An iceberg caught in headlights as Sydney embraces darker, more devilish mood
Look out, folks, because it is officially no longer slow Monday on April morning at Bondi. April is the cruelest month, T.S. Eliot once wrote so to make a very long story short, this morning, like most other weekend mornings, I endeavored to swim across the bay at Bondi. Usually this is not a life-threatening task as only two ot three schools of salmon threaten your life. Usually I can just hop in the ocean, swim past the Bondi Pavilion, turn around and hop out. Usually I do not feel fear. Usually others get stung by bluebottles or crash to other swimmers ... However, yesterday I was at the pool where traffic was comparable to a rush hour on the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the waves invading the pool made wine corks out of us. So today I am nursing a scratched back and a bump on my head. Who says that not enough things in this world are free?...
Things I once believed which aren’t remotely true:
It’s a warm day on s(i)x of September, this must be the start of spring. Most people are pretty smart. Most people can be reasoned with. Intentional cruelty is an anomaly. Bullies will get their comeuppance. Other people’s dirt is dirtier than your dirt. Most people value a work ethic. I’m a really good driver. Rich people can’t possibly be that obtuse. Blogging helps. Someday he’ll have that epiphany, and apologise. My years of abject poverty taught me a valuable lesson. One day this house will be sparkling clean. Self doubt keeps you humble. Grammar is fascinating; punctuation is an art. Iceberg has hidden depths. Things happen for a reason. We blog for a reason...
My wife and I were happy for twenty-three years. Then we met:
By all means marry. If you get a good wife, you'll become happy; if you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher.
I know I am the wanderer of the ways of all the worlds, to whom the sunshine and the rain are one and one to stay or hasten, because he knows no ending of the way, no home, no goal, and phantom night and the grey day alike withhold the heart where all my dreams and days might faint in soft fire and delicious death: and saying this to myself as a simple thing I feel a peace fall in the heart of the winds and a clear dusk settle, somewhere, far in me ... [I told my psychiatrist that everyone hates me. He said I was being ridiculous - everyone hasn't met me yet; I told my wife the truth. I told her I was seeing a psychiatrist. Then she told me the truth: that she was seeing a psychiatrist, two programmers, and a klassy salesman ;-)]
The Blog, The Press, The Media: These Are a Few of My Favorite Things: In Defense of Pastiche
I can not stand pastiche." He laced the word "pastiche" with such contempt that I cringed ... I like it. Pastiche. It's how...I think ... Free the sound! Free the blogging underground
Pastiche is not satire. Pastiche is not homage. Pastiche is a matter of preference, a way of making and creating. Pastiche combines elements of like and dislike: by placing my personal tastes, my favourites, with and against material that I might otherwise avoid, I perceive counterpoint and contrast and am often forced to reevaluate. The annoying sometimes becomes likeable while something I love dearly appears boring.
• What's the use of happiness? It can't buy you money. The "crazy" quilts always fascinate me [Is balanced journalism to blame for the lack of action on global warming? In the balance ; There is always an easy solution to every human problem—neat, plausible and wrong Simple Solutions to Complex Problems ; The pitfalls of full-time writing A WORDSMITH WITH CRIMINAL TASTES ]
• · Many of you belong to organizations such as PEN or other writer’s organizations that could bring pressure to bear. Others of you have blogs that could spread the news. I ask all of you, please, for the love of truth and freedom of the press, come to Spezi’s aid ; John Connolly in blogging mood: I'm taking Viagra and drinking prune juice - I don't know if I'm coming or going. And another thing... ; Just-launched group blog Murderati Getting To Know You...; If it wasn't for pick-pockets I'd have no sex life at all Blogs Can be an Online Shoppers Pal
• · · History Lessons: Like some writers, I don’t have a "day job," and haven’t for about five years. I hurtled straight from a dying gig working among dinosaurs right into scribbling for pay. Freelancing is a roller coaster ride at the best of times so when the work comes, you jump. I had the strangest brush with history this weekend; Our 'eggheads' may be consigned to 'ivory towers' but Britain has always had influential thinkers. THE BRITISH like to dislike intellectuals. There is something a little too foreign about the intellectual, a little too self-conscious; in truth, a little too French. Intellectual (n): clever dick ; Nine months of hard work, and our new baby is almost here. Before it's even revealed to the public, I'm very excited and proud about the new site, which will eventually at the following linx (You can currently see the old busted version at that location.) New Hotness in Podcasting - via the chaffed and charged Electron
• · · · There are various theories about the origins of human language. Faked emails have been wreaking havoc on political careers. Reader beware! Internet hoaxes hit politics ; A syndication service that delivers commentary from 600 bloggers for use by newspaper publishers further blurs the lines that divide blogs and mainstream media BlogBurst: Bloggers Join the Mainstream
• · · · · THE MASS MEDIA perform a vital function in democratic systems by reporting what elected officials are doing in office Congress, the Press, and Political Accountability; Tech startup Pluck is rolling out syndicated blog offerings for traditional publications. But is this a service anyone needs? A Bloggy Boost for Old Media
• · · · · · I'm a blogger, so please bear with me; I can insult you, I can steal from you, I deserve candy and warm clothes more than you do Blog Burst ; Who needs a life when you can sit at home and buy 1970s sleaze fiction on the net? Such a Deal: Books, Tours and Web Sites for Shoppers