August 25, 2026
Material I’m stashing here for future reference. It’s about death and grief, approached in an elegant way, so indirectly as to be soothing in terrible times.
First from Suetonius, then from Catullus.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Death and dying, Latin, Music, My life | Leave a Comment »
August 25, 2026
The Zippy strip of 8/24:
The answers are: George Costanza and Leonardo da Vinci
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Art, Language and mind, Linguistics in the comics, Memory, Movies and tv | Leave a Comment »
August 23, 2026
The ultimate topic here is my sleep patterns, which I will post about more systematically in a while. Here I’m trying to take some of the burden of background material off that posting by stashing it for easy reference later. Picking an item — the revival by Harvard’s American Repertory Theatre of Ionesco’s play Rhinoceros — that I also view, in desperation, as carrying an urgent message about today’s sociopolitical climate.
It will start with odd everyday routines of no consequence, but will end with contemplating literal dehumanization, staring evil in the face. I’m touchy on the point, having never fully recovered from the shock of seeing the Nazi death camps exposed when I was a child. And understanding that that could happen to me. (No, I don’t think children should be protected from such knowledge. They should be treasured and supported, as I was, but they should also see the dangers clearly, so that they can arm themselves against them.)
But first, the routines. (If you think I’m just a nutter or a pathetic neurotic in need of professional care, fuck off; it’s none of your business. I’m doing stuff that works for me; why should you care?)
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Education, Language and politics, Language and the body, Movies and tv, Music, My life, Play, Plays, Pop culture, Princeton, Sleep, Surrealism, Writing | Leave a Comment »
August 23, 2026
Today’s foodmanteau — the hybrid food’s my very own, composed yesterday (8/22) to be served for the first time today — is
biryanestrone = biryani + minestrone
The elements: (1) from the Hyderabad Dum Biryani in Mountain View CA, lamb keema biryani plus paneer (spicy fried cheese cubes); (2) from the Menlo Park Safeway store, Signature brand minestrone soup.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Language and food, Language and medicine, My life, Portmanteaus, Taste | 1 Comment »
August 23, 2026
From my deodorant history, in my 8/19 posting “Two favorite movies”:
I cut the dosage, found less aggressive deodorants, discovered that sandalwood suits my body chemistry. Most important, I stopped pumping out pheromones like a stag in rut. It got better. Ever since, I’ve been giving off essence of locker room, with (currently) a very light coconut and vanilla deodorant to moderate it some; you can now say fairly that my armpits smell delicious. )
Specifically, Native brand coconut and vanilla deodorant, in a tube that has just come to the end of its life and been replaced by the cucumber and mint flavor. And I have reordered a trio of three flavors — these two plus lavender and rose. They’re all subtle, non-irritant, and long-lasting. I’m a fan.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Death and dying, Language and food, Language and the body, My life, Smell, Taste | Leave a Comment »
August 22, 2026
In conversation with a local friend, whose identity I will conceal because I’m going to say some nice things about them that might embarrass them …
I’m trying to think of ways to tell people that I aim to be outrageous but not threatening. Maybe even admit that I think every organization should have at least one highly visible fag, because we’re so decorative.*
Actually, a fair number of people will find me threatening and contemptible and will wish me ill (a startling number will wish me dead). A hard fact, but the real world.
Defending myself against them takes a good bit of care and real work. I have to figure everybody out. You got weighed in the balance like everyone else I meet — and showed me your character when we first met. You deserve praise (and thanks) for being who you are, and it’s a mark of this character that you now will not understand why I’m thanking you. And you will think, sweetly, that if other people just get to know me, they will like me.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Compliments, Gender and sexuality, Identities, My life, Social interactions, Social life | Leave a Comment »
August 22, 2026
From Ryan Tamares, on a postcard arriving yesterday (8/21) at my place (it was mailed much earlier at Stanford, passed for some reason through San Francisco, and then shunted back down to Palo Alto; the ways of the USPS are sometimes inscrutable), this extraordinary artwork by a Redbubble.com artist using the name UkiyoCities:
“The Scholar’s Path at Stanford”
Yes, Stanford in the Floating World, simultaneously in the California of today and in the Tokyo of more than 200 years ago.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Art, Japanese, Stanford | 3 Comments »
August 22, 2026
My right hip joint is now a metallic wonder, a titanium replacement in 2012 for the joint nature gave me, which had excruciatingly degenerated from osteoarthritis. I love the name titanium: it trips off the tongue, and as a proud gay man and an enthusiast of MND (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) in several of its incarnations, I choose to understand the name as a reference to Titania, Queen of the Fairies — silly faggot, titanium is for ur-deities.
Now to unpack all of this.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Chemistry, Gender and sexuality, Homosexuality, Language and medicine, Language in advertising, Music, My life, Myths, Physics, Play, Plays | 3 Comments »
August 21, 2026
The gratifying increased sharpness of my senses of smell and taste continues to enhance my life (it’s presumably a gift of the increased prednisone dosage). Leading me yesterday to create a stunningly rich-tasting casserole out of simple leftovers from a local Nick the Greek outlet (I don’t actually cook, but instead microwave new dishes — tending towards the soup and stew zone — using leftovers from restaurant take-out). The gyro casserole.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Language and food, My life | Leave a Comment »
August 20, 2026
(Lots about bodily fluids, up close and personal, and the male body, a lot of it in street talk, so inadvisable for kids and the sexually modest)
Another little posting that might — like “Struggling Actor” earlier today — go far. But it starts with recollections of pomanders from my childhood, sparking my interest in getting some for my Avant apartment. Why should I want to do this? (aside from sentimentality), you ask; I will explain. It’s all about the whizz.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Death and dying, Language and food, Language and medicine, Language and plants, Language and the body, Language of sex, My life | Leave a Comment »
