Quote of the day

The true enemies of the novel were plot, character, setting and theme. - John Hawkes

Quoted by Rick Moody in The Atlantic, Fiction Issue, 2005.

Of late

The Winnipeg Fringe Festival is going on now. It's always lots of fun. Saw my friend Ross's play last night, and it was good - as usual. It's a "three-hander" - it's got 3 actors, eh? - and the woman was in my intro class long ago.

Listening to Michael Franti and Spearhead's Yell Fire! album, Ryan Adams's Rock n Roll, Paper Moon's broken hearts break faster every day, T. S. Monk's Monk on Monk, and the Magnolia soundtrack that's mostly Aimee Mann songs.

Depression on the 9th green

Well, I hit the ball pretty well today. Shot 46, which is my second best score of the season. Very nice. But you know it's all about the par 3s, and we had a 3 hole carry over going into the 9th - and last - hole.

Gus hit it on, so there was going to be a winner for sure. But I lined it up and drove the ball inside of Gus. Getting up to the green, I'm a good distance away, but not that far. A two putt shouldn't be a problem. And I hadn't 3 putted all day.

My first putt is short by about 5 feet say, maybe less. Definitely makeable, and the kind I've been making all day. But there's a big slope to the 9th green, so it's not the easiest green to read. I read it right, but underhit it so it broke more than I'd planned for and went just left of the hole. ARRGH!

We replayed the 8th to determine a winner of the last three skins, and Shy hit it. With that he went back into the season lead with 12 holes, while Gus is on 11. I've got 2, and lead in misses with 3 (all on that 9th hole! although I have made that one once this year too).

From 'Party Shuffle' in my iTunes program

Standing By Your Window Treat Her Right
It's Just That Simple Wilco
True Spandau Ballet
Rant & Roar Great Big Sea
Crosstown Traffic Jimi Hendrix Experience
The View From The Afternoon Arctic Monkeys
The Hippo And The Canary Part Two Ben Sures
Anything Anytime Anywhere Bruce Cockburn
Song for the Dumped Ben Folds Five
Blaze of Glory Joe Jackson
Almost Sarah Harmer
The One I Love David Gray
The news Jack Johnson
Dog walk Rico Southee
Around This Corner Sarah Harmer
Le Noceur Francis Cabrel
Got the time Joe Jackson
Space Age Love Song A Flock Of Seagulls
(Nothing But) Flowers Talking Heads
Lunatic Fringe Red Rider
Gatekeeper Feist
Seasons in the sun Terry Jacks

Good to the Bone

I've been a comics fan since I was a kid, although I don't buy them regularly as I did in my teens. Recently, I've read some comics, or graphic novels if you prefer to think of them that way so that your delicate sensibilities aren't shaken by a 'grown up' reading stories with pictures (as opposed to, say, watching stories with pictures projected onto a large screen).

One you have to check out is Bone by Jeff Smith.



The above is an example of the characters, who get chased out of their home city, but it doesn't quite convey the depth of the novel. It is one long novel, which took 55 comics to convey. It's now collected into a series of books, which I've picked up from the library and am reading through.

These three characters are cousins. Phoney Bone - the one in the middle - is a schemer, or business person if you prefer. It was his actions that led to the cousins getting kicked out. Really, it was him that was tossed, but Smiley Bone, on the left, and Fone Bone, on the right, came along for the ride.

They get lost, and end up in a valley they have never been to before. In the valley are humans, and other talkative creatures, like dragons and stupid, stupid rat creatures, and everywhere there is more than meets the eye.

But you should pick up Bone, because what meets the eye will be more than pleasing.

Young men behaving badly

Man, I didn't see this live, but it was blogged about on The Score, which is how I came across it. Unbelievable. But funny.

Check it out.

Tough links

Well, it's not been the best couple of Wednesdays out on the links for me. Shot 61 and 58. Ugh. Mainly, I've had some trouble around the green. Either I'm way short playing up to it or I sky the ball over the green. Need to go out and practice these shots.

Ah well. There's always something.