NAME: Lucy Cousins OCCUPATION: Director, South American Explorers, Buenos Aires LOCATION OF GARAGE SALE: The clubhouse of SAE in Buenos Aires PURPOSE OF SALE: To raise money for our non-profit FAVORITE ALBUM: Buena Vista Social Club FAVORITE NUMBER: 7 FAVORITE BEATLE: John When was your garage sale and what was the weather like? We had the garage sale inside, but the weather was actually really nice! Have you attended garage sales in other countries? What have you noticed about sales in Buenos... READ ON
All the hype about the newly released Amir Bar-Lev documentary--"My Kid Could Paint That"--makes me think of when I was casting "Wiccan types" last year & more than a few mothers kept bragging to me about the past lives of their offspring. Of course, this isn't to cast any shade on Wiccans, or challenge the could-be-a-past-life-reference accounts of families--secular and otherwise--for whom I've babysat. I'm always interested in how families make sense of life & death vis-a-vis the idiosyncrasies of their... READ ON
THE BELL: Big Ben NAMED FOR: Sir Benjamin Hall, the commissioner who played diplomat between the architect and clockmaker; some believe it was named after Ben Claunt, noted boxer WHERE IT RESIDES: The Clock Tower, Palace of... READ ON
Jonathan Stephens, designer and CEO of TIMEBANDITS Watches, talks about his art, his cosmology, and his X-Files days. Last week all my posts were about bandits. What do you like about the idea of bandits as part of your brand? I like the idea of bandits in TIMEBANDITS because it represents "one who is Superior to Time," and it means that you are a bandit of time--you have the ability to control your own time in your own... READ ON
Pearl Hart (1871-1956*), aka The Lady Bandit of Arizona, acquired her legend as the last bandit to rob a stagecoach (though she wasn't--Ben Kuhl was), the only woman ever caught robbing one (also not true, there was Jane Kirkham), and maybe the only person in history to attempt suicide by ingesting talcum powder (this I can't refute). Though Pearl was raised in a well-off, conservative Canadian family, she had a weakness for bad boys and at seventeen became the spunky appendage to an abusive gambler and... READ ON
Hamburglar, one of Ronald McDonald's original McDonaldland posse, was first voiced by Howard Morris, and thereafter played in commercials alternately by Frankie Delfino and Gaetano Vicini, aka Tom Vicini (also a stunt double who paints religious murals--the one pictured is a piece he co-created for a Milwaukee church in 1986). There have been complaints that an icon like Hamburglar isn't positive for kids, but he's been infantilized over the years so that his penchant is, I suppose, forgivable; however,... READ ON
I suppose you can't really fault Norman Mailer for being seduced by Jack Henry Abbott. After all, he had already courted Gary Gilmore (complete aside--how wild was it when Mailer & his son appeared on Gilmore Girls?!), who had been acquainted with Abbott in prison. And then of course there's Mailer's whole romance/own problem with violence (i.e. the stabbing-his-wife-incident in 1960--she didn't press charges, but she did eventually publish a book about it). Their correspondence deepened, and Mailer... READ ON
Even before he was wanted in connection with the murders of over 100 people, Koose Muniswamy Veerappan was a notorious poacher and sandalwood smuggler. Things really got interesting on July 30, 2000, when he kidnapped "the John Wayne of Bollywood"--Rajkumar--after the beloved actor had thrown a housewarming party (at the behest of his astrologer, to coincide with the usually beneficent new moon). The Kannada star was generally tight-lipped about the ordeal, but a New York Times Magazine piece of 2004 (the... READ ON
Lampião (1898-1938), born Virgulino Ferreira da Silva, was a bandit considered a Robin Hood of Northeast Brazil by his apologists (though isn't the job of all apologists to liken their bad boys to Robin Hoods?). His life of crime commenced when his father was murdered in a 1919 police raid, and thereafter he could be found trampling through the Brazilian badlands with his band of cancageiros. His targets were the macacos (monkeys, aka the police), but soon generally extended to anyone he pleased.... READ ON
Some friends of mine are going to be collapsing their garage soon; that'll be the first stage in a major renovation on the house they've lived in for ten years. They have a contractor on board, but much of it will be DIY. They also know that to complete the project, they'll probably have to temporarily move out (like when my family lived in the RV park when we renovated!). Just hearing about it, renovating one's own home seems like a giant commitment--maybe not the Oregon Trail, but perhaps more like... READ ON
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Fatherly Advice
5 Questions: Nervous "Rex"
How Many Vice Presidents Can You Name in 10 Minutes?
On Scooby Doo, Shaggy's real name is Norville Rogers.
