Tuesday, February 9, 2010

More from Boston






I lived in Boston from 1984-1989. Allston and Watertown, to be precise. Worked as a messenger downtown, so walking around there is fun. It has certainly changed — especially the area around the Downtown Crossing T station, which wasn't quite so vertical 20-plus years ago.

And the Combat Zone, well into its decline when I was around, has vanished completely — another victim of the Internet.


Note slightly blurry skater. An element of the coveted "National Geographic" style of photography.
"Meanwhile, Torvill and Dean fight over the Zamboni man!"


Yrs. truly with the State House dome in the background. The Massachusetts State House boasts one of the highest concentrations of human mediocrity ever measured — 17.48 dumb remarks per square inch in 2004.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Leering


Leering is hard work, and I am out of practice.

But I gave it a try in front of La Perla, purveyors of hideously expensive naughty garments for ladies, on a frigid Saturday morning on Boylston Street in Boston.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Way Off the Reservation





Sometimes it's good to dress against type. I tried to Yankify this mostly Anglophile presentation with a baseball bat.

Say what you want about Charles Tyrwhitt shirts — they are a very inexpensive way to get some British flair going. Not the sort of thing I'd want all the time, or even some of the time, but for occasional laughs...

(The skinny: Thrifted Burberry DB blazer, twin vents and cheesy buttons with a winged horse. CT shirt and links. Berle flannels, pleated. AE Stanford shoes, eBay. Ben Silver tie, thrifted. Lands End socks and a pocket square from who knows where. Citizen Eco-Drive watch with the ubiquitous striped strap from Central Watch.)

Off to Boston for the weekend. I won't wear anything like this to the gathering of the New England Press Association. It would go right past dandification into sheer obnoxiousness.

Sunday, January 31, 2010

"Sound of Horror," or The Screech in Greece



To defend yourself against an invisible Greek dinosaur you will first require several large bags of flour...

Ingrid Pitt's frugging displeases Capt. Jawline


Soledad Miranda performs a traditional dance, to general apathy


The great Ingrid Pitt's first feature film was the 1964 micro-budget Spanish horror flick , The Sound of Horror.

The very young Miss Pitt does some good frugging to weird early 1960s Spanish rock music in this film, which otherwise spends a great deal of time depicting fat guys in bush shirts blowing up a cave in a silly attempt to find some treasure.

First of all, they only have half the map for about a third of the movie. And when they find a mummy wrapped in burlap, in a coffin, and wearing some sort of ceremonial garb underneath, the head nitwit confidently pronounces the corpse "Homo sapiens neanderthal," which is absurd.

But hey, these are not the brightest treasure hunters in cinematic history. They also find a petrified egg they put on the mantelpiece so it can get warmed up and hatch at the least convenient moment.

Turns out there's an invisible dinosaur in the cave, and it shuffles toward the victim making increasingly alarming noises until mauling the poor slob.

The only way to fight it is to take the large bags of flour you have sitting around and spread it in the yard, so when you see dinosaur footprints you simply heave the axe in the general direction and hope for the best.

Far too much plot getting in the way of the story. Ingrid Pitt's legs. One too many trips to the well. Screeching, wailing and moaning. Screeching, wailing and moaning from the transistor radio. The least expensive monster in movie history. Short. Soledad Miranda, who is actually cuter than Ingrid and a much better dancer. Two coils.



Saturday, January 30, 2010

Big Steve, Under Glass

Under the Dome Under the Dome by Stephen King

My rating:
2 of 5 stars I got about 400 pages in and gave up.

The New England archetypes are amusing as always, but Big Steve was taking forever to set it up, and if you can't get it done in 400 pages it ain't worth doing, I'm sorry.



Hardcore fans will love it, I'm sure. View all my reviews >>

Friday, January 29, 2010

Do the Moynihan





Daniel Patrick Moynihan specialized in the shapeless hat. I got this one from a Connecticut shop called Noggin Tops; it's made by Hanna.

It was a weird day of snow showers and meteorological mayhem. Camel hair blazer from the late great Huntington of Columbis, Ohio; I like it because a) it fits and b) it has black buttons embossed with some ersatz crest, instead of the usual gold.

The vest is an Orvis number that I have in fact worn fishing; elderly Rooster knit tie; Orvis tattersall sport shirt; LE chinos in one of these new configurations - "Authentic" or "Heritage" or some bumpfy name like that.

And Commie-stompin' Filson boots I bought off a clothing forum guy.




Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Joe Klein — Putz of the Year

A strong showing for Joe Klein of Time Magazine in the early running for the coveted CP "Putz of the Year" award.

His Time blog posting of Jan. 25 begins with this:

Absolutely amazing poll results from CNN today about the $787 stimulus package: nearly three out of four Americans think the money has been wasted. On second thought, they may be right: it's been wasted on them. Indeed, the largest single item in the package--$288 billion--is tax relief for 95% of the American public. This money is that magical $60 to $80 per month you've been finding in your paycheck since last spring. Not a life changing amount, but helpful in paying the bills.


http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2010/01/25/too-dumb-to-thrive/#ixzz0dpGiY714

(Emphasis added.)

Yes, Joe, I found the extra money helpful. And I am also paying taxes on it, as I discovered when I did my 1040EZ the other day. Matter of fact, I owe the feds about $600 - oddly enough, almost the precise amount of the "tax relief."

To rework H.L. Mencken — "The only way for a reporter to look at a journalist is down."