In response to a question from the audience, Myra MacPherson — author of a biography of I.F. Stone called All Governments Lie — said “You know what they say? Blogging is the karaoke of journalism.” This statement elicited laughter from the Book Fair audience gathered to hear her and Helen Thomas speak on the failure [...]
I have a lot on my mind these days, most of which is of minimal interest to anyone (including me). While I get that business sorted out, here is another scattering of links and small thoughts. I suppose if Hidden City was a different kind of site, these would each be individual posts; I suppose [...]
An intellectual is a person who has discovered something more interesting than sex. — Aldous Huxley This is why I am doomed to remain a pseudo-intellectual. Oh, and for the record, this quote has no bearing on my lack of posting lately. Sadly. Share/Bookmark
I don’t have a lot of traditions associated with Thanksgiving, besides the requisite over-eating. I’m not an enthusiast of gladiatorial sports unless there’s a possibility of death for the losers, so that doesn’t mean much to me. I’m not a big parade buff, either — too many years of marching band pretty much saps that [...]
At the book fair a booth was shared by companies named Hiroshima and Ooops! I wonder if the poor association of names occurred to anyone else? Share/Bookmark
I didn’t say so explicitly, so I’ll mention that I have a new steel door now, complete with no less than three deadbolts. It is a serious installation with 10″ bolts sunken into the wall through the steel frame, and concrete injected into that to seal it in place forever. There is even a marvelously [...]
Moo is a UK-based printing company with a rather interesting and specialized niche: they print calling cards from Flickr photos. To introduce their product they made a special offer to Flickr Pro users, sending a free ten-card sampler to the first 10,000 people requesting one. The interesting thing is that it wasn’t just a random [...]
There is a limitless array of ways that sudden death or injury can come to anyone, and conventional wisdom has it that statistically you are more likely to die slipping in the bathtub than in a burglary. When, then, am I so concerned with having a secure home? I am not terribly worried about being [...]
Music is surely the most glorious, expressive, and moving of art forms. However, there is a relatively narrow range of experience that you can convey in the bass part of Dukas’ Sorcerer’s Apprentice[.] I am delighted to see the return of Hella Frisch. Share/Bookmark
While there is a new steel door in place, the workday ended before the guys could get the project completed. Therefore I will be taking my third vacation day tomorrow so that they can reinstall the locks and my alarm. Yes, that’s right: I’ll actually have less security tonight than I had last night. Well, [...]
I am still doorless. The signs now point to a new door today. In the meantime, I have newer lights around the exterior of the house and two fewer vacation days. And a headache. So while I am still on house arrest I figure it’s a decent time to do a little quasi-random link posting [...]
Play with it a few minutes, and patterns emerge. Philosophy and postmodern literary criticism oppose chic lit, popular thrillers and the young adult section. Programming does not truck with classic literature. Memoirs of depression, like Prozac Nation, meet their match in the cheery The Night Before Christmas. Ann Coulter and David Sedaris do not see [...]
I met with a contractor today to install a new front door the replace the one chewed up by would-be burglars. Well, I suppose they aren’t “would-be,” since I also met with a detective who told me they know who has been hitting the neighborhood the last couple of months. They are just trying to [...]
The trouble with travel is living alone. When your car is absent from the front of your house for more than a couple of days, it inspires this sort of behavior. Yes, some hoodlum decided to chisel open my front door while I was away. Fortunately the strike plate slowed them down enough that they [...]
My brain hurts. The conference is officially over, so it’s time to pack it up. If I get a chance I’ll post from the airport tomorrow. For now, though, I’m meeting an old friend for dinner, and perhaps another glass of Oronoco Rum. As an aside, it is a bit sad that I’ve had a [...]
That was some obscene and probably ill-advised alliteration in the title. Anyway, here is the still-evolving photo set from this trip. I’m still editing photos, so it will change; you have been warned. Share/Bookmark
Here’s a brief updated. I did get a new room, one untainted by cigarette smoke. Unfortunately, I also managed to get some road grit in my eye while walking in the Fisherman’s Wharf area, and when I tried to remove it I stumbled and fell hard. I fell hard enough, in fact, that I jammed [...]
Greetings from San Francisco! For the next few days I will be based at the Hotel Nikko San Francisco, attending a business conference. I neglected to install photo editing software on my new laptop, or I would show you the lovely view from my room. Unfortunately, there was a mistake in my reservations, and I [...]
To make it easier to find all this in the future (and just in case you missed something), here’s a list of all the October Stories posts. Arrival Tricks & Treats Haiku Boo Chief Paduke’s Revenge Arachnophobia Creature Feature Grey Wisdom The Truth Hurts The Glade Science Fiction Sextuple Feature First Fears Childhood Masks Revisited [...]
Carefully wiping clean the tools of his trade, the improbably tall man in the cream linen suit considered his sojourn in Miami. It had been hard work, much more difficult than he had anticipated. These people proved to be so indifferent to the fates of those around them that it took extraordinary measures to generate [...]
Previously, on Hidden City… 10/31/1999: scary stuff So we’ve registered a domain name. It would be the proper thing, I imagine, to talk a bit about how we labored for months, agonizing over the decision to use hiddencity.net as our first formal site. But those would be more than just lies, they would be damnable [...]
Last night I left the house and went to see Rocky Horror at the Colony on Lincoln Road. This is a big deal for me, as I have been struggling with some wholly irrational fears for quite a while, and leaving my home and possessions unattended on Hallowe’en was extraordinarily difficult. I owe a debt [...]
There were several October posts which didn’t make it in before the month ended. (Damn this day job! Why can’t I find a patron?) There will be three more posts later today, and then we’ll return to what passes for normal around here. Share/Bookmark