"Why do they [write] for their money? Why do they [work] for short pay? They ain't getting nowhere and they're losing their share. They must have gone crazy back there." — Michael Burton (paraphrased)
Income taxes should be done by now. Necessity is the mother of completion (okay, okay, it’s really invention), and I’m going to get some righteous bucks back, and, God knows, I need them, but the motivation required to do taxes quickly and industriously is a virtue I lack. I chip away. One morning I go …
Continue reading The Trouble with Taxes Is They Are So Taxing
What if it is discovered, oh, in a decade or so, that the smartest people are the ones in prison because they aren’t allowed to use Twitter? What if the language changes, veering in the direction of mindless simplicity by means of the use of “u” instead of “you,” “2” instead of “to” or “too” …
I might as well admit it. I’m in a bit of a slump. Or maybe it’s a rut. My wheels are spinning. Sand, perhaps. I’m lapping away. I have a picture of where my writing needs to go. It’s just in soft focus. I’m getting Monet when I need a stark, black and white photograph. …
These are not practical tips in terms of serious. Lots of readers might be pissed because they clicked on this expecting something that really helps their writing. This is meant to be practically funny. Of course, whether it succeeds or not depends on the reaction of each reader. Some who are humorless will read this …
Some things I know. For instance, I know who framed Roger Rabbit. I know how to spell “Mississippi.” And “Ueberroth,” even after, lo, these many years. I don’t know how to spell “al-Qaeda” and “Qadhafi.” Neither does anyone else, though there are various and sundry opinions. My sad fate is to be a whiz at …
It just doesn’t matter. In so many ways. That, and nothing ever works. Nothing. Ever. Works. My optimism is sorely tested, as you may have gathered by the opening salvo of shibboleth. The level of bullshit daily assaulting my senses is oppressive. For instance, I just saw a clip of John Boehner say, “We’re really …
Last night the Grammys sucked so much that I actually watched a handful of plays in the Pro Bowl. Then I switched channels and closed my eyes until the sunspots from the uniforms disappeared. The Sanders Team vs. the Rice Team, huh? Who came up with that? As recently as two years ago, I enjoyed …
I’m not getting any smarter, but at least I continue to be educated. As tempting as it is to do nothing but make snappy posts on Facebook and Twitter, somehow I’ve managed not to succumb to the developing cultural profile of knowing a little about a lot and a lot about nothing. This is the …
Some words are seldom said. When’s the last time you heard someone say “akimbo”? I might be the only person I’ve ever heard say it, and that was because I made a point of it. As a boy, I got many of my “big words” from comic books. As a result, for years, until I …
I was just thinking – well, on and off, actually, for several days – about things people used to do and say. And don’t anymore. When’s the last time you heard the term “Red China”? That used to be short for the People’s Republic, back before it started supplying Walmart. “Nationalist China” sounded important, but …
Nightrider's Lament 