Paris Is Burning

I didn't even realize there had been attacks in Paris yesterday until I was driving home from work and heard about it on NPR. I'd been hunched over my desk working on a project and I hadn't even had time to get on the internet after lunch and check the news. I hope the culprits who caused this destruction (the ones who are still alive) are caught and brought to justice. The world is a dangerous place and it's always terrible to hear about acts of mass destruction like this. When tragedy occurs, it really puts things into perspective. While some people are busy complaining about Starbucks cups not being Christmas-y enough, Paris is burning and people are dying in the streets. We could all use some perspective about life in general and sometimes it, unfortunately, takes a tragedy to open our eyes to the harsh realities of the world.

Idyll Threats

I always like to recommend books that I enjoyed and my recommendation today is Idyll Threats by Stephanie Gayle. It's the story of a small-town Connecticut police chief who's in the closet and, when he's about to hookup with an anonymous man at a cabin in a remote area. But when the chief and his friend enter the cabin, they find a heterosexual couple already there having a little sexy time. The hetero couple leaves and the police chief and his hookup also vacate the premises, but the next day the woman turns up dead and the chief has to work the case without revealing that he actually saw the murdered woman the night before because it he admits this, then he would have to reveal he's gay and he was about to have a little sexy time of his own with another man. It's a great book and the voice of the police chief is really wonderful. I really hope the author creates a series of books with this guy and if the book cover is any indication, it seems like that's the direction she's heading in.

Hobophobia

For some reason, I was thinking about the word "hobo" over the weekend and I wondered why we've stopped using it. People don't refer to the downtrodden as hobos anymore, do they? I did some Googling about the word "hobo" and found out that hobos, tramps, and bums are not the same. Hobos apparently work for a living. They ride the rails and go from place to place looking for work. Tramps only work when they have to and bums don't work at all. Interesting. I assumed they were all the same. The image of the hobo from the past is a guy with his meager belongings tided up in a bundle and hung from the end of a stick. I'm sure the modern hobo (if there are any still around) don't cart their belongings this way. In my internet research on the hobo, I came across the term "hobophobia" which is an irrational fear of the poor. That just sounds crazy. Does hobophobia create hoboists (those who discriminate against hobos)?

Get Some Real Problems

I just read a story about some people being upset with Starbucks because this year's Christmas-y cups aren't Christmas-y enough apparently. Rather than featuring some holiday illustration like a reindeer or snowflakes, this year's cups are simply red with the usual green Starbucks logo. Stop the world, I want to get off! I can't believe people are actually complaining about a cup. It's a holder for your beverage. Nothing more, nothing less. I doubt the Christmas season will fail to happen because Starbucks didn't put a reindeer or a wreath on its holiday cups. For all those folks complaining, shut up and call me when you get some real problems!

Speaking of Christmas and cups, I'm looking forward to getting a Christmaskindlmarket boot mug this year. The Chicago Tribune called it a "kitschy boot-shaped drinking vessel." (Did someone really go to journalism school to come up with lines like this? Apparently.) These kitschy boot-shaped drinking vessels going on sale in a few weeks and I fully intend to get one this year. It's a relative bargain at $7 plus you get wine. What more could you want? I suspect the folks complaining about the Starbucks cups would find something to complain about with the boot mug too. It's too foreign! Where's the reindeer??? Insert eye-roll here.

Friday, Friday, Friday

I took a vacation day from my "other" job to get some things done today--mainly finish the book I've been working on. (I'm almost there! Really!) In catching up with my online news, I read that new Daily Show host Trevor Noah had his appendix removed this week and was back to work after one day. When I had my appendix removed way back in the early 90s, I was down and out for a week. In fact, I was hospitalized for a week. There's no way I would have been in any position to go back to work after one day. Has medical science improved that much or is Trevor some kind of Superman? Speaking of Trevor, I can't really say I've been watching The Daily Show with any regularity since Jon Stewart left. Hell, I was barely watching before Jon left. However, in the few episodes that I've seen, Trevor just doesn't seem to be engaged. To me, he still seems like a tourist. He doesn't appear to have any kind of investment in America. He's just a guy working here on a visa waiting for the next gig to come along.

Even though I don't live in New York anymore, I still read Gothamist and NY Magazine's site to find out what's going on in the Big Apple. There's a feature on Gothamist called "Ask a Native New Yorker" that I read often and the guy who responds to questions is from Brooklyn. He often posts pictures of himself with his responses and they all come from his "private collection." How private is this collection if you're posting a new photo every week? I don't know if that "private collection" credit line is a joke or what. (I suspect it is.)

My publisher, JMS Books, encouraged me and other authors who publish with them to join Author Central via Amazon and I did this today. My site isn't totally set up yet, but it's getting there. I think it'll take about a week to get up and running. I should have done this a while ago, but I'm not exactly the best person when it comes to social media. (No Facebook, no Twitter, no Instagram--you get the picture.) However, I'm making small efforts to change this. My main obstacle is that I work a day job and it's hard for me to find time to devote to social media when I'm working, writing, reading, and living my life. But I will make an effort to keep the Author Central site up in addition to this blog.

Danger, Will Robinson!

It's hard to watch or read the news these days because it all just turns into one big depress-fest. Between the shootings in Chicago (a 9-year-old? Really?), dirty cops faking their deaths (and making tax payers foot the bill for manhunts that weren't necessary), and Kentucky Kim rearing her ugly head again to pop out of her hole in the ground (because once you're on the grift, you're always on the grift) to file more appeals through the judicial system whose rulings she rejected, I don't even know why I bother, but I do.

In more uplifting news, the weather in the Chicago area has been great lately. I can't believe it's November and we have temperatures in the 70s. Wow! Last year, the kids were trick-or-treating in the snow on Halloween. No snow this year (just rain). I know this Indian summer won't last, but I'm certainly enjoying it for the time being.

Post-Halloween Greetings

Well, now that Halloween is down and out, I assume the Christmas season will kick into high gear and Thanksgiving will be given the short shrift once again. I was in Walgreen's yesterday and I saw an entire row of Christmas cards on display. The season does seem to start earlier and earlier each year. Pretty soon Christmas in July won't just be a sales promotion, it'll be the norm.

In non holiday-related news, I keep reading about the poor reception the public has given to the latest Steve Jobs movie. I can't figure out why anyone thinks a lot of people (A) care about Steve Jobs and (B) would spend money to see a movie that shows what an asshole he was. How many Steve Jobs bio flicks do we need? This is, what, the third or fourth one? This guy wasn't Lincoln or MLK. Why do we have so many movies about him? I don't get it. I'm also tired of seeing movies with European actors playing Americans. I like Michael Fassbender and I think he's a great actor, but were there no American actors who could have played Jobs? The same goes for that panned Stonewall movie. A British guy starred in the leading role as a guy from Indiana. Were there no American blond male actors available?

I've been working on a new book and it's almost done. I just need to wrap it up. I plan to do just that in the next week. I hate that I'm a relatively slow writer, but I am. Thankfully, once I get this latest book over and done with, I do have two more in the works, so it shouldn't take me a year to get another book out.