Tuesday, January 27, 2009
John Updike Is Dead
"... Though we thumped, wept, and chanted 'We want Ted' for minutes after he hid in the dugout, he did not come back. Our noise for some seconds passed beyond excitement into a kind of immense open anguish, a wailing, a cry to be saved. But immortality is nontransferable. The papers said that the other players, and even the umpires on the field, begged him to come out and acknowledge us in some way, but he never had and did not now. Gods do not answer letters."
- From Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu
The New Yorker. October 22, 1960
By John Updike (1932-2009)
Labels: writing
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Transcript Of The Letter From George W. Bush To Barack Obama On The Office Of The President Of The United States
Dear Barry,
The door to the Rose Garden sticks a little. You have to jiggle the handle a little to open it.
Love,
GWB
P.S. I want to see Kings of Leon in Australia in April. Can I borrow Air Force One?
Labels: funny (not), politics
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
I've Been Uninspired Lately
I was going to write a long post on Israel, because I've been bouncing it around my head essentially non-stop for the past couple of weeks, but I changed my mind. I just don't have the energy to go into what I think right now. I will suggest that I'm a little bit surprised at the situation, broadly speaking.
I will say that the one time that I went to Israel (for 3 weeks in 1992), there was a raid from Jordan at an Israeli border crossing like 5 minutes after I drove by it.
Finally, changing topics: is it just me or is a clear kayak like the most awesome idea ever?
Monday, January 5, 2009
When We Used To Climb The Rope In Gym Class
I was at the hockey game tonight, and they were scrolling these text messages from fans on the big screen during the intermission. There was one from a guy named Hector, and it made me think of Hector Suarez, this dude that went to my junior high school and was in my gym class when I was in 9th grade. Then I wondered what Hector was doing today. Maybe he's even watching the hockey game.
It got me to thinking: is there ever a time that Hector Suarez is sitting on his couch in his house and thinking to himself, "Remember that kid Geoff Wolinetz in my gym class? I wonder what he's doing today."
I pretty sure he doesn't.
Labels: gym class, junior high, stuff
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Thought Of The Day
Remember the '80s? We all do now thanks to VH1, but do you really remember the '80s?
Do you remember talking about who was better: Prince or Michael Jackson? Think about having that argument today. Is there a less culturally relevant discussion you could have?
Labels: 1980s
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Bloggin' On A Saturday Night
- I saw
Milk last night and I have to say that I get why everyone wants to heap accolades on Gus Van Sant and Sean Penn, but I'm not sure why everyone is going buck wild over Josh Brolin's performance. He wasn't egregiously bad, but it's not like his performance was anything other than what it needed to be. Also, his facial features seem to grow larger by the day.
Anyway, here's the Times' A.O. Scott
about the film from tomorrow's special Oscars section.
- A few years back, I had an idea for a collection of essays called "I'm Afraid of Boyle's Law And Other Stories of Outrage," which was set to be essays about intangible things of which I have an irrational fear. Like 99% of my projects*, it stalled in the concept phase, but I think I might pick it up again.
*Actually, I'm being generous. It's much, much closer to 100% than it is to 99%.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Shalom 2008. Shalom, 2009.
Suffice it to say that I ate enough last night to kill a medium-sized family of wild dogs.
Labels: New Years'
