“Tell me I’m not your man from Porlock. I’d never forgive myself.” I read that in David Mitchell’s Utopia Avenue and was like: huh? So I looked it up. Jeepers! Shared it with my friends, and one one of them, Jim, proposed the term be employed à la Good Will Hunting badinage, e.g. “I …
Tag Archives: Who Knew
Saucy Kip
I watched the film Hired Gun, about session musicians. As this review accurately puts it, “two sorts of audience member are especially well-served here: metal heads and devotees of Billy Joel.” It kept my interest nonetheless. Certainly, in the topsy-turvy world of heavy rock, I was not shocked to learn that one can go directly …
How Bizarre
Paul McCartney wrote “Lovely Rita” after getting a parking ticket The Bee-Gees got the beat for “Jive Talkin’” from the sound of driving on a causeway After being refused entry to Studio 54, Nile Rogers and Bernard Edwards wrote “Le Freak” Let me stop here and ask: do any of the above excessively tax …
Greetings
There’s also a much-loved tradition of using our landing lights to greet fellow pilots in the world’s most remote skies, where we might cruise for hours without seeing another aircraft. Then, perhaps from 40 miles away or more, we spot the strobe lights of an aircraft approaching at a different altitude. I reach up …
Clipperton
I got this globe at a yard sale. Whenever I see students looking at it, I ask if they’re lost. The other day I noticed France has an island off the coast of Mexico. This was news to me, so I looked it up. It used to be called – ooh la la – …
Cabul
One is reading the Bible. It’s frightfully good, you know. -VS Naipaul I’ve been reading the Bible, and doing it the way they say you shouldn’t do it, reading it straight through. It’s tough going, and there’s a lot I don’t get. I may break down and get one of those “How to …
Sandblasted
Glances, bases, hearts … That’s what I thought people stole. Who knew this too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand_theft *** So, I don’t know how I missed this, but apparently we had an interstellar visitor a while back, ‘Oumuamua. I learned about it from this interview with the chairman of Harvard’s astronomy department. I’ve found myself …
My Christmas Card to You
I just got my caroling schedule and, alas, further posting is right out until after the Yule. Speaking of miraculous births, though. You know that “We got a great big convoy” trucker song? I was surprised to learn it had anything to do with Mannheim Steamroller. Also, to the extent that I ever considered …