December 2009
15 posts
Postscript
Libby loved the Barbie Jammin’ Jeep. Her favorite part: the screwdriver we left under the hood.
Oops.
Coming From Where I'm From
My parents have been married for 57 years and therefore no longer need to speak. They do speak, but they are so deeply on each other’s wavelength that it’s like they have their own special language. Take for example this exchange from a few days ago:
Mom: I’m going to the place. What’s that stuff that’s good on the thing? Dad: Horseradish sauce. [Scene.]
It’s...
Merry Christmas, babies!
I’m in St. Louis, hanging out with my parents, being driven just crazy enough.
The book I’m currently reading is “My Jesus Year,” in which Benyamin Cohen doesn’t so much spend a year as a Christian as spend a year near Christians, pointing out that he isn’t one wherever possible, and learning whatever you can learn from that. I haven’t been too inspired...
My Year Of Everything- Week Something DOWN.
I have totally lost track of how many books I’ve read. It is definitely less than the number of weeks I’ve been doing this project, which I’ve also lost track of, so I need to step it up. Or, when this thing gets published, just lie. Evidently, you can do that.
I am deeply, profoundly impressed by “The Unlikely Disciple,” and not just because I’ve been...
Cause, meet Effect
I’ve just finished the part of “The Unlikely Disciple” where author Kevin Roose reaches his limit of the rampant homophobia* at Liberty University, and I’m right there with him. While the general attitude toward gays seems to be “bemused pity,” some students just actively do not like gay people (never having met one, naturally). But statistically speaking, there...
A Dispatch From The Very Frontlines Of The Culture...
Here’s a real-life example of how forcefully the forces of tolerance are making their point:
Last October, I called a friend of a friend at one of the anti-Proposition 8 organizations to ask how I could get involved. I’d done some phone-banking for Obama during the primaries, and I felt ready to call some people up and make the case for my own right to marry. Point me in a direction...
The Unlikely Moviegoer
Like Kevin Roose in “The Unlikely Disciple,” last night, I infiltrated a foreign land. In my case, the AMC Burbank 16, where they were simulcasting Glenn Beck’s live one-man show “The Christmas Sweater: A Return To Redemption.” Here is my account, which is also posted at my other blog:
I went with my hilarious friend Brendan McLoughlin, who bought the crucial...
The Enemy Of My Enemy Is Kind Of A Dick
This morning, I found out that Glenn Beck is simulcasting his Christmas show “The Christmas Sweater: A Return To Redemption” in theaters nationwide this Thursday, and that one of those theaters is not far from my new house. I think Glenn Beck is a jackass, so I immediately emailed three good friends and made plans to go. I mean, how can you miss a return to redemption? You sneak in a flask of...
Alternative
Spending a week with MI6’s ace in the hole Ammon Shea did get me thinking about words and definitions and how they change over time, about the fluidity of our language.
It got me thinking about “alternative,” specifically as it relates to music. I was lucky enough to start appreciating music at right around age 9, the summer my oldest brother came home from college with his...
I'm so! I'm SO!
DISSATISFIED: Only a person can be dissatisfied, while an abstract thing like a need can be said to be unsatisfied. (The implied reproach of Paul Westerberg hurts me more than it hurts him.)
Ultimately, that’s what I was with “Reading the OED,” and not because it was poorly written. Quite the opposite; international super-spy Ammon Shea is a joy to read. He pulls a bunch of...