Théophile Gautier’s 1865 novel, La Belle-Jenny, is a boisterous, Romantic tale of conspiracy and intrigue, all of which fails.  Couples are parted; lives are ruined.  Near the end, Arthur Sidney, the character most to blame for all of this, sums up what he’s learned: Aimez quelqu’un ou quelque chose, un homme, un enfant, un chien, […]

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Don’t sing from the heart; use your lungs. splilt Maybe your snap judgment Was just a crap judgment. Asemic acrostics: Many enthusiasts have found acrostics in Shakespeare and other writers; we can also find acrostics that do not spell out words, giving us a hidden message without linguistic significance. a pen that forms a line […]

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We have a remarkable ability to see patterns where there are none, to see pictures in clouds, smoke, and rocks.  We’re particularly prone to see faces, perhaps because facial recognition is such an important survival skill. “Images d’Epinal,” an old French firm that provided popular prints for generations, has long published pictures with hidden images, […]

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People like strange things; and publishers in the ’50s and ’60s were happy to provide an apparently endless string of strange paperbacks.  Some of the following are reprints from Fate magazine; some are from Ace Books’ “Strange Facts” series.  Many seem to have had the same cover design (please click for enlargements).  For less than […]

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“To be popular, one must show interest in persons and things that do not interest one and simultaneously conceal the interest that one has in persons and things that do interest one.  One must always side with the prejudices and emotions of the person one happens to be with, however idiotic… “One must be humorous […]

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the template plate: after the meal, the food leaves a decorative pattern on the tablecloth ptomato a rocking table equinox: we measure the equality by the night I hope the cops Don’t spot my schnapps nightlight/daydark bookletlets a broadcaster’s error: “The Governor is scheduled to aggress the group.” pestilence, war, death, family temporary topiary It […]

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flat spoons, for easier packing and shipping “I’ll say,” he said. Now you see it, now you’d rather not. write a piece of music for an instrument that doesn’t exist two negatives make a positive: crossed minus signs make a plus sign a broadcaster’s malapropism: “casting aspirations” palaminomony Did you see that little face Peeping […]

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As the magazine evaporates, like dew, from the American landscape, perhaps we should pause to appreciate some outstanding ones. One of my favorites is a small magazine from the 1890s, Multum in Parvo. In fact, it billed itself as the “Smallest Magazine in the World.” And small it is — 3” by 4 1/2″. It was […]

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re-usable lottery tickets a heron eating herring the electric spoon, heated so soup won’t cool from bowl to mouth In time, you’ll find it none too wise To base your acts on other guys. a newscaster’s slip: “black market” for “Blackwater” a spork with a knife for a handle: it requires a special mitt so […]

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From the audience, Angela Alverson captured a snippet of the recital at the Jalopy Theatre.  My beginning uke class made its first public appearance with this blues chorus.  From left to right: Katherine, Rachel, teacher, Carrie, Ana, and Ashley.  They’re on their way! Another of my uke students, Robin Hoffman, keeps a blog of her […]

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