Month: September 2006

  • Antarctica

    Dave and Cathy Burrows, of Green Bay, Wisconsin (frequent Twin Cities visitors), did a three-week tour by a Norwegian nature cruise company that featured Argentina, the Falkland Islands, South Georgia Islands, Orkney Islands, and finally (as shown here), the Antarctica Peninsula. The Gentoo penguins, normally comical, weren’t doing much as they stood in the active…

  • Hell in a Hamburglar Glass

    I had a garage sale a couple of weeks ago. I relish regularly purging my home of crap. However, I also think it is a special kind of hell to have to arrange crap artfully on card tables in the driveway, assign a value to each item of crap, and look at the neighbors with…

  • that Speaks French

    Of all the depressing novels I know, Jude the Obscure takes the prize for sustained doom and gloom. Don’t let the film mislead you; it is far too pretty. All those authentic Victorian sets (not to mention the delightfully authentic Kate Winslet) undermine the exposition of Jude’s law, that Sod and Murphy were incurable optimists,…

  • Fangs, Fur & Forgiveness

    The werewolf’s life has never been easy. But the complications of twenty-first-century living often result in even more confusion and frustration. Fortunately, a few sessions with a qualified life coach can help today’s lycanthrope adjust to those inevitable crises of confidence. OWN YOUR ASPIRATIONS. Werewolves often lack a sense of purpose in their lives, personally…

  • The Strong, Silent Type

    You can’t spit in Lowertown without hitting a plaque denoting one historically significant edifice or another. Warehouses stand shoulder to shoulder, erected in a passel of architectural styles—from Italianate to Richardsonian to Beaux Arts—monuments to a zeal for development that’s matched only by the recent condo craze. Many of these majestic industrial buildings, like the…

  • Homage to a Dead Duck

    Autumn is my favorite time of year. Add the beauty of the harvest to deep-blue skies, brilliant foliage, and crisp, cool mornings, and you have the perfect eating season. Throw open the windows, crank up the oven, throw some cinnamon about, and life is perfect. Except Sundays. On autumnal Sundays, as I focus on the…