Gear

Often I will buy a thing and then wonder why on earth I bought the thing. This thing

The picture is a bit blurry, but then it is Friday. It's a lightweight version of the Leatherman. I know that this was good idea because the two times I didn't bring it with on a ride I needed it because, no not the cork screw, but rather the

That is right it weighs slightly more than a Swiss Army knife but it has a pliers, albeit a blurry one. I got mine for half of the normal price  and rarely have I been so happy with a thing. It rivals some tires I could mention.

Friday Music Videos

 Some time between 1979 and 1982 I started listening to Tom Waits. I saw him in concert at some point and continued to listen to him religiously for a long time and then listen sporadically although he is still a go to music fella in times of need. Via comes two videos of one interview, which are great for a variety of reason.





This comes from about the time I started paying attention.  Recently, I think yesterday, Waits released a video from his Bad as I Want to Be Album, which I got as a gift. What struck me on seeing it was the fact that it is clearly an anti-War on terror song and, whatismore, one the few that I can think from the present crop of whatsits:



Some of his more recent stuff is too something or another for me but this one seems to be a example of an man and musician trying to make sense of the horrors of permanent war and the misery it inflicts on soldiers.

Enjoy your weekend while you still have one. 

Please Don't

John Banville threatens, I think is the proper term, to "bring back" Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe. Why? If he wants to write a hard-boiled bit of noir that takes place in a "slightly surreal, or hyper-real, atmosphere," let him. But why bring Chandler and Marlowe into it? This doesn't sound like the creation of some kind of post-modern fiction built off or around a classic like Sargasso Sea, but rather like a stunt. Banville in both his high and middle brow literature is supposed to be quite the thing, as the kids say, this bit here seems like a waste of time, energy, and talent.

Summer Holiday

I have been a relatively longish one, which is soon to end. But as a way of easing back into the world of words. All the bikes had Bontrager Race Hardcase tires, the bad weather bike has now Continental tourers of some sort and in the winter studded. Why  Hardcase, you ask:

The shredded rubber was over 2/3 of the whole tire. I don't know for how long I rode around on this but it was at least 3 weeks. Plus the  bike sat for a week before I changed the tire today and, get this, when I took it off the bike it was still hard as rock. When you need to get from here to there and back again without worrying about a flat, Hardcases it is.

Also over to Gin and Tacos,  Ed mocks Sarah Palin's bbq cum fundraiser garb and insists that her decision to "dress like the Lord Mayor of MILF Island" rendered her no longer a serious person. Leaving aside the obvious sexist bullshit in the MILF comment, remember when Obama wore a bike helmet or blue jeans some jackasses thought looked like "mom jeans"? 

That kind of "analysis" was stupid, pointless crap then and it is now. You sir are on notice.