June 2008

The Archives

Books
Fried
06.29.08 | Permalink | Comment?

It’s too hot to think today. Instead, here’s a list of books I’ve read recently, before my brain was melted: Coltrane, The Story of a Sound by Ben Ratliff. The Simple Art of Murder by Raymond Chandler. Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee. On the Road by Jack Kerouac. The Birth of the Republic 1763-89 by Edmund S. Morgan. Reaping the Whirlwind by Nigel Cawthorne. […]
Art, General
Eamon, check yourself
06.26.08 | Permalink | Comment?

I have no idea why someone would enter the phrase “eamon smells of poo” into a search engine, but someone evidently has, because that phrase has shown up in the list of search queries used to find this site. I assume it’s not me who smells so, given the alternate spelling of the name. Another, […]
Portland, Walks with the dogs
Litter
06.21.08 | Permalink | Comment?

One of the advantages of walking dogs is the chance to explore the neighborhood. I’ve probably been on every street in a forty-five minute walk radius of our house. Still there are a few routes we walk regularly, and even there I am always seeing things I never noticed before. Yesterday evening I was walking […]
Music
Red & Black
06.16.08 | Permalink | Comment?

I’ve just finished listening, for the first time, to the new Weezer album. First impression is a certain relief that every track is listenable. The last album had three good-too-great songs, but I cannot bear to listen to any other track on it. That was a first for me with any Weezer album. Anyway, there was […]
Music, Walks with the dogs
Confounding Expectations
06.12.08 | Permalink | Comment?

Tuesday was a chilly day, with the temperature in the forties, and an obligingly cold rain soaked the Resident Dogs on our evening walk. By the time I took the Short-term Dog for a walk it had stopped raining but it still felt like winter to me. Yesterday was warmer and dry so I went for […]
Foreigners
Thaler
06.11.08 | Permalink | Comment?

There are pros and cons to a weak dollar, but if it gives the Belgians an opportunity to elevate Budweiser from its current position as the King of Lye-flavored Urine Substitutes, then one might say that the good our attenuated currency has brought outweighs the misery it causes our intrepid tourists abroad. That said, having grown up watching the purchasing value […]
Family
Encomium
06.09.08 | Permalink | 1 Comment

Mrs The Fyd’s anniversary gift to me was to present me in glowing terms to the internets. In return, I promise to raise Mrs’ allowance. I will point out that I only speak French to the dogs because they are Canadian.
Foreigners, Politics
Dumb and dumber
06.05.08 | Permalink | Comment?

Jim Corr is self-evidently a cretin and I should not assist in propagating any cretinous musician’s political views. However, a certain common element to his ravings struck me as worthy of comment. This is the use by these cretins of jargon to give their idiocies a patina of authority. In Corr’s case he refers to a […]