Masque-ical mystery tour

Last night we hosted a murder mystery party. It’s something we’ve done a few times before, always a good way to tease a little theater out of people from whom you might not expect it. The pacing of this kit, which was all mingling and noshing, worked better than some others with a big elaborate meal. 

Lee and Kim put in a ton of planning, and it all went off beautifully. We had a character named Gary played by a guy named Gary, an electrician played by an electrician, and I even got to play a sleazy, er, misunderstood, computer consultant. 

The theme was a masked ball in the castle. Everyone had a motive to kill the victim, who after being stabbed in the bathroom had to spend the rest of the evening in an orange vest and a lighted marabou-trimmed halo: a fate worse than death?? And everyone had a few drinks, including, naturally, Bloody Mary shots. 

 

I’m the man in gray (bonus points for Specials fans who know the next line of that song). And technically Gary was in gray while I was in pewter…

And then, mystery solved, it was all over… if anybody wants to come by this weekend, there’s leftovers!

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Marching in Place


There were only a couple hundred women left in Brattleboro today, because all the rest were off marching in Boston, New York, and Washington DC. 

But for those few who stayed to tend the home fires, not to worry… there was a place to say what needed saying. 

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In-argh-uration Day

This tattoo, and the feeling of having your body pierced thousands of times by electric needles, seem appropriate today. 

The characters say “unpredictable change is the only thing that lasts forever.” Unless somebody was duped… for all I know it says something like “foolish tourist.”

Let’s fervently hope this shoulder has it right, that the all-too-predictable changes swirling around today’s ceremony in Washington don’t come true. 

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IKEA-bana Vu


Ikebana is some kind of fancy flower arranging. 

IKEA-bana is when you put your flowers on top of your IKEA cabinets. This time with a much more stable vase. 

And IKEA-bana Vu is when your cat is instantly up there and ready to ‘accidentally’ rub up against them. Again. 

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Glass Half Full


Well, we did it. DIY iPad screen replacement is possible, even for us!

Between watching tutorial videos on YouTube and actually performing the repair, we spent about 9 person-hours. Next time would be a lot faster.  We liked the irony of using the dictionary I got for a high school graduation present to weight the screen down while the new adhesive set up. 

Pro tips:

  • If you use a hair dryer to soften the old adhesive instead of a real heat gun, it takes a lot longer
  • Nothing beats Goof-Off
  • “Spudging” is a great word to have in your vocabulary 
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Nat Hentoff, RIP

Nat Hentoff died last week. He was an amazing guy. I disagreed with him on a lot of specific policy issues, but he seemed like someone with whom that would be OK, maybe even expected.

I first heard of him in the hullabaloo around his getting fired at the Village Voice. Then I ran into an article he wrote, or really an excerpt from one of his books, in Evergreen Review (an issue that used to be online, but doesn’t appear to be at this time). That led me to watch his appearance on Firing Line, which is too long to really watch in its entirety unless you care specifically about something they’re saying. But, even a minute or two serves to remind us that while the level of wordplay has come down A LOT since then, the liberal/conservative TV talk show script hasn’t changed appreciably in 50 years.”They” are supposed to be earnest and idealistic to the point of naivete, while “they” must appear smugly self-assured and fundamentally uncaring.

The things that made him angry in life haven’t gone away, but neither have the things that gave him joy. Nat Hentoff is someone we could all stand to remember, to emulate in the sharpness of our thinking, the depth of our feeling, and the eloquence and sincerity of our expression.

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Pahk yah cah neah the aht


For reasons that aren’t entirely clear to me, Brattleboro’s multi-level parking garage is one focus of an ongoing river-themed art installation. 

Here’s the latest bit… combining a selfie opportunity with a poem about, well, more or less whatever you want it to be about. 

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