tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-324837972024-03-13T17:08:20.104-04:00Another Hundred CrimesUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger207125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32483797.post-32083287679596759702017-09-07T14:15:00.001-04:002017-09-07T14:15:31.200-04:00Feral Pears and Black Plums: A Warm up Exercise<div>
I'm trying to get back into watercolor. I really suck now so I've thought up the idea of doing a series of warm up exercises--a few small paintings before each session. Going back to watercolor class could help too.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32483797.post-48254777549792451802017-08-11T14:35:00.001-04:002017-08-11T14:35:52.696-04:00They deleted my blog. Musta thought I was dead.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lNyKJ9qQEjo/WY33gCAde2I/AAAAAAAACrA/oUzIyNPni3U1_c7TpIi5VPscSN5yPAxDQCKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_0153.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1521" data-original-width="1065" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lNyKJ9qQEjo/WY33gCAde2I/AAAAAAAACrA/oUzIyNPni3U1_c7TpIi5VPscSN5yPAxDQCKgBGAs/s320/IMG_0153.JPG" width="224" /></a>It's me da!blogger a total mystery now. Cannot see what I'm typing or where. Do I have to move this whole thing to another platform?</b></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32483797.post-4048782071368760752013-01-20T22:03:00.000-05:002013-01-20T22:06:40.127-05:00I Have Up the Strangest Playlist on iTunesI really wanted to check in with you on Blogger, but I have to give context, always. Playing Now: Jesus was a Leprechaun by Snakefinger.<br />
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Right,<br />
<i>Jesus was a Leprechaun</i><br />
<i>Dying on the Cross</i><br />
<i>Remember when..something something</i><br />
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<i>Jesus was a Leprchaun</i><br />
<i>His name was Tiny Tom</i><br />
<i>He tried to have a little fun</i><br />
(unintelligible high pitched electronic chorus, here)<br />
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<i>Unforgettable solo guitar riff from Snakefinger</i>, but okay, you've heard more than you want to about it. Man, I love this song.<br />
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So in a world where trying to have a little fun on the internet—or anywhere else—was interrupted by events best not mentioned—could be some in the room with weak stomachs—I'm back. You will be even more excited than I am about me transferring one of my domain names to this blog. That name would be <i>Another Hundred Crimes</i>. Just let me call Go Daddy right now and do it before I once again start cleaning my place to within an inch of its life. There's a photographer coming from Channing Realty on Wednesday to take pictures of the former home of the Hampshire School of Art. Best that any prospective buyers not see my piercingly insightful posts on <i><a href="http://suckerbeagle.blogspot.com/search/label/Hard-to-believe%20Neighborhood%20Sights">Hard to Believe Sights Around the Neighborhood</a>.</i><br />
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<i>What the living room looks like since they hauled most of my stuff to storage</i></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wow, it's the Screaming Blue Messiahs. On my playlist, Yo!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I'll soon be on the streets of Albuquerque with my video camera. (if the place doesn't sell, I'll be on the streets of Cambridge with my shopping cart and tin cup) Thomasin, Frankie and I will be podcasting our road trip from Boston to ABQ. I was talking to my dad, mentioned the podcasts. He couldn't understand why anyone would want to see these. I tried to explain it but he wasn't buying. He's right too. But that isn't something that will stop me. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wondering why the living room looks so great? That would be Andrew Reid and Harold Brown of F.D.R. Construction, my two Jamaican friends who not only painted the walls, sanded the floors, fixed every damned thing that had fallen to pieces over the past 27 years—Harold even fixed my vacuum cleaner—but every day they brought a bit of Jamaica to Inman Square. Andrew's phone picks up radio stations from Jamaica. Things were jumping. My knees are wrecked. Harold brought exotic fruit drinks and, because he's a master-fisherman and cook, fish stew and seafood calzone-type sandwiches. His goal? To open a restaurant. I'm flying back here when that happens! So I'm making new business cards for them </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">F.D.R. Construction~</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">from soup to nuts</span></i></span></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Don't wait for the cards: Call them now: 617-319-9546</b></span></i></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Call even if you don't need any work done. Seriously</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Alls I have left to say is: No lo puedo creer.</b></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32483797.post-75248371814289502872012-04-13T17:01:00.003-04:002012-04-13T17:01:56.533-04:00Greedy Chinese and Americans Desecrate Mayan Artifact for Mundane Use<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gK9irlrcimA/S157bMQYQdI/AAAAAAAABCs/g3FnsAcdVp8/s1600-h/jan+25+2010+016.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5430913907732005330" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gK9irlrcimA/S157bMQYQdI/AAAAAAAABCs/g3FnsAcdVp8/s400/jan+25+2010+016.JPG" style="cursor: hand; float: right; height: 184px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
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Yes, you've heard it all before. the <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">overseas sweatshop</span>s, the exporting of American jobs to far-flung lands, the plundering of the resources of third world nations, but this one takes the cake. Working back from what we've got, it appears that a Chinese company that makes art boards and sells the product under the name of "Alvin"( not the shriekingly obnoxious Christmas chipmunk) and markets to unsuspecting artists in the states, has done the utterly unthinkable. If we didn't have photographic proof you just would not believe it. The Alvin art board, designed as a drawing support or for other art projects uses a simple clip at the top to secure the paper. the "clip" in this case is a piece of ancient Mayan art. The metal masks, used by the Mayans to contact the spirit world in their traditional religious rites, have been <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">shamelessly plundered</span> and attached to the pressed board for use as a paper clip. Ironically I spent some time this weekend looking at samples of Haitian metal art, otherwise I might have missed this <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">grotesque travesty. </span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32483797.post-24773617757106265132012-04-13T16:58:00.000-04:002012-04-13T16:58:10.148-04:00Iced Coffee Season 2012Some people are telling me to shut up and enjoy the weather. Okay, so there are a couple of things wrong with that. One is that I never, ever enjoy it being 90 degrees--that's just me. Two is that there is no contradiction between enjoying the weather and knowing that the planet is about to catch fire and burn every living thing off the surface of it...real soon.<br />
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So anyway, I opened Iced Coffee Season in March. Just now catching up on this sorely neglected blog thing. By 'catching up' I mean that I read some old posts this morning and cackled at my own stuff. Sad.<br />
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Then I started reading my dog's blog <a href="http://www.airedalecrimespree.blogspot.com/">www.airedalecrimespree.blogspot.com</a> and cackled some more. Everyone knows I'm avoiding creating the hyperlinks in the newsletter. True, because it says so on Facebook. I'm going to go make a large poster now.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32483797.post-3319643921755110612012-03-21T23:09:00.001-04:002012-04-13T16:38:45.487-04:00I Don't Even Have the Title to This Property and...Today I received a notification from my bank detailing recent online payments made by me. I always open these, for some reason, even though I check my account almost daily. Let's see if we can imagine the look on my face when I learned that I paid my mortgage--to Chase Mortgage, the company who held the mortgage until July of '10 when I refinanced with another company. <br />
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Could Chase somehow return that money to my bank account in time for me to pay my actualy mortgage? Certainly not. I am now embroiled in a letter writing campaign that threatens to eclipse the volume of letters between Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell, although these particular letters will not be of such a felicitous nature. All manner of printouts and information is to be included along with certain phrases which must be written exactly as told to me by the minimum wage employee(s)--I called twice, looking for a different answer--and the envelope must be addressed just so. And then sent on to Columbus Ohio where, when it finally arrives, researchers will attempt to locate the money. Meanwhile I cannot pay my actual mortgage until this is sorted. Color me homeless in 6 months or less.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32483797.post-55347920126839577392010-10-08T18:05:00.000-04:002010-10-08T18:05:05.240-04:00Oh My!That cop, the one in the last blog post. It's a cow, not a sheep! Nothing is what it seems anymore. Not even a little.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32483797.post-11776370192559057332010-10-05T01:18:00.000-04:002010-10-05T01:18:45.999-04:00No Need for Anyone to Be Unemployed<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gK9irlrcimA/TKq05QqPh2I/AAAAAAAABGI/oCdsliQ9u_8/s1600/june+10+2010+003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" px="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gK9irlrcimA/TKq05QqPh2I/AAAAAAAABGI/oCdsliQ9u_8/s320/june+10+2010+003.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>In it's great wisdom the City of Cambridge has seen fit to re-do the civil service exam for the Police Academy in order to widen the potential for diversity. Here we see a picture of the very first ovine officer sheepishly cautioning---a chicken? Apparently these cloven-hooved coppers will be clip-clopping around town, grazing around the parks.The wooly wardens of the peace will be bleating at various violators of the law and bleating at parking meters.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32483797.post-50010122458251478832010-02-13T00:34:00.006-05:002010-02-13T01:16:46.922-05:00Last But Not Least Post-Christmas Neighborhood Tragedy<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gK9irlrcimA/S3Y_TbtPOqI/AAAAAAAABC4/jdOIWmw-KgA/s1600-h/january+28+2010+003.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 400px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 386px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5437603203184016034" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gK9irlrcimA/S3Y_TbtPOqI/AAAAAAAABC4/jdOIWmw-KgA/s400/january+28+2010+003.JPG" /></a><br /><div>This one broke my heart. Santa beheaded and exsanguinated!! The blood-draining apparently extended even to his traditional red hat. And the bloodless head nailed to a house in East Cambridge! I ask you: what kind of monsters are out there? Sure, there are many holiday-haters, humbugs and hard core non-celebraters of the admittedly commercialized and crass holiday of Christmas. But to behead the jolly man so beloved by children everywhere seems a bit much. If you look closely (and I don''t recommend it) you will notice a tinge of red here and there, especially around the lips, the tip of the famous nose alongside of which he lay his finger.(that doesn't sound so good, put that way) as well as two dots on his merry cheeks. (also doesn't sound so good) Perhaps the savaged Santa, upon leaving the Windsor Tap, was in the middle of a high-spirited "Ho Ho Ho" when the axe fell, leaving his lips puckered and pursed, thereby saving a pale pink memento of his well-know rosy smile. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>It's hard to know if we should expect Santa next December or not. There's the depressingly deflated version of the present-packing paragon, on Hampshire Street, languishing under a drain pipe. And then there's the fascinatingly fixated version of the right jolly old elf in his sleigh ready to take off over and over again. But the bloodless head! I seriously doubt a return of the toy-toting sleigh-man. I can't go on capturing these gruesome sights on film. I'm beginning to suffer from unending nightmares which is why I'm posting this at an ungodly hour. Better to get it out of my system than to fall into a dream-tortured sleep that decidedly does not feature visions of sugar plum fairies dancing in my head. Farewell to this topic. </div><div></div><div>Sadly, there are other hard-to-beleive-neighborhood-sights for me to report on in the future. As soon as I'm able to walk around town with my camera I will be back with the stories the major media dare not cover.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32483797.post-5022745607929302992010-01-27T14:56:00.001-05:002010-01-27T14:56:00.428-05:00Nativity Figures' Exodus to New World<div><br /><br /><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gK9irlrcimA/S1372SdB2vI/AAAAAAAABCU/JA28JLBUSZ4/s1600-h/jan+25+2010+005+-+Copy.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 223px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 148px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5430773635763788530" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gK9irlrcimA/S1372SdB2vI/AAAAAAAABCU/JA28JLBUSZ4/s400/jan+25+2010+005+-+Copy.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div>I received many outraged phone calls about the creche creatures trapped forever in a glass case on Hampshire Street. Apparently some fearless freedom fighter must have facilitated an escape for the holy fugitives.They got only as far as Elm Street. The first photo shows them <em>in situ</em>. Sorry to point out that there is blatant evidence of torture. Look at the electrical devices still stuck in their backs. <em>And what's up with Mary's eyebrows?</em> Their new homeland <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gK9irlrcimA/S138h34zMWI/AAAAAAAABCc/UQa0RZfjnG8/s1600-h/jan+25+2010+007.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 343px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 220px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5430774384546754914" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gK9irlrcimA/S138h34zMWI/AAAAAAAABCc/UQa0RZfjnG8/s400/jan+25+2010+007.JPG" /></a>is not very secure, if you ask me, as they are right out in plain view of the dreaded 'House on Hampshire" from whence they fled. Looks like they 'followed the drinking (and eating) gourd as they are quite a bit larger now. The tireless and tena<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gK9irlrcimA/S139h0ScedI/AAAAAAAABCk/9GyRWp0c8pM/s1600-h/jan+25+2010+011.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 150px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5430775483092203986" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gK9irlrcimA/S139h0ScedI/AAAAAAAABCk/9GyRWp0c8pM/s200/jan+25+2010+011.JPG" /></a>cious modern day Harriet Tubman made sure that the token Black Wiseman made it along with the suspiciously Ayrian Christmas crowd. Hell, even the animals are all white.(is that a <em>duck </em>on the left?) There is much speculation about how the escape was engineered. Some think it was on this bicycle. If so, it only got them to the corner of Hampshire and Elm. After lashing the bike to a post, the nervous nativity group must have jogged a few door down and are standing out in the open. Hope this blog post doesn't give away their location to their former captors.</div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32483797.post-82015204775298810832010-01-25T14:41:00.007-05:002010-01-26T00:26:24.817-05:00Frightening Frosty Follow Up<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gK9irlrcimA/S1313sXFEFI/AAAAAAAABCE/gaxH_hTAmm8/s1600-h/jan+25+2010+002.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 326px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5430767062828257362" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gK9irlrcimA/S1313sXFEFI/AAAAAAAABCE/gaxH_hTAmm8/s400/jan+25+2010+002.JPG" /></a><br /><div>I'll start by saying how welcome Tom Canel's comments were on the previous "Frosty" post. However, new information has come to light and it's not pretty. The beloved snowindividual has been discovered, tarred and 'feathered' (with some unknown kind of feather-like substance) and OH MY GOD! nailed to a door. His carroty nose is now irreversibly flattened, his hat sits squarely on his head but the two-eyes-made-out-of-coal are still there. (Frosty might be better off not seeing what has befallen him). Frosty's grin is a bit of a rictus-like thing. You know he can't be smiling. This, my friends, is not a 'jolly, happy soul'.The scarf is now strangulation-red and there are body parts (like the broom) missing. As Jim Calandrillo would say: "What a world, what a world!"</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32483797.post-81406934320242028522010-01-21T23:56:00.005-05:002010-01-21T23:56:00.536-05:0045 Degrees and Frosty Refuses to Melt<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gK9irlrcimA/S1PuFAbn3-I/AAAAAAAABBk/Z8dYKtqug1U/s1600-h/jan+18+2010+006.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 300px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427943745694195682" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gK9irlrcimA/S1PuFAbn3-I/AAAAAAAABBk/Z8dYKtqug1U/s400/jan+18+2010+006.JPG" /></a><br /><div>Yet another Christmas related puzzle has been discovered on--you guessed it--Hampshire Street in Cambridge. Frosty the Snowman, a tradition holiday personality made famous by the song, "Frosty the Snowman" was stumbled upon, standing up and perfectly formed while most of the snow in town melted and washed away into the streets causing minor flooding in certain areas. But not the intrepid Frosty who sat all puffed up up on the porch of 199 Hampshire Street. Looking all perky and defiant in the face of the January thaw, every detail of Frosty's persona remained utterly intact. Yes, the corncob pipe retained its jaunty angle as it continued to jut out of the snowman's erstwhile mouth. The two eyes made out of coal along with the three buttons of the same material appeared to suffer no discernable slippage. The same is true of the traditional carroty nose. The top hat, the scarf and even the ear muffs hung in there in perfect form. Close observation revealed a certain curvature of the broom to the shape of the lower body. Neighbors claim that this was the case before the mid-winter warm up. Scientists and climate change experts have no leads or working theories about what elements might be in play. </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32483797.post-50187530177983932010-01-19T23:32:00.002-05:002010-01-19T23:32:00.154-05:00Nativity Participants Locked Forever in Small Glass Case<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gK9irlrcimA/S1Pod5cPozI/AAAAAAAABBc/KyDT8Vo0YyM/s1600-h/jan+18+2010+003.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427937576244716338" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gK9irlrcimA/S1Pod5cPozI/AAAAAAAABBc/KyDT8Vo0YyM/s400/jan+18+2010+003.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div>Another horrific post-Christmas discovery--also on Hampshire Street--has come to light in the recent investigations surrounding the disorientation of the beloved figure of Father Christmas. Concerned adherents to the Christianity aspects of the recent December holiday reported Baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph, the 3 wise men and a menagerie of barnyard livestock missing last week. "They usually return to the spirit world." mused Father Peter of Our Lady of the Sorrows Church here in Cambridge. Representatives of various Prostestant demoninations called in the missing group of Holy People shortly after an ecuminical meeting of desparate representatives of the clergy. After going public in the pulpits with the news, callers on the dedicated hot line set up for tips were able to alert the authorities to the whereabouts of the unique and grotesque solution of the missing historical figures. Again, right on Hampshire street, they were found, apparently safe but locked for all eternity inside a small glass box set on stilts so as to be seen at eye-level. Questions were raised about how all these people and farm animals could fit in a diorama of such tiny proportions. Experts have explained that people used to be a lot smaller back then.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32483797.post-39018616392875504642010-01-17T23:15:00.004-05:002010-01-18T00:18:53.400-05:00Santa Back and Ready for Action<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gK9irlrcimA/S1PjEFJS9NI/AAAAAAAABBU/1SKVIwWsONk/s1600-h/jan+18+2010+004.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427931635151729874" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gK9irlrcimA/S1PjEFJS9NI/AAAAAAAABBU/1SKVIwWsONk/s400/jan+18+2010+004.JPG" /></a><br /><div>Only a week or so after the tragic deflation of that Merry Old Embodiment of the Christmas Spirit-- a Miracle--not on 42nd Street, but on Hampshire Street has been documented. Yes it's Santa and he's all ready to take off again in his sleigh just 3 weeks after his last ride. Caught in a time warp? Some kind of Christmas Day Groundhog Day scenario? Psychiatrists at the Institue for Magical Thinking which specializes in emblematic holiday figures are still working on it. As of this report they have not been able to bring the mythological Kris Kringle in for direct observation. The photo was taken on December 17th and at last reports Santa was still in this Zen meditative pose prior to what he seems to believe is his regularly scheduled take-off. Pundits noting the lack of Santa's sack are convinced that the elves have not been convinced to put in the incredible amounts of overtime required to produce the requisite number of gifts. A careful search of North Pole headquarters failed to find even a single wish list sent in after December 25th.Commentators have also noted the absence of the reindeer including Rudolf whose nose was reported lit up at the Windsor Tap a mere couple of blocks from where Santa sits frozen in time and place. Perhaps it's all just a metaphor for a world gone mad, or at least a made-up world gone mad.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32483797.post-91337629298318697032009-12-30T16:28:00.003-05:002010-01-18T00:17:59.711-05:00Santa All In After Delivering Gifts to Fionna Lafferty<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gK9irlrcimA/SzvIeeeqF5I/AAAAAAAABBM/StkC-q8GML0/s1600-h/dec+30+2009+001.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421147002373805970" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gK9irlrcimA/SzvIeeeqF5I/AAAAAAAABBM/StkC-q8GML0/s400/dec+30+2009+001.JPG" /></a><br /><div>Let me tell you, this was a sad sight. I tried to interview the deflated jolly old elf. "I was doing okay when it was just kids," panted the famous man-in-red. "This crap with over-gifting grown children has to stop!" He seemed bitter. "Yeah, ya know everyone thinks this stuff gets done by a team of us. Not so. Father Christmas drinks himself under the table every Christmas Eve, and Kris Kringle's got nothing much to do but put fruit and odd bits of nuts in wooden shoes. Let me tell you, in the old days they all had their wooden shoes out on the balcony, so at least he was making the appearance of covering his territory. Now, who's got even one wooden shoe? They leave their Doc Martin's out but Kringle, he won't touch 'em. Says it's not in his job description." I left the former merry old soul where he lay. </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32483797.post-3825712895767894172009-11-26T03:00:00.004-05:002009-11-26T03:07:49.284-05:00Here's Another Scare for You<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gK9irlrcimA/Sw42a51LY7I/AAAAAAAABBA/M7xC7lpAhPA/s1600/orange+chicken+003.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 221px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5408320038346908594" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gK9irlrcimA/Sw42a51LY7I/AAAAAAAABBA/M7xC7lpAhPA/s400/orange+chicken+003.JPG" /></a><br /><div>I'm in the process of creating a new personal website. This is rather counter-intuitive since I don't even have the time or energy to keep this blog running. I'm doomed altogether since I'm blogging at 3am on Thanksgiving Eve. On the left is a picture of the reason I've been out of the art studio and out of my mind. Her name is Frankie and she specializes in looking innocent. Her purpose? To out-crime Virginia. Good luck to us all. Happy Thanksgiving.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32483797.post-64216491781449002482009-11-26T02:52:00.002-05:002009-11-26T02:56:09.341-05:00<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gK9irlrcimA/Sw40VFDMELI/AAAAAAAABA4/LgDZmqMVOqA/s1600/nov+22+2009+012+-+Copy.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 400px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5408317739255992498" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gK9irlrcimA/Sw40VFDMELI/AAAAAAAABA4/LgDZmqMVOqA/s400/nov+22+2009+012+-+Copy.JPG" /></a><br /><div><span style="font-size:180%;">New Stephen King Novel to be set in Somerville</span></div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Flowers on the Avenue invites you in for the scare of your life. King's new novel is based on the real life shoppe of horrors on Somerville Ave, a venue where no one really knows what lurks inside. Frightenly, no one has ever been know to emerge from Flowers on the Avenue. Worse, no one has ever been know to go in! Local residents speculate that it's a facade, or perhaps a Cambridge Arts Council Public Arts project gone awry. Is this a merely two-dimensional faux brick facade with a doll house makover? Or does something decidedly macabre seeth within the dimensionally challenged Flowers on the Avenue?</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32483797.post-60373045500172050932009-07-06T11:19:00.003-04:002017-09-07T14:14:14.871-04:00Out House Church Makes Rounds in Cambridge<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gK9irlrcimA/SlIZ8zvtq8I/AAAAAAAABAc/S8xvsEIVo8s/s1600-h/Outhouse+Church2.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355371439370120130" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gK9irlrcimA/SlIZ8zvtq8I/AAAAAAAABAc/S8xvsEIVo8s/s400/Outhouse+Church2.JPG" style="cursor: hand; float: left; height: 400px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 337px;" /></a><br />
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This is the age of creative and alternative religions. But who would have guessed this one? The Out House Church on wheels like the mobil library of yore makes its rounds in Cambridge. This picture was captured as the multi-duty spiritual temple came barreling through Inman Square. Gives new meaning to "I gotta go to church!"</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32483797.post-79456860248932566052009-07-06T11:12:00.004-04:002009-07-06T11:18:54.896-04:00<object height="364" width="445"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/79vdlEcWxvM&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&border=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/79vdlEcWxvM&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="445" height="364"></embed></object>Liz posted this one on her Tricylcle Community page.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32483797.post-54431211820293687822009-05-06T06:58:00.001-04:002009-05-06T07:00:37.591-04:00Reverend Billy for Mayor<object height="360" width="580"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/D4Pl2UA_Rp0&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&border=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/D4Pl2UA_Rp0&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="580" height="360"></embed></object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32483797.post-65482094885741225902009-04-16T06:10:00.003-04:002009-04-16T06:15:53.576-04:00Larry is Dead!!!<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gK9irlrcimA/SecFB8CXc6I/AAAAAAAABAU/SbKchCag22Y/s1600-h/Larry+Portrait.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325230615242961826" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 312px" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gK9irlrcimA/SecFB8CXc6I/AAAAAAAABAU/SbKchCag22Y/s400/Larry+Portrait.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div>Yes. Larry the Zebra Fish aka Larry T. Wallace is no more inhabiting his earthly form. In a moment of dark sychronicity I finished my painting of Larry last week and he is my feature creature in this year's Iced Coffee Season flyer. I can't talk about it now. Devastated!!</div><div>Here's my portrait of Larry in his natural habitat. This is in watercolor and ink covered with glassine.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32483797.post-88184017164111669042009-04-06T08:37:00.003-04:002009-04-06T08:44:09.032-04:00Like a Really Bad Novel, Only RealForeclosure sharks celebrate in Palm Beach. Scenes from the end of the empire. Click on the link to the story. It is truly unbelievable.<br /><br /><div><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/06/us/06convene.html">http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/06/us/06convene.html</a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gK9irlrcimA/Sdn4j-nkIjI/AAAAAAAABAM/DnXifnE2E2I/s1600-h/06convene_650.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321557731703005746" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gK9irlrcimA/Sdn4j-nkIjI/AAAAAAAABAM/DnXifnE2E2I/s400/06convene_650.jpg" border="0" /></a><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/06/us/06convene.html">m/2009/04/06/us/06convene.html</a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gK9irlrcimA/Sdn4UXaQhLI/AAAAAAAABAE/VbCC0LE35yY/s1600-h/06convene_span.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321557463480173746" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 232px" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gK9irlrcimA/Sdn4UXaQhLI/AAAAAAAABAE/VbCC0LE35yY/s400/06convene_span.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32483797.post-92019313646787859442009-04-05T06:30:00.001-04:002009-04-05T06:32:21.135-04:00It really pays to follow BoRev<object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/7b5CKSqlz60&rel=0&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/7b5CKSqlz60&rel=0&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Maybe the best thing seen since Commander Radnicki swung a dead rat by its tail on television.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32483797.post-62439870557018005472009-03-09T12:01:00.000-04:002009-03-09T12:02:35.807-04:00Nader on Bailout<div align="left">Published on Saturday, March 7, 2009 by <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/">CommonDreams.org</a><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">The Bottomless Bailout</span><br /></strong>by Ralph Nader<br />Does anybody in the federal government know or could know “who, what, where and when” of the massive, complex, vertical, horizontal, global collapse of Wall Street and its planetary tentacles in over 100 countries abroad? Step forward if you exist! Uncle Sam needs you!<br />Is the multi-million dollar bailout of this financial mess and house of cards, this phantom wealth mummy hitting air beyond the federal governments’ salvage capability? It is relatively easy to announce hundreds of billions of dollars of corporate rescue programs here and hundreds of billions of dollars of guarantees of corporate recklessness there and trillions of dollars of assorted stimulus, loan availabilities and foreclosure prevention initiatives in all directions. Now comes the rubber hitting the road.Where are the skilled people to be hired by the federal agencies—the administrators, field implementers, auditors, financial whizzes able to understand the complexity of greed and over-reach; the inspectors, prosecutors and contract negotiators to name a few categories?In other words, how are a hurried President Obama and his deputies going to rapidly build up the infrastructure of the federal government itself to advance all these “public works” efficiently and to avoid expenditure disasters amidst a potential orgy of waste, fraud and abuse by the coast to coast recipients?So many of the federal government’s functions have been contracted out to corporations and consulting firms under Clinton and the Bushes that there is a serious dearth of skilled civil servants. Moreover, Obama has indicated he wants this work done by an accountable government and not by Halliburton-type outside contractors at greater expense to taxpayers.Knowing and doing have to go hand in hand. Some Congressional Committees have finally gotten around to asking the basic questions about what is actually going on inside companies like the giant financial conglomerate AIG. Since the Goliath’s near collapse in September, the federal government has committed $160 billion to keep it from splattering its reckless red ink over small businesses, municipalities, 401(k) plans, policyholders and of course the Fortune 500 big companies led by the omnipresent Goldman Sachs bank.At a Senate hearing on March 5, 2009 to review yet another $30 billion in rescue funds, Senators from both parties demanded that the Federal Reserve make public the names of the parties benefiting from all this taxpayer largesse. These include the derivatives trading partners (eg credit default swappers) who have received tens of billions of these dollars passing from Washington through AIG to them.Senators Chris Dodd, Richard Shelby and Jim Bunning went after Donald L. Kohn, the vice-chairman of the Fed board of governors who finally promised he would ask the other governors to reconsider their corporate privacy policy under these megabailouts. Don’t hold your breath!Surprisingly, the Wall Street Journal editorial writers weighed in three days earlier about this fourth ever-sweeter rescue of AIG. in six months. In an editorial titled “AIG’s Black Box” the Journal thundered: “Perhaps someday the feds will even explain to taxpayers which AIG creditors had to be rescued and why…..try figuring out exactly who benefits when taxpayer money arrives at the insurance giant.”Besides rebuilding the federal workforce and finding out what is going on inside casino capitalism begging for bailouts, the Obama Administration is wading into an administrative nightmare that could run through trillions of mis-directed dollars and not turn around a deep Recession plunging toward Depression.When dealing with esoteric gambling chips called “derivatives” that are bets on bets on debts on debts, more than astute regulations and prosecutions are needed to punish, disgorge and deter present and future self-paid corporate crooks looting and draining other people’s pensions and savings. What is essential is that the federal surgeons have to know just where to apply their scalpel on the continuum spanning the big predators to the millions of direct and indirect victims.So, during the next Congressional hearings featuring government witnesses from the Federal Reserve, the Treasury Department and the securities, insurance and banking regulatory agencies, the Senators should start with four direct questions:<br />1. Just what is it that you do NOT understand about what is going on inside this widening Wall Street mess?2. Why don’t you understand what you need to know?3. How are you going to use your powers to achieve such understanding?4. Finally, if these corporations like AIG are too big to fail, too secret to fail and overwhelmingly global in structure and operations, why aren’t you asking other governments to pitch in with their own rescue packages and tell you what they know?As one solid small town banker in Indiana put it recently: “If these big companies are too big to fail, then they’re too big.”<br /><a href="http://www.nader.org/" target="_blank">Ralph Nader</a> is a consumer advocate, lawyer, and author. His most recent book is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0061238279?tag=commondreams-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=0061238279&adid=18PYRMCY036DEP9ZZ0PX&" target="_blank">The Seventeen Traditions</a>.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32483797.post-24349257740921256292009-03-01T22:16:00.001-05:002009-03-01T22:18:20.273-05:00Our Man in Panama Begins to Devolve<em>Posted by Jim Calandrillo, now back in Panama by way of Mumbia</em><br /><br />Hello, my fellow American. And, how are you on this fine, fine morning? I, myself, could not catch an ounce of shuteye, and decided to come here to the Canal banks to see if a fellow countryman might also be having trouble navigating the Land of Nod. And here you are! Fine, fine morning, I must say. When you can't smell the Canal, it means the winds are calm, and you'll be able to walk along ths shores without a mask or having to turn back to whatever direction you came from.Now that was mighty nice of you to offer me a cigar. It sure smells genuine Cuban, but my doctor has forbidden such extravagances because of my sinus condition. What? Did you lose something in the grass down there? Well, never mind the sinuses, let me just help you up to your feet. You're soaking wet from the dew. You'll never find your little dog anyway in this thick fog. Bet they never warned you of the thick layer of dew that develops on these fine, fine mornings, now did they? Way I see it, when you step on her, she'll yap, and there, you'll have found her! What's her name? Hugo? Well, she won't be able to hear you in the thick air, so be careful where you step. She'll show up somewhere along the banks here. All bodies do.I see you're wearing a "Find Baby Sophie" ribbon. Damn shame about that one. Nice job they did shaping the ribbon to look like one of them Macy's balloons.Well, aren't you nice. But, once again, I'll have to pass on that whiskey flask. Jameson's did you say? Mighty fine. No, I'm taking so many pills the doctor gave me that I can't drink sip of anything but well water. What's that? A Vicadin. You sure pack 'em strong. And I guess you don't care about what damage you might be doing to your liver?Hell, you're right on that one. You only go 'round once, unless you're a Canal repeater? Really! First time! Well, I'll be zoned! You could of fooled me. Headed where? Venezuela is a nice place this time of year. I'll give you that. Only stay away from that Guantanamo. Bad place, full of crazy Iraqis, like they never heard the Monroe Doctrine in school! Shame on them once for landing, and shame on them twice for squatting, but I'll be damned if they'll catch any of us not looking next time.Say, you seem like a nice sort of woman. What's a nice sort of woman like you doing in these parts of the Canal zone? You don't say. I thought Ballanchine had given up the search for your friend decades ago. She sure was somethin' the way she tu tu'd around, wasn't she? You reckon she's still alive and dancin' at her age? Oh just forty-two. Thought she'd be much older than that by now.Well, you have a nice stroll. You hear. Mind that dip in the Canal up about a hundred feet or so, where you're headed. Last time I heard, there was a gang o' no-gooders collecting people for another Muriel boat lift, or is it arial boat lift?No, I know you're not Cuban, my fellow American. But, you can't be too careful of who you might be mistook for. Just last year this bunch of maniacs thought I was some Serbian related to that long-dead archduke Ferdinand that went and started that big, world war, the second or third one, I think. And don't let anyone call you an ugly American! Geez, that fumes my timbers. You're about the prettiest thing I've seen along these banks in years, but you start talking to these know-nothings and first thing you know they're calling you an ugly American or queer, or something like that.Now, there goes my sinuses all plugged up again. Hey, you be careful on all fours down there. I was once mistook for an alligator. You don't want that nip and tuck. Just a joke. This gal, Joan Rivers told it to me. Yeah, the one who can't move her face any more. Damn shame. You mind your wet snout in the grass there. And when you head back this way, I'll fill you in on my latest condition.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0