Category Archives: TV

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So the longish days of April have turned into May. It is May Day, and I cannot help but think of working and how hard most people have it by working underpaying jobs where they have to deal with incredibly annoying people.

Before any of this started I had my doubts on how working people could make ends meet, but now the system has been nearly destroyed and I am not sure what is next.

I do know that I am not keen on going back to the way it was unless there are some real opportunities. I am fine with making the trade off of working with people I like and taking less pay for personal happiness. I mean happiness is way better in the long run. But, that pay must be fair and at least remain sustainable.

However, now the arduous task of sniffing around and networking is afoot. Like Sherlock Holmes solving a mystery, I am sniffing out my next gig and hustling to solve thing sand sort it all out.

I am working a bit at my job and still applying for other things which has been nice. I know this much, I am done with having to deal with large groups of people if at all possible.

I love how St. Louis has come together to help small businesses whenever possible. There is a nifty new farmer’s market that has popped up down the street. They have pretty much everything and it is affordable. I am avoiding the grocery store if I can and making do with ordering from local stores when I can. The international grocery store down the street is still open so if I need anything in a pinch there is that.

One nice thing about our city is that it, for the most part, has decent citizens who actually respect other people. As a result, this thing has seen folks come together and help others. Whether it is making masks, checking in on folks, shopping local or supporting the local arts. It is nice to not be divisive.

A lot the museums and arts organizations are working to provide some interesting content right now. I think just getting their name out in the public consciousness really helps a lot.

In appliance news, the food processor is kaput. There’s still some scratch left on the Target gift card so I guess shopping could sort there. But I would rather buy local.

Everything I was looking forward to has been canceled. I was supposed to be in Chicago this week. I miss Chicago. I have a monthly planner but it is pretty useless at this point. Unless I write in ‘stay at home’ each day. I am trying to watch some theater stuff that is being offered and a few concerts etc… So I could put that all in there but it seems pointless since I find I am not looking at it much.

I am taking a few online classes and that has surprisingly eaten into a lot of my time. Yale has a happiness class that apparently is all the rage and the most popular one offered on campus. I am taking a free version of it and it has been interesting. Part Psychology, part mindfulness and part ‘get your shit together,’ The Science of Well Being has been a good way to declutter mentally and sort of assess where things are it.

I also am taking two classes through MoMA in New York. One is Modern Art & Ideas and the other is Seeing Through Photographs. I just started the former this week and the latter about two weeks ago. They both have been pretty great. As someone who likes art and often has to write doubt it for various outlets, it has bene informative. I had a so so art history teacher in college so this has been great. I have always liked photography and am enjoying learning a lot more about it.

I did an online lecture last night for their current exhibition, Dorothea Lange: Words & Pictures.

You can take the virtual tour of the exhibition and see some interactive content on the MoMA website. I have always loved her work and it was really cool getting some context about it.

The next class I start isThe Modern World, Part One: Global History from 1760 to 1910. It is through Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. I have studied a lot of this before in school but I wanted a deep dive.

These are all mostly 5-6 weeks long so after this I can move on to some other stuff. I also have been studying up on analytics, marketing trends and doing as much writing as I can.

I have also been watching some movies, I saw Tokyo Joe early this morning.

It is a Humphrey Bogart flick from 1949 and finds him in postwar Tokyo. It is not as good as some of his other stuff but I had not seen it before.

I also am watching. SXSW films on Amazon. some are shorts, some are docs and feature lengths. I enjoyed My Darling Vivian, a documentary about Johnny Cash’s first wife Vivian Liberto. It was really interesting.

I also started watching Schitt’s Creek which has been fun. Dead To me is starting next week and I am looking forward to that. I am behind in watching a lot of stuff I wanted to see, but it is not like I am going out dancing anytime soon or anything.

The worst thing is trying to sort out sleep. it has been frustrating.

I did interview Kathy Valentine of The Go-Go’s about her new book, All I Ever Wanted. It is a very interesting read.

I still have a stack of magazines and books to get to so next time I may have more interesting things to write about.

I have been listening to a lot of music. I have made an effort to listen to the new albums by Fiona Apple and Hazel English. There also is Alphabetland, the new record from X. It is loud and fun! I also like this band called Catholic Action. They are from Glasgow and really have good melodies.

The Magnetic Fields have a new album coming out called Quickies. That should be fun too.

RIP to the great Tony Allen. His latest album, Rejoice is amazing. He was an amazing drummer and will be missed. This album is fantastic.

Well that is it for now. sorry for the delay. Stay inside. Please stay inside.

Lenny Bruce Is Not Afraid

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Ok, if I hear “in these uncertain times,” or “in these difficult times,” or “with these changing times” anymore, I am going to yell loudly. The English language has loads of other words and phrases that people can use to describe all of this. Stop being lazy and obvious!

Also, those phrases don’t give people warm and fuzzy feelings. It’s like telling people The Beatles are out there to listen to but they have to listen to Third Eye Blind for awhile. Do your damn job marketing people and think of something else. It is just lazy and, frankly, sort of annoying.

So things now are all about routines. I try to have a set task for each day with a few other things to clean up. There’s webinars, job searching, the St. Louis art Museum’s object of the day and loads of zoo webcams. At night, I listen to Patrick Stewart reading a sonnet. He has a different one each day.

I also am trying to find time to laugh. This is why I am listening to a Lenny Bruce bit each day as often as possible. It’s not overdone or cute or simple. it is raw, honest and funny in a way where your brain is engaged.

As an extrovert I am surprised I am ok being separated from people. I am checking in on folks and saying hello to old friends now and then, but really I am ok social distancing. People are idiots and I am fine with not talking to strangers. I am of a generation where our formative years were spent trying not to get our ass kicked in high school for having a weird haircut and a jacket with buttons and badges all over it. So, for me, avoiding people is kind of old hat.

It reminds me of all of the terrors of Catholic school and social status and all that nonsense. What all this means is that those years of being a ‘weirdo’ in high school are paying off. I sure am glad I learned how to read.

I am really bummed about Bill Withers passing. I really loved his records. There was never a time when I ‘wasn’t in the mood’ to hear Bill Withers. he had a terrific catalog of songs and I think it is sad he didn’t get more mainstream attention. He really didn’t make a bad record.

John Prine’s passing is really sad. It was nice to see him get more notoriety over the last few years. he was one of our country’s best storyteller and his music was moving, fun, spirited and emotional.

Not much on the movie front. I have been watching some old films from the 1970’s and some film noir. The Taking o f Pelham One Two Three is not only a great movie, but an interesting slice of life of America in 1974. Walter Mathau is great in it. I want to be him when I grow up.

I also saw an indie film called Phoenix, Oregon. it was streamed nationally as part of film Festival Day. It is about these guys who buy a bowling alley becsuase there regular job sucks. Here is a link: https://phoenixoregonmovie.com.

I have discovered a band called Deutsche Ashram. They have a new album out called Whisper Om that has been calming and catchy.

They are very dead poppy but also have some textures and density to their music. https://deutscheashram.bandcamp.com

There also is a new album out from The Strokes but I haven’t dug too deep into it yet.

I did listen to Felt for the first time in ages yesterday. I forgot how much I liked their records. They formed in 1979 in Water Orton, Warwickshire and have this jangly sound that matures into more adventurous terrain. They are pretty obscure in certain circles, but the kids in the know appreciate the harmonies and nuanced songwriting.

I am still hustling. I finished a freelance technical writing project and have move onto a full on magazine piece. But “in these trying times” you have to take whatever you can get. I do know that I am never going back to any sort of frontline retail if I can help it. Especially since people are rude and uncaring and selfish.

I do miss baseball.

Sadly, I am not expecting to see any live music for the foreseeable future. it is a shame too since there was a lot of shows I was looking forward to seeing. In the meantime, I have books and music and word puzzles to keep me busy.

In appliance news, the dishwasher and washing machine are getting good workouts. I wish I had a freezer too.

I am plowing through All I Ever Wanted, the memoir from The Go-Go’s Kathy Valentine.

There’s a lot of interesting stuff in there. From Austin to the heyday of LA’s punk underground and the rise of new wave pop, she has pretty much seen it all. The narrative is pretty straightforward and no nonsense. It also is candid and honest and free of sugar coating.

This would be a good time to read The American People in the Great Depression by David M. Kennedy.

It is part of the Oxford History of the United States series and is very good. There is some pretty scary and stark stuff in there but it is something people should know anyway. My grandmother always told me stories about the Great Depression and it was pretty sad stuff.

Well I guess you didn’t read this to be cheered up did you?

Bleach In Our Time

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So, I have spent a lot of time this past week learning about bleach. How to distill it, what not to mix it with, how to clean with it and how to use it to kill every germ around.

My earliest memories of bleach are my parents. My mom was a nurse and always mentioned how it could kill anything. My dad was in the Navy and reminded me to respect it and not go overboard with. He also told me not to let it touch my hands, not to breath it in etc…

But beyond that it was an afterthought. Not anymore!

If that was not enough, having been laid off at my main job, I accepted a technical writing assignment for a dental client. I have a few pieces in the hopper to do but the first one, was of course, about dental crowns and teeth whitening. What do you do for teeth whitening you ask? You basically bleach your teeth. There you go. It is everywhere.

Each day has been an adventure in getting projects done. At this point it is mostly decluttering and organizing music. I have a massive ‘to do’ and ‘to watch’ list.

One of the things I am doing to pass time is look at my collection of art books and coffee table books. I do not have a lot of them and I generally get most of them second hand since they are outrageously priced new. Anyway, I was looking through a book on Art Deco and it helped pass some time.

In case you do not know and because I want to seem cool (not really) here’s a quick summary thing. I know a bunch of my art friends will correct me but oh well.

Art Deco was introduced in Paris (isn’t everything) in 1925 where it captivated the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts. It was a hybrid of sorts of engineering and art that became a big deal in the 1920s and 1930s.

But where this is going to is that this past September I had a friend of mine take me to see her and her husband’s place in Boulder Colorado. One of the big things I wanted to do there was see their court house building. It is on Pearl Street (a really nice area btw) and has some amazing Art Deco fixtures, design and architecture going on.

Built in 1933 it is also a terrific WPA building. The combination of that style with the Art Deco makes it pretty great.

This is one of the first things you see when you go in. it is a really nice overlook with the original lighting fixtures above it.
The front hallway. It’s pretty sleek.
Upstairs hallway by office.
Tucked away in a corner hallway. they use this door each day to lock access.

In front of the courthouse is a really nice fountain, donated by The Lion’s club in 1935. The building has some terrific landscaping around it as well.

When I travel I try to see Art Deco buildings as much as I can. So far, Chicago, New York, Paris and Prague are the best places I have seen it on a large scale. I know there is some cool stuff in Minneapolis.

St. Louis has a lot of great examples of it as well, but sadly a lot of great stuff is gone too. The Civil Courts Building downtown is great as is the Jewel Box in Forest Park.

While in Boulder, I also wanted to see the house used for the exterior shot for Mork & Mindy. I am that nerdy. As an aside, that show got stupid when they had their kid. Even though Jonathan Winters was great, it was a stupid idea.

If there is a video anywhere of Jonathan Winters physically beating the crap out of rich Little please show it to me. I would love t see it.

I was delighted that no one came out and chased me away with a shotgun.

When writing about teeth whitening is the high point of your day you really are a square. Just saying.’

Here is another announcement about the stupid. I am not sure what the girl upstairs does, but she is loud and has a lot of company. She cannot talk on a phone quietly and she has no ability to do simple things quietly. It’s like Paul Bunyan is coming in and out of the building each time she comes and goes. She has cackle that is shrill and she cannot greet her cat without everyone in 10 miles hearing it. My UPS driver noted he could hear her getting out his truck, even with the motor running. I will gladly put up with all of this if she just stayed the hell inside. Now, I have to wipe down the stair railing and doorknobs to the laundry room every day. But personality wise, she is very nice so I should be nicer.

In appliance news, the refrigerator and freezer are really doing their thing. They are pretty full with stuff. I wish I had a massive freezer like some people are getting right now, although for the life of me I cannot imagine putting that much meat in it.

I have been cooking more which is terrific fun. Digging around in the pantry I came upon a bottle of Bayou Fireball I got as a gift.

It is from Louisiana where they do not mess around with kind of stuff. It’s pretty much hot sauce, guns and LSU football. I wish more people in Louisiana liked Fats Domino, but that is not the point here.

Bayou Fireball is a pepper based sauce that uses minced garlic, cayenne and habanero peppers to bring the heat. In addition to the flavor what makes it great is that you don’t need to use a ton of it to get results.

Its big claim to fame is that NASA astronauts love it. So as a hot sauce, I guess you can say it is ‘out of this world.’ It certainly is much better than the stuff they use at Chipotle. Speaking of which, they need to bring back Tomatillo.

I hate to harp on this but, again, the kids are not alright. In fact they are morons. Sometimes I wish I could summon George Raft to give them a good what for.

My hands are beat to all giddy. I have been moisturizing them, using bag balm and other stuff but it still is a real annoying thing. Whenever I see Vaseline I think of the Flaming Lips song, She Don’t Use Jelly. I could have lived without that earworm.

Today I hope to finish a novel and read some magazines I had squirreled away. My sleep cycle is pretty much shot to heck these days so naps are terrific. I am also on a narrative film screening committee for a film festival which means I am going to watch a movie or two later today.

Days of Thunder is on later and I have never seen it.

I hated Top Gun so I have low expectations. Thus is my life. Hope yours is better.

Thank God it’s Friday!

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That sentence now has been rendered useless.

I know one thing, I am mildly happy about is that with all of this stuff going on there are no more stupid happy hours. All they really did was make people run around from place to place to get deals on terrible food or drinks they couldn’t really enjoy because it was still early in the evening.

Then there’s the social aspect. I am always awkward at happy hours. Even the networking one where I am getting to meet people that are actually interesting.

I’m not sure what the issues are but maybe it stems from the forced short term interactions of Catholic school. Maybe it is the fact that they are so short they never let you be comfortable.

Either way, happy hours suck. I think Dante would find TFI Friday’s happy hour to be a purgatory of epic proportions.

I took a walk yesterday. It was nice to have the Sun out and feel its warmth. I stopped to look at some budding limbs on a few trees and enjoyed seeing some flowers. St. Louis is a pretty green city in many ways and lots of neighborhoods have communal gardens and folks who plant their own gardens. Pretty cool. All of this is making me think about being that guy, who has a garden. you know, the weird older guy with all the plants that goes on about nothing all the time.

I think Agatha Christie had some cool characters that were gardeners. I know Sad Cypress and Peril at End House had some. She also liked poison plants from what I recall. That last title sounds like an indie band name.

I think it is interesting that she is one of those 20th century writers who has a legacy that doesn’t involve getting drunk in Paris. Although she was missing for a bit. probably aliens.

So all of you folks who wanted the Roaring ’20s back. Thanks! Speaking of which this is my next book.

I think it will be interesting. Burns usually writes very short, concise books and this one should be fun since I know a lot about the decade in general but not that specific year.

After that I am throwing myself into Peter Ackroyd’s history of England books and with a chaser of lots of Neil Gaiman fiction.

I have a Minneapolis excursion planned for September that is now unlikely to happen. Because of that I was gonna re read a bunch of F. Scott Fitzgerald. I was hoping to see his house. He probably wouldn’t be home anyway. If Gatsby were around today I’d punch him in the face.

I think the girl upstairs put her wooden shoes on before she does any household activities. How can one person make so much noise walking across an apartment. She said she had no furniture and didn’t go out. this brings me to a big pet peeve. Every time she uses her cell phone I can hear it. It is always on speaker and she always talks doubt the vacuous jibber jabber that kids today in their mid 20s go on about. She is not deaf. She seems alert and responsive. is she just too lazy to use a phone the proper way? Then there is the rolling cast of cretins she is not properly socially distancing herself with. I have bene using the back door to come in and out so I don’t have to risk the germs. Except to get the mail.

I really miss the English and Japanese gardens at the Missouri Botanical Garden. MOBOT is cool. I bet the critters at the St. Louis zoo and thrilled to not have people gawking at them all day.

I have few things I want to get to on the telly. There is Decades, the New Order concert film and Is There Something I Should Know? the hour long doc about Duran Duran. I never really dug Duran Duran when I was young. I have learned to like the first few albums now.

Beyond that Nada Surf has a new album out. Never Not Together is their 9th album. It offers a nice collection of power pop songs.

I have always been hit or miss on them. This one isn’t too shabby. There’s a nice cohesion of melody going on here that is pretty great.

This is one of the movies waiting on deck. The Spy Who Came In From The Cold is a spy flick from 1965 based on the best selling book. Richard Burton is pretty good in it.

I love John le Carré and this is a really solid interpretation of his work.

I mopped again last night. Good times.

Ok, I have to work on freelance stuff now.

The Reboot

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I set this up ages ago but somehow was too busy, too nervous or just too concerned my ADHD brain would make this scattershot.

So, despite all of that I am here in the trenches writing stuff. It will be a good exercise for me, since I am someone who generally dislikes annoying people and is not the best person to be cooped up for long periods of time but also feels the need to vent every so often.

So, despite all of that, here I sit at a keyboard with the sun coming into the room and the great sounds of chirping birds to keep me company. After all, there is something nice about hearing them sing first thing in the morning.

I was reminded last night aboutt one of my juvenile pet peeves. It’s people who put their newspapers in plastic bags. I mean why? For decades people have put them folded under their arms and it has worked perfectly.

Now we have to have a plastic bag loose in the environment because someone wanted a handle. I wouldn’t even complain about it except it has been a thing since, I don’t know before WW2. This really bugs me. The next ting you know briefcases will be out of style.

If you think Humphrey Bogart would put his newspapers in a plastic bag than you are nuts. 

The girl upstairs is incredible irritating. Stop using the speaker on your phone. No one cares about hearing every stupid thing you are doing.  She is young and naive and doesn’t know who Prince is so there’s that too.

I am taking time to seriously declutter. I have more music than I can store. It is bloody everywhere. Some of it I don’t even remember having. So a massive purge is afoot. For now, I am not cleaning out the books or graphic novels.

But looking at a long pathway of indoor time, I decided to make lists of movies and TV I want to see and books, some long overdue for perusal, to read. 

Staying inside means I get to make lists. I kind of like making lists. Thus, I have made lists of stuff to see, read and hear. It’ll help me sort it out and not watch the infantile politicians on TV.

Interestingly enough, I have two Farley Granger movies on DVD, Strangers On A Train from 1951 and They Live By Night, a nifty film from 1949.

I am not even that big of a fan of his,  but I had both movies next to each other totally by happenstance. I noticed this while trying to sort out what to watch.

I am planning on watching Chinatown again soon. The plot kinds of falls apart but it is still excellent.  I also am planning watching some Godzilla movies and Ice Station Zebra again. Incidentally, Stan Ridgway name checked that movie in a 1992 song called I Wanna Be A Boss.Stan Ridgway is grossly underrated.

One of the things I am hoping to do in the coming days is clear out the guest room and really toss out some things I do not need.  The upside of this is that every day when I work on this I have decided to listen to an new artist so that there is a balance of work and play involved.

Top Chef is back on. I could be wrong but. bet Padma and Gail are terribly high maintenance and would probably get on my nerves. I love the show but wonder how folks can eat such tiny plates of food. Also, no one uses bacon.

I watched something called Aerial America yesterday. They profiled a state for each episode. I watched the ones on  Missouri, New Jersey and Wisconsin. I learned a lot and they gave a nice survey of each state and their history without glossing over any of the bad bits.

I am looking forward to getting out and taking  walks. I hate being around lots of people and there is something great in the solitude of walking, I am looking forward to not hearing a lot of extraneous noise made by bad drivers and ass clowns and hope to make new discoveries. For instance, I was on my back porch yesterday and noticed that the apartment building across the way has a cool little sculpture thing attached to its roof. It is no great shakes but it was nice to notice it.

A wise friend of mine told me to write two pages a day. So I am adding that to my list of stuff to do along with word searches, freelance projects, cleaning and walking. 

I would like to think that times like this bring out the best in people and build community. but I have little faith in people since most of my life I’ve hidden from people trying to kick my ass or worked form some terrible people professionally. 

I cleared out my wallet. I had a lot of crazy crap in my wallet.

Stuff I am listening to…..The labels are cutting back on sending me digital product so there’s way more digital stuff to check out which is kind of nice.  But generally, lots of classical music and some jazz. I like the new Moaning and Stephen Malkmus record a lot. I am trying to avoid sad things for the moment. 

Having said that, I totally blew it because I am reading a book about Joy Division. I got it at Tattered Cover in Denver awhile back. Jon Savage is a great author.

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Ironically, the paperback for this will be available at Target. Target. Really.

Savage is a compelling writer and he brings the band’s dynamics as a unit into focus. He also manages to give readers a broader picture of what they were all about than other books had. I had read Deborah Curtis’ book Touching From A Distance before and really enjoyed that.

This would be a good time to mention that if you get any books during all of this do it for your local bookshop. They need the money. I am fortunate that St. Louis has some really incredible indie bookshops, all of which should be supported.

My hands are a mess because of all the washing. Been using Bag Balm on it. It reminded me of how rough my mom’s hand were late in life and how I often had to moisture them for her.

Ok, off to recycle stuff and take out trash and get going with the day.