Mickey Z

Cool Observer

Saturday, September 10, 2005

Shocking the curbside audience

Posted by Mickey Z on 09/10 at 07:50 AM

mickey z! slapping a clown isn’t very nice ...

Posted by michele zezima on from my desk 09/10 at 08:16 AM

Sometimes, the clowns like it.

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 09/10 at 08:18 AM

...and speaking of international (lack of) justice (again, off topic, so it goes)--

anyone hear about Yahoo? (See here and here.) With hotmail, gmail, and now yahoo all oily, can anyone name or recommend a socially responsible (or at least benign) free webmail?

Mickey, I posted a story, but to yesterday’s comments section (you were all sleeping peacefully during my mid-morning).

Posted by Keir on from The Hague 09/10 at 09:36 AM

Excellent story, Keir. “You won’t talk so much when you’re lynched.” I guess that’s what they call a truism.

As for socially responsible free webmail, I don’t know...but I will watch here with interest to see what others come up with.

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 09/10 at 09:56 AM

Back in 1994 I lived on Maiden Lane between Broadway and Nassau Street. It came a blizzard that year, a scary thing for this son of the Sunbelt (Cali, Mobilhoma, Texas), never before experienced or even imagined. I sat in front of my seven-foot tall and nine-foot wide windows and looked at the white stuff coming down a whole lot harder than I had ever seen before, blowing up the street almost sideways then blowing down the street sideways.

The bubble-filled 19th-century glass of these windows added to the sense of watching an avant-garde movie that this climatic freakshow created in my unconditioned mind. Of course, the two bottles of Scotch I glugged down while snorting lines off my boy-of-the-day’s cute little butt might have influenced the sense of unreality I had about the whole thing, too.

Since there was heat in the apartment, lots of it in fact necessitating the windows being cracked open, and power was on so I had ice and there was plenty of water for the Scotch, I was enjoying the show. Whatever-his-name-was got a little bored with my fascinated staring, and when I continued to ignore him (been there, done that) for the unprecedented-in-my-life blizzard, he got my attention by pivoting the window all the way open to let in the storm!

Oh...uh...can’t tell the rest of that story here, but it didn’t end in tears and I had no idea how sexy snow can be until then, the end.

Posted by Richard the Curmudgeon on from Memory's halls 09/10 at 01:04 PM

Keir, Yahoo! hasn’t ever been clean but once they got in bed with SBC (formerly known as Southwestern Bell, a baby Bell descendant of AT&T’s breakup) they became defiled. Yeah, they’re my ISP, and they are a bunch of louts. The customer “service” lines are staffed by people calling themselves “Rex” and “John” who have quite noticeable subcontinental accents. Exporting jobs, exploiting labor in other countries...a long corporate tradition.

If anyone out there can point us to a decent free web service, I am interested to know about it too.

Loved your Denton story. Mamaroneck, Denton...you’ve been some WEIRD places. We had some “clever” lads in my high school who formed the Tri-Kappas as a sodality...our principal was African-American, Austin’s schools had been forcibly integrated a few years before, they thoguht he’d be too stupid to catch onto the meaning during the morning announcements of meetings and such-like. Jade, the instigator of this crap, was saying that the first Tri-Kappa meeting would take place at...and the intercom went dead.

The members of the sodality were suspended, two were removed from the school by their parents, and it was all we could talk about for the rest of 1974.

Posted by Richard the Curmudgeon on from Texas 09/10 at 01:17 PM

“Likes: sunsets, rainbows, and anarcho-syndicalism
Dislikes: mean people, traffic, and factory farming”

You are one funny short guy, Mickey. Funny funny funny! BTW, why not change your “self-educated writer/martial artist/vegan” to “writer/martial artist/vegan/continuing autoddidact” and send folks to their dictionaries?

Posted by The Mudge on from on the floor from laughing 09/10 at 01:22 PM

Joe, I have read as little Hemingway as I can manage because I was forced to read “For Who the Hell Cares” or whatever back in high school. Bad stuff. “Devil fly away with thee” might work in Spanish, but it clanks and thunks in English. Follow that up with a compelled tour of “The Old Fart in High C” or whatever and my loathing for Hemingway was cemented. That vibrating day-glo orange hatred in mind, is “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” something I should set my prejudices aside and read?

Fifty-five in a week, eh? I’ll be 46 this approaching Wednesday. Last time I thought about this, I was 32...that was a few weeks ago. Wasn’t it? [ETA the “capcha-word” on this entry, hilariously enough, is “history”!]

Posted by The Mudge on from Texas 09/10 at 01:31 PM

Great stories, Mickey, Keir & Mudge -
James Joyce would be proud of us, today.
It’s nice to learn more about Keir, Keir. By contrast, in my first semester of college, I lived with two black athletes from Bed-Stuy. They treated me with great respect, and we had many good times - though they called me “Archie,” as in the comic book character.

It’s always fascinated me, that white people believe they need to fear blacks and hispanics. I guess that, at bottom, the Third Reich feared the Jews… How is it that nations are always ruled by myopic, ignorant, vicious, greedy cowards - by “looters” who have somehow “risen” to the top?

Posted by joe on from none, today 09/10 at 01:46 PM

PS -
Hi Michele! Nice to meet you!

Posted by joe on from over the hill 09/10 at 01:49 PM

Missed your post, Mudge.
Yes, it’s a great, though depressing, very short story. High school destroyed my interest in a great many wonderful things, too. But, then again, that’s the point of high school, is it not? Turn all of life into a cold, gray, late November day…

One day, I looked around and thought: “What the hell happened, here? I was just young?”
The great Indian sage, Nisargadatta, was asked about a legendary Indian saint, Babaji, who was said to be many thousands of years old. He replied: “No matter how long life is - it is a moment, and a dream.”

Posted by joe on from huh? 09/10 at 02:02 PM

Seems like we should have a b’day bash here next week. Joe from Oregon, The Mudge...anyone else?

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 09/10 at 03:15 PM

Hi Everyone...I have been in a lot of blizzards, hurricanes,and an occasional tornado, but I can’t top Richard’s story of the 1994 snow storm so I won’t even try. I do wish that I could enjoy snow as much as you seem to, Richard. You should move up here. .........Anybody else see this story about the German plane with hurricane aid being sent back because of mad cow fears?http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/09/10/D8CHFISO1.html ..... Keir, did I tell you that I enjoyed your comment about the fact that the protest was “community service” so much that I forwarded it everyone I know, including Noah, himself. Hi Michele and Joe and Mickey.

Posted by rosemarie jackowski on from crossing the line 09/10 at 03:25 PM

The best part of that link, Rosemarie, was the beef jerky ad at the top. Quite a metaphor...or is it an allusion or allegory?

And yes, it seems Richard was heavily into the snow in those days.

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 09/10 at 03:30 PM

“Heavily into snow” sense one or sense two? I intended to offer a morality tale on the evils of self-medication! >tsk<

RMJ, I saw this headline in my newsfeed and thought of you immediately:
Rescuers collect dead, Cheney sounds upbeat
As to moving up there, it was my intention to do that before my birthday, move back to NYC. Horrible almost-a-month-long gout attack, daughter getting pregnant and leaving abusive creep husband, what to do with my deeply beloved dogs, and not enough earnings from the sale of my house in its present condition put “paid” to that, I fear.

Joe, I will gleefully skip the short story because short stories by Hemingway make me need the patch. Tempus does fugit, the image of death in track shoes has crossed my mind more than once.

MZ, I have two words to say to you: Nine two.

Posted by Richard the Curmudgeon on from blessedly cool Central Texas (only 82!) 09/10 at 04:33 PM

Joe: “How is it that nations are always ruled by myopic, ignorant, vicious, greedy cowards - by “looters” who have somehow “risen” to the top?”

Karma.

Posted by The Mudge on from The Vale of Tears 09/10 at 04:38 PM

We’re a link-posting bunch here, so I offer this resource to make it more certain that the links we post are unbreakable and always usable:

http://tinyurl.com/

Long links or those one wants to embed in a long sentence without ruining the sense of it are reduced to manageable size by this means!

Now I sternly school myself to get back to my novel-writing duties, farewell until Monday.

Posted by Richard the Curmudgeon on from Polis Philanthropos 09/10 at 04:48 PM

Okay, I’ll bite: Nine two?

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 09/10 at 04:54 PM

Richard, I went to tinyurl....now you have given me something else I have to learn...It is starting to feel like homework from the old school days. I haven’t figured out yet how to do a hyperlink and I’m trying to figure out gif, and jif, and bitmap stuff. I’m getting too old for all of this. I wasn’t always this dumb. Many years ago I had a ham licence. Even had a good call sign way back then. I was WA2YYU. I wonder if any hams ever visit here, Mickey. Now my brain has stopped functioning and I have to call tech support when my stapler needs reloading.

Posted by rosemarie jackowski on from crossing the line 09/10 at 05:59 PM

Yes, MZ...nine runs scored by the BoSox against the Evil Empire’s paltry two...one scored by the Dope-a-matic Giambi, so it should only count for a half. Heck, Selig can make a tie game legal, why shouldn’t we have half-runs for those of questionable ethics?

Posted by Richard the Curmudgeon on from Yankee-hatin' land 09/10 at 06:24 PM

So I showed the “Go #### yourself Mr. Cheney” video to this old Dutch guy who lives in my building today, and he didn’t even notice the explitives and could only ask “why the hell is your vice president talking about cleaning up debris when there are still bodies to collect?” May seem mundane to us, but he really could not believe it. I had to show it to him again and explain the point of the video--that someone told Cheney to #### himself. Twice. Still, my neighbor simply could not understand why in the world he was talking about debris. Finally I had to explain that, more than likely, some subsidiary of his old (?) company would be paid with tax money to do that kind of work. Then he finally got it, alright.

Same neighbor is constantly telling me that if he were president of the United States for a day, he would immediately dissolve the so-called two-party system and cause there to be a multitude of political parties with different platforms. Vote Willem the botanist from Den Haag in ‘08!

Posted by Keir on from The Hague 09/10 at 06:27 PM

RMJ, I installed a new printer driver last year. I had fantods for hours after the process was over and I still view this printer with suspicion and disfavor. I remember guiltily my not-so-secret sniggers at my mother’s inability to cope with something as simple as a universal remote when I gave one to her in 1992.

Technus fugit too, apparently. Now I NEED to get back to writing, please stop being interesting!

Posted by Richard the Curmudgeon on from Technopeasant, Texas 09/10 at 06:30 PM

Article over at law.com:
http://tinyurl.com/74dmo

Excerpted from it:
“It’s very important to not choose someone who’s largely tabula rasa to confront these issues for the first time, if you’re trying to change the direction of the Supreme Court,” Fein said. “Otherwise, you’re very susceptible to the op-ed pages of the Washington Post and the New York Times and you get someone who is largely going by the prevailing winds, which are not friendly to conservatives.”

Please tell me where the winds are that are *NOT* friendly to conservatives so that I may go and bask in them.

Posted by The Mudge on from A State of Confusion 09/10 at 06:38 PM

>>>Vote Willem the botanist from Den Haag in ‘08!<<<

I’m in!

Posted by Richard the Curmudgeon on from Willem's Party HQ 09/10 at 06:39 PM

Keir, Halliburton had the contract while the water was still rising. The media is ignoring that part of the story.....just like they ignored the 100 Bremmer Orders which prove that the purpose of the war was to enrich corporations. The WMD argument is redundant. Just read the 100 Orders. Some group someplace voted the news story about Iraqi Order 81 as one of the most under-reported news stories of the year, I think.....Richard,talking about old folks, I had a rotary phone, till just a few years ago. The man down the street from me, had a party line phone. The phone company kept after him to get a private line but somehow the law protected party line customers. He was the only one on the line for about 20 years, but got his phone service dirt cheap because it was classified as a party line. I got my first TV with a remote around 1992 and still wouldn’t have a microwave if my daughter had not given one to me. When I was little girl, pizza was not yet invented. Imagine that, NO PIZZA........I have to go and wash my hair now.......later....

Posted by rosemarie jackowski on from crossing the line 09/10 at 06:58 PM

I turned off the game when it was 8-1, so you got me there, Richard.

Keir, Willem’s got my vote.

Rosemarie, did you really ask if any hams come this site?

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 09/10 at 07:00 PM

Mickey, I think I mean the other type of hams because all of you seem so artsy....Like Richard using words like “fantods’. He is giving me an inferiority complex. Am I the only one who had to look that one up?

Posted by rosemarie jackowski on from crossing the line 09/10 at 07:07 PM

Richard comes from a long line of thesauri.

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 09/10 at 07:21 PM

Hey, I’m a ham!

By the way, I’m pretty sure that fantods are minions of the Sith Overlords. Or, that’s how the common folk of Schenectady used to speak of them.

We all sound like a bunch of punch drunk fighters after some long, brutal bouts…

“...I got a one way ticket ta palukaville… It was you, Charlie. It was you.”

Posted by joe on from Oregon 09/10 at 07:39 PM

Joe, some days this site is to the blog world what the senior circuit is to tennis. Or maybe baseball’s Old Timer’s Day?

“You don’t understand. I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let’s face it.”

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 09/10 at 08:15 PM

Oh, Yeah!
“No more cushy jobs upstairs for you, kid. No more favors for you. Get yer hook! You’re down in the hole for a while, with the rest of da bums.”

( But how to reproduce, on paper, an angry Lee J. Cobb? )

What a towering film, eh Mickey?

Posted by joe on from Oregon 09/10 at 09:19 PM

Brilliant film that has endured. I could watch it again right this minute. My only complaints is the focus being on the proverbial corrupt union without much (if anything) said at all about the real bosses and real enemies of the workin class. The best labor film of that era, for me, was “Salt of the Earth.”

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 09/10 at 09:23 PM

I’ve not seen that film, Mickey. Just looked it up on IMDB - it looks great. Also, I think I might have found a link from which to download it. Thanks much, young fella.
- joe

Posted by joe on from Oregon 09/10 at 11:27 PM

Hello all...anyone still awake and online? Doubt it.

I am overindulging after finally getting Internet access back on at home.

Could someone please teach the writers and editors of the NYT’s the meaning of the word anarchy?

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/11/national/nationalspecial/11response.html?hp&ex=1126411200&en=cd7ee70e1622076b&ei=5094&partner=homepage

As it is now 12:40 AM EST, I would like to wish my dad a happy birthday.

He was, at one time, an editor for the aforementioned newspaper. He was a little different than those he worked with then and those who work there now though, in that he most likely would have changed the linked article’s headline to read:

Disarray Marked the Path From Hurricane to CHAOS

Personally, I would have rewritten the entire article, headline and all...but that’s me.

He died 3 and a 1/2 years ago, 6 months after 9/11/01, his 60th and last birthday.

Happy birthday, dad, wherever you may be.

As I am commenting on Mickey’s storytelling post, here’s two links to two parts of my story from 4 years ago:

http://wdthu.blogspot.com/2004/10/9112001-my-story.html

http://wdthu.blogspot.com/2004/10/post-911-my-story-continued.html

Thanks, Mickey, and everyone here on this great site.

And finally, a shout out to all my brothers and sisters in NYC...I am thinking of you all today.

Peace,

James

Posted by James on from Puerto Rico 09/10 at 11:44 PM

Hi James -
I’ve been outside listening to a pretty big bunch of frenzied coyotes, howling and screeching. There’s an energy and wildness in their “mad moments” that just thrills and amazes me…

I’m sorry to hear about your father, James. You seem still much moved by your memories of him. As yet, I’ve only “scanned” your blog links, but I’m looking forward to reading them through.

My father died in 1998.
I had enormous respect for him, and for what he’d accomplished throughout his life, but we were never close, never “friends.” Yet, it’s strange that he’s gone. It will always be strange - almost impossible. Lots of regrets, lots of lost opportunities, lots of very painful memories.

Sometimes, lately, when I visit my sister, I’ll notice - briefly, quickly, his face in hers. I notice, too, his phrases, his postures, his gestures… in me, from me. He’s certainly still here - right down in the cells…
The same is surely true with you, too. You’ll hear him when you laugh or yell or tell a joke - he’ll be peeking out, here and there, for the rest of your life.

You’re a good man, James.

G`Night. I’m going back out to look at the sky, and listen to the critters, and take long, deep breaths of sweet night air…

Posted by joe on from Oregon 09/11 at 01:01 AM

I loved your blog posts, James. Your human-ness is palpable and I second Joe’s motion, re: you being a good man.

My father is still around. A former ATF agent with an amazing life behind him. Today, he is often confused, forgetful, and angry...unable to deal with my mom’s current illness. But I am so grateful that he is around and that I get to see him every time I visit Texas.

James, isn’t it sad that those who posted comments on your blog chose to focus on alternative 9/11 theories instead of the moving personal story you shared? I’m re-visiting something I wrote on 9/11 in a post now and will surely lure in the same type of comments.

Thanks again, James...and Joe...and everyone.

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 09/11 at 07:03 AM

One more thing…

I saw that headline you spoke of, James:
Breakdowns Marked Path From Hurricane to Anarchy

My immediate thought: If only…

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 09/11 at 07:52 AM

I appreciate those words more than either of you could know, Mickey and Joe, thanks.

Joe, man, it’s crazy sometimes how right on you are…

My dad and I weren’t what you would call “friends” either, especially in the later years and that was both of our faults. I think I have become closer to him after his death, if you can believe it, or perhaps more at peace with our relationship when he was alive.

Also along the line of you being right on, Joe: according to almost everyone who know him, I am his spitting image, right down to the walk and speech patterns. It got a little hard to take hearing that perhaps a hundred times at his wake. Then again, I never knew he had so many friends and admirers until his funeral and wake.

Mickey, I don’t know if you know...this site/your writing and interaction is pretty amazing to a lot of people. It has helped me, because sometimes it feels like there is nowhere to go where you can go and find some sanity. Again, I appreciate your kind words and especially your “human-ness.” I can tell that you are someone who really does appreciate the fact that his father is still around.

Anarchy: without a leader or state, societal harmony through voluntary cooperation. Hell yes, if only.

Thanks guys,

James

Posted by James on from Puerto Rico 09/11 at 08:27 AM

One other thing on anarchy...when I searched the NYT site on the word an ad for a pay site came up called questia - online library with a list of books, number two was Goldman’s essays on anarchism, and before the site asked for money I was able to find this poem:

ANARCHISM
WHAT IT REALLY STANDS FOR

ANARCHY.

Ever reviled, accursed, ne’er understood,
Thou art the grisly terror of our age.
“Wreck of all order,” cry the multitude,
“Art thou, and war and murder’s endless rage.”
O, let them cry. To them that ne’er have striven
The truth that lies behind a word to find,
To them the word’s right meaning was not given.
They shall continue blind among the blind.
But thou, O word, so clear, so strong, so pure,
Thou sayest all which I for goal have taken.
I give thee to the future! Thine secure
When each at least unto himself shall waken.
Comes it in sunshine? In the tempest’s thrill?
I cannot tell—but it the earth shall see!
I am an Anarchist! Wherefore I will
Not rule, and also ruled I will not be!

JOHN HENRY MACKAY.

I thought it was pretty good. Looking forward to reading your 9/11 plus four post Mickey and whatever Joe comes up with today.

James

Posted by James on from Puerto Rico 09/11 at 08:51 AM