{"id":5133,"date":"2010-03-22T05:28:00","date_gmt":"2010-03-22T09:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/?p=5133"},"modified":"2010-03-22T05:35:22","modified_gmt":"2010-03-22T09:35:22","slug":"what-it-is-32210","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/what-it-is-32210","title":{"rendered":"What It Is: 3\/22\/10"},"content":{"rendered":"

What I’m reading:<\/em> Finished The Ask<\/a>\"\", read West Coast Blues<\/a>\"\", and started Schulz and Peanuts<\/a>\"\", David Michaelis’ biography of Charles Schulz, and The Night of the Gun<\/a>\"\", David Carr’s memoir of his, um, very bad years. I didn’t mean to have so many books going on at once, but we got hit with a blackout on Saturday night and I decided to read on the Kindle app on my iPhone for a bit. Since the Schulz book isn’t available on the Kindle, I thought I’d start on Carr’s book. Three chapters later, I’m enjoying it immensely. Still, I’d like to read the Schulz book and segue from that into the new memoir by Jules Feiffer, Backing Into Forward<\/a>\"\" (for which Carr wrote a really nice review<\/a> in the NYTimes<\/em> this weekend). I guess I’ll stick with the Carr book, since I’m traveling next weekend and don’t want to carry around the Schulz hardcover.<\/p>\n

What I’m listening to:<\/em> Joe Jackson Live 1980-1986<\/a>\"\", and Born To Run<\/a>\"\", the latter because it was a gorgeous, sunny weekend in NJ and what else are you supposed to listen to when you’re out driving? It’s in the state constitution fer goshsakes!<\/p>\n

What I’m watching:<\/em> A little TV (Parks & Rec, 30 Rock, The Ricky Gervais Show,<\/em> the new South Park<\/em>), but the only movie was a take-the-bad\/weird-with-the-good capitulation to one of Amy’s oddball requests: My Big Fat Greek Wedding<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What I’m drinking:<\/em> Death’s Door gin & Q-Tonic, and Domaine de L’Hortus grande cuvee 2007.<\/p>\n

What Rufus & Otis are up to:<\/em> Enjoying the warm weather with long walks. Well, Otis isn’t enjoying them as much as Ru is, because he has a bit of fur to shed, and has been panting by the last third of a 1.5-mile meander.<\/p>\n

Where I’m going:<\/em> St. Louis, for Passover with my family.<\/p>\n

What I’m happy about:<\/em> Assembling a new dining room table (yes, it was Ikea, but it seems sturdy as heck) and getting some new chairs, to replace the cheap-ass set I bought in the winter of 2002.<\/p>\n

What I’m sad about:<\/em> My NCAA brackets falling apart by the end of the weekend. Despite the fact that I watch zero college hoops and filled them out half an hour before the first game, I’d managed to pick a bunch of the upsets and was actually doing just great on ESPN’s Tournament Challenge through Saturday.<\/p>\n

What I’m worried about:<\/em> Getting the April issue out by the end of the week.<\/p>\n

What I’m pondering:<\/em> The weak link on Born To Run<\/em>. It’s either She’s the One<\/em> (a somewhat generic rocker to follow the title track?) or Meeting Across the River<\/em>, which gets extra demerits for that awful David Sanborn horn. But Meeting<\/em> does segue into Jungleland<\/em> better than any other song on the album would, and She’s the One<\/em> does rock pretty hard, albeit eh. It’s pretty amazing to think that one album contains Thunder Road, 10th Avenue Freeze-Out, Night, Backstreets, Born To Run<\/em> and Jungleland<\/em>. And that the artist still managed to make songs like Sprit in the Night, Blinded By the Light, Rosalita, NYC Serenade, Incident on 57h St., Badlands, Prove It All Night, The River,<\/em> etc.. And don’t let ’em take me to the Cadillac Ranch<\/em> . . .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What I’m reading: Finished The Ask, read West Coast Blues, and started Schulz and Peanuts, David Michaelis’ biography of Charles Schulz, and The Night of the Gun, David Carr’s memoir of his, um, very bad years. I didn’t mean to have so many books going on at once, but we got hit with a blackout … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “What It Is: 3\/22\/10”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26,4],"tags":[192,994,992,993],"class_list":["post-5133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comics","category-literature","tag-bruce-springsteen","tag-charles-schulz","tag-david-carr","tag-jules-feiffer"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-1kN","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1857,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/what-it-is","url_meta":{"origin":5133,"position":0},"title":"What it is","author":"Gil","date":"January 21, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"What I'm reading: John Crowley's The Solitudes (first in his 4-book Aegypt cycle) and Osamu Tezuka's Buddha series What I'm listening to: Angela McCluskey's The Things We Do What I'm watching: the first season of The Wire What I'm drinking: Miller's gin What I'm happy about: the Giants reached the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Adventures in Gin"","block_context":{"text":"Adventures in Gin","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/adventures-in-gin"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=virtualmemories-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1585679860","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1694,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/yucky-promotions","url_meta":{"origin":5133,"position":1},"title":"Yucky promotions","author":"Gil","date":"October 16, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I think Wal-Mart's \"Hot Release Tuesday\" may be the grossest name ever for a promotion, but today actually sees a couple of releases that I'm enthused about: War and Peace - A new Tolstoy translation by Pevear & Volokhonsky! This pair jump-started the wave of new translations of the Russians\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "literature"","block_context":{"text":"literature","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/literature"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=virtualmemories-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0307266931","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8891,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-125-signal-boost","url_meta":{"origin":5133,"position":2},"title":"Episode 125 – Signal Boost","author":"Gil","date":"July 14, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show #125: Dan Perkins (Tom Tomorrow) - Signal Boost \"This Kickstarter, this is me, having seen my incredibly negative narrative and hopeless sense of the future just blasted out of the water. I feel like this week has changed my life.\" Dan Perkins (better known as Tom Tomorrow)\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/art"},"img":{"alt_text":"25yearsbluesmall-630","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/25yearsbluesmall-630-620x465.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/25yearsbluesmall-630-620x465.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/25yearsbluesmall-630-620x465.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10200,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-205-patrick-mcdonnell","url_meta":{"origin":5133,"position":3},"title":"Episode 205 – Patrick McDonnell","author":"Gil","date":"February 12, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 205: Patrick McDonnell \"Comics are like life. You just grow with them.\" Mutts creator Patrick McDonnell joins the show to talk about getting a late start on his career as a daily strip cartoonist, how Mutts has changed in its 23 years, the evolution of his interest\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Adventures in Rufus and\/or Otis"","block_context":{"text":"Adventures in Rufus and\/or Otis","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/adventures-in-rufus-and-or-otis"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/16464443_1113894598737166_526575312750772224_n-620x620.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/16464443_1113894598737166_526575312750772224_n-620x620.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/16464443_1113894598737166_526575312750772224_n-620x620.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12687,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-352-robb-armstrong","url_meta":{"origin":5133,"position":4},"title":"Episode 352 – Robb Armstrong","author":"Gil","date":"December 1, 2019","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 352: Robb Armstrong \u201cThese marks that the artist makes are our signature, our footprint. They have to stay.\u201d At Cartoon Crossroads Columbus - CXC, cartoonist Robb Armstrong joins the show to talk about celebrating 30 years of his nationally syndicated comic strip, JumpStart. We get into how\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/art"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/jumpstartstrip.png?fit=1200%2C369&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/jumpstartstrip.png?fit=1200%2C369&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/jumpstartstrip.png?fit=1200%2C369&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/jumpstartstrip.png?fit=1200%2C369&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/jumpstartstrip.png?fit=1200%2C369&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9016,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-133-what-if-we-give-it-away","url_meta":{"origin":5133,"position":5},"title":"Episode 133 – What If We Give It Away?","author":"Gil","date":"September 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show #133: Stona Fitch\/Rory Flynn - What If We Give It Away? \"One of my favorite things is to take a character, figure out what's most important to them, and then take it away and see what they do.\" Stona Fitch joins the show to talk about balancing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Business"","block_context":{"text":"Big Business","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/big-business"},"img":{"alt_text":"ThirdRail_cover_277x419","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/ThirdRail_cover_277x419.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5133"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5135,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5133\/revisions\/5135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}