A Boy & His Blog

Yes, it's been another perfectly gorgeous day here. The whole bloomin' week's been a nice one, in fact. OK, so temperatures over 90° and humidity well in excess of 100% (I swear!) made for some memorably sticky moments a few days ago, but you can't have everything. Still, the a/c's humming and the pool's open for business, so even a touch of tropical rain forest isn't the pain it might otherwise be.

Anyway, the weather's been such that I keep opting for leisure time outdoors, rather than time spent slaving over a hot keyboard, blogging. Problem is, you all keep pelting me with one moving testimonial after another, extolling the manifold benefits of A Boy & His Blog, and pleading for more.

So, after a few weeks of benign neglect of my blog, the guilt kicks in. I mean, you think I'm unmoved to read of the countless crutches discarded after reading only one or two posts of A Boy & His Blog? Or that I can fail to appreciate that A Boy & His Blog has proven safe and effective at warding off spontaneous combustion? Hardly. Yours Truly is humbled to be reminded that he renders an invaluable public service, and once again vows to apply himself more diligently to the task of blogging his heart out for you.

Before A Boy & His Blog © Corbis

After A Boy & His Blog © Corbis

a blog by any other name

When speaking of our friend Bert Scholtes last time, it slipped my mind to answer a question he posed, one which I figured might be worth a quick mention here. The question is this: Where the heck did the name A Boy & His Blog come from, and what in blazes does it mean?

The answer, such as it is, is twofold. First, the term "a boy and his dog" (as opposed to "blog") is sometimes used to denote trite, hackneyed fiction of a grossly sentimental nature. You know, the kind of work that's acceptable in a fifth-grade English assignment, but which, if perpetrated a few years later, tends to mark one as either an absurdly inept writer, or someone with a burning desire to be immortalized in the pages of Reader's Digest. The term can sometimes still be heard bouncing around in my head from school days of yore, and it struck me as a not wholly inappropriate name for the dubious wordsmithing that goes on here.

The second, and more common, association with the phrase "a boy and his dog" is the ultra-low-budget, engagingly ramshackle 1975 cult film "A Boy and His Dog," based on Harlan Ellison's equally cult-classic novella of the same name. Guaranteed fun, the movie is an ideal companion to a six-pack and a friend or two. The book, on the other hand, does what books do best: it offers endless possibilities for a lively solo adventure of the mind. Either way, you can't lose. (An aside: among other things, the flick was an ominous portent of Don Johnson's "acting" yet to come.)

Anyway, as you've doubtless worked out by now, the name for the bloggish monstrosity you're presently reading was chosen largely in homage to a beloved book and movie..."blog" rhyming with, and in this case, suggesting, "dog," see??? Also, as it happened, the names Das Kapital, The Chicago Manual of Style, and The Diary of Anne Frank had all been taken.

wash day haiku quartet

So there I was last night, minding my own business, somewhere between the spin cycle and transferring a soggy mass from washer to dryer―when who do you suppose saunters up? Why, none other than the Laundry Haiku Muse. (To paraphrase Lycus from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, she's a new muse, but a hard worker.)

To be fair, I'm not sure I quite caught what she was saying, but it sounded something like this:

haiku one

To gather, to cleanse;

The swollen hamper taunts. But

Why not tomorrow?

haiku two

The coins, implanted, fall.

Clothes feed the maw; the lid drops.

Dirt, despair. Submit.

haiku three

Garments soar...dive...soar...

Writhing in High/Cotton hell.

Did I put in Bounce^®?

haiku four

Twin, bereft of twin.

Universe rent, the gods grieve.

Another sock lost.

Then there's the case of the Changing-the-Oil-in-the-Car Haiku Muse―but that's another story.

closing tidbits

[And just what are bits of tid, anyway???]

Well, today, as usual, I've been flying by the seat of my pants, blogging-wise. That means I haven't yet touched on a too-short visit with Judy to the arboretum/Japanese garden, where the sensory overload was indescribably beautiful. Neither did I get around to the film-/DVD-fest that included "A Mighty Wind," "Best in Show," a repeat viewing of "This Is Spinal Tap," "Hearts of Darkness," and "Defending Your Life." For that matter, I haven't recapped any recent reading...but at this point it seems best to save that for another day.

And with that, it's time to sign off for now. Until next time, here's wishing everyone happy surfing, fruitful blogging―and good luck in that little matter of "real life," too. Cheers, all.

posted 8:41 P.M.

A Spiffy Knickers/Nifty Britches/Fancy Pantaloons Co-Production