when it trilled, ripped me from a dream about Taco Bell and the fall of governments to the pattering sound of rainfall on the roof and outside the window. I thought briefly of driving to work. The rainy dampness wasContinue reading “On Flattening Pennies on Train Tracks”

On Sorting Out the Doctor Who Comics Chronology

Of interest probably only to myself, I’ve been trying to work out a chronology of the Doctor Who comics set between “Journey’s End” and “The End of Time.” From the Doctor’s perspective, in what order did they occur? Here’s what I’m currently thinking, with television adventures bolded… “Journey’s End” “The Time of My Life” (DoctorContinue reading “On Sorting Out the Doctor Who Comics Chronology”

On a Decade of the International Space Station

Today, the second of November, is not just Election Day. It’s the tenth anniversary of human habitation of the International Space Station. NASA issued a press release this morning marking the event: NASA ADMINISTRATOR STATEMENT ON 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF CREWS ABOARD THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION WASHINGTON — On Nov. 2, 2000, the first crew arrivedContinue reading “On a Decade of the International Space Station”

On a Sherlock Holmes/Dracula Radio Play

Sherlock Holmes. Dracula. Two iconic characters of Victorian literature. One, the living embodiment of reason and logic. The other, a being of unimaginable evil. I never would have thought of Dracula as a Holmes foe, and then a friend of mine handed me Fred Saberhagen’s The Holmes-Dracula File, and I wanted to gag about two-thirdsContinue reading “On a Sherlock Holmes/Dracula Radio Play”