Thank you for reading Oddball Magazine today.
Monday, December 05, 2022
When the Rails Ride You
Glad to have Tom Daley back in the journal. And he's joined by photographer Glenn Bowie. Grateful for all of Oddball Magazine's contributors today.
Fighting the Fight
Glad to be more in the background this week and have a photo to go with John Roches's latest piece. Read it now at Oddball Magazine.
More Traveloguing
Another comics page from Anne Skove's travel journal. Check out "She Who Laughs Lasts" at Oddball Magazine.
December 7: Stone Soup Poetry Starts Saying Goodbye to 2022
Join us on December 7 from 7:00 to 9:00 PM ET by clicking this link.
The meeting ID is 828 0081 8566
Password: stonesoup
Still Escalating
Geoffrey Fallon's comic continues for another Monday. Read "The Secrets of Skinny People" as Oddball Magazine welcomes you to another week.
December 14: Deb Priestly is Home at Stone Soup Poetry for the Holidays
I can't think of a better way to end Stone Soup's live gatherings for this year than to have Deb Priestly back in our fold on December 14. Thanks so much to Deb for agreeing to do this in spite of her recent injuries. Please join us in the Assemblage Gallery for her feature if you can. I'm trying to create a moment filled with holiday spirit, and the more people that can be with us the better.
Advent Calendar, Day Five
Had a newer Elton John Christmas song last year, so here's a much less recent song.
This Week's Friendly Reminder
Reproductive rights are still in greater danger than ever. Share information like this as often and as widely as you can.
New Favorite Line
From Built to Spill's "Rocksteady" single: "i don’t see how anyone does anything."
My Monday Morning Music
A writer once opined that if music criticism was really as influential as people make it out to be, then Built to Spill would be bigger than The Beatles. I've wanted to learn about them ever since but always had excuses. With today's technology, there are no excuses. Plus they dropped a new album recently. Here's a song from that.
Sunday, December 04, 2022
Your Weekly Dose of God
My girlfriend went back to work Thanksgiving week. Since then, I've been helping her carry things into her school before going off to my job. For the time being, I have this graffiti to pass by every workday as I walk to the bus station.
Advent Calendar, Day Four
Never heard of this rap song or Run The Jewels. But this is what came up when I was searching for "Merry F***ing Christmas." Glad I found it.
Getting Published in my Sleep
Woke up to find out my poem "Coming Up" was published in the Sunday Edition of The New Verse News. Thanks to James Penha for including my work again.
Saturday, December 03, 2022
Free (Slightly Used) Food of the Week
Don't know if guilting people into picking up free food is the way to go...
![FREE FOOD! End of [redacted]. Burito & taco size tortillas. Just past stupid "best by" date, but food does not "expire." Be part of the solution to the 40% waste rate of American food. This is only the first third of it.](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfBYLFyeQLAFqH9b60ufORHvr4ujLStkS67XkTv_KxVXWzgbk38llJ231K2HkVYy0dRyQTuTJZcn2qj-737UnY0slj1JfUeFe8rtbCZAOYM67Yp0lx4eFcChHp97QWkXYzpTUK1e97akaP55XBnWfHFoz9-xNNT_AnxprwPr4WNCYNUHHFlg/s701/Tortillas.jpg)
Advent Calendar, Day Three
Trying to find the "Merry F***ing Christmas" song I used in a TikTok recently but couldn't find it. I know this one is Southpark, but this is a poor substitute.
Friday, December 02, 2022
Santa's Pad
The wind has been blowing leaves in various stores. This photo was taken last night in a CVS. With the two Santa statues, the leaves looked like they were part of the set up.
My Friday Evening Music Bonus
My sister and I didn't do much together, but for years we could be counted on to sit in front of the TV set on Saturdays while the TV show "Solid Gold" played. It was how I saw Irene Cara lip synch her hit song in 1983. Such cheesy eighties goodness. Enjoy.
My Friday Evening Music
This week I listened to Irene Cara's "Breakdancing" for the first time in at least three decades. I liked this song as a kid, but my 2022 self was skeptical. Surprise. I still dig this beat. RIP Irene Cara.
Bonus View
If I hadn't taken a walk during my lunch break, I would never have appreciated the way the sun shines on this immense piece of art. I've walked past this apartment complex thousands of times for over a decade, never appreciating it until today.
Tonight: Daniel Nester at the Virtual Dire Literary Series
Routine Wisdom
Wise Words with Bruce Wise just went up. Thank you for reading Oddball Magazine this week.
Wondering, Wandering...
Janet is back with Bamboozled No More! for another Friday at Oddball Magazine.
View of the Hancock
I've been helping my girlfriend at her school for years. This week, we finally realized we could see the John Hancock Tower while walking up to the school's entrance.
Stone Soup Croutons, 11-30-22: Plan Your Next Staycation
Stone Soup Croutons is a weekly poem I write using lines and impressions picked from Stone Soup Poetry's open mic readers and features. I figure out a title (and sometimes the rest of the poem) later. You can read the other ones I've done since 2015 here.
I also have a book collecting the best of my first year of poems. Click here to purchase it.
To make things a little easier coming back, I challenged myself to write each line of this week's poem as an instruction or a declaration.
Maybe doing the prompt ruined my chances for a better poem. Maybe it didn't At least I had fun. Thanks for reading.
Plan Your Next Staycation
Stab yourself for better spot on plane.
Take a water sprite a boat trip
dressed as hermit crab for best seats.
Losing sight of future gets best view.
Nothing is sacred except empty rows.
Ecstatic
For the first time in weeks, I will be working a full day on Friday.
No holidays. No half-days.
I get to go in and quietly do administrative work for eight hours.
I'm an old enough man that this prospect is actually exciting to me.
It Helps to Remember
This picture is from a training video I watched last year.
You can guess what the subject was.
It's good to remind myself that things were a lot worse one year ago.
Advent Calendar, Day Two
The way things have been the last few years, I'm surprised I'm only finding out about this song now. The auteur's official YouTube clip can't be shared, so I'm sharing this fan upload.
My Friday Morning Music
The Rolling Stone article marking Irene Cara's passing details issues with her label. I wonder if that included putting "The Dream (Hold On To Your Dream)" as part of the soundtrack for D.C. Cab, a movie that sold itself as a Mr. T vehicle when Mr. T was barely in it. This movie has not aged well (it had nudity, so I liked it at the time, but my prepubescent self is not a barometer for art). An Irene Cara song created in the same vein as "What A Feeling" and made to show up in this movie was a completely tone deaf move.
Thursday, December 01, 2022
If Only Just Once
James is back without fail to share his latest poem column. Read It's All One Thing now at Oddball Magazine.
Another Janet Cormier Patining About Family
Janet sent me this mini-paining titled Evening in Paris, Mom's Favorite Perfume.
For Janet's written work, read her Bamboozled No More! column every Friday at Oddball Magazine.
Stone Soup Poetry Open Mic, 11-30-22
We're back online! Goodbye November, hello Holiday Hell! Nice to take cover from The Christmas Wars and listen to our wonderful wordsmiths.
Back on the Wave Train
Stone Soup is back! Thanks to everyone who took part in last night's online open mic. Hope to see some of you for our last live show of the year. More details coming.
Holiday Wishlist
I love this Will Ferrell Elf painting courtesy of PBX Design. You can see this hanging up at Joseph's Sub Shop & Pizza on Huntington Avenue. If I had both the money and the space for frivolously purchased artwork, I would buy this.
Wednesday, November 30, 2022
Something to Look Forward to Tonight
Stone Soup is back online this evening. I'm heading home soon to set up. Will you join us tonight?
This Friday: Daniel Nester at the Virtual Dire Literary Series
New Friends Welcome Too
I love when we end the day with a new contributor. Welcome poet Beate Sigriddaughte, paired perfectly with photography by Jennifer Matthews. Thank you so much for reading Oddball Magazine on a Wednesday. Now sit back and get ready for December Madness.
Having Old Buds Over for the Holidays
December is about crank almost everyone's lives up to eleven in less than thirteen hours. We're having as many old friends over as possible. Let's start with poet John Grey and photographer Karen A. Szklany. So glad you could join us this Wednesday at Oddball Magazine.
One More Bit of Kevin O'Neill Appreciation
Here's Kyle Kallgren's video take on The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
A Moment of Comics
Courtesy of The Comics Journal and writer David Roach, here's a page from one of Kevin O'Neill's last projects, a story written by Garth Ennis for Rebellion's Battle Action anthology. As Roach points out in his O'Neill tribute, it's a wonder these two didn't collaborate more given O'Neill's mark with Marshall Law, a predecessor in all ways of Ennis' The Boys. Is it appropriate to feel sad that this is O'Neill's only work with Ennis while also feeling relieved that Alan Moore got a hold of O'Neill first?
American Haiku: Same Old Punchline
When I started my Sarcastic Haiku series, I wrote my first American Haiku. An American Haiku doesn't care about tradition, formality or history. it takes as long as it wants to make its point because America. You can read others I've written since by clicking here and scrolling down.
American Haiku: Same Old Punchline
Your Wednesday Morning Poetry
The anniversary of my father's passing is coming up fast. Here's Theodore Roethke's "My Papa's Waltz" by way of Poetry Foundation.
November 30: Stone Soup Watches November Go Bye-Bye
Can't wait to get back on the Poetry wagon with the rest of you. Join me tonight on November 30 for an all-open mic as we get ready for December.
Join us on November 30 from 7:00 to 9:00 PM ET by clicking this link.
The meeting ID is 873 3449 8391
Password: stonesoup
Tuesday, November 29, 2022
Not Making This a Thing, I Promise
The Oddball review column Three Cents returns. This time, I'm looking at Camera Symphonica, the collection from Oddball staffers Luis Lázaro Tijerina and Jaime Diaz Martinez. Read it now at Oddball Magazine.
Parallel Lines
Jason Wright's Jagged Thought poem column makes an appearance today in Oddball Magazine.
Keeping the Tuesday Light On
Poet Jacques Fleury and artist Edward Michael Supranowicz kick off the day at Oddball Magazine.
Things to Stop
I was playing a lot of video games leading up to last week's elections. Might have to stop again.
This Week's Most Distinguished Network Name
It's amazing what people will name their online networks. I'm always trying to hijack Wi-Fi when I'm commuting, so I often come across a number of interesting names. Every Tuesday, I post the most impressive and/or cringe-inducing names.
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| Glad this name isn't coming up as some religious group. |
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