Mane Rule

It's perfectly fine to go about armed
as long as no lions are harmed!

2 Weeks & 2 Days Away, But Who's Counting?

Ordered audience programs for our New York show.
I made my reservations and I'm ready to go.

If Exercise Were A Pill

There's a saying you hear, "If exercise were a pill, then everyone would take it."

The idea is it's so good for you...
if only it weren't such a pain to do.

Well, someone claims to be getting closer:

'Ali Tavassoli, a professor of chemical biology, and Felino Cagampang, an associate professor in integrative physiology, reported that they had synthesized a molecule that acts as an "exercise mimic" by tricking cells into thinking they have run out of energy.'

But what if the pill's too costly,
and leaves you feeling exhaustly?

After Playing

Improv games, whether cautious or bold,

Never really seem to get old. 

Lion in Milwaukee?

About a hundred miles north of here, up in Milwaukee, there have been a series of sightings of a "lion-like creature". Some blurry film has surfaced too.

Is it an escaped circus lion? A mountain lion? Is somebody lyin'?

I don't know. We had a mountain lion / cougar that made it into Chicago back in 2008. The cops killed it.

I like killer cats when they're in a cage.
I would not like to face their rage.

Game Stats

Words with Friends tells me that I have played 100% of 2 letter words, but only 90% of 3 letter words. 

The game doesn't let you play 1 letter words - not even on the first move. 

I think we only have 3. 

A, I, and O. No U or E. 

Update: on reflection, each letter is its own name, and is a word in that way. But A, I, and O all have a separate word. 

Calling Z a word because it's the name of a letta,

Seems kind of meta. 

Unclean Windows

So, there's a PC running Windows 7 that can boot into safe mode, but not into "clean boot" mode.

I'm banging my head against that wall.
Not sure I've made any headway at all.

Zipless Never

I wanted to say something else about Erica Jong's heroine's quest, in FoF, of the zipless sex act. Namely: it's imaginary and impossible. You read of people who say things like, "We started to kiss, fully clothed, and the next thing I knew we were having sex."

But I don't think it's ever entirely true

That that was the very next thing that  they knew. 

They're simply skipping the awkwardness 

By which they achieved a state of undress. 

Out of the Mists

I've been strangely busy this summer, but tonight I finished Madeleine in the Mists by Mary Catelli:

It's an interesting story in a complicated world of medieval fantasy, which isn't usually my genre. But a sympathetic and clear-headed heroine, combined with often cold-hearted feudal politics, kept my interest throughout.

I liked the way it ended.
Definitely recommended!

Darn Computers

I hear that hackers can now take control of your car. 

So keep your older vehicle, and boast how safe you are!

Zipless No More

There was a time when Erica Jong's novel, Fear of Flying, was all the rage. She was a prominent woman writer, a feminist in fact, and the heroine of her story was in hot pursuit of an ideal she called: "the zipless f-word". Sorry, it's a family blog, but it wasn't a family book, and the heroine desired a sex act of such all-consuming passion that she would not be aware of any unzipping involved.

"As described by her - It is a sexual encounter between strangers that has the swift compression of a dream and is seemingly free of all remorse and guilt. It is absolutely pure, there is no power game and it is free of ulterior motives. It has also been described as the perfect one night stand."

I must confess, I never read the whole book. I did read some of what used to be called "the good parts".

Wikipedia says: "Fear of Flying is a 1973 novel by Erica Jong, which became famously controversial for its portrayal of female sexuality, figured in the development of second-wave feminism."

Yes, this was feminism. I'm not sure which wave we're riding now, but it seems to be more like this:

"Anyone who still believes that affirmative consent policies don’t mislead students or restrict their sexual autonomy should visit Coastal Carolina University—where consent can only be given when all participants are both enthusiastic and sober."

I've started to think, as this trend has turned more extreme, that the motive behind all this is a kind of envy, the envy that self-questioning intellectuals harbor toward the apparently more spontaneous jock and cheerleader types. Puritanism was long ago defined as the fear that someone, somewhere, might be having fun. And this new trend seems to embody a fear that someone, somewhere, might be having sex without thinking about it too much.

What happened to tacit consent?
In certain circles, it got up and went.

Money Machine

"Snohomish County authorities say two thieves suspected of stealing an ATM machine from a business made it as far as the parking lot, but the machine fell out of the getaway van."

Succeeded in stealing an ATM,
but hit a speed bump... joke's on them.

Cherry Punch Flavor, If It Matters

I did a long run in the heat yesterday, and decided to try something new afterwards, something I'd read about other people doing to replenish what they had sweated a way.

Instead of Gatorade,
I chugged some Pedialyte.
Not sure what difference it made,
but I guess I'm feeling all right.

Autocowrecked

Autocorrect is the great Leveler of Orthography. Those who cannot spell, are fortuitously repaired. Those who can, are gratuitously impaired.

Autocorrect has thoroughly wrecked my ability to show off how well I can spell!

I need to compete in a spelling bee

So the whole wide world can see

My skill at lexicography!

Hard to Believe

In days of yore,
when Marlowe swore,
and Shakespeare shook his pen,
they wrote all day,
sans MFA,
which wasn't available then.

Rhyme Schemes

I don't mean to sound like a snob,
but the poetic licensing board is just not doing the job.

Poetry needs more barriers to entry!
I think I'll dig a moat and post a sentry!

Tabooboos

John McWorter has a long piece over at the Wall St. Journal about evolving taboos in language.

"Taboos are about what we fear. In one era, it is the wrath of God; in another, hanky-panky; in ours, the defamation of groups."

That corresponds to some general cultural trends.

God has been deflated,
Sex has been degraded,
Groups have been elevated.

Uber Economy Fears

Just recently you hear people complaining that everyone is being forced to work on a free lance basis, as if everyone will soon be an Uber driver, but the numbers apparently don't bear out this new worry:

'In the future, new technology and businesses may herald a different world for workers. But for now, the "gig economy" and a "nation of freelancers" remains a phenomenon on the margins of the labor market.'

The labor force of gig
really isn't that big.

O'Brien & O'Brian Cast for NYCFringe

The cast of my show.
One month to go.

Misattribution

"The net is insane. Keep it out of your brain." - Mark Twain