You Can Get There From Here

I’m either buried in research, taking part in some analy­cen­tric pro­ject at work, or drin­king red wine. That’s the truth of it.

Currently I’m trying to figure out what to do with the exces­sive num­ber of books lit­te­ring my study and bedroom floors. In the save pile, the old Ogden Nash trio illus­tra­ted by Mau­rice Sen­dak. The where did I get this pile con­tains a copy of The Sweet Smell of Psycho­sis. I’ve never read Will Self with any degree faith­ful­ness I’m sure it isn’t mine. Loo­king at a copy of Notes to Myself I pic­ked up years ago at a book sale, and won­de­ring why I ever kept it, but put­ting it yet again into the keep pile.

Good things I’ve scro­lled through, none of them having anything to do with that god­for­sa­ken balloon child.

The Shri­ver Report: A Woman’s Nation Chan­ges Everything , Avai­la­ble from The Cen­ter For Ame­ri­can Pro­gress in various forms inc­lu­ding pdf. Worth some discussion.

In her inter­view with Time Maga­zine about her latest book, Lis­ten Up, Mr. Pre­si­dent: Everything You Always Wan­ted Your Pre­si­dent to Know and Do Helen Tho­mas was asked “what she thought of bloggers”.

“Ever­yone with a lap­top thinks they’re a jour­na­list. Ever­yone with a cell phone thinks they’re a pho­to­grapher. So our pro­fes­sion is side­li­ned in a way. There’s no tur­ning back. It’s frigh­te­ning because you can ruin lives and repu­ta­tions willy-nilly without rea­li­zing it. No edi­tors. No stan­dards. No ethics. We’re at the cross­roads. So many news­pa­pers that are so valua­ble are going down the drain. It’s a crisis.“

Best new blog title I’ve found this week Living With Balls, tit­led so because I guess the ins and outs living with them things needs to be blogged.

The bed head is not dead as an old blog­ger friend takes to a hos­pi­tal bed for a volun­teer sleep study. On move­ment res­tric­tion I’m not sure how much blog­ging he is allo­wed from bed. He may need enter­tain­ment though.

Oh, and this neat old piece from some Mary­land radio pro­gram in 1975 —  Lowell George and Linda Rons­tadt sing “Willin” live. Kind of interesting.

Nash was wrong.
You can get there from here, but it takes a lot lon­ger than you thought, and you can’t blog as often. ;)
Peace

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25 Comments

  • I know something about living with balls, but that’s for another time.

    I saw Helen Tho­mas when I was in middle school, in d.c at some res­ta­raunt eating steak. I can’t remem­ber where, I was with my family.

    I am a good recei­ver of old books.

    love the old radio piece that is a find. He died near the gw park­way too — lots of death there.
    g´s last blog ..Game Day

  • I used to collect books. The pro­blem with doing that I found was the fact I wasn’t read 80% of them. I was just collec­ting to have them, pro­mi­sing myself that I would read them someday.

    My new man­tra is I only keep books dis­pla­yed that I’ve actually read and will only buy a new book once I’ve finished the one I already had.

    The word’s the thing, not the fancy covers, I say.
    mojo shivers´s last blog ..And It’s Sad To Walk Away, With Just The Memo­ries, Who’s To Know What Might Have Been, We’ll Leave Behind A Life And Time, We’ll Never Know Again

    • I actually have read most of what I have though there are a few “future reads” here. I give a lot of books away, and buy a lot of old books at book-sales.

  • Lowell George, not George Lowell. The Little Feat were before your time, so you should know about them. Willin’ was one of their best songs and I say that as someone who’s been from Tucoon to Tucum­cari and Tehachapi to Tonopah.

    Are you serious that Mau­rice Sen­dak illus­tra­ted a volume of Nash? Amazon.com, here I come!

    Last, poor Helen Tho­mas pro­bably still belie­ves in ethics, stan­dards and edi­ting. That, not blog­ging is what makes her a relic.
    Doug´s last blog ..Hypoc­rite

    • Yea, I knew that not sure why I rever­sed it. I do know a bit about Little Feat.

      He did the cover designs of a trio of old books I have of Nash, these are really old books, but the newer edi­tions still sport the covers I think.

  • I used to think Helen Tho­mas was 100 – 40 years ago. She’s right and she’s wrong but that’s a dis­cus­sion that warrants a dis­ser­ta­tion or a post or a paid article

    I would love a PHD in blog­ging actually
    pia´s last blog ..The house hus­band and temp­ting the gods…

    • She may have always loo­ked that way, but cons­die­ring what she did it’s not surprising.

      I’m sure there will be one soon. A PhD in blog­ging that is.

  • Hah! Thanks for the shout-out. I wasn’t given any res­tric­tions on blog­ging, nor have I made use of more than half of my allot­ted moving-around time on any given day so far. Yet somehow I’ve mana­ged to lose a pound since the ini­tial weigh-in.

    I guess I put my back into it or something

    Mau­rice Sen­dak is my hero. He was asked what he had to say about parents con­cer­ned that the film adap­ta­tion of Where the Wild Things Are was too scary for kids, and he said they can go to hell. Dude still has it.

    I know where Helen Tho­mas is coming from, but where she goes from there, she doesn’t really have a leg to stand on. Pia’s right of course, and I’ve obli­ged because I have nothing else to do right now.
    EsotericWombat´s last blog ..Yeah, Yeah. Pro­bably nothing here that I haven’t said already

    • Hos­pi­tal food?? I assume they are at least fee­ding you,yes?

      I disa­gree somewhat but as you are in the hos­pi­tal I feel I shouldn’t argue. I know you’re not ill but still.

  • I get rid of books all the time, we don’t have room for them even though we have two rooms with bookshel­ves. Give them to someone who cares, that is important.

    Love Helen Tho­mas. I agree with her. Where’s the news?

    an aside:

    Took my son to see “Where the Wild Things Are” this past wee­kend. He loved it, I loved it.
    jacob´s last blog ..Autumn Golf

  • Willin = great song.

    Helen Tho­mas = great lady. None of us know the future she could be right or wrong.

  • hahaha yes! Thank’s for the shout out!
    Living with Balls´s last blog ..Cele­brity Tweet of the Week: Octo­ber 21, 2009

  • I was more impres­sed with Shriver’s report than I expec­ted to be.

    I am hardly a blog­ger so no jour­na­list here, no worries.
    kait´s last blog ..Rea­so­na­ble Pri­ced Option in White and Black

  • Lon­ger than you thought but what is the option?

    My books are boxed, or some left at my parent’s still. I’m afraid to give them away that they might end up shrea­ded .
    john´s last blog ..The War­ning

  • Shriver’s wrong… it’s money which chan­ges everything. Perhaps she’s never lis­te­ned to the crazy hair-colored woman.

    • That is a sig­ni­fi­cant part of the study though, where it now comes from, who makes it and how it is made and who takes care of the kids while it is being made and so on and so forth.…

  • I am remin­ded of the quote from Good Will Hun­ting about books (which I will most likely get wrong, but you’ll get the drift) — “you surround your­self with all these books — and they’re the wrong f*cking books…”

    We are trying to whittle our book moun­tain down at the moment.
    Jonathan´s last blog ..The one where we floo­ded the street

  • Regar­ding Balls: The com­bi­na­tion of the tagline “A blog for a man’s man” and a first post of “Cele­brity Tweet Of The Week” crac­ked me up. That’s high comedy.
    Bone´s last blog ..Life and the lack the­reof

    • You would pick up on that — quick, that’s what they’d have called in in my great grandmother’s day.

  • I’ve deci­ded to keep and dis­play only books that my mother has read. My bookshel­ves are her ‘you must read this’ dum­ping ground. I give up. The woman is tenacious.

    Don’t you think Helen is being just a little tough? (reminds of someone else I know) I don’t think I’m a jour­na­list because I blog, I think I’m a jour­na­list because I go Donk Donk Donk on my keys really loud.

    I hope your wom­bat feels bet­ter (can’t believe I just wrote that).

    Haven’t read the Shi­ver Report yet, but I did just recently re-read The Seneca Falls Dec­la­ra­tion. Spea­king of living with balls…

    Sorry I’ve been away.
    I’ll add you to my Blog­ger ‘Blogs I read — but hide on my pro­file page so my rea­ders won’t get dis­trac­ted by peo­ple who write bet­ter than I do’.

    Soon,
    T