3.31.2008

Will You Please Be Specific, Please?

Once in a while I get an email that asks about one of my web pages, but doesn't say which page.

That tends to be a problem as I then have to turn detective to figure out which of several thousand web pages that I manage is being questioned.

Copyright © 2008 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.

Get me rewrite!

Get me rewrite!

Never tease a wrtiter psace may eatin dravfe water pill????

Oh, and here's a mighty

WHAT FOR

Copyright © 2008 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.

3.29.2008

It's Not Where You Fish, It's The Bait You Use

My friend Stinky used to catch all the fish. I never got many bites besides the ones from insects.


All I ever wanted to do was catch a fish, then throw it back without getting too much fish slime on me or my clothes.

Stinky was the fisherman among us. He had learned everything he knew from his Uncle Harry. With what Uncle Harry taught Stinky, he put a kernel of corn on the hook, cast it in the water and caught a trout.

Or Stinky sliced a bit of liver from a stash in his mom's old Tupperware container, put it on the hook, cast it out, and, wham, another trout.

There were times, I swear, that Stinky could put a hook in one of my old G. I. Joe dolls and catch a lunker.

Continue reading

Copyright © 2008 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.

3.23.2008

The Rutles 30th Anniversary

Thirty years ago tonight on WNBC-TV, All You Need Is Cash, the story of The Rutles, Dirk, Nasty, Stig and Barry, premiered on national TV in the United States.

Now, this tri-decade anniversary of this historic event may have passed unnoticed were it not for the live revival concert in New York later this week of the faux four.

Copyright © 2008 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved

For those of you who may not have been around 30 years ago when the show debuted, below are a collages from the record album (a 12-inch disc with a hole in the middle that spun on a turntable and through a direct contact diamond head needle produced sound through one or more woofers and tweeters - but that's not important right now) artwork.

Copyright © 2008 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved

The joke was that the Rutles was a parody of The Beatles, a four-man group quite popular at the time although they had split up several years earlier.

Copyright © 2008 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved

After all these decades, the faux four have a web site - which has lyrics to a half-dozen songs that weren't the LP release - "This page last updated September 1, 1997" - which has been around awhile - we suppose while they worked out the royalties and reunion pay distribution, no doubt.

It wouldn't have occured to me that this was the 30th anniversary of the show, except that Ken Dashow's Sunday morning show Breakfast With The Beatles had on as guests two of the four Rutles.

So, thanks, Ken, for the heads-up. I'm busy this week, otherwise I'd love to drop in and see the live show.

Copyright © 2008 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved

Copyright © 2008 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.

The Rutles All You Need Is Cash DVD

The Rutles Soundtrack - Audio CD

PS - Yes, the artwork is from a promotional copy of the original LP - your favorite uncle was a music critic at the time. I can't see that I wrote anything about The Rutles at the time. In fact, it looks like my review career was waning.

3.21.2008

Real Reasons Men, Women Cry At Weddings

Women cry at weddings. 

It does not matter if they are related or even know the bride and groom, women cry at weddings. They could be watching a TV commercial for canned soup in a jar, and if it has a bride in a wedding dress, women will cry. It is a scientifically proven fact.

Sentimentality is another word often used interchangeably with women, especially when it comes to long traipsing veils, elegantly stitched beading, embroidered tablecloths, bedspreads and peu de chose.

Men, well, men do cry at weddings, but no one ever sees the tears. It's that "life as you knew it has changed forever, pal" sort of whimpering in the corner that men -- married and free -- do.

Continue reading


Copyright © 2008 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.

3.15.2008

Forgetfulness - by Billy Collins, animated

This a curious way to look at a poem. You hear the poet's voice reading and see these images that have something to do with the lines but you know that's not what the poet saw when he scribbled the words.

3.12.2008

Heaven Above, Earth Below

That song from the 1960s said we make our own heaven and hell right here on earth.


Copyright © 2008 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved.



Copyright © 2008 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.


3.08.2008

We need a little Christmas, right now!

This is funny. It in no way represents anyone in our immediate family.



Written by and starring John Roberts. Directed by Clay Weiner. Edited by Jesse Reisner. DP Drew Denicola. A mom and her christmas tree.

Direct Link

Not all content may be suitable for all visitors. Discretion suggested.

3.05.2008

Bottled Water @ $800/Barrel, Eh?


On CNBC Tuesday, a pundit mentioned $800/barrel bottled water.


I guess this was in response to crude oil peaking $100/barrel.

Never having been a math major, I tried to figure out if he was exaggerating, or what.

One oil barrel = 42 US gallons –

64 ounces @ 42 gallons = 2,688 ounces


$800/barrel = 29 cents/ounce

3.36/ounce – 40 cents for 12 ounces

Looks like you can order bottled water online: Poland Spring Bottled Water 24 – bottles 16.9 oz (prices vary) $30.95, $23.99, $60.99, $63.09.

So, we went to the Shop-Rite flyer.

Aquafina Water 24-Pack/405.6-oz. tot. wt. btls., 16.9-oz. btls./$4.99

Adirondack Sparkling Water/33.8-oz. btl., (Plus Dep. Where Req.) Original or Lemon-Lime/2 for $1

Dasani Water 24-Pack/405.6-oz. tot. wt. btls., 16.9-oz. bottles/$4.99

Pocono Spring Water/1-gallon btl./5 for $4

Poland Spring Spring Water/96-oz. tot. wt. btls., 8-oz. bottles, 12 Pack/2 for $5

Now, how much is that an ounce? Times 2,688 equals so much bottled water/barrel.

You have 24 hours to post the answer below.


Only In America (Wikipedia):

A 44-gallon drum (known as a 55-gallon drum in America, and increasingly in Australia as a 200-litre drum) is a cylindrical container (drum) with a nominal capacity of 44 imperial gallons, 55 U.S. gallons, or 200 litres. The exact capacity varies with wall thickness and other factors. Standard drums are 22.5 inches (572 mm) in diameter and 33.5 inches (850 mm) high.

Copyright © 2008 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.

A Writer's Life For Me


A long, long time ago, I decided I wanted to be a writer. I was still in high school at the time. Writing looked like an easy life.

You type things. Someone pays you to publish what you wrote.

How tough can that be?

Now, that I've been writing full-time for more than two decades, I wonder where the time all went.

Where is that novel I started in 1971? And the sequel?

I recently came across some poems I wrote back in the day. My high school had a literary magazine. I was on the staff that chose what went in. All my stuff was rejected. Reading it now, I'm not surprised.

But that rejection didn't stop me. I kicked a few trash cans and went back to my typewriter. With each draft my writing painstakingly grew better. I think it has. If it hadn't, you wouldn't have read this far, would you?

And I've never run out of topics to write about. My favorite, however, is growing up in Belleville in the 1960s.


Who knew, then, that it was so great? TV was black and white, gasoline was less than two-bits a gallon.

We drank tap water and ate red M&Ms, and took deep, deep breaths running behind the 'mosquito man' spraying DDT to kill the tiny pests.

Who knew, when I was a kid, that I could put down a few words and bring back to life the Brookdale soda delivery men? Or recall with amazing precision the pigeon coops where my father raised his homers.

It took a life time, but I think a writer's life is more than I ever thought it would be.


A Writer's Life For Me

Copyright © 2008 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.

3.02.2008

PSE and G Budget Billing Shock!

Like so many New Jersey home-owners, we set our heating budget up based on last year's usage and prices.


Once a year, usually February, Public Service Electric and Gas adjusts what your budget billing has paid against your actual usage. At that time they readjust your budget for the coming year.

Well, March is adjustment month. Our actual bill for the month is 2.85 times higher than our budget. So, it's like paying three months worth of heating bills in one month.

Kind of screws up our budget. How will we ever find the money to get our IRS taxes done? Where the heck is my stimulus check?

Looks like, if you folks want to help out, you'll have to skip the Amazon link below and go right to the Order page, and load up on great books to read, for yourself, and your friends.

Copyright © 2008 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.

Fwd: Someone signed your guestbook, Anthony

I think I've ignored this before

From: ClassmatesEmail@classmates.com
To:
Sent: 3/2/2008 7:39:39 A.M. Eastern Standard Time
Subj: Someone signed your guestbook, Anthony
 
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Your Guestbook Signatures

Hi Anthony,

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Delicious ideas to please the pickiest eaters. Watch the video on AOL Living.