b.rox

Back when Xy & I lived in Bloomington, we knew a guy named Ray, a long-haired acid burnout/schizophrenic with a penchant for bizarre puns. Once he told us he was going on a trip to New Orleans via the “Oz Arks.” I believe he got arrested for drug possession somewhere along the way.
His nomenclature has [...]

It’s official. We’ll be meeting at Nick’s English Hut in Bloomington, Indiana, at 8:30pm on the evening of Wednesday, July 6th.
Who are “we”? Well, in this case, “we” is me and everyone who reads this, if you’re in the Bloomington area. Even if we’ve never met in person, feel free to come on by and [...]

As of about an hour or so ago, I’m officially on vacation.
Woohoo.
Well, it’s about time. I see Xy kickin’ back every day, taking it easy, and frankly I get a little bit jealous. Now it’s my turn to savor some of this summertime leisure.

We’ve still got a lot of movies that start with “M” on our list, but we’ve muddled our way through the manly films — that is, films that start with the word “man.”
Bestest:

The Man in the White Suit — 1951. Brilliant.

Quite good:

A Man for All Seasons — 1966. The King has big shoulder pads.
The Man [...]

Dreamed a TV show. Cloris Leachman had a brief cameo as a brunette. She also made a quick appearence in a group of dancers with her hair dyed platinum blonde. I didn’t realize that was her until the credits rolled. She was listed as Cloris Bleachman.
The cameo idea came from The Family Guy, but the [...]

We’ve just about fleshed out the itinerary for our upcoming trip, and I realize now that we’ll be at my parents’ house on Sunday morning.
As a rule, this is something I’ve tried to avoid in recent years, as it brings up the sometimes awkward matter of going to church — or not going to church, [...]

Xy & I watched the premier of 30 Days last night. I think it was as good as anything I’ve seen on television in years. Better, in fact.
The premise: People spend thirty days living a different life than they normally live. The first episode features Morgan “Supersize Me” Spurlock and his fianc?© trying to make [...]

We’ve been holding enemy combatants… for 230 years in various facilities. There is nothing punitive about it. This is not a legal proceeding. There is no need to bring charges. They’re being held because they were identified on the battlefield as threats to our forces.
– Former U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr to Senate Judiciary [...]

I heard a statistic on the radio this morning that got my attention: If Louisiana were a country, it would have the highest incarceration rate in the world. Could this be true, I wondered?
A little web searching revealed many citations of Texas, our neighbor to the west, as having the highest incarceration rate.
For example:
If Texas [...]

Last night I dreamed that my father was building a grow room in his house. Seems he’d become a marijuana enthusiast. Anyone who knows my dad knows this is about as likely as Lucifer ice-skating across the Lake of Fire.

Figured out last night how to drive all the guests from our house. Just play Man with the Movie Camera. Jeez.

I’d hoped to spend the day floating down the Bogue Chitto in an innertube. But for some damn reason, the place we planned to patronize (Wayne’s World) isn’t renting today. I guess they’re afraid of a big electrical storm.
So I went to work instead, which isn’t bad, but it’s not the same as floating down [...]

I’ve been wondering how many people read any given post on this blog. (My web stats say this site averages between 200 and 300 visits per day, but of course that doesn’t indicate how many people really read any given post. I’m guessing it’s more like twenty, total. If that.)
So do me a favor and [...]

Last week’s episode of This American Life was the most thought-provoking I’ve ever heard, on a subject of great interest to me: religion. And it’s now available online for your listening pleasure.

We watched 27 movies beginning with the letter L.
Most excellent:

Life is Beautiful — 1997.

Good:

The Last Hurrah — 1958. Romanticizes the old-school political boss, which is a bit hard to swallow, but still it’s an excellent film.
The Last Samurai — 2003. Very good, but should have been great.
The Last Seduction — 1994. Lots of twists and [...]

This just in: The rumors are true. Apple is switching to Intel chips. Steve Jobs just announced it in his WWDC keynote about twenty minutes ago.

It’s not raining, but it feels like it. I felt like I was swimming on my way to work this morning. It feels like breathing water. I think I’m growing gills. You sweat just standing still. Everything’s stuck together. Paper curls up. Straight hair turns curly. Curly hair turns straight. Wrinkles vanish from clothing. How [...]

Item: The Ogden Museum has chosen their offical mug, and it’s made by none other than my friend Andrea Christie. The contest was judged by MaP?? Kinnord-Payton, an incredible ceramic artist in her own right, who works with me at the university.
Item: There’s an art gallery opening in our neighborhood — just around the corner [...]

This day is getting off to a rough start.
See, yesterday I hired a guy named Quickdraw to fix up our gutter.

This morning, we were awoken by a call from our next door neighbor, Craig. Seems Quickdraw had borrowed Craig’s ladder. Only in Craig’s estimation, Quickdraw was too drunk to be climbing on the roof. So [...]

Woke up yesterday morning feeling much better. I don’t know how to put my finger on it exactly, because many of my symptoms persist, but somehow it seemed the worst had passed. Since then I’ve had the feeling that I’m getting better rather than I’m so sick.
I went to the doctor yesterday morning, and her [...]