Oh, boy, Danny...

Happy Saint Patrick's Day to ya...

Respect for the Extremely Insane

To my wife: I promise I won't try this. But I kinda want to anyway...
[ MOUNTAIN WINGSUIT ]

Mom always said...

When raising children, you have to be careful about giving too much advice, or giving one piece of advice too often. If the child thinks it's irrational or unfair, they may choose to do the opposite as a form of rebellion -- it's a way of exerting some control over their own lives. Sometimes these specific rebellious behaviors may become so ingrained that the child carries them into adulthood.

For example...

Advice: "Always wear clean underwear when you go out... you never know, you might get in an accident."

Response: [ see story ]

Solo acts

I came across two of these clips on the same day earlier this week, and the third just this evening -- all examples of what you can do when you're lonely but motivated. Arranged here, for your enjoyment, in order, from the ridiculous to the sublime:

Tequila


Beats of Boredom


Just For Now

Should I get a set of whitewall tires?

Back in VT, but not as sleepy this time (yet).

Made myself hoarse on the drive up singing in the car. My audiobook ran out (forgot to burn the second half, dangit!) so I put on the second disc of Billy Joel's Greatest Hits. OK, not exactly the cutting edge of musical cool these days, but I grew up on Long Island in the eighties, so it's in my blood. Got a problem with that?! You may be right, I may be crazy. Go ahead with your own life -- leave me alone. It's still rock 'n roll to me. Don't ask me why. Um... movin' out.

Actually, given my recent post, perhaps he was something of a visionary:

All your life is Channel 13
Sesame Street
What does it mean?
I'll tell you what it means... PRESSURE!

In your face, Big Bird.

Wordplay

I finally got around to watching Wordplay this past weekend, after letting it languish on my DVR for weeks and weeks and weeks. It's a documentary about the venerable New York Times crossword puzzle, its current editor Will Shortz, and the subculture of competitive crossword puzzlers -- specifically, attendees of the 28th annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, which Shortz founded. As dry as that may sound to some, the film was really well constructed (that's a crossword joke) -- informative, amusing, and surprisingly dramatic. And inspiring... I'm thinking about whether I could get down to Brooklyn for the weekend of 2/29/08 and try my hand at it. Hmmm...

Tangentially speaking... writing about Wordplay reminded me of a site I hadn't visited for quite a while: Wordie, which bills itself as "Like Flickr, but without the photos". In lieu of uploading photos, you can upload (OK, type) your favorite words into public lists in a somewhat spartan social networking sort of environment. When you add a word to your list, you then see a list of all users that listed the same word, and any comments they may have left behind. Fun and interesting, in a specific and extremely geeky way. But hey, that's me (and these are my words). Perhaps I should add "bunkwash"?

Vintage style

Continuing my look back on the burnt orange and avocado green era of my childhood...

My mom (who knows perfectly well what a blog is, thank you very much) recently forwarded me an email containing excerpts from a department store catalog from the late seventies. And by some strange synchronicity, today I came across this blog entry dissecting a JCPenney catalog from 1975. Wow, if you thought Alistair Cookie was unsuitable for children, how about pimp duds, guns, and water pipes? Not to mention all that acrylic pile.

And before anyone says it: yes, I'm fully aware that one of my children is one day bound to make similar public mockery of turn-of-the-century style, via whatever technology supplants those old-fashioned "blogs" that Dad is always blathering on about. But refer once more to the photo of the red and black bathroom decor, and then judge me...