Years ago I built a damned impressive collection of VHS video tapes… and then I junked the whole thing to move to DVDs. (When I think of the money I’ve sunk into this obsession, it is frankly a bit embarrassing!) By the time that BluRay came out, my collection had grown to over 500 movies and a bunch of TV… Read More »
Try to find the positive: it’s usually lurking around somewhere if you look. Sometimes you have to grab it by the lapels or the scruff of the neck to bring it round, but you can always find it. Happiness and positivity are choices we make: you often can’t control the hurdles life throws at you, but you can… Read More »
I love the writings of Elmore Leonard. Not familiar with his work? Did you like the TV show Justified? How about the films Jackie Brown, Bandits, or Get Shorty? All are based on the work of Elmore Leonard. He published an extremely short book, Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing, which I can distill down to just this simple… Read More »
I find it interesting that using real quotation marks in writing does not adequately convey what air quotes mean when speaking. It’s cool that while air quotes were developed to convey quotation marks when speaking, they have taken on an added dimension, adding an element of sarcasm. Air quotes generally mean “so called” and add a figurative wink to… Read More »
This is a squash soup with a savory sweet flavor. Try it with pear or apple, and don’t forget the cinnamon. This would be great topped with Sweet Potato Hash, but is just fine without it. If you want to make it a bigger meal, add chicken.
Back in the first edition of my book, The Gentleviewer’s Obsessive Guide to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I had original collage art at the beginning of each chapter to represent some key motifs of the season. When I went to the second edition of the book, I took the artwork out because printing a full-color book was too… Read More »
I am very fortunate to live in the beautiful Pacific Northwest — literally in a rainforest. While I live in a pretty typical suburban sprawl just to the west of Portland, it is still very lush and green all year long. I am a 15-minute drive from wild beauty, and a short 2 hours from one of the… Read More »
Whenever someone talks about wanting to disband the ACA (which some call ObamaCare), it sets my teeth on edge. Like many other Americans, if it wasn’t for the ACA, I am literally uninsurable unless I go through my own corporation because of pre-existingconditions. Getting insured this way unfairly increases my costs, and frankly this isn’t an option for many other… Read More »
I traveled to Berkeley, California, in October 2012 to see Philip Glass’ Einstein on the Beach. It was the first time I’d seen it, and it was nothing short of spectacular. The following month, I was telling my brother, Tim, about it. I told him that I was kicking myself that I hadn’t arranged to see it again… Read More »
Subscribe to this blog to get an email whenever a new blog post goes live or when an existing post has new content added. I mean, you don’t want to miss out when I add an amazing new TV show to my list of great shows, a new book to my list of my recommended fiction books, or… Read More »
My partner and were I planning to move away from the Portland suburbs, and of course I blogged about it. Here’s the series. Part 1: The next adventure: Building a home My partner and I love our house and our neighborhood just west of Portland, but we’ve decided it’s time to move on. The first step in that… Read More »