Monthly Archives: January 2011


the tarot has spoken: calling all hermits!

I didn’t exactly come to this card via a traditional reading, but it reminded me of a character in a short story of mine who “performs” the major arcana cards.  And it does seem somehow precipitous since I’d been researching the word “recluse” when I happened upon the classic image (from the Waite deck). Also, […]


phony-baloney

From the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary: pho·ny–ba·lo·ney adj \-bə-ˈlō-nē\ Definition of PHONY-BALONEY : phony e Variants of PHONY-BALONEY pho·ny–ba·lo·ney or pho·ney–baloney First Known Use of PHONY-BALONEY: 1978 Synonyms: artificial, backhanded, counterfeit, double, double-dealing, double-faced, fake, feigned, hypocritical, Janus-faced, jive [slang], left-handed,lip, mealy, mealymouthed, Pecksniffian, phony (also phoney), phony-baloney (or phoney-baloney), pretended, two-faced, unctuous Antonyms: artless, candid, genuine, heartfelt, honest, sincere, undesigning, unfeigned From a 1937 issue of American Speech (published by Duke University Press), written by Peter Tamony: Tweet


tax time for hipsters: h&r block commercial appealing to (or mocking) bike culture?

This H&R Block commercial is weird on many levels. The whole bike fetish/lifestyle thing, for one, seems an odd example for enacting a fake-free sales pitch (I’m sure there’s some name for it in advertising), and for the K-mart of tax returns?! I don’t get it. Are they appealing to this small hipster audience – […]


the noble sanitation worker: lionel from pix 11

I think this is a great editorial. Sanitation workers don’t deserve to be Bloomberg’s scape-goat. Here’s an excerpt: “The most important person on the government payroll today bar none is the sanitation worker. He and she are the barrier to disease, epidemics, and incalculable discomfort.” Although the fact that their ploughs have come down my […]