Sloth, Maybe?

1850 House - Summer, 2014 We arrived at Rosendale yesterday at 3pm on the nose to settle into the 1850 House Inn and Tavern.  We went through the usual ritual of picking up our room key in the absence of our host.  At present, we are the only living inhabitants of the Inn.  I think I speak on Susan's behalf as well as mine that we are aboard some Marie Celeste or Flying Dutchman wandering from sea to sea.  There is no helmsman, just us, the ghost passengers, as we move in and out of the fog. Or at least we did until Kyle, the inn's host, greeted us in the lounge.  We have met Kyle before during our previous visits to the 1850 House.  He is always good natured and he is always willing to swap stories with us when we settle in for a winter's afternoon that looks like the dead of night on these short December days. Kyle told us that he - at my insistence in a previous visit - sat through all twenty three films of Marvel's so-called Infinity Saga.  From Ro...

  Yes, there's no debate that Ghislaine Maxwell is a monster. But did you know that she was my patron during my brief artistic career? It's true! However my good fortune didn't last long. Let this be a lesson to you youngsters.  Be careful of which horse you choose to hitch your wagon. But my next project is a remake of a film classic.  Fortune favors the bold! - BJJ

If you asked me at the age of seven why I thought the taciturn bounty hunter Boba Fett was so cool, I probably couldn't come up with more than, "He's got a rocket pack!  And a flame thrower!   And his helmet doesn't look like Darth Vader or an off the assembly line stormtrooper's!"  He only had a few brief appearances in The Empire Strikes Back , but I had high hopes for the character. In Return of the Jedi , he exhibited more of his strong but silent character.  But at last during the rescue of Han Solo, we got to see him actually use his jetpack!  I remember the audience oohing and aahing at the spectacle.  We got to see him use his whipcord!  We got to see him actually look-- Aaaaaand then we were let down by his embarrasing "death" at the hands of a blind Han Solo.  Solo whacks Boba Fett's jetpack at a sensitive point, send him flailing into the air, smashing against Jabba the Hutt's sail barge, and tumbling into the maw of a creature cal...

The great thing about wearing your bathrobe in front of an open window that looks out to a building across the street is:  You're not guilty of indecent exposure.  Nor are you guilty of flaunting your company's dress code. It's my company.  I determine the dress code, and there is no supervisor breathing down my neck. So there. To my credit, I haven't backslid into my YouTube habit today.  I'm spending my day writing.  Have you noticed?  It's not going to be the Great American Novel, but it's not going to be a worldwide best seller like Fifty Shades of Grey either. Hmm... My writing ranges from my screenplay which never seems to end and texting sweet nothings to my wife in order to entertain her while she's at work. Whatever keeps me away from YouTube. I'm aware that the young folk are on their phones a Tikkin' and a Tokkin'.  A friend explained to me what TikTok was and I said, "Ah!  Like YouTube, only worse!  Hard pass." Of course...

Isolation is something I both desire and fear.   On one hand, the bustle of the city where I used to live overwhelmed me with unrelenting clamor.   Now, I live on the fringes of a smaller city where there are more trees than buildings.   My wife goes out to work Monday through Friday from 9 to 5.   I remain home.   I venture out in the warm weather to get some circulation, but as the days grow short and the weather gets colder, I hide myself in the shell of my office.   Many of my friends are scattered around the country.   I communicate with them mostly via social media and get togethers are increasingly rare.   Most everyone else is out at work as well.   Those that I greet in my new building rarely go beyond, “Hey, how’s it going?   Can I share this elevator?   What’s your name?   Mine is ____.   Okay, have a happy (insert holiday here)!”   That’s about as far as it goes. We have concierges and custodians in our bu...

I may have discussed this in a previous post, but this time I want to zero in on my addiction. It's not as serious as heroin or cocaine to be sure.  Nonetheless, it impinges on my ability to work on my scripts, take time to exercise, and to finish the most menial of tasks. I'm talking about social media.  Public enemy number meh. When I was working a normal nine to five,  I was fidgeting with my smart phone to check out any news on Facebook.  If I wanted to do something extraordinary, I would add a YouTube clip in the FB post to show how clever I was.  Sometimes I would go to a meme generator, find an image, add text, and post it either on FB, Twitter (hereafter known as Shitter) and Instagram.  Here are some examples: Ha, Ha. Ha ha ha. I thought I was a genius for putting together these bon mots.  It helped pass the time and break up the monotony at work. The problem was, when I got home I was still at it. Clips, memes, gifs, more of the same.  E...

Before the break of dawn today, I did my morning meditation.  This time I didn't have any audiovisual distractions.  I'm looking at YOU, Hertz Rentals and Tom Brady! I've created a personal atmosphere that is not essential to the meditation process.  However, it helps me center myself.  I sit on my Cosmic Carpet - the art of the young woman sailing on undulating waves - and I prop my crooked back on a yoga seat.  I'm stooping slightly more and more with each passing year and I'm fighting a losing battle to sit up straight like a proper member of the homo sapiens  species. As an added atmospheric tool, I purchased a light projector called Galaxy Cove which casts the image of a star field crowned with a crescent moon against the bare wall facing me.  Not essential, as I said, but it helps me. I activate the Calm app and conduct a few preliminary breathing exercises.  I receive the sounds of chirping crickets and cars driving along the drizzle slicke...

  See this image?  It's a sketch I did in 2012 on an iPad at the Upper West Side Apple Store using the app ProCreate.  I drew it on the fly.  It features Inanna, my favorite go to mythological character, considering an unseen subject out of frame with delight and interest.  You couldn't tell because the subject is off screen.  On the fly, folks.  I didn't think it out. Even so, customers and employees in the store would stop by, look at the sketch and say, "That's really good!"  This stroked my frail ego, for I create drawings and paintings as infrequently as Axl Rose releases a new Guns n' Roses album.  I was drawing the image with my finger, so essentially it was a finger painting.  A finger painting masqerading as a charcoal sketch. Now I hadn't purchased this particular iPad, so I knew if I touched the home button, the image would be erased for good and all.  Impulsively, I felt the need to preserve this work, so I asked Suze to...

Let me tell you something about myself you probably don't know. I am a cyborg. For those of you not in the know, the word cyborg is a contraction of the words "cybernetic" and "organism."  Put plainly, it means a living being that has artificial parts.  "Part man; part machine." If you're a science fiction buff - or if you were just some kid in the 70s and 80s - you're no doubt familiar with some popular characters who were cyborgs.  The Six Million Dollar Man for instance, was about Steve Austin.  Austin was a secret agent with artificial legs, an arm, and an eye which enhanced his strength and vision. Another example is Darth Vader.  He was described by his former Jedi master, Obi-Wan Kenobi, as "More machine than man."  Vader's limbs were cybernetically enhanced.  It increased his strength and stamina, but he also needed a respirator and armor to prevent his damaged lungs and his burned flesh from being exposed to the elements....