Monthly Archives: September 2012

Food fight!

Glynn Marshes writes: Trouble on the literary scene! A couple of Brit writers–RJ Ellory and Stephen Leather–were caught posting sock puppet reviews on Amazon. Their probable undoing: they didn’t stop at giving their own books 5 stars. They also posted … Continue reading

Posted in Books Publishing and Writing | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Ralphs’ New Campaign

Paleo Retiree writes: At my previous place of blogging I often marveled at what I called “nonsense brackets” — the tendency many graphic designers have these days of inserting parenthesis marks or brackets into their work for no grammatical/linguistic reason. … Continue reading

Posted in Commercial art, Computers | Tagged , , , , | 16 Comments

A Tour of the Santa Ana Civic Center

Blowhard, Esq. writes: In the comments of my last post, Sir Barken Hyena said that, “SoCal is stupid nice.” Well, parts of it certainly are. On the other hand, some areas are architectural wastelands. This especially seems to be the … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Photography | Tagged , , , , , , , | 22 Comments

Romney/Ryan 2012: a Prediction

Sir Barken Hyena writes: I’m not predicting who will win in November. We’ll see soon enough. I’m making a prediction about what will happen if the Romney/Ryan ticket wins. The economy will improve. But only a little. That portion of … Continue reading

Posted in Politics and Economics | 6 Comments

Question Lady Question

The Question Lady writes: What’s the most pretentious movie ever made?

Posted in Personal reflections | 15 Comments

NY Times Jumps the Shark, or, Trolling Becomes Journalism’s New Standard

Glynn Marshes writes: So a few days ago, in the comment thread on “What’s wrong with white boys playing the blues,” jr dismissed the LA Weekly article cited as an “exercise in trolling.” Now comes the New York Times, in … Continue reading

Posted in Books Publishing and Writing | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

City Sights: Claremont, CA

Blowhard, Esq. writes: A few pics from the city’s lovely downtown.

Posted in Architecture, Photography | Tagged , | 8 Comments

“Black Wings Has My Angel”

Fabrizio del Wrongo writes: Someone recommended this to me a while back. I took a chance on it when I noticed it was available cheap for the Amazon Kindle. (Maybe it still is.) Written by the terrifically-named Elliott Chaze, and … Continue reading

Posted in Books Publishing and Writing, Commercial art, Movies, Personal reflections, Sex | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

The Brian Eno Disease

Sir Barken Hyena writes: It pains me to use this title. I adore Eno, he’s been a huge influence on me, both as a teacher of sorts, and as an artist.  Another Green World is practically the founding document for … Continue reading

Posted in Music, Personal reflections | Tagged , | 2 Comments

“Night Flight”

Fabrizio del Wrongo writes: This MGM star vehicle has been out of circulation since its original run in 1933, probably owing to legal issues related to the rights of the source story by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. (Yeah, THAT Antoine de … Continue reading

Posted in Movies, Performers | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments