Jan 29 2008
The photo says it all:
“A respected image consultant once said that the average person who wears a bow tie is distrusted by all. What all bow tie wearers know is that an average person would never be wearing a bow tie in the first place.”
– Owen Edwards for Town and Country
Jan 19 2008
Several years ago, I tried shaving with a shaving mug and brush, plus some Burt’s Bees shaving soap. I used a Gillette Sensor razor, and just didn’t see that big a difference.
For Christmas, Jen bought me some Nutragena Men’s Triple Protect Face Lotion. I decided to take out the mug and brush again. This time, I bought some shaving soap from Herban Cowboy. Even with the modern-day razor, I’ve been enjoying the new feel and the more relaxed, mindful shaving experience.
Then I discovered A Guide To The Gourmet Shaving Experience at the Leisure Guy site. I took his advice and bought a safety razor from ClassicShaving.com. The model I bought — a Merkur “Futur” from Germany — arrived today. I’m going to take my first-ever whack at shaving with a safety razor in the morning. I’m excited, which is a crazy thing to say about shaving.
Nov 13 2007
My friend Mara Ahmed sent me this today:
Rally to support restoration of judiciary and civil liberties in Pakistan
Date: Sunday November 18, 2007
Time: 2.00pm - 3.30pm
Place: Twelve Corners in Brighton
SOLIDARITY
PLEASE JOIN THE PAKISTANI AMERICAN COMMUNITY IN UPSTATE NEW YORK IN A DEMONSTRATION OF SOLIDARITY WITH THE PEOPLE OF PAKISTAN IN THEIR STRUGGLE FOR THE RULE OF LAW.
WE WILL HOLD A DEMONSTRATION ON SUNDAY NOVEMBER 18 FROM 2:00 PM TO 3:30 PM AT TWELVE CORNERS IN BRIGHTON.
THE PUROPOSE OF THE DEMONSTRTATION IS TO EXPRESS OUR DESIRE TO PRESERVE THE INDEPENDENCE OF THE JUDICIARY AND TO RESTORE THE RULE OF LAW AND THE CONSTITUTION OF PAKISTAN .
IF YOU CHERISH FREEDOM, LIBERTY , CIVIL RIGHTS AND DEMOCARACY JOIN US TO SHOW OUR RESOLVE TO THE WORLD THAT WE WILL NO LONGER ACCEPT TRAMPLING OVER CIVIL LIBERTIES AND OVER JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE IN OUR HOME COUNTRY.
AS A SIGN OF UNITY WITH THE LAWYERS WHO ARE SPEARHEADING THE STRUGGLE IN PAKISTAN PLEASE WEAR BLACK AND WHITE WHEN YOU COME.
Nov 03 2007
Oh. My. Holy. God.
I’ve never actually read Dante’s Inferno, but I’m pretty sure I remember hearing that in it, Hell has nine levels. I think maybe Judas Iscariot is at the bottom, frozen in ice or something like that. According to British comedian Ben Elton, right below Judas is an editor from the British tabloid The Sun. Well, tonight I discovered who’s right below him, and this is what he looks like:
Today is Bernie’s fifth birthday. We had a party this afternoon at our house for the kids from the neighborhood plus a few of our good friends from nearby. It was a great party — games, ice cream cake, a pinata and more. Everybody had a great time and went away happy.
Then we went to Chuck E. Cheese’s for a party with three kids from Bernie’s class. And now I know where John Milton got his ideas.
When I was a kid, Chuck E. Cheese’s was a video arcade with skeeball and a ball crawl. Now it’s like a torture scene from A Clockwork Orange. As soon as you walk in, a teenaged employee jams some hooks onto your eyelids to prevent you from blocking out the horrible fact that every surface in the place is either glowing, flashing or both.
Every object in the restaurant makes some sort of noise, from the games to the screeching children hopped up on soda and some of the worst pizza I’ve ever eaten. In fact, I may need to pause while writing this post so I can run and be physically sick.
When we lived in Tokyo, I often felt overwhelmed walking through the larger train stations or across busy intersections. The crush of people is like nothing you experience in any city in the United States, and I found it hard to process. Well, I’d rather run through the main shopping district in Shibuya wearing 3-D binoculars and listening to GWAR then spend one more minute of my life in a Chuck E. Cheese’s franchise.
Just finding Bernie’s three friends was a challenge. There were so many hip-high children in the place that it was next to impossible to gather the gang together, and completely impossible to keep track of them afterward, even with four of the five parents (including Jen and me) working every moment of the two — or was it 12? — hours to find them.
One tiny positive innovation is that everyone in a family gets the same infrared number stamped on his or her left hand at the entrance, meaning no child can leave without an adult who has the same number. So we were reasonably certain that none of the kids would turn up missing. We were less assured that none of them would turn up blubbering and bleeding from the eyes, clutching a token and murmuring “Insert coin to continue … Insert coin to continue…”
I think it was Woody Allen who used to tell the joke about “the food was terrible, and the portions were too small.” Well, as much as Chuck’s House of Horrors stunk on the face of it, it was made even worse by the absence of good video games. When I was a kid, there was Tron, Pac Man, Galaga, Defender, Star Wars, Q-bert, Donkey Kong, Mr. Rogers vs Chuck Norris, and many others. All those cool games are gone, replaced by car races featuring characters from Sponge Bob and NASCAR. (Not in the same game, which was too bad.) There were a few first-person shooters, but nothing good. And then about 8 million different ways to sucker you into exchanging money for prize tickets.
By the end of the evening, I was sobbing softly at our table, holding my security cupcake and wading through wrapping paper and Spider-Man-themed gifts. (We sent Spider-Man invitation to the kids, who otherwise know nothing about Bernie, so we got exclusively Spider-Man-themed gifts. Pretty hip, actually.)
I’ve shot my wad here. Let me just echo the words of the shortest Rolling Stone review ever published (for the first album by the band Chase):
“Flee.”
Nov 02 2007
Mark Evanier’s News From Me blog is a treasure for fans of classic movies and TV shows, comic books, old show biz memories, and good writing. Mark is a member of the WGA and he’s got some insightful and easily digestible thoughts about the WGA strike on his site. News From Me is a must-read for me and for several of my friends, and I encourage you to check it out.
Jul 07 2007
For those few of you who are wondering why it’s been so long since I updated this site, I have an answer. I’m spending most of my time these days at two of my other sites:
So head to those and see what I’ve been up to!
Apr 23 2007
BOA Editions, one of the brightest spots in Rochester’s cultural life, is moving to new digs. This is from this morning’s Democrat & Chronicle newspaper:
BOA Editions moving to North Goodman Street
Local publishing company BOA Editions will be moving to the Neighborhood of the Arts.
It is moving from 260 East Ave. to the Anderson Alley building, 250 N. Goodman St. The new address will be effective April 30.
Poet and editor Peter Conners from BOA Editions was a guest on The Jason Crane Show last year. You can check out that episode for an interview with Peter and poetry from a number of great poets.
Apr 17 2007
A group of music bloggers have come together to raise money for a good cause. You can win cool prizes and do a good deed all at the same time. To find out more, visit bloggersforacure.com or click the image below:
