Baseball Stars: Ode to My Brother

What's the Call Blue? Ode to Dad

Chabon's Gentlemen of the Road

From Wikipedia

Gentlemen of the Road is a serial novel by American author Michael Chabon. It originally appeared in 15 installments in The New York Times Magazine from January 28, 2007, to May 6, 2007. Del Rey Books will publish the novel in hardcover, with new material by Chabon, on November 6, 2007. Gentlemen of the Road is a "swashbuckling adventure" set in the Kingdom of Arran around 950 A.D. that follows two horsethieves, a massive African named Amram and a hat-loving Jew named Zelikman, as they become swept up in a rebellion and try to restore the throne to a displaced prince.

Chabon said he agreed to write the serial because he has "always been intrigued by accounts and legends of the Khazars" and the idea of an ancient Jewish Kingdom. To research the novel (which for a few months had the working title Jews with Swords), Chabon researched the Khazars extensively and "tried to let it all sink in." He also re-read the historical romances of Alexander Dumas, Fritz Leiber, George MacDonald Fraser, and Michael Moorcock, to whom the novel is dedicated.

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WEBSITE: Check out this website for a comprehensive list of all Chabon's writings; I am not sure who is maintaining this but it's an impressive list nonetheless.

"Liberation" by T. Cooney

Check out this recent San Francisco Chronicle essay by a great mentor of mine, Professor Thomas Cooney. Thomas is the Master's of Fine Arts program coordinator at St. Mary's College and my former English professor. He has work coming this fall in the anthology "Howl: A Collection of the Best Contemporary Dog Wit."

Moroccan Dinner with Cuz O'Rell

Weekend Getaway to Leavenworth, WA

Video Vault: A Bit of Brando

This video is quite long but certainly worth a few minutes of your time. Brando was simply one of the best of all time: he was the Sinatra of acting. There are certain scenes in his films (e.g. his first full scene with Vivian Leigh in A Streetcar Named Desire) where you just have to shake your head and silently honor the man; next time you see the film, watch as he nonchalantly chopsticks the air right in the middle of his scene activity: brilliant. He was the best actor in his day, just as Robert Downey Jr. is the best today.

Meet Marlon Brando

Video Vault: Lipton on Acting

James Lipton: 2 Things

Video Vault: Downey Jr.'s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

If you are not a fan of Robert Downey Jr. you will quickly become bored of my posts. When it's all said and done, RDJ will be viewed as one of the best actors of all time. His work is flawless; his instincts are second to none; his talent unmatched.

After all the drugs and poor choices, there is no logical reason why he should have survived. But he lived, and now we get to watch him work his way to the top. He's healthy and the work he is producing is flat-out brilliant. He's back to where he was when he became Charlie Chaplin and it's just a matter of time before Oscar come calling often .

Beginnings...

I think it's about time to start one of these; dry and sarcastic prose dominate my style of writing so be prepared to love it or hate it. Hemingway said it best: "There is nothing to writing; all you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed."

A one-stop shop is the goal here. I am obsessed with acting, movies, literature, drama, and travel. The bulk of the content will be links to other places that have mastered the art of presenting online material in a simple, clean and high-quality fashion (example: my sidebar movie-trailer links: simple, HD or Hi-Res. quality, blank canvased webpage).

Most of the information here will be super random; when writing, my audience is myself. To tailer my thoughts to meet the expectations of others, would be boring and pointless. For crying out load, my favorite person is the fictional H. Roark (clue: Rand's opus magnum). That, alone, will either intrigue you or turn you off.

Enjoy my always-evolving movie/book list rankings; check back regularly to see the many pics of my family.

Preface: this is my place for thoughts and opinions, not pretentious judgments. I am pretty sure it was Socrates who said "I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance." I couldn't agree with him more.