In my never ending quest to humiliate myself

before total strangers, here's what I'm perusing this lovely Friday night.



The other day at the library, I picked up this little gem. It was in the "popular non-fiction" stacks. A hot commodity like this has to be protected. The check out time is shortened due to "high demand." Hey, there's a need.

Now, just imagine the courage one needs to check this baby out under a stack of W. magazines and the odd book on the Byzantine Empire. I keep the librarians on their toes.

I'm not proud of this, but, yes, I am a reader of these sorts of books. Admitting this is the first step, right? I'm sure a straight jacket is involved in step two, but whatever.

The book is utterly devoid of (on-purpose) humor, but it's pretty damned entertaining just the same.

Here are some random section headings:

"You are what you think about" (ummm...like porn?)
"Compelling women have spunk" (I just bet they do.)
"The art of silent communication" (it's called "the bird")
"A Sprinkle a day" (and a dump at night?)
"We are what we eat" (gross)

and my favorite:

"Get rid of pesky growths" (the best advice ever)

Craigslist wrongness

I don't think I can even enumerate all that is wrong with
this missed connection post.
But let's just start with "Harahan."

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LOOKING FOR THE HARAHAN WIZARD OF OZ COLLECTOR - 38
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Reply to: pers-579921682@craigslist.org
Date: 2008-02-19, 7:53PM CST

You and I hooked up a few times last year and seeing if your still around. Me, white, 38, brown hair, trimmed beard, tall, 7", thick, cut. Hit me back if your still in town.

Location: YOUR PLACE

silly quiz

Who is Your Ideal TV Boyfriend?

More on Gossip Girl. Created by BuddyTV

Found this quiz at Pipedreams

I've never watched the show, so I don't know this character, but the description sounds kind of accurate actually.

book list

It being a beautiful sunny day here, and not having anything better to do,
I went out for a drive...and ended up (again) at the library.
Here's part of what I picked up:



A book of Muriel Spark's short stories, mainly because of Frontier Psychiatrist's recent recommendation of her work. I only knew of her from "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie," but just by that, well, there's not much left needed to recommend her to me. I picked this of her books mainly based on the beautiful cover. I'm shallow like that. I admit it. The library had several older editions of her work work each with beautiful mid-century covers.
I opened each and read the first page. One (I'm not sure which) had on the first page a character exclaiming (I'm paraphrasing from memory here, so forgive me):
"I love white bread and I have no fads!"
Which made me laugh nearly out loud.
Genius.



Two heavy books of complete eye candy: Taschen's Fashion: A History, One from the 20th century and the other from the 18th and 19th centuries. All the clothes are from a museum in Kyoto and just gorgeous.





Yet more eye candy: a book on Samuel Marx, a Chicago architect and designer, who designed the New Orleans Museum of Art right near my house when he was a young architecture student (I was surprised to learn). His interiors and furniture from the 30s-50s are fabulous.

A book on letter writing, a dead hobby I once practiced but of which I'm still fond.


Glancing at the back I noticed a glamorous photo of the author. I admit I was a little bit smitten.

Besides, I liked her headings:
"How to Confess Your Undying Love while You're Dying"
"Describing 'Down There'"
"Man to Man"
and my favorite:
"How to Apologize to Your Husband for Being Short with Him as the Housework Continues to Mount."

scintillating Friday night.

In a pique of whimsy, (and because it was discounted to half price) I bought a bottle of grenadine a few nights ago. I have no idea why.
Ok, so I do. It's such a pretty color...that and the Victorianish looking label.
I had no idea what to do with it, of course.

I only know of one drink that uses it, namely a Tequila Sunrise.
On the back of the bottle I saw a recipe for a "grown up Shirley Temple" (shouldn't that be a Shirley Temple Black?) using grenadine and gingerale. Tonight I bought the gingerale. It's pretty good.

"karaoke" is a Japanese word

Too bizarre.

"Tonight is (again) the Night "

(Rerun alert: I noticed the other night that some lost soul from Germany had found my post of Betty Wright, and I figure that's good enough reason to resurrect it.
I mean, German Betty Wright fans? The very idea is just too wonderful. Besides I'm coming off of an eleven hour work day, I'm tired, and, hey, a little Betty would do us all some good.)



This is one of the few songs I've practically memorized from childhood.
Betty Wright is the queen of the dirty song, but this is one of her most poetic.
I think it's beautiful, one of my favorites.

Funny to think that I was listening to this as a child, humming along as it burned itself into my cortex....sitting up in the front of the school bus, chatting with the bus driver.

Mr Savage and I had struck up an odd friendship, based upon our love of soul. We middle aged black folk recognize each other, regardless of the form we sometimes take....like, say, a 9 year old white boy or a grizzled 40 year old father of three with an eye for the ladies.

While the kids in the back screamed for him to "change the channel!" we chatted.
They sulked in the back, desperate to listen to
some god-awful "white music."

He wasn't having it. It stayed firmly on WYLD.

This was his god-damned bus.
Dammit.

The bus ride always seemed to take longer than it should. We always seemed to be stopping at houses all over the westbank for brief periods of time.
Every morning he'd get off the bus for a short while and rush back in and off we'd go, but I never minded.
More time for Betty Wright.

A few years later, of course, Mr Savage was arrested for dealing drugs (which he was doing with us on the bus every morning on our way to grammar school), but he'll always hold a special place in my heart.

This one is for him.

random inappropriateness

collected from here and there.

The Great Funk

The other day at the library I picked up The Great Funk by Thomas Hine
It's a book about the 70s. I'd read his earlier book, Populuxe, (about the post war period) long ago.

This one seems a bit more serious, but it still has its fun moments. There's an interesting, though very sketchy, line he draws between air conditioning and the rise of fundamentalism that I'd never considered before.

But his greatest talent is looking at interior design and what lay behind it. He goes on and on and on about the houseplant mania of the time, stressing the point that it was a reflection of the insecurity of the time. Maybe, but he seems to belabor that point.

It's an overview to be sure, and a fun read, and he does an admirable job keeping things both light and intriguing, and most of all connecting the threads (plus the photos are wonderful).

still life

No reason for this post, just a photo of my makeshift "bar." I'm playing around with a borrowed camera. You'll notice more knicknacks than liquor here.

There's my Empire State building (very dully from Target) nestled appropriately next to the Statue of Liberty tourist lighter bought in NYC, (now empty). When she worked, it was pretty cool. Press her book, and flames shot out of her torch.

In the background is the Virgen of Guadalupe votive candle for the local hispanic grocery (1 dollar). Nestled next to it are bottles of wine given as gifts, but never drunk.

In the foreground is my (Target bought) Eiffel Tower next to a little souvenir Arc de Triomphe bought years ago in a thrift store. These two were bought to keep in my mind the delusional hope of someday visiting Paris.

The little Arc de Triomphe is my favorite. It's from the 1950's, I believe. I've always liked to imagine about its origin, something vague about a couple who bought it on their honeymoon in 1959. What can I say, I have a lot of time on my hands.