“I find him in the curves of certain lines, in the loveliness and subtleties of certain colours.”
― Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
Continental Bridge Park
Dallas, Texas
The Curves of Certain Lines
Monthly Archives: December 2014
Think Before You Speak
“Think before you speak. Read before you think.”
― Fran Lebowitz, The Fran Lebowitz Reader
Mural on column at Deep Ellum Dog Park, Dallas, Texas
The True Wasteland Begins
“Leaving New Orleans also frightened me considerably. Outside of the city limits the heart of darkness, the true wasteland begins.”
― John Kennedy Toole, A Confederacy of Dunces
waiting for a parade
Nola Brewing
New Orleans, Louisiana
“there was something about
that city, though
it didn’t let me feel guilty
that I had no feeling for the
things so many others
needed.
it let me alone.”
― Charles Bukowski
waiting for a parade
Nola Brewing
New Orleans, Louisiana
“Yes, a dark time passed over this land, but now there is something like light.”
― Dave Eggers, Zeitoun
waiting for a parade
Nola Brewing
New Orleans, Louisiana
“Times are not good here. The city is crumbling into ashes. It has been buried under taxes and frauds and maladministrations so that it has become a study for archaeologists…but it is better to live here in sackcloth and ashes than to own the whole state of Ohio.”
― Lafcadio Hearn, Inventing New Orleans: Writings of Lafcadio Hearn
Is There Any Tea On This Spaceship?
“Arthur blinked at the screens and felt he was missing something important. Suddenly he realized what it was.
“Is there any tea on this spaceship?” he asked.”
― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Photographs from the teacup races at Turner House in Oak Cliff, during the 2014 Tweed Ride festivities.
“There are those who love to get dirty and fix things. They drink coffee at dawn, beer after work. And those who stay clean, just appreciate things. At breakfast they have milk and juice at night. There are those who do both, they drink tea.”
― Gary Snyder
“You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.”
― C.S. Lewis
“I say let the world go to hell, but I should always have my tea.”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Notes from Underground
“Take some more tea,” the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly.
“I’ve had nothing yet,” Alice replied in an offended tone, “so I can’t take more.”
“You mean you can’t take less,” said the Hatter: “it’s very easy to take more than nothing.”
“Nobody asked your opinion,” said Alice.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
The Pain Of His Love
“Up on the Brooklyn Bridge a man is standing in agony, waiting to jump, or waiting to write a poem, or waiting for the blood to leave his vessels because if he advances another foot the pain of his love will kill him.”
― Henry Miller, Black Spring
“Large Marge”
Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge
Dallas, Texas
(click for larger version on Flickr)
Clearly messed with using Illustrator and Photoshop.
I Would Hate To Be Murdered In A Lounge Chair
“I would hate to be murdered in a lounge chair. You would lose not only your life, but a chance at a nice nap.”
—-Armando Vitalis, From Hell’s Heart I Stab At Thee
Continental Bridge Park,
Dallas, Texas
(click for larger version on Flickr)
I try not to take so many photographs that don’t have people in them. But there aren’t many folks on the Continental Bridge Park on a workday afternoon, even on a preternaturally warm autumn day.
The few people that did walk by as I ate a takeout sweet potato were interesting enough:
A large young man with headphones – he sauntered by and I saw him at a distance once he reached an unoccupied section dancing by himself.
A young couple, very casually dressed, moving around in some sort of elaborate ritual in each open area. I think they were planning a wedding on the bridge – or at least a photo-shoot – and were trying out all the angles.
A couple with two chihuahuas. They passed one way with the dogs on leashes – then returned with the dogs loose. I later saw them chasing the pooches along the Trinity River Levee – they must have seen something interesting.
—-but the bridge is very long and narrow, and the interesting stuff was too far away. So all I did was sit in one of the lounge chairs and read a couple of horrifically gruesome short stories.
For example, in one an astoundingly stupid young man is experimenting with an ethanol-based homemade hair gel when he accidentally ignites his coif with a cigarette. Aflame, he runs into the road in a panic where he is struck by a speeding wrecker. The impact flips him over a rail into the Sabine river, which does serve to extinguish the flames – but before his friends can rescue him a large alligator drags him off by the head.
Things go downhill from there. If you don’t believe me – the story seems to be available online.
What I learned this week, December 5, 2014
So little time, so many books….
100 Notable Books of 2014
What we learned from 5 million books
Have you played with Google Labs’ Ngram Viewer? It’s an addicting tool that lets you search for words and ideas in a database of 5 million books from across centuries. Erez Lieberman Aiden and Jean-Baptiste Michel show us how it works, and a few of the surprising things we can learn from 500 billion words.
Heavy Hitter beer flight at Luck, in Trinity Groves, Dallas, Texas
Celebrate the grand opening of a new brewery in Fort Worth December 12
Panther Island – what a great name for a brewery.
Science Shows Something Surprising About People Who Love to Write
Love to write? What about a Need to Write? If writing isn’t an unresistable addiction – it’s not worth it.
The hinged writing surface dropped down on the secretary.
Why Writers Are the Worst Procrastinators
Travelling Man – sculpture east of Downtown Dallas
23 Words That Mean Something Entirely Different In Dallas
I was more than a little surprised when I realized that I had already read all of these.
11 Books All Aspiring Writers Should Read, Because Spending Time With These Titles is Like a Mini-Workshop
THE RANGE OF FACES PEOPLE MAKE WHILE BEING TASERED IS SURPRISINGLY VAST
Brad
“Oh, I’m not a percussionist, I just like to hit things.”
― Tom Waits
New Orleans
French Quarter on Halloween
Be One
“To the world you may be one person; but to one person you may be the world.”
― Dr. Seuss
Parking Lot
University of Texas at Dallas
Richardson, Texas
Something Like Happiness
“I would like to bring to people something like happiness. I would like to discover a method so that if I want it to rain, it will start right away to rain. If one of my friends is ill, I’d like to play a certain song and he will be cured; when he’d be broke, I’d bring out a different song and immediately he’d receive all the money he needed.”
― John Coltrane
The Gold Magnolias
New Orleans, Louisiana
Saxophone player with The Gold Magnolias at a concert at the Freret Market – New Orleans
Bill Chance 