b.rox

Here’s an eco-themed mix. For ten days or so I’ve been in something akin to a state of denial, or perhaps a better term would be extreme wishful thinking. I was sorry to hear people had died when Deepwater Horizon blew up in the Gulf of Mexico. I wished the workers who were missing would [...]

Recently I have been reduced to taking photos with my phone. It’s handy to have a camera in your phone, but these days it’s just about all I have. For years now I’ve had the use of an old beat-up Nikon Coolpix 990 from work. I had it with me when we evacuated, and so [...]

There’s a house in our neighborhood with a large frog sculpture mounted to the exterior, such that it appears to be climbing up the side of the house. When we pass by my daughter likes to point the frog out, wave, say “ribbit,” etc. (Imagine my surprise when I learned the house and, presumably, the [...]

Abril lluvioso by Julián Lozano This has always been a funny time of year for me. Between spring break and the end of the semester, faculty get more stressed than ever and tend to walk around campus enveloped in clouds of gloom. Because I don’t teach, I’m a bit removed from the pressures that build [...]

Photo by SDWolfpup It’s that time of year again. Jazz Fest. I know it’s here because casual conversation takes a turn. People ask: “Goin’ to the Fest?” And of course I can never give a simple answer when a more complicated one will do. My objections are three-fold. First, this is not my music. Don’t [...]

photo by spike55151 So I took the first six seconds of “So Emotional” and looped it eleven times, each time at a lower bit rate. I call it “The Degradation of Whitney in Eleven Stages,” and you can listen to it on SoundCloud. (My apologies to Whitney Houston. This is just intended to demonstrate how [...]

Dear Persephone, You are fully into the “all by self” phase which I guess is pretty famous for kids your age. You want to do everything “all by self” even when you aren’t, strictly speaking, capable. Fortunately you’re not so pig-headed as to persist when it’s clear your reach has exceeded your grasp. Then “all [...]

Here’s a screenshot of a graph of my social network on Facebook, generated with the Social Graph application. This isn’t anything new, but I was interested to see the visualization. The three main clumps are, from left to right, my high school, Indiana (mostly Bloomington) and New Orleans. Some family members can be found in [...]

Photo by Jenn Forman Orth Yesterday my daughter and I were sitting on the front steps playing the “game of hiding.” That’s where she grabs on to my back and I pretend I can’t find her. Then she reveals herself, and great hilarity ensues. Only our game was interrupted when she howled in pain and [...]

Photo by Derek Bridges / CC BY 2.0 Expanding on a comment I left back o’ town: Finally saw it Thursday night. Absolutely blown-ass-away. All my expectations were exceeded. I’m so impressed by the execution of the pilot and the potential of this series. I think it is going to give The Wire a run [...]

my foot in happier days Here’s a goofy mix of foot-related songs to enjoy whilst I relate the latest. On Monday I went back to my orthopedist because of the previously noted issues I’ve been having with my lower left extremity. I hate going to see that guy because he’s in a big hospital downtown [...]

reflections (A) by camil tulcan We had overlapping houseguests last weekend. My mother-in-law was still here, and we were also playing host to a former student of mine. What? I have former students? That phrase seems strange to me, but I guess it’s accurate. Back in the 98-99 school year I assisted Ron Osgood in [...]

Now might be a good time to register for the Lafitte Corridor hike on May 8. photo by Charles London Here’s a new song I’ve been singing lately. Two step forwards, one step back Doing the greenway shuffle Last year we took two steps forward. This year we’re taking a step back. I have to keep [...]

I am pretty excited about HBO’s new series, Tremé. I still haven’t actually seen it yet, but I feel like I have, almost. It premiered Friday night, and I had a couple invites to see it in some venues that would have been fun. (Like the Charbonnet Funeral Home in Tremé. That would have been [...]

Sometime way back in 1992 a co-worker of mine at DialAmerica, a freaky long-haired nipple-ringed Mormon dude named Rob, told me that he and another guy were trying to get band together. Next thing I knew I was in his basement with a mic in my hand. Rob was a drummer; he had a double-bass [...]

We have shot an amazing number of people, but to my knowledge, none has ever proven to be a threat. — Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, senior American and NATO commander in Afghanistan

The ubiquity of Facebook plus the end of Net Neutrality plus the conversion of the open internet into increasingly walled off proprietary information delivery systems is turning the public sphere into a much less free place than it ever has been and people seem to LOVE IT. — jeffrey on nolablist (walled off proprietary information [...]

Guess what I was doing 33 years ago today? Well, actually I don’t know. But I know what my mother was doing. She was posting a letter. I know this because the letter was recently unearthed by some relatives, and Mom just sent it to me. It’s an Easter card to my Grandpa Sid. And [...]

I remember back in 2004 I had a revelation on how Netflix could enhance its service by adding social features. I thought it was a such a good idea I contemplated writing to them to make the suggestion. I never actually contacted them, but I was pleased as punch when they actually did roll out [...]