tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-134940352024-03-07T13:29:36.815-08:00BAXBLOGhalf full, half emptybaxiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01212016193695451737noreply@blogger.comBlogger3742125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13494035.post-11124467382276463402016-06-12T16:15:00.003-07:002016-06-12T16:15:54.545-07:00The Problem Is Guns
Not mental health, not Islam, not Christianity, not white supremacy, not homophobia, not an innate flaw in the Human Race. Nothing but than casual, nearly universal access to machines designed to kill many, many human beings in a short period.Tossing out these intractable facets of human nature to obfuscate the root cause of massacres is the preferred tactic of gun apologists. Blamebaxiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01212016193695451737noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13494035.post-29020870460550977832016-06-03T12:16:00.000-07:002016-06-03T12:16:09.873-07:00RIP Lau Kar-Leung2016 continues building its legacy of carnage, claiming one of the HK's greatest action choreographers and directors.
Commemorative film festival entries available on Netflix:
The 36th Chamber of ShaolinOne of the greatest films ever made.
Return to the 36th Chamber
A worthy sequel.
Disciples of the 36th ChamberAnother classicA mighty legacy.baxiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01212016193695451737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13494035.post-63643343899869146122016-05-21T15:37:00.001-07:002016-05-21T15:37:51.643-07:00Adios, Democratic partySo this primary thing is at a rolling boil, with the likeliest conclusion remaining unchanged- Candidate Clinton. Also unchanged is my low opinion of HRC and belief that she's a weak candidate with bad judgement who will make a poor president. She'll beat Trump thanks to inexorable demographic change undermining the efficiency of running explicitly racist, xenophobic national baxiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01212016193695451737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13494035.post-61723898713133113612016-05-08T11:25:00.001-07:002016-05-08T11:25:01.117-07:00Mother's Daybaxiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01212016193695451737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13494035.post-46819196157356316202016-03-14T17:18:00.002-07:002016-03-14T17:29:08.848-07:00True Customer Tales: Trump & the Art of the Deal
(Trump's Rug Emporium, artist's conception)
We've had a copy of Art of the Deal by Donald Trump on display by the register the last couple of weeks and it's been an entertaining ride. The college town used book demographic isn't receptive to The Donald's message and I regularly find it turned around, face toward the shelf, or carried off to assorted faraway sections (favorite baxiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01212016193695451737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13494035.post-51083831582873546502016-03-09T15:55:00.002-08:002016-03-09T15:55:33.440-08:00Our First White President
Pick up Fuss from school and on the way home we had a short political discussion.
Dada, who are you voting for for president?
Well, in the primary I've voting for Bernie Sanders, and then in the actual election I'm voting for whoever is the Democratic nominee.
Then I had to explain a bit about primaries and whatnot.
Dada, is Trump a Republican?Yah, he is. Who are you going to vote for?baxiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01212016193695451737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13494035.post-62829075590795894382016-01-11T15:46:00.000-08:002016-01-11T15:46:52.258-08:00David Bowie RIPFor years I've had a nervous tic when I get drunk- I corner someone at a party and pose the question "which rock act released a great album in the most decades?"
My answer is David Bowie, and none of my victims have topped it.
1960s:David Bowie (aka Man of Words, Man of Music, aka Space Oddity)
1970's:(all of them)
1980's:
Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)
1990's:(?, I need to check 'baxiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01212016193695451737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13494035.post-42613835168163192902015-09-14T17:29:00.001-07:002015-09-14T20:26:05.348-07:00Great Kung Fu Movies on Netflix
I got into a FB discussion of great martial arts films with my friends Tyrone & Brian earlier, noted that their top 10's had some stuff I hadn't seen and decided to check Netflix (which has added a ton of pacific rim content over the last few years).
My old Best ______ On Netflix Streaming posts are consistently my most read, so here's an early Throwback Thursday post: the baxiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01212016193695451737noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13494035.post-27032108022467651202015-07-13T23:56:00.001-07:002015-07-13T23:56:09.345-07:00More Than a FeelingWith his mama away meeting a baby in Boston, we're Batching it up this week.
Which was cool with Fuss earlier when we got home- he ran up the stairs shouting "It's just us boys, WOOOO!" then demanded milk and graham crackers for dinner.
But way less cool when bed time rolled around.
After reading a few books and fending off dozens of wiley delaying tactics, I had him settling down.
"Dada, it baxiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01212016193695451737noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13494035.post-51022757391562763332015-07-04T10:18:00.003-07:002015-07-04T10:20:12.833-07:00Independence Day, F%#+ Yeah!There are, it seems to me, only two perfect 4th of July anthems, each antithetical to the other.
This penultimate anthem of Middle America:
And this one, for Alice Miller America:
One is perfect for cookout sing alongs, the other is simply perfect.
I saw you at the perfect placeIt's gonna happen soon, but not todaySo go to sleep, and make the changeI'll meet you here tomorrowIndependence baxiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01212016193695451737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13494035.post-64557595898437905382015-07-02T12:05:00.000-07:002015-07-02T12:05:35.950-07:00Fuss Drunk LoveEating lunch, Fuss is drinking his ginger ale out of an Ikea cup with his tongue.
fuss: Dada, mostly I like licking it up with my tongue, like a dog.me: Why is that?
fuss: Because I'm the Fuss. You never know *what* I'm going to do next.me: That's very true.baxiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01212016193695451737noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13494035.post-59707114416320669932015-06-21T12:26:00.000-07:002015-06-21T12:26:00.380-07:00Father's Day, againI failed to note its approach until Facebook updates exploded my timeline like a creeping barrage at Passchendaele.
To those with engaged fathers who made an effort, congratulations!
To my fellow survivors of the less salutary version...keep your heads down.
baxiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01212016193695451737noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13494035.post-69577118261967678612015-03-17T16:24:00.002-07:002015-03-17T16:24:21.659-07:00true customer tales: The Grasshopper & the Spider
Two of our shop mascots are those old rubber toys with a spring and a suction cup, you'd push them down to make a seal and they'd eventually pop up and leap off the table. We have a spider and a grasshopper, and they've been dysfunctional as long as I've worked here, taped to a succession of cash registers until our latest (an otherwise exemplary Sam4s model) which has no suitable anchor baxiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01212016193695451737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13494035.post-3685118455546342212015-01-24T13:51:00.000-08:002015-01-24T13:51:00.454-08:00It Pays to be PleasantAn important skein of homespun wisdom collected from my years at the shop is never give the volunteers a hard time.
Nobody's getting paid at a library sale, nobody's getting paid at a thrift store, and they're endlessly hassled by legions of scroungers and bottom feeders. It's gotten bad enough at one of my regular stops they've posted a big NO HAGGLING sign at the register.
I always go baxiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01212016193695451737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13494035.post-50795433606072907342015-01-20T10:39:00.000-08:002015-01-20T10:39:23.788-08:00Dream JournalI've been listening to Marion Woodman's Dreams: Language of the Soul in the car lately. I don't usually remember dreams and cite it as a likely influence on remembering one this morning.
I was driving to work and coming up to an intersection noticed a regal weimaraner in human clothes protruding over a fence. I slowed down and as I rounded the corner discovered a William Wegman photobaxiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01212016193695451737noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13494035.post-38725792657969914662014-11-25T13:50:00.000-08:002014-11-25T13:50:05.058-08:00FergusonWhite privilege is me being able to watch events in Ferguson with horror, with empathy, with anger and disgust, but without concern that what happened to Mike Brown (or Trayvon Martin, or that 12 year old with the Airsoft gun in Cleveland, or etc etc etc etc ETC) will ever happen to my son, because my son is white, and being white is the finest armor against official misfortune our society offersbaxiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01212016193695451737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13494035.post-44996199435160016802014-11-16T13:39:00.004-08:002014-11-16T13:39:51.253-08:00Harvey Pekar momentsI've had two so far.
First, rooting bins at the outlet I was afflicted with an unholy nerd couple taking turns reading stupid, racist jokes from a copy of 'Truly Tasteless Jokes' they'd extracted from the mass (insert pause to thank the internet for killing that particular literary franchise).
Imagine being trapped between a pair of socially crippled nerds shout-reciting Monty Python baxiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01212016193695451737noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13494035.post-73747136469711691482014-11-14T09:39:00.001-08:002014-11-14T09:39:26.467-08:00Food: Leek, Carrot & Potato Soup
By request, the recipe for last night's dinner. Like a good soup, the recipe is a mishmash of several different versions from different sources I've made over the years. It scales up and down nicely, and you can do whatever you like with the seasoning, I like to use fresh herbs when I have them but whatever you have lying around is fine.
leeks, several bunches
carrots, one baxiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01212016193695451737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13494035.post-89309206710204392722014-11-11T11:09:00.000-08:002014-11-11T11:09:00.427-08:00Veteran's DayThe best way to honor veterans is to avoid fighting pointless wars which shatter bodies and spirits and provide unstinting support when their service is done. Recent American history has demonstrated an unslakable thirst for pointless wars coupled with a miser's parsimony in dealing with the resultant human wreckage.
I'll be skipping the public displays by politicians and other entities baxiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01212016193695451737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13494035.post-31570103157724442422014-10-07T16:49:00.002-07:002014-10-08T08:04:52.898-07:00true customer tales: True CrimeI can't take credit for this one- the following is a transcription of a note left by my night shift co-worker.
"Do you have a book about the kidnapper of Elizabeth Smart, the young girl who was taken from her bed and kept for several weeks?"
"We might, let's check over in the true crime section.
"Oh no, it's not a true crime story, it's about a kidnapping & child molestation."
"......."
baxiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01212016193695451737noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13494035.post-42812269296886115882014-09-18T21:42:00.003-07:002014-09-18T21:43:15.436-07:00This Is ParentingSwinging by store this evening for a few things I chanced upon an instructive vignette at the threshold, a father hauling fruitlessly on a wire shopping cart.
There was a little girl, curly red hair in a ponytail fastened with a purple velvet ribbon over a lavender taffeta princess dress and pink sandals with purple lacquered toenails. Adorable in every respect, burbling with unsullied baxiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01212016193695451737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13494035.post-36462702204599010192014-08-31T11:37:00.002-07:002014-08-31T11:37:33.226-07:00food: THEEEE Best GuacamoleThis morning a friend made some indefensible statements regarding the composition of guacamole.
This is my necessary rebuttal.
HOW TO MAKE PERFECT GUACAMOLE
Step 1: Get yourself a good Molcajete, a rough stone mortar & pestle. The bigger, the better- you can easily make small batches in a large one, vice versa not so much.
Step 2: collect your ingredients- three or four baxiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01212016193695451737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13494035.post-55814565431002318922014-08-29T13:06:00.001-07:002014-08-29T14:59:55.444-07:00fuss: words of wisdom
The first Friday of the school year began inauspiciously.
Fuss was fractious and unhappy, chanting "I don't wanna go to school!" from the sound of the alarm until the slam of the car door outside his class.
This meant an uneasy afternoon of second guessing and bleak academic flashbacks for yours truly.
Then I picked him up and he was bubbly with enthusiasm.
"Dada, you know baxiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01212016193695451737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13494035.post-2905646846862230252014-08-26T15:22:00.003-07:002014-08-26T16:16:24.551-07:00Stephen Crane, Car SalesmanWe bought a car last week, a casual affair for well adjusted folk but an epochal event for the wife and I, embodying the first car we've ever owned that wasn't inherited, subsidized or otherwise scrounged.
I have a long, fraught history with motorcars. As a poor kid who grew up when buying a car meant needing enough money to buy a car we had a long succession of junkers that were gimping along baxiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01212016193695451737noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13494035.post-41250234799346550112014-08-24T17:52:00.002-07:002014-08-24T17:52:55.539-07:00One Thing Twitter is ForI seem to know more than my share of people who, confronted with Twitter, throw up their hands and declare they don't get it, or ask what it's for.Well.....
One of my pals pre-ordered a fancy signed copy of John Scalzi's latest book and wrote a review on his blog. He released it into the wild on Twitter, and the author himself stopped in to chat about their mutual love of the cover art:
baxiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01212016193695451737noreply@blogger.com1