...I have three new pieces up:
--"Daughter" @ Dogzplot
--"Doppelganger" @ Vis a Tergo, and
--"Front Porch" @ The Camel Saloon
All are also here under "Words In Print"

...Yesterday I picked my son up at school and we had a very fun day/evening together. We saw "The Town." It's a B+. Strong acting, directing, moves fast. I like violence now and then, too, which this movie has. The Boston dialect, however, was hard to decifer sometimes and the story was also a tad predictable, but otherwise this was very entertaining, through the whole 2 hours and 3 minutes. Thumbs up!

...Afterward we saw Vampire Weekend play the Paramount. They were outstanding. Played every song they had, covered the Boss's "Going Down" (it was Bruce's B. Day yesterday) and lit the crowd on fire. My son and I bopped in the mosh pit until we were exhausted. The average age of attendants was 16-26, but I didn't care. Vampire Weekend--you should check them out. There's nothing like them.

...Lindsay Lohan is back in jail tonight. You could say, "Why does anyone care?" Well, obviously they do. Obviously a lot of people care. It would be very easy to dislike Lindsay, even to the point of loathing her. She comes across contrived, arrogant and haughty, a raspier, more trailer trash-version of Paris Hilton. It'd be natural to wish her ill. But you know, without forgiveness, all of us would be screwed.
...I remember Robert Downey Jr. was in a similar situation as Linds. He got arrested four times for drug posession. He got arrested for breaking and entering when they found him asleep on some stranger's foyer, stoned out of his mind. No one would work with him. When I met him at an event, he was sweating and trembling and very clearly still on something. That was five years ago. Look at Robert now--one of the most sought-after actors.
...Similarily, I'll never forget coming back from a week's vacation in Mexico and seeing a photo of Britney Speakers with a shaved head, some hideous ensemble that made her look fifty pounds heavier, swinging a pink, Minnie Mouse umbrella at a paparazzi. I thought it was a joke, photo-shopped, something like that. But it wasn't, of course. From there things got worse: crotch shots of her without underwear; walking barefoot in a gas station restaurant; handing her little boy a pack of cigarettes to play with; checking into a mental ward, losing custody of her kids... Now Brit's as big as ever.
...So, I guess the point is two fold: 1.) We all need to be cut some slack. "People who least deserve love are usually the ones who need it the most." And, 2. )Never say never. Everybody gets a second chance, it's just depends what's done with it. People (Americans, especially) love a comeback story. And thank God for that.

...Here are two quotes I like: "I write because I read, and I just think it's part of the same conversation. I've always thought writers are only readers who sort of go karaoke. They here something they really admire, or wish they had done, so they set out to do it. More and more, I write for a specific purpose, or audience, or to see if I can do it." -- Thomas Lynch

"Be tough on your writing, then be tough on getting it sold. This ain't no buisiness for sissies." -- Nat Sobel

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