The Long Cut ...we'll get there eventually

Take It Easy On The Guy, It's Not Like He Made An Anti-Semitic Movie Or Anything. Oh... Right.

Gibson enters rehab after DUI arrest

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Academy Award winning actor-director Mel Gibson entered a rehab program after his arrest on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol, his publicist said Monday.[...]

[TMZ.com] reported that Gibson's alleged remarks included: "(Expletive) Jews. The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world."[...]

Gibson faced accusations of anti-Semitism during the publicity storm that surrounded his 2004 film "The Passion of the Christ." [Anti-Defamation League Director Abraham] Foxman wrote that Gibson's "tirade finally reveals his true self" and shows his previous claims "that he is such a tolerant, loving person, were a sham."

Foxman added, "We would hope that Hollywood now would realize the bigot in their midst and that they will distance themselves from this anti-Semite."

You know, I bet you Cedars-Sinai has a pretty decent addiction program right there in LA, but something tells me Mel wanted to go somewhere else.

I know that by now everyone has heard about this whole stupid event - I'm only commenting on it so that I can proudly state that I have never, ever, watched a Mel Gibson movie. Ever. No Mad Max, no dumb cop-buddy movies, not even Chicken Run, simply because his voice was featured in it.

About ten years ago a coworker noticed that every time he brought up a Gibson movie, I hadn't seen it. We checked online and it was true - somehow I had never suffered through one of Mel's movies. From that day on I made it a life-long goal of mine to avoid ever seeing one of his films. It's not that tough a goal - the guy's not exactly Olivier. The man has never been part of a movie that I had any interest in seeing, and I don't envision that changing anytime soon.

But I'm proud that I didn't like this guy even before he proved himself to be an Jew-hating, Holocaust-minimizing dick. I hated Mel before hating Mel was cool. Hopefully the rest of the world will finally catch up to me.

The smaller headline under the big headline on the CNN story was this:

Charges swirl that actor received special treatment

I don't know about that, but someone definitely gave the jerk a comb before his mugshot.

A Crackerjack Performance

As planned, we went out to see Cracker play a free noontime concert on Friday - and I've got the blurry picture to prove it.

That's David Lowery, lead singer for Cracker (and for Camper Van Beethoven, too) and in this shot he's answering a question during the interview section of the concert.

Like the CVB concert I saw back in '05, the Cracker concert was pretty loud. The missus and the boys picked me up at work and we all headed over to WXPN early enough to get right up next to the stage. Probably a little too close to the stage - the four-year-old (who's been battling swimmer's ear) and I ended up moving to the back of the room about half-way through.

The band played for about forty minutes and split the setlist evenly between old favorites and new stuff. The new stuff, from their just-released Greenland, was instantly catchy and very much in the spirit of early Cracker.

At the missus' urging, we picked up a copy of the new disc on the way out. We couldn't stick around for the meet-and-greet to get it signed (I had to get back to work), but we've been listening to the cd and it sounds pretty good - all four of us already have our favorites and have been humming them all weekend.

My favorite shot from the concert was a little sign on the easel that was holding up Lowery's laptop (are Apple ones called laptops?), which I guess he was using for help with some not-yet-memorized lyrics. It's actually a Camper-related sticker, but I still think it's pretty funny. [Click on the image to enlarge and turn your monitor over to read it right-side-up.]

They're Already Working On Fruit Punch That Comes In A Bleach Bottle

How are candy-makers keeping our children safe?

By teaching them that those things that come in blister packs are sweet, sweet candy. Eat up kids! If you run out, there's always more in the medicine cabinet (just don't tell your parents, they want all that yummy candy for themselves).

I found this in the snack room at work. I haven't tried one yet because I'm not 100% sure that they are candy. Nobody's heard from the guy who did eat one.

The Part Of "Crazed Fan" Will Be Played By Mark, The Role Of "Unsuspecting Rock Star" Will Be Played By Graham Parker

Proof that I actually did hang out with Graham Parker Wednesday night:

If Graham hasn't already applied for that restraining order, he surely will after seeing this picture. I'm usually not that demented looking, honest.

Today it's another free concert with the family - Cracker is playing a 'XPN Free-At-Noon show. This will be the second time I've seen David Lowery at a noontime concert, the (then) three-year-old and I caught Camper Van Beethoven back in June of 2005.

I'm pretty sure I can still legally get within 500 feet of Mr. Lowery.

Leave 'Em Laughing

'What will your obituary say?' at QuizGalaxy.com

And here I thought my death would be brought about by that shady guy who runs the toll booth.

[via Karen]

Parker In The Park

The whole family (and about 300 other people) came out to the Dell in Haddon Heights last night to see the great Graham Parker. An incredible show from one of the godfathers of New Wave (right up there with Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson). He played alone, half-acoustic/half-electric, and really had the crowd into it - even though I would guess that half of them had never heard of him before last night (most people just like seeing free concerts in the park).

This was the first time I'd ever seen GP and wasn't sure what to expect from him twenty-five years past his most popular period (though even back then he never really reached the level of popularity that he deserved), but he's still a great performer and a great storyteller. Though his music is better suited for a pub setting, he did alright in an outdoor/family setting (and in a dry town, too!).

I think he'd already adjusted his act to compensate for his age (at 55, he's no longer an "angry young man") and playing without the support of a backing band, and now comes off a bit like a British Bob Dylan. He even joked about once being called the next Dylan when he was just starting out, but he sounds more like Dylan now than ever before. Parker's got gray hair now and looks a bit worn down from living the rock-n-roll life but his voice, like his guitar playing, was still strong.

He also joked about old age making him forget his older songs, but the set was split pretty evenly between his old stuff ("White Honey," "Fool's Gold," "Don't Ask Me Questions," "Discovering Japan") and his newer stuff (including songs from an upcoming album).

Through a friend of a friend of my brother  - who actually toured and recorded with Parker - I got to hang out with GP after the show. I got to hang out with a real-live rock musician who has recorded real-live albums - albums I've been listening to since I was about ten years old - and I didn't even make a fool of myself! A pretty cool ending to a very cool night.

I'm Like So Sure

Wiki Wednesday - with a highly unlikely twist.

You know - you go to Wikipedia SkepticWiki, you click on "random article page," you report on the outcome.

Here's my random Wiki Wednesday find for this week (the last two lines really are part of the entry):

Graham Hancock

Graham Hancock is an originator and popularizer of various crank theories in history and archeology. Before 1992, he worked as a foreign correspondent and travel writer, writing a number of books on related issues.

In 1992 he published his first work of pseudohistory, The Sign And the Seal: The Quest for the Lost Ark of the Covenant, which promised to reveal “the most shattering historical secret of the last three thousand years”.

Since then, Mr Hancock has revealed shattering historical secrets with an almost monotonous regularity, invariably to the complete indifference of real historians.

His first essay in pseudohistory was followed by:

• Fingerprints of the Gods: A Quest for the Beginning and the End
• Keepers of Genesis: A Quest For the Hidden Legacy of Mankind
• Mars Mystery: The Secret Connection Between Earth and the Red Planet
• Heaven’s Mirror: Quest for the Lost Civilization
• Fingerprints of the Gods: The Quest Continues
• Underworld: Flooded Kingdoms of the Ice Age
• Talisman: Sacred Cities, Secret Faith.

The world still awaits a work from his pen entitled:

• Pretension: Why All My Book Titles Come in Two Parts.

Can't Win For Winning

  "I see... I see... an Amazing Circle..." 
  Originally uploaded by ßlϋeωãvε.

Yesterday I ran what is known as a "prediction race," which is just what it sounds like - when you register for the race you tell them how long you think it will take you to finish, and whoever comes closest to their predicted time wins. No watches allowed and no mile markers along the course.

The race last night was one time around Cooper River Park - 3.65 miles. I had 7 or 8 miles scheduled for the night, so I did a loop before the race. That loop took me about 28 minutes (I kind of rushed it so I wouldn't miss the start of the race). Since I ran the first loop faster than I wanted to, I figured that I'd be a little tired for the second loop (the race loop) so I predicted I would run the race one minute slower (29 minutes).

It's hard for me to get out of race mode so I started off too fast and, even with a walking water break, finished 37 seconds earlier than I was supposed to. That doesn't sound too bad until you find out that the winners (there was a tie) finished just one second off their predictions. Most winners (awards go to the top three in each age group) came within 10 seconds of their prediction.

Oh, and it turned out that I ran faster than anyone in my age group, and I still didn't win anything. I didn't win my age group because I ran too fast! What a country!

RIYL14

My RIYLmusic Top 30 list [where I get to pretend I'm a program director at my very own hip radio station (full story here)] - for the week beginning July 24, 2006.

After a couple weeks of slim pickings, there are tons of notable new releases out today. Of course, now that I have so much to choose from I'm too busy to listen to them, let alone write anything about them. Here are the new discs I'll be hoping to hear stuff from this week:

• Scritti Politti White Bread, Black Beer
• Edie Brickell & New Bohemians Stranger Things [mp3s at their website]
• Midlake Trials Of Van Occupanther [mp3 here, a few songs streaming here]
• Jurassic 5 Feedback [streaming samples]
• John Doe For The Best Of Us
• Various Artists Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man Soundtrack [streaming]
• Mew And The Glass Handed Kites [streaming]
• Silversun Pickups Carnavas [full album stream at MSN]

Now, the list:

1. THE RACONTEURS Broken Boy Soldiers
2. CAMERA OBSCURA Let’s Get Out of This Country
3. THE HEAVY BLINKERS The Night and I Are Still So Young
4. GOLDEN SMOG Another Fine Day
5. SILVERSUN PICKUPS Carnavas
6. MIDLAKE Trials Of Van Occupanther
7. BETH ORTON The Kindness Of Strangers
8. FLAMING LIPS At War With The Mystics
9. SNOW PATROL Eyes Open
10. BRUCE COCKBURN Life Short Call Now
11. LOS LOBOS Ride This
12. BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions
13. JOHN DOE For The Best Of Us
14. VARIOUS ARTISTS Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man SoundtrackMATES OF STATE Bring It Back
15. MASON JENNINGS Boneclouds
16. DAVE ALVIN West of the West
17. ALEJANDRO ESCOVEDO The Boxing Mirror
18. STEVE WYNN & THE MIRACLE 3 ...Tick...Tick...Tick
19. ELVIS COSTELLO & ALLEN TOUSSAINT The River In Reverse
20. DAN ZANES Catch That Train!
21. NEIL YOUNG Living With War
22. SCRITTI POLITTI White Bread, Black Beer
23. EDIE BRICKELL & THE NEW BOHEMIANS Stranger Things
24. JURASSIC 5 Feedback
25. MEW And The Glass Handed Kites
26. THE REPLACEMENTS Don't You Know Who I Think I Was?
27. THE SILVER JEWS Tanglewood Numbers
28. NEKO CASE Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
29. JENNY LEWIS WITH THE WATSON TWINS Rabbit Fur Coat
30. CAT POWER The Greatest

Dropping off the list this week:

1. PAUL SIMON Surprise
2. GRANT LEE PHILLIPS Nineteeneighties
3. DR. JOHN Mercernary
4. MY MORNING JACKET Z
5. KEANE Under the Iron Sea
6. JOHNNY CASH Personal File
7. GRANT LEE PHILLIPS Nineteeneighties
8. LOOSE FUR Born Again In The USA

Mango Only Pawn In Game Of Life

Cranked up the ice cream maker for a sophisticated summer treat. Tastes pretty good, if I do say so myself - the mangoes were nice and ripe, which made for a pretty intense flavor.

Now, who can tell me where this post title came from?

Mango Sorbet [Cook's Illustrated]

• 3 medium mangoes , peeled, pitted, and flesh pureed with 1/2 cup cold water until smooth
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar , plus 1 tablespoon
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice from 1 large lemon
• 1 tablespoon vodka

1. Combine mango puree, sugar, lemon juice, and alcohol in large bowl. Stir on and off for several minutes until sugar has dissolved. (Or, to speed chilling process in next step, combine ingredients in a metal bowl set over a larger bowl filled with ice water.) Rub finger along bottom of bowl to see if sugar has dissolved.
2. Pour mixture into small container. Seal and refrigerate until mixture is no more than 40 degrees. (If mixture has been stirred over a bowl of ice water, it may already be cold enough, and this step may be omitted.)
3. Pour chilled mixture into container of an ice cream machine and churn until frozen.
4. Scoop frozen sorbet into a container. Seal and transfer container to freezer for several hours to allow sorbet to firm up. (Sorbet can be kept frozen for up to 3 days.)

Serves four.

Congregation Conversation

Maybe you've noticed a new group of feeds I added to my bloglist (it's over there on my sidebar) last week: "Blogs from Around the Church."

Not that I've gotten any more religious in the last week (especially since I missed church this morning), but the denomination that our family moved to about a year ago has been in the news a lot lately:

Schism and rumors of schism have troubled the Episcopal Church for more than three decades. But talk of the venerable church being split into different camps has never been more serious than now.

Fallout began last month when the Episcopal Church elected Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori of Nevada as its new presiding bishop. When she is installed in November, she will become the first woman to lead a national church in the Anglican Communion. [...]

[Fort Worth Bishop Jack] Iker and other conservatives say Schori's election flies in the face of leaders of those Anglican Communion provinces -- or national churches -- who have called for discipline, and possible ouster, of the U.S. church from the Anglican Communion if it doesn't put a moratorium on authorizing liturgies for same-sex unions and ordaining gay bishops with same-sex partners.

We joined the Episcopal Church last year because we liked the openness and acceptance of our local church and we liked that individual churches were given plenty of leeway on how they would be run, two things we never saw in Roman Catholicism.

Now (in the past few years, actually), the fact that there is room for these different views - namely liberal and conservative social views - have come to a head, and the word schism is being thrown around.

I don't think that a schism will happen (at least in the American Church, the relationship between us and the non-Western Episcopal world is much rockier), but I feel that I should keep abreast of what's going on. Ergo, the additions to my blog feeds.

One more thing: I'm sure that a lot of long-time Episcopalians aren't real happy with all this turmoil. But for me, after years of watching Rome stifle any dissent within the Catholic Church, it's kind of neat to be a part of a denomination that allows - and even encourages - discussion of differing thoughts on what the Church should be.

Once In Germany Someone Said Nein

The cake for the ice-cream-parlor-hosted party (designed by father and son):

And they're called jimmies, never, ever, "sprinkles."

[title source]

Well, Would You Evah?

More than you ever wanted to know about me (Via Karen):

GRUB-OLOGY
• What is your salad dressing of choice? Vinaigrettes are good (sweet or tart), but really anything that's light - high-fat dressing on a healthy salad just seems wrong.

• What is your favorite fast food restaurant? Does anyone over 16 has a favorite fast food place? If I had to pick, I'd say Chik-Fil-A since they offer some good non-greasy meals.

• What is your favorite sit-down restaurant? I like anything new and local, not a fan of chains. When traveling I seek out brewpubs, since there aren't too many in South Jersey.

• On average, what size tip do you leave at a restaurant? 20%.

• What food could you eat every day for two weeks and not get sick of? Cereal.

• Name three foods you detest above all others. Raw (or extremely rare) meat, bologna, and almost anything served at meetings at the office (nasty stuff).

• What is your favorite dish to order in a Chinese restaurant? I haven't been eating Chinese food long enough to have a favorite. Maybe that's why I like dim sum.

• What are your pizza toppings of choice? Barbecue chicken & sausage and ricotta (Bertucci's Sporkie) .

• What do you like to put on your toast? PB and/or J.

• What is your favorite type of gum? Trident cinnamon.

BI-OLOGY
• What do you consider to be your best physical attribute? My calves. A decade of running has given me calves of steel.

• Are you right handed or left handed? Left.

• Do you like your smile? Eh. My teeth could be better, but how I smile is alright.

• Have you ever had anything removed from your body? 2 wisdom teeth and a couple of (benign) lymph nodes.

• Would you like to? Would I like to what?

• Which of your five senses do you think is keenest? Taste.

• When was the last time you had a cavity? About a year ago. Not as much as I used to, but they still pop up every so often.

• What is the heaviest item you lift regularly? Both of the boys like to be thrown in the pool. Oy.

• Have you ever been knocked unconscious? Unconscious, yes - knocked unconscious, no.

MISC-OLOGY
• If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die? No way.

• If you could change your first name, what would you change it to? I used to want to change my name, but it'd be too much of a pain to do now. If I had to change it, I'd make sure not to have a noun or verb as a name next time.

• How do you express your artistic side? Mapmaking lets me do that, and I like to build stuff when I get the chance (which is almost never).

• What color do you think you look best in? Blues, I guess. I think more about what colors I don't look good in.

• How long do you think you could last in a medium security prison? Until I dropped the soap.

• Have you ever swallowed a non-food item by mistake? I swallow bugs while running all the time - pure protein. In 2nd grade I ate dirt for a quarter.

• If we weren't bound by society’s conventions, do you have a relative you would make a pass at? No offense to my relatives but, good Lord, no.

• How often do you go to church? Almost every Sunday.

• Have you ever saved someone’s life? No.

• Has someone ever saved yours? I've almost walked in front of cars/buses a couple times before someone pulled me back - I'll get a little too into a conversation to notice.

DARE-OLOGY
For this last section, if you would do it for less or more money, indicate how much.

• Would you walk naked for a half mile down a public street for $100,000? Sure, it's not that much less than what I run in sometimes (just ask my neighbors).

• Would you kiss a member of the same sex for $100? Do I get to pick? I kiss my sons every morning and night.

• Would you have sex with a member of the same sex for $10,000? Despite my man-crush on Paul Newman, I'll have to say no. Sorry, Paul.

• Would you allow one of your little fingers to be cut off for $200,000? Tempting, but no - I've grown pretty fond of them.

• Would you never blog again for $50,000? Yeah, why, is someone offering? It's because of my beer posts, isn't it?

• Would you pose naked in a magazine for $250,000? Sorry ladies, but no.

• Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1000? I once drank a whole bottle of ReaLemon for a buck (I was kind of dumb in grade school) so I'd say yes.

• Would you, without fear of punishment, take a human life for $1,000,000? Depends on the person. No, that would be wrong.

• Would you shave your head and get your entire body waxed for $5,000? Yes.

• Would you give up watching television for a year for $25,000? I want to say yes, but I know I wouldn't last. No Alton?

Beer Nut

You know what I'm thinking? I'm thinking, "Wow, I haven't posted about beer in a while." And I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "Oh, God, please don't post about beer, please don't post about beer, Lord God, don't have him post about beer." Nah, you'd never think that.

My last beer-related post was way back in April, and the first line of that post talked about how long it had been since I had last written about beer, so you're all going to have to humor me here.

According to my sidebar, currently I'm drinking Ringwood Old Thumper, Brooklyn Brewery Brown Ale, Smithwick's Irish Red Ale, and Yuengling Traditional Lager - but that was back in April. I'm just finishing up the cases of Smithwick's and Yuengling. Yuengling is my go-to beer, it's a solid, inexpensive beer - it's what my neighbors would drink instead of Heineken and Miller Light (perhaps the worst beer I've ever had), if only they knew anything about, or even cared about, good beer.

The Smithwick's was actually a recommendation of a neighbor who I thought had good beer taste. Now I'm not so sure he does. Smithwick's has a bit more body than lagers like Yuengling, but it doesn't have much flavor. Not enough to make me want to buy it again, anyway.

The Ringwood Old Thumper is an ESB out of Maine and had a lot of flavor for an ESB, where bitterness often overpowers most of the flavor. I'd get it again.

Brown Ales are one of my favorite types of beer, and the Brooklyn Brown didn't disappoint. It was a bit darker than the Brown Ales I'm used to, and had a taste that seemed a little stout-like. Not the best Brown Ale I've had (I still like Smuttynose's best) but not bad at all, and definitely different.

When the in-laws came in from Louisville, I picked up a 12-pack of Samuel Adams Summer Ale. I was looking for Flying Fish Farmhouse Summer Ale, but my liquor store didn't have any. This wasn't the first time I had the Sam Adams summer stuff, so I knew what to expect - it's a good beer to drink out on the porch or while grilling, but it's not the kind of beer I feel like having more than one of on a summer night, which is what I want from a Summer Ale. The Flying Fish Farmhouse is a Saison (French for "farmhouse," but actually a Belgian style) and is more drinkable that the Sam Adams. They both have pretty much the same amount of flavor, with the Farmhouse being a little more citrusy.

One night, while our Kentucky kin were still around, we all had dinner over my Mother-in-Law's house and it turned out that she had bought a sampler case of Philadelphia's own Yards Brewing Company. I'd like to think that she picked it out herself, but she said the guy at the liquor store suggested it for her ungrateful no-good [she didn't actually say "no-good," but she was thinking it] beer-snob sons-in-law (he initially suggested the Flying Fish Farmhouse, but she didn't think that sounded like something I would enjoy!). Since my M.i.L. doesn't drink beer, I knew I would end up taking much of the case home. After I gave away the six Love Stout (which almost killed me last time I had it) and after my brother-in-law drank his fair share of the case, I still had quite a bit of Yards' Saison, Philadelphia Pale Ale, and Extra Special Ale.

The Yards Saison was the Farmhouse-style I expected - light and very drinkable, the type of beer I call grass-cutting beer because it hits the spot after you've worked in the yard for a few hours, without filling you up. I had the Yards Pale Ale before and remembered being pretty impressed by it, but my new favorite Yards type is now their Extra Special (another ESB). Not quite as bitter as most ESBs I've tried, but it did have a lot of flavor and was very smooth (probably because it wasn't so bitter) - another good summer beer.

Before they returned to Kentucky, the in-laws brought over a six of that Flying Fish Farmhouse I like so much. Woo-hoo!

On our way to the very dry (and proud of it - even BYOBs aren't allowed) city of Ocean City, NJ for a week's vacation, we stopped in at Circle "helping people sneak beer onto the island for over 60 years" Liquors right before the bridge and picked up a six of River Horse Summer Ale out of Lambertville, NJ. I could not have been less impressed with this beer. They advertise it as an "uncomplicated" beer, but the word they should use is bland. It had absolutely no flavor - it barely had a beer taste to it. It was depressing knowing that I was stuck drinking this stuff on my vacation.

Just one more, I promise. Somewhere during all this I picked up a six of Lone Star Beer since it was under five bucks and I've wanted to try it (I can't keep hating Texas just because of Dubya - they gave us Ann Richards and LBJ, too after all).The bottle up there on my banner at the top of the page is a Lone Star. Not a bad everyday beer - not as flavorful and much thinner than my Yuengling, but I could see drinking it while watching a game with the guys (it's not worth spending more than five bucks on them anyway). It worked well as a grass-cutting beer too, but was a bit too thin to go well with barbecued stuff.

There. I bet you feel like having a beer or two after all that. I told you it's been a while. I still have about 12 or so more beers left in the fridge, so I won't be buying anymore for a little while. When I do, you can be sure I'll tell you all about it.

And What Is The Deal With All These Memes?

Wiki Wednesday - with a twist about nothing!

You know - you go to Wikipedia The Seinfeld Wiki, you click on "random article page," you report on the outcome.

Here's my random Wiki Wednesday find for this week:

The Move

From the episode The Fusilli Jerry. "The Move" refers to a complex sexual technique invented by Jerry that he shares with George with the promise that if George can master it he'll "never be alone again." Elaine's on/off boyfriend, Puddy, uses it on Elaine, leading Elaine to chastise Jerry for sharing intimate secrets with Puddy, a hallmark of male-bonding. The entire technique of The Move is never shared with the audience, leaving the audience to fill in the gaps themselves. George attempts to use it on his own girlfriend at the time, but she catches him with "crib notes" detailing the maneuvers written on his hand.

I don't remember seeing this one, but I pretty much tuned out the last few seasons.

You know what's weird? The Seinfeld Wiki was started January of this year, eight years after the show went off the air!

You know what's weirder? It's already been eight friggin' years since Seinfeld went off the air!?!?!

RIYL13

My RIYLmusic Top 30 list [where I get to pretend I'm a program director at my very own hip radio station (full story here)] - for the week beginning July 17, 2006.

Bruce Cockburn Life Short Call Now Earlier this year Neil Young came out with an anti-war album and he was loud and pissed. Now, fellow Canadian Bruce Cockburn has put out his anti-war disc and, as always, Bruce is quiet and pissed. Maybe even more pissed sounding than Neil, what with Cockburn's trademark don't make me angry, you won't like me when I'm angry clinched-teeth delivery forcing you to listen closely.

And if you do listen closely (and don't get too distracted by his exception guitar work) you'll see that his lyrics hit their mark. Wonder what the rest of the world thinks of macho unilateralism that eventually ends up impacting the whole world? Just take a listen to "Tell the Universe" (ironically, the chorus include one of Dubya's new favorite words): "You've been projecting your shit at the world/Self-hatred tarted up as payback time/You can self destruct-that's your right/But keep it to yourself if you don't mind."

At Bruce's amazingly generous website you can listen to every single one of his twenty-four albums... except this one. For that you have to go to AOL's new release page.

Golden Smog Another Fine Day It's been eight years since this alt-county supergroup put anything out, but I wonder how many people (other than Wilco completists) were actually eagerly anticipating this new release.

Golden Smog, lead by Wilco's Jeff Tweety and the Jayhawk's Gary Louris, has always had the sound of friends getting together and just having some fun. No problem there, but the band never seems to add up to the sum of its musical parts - somehow, putting these fine musicians together rarely produces anything near as good as what they do with their own bands. Of course, I'll still end up buying it.

While past Smog albums seemed to lean more to the Jayhawk's sound, this one seems (at least from my few listens) more varied and less country than the older discs - sounds that Tweety's been taking Wilco towards for the last few years. AOL is streaming it, the band's got a few songs here, and their record company is playing long-ish samples of all the songs here. 

Now, the list:

1. THE RACONTEURS Broken Boy Soldiers
2. CAMERA OBSCURA Let’s Get Out of This Country
3. THE HEAVY BLINKERS The Night and I Are Still So Young
4. GOLDEN SMOG Another Fine Day
5. BETH ORTON The Kindness Of Strangers
6. FLAMING LIPS At War With The Mystics
7. SNOW PATROL Eyes Open
8. BRUCE COCKBURN Life Short Call Now
9. LOS LOBOS Ride This
10. BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions
11. MY MORNING JACKET Z
12. KEANE Under the Iron Sea
13. MATES OF STATE Bring It Back
14. MASON JENNINGS Boneclouds
15. DAVE ALVIN West of the West
16. JOHNNY CASH Personal File
17. ALEJANDRO ESCOVEDO The Boxing Mirror
18. STEVE WYNN & THE MIRACLE 3 ...Tick...Tick...Tick
19. ELVIS COSTELLO & ALLEN TOUSSAINT The River In Reverse
20. DR. JOHN Mercernary
21. DAN ZANES Catch That Train!
22. GRANT LEE PHILLIPS Nineteeneighties
23. NEIL YOUNG Living With War
24. THE REPLACEMENTS Don't You Know Who I Think I Was?
25. LOOSE FUR Born Again In The USA
26. THE SILVER JEWS Tanglewood Numbers
27. NEKO CASE Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
28. JENNY LEWIS WITH THE WATSON TWINS Rabbit Fur Coat
29. PAUL SIMON Surprise
30. CAT POWER The Greatest

Dropping off the list this week:

1. GRAM PARSONS The Complete Reprise Sessions
2. ALLISON MOORER Getting Somewhere   

Sound & Philly, Signifying Nothing

Up until Jonathan Demme's Philadelphia, Brian De Palma's Blow Out was probably the biggest film to use Center City Philly as its backdrop (unless you count Mannequin and Mannequin II, which really you shouldn't). Everyone around here recognized the local landmarks as John Travolta drove his Jeep through the City Hall courtyard and smashed it right into Wanamaker's window.

Back then, in the early eighties, City Hall had fallen into disrepair and the area around the Reading Terminal Market was in a development limbo and provided the perfect seedy setting needed for the film.

Now, barricades would prevent anyone from driving near a freshly-scrubbed City Hall, Wanamaker's is waiting to become just another Macy's, and what was the shabby Reading Terminal Market neighborhood has become the squeaky-clean site of the Convention Center.

So by the time I finally watched this film, 25 years after it came out, it felt dated and hackneyed. Not just its Philadelphia setting, but the story, the music, and most of the acting. De Palma's tale of a movie soundman who unwittingly tapes a fatal car accident that might have actually been a politically-motivated murder seems to be going for Hitchcockian suspense, but this is a film that relies too much on style and not enough on the script. The setup is there for a great story, but De Palma is satisfied with cliched roles - the chipmunk-voiced hooker with a heart of gold, the Philly scumbag with, er, a Brooklyn accent - and multiple chase scenes passing for suspense.

You could (and should) be impressed by Travolta's acting job in one of the film's few realistic roles, but what you're supposed to come away from the movie with is how great a job the director did. Unfortunately for De Palma, while downtown Philly has improved since 1981, his dated movie has not.

I know I advertise myself as a movie snob and movie snobs are supposed to see De Palma as an indisputable genius, but I've never cared for his stuff - and this movie did nothing to change that feeling. Give me Demme (or even better, Levinson - now there's a guy who knows how to use a city as a backdrop) any day.

Favorite Photo Of The Week

It's back. With dinosaurs. And funky effects. Just pick your favorite and I'll explain it all later.

In-line Outline

I. Son

A. eight years old

B. wants Heelys

1. expensive

a. high cost

b. quickly grow out of

2. dangerous

a. bumps in sidewalks

b. steps

c. unnoticed Mack trucks

3. fad

a. all friends have them

b. only kid on earth without them

c. Son's parents are lame

C. birthday approaching

1. Son expects gift from parents

2. gift must not suck

3. gift must not maim

D. not very coordinated

1. falls down

2. a lot

E. very persistent

1. never stops noticing other kids' Heelys

2. never stops pointing out other kids' Heelys

3. never stops talking about Heelys

II. Odds of Heelys purchase

A. nil

B. nada

C. zilch

D. zip

III. Alternatives

A. unrelenting whining

B. in-line skates

1. cheaper

a. $20 less

b. adjusts to growing feet

2. more likely to be worn with helmet/pads

3. teaches coordination?

4. somewhat cool

a. x-games have them

b. not roller skates

IV. Actions

A. in-line skates purchased

1. Boy happy

2. Boy determined to learn

3. Boy not doing too bad for first day

4. Boy still thinks he has chance at Heelys

B. Parents' logic questioned

1. Boy just as likely to break something

2. Boy requires constant supervision

3. Boy still thinks he has chance at Heelys

V. Immediate analysis

A. Parents' competence questioned

B. Boy's happiness indisputable

C. Parents coolness overstated

Smooth Sailing

Hey, that work cruise I wrote about yesterday ended up not being so bad after all. My plan to drink away any suckiness wasn't even needed (well, I did have one, as a precaution). The plan wouldn't have lasted long anyway, at $7 plus tip per cocktail.

After the mile walk in 94 degree heat (I passed up a chance to take a work-provided shuttle because I thought the ship docked further up the river than it actually did), and the half-hour spent baking while waiting to go aboard, and the chinchy one-free "soft-drink" voucher, and the awful "entertainment" that consisted of karaoke-quality singers who would also point out interesting facts about coastline attractions (they seemed more concerned at remaining perky than actually getting their regional facts right - and large part of their audience was made up of people (us) who get all geeky about regional facts, so that went over well) - after all that, things went pretty well.

Surprisingly, the food wasn't half-bad, but the best part was when they finally let us out to go up on the deck. There was a good breeze and it was pretty cool to see things like the Naval Yard and the sports complex from such an unusual perspective. Like I said, we're geeky about things like that.

I also took a whole bunch of photos that I hope to clean up this weekend. For now, here's a shot I took of the promenade at Penn's Landing (yeah, the Delaware's brown around Philly - you got a problem wit that?):

And here's that second-place pint glass I one at Tuesday's race:

I'm still debating whether to use it as a glass or save it as a trophy.

Cruise Cajole

Haven't had bullets in a while:

• Tomorrow my place of work is forcing treating its employees to a cruise. Yep, seven days and six nights in the Caribbean two hours on Spirit of Philadelphia riding the Delaware River with 120 people I would never think to take a cruise with. You get the feeling I'd rather not be there? Nobody's really sure if this is some kind of team-building exercise or just some reward at the end of our fiscal year (which ended last month). We've got a new executive director, so who knows? All I know is it comes with a free lunch and a cash bar. And I'm bringing a whole lot of cash. I'll stop drinking when I start calling the bartender Isaac.
• I like to have two pairs of light brown khakis - light-light brown and darker-light brown. My light-light brown pair got a hole in it so I went out and bought a new pair. Except that instead of being light-light brown, the new pair ended up actually being light-light-light brown. Too close to white for me. They're not really white, but every time I wear even near-white pants I feel like I'm walking around decked-out like Tom Wolfe and get all self-conscious about it. Because I'm sure people at work are all like, who's he think he is, Tom Wolfe? I'll stick with the pants, since I paid good money for them, but there's no way I'm wearing them after Labor Day.
• I don't know why I haven't mentioned it, but over the last few months I have had two teeth fall out. The first one had a crown on it and just cracked. I felt the gap while I was eating pancakes (diner pancakes, mmmmm....), but I never found the tooth. That's because I swallowed it. Never even felt it go down (or do anything else, thank God). Ended up having to get a root canal and a replacement crown, of which my insurance only pays half. An expensive plate of pancakes. Then just this week the cap (I've got quite a few) on one of my front teeth came loose to the point that I could pull it off. Luckily, this time I didn't loss (or eat) the crown, so I just had to have it re-cemented back on. I know this all happened because I got smug about not having any cavities at my last check-up. That'll learn me.
• The four-year-old has been out of pull-ups for a while now and does a great job getting to the potty - while the sun shines. He hasn't gotten the hang of waking up to pee, so changing his sheets had become a nightly ritual. We decided to take him into the bathroom in the middle of the night and try to get him to go. This usual works, but trying to get him to stay awake on the toilet and convincing him to pee is quite an event. It would be hilarious if it wasn't happening at two in the morning. And we're not sure if what we are doing is helping him learn to wake up when he has to go, since he never really does wake up (and he never remembers being walked to the bathroom when he gets up the next morning).
• The missus has been begging me to comment on the Brett Myers spousal abuse charge and the terrible way the Phillies have handled it. According to a bunch of witnesses, Myers, the Phillies ace pitcher, slapped his wife around in Boston last time the Phillies were up there. Then he made his next start. That's because the Phillies did nothing. Nothing. No fine, no suspension. Usually when something like this happens they get the player out of the spotlight - that would seem to actually be best for the player and the team anyway. But the Phillies, of course, screwed this up royally. They even admitted that Myers was still there because he was their best pitcher. Myers did eventual "ask" (or was told to ask) for some time off, but he's starting again this Sunday. And don't give me the "innocent until proven guilty" thing, because Myers' contract no doubt has the standard "don't embarrass the club" clause that every pro signs. I don't care if you keep paying him, just get him off the field. Christ, T.O. got his season ended early for just talking smack - Myers actually smacked. Meanwhile, one of the "silent" partners who own the team, Bill Giles, got extremely unsilent to the Philadelphia Inquirer and said no, no, Brett was helping his wife. Big misunderstanding. All the witnesses were wrong, including Mrs. Myers. The Phillies had to clean up that mess the next day by pretty much admitting that Giles was talking out his ass. And yet Major League Baseball did nothing to Giles either. The guy called a battered wife a liar, and baseball saw nothing wrong with that. It's all pathetic and it makes me not want to watch the Phillies. I can put up with the losing (though that gets old, too) but this really just makes me sick. Philadelphians often treat their team owners like crap, but the fans - the real fans, not the sports-radio blowhards - deserve better than this. The missus really said it all much better.
• Back to lighter stuff: I told the missus tonight, Bobby Flay really seems like the kind of guy I should hate, but for some reason I don't. I like his grilling show, I like him on Iron Chef, and I like him on his new show - Throwdown. Throwdown has him surprising cooks and bakers and challenging them to a cook-off. The first episode was pretty good. Of course, he won. He always wins.
• I'm also looking forward to Alton Brown's new series, Feasting of Asphalt, which sends him around the country on his motorcycle to chronicle the history of eating on the road. It should be quite different from Good Eats, but his emceeing on Iron Chef has shown he can entertain even away from the stove.
• Hey, remember Tuesday night? Around here humidity was at about 352% (shhh, it can so happen) and I had a race to run. You could run one loop (3.65 miles) or two (7.3 miles) and you got to decide while you were on the course which one you would do. My plan was for the 2-loop, since I had a seven-miler planned for that morning anyway. By about mile 2, I felt like I was sucking air in through a straw and thought that perhaps it would be wiser to just do one loop. Pre-race, I was all worried about dehydration, but it was a lack of oxygen that did me in. But, BUT, it all was good in the end because I finished second in my age group! So I didn't die and I got an award. There were only four guys in my age group, but I'll take it. My prize was a pint glass - do they know me or what?

That's enough bullets for now. I'll let you know how the Booze Cruise fieldtrip goes.

Not To Be Confused With The 60 Billion Other Upbeat Blends Of Pop And Rock With Lyrics About Finding Comfort And Happiness In A Relationship With A New Boyfriend That Came Before This One

Wiki Wednesday - with a (ho-boy) twist!

You know - you go to Wikipedia The Ashlee Simpson Wiki, you click on "random article page," you report on the outcome.

Here's my random Wiki Wednesday find for this week:

Pieces of Me

"Pieces of Me" is a Top 40 song by the American singer Ashlee Simpson that hit airwaves in the United States in mid-2004. The first single off Simpson's debut album, Autobiography, it is an upbeat blend of pop and rock with lyrics about finding comfort and happiness in a relationship with a new boyfriend.

The recording of "Pieces of Me" features in the fourth episode of Simpson's reality show, The Ashlee Simpson Show, and was inspired by Simpson's relationship with the musician Ryan Cabrera, a friend with whom she became romantically involved. As she says on the show: "I'm writing a song called "Pieces of Me", and it's about Ryan." In one interview, she said that "Ryan's my best friend, and he's the only one who gets me. After a long day, he'll come over and I forget about everything else." She also called Cabrera her inspiration for the song in the thank you section of Autobiography's liner notes. The song's lyrics express the comfort she finds with him: "It seems like I can finally rest my head on something real," she sings. Regarding Cabrera's reaction to the song, she has said: "I think he said, 'Ohhh, baby you're so cute' and...

No lie, it goes on and on like this forever.

Oh, what hath Wiki wrought.

RIYL12

My RIYLmusic Top 30 list [where I get to pretend I'm a program director at my very own hip radio station (full story here)] - for the week beginning July 10, 2006.

Last week I completely blew-off my RIYL list because I was, as the Brits say, "on holiday." This week's not going to be much better because I simply can't find much that's new and interesting this week - not that I can preview for free anyway.

Radiohead's Thom Yorke has his first solo album out, The Eraser, but I'm one of those guys who never got Radiohead, and I swear I've tried. Sufjan Stevens has released "outtakes & extras" from his brilliant Illinoise disc under the title The Avalanche, but not surprisingly the early word is that most of it should have stayed unheard - the original album was pretty damn close to perfect, so just leave it be. So Sufjan, please, stop worrying about what you have done and start working on state album number three. Might I suggest New Jersey this time?

Chris Thomas King, one of the few non-bluegrass artists on the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack (he also appeared in the movie as one of the Soggy Bottom Boys) has a new album of pre- and post-Katrina blues called Rise. King knows of what he sings, having lost his house in the floods. That would be worth a listen if only his website was streaming more than just 30-second teasers.

The two discs that I'm adding to the playlist this week are belated Father's Day gifts, so belated that they just came yesterday - so I haven't given them much play just yet:

Beth Orton Comfort of Strangers Orton avoids staleness by dropping her usual electronica-lite backgrounds for folk-lite backgrounds on this disc that came out earlier this year. The new sound seems to highlight her angelic voice better. I'm a sucker for angelic voices.

Los Lobos Ride This In 2004 Los Lobos released The Ride, a disc full of other artists (such as Elvis Costello, Dave Alvin, and Tom Waits) joining the band and taking on their songs. They also released this EP - the band's take on some of those same artists' songs (got that?). Seven songs short, it comes off as something done on a lark - but they sure sound like they're having fun. It also includes an absolute ass-kicking version of Richard Thompson's "Shoot Out The Lights." And you've got to love the circa-1982 mix-tape inspired cover - I taped over plenty of cassettes in my younger years.

Now, the list:

1. THE HEAVY BLINKERS The Night and I Are Still So Young
2. BETH ORTON The Kindness Of Strangers
3. LOS LOBOS Ride This
4. BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions
5. CAMERA OBSCURA Let’s Get Out of This Country
6. MY MORNING JACKET Z
7. KEANE Under the Iron Sea
8. MATES OF STATE Bring It Back
9. MASON JENNINGS Boneclouds
10. DAVE ALVIN West of the West
11. JOHNNY CASH Personal File
12. THE RACONTEURS Broken Boy Soldiers
13. ALEJANDRO ESCOVEDO The Boxing Mirror
14. STEVE WYNN & THE MIRACLE 3 ...Tick...Tick...Tick
15. ELVIS COSTELLO & ALLEN TOUSSAINT The River In Reverse
16. DR. JOHN Mercernary
17. DAN ZANES Catch That Train!
18. GRANT LEE PHILLIPS Nineteeneighties
19. NEIL YOUNG Living With War
20. THE REPLACEMENTS Don't You Know Who I Think I Was?
21. LOOSE FUR Born Again In The USA
22. FLAMING LIPS At War With The Mystics
23. GRAM PARSONS The Complete Reprise Sessions
24. THE SILVER JEWS Tanglewood Numbers
25. NEKO CASE Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
26. JENNY LEWIS WITH THE WATSON TWINS Rabbit Fur Coat
27. SNOW PATROL Eyes Open
28. PAUL SIMON Surprise
29. CAT POWER The Greatest
30. ALLISON MOORER Getting Somewhere

Dropping off the list this week:

• MATTHEW SWEET In Reverse
• THE A-SIDES Hello, Hello 

Whirling Derbyist

Tonight I was all set to live-blog the Home Run Derby, sorry, the Century 21 Home Run Derby, like I so brilliantly did last year. Unfortunately, sometime between last year's derby and today's, the missus and I came up with the "laptop or remote" rule. Simply put, you cannot control both at the same time.

So no live-blogging, but you know what? Ehh. ESPN and MLB fill the derby with so much blabbing and filler and ad time (and ad time and ad time) that it comes very close to not being worth it. They start it at 8:00 and it doesn't end until close to 11:00. They could probably get the whole thing over in 90 minutes if they wanted to. In fact, back in 1996 when the All-Star Game (and the derby) were in Philly and the missus and I got to go to both events, I seem to remember that the derby did take about 90 minutes. And it was played during the day. And people would have to take off from work and they would get a painful sunburn - and we liked it! We loved it!

But think about how it is these days - it now takes them about the length of a real baseball game to run through 14 at-bats (eight in round 1, four in round 2, and two in round 3). Granted, the at-bats are longer than real-game at-bats, but three hours for just 14 of them? Compare that to even the fewest at-bats a nine-inning game can have - 52 (I think) - and you get an idea of just how much of the night is filler.

The three-hour run-time also ensures that the eight-year-old baseball fans out there won't be able to stay up for most of the second round and any of the last round - at least not the eight-year-old children of responsible parents. That's okay though, since responsible parents wouldn't want their eight-year-old children seeing the inappropriate ads (like the freaky one for Snakes on a Plane) that they kept showing anyway. As always, another bang-up job by MLB courting those desperately-needed fans of the future.

Watching the whole thing through did pay off, though. For the second year in a row a Phillie somehow ended up winning the derby. Rookie Ryan Howard, perhaps the one player who could make Philadelphia not regret losing Jim Thome, followed in the footsteps of last year's winner, Bobby Abreu.

This may very well end up being the highlight of the whole Phllies season and how sad is that? Let's just hope that Howard hasn't screwed up his second-half swing like Abreu did last year.

So, Yea! Ryan Howard! Boo! Major League Baseball. Let's hope they do a better job with tomorrow night's All-Star Game.

Speaking of which, how does one root for the National League now that there's an actual team out there called "the Nationals"? That's how we used to refer to those who play for the Senior Circuit. Do we actually now have to say, "Go!, Players Representing the National League"? Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue.

Now that I think about it, have fans of the American League always rooted for "the Americans"? That doesn't seem right either. That would mean all of France would be rooting for the Nationals the Players Representing the National League.

These are the things you think about when your team sucks.

[Photo credit: AP]

One-Trick Eponym

While catching up on my blog reading I found (at A List Of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago) that the British magazine Uncut (don't worry, I'd never heard of it either) had published what they call the "100 Greatest Debut Albums."

All of the news stories about the list only reveal the top ten, but I was able to find someone who posted the whole list on the internets (which is cool, 'cause British import music mags cost around $25 at Barnes and Noble - that's a lot of dough to put out just to be told by some snooty Mancunian that your taste in music sucks).

Strangely, the only thing I was really interested in finding out was how many of the top 100 albums were self-titled. The answer? A whopping 36!

Suede, Foo Fighters, The White Stripes, Throwing Muses, Franz Ferdinand, Elastica, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, The Undertones, Elvis Presley, Little Feat, Cheap Trick, Jackson Browne, The LA's, Judee Sill, Suicide, Neu!, Tim Hardin, Bob Dylan, Randy Newman, Moby Grape, The Pretenders, The Modern Lovers, Black Sabbath, The Doors, Buffalo Springfield, The Smiths, The Specials, New York Dolls, The Rolling Stones, Ramones, The Stooges, Roxy Music, Led Zeppelin, The Clash, The Stone Roses, and The Velvet Underground & Nico.

My question: Why should we trust that a new band or artist has any creative talent when they can't even come up with a good album name?

As for the Uncut list, it's heavy on English bands (boy, those Brits sure do love their Stone Roses), but I found that I agreed with most of their picks (at least the ones I had heard of). If I had to pick the top 10 debuts from the Uncut list, I would go with these (of which only three are self-titled):

88. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
79. Jackson Browne - Jackson Browne
49. Talking Heads - 77
48. The Pretenders - The Pretenders
39. Bruce Springsteen - Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ
34. Steely Dan - Can't Buy A Thrill
31. Elvis Costello - My Aim Is True
24. Big Star - #1 Record
22. R.E.M. - Murmur
5. The Band - Music From Big Pink

My list would have Springsteen, Big Star, and the Talking Heads at 1, 2, and 3.

I'm a little concerned that all my picks are over twenty years old. What am I missing (and please don't say Pearl Jam)?

I think I'm going to have to revisit this topic someday soon.

Mr. Bloggs Takes A Vacation

Returning from a whole week without any blog reading and - no offense to my fellow bloggers - I didn't miss it at all. There were even a few times when the missus picked up a stray wireless connection, and I still didn't go online. Not even tempted.

Now I'm trying to slowly ease back into the habit, but it isn't easy with close to 1000 posts queued up in my Bloglines account. And of course I'll probably end up reading every one of them. Just when I thought that I was out, they pull me back in.

Two other things I successfully avoided while downtheshore with the family: depressing national politics (though I did follow the whole Jersey budget shutdown story) and even-more-depressing Phillies scores.

Great vacation - way too short. Ran some, biked more, walked even more. Read books, watched dvds, played skeeball, ate too much, slept in.

More later.

Inner Cube - Day 7

While I'm on vacation this week, I thought I'd offer a few peeks into the ol' office space:

This month, So-Jer. Next month, So-Cal!

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This post was published using TypePad's "auto-post" feature. Comments may be left, but they will not be read by me until July 8, 2006, at the earliest . The family is on a much-needed, Internet-free vacation downtheshore. I have lined up a post for each day I'm offline for those of you who need your daily Long Cut fix.

Inner Cube - Day 6

While I'm on vacation this week, I thought I'd offer a few peeks into the ol' office space:

Why the missus won't let me display these at home, I'll never know.

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This post was published using TypePad's "auto-post" feature. Comments may be left, but they will not be read by me until July 8, 2006, at the earliest . The family is on a much-needed, Internet-free vacation downtheshore. I have lined up a post for each day I'm offline for those of you who need your daily Long Cut fix.

Inner Cube - Day 5

While I'm on vacation this week, I thought I'd offer a few peeks into the ol' office space:

A surprisingly accurate portrait, done by the almost-nine-year-old, almost six years ago.

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This post was published using TypePad's "auto-post" feature. Comments may be left, but they will not be read by me until July 8, 2006, at the earliest . The family is on a much-needed, Internet-free vacation downtheshore. I have lined up a post for each day I'm offline for those of you who need your daily Long Cut fix.

Inner Cube - Day 4

While I'm on vacation this week, I thought I'd offer a few peeks into the ol' office space:

The side of my file cabinet that isn't visable from the hallway.

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This post was published using TypePad's "auto-post" feature. Comments may be left, but they will not be read by me until July 8, 2006, at the earliest . The family is on a much-needed, Internet-free vacation downtheshore. I have lined up a post for each day I'm offline for those of you who need your daily Long Cut fix.

Inner Cube - Day 3

While I'm on vacation this week, I thought I'd offer a few peeks into the ol' office space:

My cherished chunk of the late great Veterans Stadium. There's no telling how many drunks peed on this piece of concrete.

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This post was published using TypePad's "auto-post" feature. Comments may be left, but they will not be read by me until July 8, 2006, at the earliest . The family is on a much-needed, Internet-free vacation downtheshore. I have lined up a post for each day I'm offline for those of you who need your daily Long Cut fix.

Inner Cube - Day 2

While I'm on vacation this week, I thought I'd offer a few peeks into the ol' office space:

The kind of touching, beautifully personalized Father's Day gift that just can't be returned. No matter how hard you try.

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This post was published using TypePad's "auto-post" feature. Comments may be left, but they will not be read by me until July 8, 2006, at the earliest . The family is on a much-needed, Internet-free vacation downtheshore. I have lined up a post for each day I'm offline for those of you who need your daily Long Cut fix.

Inner Cube - Day 1

While I'm on vacation this week, I thought I'd offer a few peeks into the ol' office space:

The backup tapes, stored in boxes from last year's vacation.

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This post was published using TypePad's "auto-post" feature. Comments may be left, but they will not be read by me until July 8, 2006, at the earliest . The family is on a much-needed, Internet-free vacation downtheshore. I have lined up a post for each day I'm offline for those of you who need your daily Long Cut fix.