Odd Time
This is an odd time to start a blog, right in the middle of so many things. Penny and I just finished some carryout Chinese food and watched the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Detroit Tigers in Game 3 of the World Series, which made me very happy as a Cardinals fan. We get married in about six months, on a beach at Playa del Carmen by a Mayan shaman. Much more later.
But I'd been thinking about a blog for a long time. I used to do zines, most notably A Prairie Rat-Weasel as part of an APA (that's Amateur Press Association, which is like a collection of blogs using a mimeograph and No. 3400 black paste ink instead of computers, modem, and Internet). That particular zine was in GOLDEN APA, of which I was a founding member back in 1978 or so. My friend, Arthur Hlavaty in New York, started the APA for fans of the writings of Robert Anton Wilson and the late Robert Shea, and my original zine title was The Benton Harbor Rat-Weasel. At the time, I was a general assignment reporter for a newspaper, the Herald-Palladium in Benton Harbor/St. Joseph, MI, and I was spoofing all those hyphenated newspaper names you see like News-Gazette and Times-Picayune. Over time, the Rat-Weasel name stuck. and I first used A Prairie Rat-Weasel during the late 1980s during an 18-month exile in Des Moines, IA. I liked it, and no apologies are offered to Garrison Keillor or Minnesota Public Radio whatsoever.
I left a big round spot of No. 3400 black paste ink on the carpet where my mimeo had sat when I moved out of Des Moines. One thing led to another, and mostly everything led to the Internet. GOLDEN APA folded a few years ago, yet another technology rendered obsolete by the Internet and Arthur's decision that he was tired of it after 25 years.
But I missed self-publishing and was spending too much late night free time sitting around in front of DirecTV and getting fat on pretzels, merlot, and tonic water. If I'm going to sit around and get fat, I might as well do something a little more creative.
So what do you get in A Prairie Rat-Weasel?
Well, the easy answer is a little bit of everything, but you probably want a few more specifics. You'll get a lot of reviews, particularly movies -- I was never that much of a movie buff until recently, and my conversion mainly came about when I hooked up with Penny in 1999. Penny is a serious movie buff, and we now see about three movies a week, when I'm not traveling on business, which is a couple of times a month. Here is a solumn pledge: one type of movie review you will never see on this blog is an "only-an-asshole-would-like-this-movie" review. I despise that kind of review and the kind of reviewers who perpetrate that. (A special place in Potemkin Hell awaits Joe Rosenthal from The Wall Street Journal. When he reviewed V for Vendetta earlier this year, he took the "only-an-asshole-would-like-this-movie" to an entirely new level. He wrote an "only-a-subversive-asshole-who-would-sell-America-out-to-the-terrorists-would-like-this-movie" review.)
About the travel -- I do that a lot, so you'll probably get a lot of travel stories and reviews of some of the places I see, stay in, or have dinner at. Most of my travel is in my beloved Midwest, but not exclusively.
Also, as you probably gathered, I digress a lot. And I sometimes have a tendency to rant, particularly with regard to politics (mine are libertarian, bordering on anarchism) and religion (mine is Wiccan, and I despise all forms of fundamentalism -- even Wiccan fundamentalism). If that offends you, tough. Go read some other blog. Or write me a flaming ranting comment of your own. Or proposition me for a night of wild sex. Or better than any of that, start your own blog. THE BLOGOSPHERE WANTS YOU!
Nighty night! Blessed Be.
But I'd been thinking about a blog for a long time. I used to do zines, most notably A Prairie Rat-Weasel as part of an APA (that's Amateur Press Association, which is like a collection of blogs using a mimeograph and No. 3400 black paste ink instead of computers, modem, and Internet). That particular zine was in GOLDEN APA, of which I was a founding member back in 1978 or so. My friend, Arthur Hlavaty in New York, started the APA for fans of the writings of Robert Anton Wilson and the late Robert Shea, and my original zine title was The Benton Harbor Rat-Weasel. At the time, I was a general assignment reporter for a newspaper, the Herald-Palladium in Benton Harbor/St. Joseph, MI, and I was spoofing all those hyphenated newspaper names you see like News-Gazette and Times-Picayune. Over time, the Rat-Weasel name stuck. and I first used A Prairie Rat-Weasel during the late 1980s during an 18-month exile in Des Moines, IA. I liked it, and no apologies are offered to Garrison Keillor or Minnesota Public Radio whatsoever.
I left a big round spot of No. 3400 black paste ink on the carpet where my mimeo had sat when I moved out of Des Moines. One thing led to another, and mostly everything led to the Internet. GOLDEN APA folded a few years ago, yet another technology rendered obsolete by the Internet and Arthur's decision that he was tired of it after 25 years.
But I missed self-publishing and was spending too much late night free time sitting around in front of DirecTV and getting fat on pretzels, merlot, and tonic water. If I'm going to sit around and get fat, I might as well do something a little more creative.
So what do you get in A Prairie Rat-Weasel?
Well, the easy answer is a little bit of everything, but you probably want a few more specifics. You'll get a lot of reviews, particularly movies -- I was never that much of a movie buff until recently, and my conversion mainly came about when I hooked up with Penny in 1999. Penny is a serious movie buff, and we now see about three movies a week, when I'm not traveling on business, which is a couple of times a month. Here is a solumn pledge: one type of movie review you will never see on this blog is an "only-an-asshole-would-like-this-movie" review. I despise that kind of review and the kind of reviewers who perpetrate that. (A special place in Potemkin Hell awaits Joe Rosenthal from The Wall Street Journal. When he reviewed V for Vendetta earlier this year, he took the "only-an-asshole-would-like-this-movie" to an entirely new level. He wrote an "only-a-subversive-asshole-who-would-sell-America-out-to-the-terrorists-would-like-this-movie" review.)
About the travel -- I do that a lot, so you'll probably get a lot of travel stories and reviews of some of the places I see, stay in, or have dinner at. Most of my travel is in my beloved Midwest, but not exclusively.
Also, as you probably gathered, I digress a lot. And I sometimes have a tendency to rant, particularly with regard to politics (mine are libertarian, bordering on anarchism) and religion (mine is Wiccan, and I despise all forms of fundamentalism -- even Wiccan fundamentalism). If that offends you, tough. Go read some other blog. Or write me a flaming ranting comment of your own. Or proposition me for a night of wild sex. Or better than any of that, start your own blog. THE BLOGOSPHERE WANTS YOU!
Nighty night! Blessed Be.
posted by Da Zedman at 9:54 PM
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