Christmas card from a hooker in Minneapolis

Last month, Tom Waits released a new 3-disc collection entitled Orphans. I haven't heard it yet, but I believe I plan to make it my own. Listed below are some reviews that I've read of the album and they basically make me want to jump in feet-first. Thanks to DMK for pointing out that on this album Tom does a rendition of Disney's "Heigh Ho." If that doesn't have potential for multi-layered oh-so-wrongitude and oh-so-rightitude, I don't know what does.

Reviews of Orphans:
Boston Globe
Chicago Tribune
Harp
New York Times
Rolling Stone
South Coast Today

Harp's December 2006 Tom Waits article/interview

One of my favorite old stories of Tom's is listed at the very end of this
random yarn-spinning from Tom back in 1993. Here's to growing stronger and stranger every day.

In a deep and dark December

Things I've learned this week:
1. Sometimes people don't look to see where they're going when they are driving in reverse.
2. Small, cute little cars are no match for Escalades, even in low-speed collisions.
3. Never underestimate people's ability to be inconsiderate. Especially around the holidays.
5. Restaurant parking lots are private property and are therefor not subject to police enforcement of the rules of the road.
6.a. Police patrol cars have hard (not cushioned) backseats.
6.b. If you see someone you know in the backseat of a patrol car, don't necessarily assume that he or she is there for misbehavior. He or she might just be getting a ride home because his or her only means of transport just got smashed into indrivability.

Ungallantly

A 12/14/06 article from George Will re: 2008 presidential elections. Not that I find the content and its direct meaning irrelevant (because it is relevant) but I also find a well-crystalized description of a situation that had ruffled my feathers a while back. Anyway, read on.
Four reasons Obama should run for president in '08

Feeling Grinch-y?

For those of you who just aren't quite feeling the holiday spirit, I bring you this nugget of humor: reindeer hotdogs. No wonder Rudolf looks a little surprised there.

Also, a little note about the proper and efficient functioning of the Postal Service as it relates to letters to a certain S. Claus.

I love hats

I love hats. You love them too? (or you just want to be in the know with some fairly obscure fashion vocab)... read on!

haberdasher (hab'@r dash'@r; often hab'@ dash'-) n. [[ ME haberdashere, prob. < Anglo-Fr hapertas, kind of cloth ]] 1 a person whose work or business is selling men's furnishings, such as hats, shirts, neckties, and gloves 2 [Brit.] a dealer in various small articles, such as ribbons, thread, and needles
haberdashery (-dash'@r e¯) n., pl. -eries [[ ME haberdashhrie ]] 1 things sold by a haberdasher 2 a haberdasher's shop

milliner (mil'i n@r) n. [[ < Milaner, inhabitant of Milan, vendor of bonnets and dress wares from Milan ]] a person who designs, makes, trims, or sells women's hats
millinery (mil'i ner'e¯) n. 1 women's hats, headdresses, etc. 2 the work or business of a milliner

When I think of ladies wearing hats, the first thing I think of is the Kentucky Derby. Read more about my interest in the Derby on previous posts on a previous blog:
• 11/14/06: "As if I didn't already want to go..."
• 05/08/06: "Down the stretch they come"

What is the coolest name for a hat ever? Why, "porkpie," of course (rocked by Joliet Jake in the pic below). Don't count out its variation, the porkpie stetson, however.

Favorite Words

Here's a list I keep of my favorite words, mostly based on their pronunciation rather than meaning. I will likely update this as more words occur to me.

appeal
batch
beach/beech
celerime [latin]
charter
cheek
cisalpine
cisatlantic
cram
example
fishhook
market
palliative
parts
peel [specifically when used as utensil for removing bread from ovens]
picture [as said by my kindergarten teacher]
preparation [especially when spoken in an old commercial for some sort of Time Life recipe collection]
rapscallion
razorblade
sample question [ah, good old standardized tests]
snick
Stamp Act
storybook
Sugarloaf
Tortuga
transalpine