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“… 3… 2… 1… 0… I Said ZERO, Dammit, ZERO!”
[This post's title alludes to this little tidbit of news: 2008 will last a second longer than most years.] The New Year, per usual, calls to mind resolutions about what we hope will come within the next 365ish days. I’ll get to that in a moment. First, though, I want to note that whatever else [...]
Paying Attention to Action — or Is It Character?
I’ve written here before (here and here) about the terrors of newly-published-authordom — particularly, when the bad reviews land in your mailbox. But sometimes, even a bad review contains a nugget you cling to when the whole damned thing threatens to come unraveled, when your spirit sags and you wonder why you’re even bothering to [...]
Here Be Dragons
[Caption: "It must be yours. I have no imagination." Cartoon by Charles Barsotti in The New Yorker, November 27, 2006] The end of a year heralds all sort of soul-searching not just among writers, of course, but among everyone else. Did I do everything I could do? Did I do it as well as I [...]
Smile After Smile
They say old habits die hard, and I guess it’s true. But traditions are a sort of shared old habit, and traditions don’t die hard at all — although they don’t flat-out die, either. Traditions evolve. People come and go. What’s possible replaces what you could never do, and what you used to do all [...]
The Case of the Missing Human
All men are dogs, they say. But not all dogs are men. And I should know. My name’s Sophie. I’m a private eye. And yes, I’m a dog. But I’m a bitch. **** Things were looking pretty good that Friday morning when That Woman came into the back room of my office. I don’t let [...]
Figure, Ground, Imagined, Real: Not So Very Different
From whiskey river: The Cutting-beam Imagine this blur of chill, white, gray, vague, sadness burned off. Imagine a landscape of dry clear sunlight, precise shadows, forms of pure color. Imagine two neighboring hills, and your house, my house, looking across, friendly: imagine ourselves meeting each other, bringing gifts, bringing news. Yes, we need the heat [...]
A Quirky Eclectic Christmas Music Playlist
Okay, let’s do this playlist thing… These artists and numbers appear, back-to-back, in the playlist: Peter Robbins et al.: dialogue from A Charlie Brown Christmas Anonymous 4: Hodie Christus Natus Est Waverly Consort: Three Spanish Villancicos – Dadme Albcrecias Perry Como: Home for the Holidays Mannheim Steamroller: Joy to the World George Winston: The Holly [...]
Placeholder Post: Pre-Playlist
At least one thing has surprised me about Running After My Hat so far: the extent to which I’m blogging about and incorporating music in my posts. I mean, it’s not as though I actually know anything about the subject. I’m not a musician or musicologist or, well, much of anything regarding music — except [...]
The Taking of Pelham One— *
__________________________________ * Reference: fun flick.
Flange: A Gargoyle Looks at Xmas (Part 1)
After much debate, my co-blogger (Flange the gargoyle — “Flj” if you’re a purist of gargoylespeak) and I have finally resolved how to handle the mechanics of posting here. In this entry, at least, I will simply tell you what he’s told me, translated to English; every now and then I’ll interject a comment from [...]
