Monday, December 12, 2011

The Handshake

"A man is still judged by how he shakes hands. Indeed... the harsher the handshake, the greater the physical shortcomings elsewhere."
 

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Weekender

My new acquisition is going to look smashing at the foot of some lucky young lady's bed.  Now I just need to find a place to get it monogrammed as the seller could not satisfy that simple request.

Barbour

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Year after year the promyshleniki pressed farther along the Aleutian chain, leaving a trail of devasatation and death in their wake.  When one island was stripped of all its otters, the plunderers moved on like a horde of locusts to ravage another.  The male inhabitants of a native settlement were enslaved and forced to hunt day and night in their skin boats while the Russians lived ashore with their women.  Matchless pelts were purchased for a mirror or a string of glass beads.  If the islanders rebelled, they were clubbed as callously as the otters, and their villages were looted and burned.  The fur stampede had become a war of invasion and conquest.

-Where the Sea Breaks Its Back, Corey Ford

Thursday, November 3, 2011

From the purveyor of all things aesthetically pleasing (www.whereisthecool.blogspot.com), including last month's find that is starting to cause emaciation and exhaustion (www.themindfuckofgoldenbirdies.tumblr.com) comes the sequel (www.watch-my-back.tumblr.com).  I recommend you extend your gratitude to Mr. WhereIsTheCool with hopes that he continues to ply us with only the very best of semi to no-clothed beauty sites.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

-from www.themindfuckofgoldenbirdies.tumblr.com, possible the greatest vortex into which one can be sucked.  Thank you www.whereisthecool.blogspot.com for turning me on to this amazing site.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Just Back...

From a beautiful, long weekend aboard an even more beautiful 43' Beneteau that simply stole my heart as soon as the dock lines were cast off.  We circled Catalina and a bit farther.  I hope you all had as peaceful a weekend.

Monday, September 26, 2011

Cultivating a Life of Leisure

Just back from my September jaunt.  Paris-Nice-Corsica-Sanary Sur Mer-St. Tropez-Marseille-Madrid.  By far the most lovely was Sanary, I believe I'll be spending a month there this spring to get better acquainted.  More to come once I'm all caught up and such.

Friday, September 9, 2011

Julie Depardieu

If you've yet to enjoy the pleasure of watching one of the younger Depardieux act...  She is exceptional.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Schlossgut Gross Scwhansee

While I would never brave the crowds in the summer, spring and autumn here is exceptional in every way.  I spent a wonderful, long weekend here last year with wonderful friends and the only woman in this world absent my mother for whom I would, quite literally, die.  I should go back, though probably never will.  And that saddens me.  Often the attempt to relive a particular moment and feeling is actually more painful than the letting go. 

That weekend, that crisp northwesterly just arrived from Denmark...  saline mist on my lips, drizzle in our hair, her smile, her love, their companionship, that dinner...  the sailboats in the harbor, the smell of the north, hanseatic history, that sauna...  The memory is already starting to fade, though the raw longing felt by its incremental loss will stay with me well into my senile years.  So in a way, I'll always have Schlossgut Gross Schwansee, though her love, their friendship and that place are all but gone forever...






Currently Reading...

And yet again you have me.  If poor Edward was dangerous because of the chastity of his expressions--and they say that that is always the hall-mark of a libertine--what about myself?  For I solemnly avow that not only have I never so much as hinted at an impropriety in my conversation in the whole of my days; and  more than that, I will vouch for the cleanness of my thoughts and the absolute chastity of my life.  At what, then, does it all work out?  Is the whole thing a folly and a mockery?  Am I no better than a eunuch or is the proper man--the man with the right to existence--a raging stallion forever neighing after his neighbor's womenkind?

 

Thursday, August 25, 2011

This World is Lacking in True Character(s)

When 65-year-old Francis Chichester set sail on his solitary eastward journey around the world in 1966, many believed he wouldn't return alive. But when the old man returned nine months later, he had made history's fastest circumnavigation.

-Gipsy Moth Circles the World, Francis Chichester

Preach On Norman, Preach On

"Au cas où certains d’entre nous seraient parfois guettés par une tendance à la généralisation excessive sur les juifs, légitiment exaspérés qu’ils seraient par le racket moral et financier dont notre peuple est victime depuis des décennies, cette vidéo leur fera le plus grand bien. Norman Finkelstein y dit ses quatre vérités à une descendante des rescapés de la « Shoah » venue tenter de justifier sa haine avec ses larmes de crocodile. Un grand moment!"

http://www.medialibre.eu/video/le-juif-finkelstein-denonce-le-chantage-a-la-shoah-des-criminels-sionistes/8434

Monday, August 22, 2011

This Rant Never Gets Old

Wearing Your Collar Down is for Poor People
By I.M. Adick, III
When my ancestors came over to this great country 400 years ago, they had a vision for a utopia, free from minorities, liberals, poor people, homosexuals, and immigrants. There are few today who share such lofty ideals, but we're easy to find: Pastel polo shirts, loafers without socks, tucked-in shirts, but most importantly, collars up.
 
Call me a douchebag. Call me an arrogant little cocksucking dickhead. Beat the shit out of me if I'm not with fifteen of my B-frat friends (unlikely). But just know this: I interned at Smith Barney this summer. Where did you work? A Blockbuster? That's right you insignificant sack of dogshit; I'm going to be your boss. So take your t-shirt wearing, financial aid, blue-collar ass over to Blockbuster and get me a copy of Old School. Do you even own a tuxedo?
Look at my girlfriend. You think she'd go for someone who didn't have his collar up? I don't think so. I remember the night I met her. I bought her so many $9 drinks she couldn't even walk. So I drove her home in my BMW 328ci, but not before I took a few "liberties" with her. The next morning I took her to brunch and went to the mall, where I bought her some blouses. You assholes don't know the first thing about being a gentleman. You probably don't even know how to sail.
 
When I get out of business school, I'm going to be making $120,000 a year. Add that to my trust fund, and I can buy a country club membership, a ski house, and still have enough money to go barhopping around the city in my designer clothes and shit-eating grin. Maybe I'll offer you a hundred bucks to flip my collar up for me. I earned it you middle-class fuck up. I bet you went to public school.
You're so predictable. I bet I can guess your political party just by looking at you. My cronies and I range from elitist northern liberals to heartless conservative bastards. I've wasted enough time with you. Get some rich parents, an internship, and a pink polo with the collar up, and then maybe I'll let you hang out with me.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Ready for Autumn

Never been much for the pocket square though, too affected for my tastes.


Saturday, July 23, 2011

A Touching Russian Tangent

I spent my Friday at the state symphony's rendition of a handful of the greatest Russian maestros.  I have never, in all honesty, heard them play this well or enthusiastically.  It was a small joy to lose one's worries, if only for a moment.  Here were two of my favorites, if you  have the time:



The conductor noted, quite aptly of course, that critics found this number to be "too hollywood", at which point the conductor asked- "is Rachmaninoff too Hollywood, or is Hollywood too Rachmaninoff?"  I couldn't agree more.  I prefer the violin performing the vocal line.

Good People of this Universe...

My apologies to you, any of you actually caring, for my extended absence.  This break-up is taking longer than I thought to get over, finding it harder than usual to get inspired.  Time heals all wounds, they say.  Thank you for those that are still around, it does mean much to me.

Regards,
Ford...

Thursday, June 30, 2011

It Is Time


Edit: Just saw that one of the best bloggers in the world, nay, the universe, had preempted my cup love.  Consider this a fanfared follow up.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Five Simple Rules

1. No sandals unless you're at the beach.
2. A gentleman always leaves the house with a collar on.
3. Jeans only on the weekend.
4. Black suits are for formal occasions only (US audiences only).
5. Tshirt & Jeans?  Only if you're doing yardwork.  In the backyard.  With nobody watching.

It really is that simple.

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Old Books

I'm a collector.  I love the idea that some wayward individual sat around by candlelight, in 1700's England, France or other, reading the same book I now hold.  Unfortunately, the years have not been good to many collections.  Case in point:  Do any of you out in blogland happen to have the latter two volumes of this set?  I acquired the first and second volume at a flea market of sorts on the outskirts of Berlin some years ago.  Without them I'll never now how the story ends...
Cervantes- Don Quixote, pub. 1782

Friday, May 20, 2011

Perspective

Good people of earth...  The sun has finally come out of hiding, the wind is a steady westerly, the world is shite, and the closest I can get to truth and beauty is a naked woman.  I'm going sailing.  May you all have a wonderful Friday afternoon.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

The Insatiable Need...

My father has had this ancient set of English Fox Hunting coasters for what seems like forever.  I've made clear my intention to nab them, but he is keeping them to the end.  Though I can find similar ones with gaudy black or red borders, these are the ones I am  looking for, should anyone see them.