The Post-Pessimist Association

RSS Feed Homepage

Articles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

God Save the Avalanche
2009-02-25 23:44:00
Remember long ago when this blog covered hockey semi-regularly? Such different, more innocent days. I still love the sport but it doesn't get much of my attention these days. A while back, when I was writing on Jes's blog, I mentioned that I hadn't seen a game in two weeks and some commenter held me up as an example of all that was wrong with hockey in America, proof positive that the Southeastern Division should be forcibly relocated. Last night's game was the first I attended this year, and I hadn't seen any on television in more than a month. I wonder what that anonymous fellow would think of that. Probably that I should be shot.The last time I saw the Avalanche play in Atlanta -- probably 2000 or 2001 -- the Colorado goalie (David Aebischer) gave up three goals in the first period on the way to a shameful loss. Last night, the Colorado goalie (Peter Budaj) gave up three goals in the first period. The only thing that's really changed is that in the early naughts, only Atlan...
More About: Save

A Case of the Vapors
2009-02-24 01:20:00
I thought I was well into the "boring" part of recovery, but then I started mildly hallucinating in the middle of Whole Foods yesterday. I don't have any past hallucinations to compare -- STRAIGHT EDGE IN YOUR FACE! -- but it was pretty strange, as images of my brother and an old friend superimposed themselves over reality, along with a recurring Lichtensteinesque picture of a man screaming. I pulled myself together and got out of there, and everything returned to normal once I was out (although I did emerge with both blueberry salsa and "Mexican Sweet Chili" tea, both of which are pretty weird). Most likely, skimping on breakfast and then overexerting myself caused all of it. * * *Oh hey, more books.#20 -- "The Universal Baseball Association, Inc., J. Henry Waugh, Prop." by Robert Coover#21 -- "Black Dog of Fate" by Peter BalakianThe baseball novel has been on my to-read list for years, and holy crap, it wasn't at all what I expected. It's the comic tale of a lonely old guy who ...
More About: Case

Stylin' in Brno
2009-02-22 14:10:00
Another ad from the 1970s Brno yearbook. A couple observations:* that's the least happy fashion model I've ever seen* I know that it's tough to cut dark hair out of a dark background, but didn't anyone in the design process get tipped off by the shape of his head? Perhaps this is how they were wearing their hair in 1974. Another example of the horrors of totalitarianism.As far as I can tell, this is an ad for a textile factory rather than a store -- the line at the bottom, according to the mixed skills of Google Translator and me, says something like "Producing interesting fabrics for men's and women's clothing." Interesting indeed.There's a few web references to the Vln?na factory -- it's defunct now, and here's a fellow who hunted around in the ruins. I found another reference (I'm too lazy to look it up again) that indicated that the building is going to be converted to high-end apartments, Atlanta-style.Unconnected to any of this except that it's Brno -- again, if any...

Taking Care of Business
2009-02-21 15:19:00
First off, congrats to my little brother and his wife, who had their first child thist week. I'm Uncle Greg now. He checks this about once a year in normal times and his life just got exponentially busier, so this is a bit pointless, but it's still pretty great and deserves notice.Mom PPA headed home yesterday, after I got the all-clear to drive (look out, Atlanta -- I'm still on painkillers!), and I've now been learning which tasks I'm still unable to do thanks to my weak right arm. One of them is taking out the trash, so if you're in the neighborhood, stop by. Things are starting to smell.* * *I'm starting to wander a bit farther afield on my daily recuperation walks (and "farther afield" still only means "15 minutes from my house"), and the other day I took the camera along for the first time in centuries, to capture a little sight that's been there forever but that I've ignored.It's a fence on Highland Avenue, covered in junk/discarded items. And it's pretty cool. The...
More About: Business , Care , Taking

Summer Project
2009-02-16 16:27:00
It's been a while since I made any flavored vodkas around here, but now, thanks to Noah, I've got something to aspire to. This looks kind of gross, and extremely alluring. It's a while until I'll be able to drink again, but once I'm back in the game, LOOK OUT, WORLD.* * *#17 -- "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg LarssonThis is getting a lot of press, partly because of the backstory -- Swedish media figure dies suddenly, leaves behind the manuscripts of several completed novels. It's being hailed as a mystery masterpiece, and I wouldn't go that far. It's choppy and sometimes oddly paced -- it'll build up to a dramatic revelation then fail to deliver, then a couple chapters later start off "One day, so-and-so made several huge discoveries." It's got a few subplots that drag on too long, as well.But -- it's oddly gripping, and once I got into it, it kept me enthralled (though occasionally frustrated). It's the kind of mystery that appeals to the researcher in me, wi...
More About: Summer , Project

Breaking Down the Stimulus
2009-02-15 16:51:00
Very drunk man, yelling at laughing people outside my window at 2 a.m.: "this is just another way that the government's trying to control me."The insight you gain, living next to a bar.* * *#15 -- "No Mercy" by Redmond O'Hanlon#16 -- "Vagabonding" by Rolf PottsI'd started "No Mercy" several times before, but this time it finally clicked for me. Go figure. It's a chronicle of O'Hanlon's trip deep into the Republic of Congo, and a pretty harrowing trip is made entertaining by the author's sense of humor and desire for knowledge. It drags like no one's business toward the end, but for 3/4 of the book or so it was enjoyable."Vagabonding" is a little "you can do it" guide on the subject of long-term cheap travel, which holds a lot of appeal for me. I always buy these books thinking they're going to reveal amazing secrets -- "here's how you get free airfare," etc. -- which of course aren't there. This is a nice book, though, in terms of making it all seem very possible. This is...
More About: Breaking

Milestones Achieved
2009-02-12 21:19:00
Despite plenty of spare time, I haven't been writing much, because really, does anyone want to read about "I walked two blocks today" or "my incisions are healing nicely"? I think not, and I don't really want to write about it. I will say that long-term healing is a pretty boring process, though I wouldn't think that if it suddenly went wrong.I'm facing one little ethical dilemma. Some guy in New York apparently used my e-mail address to establish his account for a popular "hook up with married people" dating site. (my personal e-mail address is one that is easily chosen if you hit random keys, unfortunately.) So I'm getting lots of e-mails with notes like "LuvsHumpin09 has sent you a message!" That's pretty irritating. I sent a note to the site's customer service asking them to remove my e-mail address from this account, with no luck.Here's the dilemma: when I click on links in the e-mails, I'm into his account -- without needing to know the password. Since he freely used ...
More About: Books , Milestones

This Had to Happen
2009-02-07 22:26:00
Done here. I'm spending too much time in the house, obviously.

The Great Unread
2009-02-05 15:38:00
I've started reading Pynchon's "Mason & Dixon" again, and that's seriously about the tenth time I've written or said that particular phrase in the past few years. I'm optimistic that this time I'll get through, though, since my schedule's rather light these days.A few days ago, I picked up "The Flanders Panel" by Arturo Perez-Reverte, another one that I've tried to read multiple times. I got about 60 pages in before admitting to myself that I really wasn't enjoying it at all, and cast it aside. I did so with a little sorrow -- I honestly have intended to read "The Flanders Panel" since I got it ten years or so ago, but I never will. The poorly-drawn characters overshadow the appeal of a historical mystery. It's time that it goes to the used bookstore.In a spurt of settling accounts, I went on to acknowledge that there's a few other books that have had a lengthy stay on my shelves and will (despite my best intentions) likely never be read.* "Oswald's Tale" by Norman Maile...
More About: Books , Great

A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Super Bowl
2009-02-02 23:06:00
A few months ago, I dropped cable. It wasn't much of a sacrifice. I work nights, so I don't watch a lot of television, and generally when I feel like visual stimulation, I just watch a DVD. At the time I dropped it, I calculated that I'd spent well over $150 for about ten minutes of viewing over a few months, so it seemed like the right thing to do. I haven't missed it since.Until last night, that is, when I belatedly realized that at my location in Atlanta, you can't pick up a broadcast signal without cable -- making the Super Bowl unwatchable. I'm still too weak to spend a few hours out, even in a non-smoking location, so Mom and I decided to listen to it on the radio.Except the radio station wouldn't come in either -- I got scraps of football in the maelstrom of what sounded like a H.P. Lovecraft reading. So we followed the game through NFL.com's online update. I'll admit that I kind of hoped for a blowout so that I wouldn't miss much, but by all accounts it was a corke...
More About: Funny , Books , Thing

36
2009-01-31 18:00:00
36 years old today, in sedate (no beer) but cheerful style. Some of the traditions (long walk and photography on the birthday morning, heavy drinking) go out the window by necessity this year, but it's good to be here.Recuperation reading:#7 -- "Stories I Stole" by Wendell Steavenson#8 -- "The Spy Who Came In From the Cold" by John le Carre#9 -- "Washington Babylon" by Alexander Cockburn and Ken Silverstein#10 -- "Away Games" by Laura Sullivan#11 -- "100 Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia MarquezSo many books, not a lot to say. "100 Years" is beautiful, of course, but you don't need me to tell you that. "Stories I Stole" is a collection of pieces written while the author was living in Georgia (Shevardnadze's Georgia, not this one) and while it's occasionally wildly overwritten it's also pretty interesting. I didn't enjoy "Spy" as much as the last le Carre that I read -- tightly plotted and well-developed, just really, really depressing. "Washington Babylon" is snide fun for ...

One Week On
2009-01-29 16:47:00
How time flies: a week ago at this time, I was (I think) in the midst of surgery. I seem to be healing pretty well -- still weak, still easily exhausted, still bruised and relying heavily on pain pills, but a little bit stronger each day.The earliest post-surgery memories were in the intensive care unit -- very slowly coming back to consciousness, seeing my family and the Ski Bum, learning that everything went well. Being surprised at how lucid I was, especially since other people in the unit seemed to be in early stages of dementia. Then, the first night, as I learned just what it means to have tubes stuck in your neck, arms, ribs and groin -- crying out for pain pills or ice chips (I think I told the poor nurse about 16,000 times that I might not end up addicted to painkillers, but I'd definitely be addicted to ice chips when I got out. I found the sensation of ice chips placed in my mouth so soothing that I seriously imagined that I'd be crushing ice and eating it recreationall...
More About: Week

So Hey, I'm Back.
2009-01-26 22:48:00
Alive and everything. Also extremely, extremely tired and weak. But by all accounts, it went really well.I'll write about it when I have some little bit of creativity, and am not possessed by this need to sleep. As far as I can tell, I didn't come out of this with a debilitating painkiller addiction, though it's early yet.In the meantime, go read Brushback's awesome interview with Supertouch from a billion years ago. What a great band. And, Tomas Kloucek had a three-point night for Barys Astana the other night, which is pretty great, no? Think of all the NHL teams that could have had him for a song this season.
More About: Back

Last Notes From Home II
2009-01-18 16:03:00
I used this post title before, but I've run dry on titles, so here it is again. I feel a bit guilty, yes.This will probably be the last post for a few weeks -- surgery's Thursday, and the week will be sufficiently busy that I probably won't be home much. So, see you in a bit. (I reserve the right to take time out for a post if breaking news happens, like Tomá? Klou?ek scoring a goal.)#6 -- "Embers" by Sandor MaraiThis is one of the books off Tibor Fischer's Eastern European reading list, mentioned last year -- I only now realized that the list is from 2003, rather than being something relatively new. My first thought was that this seemed more like a French novel than a Hungarian one, the second that I've read very few French novels and no Hungarian novels, so how would I know?It's an intense, tightly-wound little book, two old men meeting up after forty years apart for a final reckoning on the incident that ended their friendship. Frequently beautiful and I read the last 2/3 i...
More About: Home , Notes

The Thurston Moore Book Club
2009-01-14 19:17:00
#5 -- "The Glass Hammer" by K.W. JeterConfession: I picked this up solely because it was referenced in the liner notes to Sonic Youth's "Sister," along with a couple other books. Deep down, I'm the same kid who started reading Judge Dredd because Anthrax slapped him on all their t-shirts.It's a dystopian future type thing, which I may have burned out on long ago. Religion and television are inseparable. The lead character becomes a star for his ability to drive fast enough to outrace missiles.It got better as it went along and some of the pieces fell into place, though several of the plotlines weren't explored enough and then wrapped up hurriedly in the space of a page or two. And for the most part, the characters (minus the occasionally-seen Cynth) are really undeveloped. It was ok, in the end. Nothing thrilling, but quick at least. In the copy I had, some previous reader (Kim Gordon?) underlined all the parts where one of the characters says or thinks something really heavy. M...
More About: Book , Club , Book Club , Moore

Take Me Down to the Hospital
2009-01-14 03:20:00
The little procedure I had last Friday gave me a preview of my hospital stay, and it shattered a few illusions. I've never stayed in the hospital before, and up until now I was imagining it as being like a hotel room, minus a bar downstairs and porn on the television. I convinced myself that I'd be able to take the time to read a lot, do a little writing. Instead I'll probably be largely immobile, watching TV programs I don't care to see and occasionally testing the nurse alarm button.My only other significant time in a hospital came in the summer of 1995, when I worked for a while at a hospital in Tucson. It was a temp position, eventually expanded to "indefinite until you choose to quit" -- I was able to do the job (which was pretty mindless), and a co-worker confided to me that I was the first person in a long time that hadn't quit after a week. It was graveyard shift work, hence the turnover, but I was young and energetic, and it paid exceptionally well for a temp job, so I...
More About: Hospital

Your Title Here
2009-01-12 18:59:00
Seriously, I just can't come up with anything.#4 -- "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" by John Le CarreLe Carre is probably one of the more surprising authors that I've never (fully) read -- now that I've got this done, John Updike, David Foster Wallace and Umberto Eco are probably leading the list.I never got much into spy fiction, for the most part. I was a really big Frederick Forsyth fan at one adolescent point, but that's about it. Never really got into Bond films, either, so it crosses entertainment boundaries.This is considerably more complicated than either Forsyth or Bond, and while I got a bit frustrated at times in the middle, it was very rewarding. Despite exhaustion, I read the last third or so straight through last night. One thing I appreciated -- there's a lot of characters in this, and all of them are very fleshed out.I went ahead and ordered the next George Smiley book from Paperback Swap today, which is my version of a high recommendation. That's one of the plea...
More About: Books , Title

A Quick End to 2009's Productivity
2009-01-11 18:31:00
Well, for a few days there, I kept up a decent posting schedule. Alas it collapsed this past week as preparations for surgery got ramped up, work was nuts, and when I had free time I was exhausted. And had nothing to say.I had a procedure done in advance of the surgery this past Friday, which gave me a little preview of the joys of having someone mess about with your arteries, followed by me lying in a hospital bed for a while. It gave me an excuse to spend the weekend watching football, at least.Books:#2 -- "Tooth Imprints on a Corn Dog" by Mark LeynerHad never heard of Leyner before snatching this off the Ski Bum's shelf. My first impression was that he was trying too hard to be wacky and random; that collapsed pretty quickly, though, and his absurdist short pieces had me laughing out loud consistently. It'll be a while before I can handle him again, I think, but this was pretty good.#3 -- "Sick Puppy" by Carl HiaasenOne of my fondest memories of college journalism days is a len...
More About: Productivity , Quick

Books 2009
2009-01-04 18:06:00
#1 -- "A Very Private Life" by Michael FraynSomeone or something recommended Frayn's "Tin Men" to me some years back. I haven't picked that up yet, but I came across a used copy of this and gave it a shot.And, uh... I guess it hasn't aged terribly well. Maybe in the 1960s it was groundbreaking but now the "all humans are distant from each other" thing has been done over and over. None of the characters are particularly compelling, and I really wasn't interested in the protagonist's fate. The social commentary is pretty dated and overall I just didn't get too into it.It is, however, about 150 pages, making for a nice quick read on an insomniac night.
More About: Books

In Formation
2009-01-02 14:12:00
from 1974-75 ZKL Brno hockey yearbook. Since we last checked in, their spiritual successors, HC Kometa Brno, have slumped to fourth place in the Czech 1. liga -- nine full points behind Usti nad Labem. They're still in the hunt, though.

2009
2009-01-01 18:44:00
And Happy New Year to all of you. I sorta half-woke up before dawn today, causing a weird run of the imagination leading me to believe the sun had gone out overnight. A rather inauspicious omen and I'd just as soon put it behind me.So, a new year, a new start. I'm going easy on the resolutions this year, though I am resolving (for the tenth year in a row or so) to become fluent in Czech. It's kind of a tradition.* * *I meant to do a couple best-of lists yesterday, but obviously, I did not. Some are kind of useless: I think I bought one 2008 album (Firewater, "The Golden Hour") and saw one 2008 movie ("Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist"). Both were good, so, best of!Books -wise -- five best I read this year, in no real order (and obviously, there's no "published in 2008" rule:"In Europe" by Geert Mak"Sahara Unveiled" by William Langewiesche"The Yiddish Policemen's Union" by Michael Chabon"Chain of Command" by Seymour Hersh"Reappraisals" by Tony JudtNot much fiction this year. Th...

2008: The Year in Pictures
2008-12-31 19:17:00
* * *When I was a little kid, I'd get inordinately upset over the end of each year -- I'd be sad that it was never going to be that year again, or something to that effect. Not this year, certainly. I'm greeting the end of 2008 with a mixture of relief and regret.There's a sense of stuntedness, I suppose, looking back at the year. Grand plans never got going. There were some great moments, but it was a weird and unsettling year overall, with the health thing hanging over everything.The heart surgery is three weeks from tomorrow, and hopefully, that will go smoothly and after that the year will trend upwards. I go into the new year with something of a plan, which in itself is a rare thing. We'll see how it goes.* * *One last book, under the wire.#55 -- "Cadillac Desert" by Marc ReisnerA little glimpse into what a joy it is to know me and my declining memory: last summer, when I first started reading this, I e-mailed Vitriola. The message said "Hey, you should really check out '...
More About: Pictures , Year

The Mighty Laid Low
2008-12-30 04:49:00
It isn't easy being one of the PPA's chosen few hockey players. Milan Hejduk is a shadow of his pre-lockout self and has hinted at retirement. Tomas Kloucek has played a grand total of zero NHL games since the PPA started up. And Frantisek Kaberle?Frantisek Kaberle has been placed on waivers.I'm too upset to even copy-and-paste diacritics. I knew Frankie hadn't been having the greatest season, but I figured he'd snap out of it. I didn't think something like this would happen. You don't waive the guy who single-handedly powered you to the Stanley Cup. You don't waive the best defenseman in the history of hockey.Let's take a moment and reflect on some happier times for Frank right here. I'm not entirely sure if the Hurricanes will keep him around if he's not claimed. I'd think that a recipe like that would have worked in his favor.
More About: Mighty

Jet Lag
2008-12-28 19:19:00
Two cross-country flights in 24 hours and I'm wrecked. Maybe I'm not cut out for a jet-setter's lifestyle. #54 -- "The Great Divide" by Studs TerkelI probably haven't read anything by Studs since college; I'm pretty sure this wasn't one I've read. It's an affecting overview of the 1980s done in Terkel's oral history style. Some of the interviews are very inspiring; some very sad. It's an interesting feeling to be learning considerably more about a decade that I lived through.Adding to the list of "things I find inside used books":
More About: Books

Christmas Penguin Sighting
2008-12-24 15:19:00
This has been perhaps the worst month of blogging in the history of the PPA, and I doubt there will be some last-minute save coming; I'll be spending Christmas with the Ski Bum, hurrying to Colorado to see the family again for 24 hours, then back here for work. Next month, things will be better, probably.In the meantime: (Thanks, Noah!)
More About: Penguin

Careful What You Wish For
2008-12-22 17:45:00
I was wearing shorts around outside Friday and Saturday, whining to anyone who would listen (and some who wouldn't) that 70 degree temperatures less than a week before Christmas are just horrible and wrong, I wanted real winter, blah blah.Today I woke up and it was 18 degrees outside. Har har har.Of course, it's supposed to hit 60 again by Thursday. This is why everyone in this city spends most of October through March sick.* * *#53 -- "Author Unknown" by Don FosterI was all set to write a post thanking the site that referred me to this, six years or so ago, and I went back there and it wasn't that site. So hell if I know where I first heard about this. It languished on my to-read list for years, and I just now got to it.Foster is a "literary detective" who traces authorship in legal cases or disputed writings and things like that. Here, he's got a few of his stories -- some really fun (Shakespeare, Joe Klein), some a little dull for my tastes (Monica Lewinsky). My favorite, nat...
More About: Careful

The PPA Endorses: A Place That Sells Beer
2008-12-21 01:41:00
The only problem with Decatur's fine Brick Store is that I can't get to it by foot; I've either gotta cadge a ride, take a cab, or drive and limit myself to one or two beers.So I'm pretty excited to find that the Porter Beer Bar is every bit as good as I'd heard. Nice extensive beer list, what looks like an amazing menu (I had the hush puppies, and they were great), and a nifty little setup. It's narrow and I imagine it'd be hell when crowded, but I can easily limit myself to off-hours patronage.So it earns that coveted distinction -- an actual Post-Pessimist Association endorsement, as opposed to just a place I'll happily drink at. I guess it just joins Manuel's and Sobo 151 in that hallowed group. I'm happy to welcome it into the regular rotation.
More About: Place

Rush Hour
2008-12-16 04:00:00
Last night I was chatting with ICJ (pictured, right) and discussing who knows what, when I realized something kinda amazing. I've lived in Atlanta for nine years; during that time I've almost exclusively worked evening or overnight shifts.Before that, Boulder; part of the time, I could walk to work, and even when I couldn't, my hours were flexible enough that no one would care much as long as I showed up any time between, say, six a.m. and noon.In later years of college, I mostly worked either at the student newspaper or random temp or freelance jobs -- I lived right off campus, so I could usually walk.So the last time I really had to deal with rush hour traffic on a regular basis was when I was a 19-year-old intern at IBM, down in Tucson. 16 years ago. That's quite a record, and whenever I do end up dealing with it again, it'll be a real shock to the system.* * *Also in kind of odd, going-a-long-time-without-doing-something -common news: about a week ago, I fried an egg. For th...
More About: Rush , Hour

The Sky Above You
2008-12-11 05:56:00
I was trying to think of some hardcore band that referenced the sky in their album titles or something, but all I could think of was The Fixx, and they aren't exactly hardcore.Something of an occasional theme on this blog: my fascination with the sky in the western part of the United States. I never fail to be awed by it when I go back. These are far from the most astonishing sky scenes I saw back on this trip, but I didn't always have my camera with me.As I said in the last post, it's only on this past trip that I realized that maybe, just maybe, there are some people who don't find the Colorado scenery as lovely as I do. (Poor fools.) I guess if you grew up in (say) Atlanta, the landscape may seem barren, and the sky may not be beautiful but unfriendly. And some people might say "Hey, Greg, that's the same bloody sky you're looking at down in Georgia." They'd be wrong, though.

I Got Nothing From That
2008-12-07 23:23:00
Fox football announcer, providing insight after the Eagles' Brian Westbrook scored a rushing touchdown:"His legs never stopped moving."I've been watching football for 30 years or so, and I can't think of a time when a player ran for a touchdown without moving his legs.* * *I'm back in Atlanta, providing me with all sorts of opportunities to bitch about how I'm not in Colorado any more. Kind of perfectly, I had to take the MARTA trains back to where my car was parked after I landed last night -- I don't know if I've ever bitched about the public transportation in this city. I probably have, so I won't repeat myself again. I'll just say that trying to get from one place to another using public transportation makes me want to die.At least I didn't have to work today, and was able to spend the day watching football with friends and getting pleasantly blotto on beer. It wasn't, say, Fat Tire (like you'd get in Colorado!) but I'd feel kind of like a poser if I were drinking p...