"I had a job in the great north woods" - Bob Dylan
(Left: A non-vacationing Bear and Curly wait for their Uncle Joe to come take care of them.)
As Peggy and I get older we seem to be getting more rustic. Last year's Fall vacay was in Nova Scotia, this year we went as far north in New Hampshire as you can go without stepping into Canada... and then we stepped into Canada.
Peg booked us into the Lopstick Lodge and Cabins way up in Pittsburg, NH for the first part of our trip. We stayed in Cabin 6... not quite spartan accommodations, as it included a 2-person Jacuzzi and DVD player among its amenities.
"So, what do you do up there?" someone asked before we left.
Well, let's see. You peep a lot. Our view of First Connecticut Lake right from our porch was spectacular. All the views were spectacular. You forget how much country is still in this country until you get to somewhere like the Great North Woods. It's nice to be reminded that there's still Big Country not that far away from most of our doorsteps.
You animal watch a lot. Route 3 in the area is nicknamed "Moose Alley," as there is sometimes more moose on or near the roadway than cars. We only saw one moose on the trip up, but the cabin's journal listed dozens - if not hundreds - of moose sightings, mostly in the early morning, when the vacationing Fred and Peggy were loath to rise. The cabin journal is a nice tradition. Each Lopstick cabin has its own journal, where visitors can record impressions and animal sightings. Cabin 6's journal was filled back to 1995.
Anyway, outside of our sole moose, we saw lots of loon - enjoying their weird maniac cry - ducks, frogs, and a mooching Brittany spaniel whose name might have been "Russell" or "Marshall." The Lopstick also doubles as a hunting lodge during bird season, and the owner's wife runs a pack of eight Brittanys. As my dad used to say, there's no such thing as owning one bird dog if you can own two, or three, or eight.
One of the pups, Marshall, enjoyed visiting us, especially if he thought he could get some cheese. But Marshall was a gourmand, he was happy to eat anything. To your left you'll see him chawing down what was left of some crackers I had tossed out for the ducks who also came to visit each evening. Marshall took great glee in first pointing at the ducks and then scattering them to the winds.
If you like the water, and we do, you can also boat on the many ponds, lakes, creeks, rills, and rivers in the area.
Peggy and I wanted to try kayaking this trip and after successfully bopping around our side of First Connecticut Lake, we girded our loins and strapped the kayak on the Mini - to the amusement of many - and went meandering off to adventure.
The adventure included scuffing up the Mini's roof and bruising Fred's nose when we accidentally dropped the kayak on the return trip, but except for that minor mishap a good time was had by all. We're thinking about buying a (lighter) 2-person kayak and maybe a holder. Or maybe a new SUV, as the Mini - once named the Bub but at the moment called Mr. Scruffy - is petitioning to be returned to Southhampton where he can be adopted by a family appreciative of the British motoring experience, rather than the mad fools he's currently stuck with.
On Friday we did the other thing you do while you're in the Great North Woods (if you're not fishing or hunting) and went hiking to the northernmost point in New Hampshire, up to Third Fourth Connecticut Lake - which is no lake at all but a boggy pond - and the source of the Connecticut River.
W
hen I say "northernmost point" I mean it. Pittsburg, the last town in New Hampshire, is closer to the North Pole than it is to the Equator, being above the 45th Parallel. 20 miles north from Pittsburg, you park next to the U.S. Customs building to get to the trail, and the hike has you regularly crossing the U.S./Canada border. To your left is one of the border markers, which if you straddled, would give you one foot in the U.S. and one in Canada.
The guide books note that the trail to Third Fourth Connecticut
is "steep at times," which you may find a masterful understatement when confronted with near-90-degree pitches. But maybe (no "maybe" about it baby, I hear my wife chime in my head) I'm just a wuss, as we met while hiking up a family that included baby in backpack, small child, and grandfather, all enjoying themselves immensely. As did we when we finally made our way to the lake and stood at the source of the Connecticut, not much more than a brook at its beginnings.
Peggy spotted many moose tracks on the trail, but no moose.
On Saturday we crossed the border and made our way over to Montreal, where we didn't have a bad time, but didn't have as much fun as we did while rusticating. Probably lots of things contributing to that. The weather, which had been coolish but sunny during our stay at Lopstick, went funky on Saturday and drizzled through Sunday. Last year we made out like bandits on the Canadian exchange rate (and had done pretty well on our trip to Niagara Falls a few years back, too). This year the exchange rate was almost equal between U.S. and Canadian currency. And Montreal is not a cheap city to eat, stay, or play turista in. By Sunday I had coined the slogan, "Montreal, you're going to pay," after emptying my wallet at bars ($11 Canadian for a martini!), restaurants, flower gardens, and even churches. "All the money goes to the church restoration," the girl behind the counter said, I think seeing my wince as we paid to visit the gorgeous Notre Dame Basilica in Montreal. On the other hand, she gave us a great tour.
Maybe the Montreal stay was too short or maybe the contrast was just too much. Dunno. But we're planning a return to Lopstick soon, and I think you'd have to give us a reason to go back to Montreal.
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Rusticating in the Big Country
American Life in Poetry: Column 075
BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006
In many American poems, the poet makes a personal appearance and offers us a revealing monologue from center stage, but there are lots of fine poems in which the poet, a stranger in a strange place, observes the lives of others from a distance and imagines her way into them. This poem by Lita Hooper is a good example of this kind of writing.
Love Worn
In a tavern on the Southside of Chicago
a man sits with his wife. From their corner booth
each stares at strangers just beyond the other's shoulder,
nodding to the songs of their youth. Tonight they will not fight.
Thirty years of marriage sits between them
like a bomb. The woman shifts
then rubs her right wrist as the man recalls the day
when they sat on the porch of her parents' home.
Even then he could feel the absence of something
desired or planned. There was the smell
of a freshly tarred driveway, the slow heat,
him offering his future to folks he did not know.
And there was the blooming magnolia tree in the distance--
its oversized petals like those on the woman's dress,
making her belly even larger, her hands
disappearing into the folds.
When the last neighbor or friend leaves their booth
he stares at her hands, which are now closer to his,
remembers that there had always been some joy. Leaning
closer, he believes he can see their daughter in her eyes.
From "Gathering Ground: A Reader Celebrating Cave Canem's First Decade," University of Michigan Press, 2006, by permission of the author. Poem copyright (c) 2006 by Lita Hooper, whose most recent book is "The Art of Work: The Art and Life of Haki Madhubuti," Third World Press, 2006. This weekly column is supported by The Poetry Foundation, The Library of Congress, and the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. For information on permissions and usage, or to download a PDF version of the column, visit www.americanlifeinpoetry.org.
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Dreamtime - Episode 11 - All mobbed up
So why was Ol' Blue Eyes doing a radio commercial for a Skokie, Illinois car dealership?
Hear/read all about it.
And yes, yes, we're still heading out on vacay.
Friday, August 25, 2006
It's that time of year again
The grass is slowing, the day lightens later each morning, and fades earlier each evening.
Cool, late Summer days, and time for vacay. See you in a couple of weeks.
American Life in Poetry: Column 074
BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006
Of taking long walks it has been said that a person can walk off anything. Here David Mason hikes a mountain in his home state, Colorado, and steps away from an undisclosed personal loss into another state, one of healing.
In the Mushroom Summer
Colorado turns Kyoto in a shower,
mist in the pines so thick the crows delight
(or seem to), winging in obscurity.
The ineffectual panic of a squirrel
who chattered at my passing gave me pause
to watch his Ponderosa come and go--
long needles scratching cloud. I'd summited
but knew it only by the wildflower meadow,
the muted harebells, paintbrush, gentian,
scattered among the locoweed and sage.
Today my grief abated like water soaking
underground, its scar a little path
of twigs and needles winding ahead of me
downhill to the next bend. Today I let
the rain soak through my shirt and was unharmed.
Reprinted by permission from "The Hudson Review," Vol. LIX, No. 2 (Summer 2006). Copyright (c) 2006 by David Mason. This weekly column is supported by The Poetry Foundation, The Library of Congress, and the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. For information on permissions and usage, or to download a PDF version of the column, visit www.americanlifeinpoetry.org.
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Bats in the House!
The wifey said to me, "Hon,
Bats in the house just ain't no fun.
It's swooping through the living room
get off your butt and get the broom.
I'll open the doors, you knock it out."
"Oh, no," I screamed, "The Bear got out."
"The Bub's in hiding, you stupid fool,"
the wifey cried, "Get that bat, while he's flying through."
I whacked the bat behind the TV
(it was playing something by Spike Lee),
but he recovered, and with an"Eeee"
took to the air and continued his route
while Dad-doo waved the broom about.
Tiring of the game the bat flew off,
Mystifying Dad-doo, while Momma did shout.
"FIND THE DAMN BAT! 'CAUSE I AINT GOING TO BED!
TILL I KNOW THAT CREATURE IS GONE OR IS DEAD!"
(She didn't mean it, she was under a strain. It's hard to be calm with bats on the brain.)
We searched in the basement, we searched through the rooms. Peggy with a paper bag. Fred with a broom.
No bat to be found on floor 1 or floor 2.
He was hiding behind a curtain in the master bedroom.
"Call the fire dept or the New Hamster PD," frightened Fred said like Allen Woody.
"I'll get him myself," said the brave Peggy.
But a man is a man, even when he's a wuss. So, girding his loins and grimming his puss, Fred donned heavy gloves and grabbed the ol' bat...
...who "eeeeee"'d quite fiercely and struggled so that...
...Fred dropped him,
and Peg gave him a whack
with the broom, while Fred also attacked.
The bat said, "Enuff! You two ain't good hosts. I'm going to bat heaven!"
And gave up the ghost.
The bat in the bag, the cats in the house. Order restored, as much as you'd think.
Peggy sat down and said, "I want a big drink."
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
In the Wheaties of August 22nd...
... Mr. Rico finished 16th in a field of 47, a placement that is more a testimony to survival instincts than anything else, as I had few cards to play... and those I did I capitalized on a bit, but not enough.
One hand I should have walked away from at the Turn took a big chunk from my stack when I played it out to the River, and I spent from 9:30 to 10:00 trying to recover from that whack, with nothing to use to get chips, or folds round the table when I did bet hard.
There are probably things less frustating than folding hand after unplayable hand and watching your stack slowly blinded away when you're short-stacked, but it's instructive, if nothing else. An all-in with AJ sooooooted didn't improve against a pair of Kings, and that's all she wrote for me this night.
The deck is being put away for the next couple of weeks, but they'll be another WWdn report sometime in September. That Star Trek Actor is talking about a H.O.R.S.E. tournament sometime soon, which would be fun to try.
Until next month.
Monday, August 21, 2006
How time flies when you're podcasting...
One of the things I love about "Theme Time," is that once Dylan has given you the hint, you can always learn something by exploring. This one is on the Louvin Brothers, especially Ira Louvin, caught twixt the Devil and God.
10 episodes, which sounds like a lot unless you know that my average podcast times out around 5 minutes. But #10 weighs in at 11+ minutes, so who knows, I may be challenging Theme Time's length in a couple more months.
Special thanks to my very own Mystery Woman for the intro.
American Life in Poetry: Column 073
BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006
Those of us who have planted trees and shrubs know well that moment when the last spade full of earth is packed around the root ball and patted or stamped into place and we stand back and wish the young plant good fortune. Here the poet Roy Scheele offers us a few well-chosen words we can use the next time.
Planting a Dogwood
Tree, we take leave of you; you're on your own.
Put down your taproot with its probing hairs
that sluice the darkness and create unseen
the tree that mirrors you below the ground.
For when we plant a tree, two trees take root:
the one that lifts its leaves into the air,
and the inverted one that cleaves the soil
to find the runnel's sweet, dull silver trace
and spreads not up but down, each drop a leaf
in the eternal blackness of that sky.
The leaves you show uncurl like tiny fists
and bear small button blossoms, greenish white,
that quicken you. Now put your roots down deep;
draw light from shadow, break in on earth's sleep.
Reprinted from "From the Ground Up," Lone Willow Press, Omaha, NE, 2000, by permission of the author, whose most recent book is "A Far Allegiance," forthcoming from The Backwaters Press. Poem copyright (c) 2000 by Roy Scheele. This weekly column is supported by The Poetry Foundation, The Library of Congress, and the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. For information on permissions and usage, or to download a PDF version of the column, visit www.americanlifeinpoetry.org.
Friday, August 18, 2006
Our horse comes in
... or maybe it's our cat who came in. In any case, I like the picture.
As you may remember, I took a (very) small piece of Troublecat's action at the 2006 WSOP. The Cat finished in 410th place, out of 8,773 entries, and won $30,512.00, not bad earnings on a $10k investment... especially since Ryan made the buy-in through a win at FullTilt.
He apparently looked at it as pure profit, since my email this morning noted that $305.12 had been deposited in my PokerStars account, representing my 1% backing.
It would have been nice to get a piece of the $12,100,997 (let's see, that would have been $121,099.77. whew.) that the ultimate winner, Jamie Gold took, but hey, I bet Gold couldn't write as entertaining a blog as the Cat, either.
Thanks, TC. It was a fun run, and whenever you want a backer again, give me a call. In fact, you can count on at least two from New Hamster. My wife followed you as closely as I did, sending me lunch time reports on your progress. I think you have a fan.
Three Alternate Histories
When I was a kid, there was a dead settler in front of the cabin, Indian arrow prominently sticking out of his back, while the recorded voice on the Mark Twain told us about the dangers faced by the early pioneers.
Sometime in the `70s or `80s, the body was replaced by a "sleeping moonshiner" complete with jug, who, the audience was told, had drunkenly set the cabin on fire before passing out. I never saw that version at Disneyland - the last time I was at the park was in 1971, but I'm pretty sure I saw it at Disneyworld.
A version I missed at both parks - which I'm just as happy about - was some weird environmental scenario, where the cabin's resident had accidently set the cabin on fire again, this time in an attempt to evict a family of eagles who had taken up residence in its eaves. Don't look at me that way. I don't write `em. I just report `em.
In any case, the bean counters at Disneyland had the fire permanently shut off, although it may still be burning at WDW, and I guess when you round the curve now on the Rivers of America, you just see a blackened cabin, and the narrative says something about it... or maybe not. Which is a shame, 'cause as the folks at Re-imagineering say, it was "one of the coolest experiences a kid and his parents could share together."
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Samuel L. Jackson in your ear
Just in case someone you know needs to be told that "Snakes on a Plane" will be out tomorrow.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Crushered
Crippled to a stack of $350 when Leather Tuscadero's Ace high straight beat out rico's King high straight, ol' rico would go all-in with two Kings a few hands later only to meet Warp Factor Love's AA... and out in 42 of 48.
Until next week.
Episode 9 of Dreamtime
A podcast in three parts: Part 1 - Coco has a hot rod. Part 2: The Dharma and Greg connection. Part 3: The indisputable leader of the gang.
Friday, August 11, 2006
American Life in Poetry: Column 072
BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006
Those who survived the Great Depression of the 1930s have a tough, no-nonsense take on what work is. If when I was young I'd told my father I was looking for fulfilling work, he would have looked at me as if I'd just arrived from Mars. Here the Pennsylvania poet, Jan Beatty, takes on the voice of her father to illustrate the thinking of a generation of Americans.
My Father Teaches Me to Dream
You want to know what work is?
I'll tell you what work is:
Work is work.
You get up. You get on the bus.
You don't look from side to side.
You keep your eyes straight ahead.
That way nobody bothers you--see?
You get off the bus. You work all day.
You get back on the bus at night. Same thing.
You go to sleep. You get up.
You do the same thing again.
Nothing more. Nothing less.
There's no handouts in this life.
All this other stuff you're looking for--
it ain't there.
Work is work.
First printed in "Witness," Volume 10, Number 2, and reprinted by permission of the author. Copyright (c) 1996 by Jan Beatty, whose latest book, "Boneshaker," was published by the University of Pittsburgh Press in 2002. This weekly column is supported by The Poetry Foundation, The Library of Congress, and the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. For information on permissions and usage, or to download a PDF version of the column, visit www.americanlifeinpoetry.org.
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Four pros, a former talent agent, an insurance broker, an ad salesman, a recent college grad and a retired businessman walk into a bar, see
No, not really. That's the final 9 at the 2006 WSOP. The Washington Post has a good, short article about the nine.
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Da winnah for this Tuesday's Wheaties....
... is moi.
PokerStars reports:
You finished in 1st place.
276 hands played and saw flop:
- 13 times out of 60 while in small blind (21%)
- 19 times out of 60 while in big blind (31%)
- 9 times out of 156 in other positions (5%)
- a total of 41 times out of 276 (14%)
Pots won at showdown - 14 out of 15 (93%)
Pots won without showdown - 48
Notable hands...
About eight minutes in, I'm holding pocket Kings. I raise 4x the BB ($80). Get a $100 reraise from the next guy in line, cantseefade, who I don't remember ever playing against before. Flop is 6s 9h 5h. I bet $400. cantseefade goes all-in with 1280. I think about the Aces, the sets, maybe the AK of hearts, and finally call. cantseefade is holding AQ of diamonds. He doesn't improve. I go up to 3010 in chips.
From the "something you don't see very often" department. Maudie in Seat 3 raise 3x the BB. CawtBluffin in Seat 6 reraise sanother $190. Maudie calls. Everybody else folds. Flop is 2d Ac Kd. Maudie and Cawt both check. Turn is a 4h, which will turn out to be significant. Maudie checks. Cawt bets 330. Maudie goes over the top with a re-raise. Cawt goes all-in. Maudie has Cawt covered and calls.
River is a 6c. Maudie is holding a pair of 4s, and had a set at the Turn. Unfortunately for her, Cawt had been slow playing Aces, and had made a better set at the Flop. Game Cawtbluffin.
About 9:30 I get whacked hard by weak_player when I have pocket 7s and an open-ended straight at the Flop. Unfortunately for me, weak is holding a pair of Kings, which hold up. I go from $3500 to $1100 in that one hand.
Notable quotes #1 from my archenemy, dsheep: "Aqua has replaced you as my enemy, rico" "you are down to 'strongly despised'"
Notable quotes #2 from my archenemy, dsheep: "what a nice evening (subliminal message: Rico pass me your remaining chips) for a poker outing"
Notable reply from me: "subliminal msg: (Bite me, d)"*
*Just to keep the record straight, we're only arch-enemies at the tables, and like jerking the other's chain.
Da Hammer Falls: I'm in in the Small Blind with a perfect Hammer and $602 in chips. weak raises to $450 and I figure what the hell. I go all-in and get my revenge on weak when I pair my deuce and he doesn't pair either his King or Queen. I double to $1354.
A little later, with $904 now left, I go all-in with Kh Jd. dogtown73 smells my desperation and calls. Happily he's only holding K8o, and I win with a better kicker. Back to $1908 in chips.
I go on a mini-rush with JJ QQ and QQ in close succession and work my stack to $2908.
I take out weak with a set of Queens vs. his Big Slick. $4800 in chips.
I take out GScottW when I pair an Ace against his pocket 6s. $6511 in chips.
I take out Hermwarfare when my nuts flush beats out his 10-high flush. $10,011 in chips.
10:17 - at the final table with $10,231 in chips.
I wander in the wilderness for a long time; alternately stealing blinds and folding, staying around $11k in chips, staying out of trouble. The field gradually shrinks without my involvement.
With $10,400 in chips left and $600 committed in the Big Blind and holding soooooooted K10, I call my fellow traveler xkm1245's raise to $1200. Flop has two more of my suit, and I go over the top with a $2400 raise. xkm calls. Turn gives me the flush and I go all-in when xkm checks. He thinks about it and folds. $14,700 in chips.
I cripple kaellinn18 when I pair a King at the Flop, beating out kaellinn18's pocket 8s. $30k in chips. kaellinn is taken out next hand by xkm. Three of us left. dogtown is short stack with $11k. I'm in close second with my $30k. xkm has $31k.
We fence 3-way. We fence some more. I mostly stay out of the way as dogtown and xkm go at it.
Notable quote #3 - xkm1245 said, "hey, if we get heads up rico, what say i drive over and we play it live?"
We're in a 3-way tie circa 11 pm when dogtown gets a flush at the Flop while holding J4. He had raised. xkm with AQo reraised. xkm refuses to let his flopped Queen pair go, and chases a possible full house to the River. He doesn't get it. Happily, I was not in the hand. xkm gets a little crazy about the dog's play, but what the hey. It's 3-handed.
xkm is down to $662 in chips and I take him out with a KJ vs. his Q10. Just me and the dog now.
Me and dog go heads-up. He's got double the chips I have and is wearing me down. I start blasting all-ins at him with anything useful in my hand and work my way up a bit.
But I'm getting tired, and don't even notice a hand where I pulled a straight at the River. Opportunity missed. Frustrated, the next hand I call dog's $2800 raise with sooooooooooted 8 6. I flop middle pair, an 8, bet $4,000 and dog calls. 6 on the Turn, I go all-in, think dog's been running a trap when he calls, but he has nothing but a straight draw vs my two pair, which hold.
With that big whack at his stack, I'm now in the lead with $60k. dog has $13k, goes card dead, and with only $4600 left, goes all-in AJo. I only have 9 6 sooooooooooted, but make the proper call. I pair my 6.... and win out over the small field of 48.
Until next week.
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Latest Dreamtime is up and podcast thoughts
Episode 7 - The donkey that wouldn't die, on Hee Haw.
Lessons learned to date for all you burgeoning podcasters out there:
- It pays to advertise in like-minded venues. A little less than 90 percent of Dreamtime traffic is currently coming from a Dylan central clearing-house, Expecting Rain, which I send an announcement to when each new podcast goes up.
The bulk of the remainder of the traffic is coming from another Dylan-related site, White Man Stew, where a couple of commentors had some kind things to say about the podcast. The rest is literally only 20-30 visitors a week who have found Dreamtime through some sort of search, or friends/family come to visit and support. - Placement increases traffic dramatically. ER was giving me somewhere from 300-400 visitors each week, until this week where the Dreamtime announcement was in first position in Monday's list. That drove over 1500 visitors to Dreamtime in one day. Visitors from White Man Stew also started moving from the tens into the hundreds after the blog's owner permalinked to me.
- Being listed in podcast directories is worthless, with the possible exception of iTunes (see below). Being listed in the Yahoo podcast directory may help, but that's been broken every time I've tried to enter my RSS.
- The download/play numbers are interesting, although I'm not sure how reliable they are.
As far as I can tell, I currently have about 70 subscribers (or at least subscribers who listen) through iTunes or some other RSS reader. I'm gauging those numbers based on posting the mp3 on Saturday but not making an announcement until Monday. In the interim, I had those 70-odd downloads. To be accurate, I'd probably need to have the file, sans announcement, up for at least a week of tracking.
I've had about 300 download/plays of the latest podcast directly from the site (released on Saturday, announced on Monday), which indicates that the vast majority of Monday's visitors either read but didn't listen or just left without doing either.
That may be content. Episode 7 dealt with Hee Haw. The most popular to date, Episode 5 - Two voices from Chronicles, which was of more likely interest to the Dylanphile than Hee Haw, had nearly double the amount of downloads/plays when it was released, and still remains the most-listened to Dreamtime each week. #2 is the Baseball episode commentary. - People want to read as well as listen. A lesson I already learned from business podcasting, where my #1 request was to include a transcript (#2 was the ability to play directly from the site w/o bringing up a blank Quicktime screen or the WMP).
Sunday, August 06, 2006
Night time in the Big City
It's night time in the big city
Rain is fallin', fog rolls in from the waterfront
A night shift nurse smokes the last cigarette in her pack
The moon goes behind a cloud
A truck drops off tomorrow's newspapers
A styrofoam coffee cup rolls across the street
Two sailors get out of a cab
Somewhere, a car alarm goes off
A woman walks barefoot, her high heels in a hand bag
Pizza parlour is locking up
A drunken security guard drops his flashlight
A truck driver runs a red light
The strange, quiet man practises Tai Chi in the park
A night shift nurse smokes the last cigarette in her pack
A married couple has a late night snack
A man buys a pack of gum, steals a nail clipper
Two pairs of sneakers are strung over a phone line
A woman watches her neighbor through binoculars
A cat knocks over a lamp
Angry prostitutes fight over a street corner
A man gets drunk, he shaves off his mustache
Outside, the dogs are barking
A woman walks barefoot, her high heels in her handbag
The wind picks up from over the bay
A delivery boy makes the wrong turn
A guilty man goes home to his wife
It's time to make the donuts
An ambulance races through downtown
An off duty cop parks in front of his ex-wife's house
- Opening lines to Theme Time (up to 8/2/06 show) as poetry via Expecting Rain forum
Friday, August 04, 2006
American Life in Poetry: Column 071
BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006
William Carlos Williams, one of our country's most influential poets and a New Jersey physician, taught us to celebrate daily life. Here Albert Garcia offers us the simple pleasures and modest mysteries of a single summer day.
August Morning
It's ripe, the melon
by our sink. Yellow,
bee-bitten, soft, it perfumes
the house too sweetly.
At five I wake, the air
mournful in its quiet.
My wife's eyes swim calmly
under their lids, her mouth and jaw
relaxed, different.
What is happening in the silence
of this house? Curtains
hang heavily from their rods.
Ficus leaves tremble
at my footsteps. Yet
the colors outside are perfect--
orange geranium, blue lobelia.
I wander from room to room
like a man in a museum:
wife, children, books, flowers,
melon. Such still air. Soon
the mid-morning breeze will float in
like tepid water, then hot.
How do I start this day,
I who am unsure
of how my life has happened
or how to proceed
amid this warm and steady sweetness?
Poem copyright (c) by Albert Garcia from his latest book "Skunk Talk" (Bear Starr Press, 2005) and originally published in "Poetry East," No. 44. Reprinted by permission of the author. This weekly column is supported by The Poetry Foundation, The Library of Congress, and the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. For information on permissions and usage, or to download a PDF version of the column, visit www.americanlifeinpoetry.org.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
25 seconds at the final table
... literally. ricoM arrived at the final table in Miz Maudie's named WWdN last night and 25 seconds later left in 9th place with $19.25 in my virtual pocket, falling in the first hand against aquaverse when I made a rookie play that has caught me out too many times before - pairing high card on the flop with an Ace kicker and playing the hand way too passive/aggressive.
I'm in the Big Blind with AJo (200/400/25). Aquaverse simply limps in. Everyone else folds. I check because at the time I don't think much of the AJ off. This is Mistake #1 - Passive. Sometimes you bet because you think you have the better hand, sometimes you bet to steal. Sometimes you bet for information. Against one player, I should be thinking at least one of those things and bet. If I had bet out, maybe $1000, it's likely that aquaverse would have gone over-the-top at me, since he was slow-playing a pair of Queens. With a limp and then a raise, I would have folded, smelling a big pair trap, turning over the $2000 to him, but I'd still be in the game with around $5000 in chips. Even a call would have raised my antenna that he was playing something. But no bet by Rico, no information for Rico.
Flop is 7c Js 4s. I, as I said, have top pair and get all excited, like a little girl. It is a good hand, but not so good that it can't be beaten, by say a set of 7s or 4s, both possible limper hands, or by someone who has played his hand just like aquaverse has and has laid the perfect trap if I'm holding a Jack. I bet $1200, and aquaverse immediately raises to $3500. Here comes Mistake #2 - Aggressive. The only play I can make now is use my remaining chips and go all-in or fold my tent. Again, I'd have around $5k in chips left if I fold, short-stacking me at the final table, but enough that I could work my way out of the hole with some good play and good luck.
In mid position, I don't believe aquaverse has been playing J7 or J4, even on a limp, certainly he ain't playing a 74 combo. Limping with a small pair that has evolved into a set is certainly a possibility - hell, I do it all the time - but I choose to ignore it; and decide that aquaverse is probably holding a KJ or QJ. This is pretty specious thinking on my part in retrospect, but it's wonderful what you can convince yourself is true when at the poker tables.
In any case, I have at him, use my remaining chips and go all-in and, not surprisingly, since he's already committed over $4,000, aquaverse calls my $1200 raise. This could be listed as Mistake #3 on my part, as you should not go all-in unless Uno: you believe you have the winning hand and want to be called or Dos: There's something on the board that you can use to convince your opponent you have the winning hand when you don't want to be called. I kinda believe I have the winning hand, but kinda is not the belief system you should be using when your tournament life is at stake. And in my heart of hearts, I'd be really, really happy if aquaverse doesn't call. As I said, Mistake #3, but at this point it doesn't really matter - it's like remembering that you didn't put on clean underwear after having been hit by a truck because you forgot to check both sides of the street.
Aquaverse has, as you might remember, a pair of Queens, and has me beat from the git-go. I could get an Ace or Jack at the turn, but I don't. I could get one or the other at the River, but aquaverse gets a 3rd Queen instead, sealing my fate.
Aquaverse would later go on to take down the tournament. I'd go home, 9th place. Outside of that bonehead play, I was pretty pleased with myself last night, finally feeling like I had my game back after an erratic past couple of weeks. Had Maudie at my table for a bit, which was nice. Kept my eye on that crazy monkey who blitzed me last week while calling me "Dude," half regretting not getting the chance to take my revenge on her, half happy that we stayed at separate tables through the night, as Gracie would drop down to 400-600 in chips, and then blast her way back up the board. Just as happy not to be her victim again, thank you very much.
Until next week.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Young Love
"Ah," I thought, "It's a young couple having a fight in the parking lot." The normality of this put me at ease. I could have been in any suburban mall in America at that moment.
As I passed them, I heard him say, "Well, what do you think I should have done?"
I looked over at them, and saw that she was pissed.
"Andrew," she said, "You can't push with ace king after a raise and a re-raise, especially with big stacks yet to act behind you!"
An Okie speaks
... and, as usual, it's worth listening to. The close made me laugh out loud. When are we going to get these on a regular basis through iTunes, Maudie?
Internet gambling bill seen delayed in Senate
I saw this first at Iggy's:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bill to outlaw most forms of Internet gambling appears unlikely to win U.S. Senate passage before senators begin a month-long recess on August 4, two Republican leadership aides said on Tuesday.
They said backers of the legislation were trying to build support for it and resolve differences as the Senate focuses on other legislative matters and gets ready for a summer break.
The bill was not among the priorities outlined by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, during a session with reporters on Tuesday in which he laid out measures he hopes to wrap up before the August vacation.
"I don't expect it (Senate passage of the Internet gambling bill) to happen in the next two weeks," one Republican aide said.
"It's always a possibility, but right now it is not on the schedule," another aide said.
Backers of the legislation had hoped to swiftly push it through the Senate this month after the U.S. arrest of David Carruthers, the former chief executive of U.K.-listed BETonSPORTS, on charges of racketeering and conspiracy.
The Senate bill is virtually identical to legislation overwhelmingly approved earlier in July by the U.S. House of Representatives. It would prohibit most forms of Internet gambling and make it illegal for banks and credit card companies to make payments to online gambling sites.
The horse racing industry has some concerns with the legislation, one gaming source said.
Sen. Jon Kyl, an Arizona Republican, tried to fast-track passage of the bill in the Senate by getting unanimous consent to approve it but some lawmakers objected, according to sources following the matter.
Kyl told reporters on Tuesday that supporters of the bill are making progress toward resolving the objections. He declined to elaborate.
Congress has relatively few work days left this year because of the congressional elections scheduled for early November. Lawmakers are scheduled to return from vacation in September for several weeks, then adjourn again before the elections, and then return in December.
The Republican-backed bill has been criticized by some as an election-year appeal to the party's conservative base.
Supporters of a crackdown on Internet gambling say legislation is needed to clarify that a 1961 federal law banning interstate telephone betting also covers an array of online gambling.
Among the priorities listed by Frist were passage of an energy and defense appropriations bills and possibly a military construction appropriations bill and an extension of the estate tax repeal.
***
Uno: Thank God for the inherent laziness of our legislators. Dos: I've taken down the banner ad for the nonce, as flashing banner ads annoy the hell out of me (except when I'm on a mission). But it can come back.
Monday, July 31, 2006
Episode 6 of Dreamtime
Commentary on "Theme Time's" "Summer" episode... Two Juneteenth Jamborees, some Worried Blues, and the story of Gladys "Fatso" Bentley, probably the only 200+ lb. singer to have played both The Clam Bar and on "You Bet Your Life."
... and thanks by the way, to the boys over at Card Club on Lord Admiral Radio for the pimping both in the blog and in the podcast. Go check out that loquacious dwarf in episode 81 who propounds and expounds on life as Iggy, BONUS CODE IGGY, blogging, the dark side of poker, and a multitude of other subjects in between what sounds like generous gulps of some sort of alcoholic beverage.
Saturday, July 29, 2006
Protester arrested at "Bewitched" statue files civil rights suit
via The Boston Globe
July 28, 2006
SALEM, Mass. --A man arrested while protesting at the unveiling of a statue of the star of the sitcom "Bewitched" has sued Salem police, charging them with civil rights violations and excessive force.
In the suit filed Thursday in federal court, Richard Sorell, 66, also accuses police of violating his free speech rights and denying him medical care while in custody. He's seeking unspecified damages from the city and several police officers."They pulled some very, very foolish things that day, and there's no excuse for it," Sorell told The Salem News.
Sorell, a local tour guide, was upset that a statue of Elizabeth Montgomery perched on a broom was erected so close to where innocent people were condemned to death during the Salem Witch Trials.
Sorell brought a homemade sign to the statue's unveiling in June 2005 that read "Elizabeth Who? Is she from Salem?" When he realized his sign couldn't be seen by television cameras, Sorell tried to move closer to the front of the crowd and was arrested after police said he nearly knocked over a 71-year-old woman.
A charge of disorderly conduct was dismissed in November after a judge said Sorell didn't mean to nearly knock down the woman.
Sorell's suit alleges that during his arrest a Salem officer twisted his arm back and threw him in a police van. Sorell says in his suit that while he was at the police station he was taunted, threatened with a strip search and denied access to his arthritis pain medication, which caused him to faint.
Salem police Chief Robert St. Pierre told The Salem News he couldn't comment because he hadn't seen the suit.Friday, July 28, 2006
Mamma, don't let your son grow up to be a podcaster - Part 2
I'm doing the Dreamtime podcasts for a variety of reasons. As you've probably noticed once or twice, I'm a fan of Bob Dylan's. The quirky segments he does on Theme Time are right up my alley; there's usually a great story behind Dylan's one-liners and allusions. And before anything else, like all writers, I love a great story.
And of course, I'm deep into podcasting at the moment. I'm making a couple of bucks here and there from it. However, with those I'm in the background as writer/producer, and it's a helluva lot easier to act as a producer and just lead the show than to have to be the show. And that brings me to another reason...
Back when I was at USM in Portland, sometime in the early `70s and me in my early 20s, I was looking for part-time work - as usual, since my GI Bill barely covered school expenses and rent - and found an ad on a bulletin board. A Portland radio station was looking for a part-time newsperson.
I went over that afternoon. It was a country music station. If you're not from New England, you might not know that the rural areas tend to share the same characteristics and tastes you'll find in the South. The station manager and I immediately hit it off. He explained they needed to do the minimum news required by the FCC in order to keep its license. So, it was strictly someone capable of editing and reading stories off the AP wire.
I hit a home run when he asked me to pull off some stories from the AP teletype and put together a 5-minute segment of news highlights...all within 10 minutes. Even back then, that sort of speed-writing was my meat. I'm a natural editor, so I just yanked the stories, skimmed through them, sat down at an electric typewriter, and two-fingered pounded out the segment. I went into his office at minute 6, handed him the copy, and he took it, eyebrows raised. When he looked up, I knew I had the job.
But, there was one last thing I had to do, and I found myself in a sound booth, reading - trying to read - my copy aloud, and I was as bad and as uncomfortable then as I sound now in the Dreamtime podcasts - even though I think I'm improving now with every try. But a natural reader I'm not, despite the speech therapy I went through when I was a kid; possibly because of that speech therapy, I sometimes think. In any case, as a voice talent I'm a great writer.
So, I came out of the booth, and I looked at the station manager, who looked at me, and who finally said, "So, how do you think you did?"
"Like crap," I answered.
"Yeah," he answered. "It's too bad. You know I was ready to hire you on the spot, don't you?"
"Make me feel better," I laughed.
"Maybe you could go get some training, or take some acting classes at school," he said. "If you do, come back, Fred."
I didn't, for a variety of reasons. I found another job, straight writing, no talking necessary. But you know, losing that radio gig has always rankled me.
And that's the other reason.
American Life in Poetry: Column 070
BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006
As a man I'll never gain the wisdom Sharon Olds expresses in this poem about motherhood, but one of the reasons poetry is essential is that it can take us so far into someone else's experience that we feel it's our own.
My Son the Man
Suddenly his shoulders get a lot wider,
the way Houdini would expand his body
while people were putting him in chains. It seems
no time since I would help him to put on his sleeper,
guide his calves into the gold interior,
zip him up and toss him up and
catch his weight. I cannot imagine him
no longer a child, and I know I must get ready,
get over my fear of men now my son
is going to be one. This was not
what I had in mind when he pressed up through me like a
sealed trunk through the ice of the Hudson,
snapped the padlock, unsnaked the chains,
and appeared in my arms. Now he looks at me
the way Houdini studied a box
to learn the way out, then smiled and let himself be manacled.
"My Son the Man" from THE WELLSPRING by Sharon Olds. Copyright (c) 1996 by Sharon Olds. Used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc. This weekly column is supported by The Poetry Foundation, The Library of Congress, and the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. For information on permissions and usage, or to download a PDF version of the column, visit www.americanlifeinpoetry.org.
My boss thinks I’m crazy — but he’s into X-Men
via The Cleburne Times-Review, Cleburne, TX because The Salem News thinks the internet is a series of tubes.
Bewitched’ fans wrap up enchanting convention
By Chris CassidyTHE SALEM NEWS (SALEM, Mass.)
SALEM, Mass. — Judy McClelland carries a purse displaying a photo of Elizabeth Montgomery.
She wears replicas of the necklace and bracelet that adorned Samantha Stephens. The ring on her cell phone is set to the “Bewitched” theme song.
But maybe the deepest expression of her fanaticism toward the popular 1960s sitcom came this week when she traveled all the way from Melbourne, Australia, for this year’s five-day “Bewitched” convention at Salem State College.
“We flew in on our broomsticks,” joked McClelland, who actually arrived by plane with her friend Melanie McDonald.
Since Saturday, about 30 of the show’s fans — most of whom originally met on the Internet — reminisced about the old days when a nose-twitching witch dominated prime-time television.
“It’s nice to connect a face to a blog name,” said Jean Yannes, a “Bewitched” memorabilia collector who came from Queens, N.Y. “... Later on, we’re going to reveal our eBay names so we know we’re not bidding against each other.”
During Wednesday night’s convention finale, fans wore “Bewitched” T-shirts, screened a classic episode of the show and watched a slide presentation called “Elizabeth Montgomery: Remembering the Magic.”
They also paid tribute to Kasey Rogers — Louise Tate on the show — who died earlier this month. Photographs of Rogers’ career flashed across the screen, as the song “Unforgettable” by Nat King Cole and his daughter Natalie hummed in the background.
“We’ve actually dedicated the whole convention to her,” Yannes said.
Rogers, who was in Salem last year for the dedication of TV Land’s Samantha Stephens statue in Lappin Park, had planned to participate in the convention.
Along a side wall, a silent auction showcased a 1965 Samantha doll (high bid $100), original “Bewitched” artwork ($20) and copies of The Salem News with articles on the convention and last year’s statue unveiling ($22).
Yes, there are still fans of “Bewitched” — and they’re armed with collectibles. Yannes, an accountant, has blanketed an entire wall of his office with “Bewitched” photos and items he’s picked up on online auctions.
“I’ll use lines from the show in conversation,” Yannes said. “My boss thinks I’m crazy — but he’s into ‘X-Men.’”
McDonald wore a necklace of Samantha Stephens on a broomstick to the final night’s event, the “Galactic Rejuvenation Dinner Dance.”
And convention organizer Mark Simpson, who flew in from Tacoma, Wash., not only owns photographs, magazines, DVDs and board games from the show, but he’s also launched his own fan site on the Internet — The Bewitched Collector.
But if conventioneers are united by Samantha Stephens, many are divided by her husband, Darrin, played by Dick York for five seasons, then Dick Sargent.
“I prefer Dick York,” Yannes said. “His face is more malleable. He can do more facial expressions.”
But Simpson thinks many dismiss the “replacement” Darrin too quickly.
“I defend Dick Sargent,” Simpson said. “He had to know people were comparing him to Dick York. I think he did a great job.”
Although most of the shows are set in Westport, Conn., producers filmed eight episodes in Salem after a fire damaged the set. While in the Witch City, Samantha and Darrin tour the House of the Seven Gables and stay at the Hawthorne Hotel. At one point, the couple is transported back in time and nearly put on trial for witchcraft.
During their five days on the North Shore, fans took the Salem Witchcraft Walk, screened Salem-based episodes of the show and participated in seminars with such titles as “Agnes Moorehead: Tribute to a Goddess.”
They even took a day trip to Gloucester, the setting for one classic episode where Darrin was changed into the man in the Fishermen’s Monument.
So what makes adults obsess over a show that hasn’t rolled out new episodes since the Vietnam War?
“I love Endora’s wicked, witty lines,” McDonald said.
“The twitching of the nose,” said Joan Brennan of Salem.
“It’s the message it conveys,” said Tom Stevenson, who also came from Tacoma. “That being different is OK.”
Chris Cassidy writes for The Salem (Mass.) News.
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Why I play online poker, part the 1st
"I have seen countless hustlers, scam artists, con men, and other scum of the earth prowling around the Rio since I've been here."
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
A crazy monkey knocked me out
this could also be subtitled, "this is the first time I've ever been called 'dude'."
43 minutes into the tournament...
*********** # 50 **************
PokerStars Game #5681890589: Tournament #28350272, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level III (25/50) - 2006/07/25 - 21:06:40 (ET)
Table '28350272 6' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: mad_scorpion (980 in chips)
Seat 3: DaFoundation (1800 in chips)
Seat 4: ricoM (1260 in chips)
Seat 5: peacecorn (2740 in chips)
Seat 6: HermWarfare (960 in chips)
Seat 7: DrPauly (2060 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 8: CarmenSinCty (1845 in chips)
Seat 9: Whaaaaa? (1265 in chips)
DaFoundation: posts small blind 25
ricoM: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to ricoM [Ks Kc]
peacecorn: calls 50
HermWarfare: folds
DrPauly: folds
CarmenSinCty: folds
Whaaaaa?: folds
mad_scorpion: folds
DaFoundation: calls 25
ricoM: raises 250 to 300
peacecorn: calls 250
DaFoundation: folds
*** FLOP *** [Qs Jc 4h]
ricoM: checks
peacecorn: bets 400
ricoM: raises 560 to 960 and is all-in
peacecorn: calls 560
*** TURN *** [Qs Jc 4h] [Qc]
*** RIVER *** [Qs Jc 4h Qc] [Js]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
ricoM: shows [Ks Kc] (two pair, Kings and Queens)
peacecorn: shows [Jh Ad] (a full house, Jacks full of Queens)
HermWarfare said, "doh"
peacecorn collected 2570 from pot
peacecorn said, "did NOT put you on KK...sorry dude"
Until next week...
Mama, don't let your son grow up to be a podcaster
Episode 5 of the Dreamtime podcast - Two voices from Chronicles - is now up at the Dreamtime blog, which also has a new logo...
Speaking of which, Dreamtime has been a good experience from that perspective. I had to finally realize that the goal was not to be perfect but to get a little better each time. I still have a way to go... but I'm still in the game.
Monday, July 24, 2006
Ka-ching, ka-ching, ka-ching
Jim McManus seems to be on a tear at the 2006 WSOP...
| 07/15/2006 | 45 | $5,957.00 | |
| 07/12/2006 | 6 | $53,690.00 | |
| 07/11/2006 | 14 | $20,492.00 | |
| 07/07/2006 | 14 | $8,482.00 |
Let's see, reading from the bottom up, buy-ins were respectively $1,500, $10,000, $2,000 and $2,500 (McManus may have also got his buy-in(s) through a satellite). Not a bad profit margin.
Katie Melua - Blowin' in the Wind
Seems to be a morning for YouTube. One of Peggy and my favorites, Katie Melua - does one of my favorite songs. Click on the picture to hie yourself off to YouTube.
And if you haven't heard Katie's new album yet - Piece by Piece - do yourself a favor and go get it now. Her cover of the Canned Heat classic “On the Road Again” is worth the price alone.
Isis
A dramatic, mannered Dylan never seen again on-stage after The Rolling Thunder tour. This is from Renaldo & Clara, a film probably only for the Dylan completist, from all reports, but being one, I wish it would be released officially on DVD.
Click on the photo to your left - Dylan and Sarah Dylan in a scene from R&C, and you can also find another R&C clip, Dylan and Baez doing "Never Let Me Go."
Fans of `Bewitched' charmed in Salem
GLOUCESTER -- When Judy McClelland's cell phone rings, the theme song to television's ``Bewitched" sounds. The ringtone is among the more than 50 pieces of memorabilia from the show she's collected over the years.
And recently the 45-year-old flew -- by plane, not by broom -- from her home in Australia to attend the annual ``Bewitched" convention, held this year in Salem.
``I've always loved the show," she said yesterday, as she dined at a Gloucester restaurant for a convention dinner. ``[The convention] makes it all real."
McClelland says she enjoys the relationships the long-gone show portrayed between Samantha Stephens , her husband Darrin , and Samantha's mother, Endora (played by Agnes Moorehead), who also is a witch.
About 20 adults from Australia, Canada, and the United States gathered yesterday during the second day of the convention to celebrate the sitcom, which aired from 1964 to 1972 and remains in syndication .
The convention at Salem State College includes presentations about the show's nose-twitching star Elizabeth Montgomery and the viewing of episodes that were filmed in Salem.
The organizer, Mark Simpson , 47, of Tacoma, Wash., said the event has evolved and become more formal since it started about six years ago, when only a handful of people attended . ``I kind of felt that `Bewitched' deserved a little more recognition than it had gotten in the past," he said.
Like other participants, Simpson has collected souvenirs from the show including lunchboxes, dolls, games, and photos. ``I like to think I'm the biggest collector in the world," he said.
This year, the convention was held in Salem so participants can view a statue of Samantha Stephens erected last year.
The convention runs through Wednesday.
New Pynchon Book slated for December...
... which may or may not be called "Against the Day." First listed that way on Amazon, it now appears as Untitled Thomas Pynchon (Hardcover) , although B&N is still using the "Against the Day" title. In both listings, the publisher's description, apparently penned by Pynchon himself reads...
Spanning the period between the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 and the years just after World War I, this novel moves from the labor troubles in Colorado to turn-of-the-century New York, to London and Gottingen, Venice and Vienna, the Balkans, Central Asia, Siberia at the time of the mysterious Tunguska Event, Mexico during the Revolution, postwar Paris, silent-era Hollywood, and one or two places not strictly speaking on the map at all.With a worldwide disaster looming just a few years ahead, it is a time of unrestrained corporate greed, false religiosity, moronic fecklessness, and evil intent in high places. No reference to the present day is intended or should be inferred.
The sizable cast of characters includes anarchists, balloonists, gamblers, corporate tycoons, drug enthusiasts, innocents and decadents, mathematicians, mad scientists, shamans, psychics, and stage magicians, spies, detectives, adventuresses, and hired guns. There are cameo appearances by Nikola Tesla, Bela Lugosi, and Groucho Marx.
As an era of certainty comes crashing down around their ears and an unpredictable future commences, these folks are mostly just trying to pursue their lives. Sometimes they manage to catch up; sometimes it's their lives that pursue them.
Meanwhile, the author is up to his usual business. Characters stop what they're doing to sing what are for the most part stupid songs. Strange sexual practices take place. Obscure languages are spoken, not always idiomatically. Contrary-to-the-fact occurrences occur. If it is not the world, it is what the world might be with a minor adjustment or two. According to some, this is one of the main purposes of fiction.
Let the reader decide, let the reader beware. Good luck.
--Thomas Pynchon
Indeed. :-) As my poker-playing buddies would say, Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Friday, July 21, 2006
American Life in Poetry: Column 069
BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006
This marvelous poem by the California poet Marsha Truman Cooper perfectly captures the world of ironing, complete with its intimacy. At the end, doing a job to perfection, pressing the perfect edge, establishes a reassuring order to an otherwise mundane and slightly tawdry world.
Ironing After Midnight
Your mother called it
"doing the pressing,"
and you know now
how right she was.
There is something urgent here.
Not even the hiss
under each button
or the yellow business
ground in at the neck
can make one instant
of this work seem unimportant.
You've been taught
to turn the pocket corners
and pick out the dark lint
that collects there.
You're tempted to leave it,
but the old lessons
go deeper than habits.
Everyone else is asleep.
The odor of sweat rises
when you do
under the armpits,
the owner's particular smell
you can never quite wash out.
You'll stay up.
You'll have your way,
the final stroke
and sharpness
down the long sleeves,
a truly permanent edge.
Reprinted from "River Styx," No. 32, 1990, by permission of the author, whose most recent book is "Substantial Holdings," Pudding House Publications, 2002. Poem copyright (c) 1990 by Marsha Truman Cooper. This weekly column is supported by The Poetry Foundation, The Library of Congress, and the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. For information on permissions and usage, or to download a PDF version of the column, visit www.americanlifeinpoetry.org.
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
The Wheaties - Return and Early Departure.
Back in the WWdN last night, after a couple of weeks hiatus. A tiny field of 52 should have - but didn't - improve my odds of finishing in the money. Instead I finished as badly as I ever have in a Wheaties tournament, in 43rd position, 37 minutes after the tournament started.
As I've said before, I don't give that much credence to "card dead" claims, but last night was as good a counter-argument as you're likely to see. Out of the 53 hands dealt to me during those 37 minutes, I saw the flop a total of 8 times, three of those times either in the small or big blinds, and winning exactly half - 4 - of those 8.
Looking back at my hand history, I played a couple of marginal hands, but the hands I lost were with A 10, K 10, and so on, with flops showing things like QQ, flushes, and so on and bets that would have crippled my stack made at me when the flop hit. In any case, I blinded down to less than 1000 chips, won my way back to around 1350, and had blinded/lost back down to 760 again when Katitude put me out of my misery.
Typical for the night, I had Jc Kh on the button with 25/50 blinds. Two limpers. Maybe I should have pressed, but in all honesty, if I had gone all-in pre-flop and lost with that hand, I'd be calling myself a fool. One limper, maybe. Two, too much chance of one of them holding an Ace, and one of them Bone_daddy, had more than enough to cover my all-in.
I call. Blinds fold away. Flop is Jd Ks Td, both bad news and good for me. Good is that I've got two pair with the high card. Bad is there's both a flush and straight draw on the board. Kat bets 200 which probably means she's got the K and one of those draws. Bone_daddy, I'm happy to see, goes away, as two players in on that hand would have ensured at least one of them was drawing out. I go all-in with my last $510, and Kat calls. I pray that she's holding K 10 and no diamonds, but indeed she is making a move at the straight with K Q and gets it when an Ace hits on the Turn. No joy for me at the River, and I'm gone. She would have beat me too with a full house if she had been holding K 10.
I'd stick around for awhile railbirding Iggy and Xkm among others, and watch some very bizarro hands indeed. Iggy's pair of 8s go down under a flurry of Qs and Ks, and a short time later, Troublecat gets busted out as half his table goes all-in pre-flop with pairs of As, Ks, and Qs.
Until next week.
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
A Piece of the Cat
You can call me The Combine. Or The Big Man. Or maybe, The Brain. Yeah, that's the ticket, The Brain.
My descent into utter gambling degeneracy continues unabated. Yesterday, I took Troublecat up on his open offer to bloggers to buy into a piece of his action at the upcoming WSOP Main Event.
I figure what's good enough for a dwarf is good enough for Rico.
As TC says, it's a 2500:1 shot, but Uno: the idea of being in the Big Show, even by proxy is an attractive one; Dos: The Cat is a compulsive blogger, so it'll be fun to read a ground zero report as it's happening; and Tres: Hey, he beat me, right? And TroubleCat has been known to win other tourneys too.
It's nice to have enough in the stake to gamble every now and then.
R.I.P. Mickey Spillane 1918 - 2006
"How c-could you?" she gasped.
I only had a moment before talking to a corpse, but I got it in.
"It was easy," I said. I, the Jury
I came to appreciate Spillane late, much of it due to Max Allan Collins Ms. Tree comic book series which, while never coming right out and saying it, used the conceit of what would have happened if Velda, Hammer's secretary, had kept the agency running after Hammer was killed.
The Erection Set, released in `72, and not part of the Hammer series was my favorite of his books, not least because of the cover art, displayed to your left. That's Spillane's second wife, Sherri Malinou. The book was also dedicated to her. They'd later divorce and Spillane would remarry for the last time in 1983.
If you've never seen the movie adaptation of Kiss Me Deadly, it's very much worth tracking down. The Kefauver Commission, a federal unit dedicated to investigating corrupting influences in the 1950s gave Kiss Me Deadly the dubious distinction of being 1955's number one menace to American youth.
The Mick will be missed.
Monday, July 17, 2006
Bob Dylan with Norah Jones - I Shall Be Released (Live)
Probably won't be on YouTube long, so watch while you can. Dylan isn't the easiest person to do a duet with, I would guess, but Norah Jones does a nice job on this pretty version of the song.
Friday, July 14, 2006
Steal this banner
if you have a poker blog, and are concerned about having your right to play online poker taken away, right-click on the banner above, save a copy, and post it on your blog. Be sure you include the link to the Poker Players Alliance. and if you haven't already joined... now's the time.
Dylan Sets Album Track List, Inspires NYC Tribute
Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.
Bob Dylan has finalized the track list for his new album, "Modern Times," due Aug. 29 via Columbia. Four of the 10 cuts push the six-minute mark, including the nearly eight-minute "Spirit on the Water" and the nearly nine-minute closer, "Ain't Talkin'."
As previously reported, "Modern Times" was recorded earlier this year with Dylan's touring band of bassist Tony Garnier, drummer George G. Receli, guitarists Stu Kimball and Denny Freeman and multi-instrumentalist Donnie Herron.
The album will also be available in a special edition with a bonus DVD featuring four additional songs, details of which have yet to be announced. Dylan will support "Modern Times" with his third annual tour of minor league baseball stadiums, which gets underway Aug. 12 in Comstock Park, Mich.
Meanwhile, Dylan will be the subject of a star-studded tribute concert to be held Nov. 9 at New York's Avery Fisher Hall. Such artists as Patti Smith, Phil Lesh, Cat Power, Philip Glass, Natalie Merchant and the Black Crowes' Chris and Rich Robinson will each cover one of Dylan's tunes at the event, proceeds from which will benefit the Music for Youth Foundation.
Other acts on the bill include Rosanne Cash, Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo, Medeski Martin & Wood, Gov't Mule and Al Kooper and the Funky Faculty.
Here is the track list for "Modern Times":
"Thunder on the Mountain"
"Spirit on the Water"
"Rollin' and Tumblin'"
"When the Deal Goes Down"
"Someday Baby"
"Workingman's Blues #2"
"Beyond the Horizon"
"Nettie Moore"
"The Levee's Gonna Break"
"Ain't Talkin'"
American Life in Poetry: Column 068
BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006
Here is a marvelous little poem about a long marriage by the Kentucky poet, Wendell Berry. It's about a couple resigned to and comfortable with their routines. It is written in language as clear and simple as its subject. As close together as these two people have grown, as much alike as they have become, there is always the chance of the one, unpredictable, small moment of independence. Who will be the first to say goodnight?
They Sit Together on the Porch
They sit together on the porch, the dark
Almost fallen, the house behind them dark.
Their supper done with, they have washed and dried
The dishes--only two plates now, two glasses,
Two knives, two forks, two spoons--small work for two.
She sits with her hands folded in her lap,
At rest. He smokes his pipe. They do not speak,
And when they speak at last it is to say
What each one knows the other knows. They have
One mind between them, now, that finally
For all its knowing will not exactly know
Which one goes first through the dark doorway, bidding
Goodnight, and which sits on a while alone.
From "A Timbered Choir", by Wendell Berry. Copyright (c) 1998. Published and reprinted by arrangement with Counterpoint Press, a member of the Perseus Books Group (www.perseusbooks.com). All rights reserved. This weekly column is supported by The Poetry Foundation, The Library of Congress, and the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Episode 3 of Dreamtime...
... is now up at the "other" blog. I think I've finally beaten the "low" audio problems. See - or hear - what you think.
Paralyzed Man Able To Control Robot With Only His Thoughts…
A paralyzed man with a small sensor implanted in his brain was able to control a computer, a television set and a robot using only his thoughts, scientists reported yesterday.
I just the other day got, an internet was sent by my staff...
"...at 10 o’clock in the morning on Friday and I just got it yesterday. Why?" - Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) on the Internet
Why, indeed? And now you can hear the remix of Sen. Ted's infamous "Series of Tubes" speech here.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Dreamtime now has its own blog
I'm having fun with the Dreamtime podcasts; and unless/until that changes, will continue doing them. I've given Dreamtime its own blog here. Listen often, I need to get those iTune stats up.
First step down the slippery slope
House Bans Most Online Gambling
If online poker is your passion or if you fancy internet roulette, you might want to consider taking up a new hobby.
Congress has taken a significant step toward banning most online gambling.
The House voted 317-93 Tuesday for legislation that would prohibit credit cards and other payment forms from being used to settle internet wagers. It would clarify and update current law to spell out that most gambling is illegal online.
It also would allow law enforcement officials to work with internet providers to block access to gambling web sites. The bill would exempt state-run lotteries and horse racing.
The fight now moves to the Senate. Leaders in that chamber have not identified Internet gambling as a priority, and the bill's supporters say the House vote gives them momentum to push the Senate to act. The bill's main champion in that chamber, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Arizona), said Tuesday he would pursue it aggressively.
Supporters of a ban say the Internet's widespread availability makes it too easy to gamble, something that can create betting addictions and financial problems.
"It puts gambling in every living room, at every school desk and at every work station," said John Kindt, a business professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who has studied the issue and supports the bill.
Critics argue that the legislation favors some gambling industries over others and that regulating the $12 billion industry and collecting taxes on it would be more effective than a ban.
"Prohibition as a general principle is a bad principle, because it doesn't work," said Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas).
The American Gaming Association, the industry's largest lobby, opposed online gambling in the past but recently softened its stance and backed a study of the feasibility of regulating it.
The internet gambling industry is headquartered almost entirely outside the United States, although about half its customers live in the U.S.
The bill's sponsors successfully beat back an amendment to strip out exemptions in the bill for the horse racing industry and state lotteries.
Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Nevada) sponsored the failed amendment. She said it was unfair to allow online lotteries and internet betting on horse racing to flourish while cracking down on other kinds of sports betting, casino games and card games like poker.
If the horse provision were stricken from the bill, there's a good chance the measure would run into objections in the Senate from Majority Whip Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) and others.
Under the provision concerning horse racing, betting operators would not be prohibited from any activity allowed under the Interstate Horseracing Act. That law was written in the 1970s to set up rules for interstate betting on racing. The industry successfully lobbied for legislation several years ago to clarify that Internet betting on horse racing is allowed.
Greg Avioli, chief executive officer of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, acknowledged the House bill likely would move internet gamblers away from banned sites toward horseracing sites.
However, he said the racing industry did not get a new exemption but that Congress recognized existing federal law, meaning the Interstate Horseracing Act.
The Justice Department has taken a different view on the legality of internet betting on horse races.
In a World Trade Organization case involving Antigua, the department said online betting on horse racing remains illegal under the 1961 Wire Act despite the existence of the more recently passed, and updated, horse racing law.
The department hasn't actively enforced its stance, though it recently indicated it was considering taking action on the issue.
"This bill does not touch the dispute between the Justice Department and the horse racing community," Rep. Jim Leach (R-Iowa) said of the House-passed gambling ban, which he helped write.
Congress has considered banning online gambling in the past.
In 2000, disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff led a fierce campaign against a similar bill on behalf of an online lottery company. Supporters of the bill brought up that history Tuesday and suggested that a vote for the bill was a way to make a statement against Abramoff's influence.
Opponents of the latest bill argued that the current lottery exemption wasn't in the bill in 2000, and, if it had been, Abramoff's client might have supported the legislation.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
American Life in Poetry: Column 067
BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006
One in a series of elegies by New York City poet Catherine Barnett, this poem describes the first gathering after death has shaken a family to its core. The father tries to help his grown daughter forget for a moment that, a year earlier, her own two daughters were killed, that she is now alone. He's heartsick, realizing that drinking can only momentarily ease her pain, a pain and love that takes hold of the entire family. The children who join her in the field are silent guardians.
Family Reunion
My father scolded us all for refusing his liquor.
He kept buying tequila, and steak for the grill,
until finally we joined him, making margaritas,
cutting the fat off the bone.
When he saw how we drank, my sister
shredding the black labels into her glass
while his remaining grandchildren
dragged their thin bunk bed mattresses
first out to the lawn to play
then farther up the field to sleep next to her,
I think it was then he changed,
something in him died. He's gentler now,
quiet, losing weight though every night
he eats the same ice cream he always ate
only now he's not drinking,
he doesn't fall asleep with the spoon in his hand,
he waits for my mother to come lie down with him.
Reprinted from "Into Perfect Spheres Such Holes Are Pierced," Alice James Books, 2004, by permission of the author. Copyright (c) 2004 by Catherine Barnett. This weekly column is supported by The Poetry Foundation, The Library of Congress, and the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. For information on permissions and usage, or to download a PDF version of the column, visit www.americanlifeinpoetry.org.
Leia's Metal Bikini
would be such a great name for a post-punk band, but is, in fact a web site of fans who create - and model - the eponymous costume worn by Carrie Fisher in Return of the Jedi. Below is a performance by Amira Sa'id, a dancer whose Princess Leia belly dance is both funny and cool.
Monday, July 10, 2006
Sunday, July 09, 2006
Church signs you're unlikely to see
via churchsigngenerator.com
although I'm still in New Hamster, my spirit is with the WPBT in Vegas.
Saturday, July 08, 2006
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Rocket Goes Boom
There's nothing like these here internets for watching a good ol' cat fight.
Andrew Baron, the self-proclaimed "evil genius" behind Rocketboom claims on a very stark Home Page that frontwoman Amanda Congdon has quit.
Amanda sees it another way.
And the speculation runs rampant.* Is it because of Mario? Will telegenic Amber MacArthur, current host of TechTV, become the new Amanda?
Amanda is currently living with her parents. You can see her farewell not-Rocketboom video here. Stay tuned.
*btw, blogger Stowe Boyd, who himself sounds like a soap opera character, notes as an aside that Andrew Baron is one of the worst speakers he has ever heard. After suffering through a TwiT panel discussion that Baron was part of, I wholeheartedly agree. Baron alternately insulted the other participants and promoted his wacky, Web 1.0 vision of a media empire a la Rupert Murdoch in a screechy, high-pitched voice which offered clear evidence about why he stays on the other side of the camera.
American Life in Poetry: Column 066
BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006
Some of the most telling poetry being written in our country today has to do with the smallest and briefest of pleasures. Here Marie Howe of New York captures a magical moment: sitting in the shelter of a leafy tree with the rain falling all around.
The Copper Beech
Immense, entirely itself,
it wore that yard like a dress,
with limbs low enough for me to enter it
and climb the crooked ladder to where
I could lean against the trunk and practice being alone.
One day, I heard the sound before I saw it, rain fell
darkening the sidewalk.
Sitting close to the center, not very high in the branches,
I heard it hitting the high leaves, and I was happy,
watching it happen without it happening to me.
Reprinted from "What the Living Do," W. W. Norton & Co., 1997. Copyright (c) 1997 by Marie Howe. This weekly column is supported by The Poetry Foundation, The Library of Congress, and the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. For information on permissions and usage, or to download a PDF version of the column, visit www.americanlifeinpoetry.org.
