brainsplotch

This is my last post of the year in what has been a slow year on the Brainsplotch blog. This is the fewest number of posts I've written since I started the blog in 2008. I have to admit that most of my blogging energy has been spent on my other blog, Treasures from the Spartan Attic . With the MSU football team in the Rose Bowl, that blog has been more enjoyable to write to be quite honest. On a personal front, we just "survived" the worst ice storm I've ever seen in these parts. Our house was without power for almost four days, but we had it easy compared to some people I know. A few of my local friends had their power restored as late as yesterday. As the expression goes, "first world problems." Needless to say, it made for an interesting Christmas, as we celebrated the holiday in a stranger's house. We were lucky in that my in-laws (who also lost power) were able to move us all into a house in their neighborhood that still had power, and it just ...

I can't believe I haven't posted in here since October 28. Has it really been almost two months since Lou Reed died and I wrote my little salute? I was on vacation from November 22 through December 3. We went to the the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida and it was the first time I'd ever been there. I'd always had a hard time imagining what Disney World looked like, and was quite astounded by its immense size when I finally got there. For those who don't know this, Walt Disney World occupies 25,000 acres outside Orlando, Florida. It's land owned by Disney, and is essentially its own "Vatican City." It may as well be its own independent nation state. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the experience. For one thing, I've never been to a place that operates with such seemingly effortless precision and efficiency. It's quite astounding. (I had a friend describe it quite succinctly as "benevolent fascism"). Yes, there's ...

The king of cool, Lou Reed (far left) with the Velvet Underground (and Nico) I don't know how much time I'll have to write tonight, but I wanted to get some thoughts in about Lou Reed, who is probably up in that great gig in the sky jamming with his fellow departed Velvet Underground bandmate Sterling Morrison. I'll just write extemporaneously, so bear with me. I'm sure this won't be nearly as eloquent as the many salutes and tributes I have already read in the two days, but I'll do my best. I know that I'd heard Lou Reed had a liver transplant and was probably not in the greatest health, but I was still shocked to learn, early yesterday afternoon, of his death. How fitting, and eerie, that he would die on the day of the week that he immortalized in song. I remember the exact date that I first time I heard the Velvet Underground. (I know that I had already heard Lou Reed via "Walk on the Wild Side").  It was Friday, November 7, 1986 and ...

The Tigers evened the ALCS at two games apiece last night. After another heartbreaking loss on Monday afternoon, Detroit came back to win last night in a game that wasn't quite as stressful as the previous three games in the series. Now, a word about the FOX broadcast crew of Joe Buck and Tim McCarver. I can't listen to those guys. Joe Buck is a droning windbag, and McCarver isn't much better. On Monday, I muted my television and turned on the radio so I could listen to the Tigers' broadcast team of Dan Dickerson and Jim Price. Even though the radio broadcast didn't sync with the TV--the television broadcast was about five seconds or so behind the radio--it made for a much more pleasant experience. Listening to Dan and Jim was like listening in to a conversation between two old friends you've known for many years, and what makes it even better is that you know they're rooting for your team.  Joe Buck and Tim McCarver, on the other hand, are like blust...

I'm still not over it. Usually, my angst and upset over sports losses is reserved for Michigan State football or basketball, but this Detroit Tigers loss to Boston hurts almost as much as any setback the Spartans have had. I'm still trying to absorb the fact that the Tigers blew a 5-1 lead with two outs in the eight inning and lost 6-5 to the Red Sox, in the process completely wasting a brilliant Max Scherzer pitching performance. As great as Max was on the mound, the bottom of the eighth was a terrible nightmare from the deepest recesses of baseball Hell. I was so despondent and angry that I couldn't sleep until well after 1 o'clock AM, and whatever sleep I got was of the fitful variety. I know to some of you, this may sound completely ludicrous, but what can I say? I take this sports stuff pretty seriously sometimes. (Okay, maybe not quite as seriously as the mess our country is currently in--but damned close). I can barely listen to the replay of the David Or...

I ran my second ever 5K this past Sunday: the MSU Federal Credit Union Dinosaur Dash on the Michigan State University campus. The bad news is I didn't run it in under 30 minutes like I wanted, but the good news is I was nine seconds faster than I was at Ele's Race back in July, and the Dino Dash course was more challenging than Ele's Race. I might have also run a little faster if I HADN'T run in the "over 30 minute" race and found myself having to pass walkers for the first half mile. Provided I can continue to at least run at my current pace, if not improve somewhat by next year, I think I'll run in the "under 30" minute race next year, so that I can at least give myself a little more room to move. All the jackrabbits will be far ahead of me, and I won't have to negotiate my way through a huge crowd. Still, I have to be realistic: I'm never going to be a speed demon, but I do think a sub-30 minute 5k is doable. That'll give me a ...

Let me begin by mentioning how utterly embarrassed I am to be an American right now. Our Congress is a three-ring circus, and I'm disgusted with how our elected officials are holding American citizens hostage while they engage in their pissing match. I just read this great quote from Bill Maher: "What could be more reasonable than losing an election by 5 million votes and then demanding the President to govern as they would, or else shut the government down and not pay our bills?" Well said, Mr. Maher. What credibility does the United States have in trying to get other nations like Iran and Afghanistan to embrace our form of democracy if we can't even take care of our own backyard? *** I was just thinking of how much I miss real record stores: places like Tower Records, WhereHouse Records, even Harmony House. Yes, I'm mentioning the old chain record stores, but they have become such a thing of the past that I feel intensely nostalgic about them. As I k...

The last episode of Breaking Bad was tonight, and it was a thoroughly satisfying end to a great television show. That's all I will say, because I don't want to give away any spoilers, though I'm sure my blog is the last place anyone would go to for Breaking Bad information. Now I'm watching the post-show wrap-up, Talking Bad, and it's touching to hear Jonathan Banks saying that in his 46 years of acting, this is the best experience he's ever had, or "as good as it gets" in his words. Gearing up for my second 5K next Sunday (October 6) on the Michigan State campus. I'm happy to say that the shin splints are a thing of the past and I'm feeling pretty good, or as well as my 45 year-old body ever feels when running. My goal for this 5K (the Dino Dash) is to at the very least best my time from Ele's Race. More than that, though, I really want to crack the 30 minute mark. For an experienced or good runner, that wouldn't be a problem. I...

Brief snippets of my life recently, in lieu of an actual detailed, long post. (Ed: This post actually ended up considerably longer than I expected). Finished reading, and thoroughly enjoyed,  Detroit Rock City . I've been working on a blog post about it, but obviously it hasn't yet seen the light of day. *** I'm still running, and am happy to report that I'm slowly but steadily recovering from my nagging shin splints in my left leg. Sunday morning, I ran 32 minutes (with no walking breaks), which I hadn't done since the Ele's Race 5K. That's a step in the right direction. *** College football starts in less than a week! And that means my favorite season (Fall) will also soon be here. Leaves turning color, cooler weather, Halloween. It just doesn't get much better than that. The only aspect of Fall that I dislike is raking leaves. We have several large trees in and around our yard, so leaf raking tends to be an ongoing battle from early October ...

"Goodfellas" is one of my all-time favorite movies. Heck, it may be my number one favorite movie. Last night, it made an appearance in its uncut glory on the cable station, Encore. I caught about the last 2/3 of it, and I have to say it's a movie I never tire of seeing. I suppose part, if not most, of its appeal is that the gangster life is a side of life I will NEVER see and, quite frankly, hope to never see. Still, it's extremely fun to live vicariously through a gangster, and imagine what that existence might be like. Mainly, though, "Goodfellas" is just a hell of a great movie with brilliant acting, glorious direction from Martin Scorsese, and some of the best dialogue ever written for film. Just for kicks, I compiled a few lessons learned from my 30th (give or take) viewing of “Goodfellas”: 1.        Don’t “bust a guy’s balls” asking for money you think is owed you. You will probably end up dead. ...

I know all two or three of my readers are dying to hear the news. I DID successfully run Ele's Race on Sunday--my first ever organized "competitive" race ever. (The only one I was competing with was myself, of course). Despite my shin situation (shin splints? Stress fracture? I'm not sure what's going on down there, but it's been annoying), I soldiered through the race and actually managed a personal best with a (not very) blazing time of 31:19. I can't help but wonder if my time would have been better if I wasn't running on one good leg, but it's not worth fretting about. I completed the race and I'm very happy about that.

Yet another boring running update: Still nursing the shin splints, or whatever it is, in my left shin. It seems better than it was last week, but still annoying. I'm gonna gut it out and run on it Sunday in Ele's Race. As it is, I haven't run since Sunday the 21st, and am in withdrawal.  I just don't want to risk aggravating the injury before Ele's Race. Anyway, not running this week has left me feeling a general sense of malaise. ******************************************************************************** I'm also finally about to finish Detroit Rock City . I'll try and give an update on that soon.

I'm still running, and have successfully completed the Couch to 5K program. I've run about a half-dozen (give or take) 5 kilometer distances in my weekly workouts. I've also take the first big plunge: I signed up for my first official 5K. It's Ele's Race (which benefits Ele's Place) and takes place on July 28. For more information about Ele's Place and they great work they do, click here: Ele's Place Right now, I'm nursing some nagging pain in my left shin/calf, so I think I better take it easy until the 28th. Today, I put in a 3.17 mile run, and the calf is bugging me and I find myself hobbling around this afternoon. If I chill for the next week, maybe making one short little run in the middle of the week, I hope to be fine for this 5k. It does seem that taking up running at age 45, I seem to be constantly nursing one little ache and pain or other. (I don't want to discourage anyone from taking up running, though. It is a wonderful act...

I'm currently reading this great oral history of rock music in Detroit from the mid-'60s until the first decade of the aughts. If you're at all interested in the MC5, The Stooges, Bob Seger, Mitch Ryder, Alice Cooper, Ted [renowned asshole] Nugent (et al.), then definitely do yourself a favor and check out this fine book. The full title is Detroit Rock City: the Uncensored History of Five Decades of Rock 'n' Roll in America's Loudest City , by Steve Miller. (No, not the "Take the money and run" Steve Miller. This is Michigan journalist Steve Miller who was also in the Lansing punk band The Fix). Right now, I'm a little beyond the early seventies and the flame out of the MC5 and The Stooges, and am reading about lesser-known bands such as Destroy All Monsters (Ron Asheton played with them) and Fred "Sonic" Smith's post-MC5 band, Sonic's Rendezvous Band. Reading about these groups has inspired me to check out some clips on You...

Before I talk about my new-found running program, I want to let all my cyber-friends and cyber-readers (all three or four of you) know that we're bouncing back from Shadow's death. The first few days were tough, but we're getting back to normal. I've even warned my wife that I may get the itch to get another cat. (Not immediately, but maybe in another year or so. We'll see). I still worry about our other cat, Stella. Shadow was her friend, and she spends most of her time in our basement. She's petrified of our poodle, and slightly less frightened of our two sons. But I suppose that it just her personality. She's a solitary creature and as close to autistic as a cat can get. At least she has free reign of the basement, since the dog doesn't venture down there. ********************************************************************************* As I mentioned in a previous post, I've ventured into the world of running. In my case, calling it ...

Shadow sitting in a window of my old apartment, summer 1995. One of his favorite places to cool off on a warm night. If someone had told me, eighteen years (or more) ago, that I’d be writing an obituary for a cat, I’d have laughed. But here it is…and I’ve been practically crying my eyes out while writing this. Shadow's health had been declining for several months, but took a precipitous dip in the last few days. He was a mere shell of his former self and was clearly dying, probably of cancer. We had him euthanized late yesterday afternoon. Shadow entered my life in the summer of 1995, when I—as a reluctant pet owner—took him in at my mother’s suggestion. My mom had a friend who desperately needed to find this nine month-old cat a home. His first two situations had not worked out for a variety of reasons, and he was in a precarious predicament. I couldn’t bear the thought of this cat having to be placed at in a shelter, so I took him in. As I said, ...

I hope everyone takes a moment during his or her day off to think about or thank those who gave their lives for our country. The United States has had many wars (perhaps too many), some of them have been just causes and others have been folly. Let's all give our heartfelt gratitude for all who have, in the words of Lincoln, given "the last full measure of devotion." Everyone who has served and died for the United States deserves our respect, regardless of what conflict they were engaged in, and regardless of our own personal feelings towards the justifiability of the conflict. It's also appropriate on Memorial Day to remember all of our friends and family who are no longer with us, whether or not these people were veterans. Once again, I apologize for being so negligent with this blog. I do intend on eventually publishing some "real" posts. For example, with the recent death of Ray Manzarek, I'm currently working on a Doors-related post--sort of  ...

Things I think about when I'm taking a walk: What possesses someone to want to be president of the United States? Certainly has to be someone with a "type A" personality. Someone who has an ego the size of Washington, D.C.: after all, if you run for president, you have to believe that you have what it takes to make a mark on history, and are the best person in America to be leader of the free world. Shrinking violets need not apply for job of U.S. president. I couldn't be president. Don't have the personality for it (and certainly don't have the money to run, anyway). I'm most definitely not a type A personality, closer to a type C, (whatever that may be--I just made it up). Plus, the idea of half of the country hating my guts is not so appealing. Think about it, roughly 100-150 million people probably don't care for you. Of that number, maybe 10 million wouldn't mind seeing you dead. That sounds like a pretty horrible existence. Just the thoug...

This is an experiment. I always complain that I don't have enough time, or any time, to write in this Brainsplotch blog. Today (4-17-2013) I've decided to sort of "live blog" throughout the day, and publish it when I finish late this afternoon. The end result may be a jumble of various thoughts. (Naturally, as is often the case, my attempt to get this off at the end of the day was a complete failure. I'm coming back to this blog post four days after I originally started it). *** I'm a few days late, but April 15 marked the 30th anniversary of the near perfect game Milt Wilcox of the Detroit Tigers had against the Chicago White Sox at Comiskey Park back in '83. To this day, I have not forgotten watching that game with my dad. It was a Friday evening contest, and we both were on pins and needles as the journeyman Wilcox closed in on a remarkable baseball milestone. After setting down the first 26 Sox batters with precision, Wilcox faced pinch hitt...

Hi everyone, sorry that I've not been here in awhile. I've been spending most of my time on my MSU sports-related blog, the ridiculously titled "Treasures from the Spartan Attic." It's a little late--in fact I really should be getting to bed--but thought I'd take some time in these wee hours of Saturday morning to jot in here. Went to see Life of Pi tonight. It was a good movie. Sort of Castaway goes to India with a ferocious Bengal tiger replacing "Wilson" the volleyball. Okay, that's severely underselling the movie, but go out and see the movie and let me know if you agree.

I see that by Edgar Winter review has had 647 views...but no comments. Come on folks, what do you think? If you think it's crap, let me know. I'm a big boy, I can take it! If you have any feelings about They Only Come Out at Night , let me know about that, too. In fact, I'm offering up this post as an open invitation for you to let me know what you like on this blog and what you don't like. Apparently, there are some people out there who actually look at it once ain awhile. If you dig my local history stuff, maybe I will get off my butt and write more of that. If you want to read more Bargain Bin Finds, I will oblige. Here's your chance to let me know what you think. Thanks in advance.

I like football, as you may have gathered from reading this blog. I know it's violent and excessively macho, chockful of ridiculously overused war cliches--but I love it anyway. Having said that, I'm already sick of Super Bowl coverage, and the game hasn't even started. The wall-to-wall analysis and coverage of this game has reached insane proportions. It's probably been this way for several years, but I have really noticed it this year. Every day and every hour for the last two weeks, ESPN, NFL Network, Fox Sports and just about every other television outlet has had some kind of Super Bowl show. Who the hell watches all of this? There must be an audience for it, or else they'd have some other programming. Right?...Right?!? I long for the good old pre-cable TV, pre-internet days when the pre-game hype consisted of an hour-long show immediately preceding the game--and that was it. Those days are long gone and will probably never return. Okay, the game started finally...

Hi folks. I am coming to you from the Michigan Chess Association's youth tournament at the MSU Union. It's an all day affair and it will probably go until late afternoon. I've become sort of an old pro with these all day tourneys, as I've been through several of them and know what to expect from the parents' perspective: bring lots of toys to occupy you throughout the day, which in my case means a good book, my Nook, my writing journal (which zI have neglected for far too long) and my phone. My son has his laptop and phone. As you can see, we're not hurting for electronic toys to keep us busy during the down time between matches (and to keep me busy in the quiet time when the kids are upstairs playing their matches). The way these tournaments work is as follows: all of the kids and parents establish a "base camp" in the basement of the Union. Each community has a designated area of the basement to camp out. I was thrown off this morning because the...

Hello everyone and welcome to 2013. I hope your new year is going well so far. I am writing this on my/our new Nook tablet. It's quite a nifty device and the kids are not allowed to touch it. We finally packed up the Christmas decorations and took the tree down. As I was wrapping the tree in a tarp, shoving it in the back of the van, and finally disposing of it at the township-sponsered Christmas tree drop-off, I was struck by how odd the whole Christmas tree tradition is. We cut down a perfectly good tree, place a lot of shiny decorative objects on it in our homes and allow it to slowly die (though we keep it on "life-support " by watering it). When our holiday is over, and the tree is as good as dead, we remove the decorative objects and unceremoniously dump the tree corpse in a huge pile of other tree corpses. December and January are months of massive coniferous genocide. *** I'm taking a break from this post for now, but will try and get back to it later....