ClimbingSky

Why Baseball, Books, and the Grateful Dead matter

QUOTATIONS

  • FRIDAY FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Einstein on Class

    A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life depend on the labours of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving. I am strongly drawn to the simple life arid… Read more

  • Hardboiled Coffee Shot

    Flack went into his desk again, took out a fifth of bourbon, and poured some into his coffee. He grinned. “Wanna cheer yours up a little?” “No thanks.” I got up, “I’ll keep in touch, Julian.” Flack’s grin disappeared. “Don’t call me Julian. And watch your step. I got enough trouble without having you turn… Read more

  • FRIDAY FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Henri Lefebvre on Capitalism

    [U]p until now ‘progress’ has affected existing social realities only secondarily, modifying them as little as possible, according to the strict dictates of capitalist profitability. The important thing is that human beings are profitable, not that their lives be changed. As far as is possible, capitalism respects the pre-existing shape and contours of people’s lives.… Read more

  • SHORT STORY REVIEW: “As I Lay Dead” by Fletcher Flora

    I have mentioned here before that Noir and Hardboiled fiction are my guilty pleasures. The tough, cynical protagonists, the fast-paced, action oriented plots, the tone, the dialog, and the style all appeal to me in a way that no other fiction really does. Manhunt first appeared in 1952. According to information Here is some information… Read more

  • Hardboiled Coffee Technique

    The coffee maker was almost ready to bubble. I turned the flame low and watched the water rise. It hung a little at the bottom of the glass tube. I turned the flame up just enough to get it over the hump and then turned it low again quickly. I stirred the coffee and covered… Read more

  • FRIDAY FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Thoreau

    If I wished to see a mountain or other scenery under the most favorable auspices, I would go to it in foul weather so as to be there when it cleared up. We are then in the most suitable mood, and nature is most fresh and inspiring. There is no serenity so fair as that… Read more

  • Hardboiled Can of Coffee

    “Feel like breakfast?” he asked. “I could do things to a can of black coffee,” Steve admitted. “All right. But you’ll have to gulp it. Judge Denvir is waiting to get a crack at you, and the longer you keep him waiting, the tougher it’ll be for you.” (Hammett, Dashiell. Nightmare Town: Stories) Read more

  • FRIDAY FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Bill Simmons on Kevin Garnett

    Well, five basketball stars in the past sixty years have been famous for either failing miserably in the clutch or lacking the ability to rise to the occasion: Wilt, Hayes, Malone, Ewing and Garnett. All five were famous for their fall-away/turnaround jumpers and took heat because their fall-aways pulled them out of rebounding position. If… Read more

  • Hardboiled Joe

    When she sat down on the stool next to me she nodded toward the counterman and said, “Shorty’s got a heart of steel, mister. Won’t even trust me for a cup of joe until I get a job. Care to finance me to a few vitamins?” I was too tired to argue the point. “Make… Read more

  • FRIDAY FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Deadheads

    Once, about a decade ago, my daughter Dylan sent me an out-of-the-blue text asking me if I were a Deadhead. I told her at that time that I was not sure since I had only seen the Dead in concert once and The Jerry Garcia Band twice. In my mind, Deadheads were those people who… Read more